Chapter 234 The Wealth Of The Black Family
Sirius received a gift from the shop owner for all the upcoming Quidditch League Games next year, a complete set of 10 privileged seats, upon purchasing the Firebolt.
The Quidditch League is the abbreviation for the Super British and Irish Quidditch Teams Competition, organized by the top 13 teams in the magical world.
Unlike the simple clash among the four Hogwarts Houses, the Quidditch League is a professional competition.
It boasts a high level of competition and recruits players from all over the world.
The captain of Gryffindor's Quidditch team, Oliver Wood, harbored a great aspiration to join Puddlemere United after graduation and become a professional player.
During school, he always brought the latest news of Puddlemere United to Hogwarts Magic newspaper, contributing articles discussing the team's new tactical analysis and more.
Since Wood's words were often heard by Evan, Harry, and Hermione, they too eagerly anticipated witnessing the professional league.
They checked the schedule for the upcoming year and discovered that on New Year's Day, there would be a match between Puddlemere United and Wimbourne Wasps.
Given that it was the first Quidditch match after Christmas, with both teams having strong championship chances, and the upcoming Quidditch World Cup in the summer among other reasons, the game was highly sought after, making it challenging to secure a ticket. Fortunately, Sirius managed to acquire tickets.
After discussing it, they decided to watch the match before returning to school and invited the Weasleys to join them.
Evan descended the stairs, pondering the tasks he needed to accomplish during the remainder of the Christmas break, with the most crucial being improving his own strength.
The first floor of the Leaky Cauldron was in disarray, showing no signs of the previous day being Christmas.
Almost overnight, the bustling pub had transitioned from its lively Christmas party to its old, grimy appearance as if it had not been cleaned in ages.
Nevertheless, there was no unpleasant smell in the air but rather filled with the aroma of food.
The bar's owner, Tom, stood behind a worn-out bar, grilling a series of sausages, a grim smile on his face when he spotted Evan.
"Good morning, Mr. Mason!"
"Good morning!" Evan greeted.
Not far in the quirky lounge, Lupin, Sirius, and Hermione were already awake, sitting around a round table having breakfast, engaged in spirited discussion.
It seemed they were waiting for Evan to arrive and had prepared breakfast for him.
"Just in time, Evan, we were just talking about you!" Sirius greeted waving his hand as Evan entered, gesturing for him to sit beside him, and getting straight to the point, "I overheard Remus and Hermione mention it, are you planning to rent a house in Diagon Alley?"
"Yes," Evan nodded, wondering why Sirius had brought it up. He took the cup of milk Hermione offered and explained, "I have thought it over carefully. If I aim to further expand Hogwarts Magic's sales and influence, I must relocate the newspaper headquarters to Diagon Alley, like the 'Daily Prophet'. It is also convenient for Professor Lupin to handle things…"
"Have you already chosen the right location?" Sirius inquired, "Renting shops in Diagon Alley is not cheap; it costs many Galleons!"
Evan shook his head. In fact, that was precisely his issue.
Though he had gained a substantial amount from Hogwarts Magic's lucrative advertising fees in the past two years, he had also spent a lot.
Apart from sponsoring various magical research projects by Fred, George, Hermione, and other young wizards, the vast majority of his earnings had been spent on procuring valuable magic books at Flourish and Blotts and wholesaling potion ingredients.
The money Evan could afford to spend at that moment was around two hundred gold galleons. This sum would only allow him to choose a shop in a remote location, hoping that the place wouldn't be too far away.
However, the most frustrating part was that he couldn't spend all this money.
He had to set aside some for a daily flow of newspapers, as well as for buying the necessary materials for the magic test and items that needed to be updated...
The amount of money he needed to spend on magic enhancement was a bottomless pit.
Two thousand galleons wouldn't have been enough, let alone two hundred.
Evan sighed; from all angles, he had to find a profitable long-term project that could generate a significant amount of money.
Although the newspaper operation could be profitable, it was far from sufficient. The main purpose of operating newspapers was to enhance influence and control public opinion. Making money was an additional benefit.
Furthermore, the revenues from "Hogwarts Magic" had reached a saturation point, and it was challenging to gain significant momentum in a short time.
As for viable profitable projects, Evan only knew of one currently.
It was the Weasley's prank products developed by Fred and George, which were highly popular among other young wizards. If all went well, it could even become the biggest prank product brand in the magical world, and making money would not be a problem.
The issue now was that if they wanted to realize all the ideas in their heads and open the market, they still needed a considerable sum of money to invest initially.
Evan didn't have the money. Fred and George were even less likely to have it. Most of their previous research and development expenses were almost entirely sponsored by Evan.
Moreover, if they wanted to open a joke shop, they also needed to rent a shop in Diagon Alley.
All problems circled back to the original point. They didn't have enough money to rent a suitable shop in Diagon Alley at once.
The Weasley's joke shop was put on hold, but the issue of the newspaper headquarters was imminent and had to be resolved during the Christmas holidays. It couldn't be postponed until next summer.
Evan estimated that for a location not too remote, considering the surrounding situation and foot traffic, the annual rent ranged between three hundred and five hundred gold galleons.
This meant he had to find a way to obtain at least two hundred gold galleons.
Evan was determined to first pinpoint the specific shop, and the cash in hand could be used as rent. If there really was no other way, in his personal collection, there were many precious magic books and some refinement potions he could sell.
However, Evan wouldn't do that unless it was his last resort.
He was contemplating a quick way to get two hundred gold galleons. Even if he turned to his family for it, his parents wouldn't give him that much money at once.
He only wanted to borrow money, which was nearly impossible.
Whether the Weasleys or Lupin, Harry, Hermione, and the people around Evan, their financial status was relatively average, or even challenging, unless...
Evan suddenly thought of Sirius. Although he had been in Azkaban for twelve years, he still possessed an incredible fortune as the sole heir of the most noble and ancient Black family.
By the fact that he casually bought Harry a Firebolt as a Christmas gift, it was evident that he was not in a financially dire situation at all. A few hundred gold galleons would not be a problem for him.
Evan's eyes lit up. Sirius didn't wait for him to speak and continued.
"I can help you with the location. If I recall correctly, the Black family still has several shops in Diagon Alley. It's an ancestral legacy. You can use them whenever you want." Sirius said casually, "Otherwise, they would just be idle there. If I rent them out, I don't have time to manage them or collect rent."
Upon hearing Sirius, Evan was left astounded. The idea had just emerged, and Sirius had already proposed it. Evidently, he had it all planned out. It turned out he had just relayed this to Lupin and Hermione.
Evan hastily expressed his gratitude to Sirius, yet the latter insisted that he need not fret over such matters.
In Sirius' eyes, offering a few shops was trivial compared to what Evan had done for him.
Due to the elapsed time, Sirius couldn't recall the exact number or locations of the shops.
When Harry arrived, they deliberated for a while and decided to head to the Black family vault at Gringotts Wizarding Bank after breakfast to search for those property titles.
Evan, too, was intrigued about the Black family vault. He wished to witness the awe-inspiring wealth accumulated by this pure-blood family over the past millennium.