Study Days at Hogwarts

"Good evening, Tom, are you... planning to close the store?"

A middle-aged man with brown hair glanced at the empty bar, his eyes fell on the bar owner who was cleaning the table, and he raised his hand to say hello.

"Not yet, but it's almost there." Old Tom threw down the rag and complained with a gloomy look on his face, "The recession has been very bad recently, and there are still people who are freeloaders, and they will have to go bankrupt sooner or later. What do you want to drink?"

"A glass of fiery whiskey."

The middle-aged man sat down at the bar.

“I only have the cheapest wine in my cellar.”

Old Tom returned to the bar and poured a glass of the cheapest ale for the old acquaintance in front of him, "I'll treat you to it."

"Are you really planning to close the store?"

The middle-aged man stared at the free drink in front of him, very surprised at the situation in the Leaky Cauldron.

"It's probably going to be soon." Old Tom shrugged. "After the last batch of drinks is sold out, I plan to close this store."

"What about the Leaky Cauldron?"

A young red-haired man came over, obviously very surprised by Old Tom's decision.

"Nothing can be done. Take over whoever wants to take over. It's a losing business anyway." Old Tom looked up at the visitor, seemed to have thought of something, and blurted out, "A bottle of Bowell wine, right?"

"Yes, it seems you still remember."

Percy took a few Galleons out of his pocket and placed them on the table.

"Since you wrote to me last time, I've been keeping it for you. I'll go get it for you." Of course, Old Tom couldn't waste all the good wine in the bar. After the Death Eaters ate and drank for free, , he quietly moved most of the expensive drinks in the wine cellar, otherwise he would be harmed by the dark wizard, and he would have to be treated badly and even sell his pants.

"I knew this guy had something good up his sleeve."

The middle-aged man drank up the malt liquor in the glass in one gulp, placed the glass heavily in front of Old Tom and said, "A glass of whiskey."

"I won't sell it by the cup. If you want the whole bottle, I can sell it to you cheaper." Old Tom lowered his voice and said, "I don't have much left in stock. I asked those guys to give it to me some time ago..."

Old Tom suddenly shut up, because several unwelcome fellows were walking into the Leaky Cauldron.

Well, it should be said that they walked directly into the bar, intending to go to the wine cellar to get ale.

This was not the first time such a naked robbery occurred. Tom, the boss, didn't even dare to say a word. He only gave Percy a look and signaled him not to say anything, then poured him a glass of malt wine.

After a while, several more people came in from outside.

I also carried the wine by myself. Judging from the ease with which he did it, it was obvious that this was not the first time he had done so.

As if drinking was not enough, he shouted to Old Tom and asked him to get some food for everyone.

The latter nodded obediently and went to the kitchen to prepare supper.

But, for some reason, Tom just didn't come out of the kitchen.

After the group of people got impatient, they went directly to the kitchen, only to find that the kitchen was almost empty, and Old Tom fell to the ground, with blood on his forehead, his life or death unknown.

The dark wizards looked at each other in disbelief, holding the remaining ale in the cellar with a gloomy expression.

As for Old Tom, who cares about the old guy's life or death.

After all the dark wizards left, they saw Old Tom slowly coming out of the kitchen with his forehead in his hands. He didn't look like he had fallen down and fainted.

"Are you okay?" Percy couldn't help but ask.

"Here you go, I'm leaving." Old Tom handed the things to Percy.

"Are you planning to pretend to be dead?" the middle-aged man raised his eyebrows.

"No, I can't live anymore. I'm going to give up running the Leaky Cauldron for the time being."

After Old Tom handed Percy the bottle of red wine that the other party ordered, he simply abandoned the Leaky Cauldron and ran away, preparing to find another place to receive help.

"You should go back as soon as possible."

The middle-aged man nodded to Percy, turned around and left, leaving behind Percy Weasley, who was holding red wine and looking astonished.

"You said we can't hide it from them?" Old Tom looked at his companions uneasily.

"It should be possible. They will probably think you are dead. If you push the situation a little bit, they will believe it." Lee Jordan was actually here to cover Old Tom's retreat today.

"That's good." Old Tom breathed a sigh of relief. He had been worried that after he left the Leaky Cauldron, other dark wizards would anger his family.

Dark wizards have very low moral standards and can do anything.

The next day, people who went to Diagon Alley suddenly realized that there was no one in the Leaky Cauldron, leaving only an empty bar. Many wizards speculated that Old Tom had been killed by Death Eaters.

In this regard, the dark wizards who have done bad things cannot quibble. Even if there is a voice saying that Old Tom fell to death by himself, no one will believe that kind of nonsense.

The news that "Old Tom is dead" spread quickly in Diagon Alley, and everyone was in danger for a while. They knew about Old Tom's situation, and many shops closed their stores because of this, for fear of causing trouble for themselves. .

This incident soon appeared on the wizard's lookout station. Even though he knew that Old Tom was still alive, Lee Jordan still chose to add fuel to the flames and help the famous Death Eaters gain enough hatred.

"Aren't you afraid that they will know that you are talking nonsense here?" Shanna looked at the extremely excited Li Jordan speechlessly.

"I have talked about this matter with Old Tom, and he agreed to it." Lee Jordan explained to everyone, "He is worried that some dark wizards will do something excessive if they know that he is still alive. It is a good idea to pretend to be dead. choose."

"By the way, I also met your brother."

"My brother?"

"Percy," the little girl reminded.

"Oh, what happened to him?"

"Do you suspect that guy is actually one of ours?" George said in a strange tone.

"If he is really on the side of the Death Eaters, I'm afraid it will be difficult for Old Tom to be convinced." Lee Jordan felt that this matter was a bit strange.

"No, he's on the side of profit." Fred sneered.

"I remember that Percy's girlfriend seems to be in the association." Lee Jordan seemed to have thought of something, so he sent someone to find Penello. The former Ravenclaw prefect heard about Percy's incident. Finally, the reaction was relatively calm.

"We have been separated for a long time. He said he was worried that it would affect me, so he separated."

Penello reacted very coldly when talking about this incident, not even using Percy's name and referring to him directly.

"So, that guy is really our spy hidden in the Ministry of Magic?" The Weasley twins couldn't help but widen their eyes, unable to believe this.

"I don't know. I'm afraid you have to ask Albert about this." Penello walked away.

"It should be true. It probably has something to do with Albert." Zannah's fall to the ground was not a surprise. If Percy Weasley had really defected to the Death Eaters, Tom would not have died so easily.