great-warnovel Chapter 129 The Veela Deal
Chapter 129 The Veela Deal
Chapter 129 The Veela Deal
Furong's maternal grandmother remained calm, seemingly accustomed to being bossed around and ordered to perform less-than-respectable acts in public.
She quickly transformed from the beautiful old woman into a terrifying bird-like creature. Her head was elongated into a bird's head with a sharp beak, and wings covered in scales extended from her shoulders. She calmly looked at the crowd, but made no eye contact with Hibiscus among them.
Hermione finally understood why Fleur didn't want to come here. She knew that whenever guests came, her grandmother would also be used as a means to attract customers, and would be displayed and looked at like a commodity. Perhaps, some people would even turn around and look at her, wondering if she would end up like that.
"Okay, change it back!" the saleswoman said with a hint of disdain.
"The human form looks better."
Just then, a little girl who looked only a few years old stumbled to Furong's side, hugged her, and looked at everyone with timid eyes.
"Come back, Gabrielle, your sister is working, don't disturb her," their grandmother said softly.
Furong patted her sister's head and took her back to her grandmother.
"If you'd like, you can buy some magical animal food, and you'll also enjoy the previous discount price," she said in a barely audible voice.
Although the students present were somewhat mischievous, they were all kind-hearted. Seeing this scene, although they disapproved of the saleswoman's behavior, they thought that buying some of the feed would make life a little better for the grandmother and grandson, so they generously spent their money and selected some feed.
Hermione even spent 5 Galleons to buy a huge bag of premium Poison Horned Beast food, enough to fill a small cart, which she stuffed into her treasure bag.
"Miss, you don't need so much. This is enough for the unicorn to eat for two days." The saleswoman was both amused and exasperated, but she was always happy that someone was paying.
"I'd like to," Hermione said sternly.
Only Fleur whispered "thank you" to Hermione behind her.
While everyone was busy choosing different feeds, a window of the wooden building behind the stall was pushed open, and a man in a silk nightgown leaned out and shouted to the female sales assistant, "Hey Mary, how many more days are you staying in Beauxbatons? We're going crazy from not being able to go out."
The man had large, yellow teeth and a weathered face, but his attire was extremely ornate. He wore a golden, leaf-shaped crown, like an ancient Greek nobleman, and his hands, which he extended to rest on the windowsill, were adorned with gold and gemstone rings. Beneath his exquisite silk pajamas, one could vaguely see a vest intricately pieced together with gold and metalwork.
Upon hearing this, the saleswoman named Mary turned around and said with her brightest smile, "Three days! We'll depart in three days at the latest! Please wait a little longer, Mr. Nikolayevich. Isn't life here satisfactory? Why are you still thinking about life in the wilderness?"
"Are there any outsiders in the carriage?" Ron asked in a low voice.
"Of course, not just here, there are quite a few sanatoriums downstairs too," Furong replied softly.
"However, we have an agreement with Hogwarts: the carriage can stop, but the people inside cannot leave; otherwise, they will bear the consequences."
As expected, Professor McGonagall was always very concerned about protecting the students' safety. She could not accept Beauxbatons bringing random people from who-knows-where to wander around the school in their carriage.
"He's a Muggle." Hermione's heightened senses kicked in again. The richly dressed man showed no signs of magic, but every piece of jewelry he wore was an extremely expensive alchemical artifact.
Fleur looked at her in surprise and replied, "Yes, it's said that some powerful figure from the east has been living in the carriage for months. That's not cheap, especially for Muggles!"
Beauxbatons will welcome any guest—wizards, Muggles, even goblins—but they will try their best to prevent the three groups from meeting.
Even if there are disagreements, conflicts should not occur on the carriage.
"What's inside that building?" George asked curiously.
Furong thought for a moment, then hesitated to speak: "It's a place where children shouldn't go."
Building it here offers a unique kind of outdoor charm—
The man on the windowsill took a puff of his cigar and complained, "The climate here is so warm that sometimes I forget I'm even alive."
"I think I can stay for another month at most, then I'll have to go back and suffer. You know, the Siberian winds are really strong."
Mary, the sales assistant, said with a smile, "I will report your suggestion to the higher-ups. In the future, we will open a special snow-themed area, and we will definitely not let you down."
The man laughed heartily, his gaze falling upon Furong in the crowd.
"Oh? Isn't this Miss Delacour? You've grown even more beautiful since I last saw you!" This was accompanied by a disgusting, lewd laugh.
"Hello, Mr. Nikolayevich." Fleur lowered her head as much as possible so that the other person could not see her face.
The man turned to Mary, the sales associate, and said, "If you ask me, we should transfer her out of the sales department. She can create more value if she stays here."
Mary looked at Hibiscus with a mocking scrutiny in her eyes.
The latter raised his head and said in a firm voice, "My admission was personally approved by Mrs. Maxim, and I will remain a student of Beauxbatons until I graduate!"
"Tch!" the man scoffed.
"Mixed-race people help each other. Your female principal can't just be so kind just because she's a mixed-race giant."
He continued to Mary, "Think about how much money her mother was sold for. There aren't many places in the world where you can experience Veela."
He glanced at Hibiscus, then at little Gabrielle cowering beside her grandmother: "This is a rare resource. Whether you manage it yourself or sell it, it'll be a fortune in gold coins. Your Galon is really troublesome; you don't even recognize our own gold."
"However, you'd better keep one for breeding so you can operate in the long run." In his eyes, these impure humans could not be called humans at all; they were no different from the magical creatures hanging on the shelves in the front hall, sold piece by piece.
Mary smiled and echoed the other person, while Fleur and her grandmother remained silent; this kind of experience had been going on for quite some time.
"Let's go, Senior Fleur. Some of the things here are disgusting." Hermione narrowed her eyes. If they weren't on someone else's turf, she might have really taken action.
The boys walked ahead with great awareness, using the feed in their hands to tease the animals that followed them.
Hermione walked behind Fleur, her eyes red, but perhaps she had experienced this many times before, so she didn't cry.
"Do you have any other family members?" Hermione asked.
Furong shook her head: "When they sold Mom, Dad fought back and was beaten to death, leaving only the three of us."
Hermione wanted to ask them why they didn't run away, but then she thought that such special "products" like them would probably be kept under special guard by Beauxbatons.
"I will work hard to become the sales manager, so that Gabrielle and my grandmother will be safe," Fleur said firmly. Even with Mrs. Maxim's help, she still needed to work hard to completely escape her predicament of being at the mercy of others.