"Why not? This hat is quite nice," Hermione said, not fully understanding. She played with the hat in her hand, adjusting the clover on it towards Tom.
"No, definitely not," Tom had no sympathy for that hat. To distract Hermione's attention, he picked up a small Krum figurine in his hands.
"Look how delicately this action figure is made!"
Wizard-made action figures are much more sophisticated than those made by non-magical manufacturers. Some non-magical action figures, from start to finish, convey a sense of wanting to take your money. For example, some very popular anime series that haven't even aired yet have released a ton of low-quality action figures. They're one step away from putting the words "You're a fool, come and spend your money" on them.
Magical world figurines are much more reliable. First of all, the facial reproduction is extremely realistic, identical to a real person. There are no action figures of evil gods with crumbling faces. Second, the quality of magical action figures is quite good; you won't find "mystery box" style action figures with ten stiff hairs and nine broken ones. Most importantly, these figurines can move, walk, and change expressions, making them very lifelike and authentic.
"Would you like to buy a Krum figurine? It's very popular, only costs one Galleon!" The vendor noticed Tom's keen interest in action figures and started promoting them enthusiastically.
"Too expensive," Tom thought the figurine wasn't worth the price because it was very small, barely the size of a pinkie finger.
"It's not a common product," the vendor tried to justify, "This figurine can ride a broomstick!"
Tom immediately became interested and asked the vendor to demonstrate it.
Sure enough, the small Krum model directly mounted a miniature Firebolt and flew around the cart.
Mr. Granger's eyes lit up. Initially, it was just a small figurine that could move, nothing out of the ordinary, but when it mounted the broomstick and flew, its nature completely changed—it became a super cool action figure!
Tom pondered for a moment and said, "I'll take all the starting players from the Ireland and Bulgaria teams. Can you give me a discount? Also, if you've already created this functionality, have you made the Quidditch pitch as well?"
"Of course," the vendor proudly pulled out a large box from under the cart. This box was a 50:1 scale model of a real Quidditch pitch. Of course, even in scaled-down version, it was still ten feet long and four feet wide.
Such a large model, even if the interior was roughly made, still had great value.
After a lively discussion, Tom purchased the model from the vendor for thirty Galleons, in addition to the starting teams of Bulgaria and Ireland, and also received fourteen miniature Firebolts.
Hermione also bought some Ireland badges from the vendor.
"Uncle, this is a gift for you, thanks for taking care of us for so long!" Tom immediately handed the set of models to Mr. Granger.
After that, Tom and Hermione went shopping in the camp and picked out all the souvenirs they liked.
"We've saved so much money for so long just for this moment!"
Tom and Hermione had been working throughout July, and now they could finally spend without restrictions.
"This, this, three Galleons, you understand?" As Tom was considering whether to buy an Omniocular for each of them, he suddenly heard a familiar voice.
He looked over and saw Fred and George, each holding a box, trying to sell joke toys while dancing and waving their hands in front of some girls. But due to the language barrier, their business wasn't going very well.
Tom approached them, "Looks like you might need a little help."
"Tom, I can't understand what these lovely girls are saying." Fred held his forehead with his hand, clearly the girls in front of them were very potential customers, but Fred didn't understand a single word they were saying.
Tom listened for a bit and realized they were all speaking French.
"Good evening, may I be your translator?" he asked the French girls in somewhat clumsy French.
Upon hearing the phrases with a strange but understandable accent, the girls' eyes lit up.
"We would like to buy some wands that can turn into kittens." The girl leading the group spoke very slowly, fearing that Tom might not understand her.
Tom nodded and conveyed their needs.
Fred shook his head, "We only have two wands that can turn into cats."
The French girls chatted animatedly and eventually bought five of Fred's fake wands, along with a box of Canary Creams.
"Merlin above!" Fred exclaimed excitedly as the girls walked away, pumping his fist in the air.
"We can sell one fake wand for three Galleons! We just made fifteen Galleons from that sale! Oh, for heaven's sake, I wish the World Cup was held every year," George said while holding a bag full of money and wearing a happy smile.
"If it's held so frequently, not as many people would come to watch the matches," Tom commented with a shrug, then returned to the Granger family.
By that time, Hermione had already purchased four Omnioculars. As soon as Tom returned, she handed one to him.
"It's very versatile, replays, does slow-motion, and gives situational analysis of the game." Hermione seemed very satisfied with the multipurpose telescope.
Tom didn't say much and accepted the expensive gift with gratitude.
When they returned to the tent, both of them had spent all their money, and the others had also bought some souvenirs. Bill, Charlie, and Ginny wore green badges on their clothes, Mr. Weasley waved an Ireland team flag, and Ron wore the green clover hat on his head and held the Krum figurine and the Omniocular in his hands.
"What's that?" When they saw the model of the Quidditch pitch that Tom and Mr. Granger were carrying, the entire tent filled with excitement.
During the next hour, everyone gathered around the table and watched the two miniature teams battle it out on the Quidditch pitch model until the match was about to begin.
He glanced at the clock, and Mr. Weasley decided it was time to head to the match venue. He looked around and counted the people, realizing that Percy, Fred, and George had disappeared.
"Where the hell have those bloody kids gone?" Mr. Weasley felt frustrated. He hadn't even given them the tickets yet!
After a moment of thought, he decided to leave the tickets in the tent and have the rest of the group head to the stadium.
"That's a good strategy," he thought.
They all walked down the lantern-lit path toward the forest. Midway, they saw Fred and George running toward them, out of breath.
From the souvenirs they were carrying, it was evident that their businesses had gone well.
"Percy decided to watch the game with his girlfriend..."
"-not with us."
They both completed the sentence as a play on words.
"Let him go his own way," Mr. Weasley said, raising his hands in a sign that he understood.