During the second week of Easter break, Kyle kept to his routine of leaving the common room after breakfast and not returning until evening.
Instead of heading to his usual spots — the library or the Room of Requirement on the eighth floor — he spent his days in an abandoned classroom on the third floor of the castle.
He wasn't alone. The classroom housed Fred and George from Gryffindor, Cho Chang from Ravenclaw, and Kanna and Cedric. All six students were hard at work in the cramped space.
"Kyle, can you check if this pattern is right?" Cho set down her small knife and wiped sweat from her forehead, "Something feels off about it."
"Don't worry about it, small imperfections don't matter." Kyle replied without looking up, "No one will notice anyway, as long as it gets the general idea across."
He held a rowan tree branch from the Forbidden Forest in his right hand and a small knife in his left.
Kyle methodically stripped away the bark and excess parts, then skillfully carved irregular patterns into the wood. Soon, he had completed an oval wooden pendant featuring a crossed wand and quill design.
Next to him lay many similar pendants — oval, triangular, and square ones.
The other five had transformed from wizards into makeshift carpenters, laboring over their branches with determined concentration.
Near noon, Fred brushed wood shavings off himself and examined his morning's "labor results" with a frown, "Kyle, will these things really sell?"
The others lifted their heads at his question.
Two days earlier, Kyle had summoned them with promises of a big business deal. Fresh from their success selling maps, they had eagerly agreed without question, ready to follow his lead.
But none had expected Kyle would have them carving wood for two days — by hand, without magic. This left them bewildered.
"They should sell." Kyle said after a moment's thought, "Rowan wood charms are quite popular in the wizarding world."
"Wait... we're making charms?" George asked incredulously.
Their lack of woodworking experience showed clearly — while not exactly ugly, their carved items weren't particularly attractive and came in oddly misshapen forms.
Even George couldn't, in good conscience, call these crude items charms.
"What you and Fred made are just wooden lumps." Kyle said, "But they'll be different once Kanna and the others carve the patterns on them."
The group exchanged skeptical glances. Unless these patterns were some kind of special magical symbols — like ancient runes — even carving a hundred of them wouldn't make these items more than wooden lumps.
"Speaking of that..." Cedric asked, "What kind of pattern is this anyway? I've never seen it before."
"It's a symbol representing exam success — you could say it brings good luck for passing tests." Kyle paused thoughtfully before explaining, "In 1790, when the Wizarding Convention passed the law establishing the Wizarding Examinations Authority, Hogwarts held its first N.E.W.T.s examinations.
Young wizards who passed their exams would receive a special letter from the Ministry of Magic, stamped with the symbol of a crossed quill and wand. This symbol became known as the mark of passing exams, and graduating students would often carry it before exams for good luck.
However, after Professor Marchbanks became head of the Examination Authority, this symbol was replaced with ordinary envelopes."
Fred and the others stared at him in amazement, "1790… that was two hundred years ago. How do you know all this?"
"From reading, of course." Kyle shrugged casually, "If you'd finished reading 'Hogwarts: A History', you wouldn't be so surprised."
Reading, huh... well, that explains it. Fred and George turned their heads away simultaneously, giving him a thumbs up.
'Hogwarts: A History' was such a huge, thick book it could serve as a shield. Flipping through it when bored was one thing, but actually finishing it was asking too much. Even Cedric hadn't managed that feat.
But that wasn't the main point. After Kyle's explanation, they understood his reasoning. Though these rowan wood items weren't real charms, there was no denying their appeal — especially at this particular time.
Even Fred and George found themselves tempted. If someone had been selling these during last year's final exams, they might have actually bought them.
"But Kyle, couldn't we use the Duplication Charm?" Cho asked, "Like we did with the maps before — wouldn't that be easier?"
"Of course we could, but those would have a different price." Kyle wagged his finger, "I'm planning three tiers of products: high-end custom pieces for ten Galleons, handcrafted ones — what we're making now — for two Galleons, and mass-produced disposable ones for five Sickles."
"That's so cheap?" Cho asked in disbelief.
A map cost ten Sickles, and these carved items were much more complicated to duplicate than maps.
Before Kyle could explain, Cedric seemed to realize something, "How much pocket money do you have left?"
"Pocket money?" Cho paused, "I spent quite a bit recently, so I only have about one Galleon left..."
Her voice trailed off as understanding dawned on her face.
"Now you get it." Kyle smiled, "It's the end of term, and most students don't have much money left. If we price them too high, no one will be able to buy them even if they want to. Besides, we're not just targeting first-years anymore — we're selling to the whole school. That's several times more people than before, so five Sickles is enough. Think of it as making friends."
Everyone automatically ignored his last comment, remembering he'd said the same thing when selling the maps.
Five Sickles for making friends — so what about the other two types...
Fred and George silently lowered their heads. The branches in their hands now seemed to take the shape of gold Galleons, and their job was to carve those Galleons out.
"Oh, right..." Kyle said suddenly, as if remembering something, "For the ones not made with the Duplication Charm, remember to carve the year on them at the end."
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