Chapter 95: Trendy Accessories
Tempted by the lure of Galleons, Kyle and the others spent the entire week holed up in a small, stuffy, abandoned classroom. By the end, they'd produced more than 300 "Exam-Passing Amulets."
Of these, over 100 were meticulously hand-carved by the six of them, each one crafted with a steady hand and undiluted concentration. The other 200 were made assembly-line style: first, the patterns were carved, and then the Doubling Charm was used to transfer them onto the Rowan branches. The quality of these was admittedly less refined, but they still looked convincingly authentic.
After a week of effort, the group had become quite adept at using the Doubling Charm—a spell not usually taught until the sixth year.
"I'll leave the rest up to you," Kyle said, his expression serious, at dinner on the evening before the school year officially began. He looked at the other five intently. "You all know the process, so just handle it like you did when you sold the maps."
Fred and the others nodded with equally serious expressions. Though they'd done this sort of thing before, this venture was on a much larger scale, covering the whole school, and they were understandably a bit nervous.
"Kyle, should we really charge Hufflepuffs, too?" Cedric asked, hesitating. He was, after all, the nice one of the group.
Kyle clapped him on the shoulder. "It's a necessity, Cedric," he reassured him, "but we can offer Hufflepuff a special discount."
"Fifty percent?"
"No, 5 percent!" Kyle replied. After a moment's thought, he added, "But we'll round down a Knut."