dusk.
Katrina, who had just finished jogging and was catching her breath, was sitting on the swing in the corner of the courtyard to rest. She looked up at the sunset in the sky, then retracted her gaze to look at the flower bed in the yard again, letting her body sway slightly with the swing, and no one knew what she was thinking.
Ever since Yin Zebel and Albert started their post-marriage travel, the house has become empty, with only her and her mother left.
Although there are house-elves to help take care of everything, life is very comfortable, she can do what she likes every day and does not need to worry like wizards in the outside world, but Katrina is still a little tired of this boring life.
In fact, she also knew that it was very stupid and even a bit shameless to have such an idea.
It was very unsafe outside. Even though the Ministry of Magic had suppressed the Death Eaters with force, those vicious guys still came out to cause trouble from time to time. Moreover, because of Albert, she was easily targeted by the Death Eaters.
In fact, being able to stay here and live a leisurely life, and to safely survive the current turbulent times, is undoubtedly a very lucky thing, but...
"It seems that you are still too idle."
Mrs. McDougal's voice interrupted Katrina's thoughts.
"Am I not helping you compile that book every day?" Katrina raised her head and protested to her mother in dissatisfaction.
"Let me tell you something."
Mrs. McDougal ignored Katrina's complaints and suddenly spoke up.
"What's up?"
Katrina was a little impatient. She always felt that it was not going to be a good thing.
"I intend to give you all the Galleons I make from the publication of the book," Mrs. McDougal said indifferently.
"Give it to me, why?" Katrina was skeptical. "Besides, are you sure that book will sell well?"
"It's your start-up capital." Mrs. McDougal was confident that her book would sell well. "Yin Zebel has Albert to take care of him. They don't need this little money at all. And you just graduated, so you need to have some money on hand."
"Oh, well, you're right, I do need some Galleons."
Katrina didn't feel much psychological burden about getting the money. She had been helping to compile the book and never expected to earn many Galleons from the book. From the beginning, it was something Albert had found for them because he was worried that they were too idle.
"So, the rest of the editing work is left to you." Mrs. McDougal nodded with satisfaction, "Don't worry, I will be responsible for helping to keep an eye on it."
"Are you sure you're not kidding?"
Katrina couldn't help but widen her eyes. She suspected that her mother just disliked her for being too idle and was deliberately finding something for her to do.
"You want to open a beauty salon, so you need some start-up capital." Mrs. McDougal stared at her worrying daughter, "Is that it, or do you want to rely on Albert? Although I don't think Albert would care about helping you, is this really a good idea?"
Katrina was silent.
Although she had thought about opening a beauty salon, she had never really considered the issue of Garlon. According to the original plan, she should have opened a beauty salon with everyone.
"Even if you don't want to open a store, you still need to have some savings of your own. It's not a good idea to always rely on others!" Mrs. McDougal reminded, "Don't forget, we don't know how long we will stay here. Don't waste your precious life in vain."
"You really think I'm too idle." Katrina was extremely depressed. "Besides, the meaning of life is not just to make money."
"We didn't publish this book just to make money," Mrs. McDougal corrected. "In the near future, people will need it."
"You just believe his words so much."
Katrina actually wanted to say something else, but in the end it turned into a helpless sigh.
"When you have a job, you don't have to let your mind wander so much." Mrs. McDougal sat on the swing nearby.
"I'm not imagining anything."
Katrina didn't bother to argue with Mrs. McDougal. She reached out and touched the fat cat lying steadily on the swing, then changed the subject and asked, "Are they back?"
"Not yet..." Mrs. McDougal sighed softly and asked, "Have you read the book I gave you?"
"I'm not the one who's pregnant." Katrina became even more depressed.
"Yin Zebel needs your care," Mrs. McDougal reminded.
"I don't think Yin Zebel needs my care. She has never needed anyone's care since she was a child." Katrina curled her lips, feeling an indescribable feeling in her heart.
"She's your sister," Mrs. McDougal reminded.
"I know what you mean."
"You've grown up, and I don't want to nag you all the time." Mrs. McDougal glanced at her daughter and continued, "Think about it carefully. Go talk to Yin Zebel when you have time. They should be back tonight."
Katrina said nothing. She stood up from the swing, picked up the fat cat who was still lying and yawning, put it on the ground, and walked towards the bathroom alone.
"Oh, what a troublesome guy." Mrs. McDougal shook her head.
Because we had made arrangements in advance, today's dinner is especially sumptuous.
When the house-elf brought the sumptuous food to the table, the door of the restaurant was pushed open, and Albert and Yin Zebel, dressed in lazy home clothes, walked in.
"Welcome home."
Katrina walked up to Yin Zebel and gave her a warm hug. After kissing her on the cheek, she pulled her to sit in the seat next to her.
“It’s not that exaggerated.”
Yin Zebel felt a little funny as he watched Tom, who was rubbing his head against Albert's ankle excitedly.
"Long time no see, Tom." Albert squatted down and touched the excited fat cat's head, then picked it up and shook its weight, saying with a smile, "You've gotten fatter again."
"Okay, let's eat first," Mrs. McDougal said with a smile.
The dinner was very strange, with fried dumplings, mixed fish soup, fried noodles, beef stew with potatoes... It felt like a mix of cuisines from all over the world.
While eating, several people talked about traveling after marriage.
Mrs. McDougal was a little surprised that they should go on a post-wedding trip to the sea.
"So, you actually hid under the sea for your honeymoon?" Katrina couldn't understand what they were thinking.
"It should be said that on the ship." Albert corrected.
Katrina didn't pay attention to Albert's words. She ate the food on the plate and secretly looked at her sister. She always felt that Yin Zebel was more beautiful than before.
"Is that confirmed?" Mrs. McDougal asked. "I'll check it for you later."
"Well, actually I have checked it."
Yin Zebel recalled the scene when he and Albert went to the Muggle pharmacy to buy things, and he felt a little embarrassed.
"We still need to check again, and there are some things we should pay special attention to after pregnancy." After dinner, Mrs. McDougal took Yin Zebel to a specially vacated medical room.
"Is everything okay at home?" Albert asked as he picked up Tom.
"No, I'm just bored staying at home all the time." Katrina glanced at Albert who was petting the cat and said calmly, "The cat is lazy and I can't get it to get up and exercise."
"It's okay, Tom is like this, there's no need to force it." Albert didn't care at all and continued to ask, "What about the British wizarding world?"
"I've left you all the more important newspapers. They're all here." Katrina walked to the cabinet, took out a stack of newspapers and placed them in front of Albert. She recalled, "Scrimgeour has been sentencing dark wizards to death recently, and his fines to Death Eaters have been exposed. His reputation in the wizarding world is polarized."
"The effect is quite good." Albert was not too surprised by this. Scrimgeour's actions undoubtedly offended some pure-bloods.
If Scrimgeour had not known in advance that he would most likely die in office, he probably would not have been so extreme.
Unfortunately, someone got involved.
"Most of the dark wizards are in hiding, and they dare not come out to cause trouble, for fear of being caught and sent to trial." Katrina suspected that Scrimgeour's radical behavior was related to Albert. "However, the Death Eaters are still active, and they burned down Scrimgeour's house as revenge."
"Also, your Self-Defense Guide is a big hit. It's expected to be the best-selling book this year." Katrina pointed to the new version of the Self-Defense Guide on the table and said, "The Ministry of Magic hired someone to delete some parts of your original version, but the Galleons sold still belong to you. Well, the main reason is that the Ministry of Magic gives everyone discount coupons, which can get half the subsidy. Almost all families are willing to spend 1 Galleon to buy a copy."
"It's a very clever move, isn't it?" Albert said softly. "Even if the Ministry of Magic subsidizes it, it's only a thousand Galleons. Scrimgeour can gain a large number of supporters and get along well with me. Why not do it?"
"Isn't this your idea?" Katrina looked at Albert suspiciously. It's no wonder she thought so, because Scrimgeour did enact many policies that were beneficial to Albert.
"Why do you say that?" Albert asked.
"The Ministry of Magic has also set up a Defense Against the Dark Arts props store, supposedly to allow everyone to buy qualified Defense Against the Dark Arts props." Katrina pointed to a newspaper on the table and said, "Of course, some people think this is a conspiracy by the Weisley family to try to monopolize the Defense Against the Dark Arts props."
"It seems that there are a lot of jealous people!" Albert was not too surprised, because it was really profitable.
"I think it's normal for someone to think that way, since the store is right next door and all the products sold there are from your store?" Katrina assured herself that this matter was definitely related to Albert. It seemed like Albert had hired a bodyguard for his store.
“That’s actually pretty clever.”
Albert began to read the newspaper about the Defense Against the Dark Arts store.
"That's really smart." Katrina nodded and analyzed, "Scrimgeour can really win over a large group of people by doing that."
"By winning over Arthur Weiss to his Order of the Phoenix, Harry Potter, and a genius like you, we can solve the problem of low-quality Defense Against the Dark Arts props flooding the market, allowing everyone to buy safe and reliable Defense Against the Dark Arts props. We can also bring them under the supervision of the Ministry of Magic, saving the Ministry of Magic a lot of money... and solve the security problem of Diagon Alley at the same time."
"And all the Ministry of Magic needs to do is to dispatch a few employees to show everyone Scrimgeour's determination to fight against dark wizards and protect everyone's lives."
"By the way, not long ago, Harry Potter also publicly supported Scrimgeour in his fight against dark wizards." Katrina sighed softly, "It seems that our new minister is very powerful and has great courage. Recently, we could see some dark wizard being sentenced to death every day."
"Yeah, it's really amazing." Albert was also full of emotion, "If it were someone else, they would probably still be worried about how to clean up Fudge's mess!"
"So, are you going to... hide here forever?" Katrina never thought Albert was a quiet guy.
"Any questions?" Albert asked.
"I thought you were going to go after You-Know-Who through the Ministry."
"It's not my job to fight You-Know-Who," Albert put down the newspaper and said calmly, "Scrimgeour wouldn't tolerate an outsider telling him what to do, so why make yourself uncomfortable?"
This was a disguised acknowledgement of his relationship with Scrimgeour.
To put it bluntly, the two of them are just taking advantage of each other for their own needs.
Although Scrimgeour had changed a lot of things under Albert's influence, he didn't have much time left.
After Dumbledore's death, Scrimgeour's death was not far away.
This is undoubtedly a very cruel reality.
Of course, Albert also had a way to help Scrimgeour escape, but he didn't think the other party would be willing to do that.
"Just say whatever you want to say!" Albert said to Katrina who was hesitant to speak.
"Nothing." Katrina shook her head.
"By the way, I'm planning to go out for a while. Please talk to Yin Zebel later." Before leaving the living room, Albert suddenly turned around and gave instructions to Katrina.
"You really can't stay idle?" Katrina frowned and said, "You just came back and you're going out?"
"Well, I have some things to take care of. I will be back soon." Albert began to prepare for his trip.
When Albert arrived at the entrance under Katrina's gaze, a familiar voice suddenly sounded in his ears.
"Honey, where are you going?" Yin Zebel looked at Albert who was about to leave with dissatisfaction.
"I have to go take care of the shops in Diagon Alley. Fred, George and Lee Jordan have probably cursed me countless times in their hearts." Albert turned around and walked to Yin Zebel, kissed her cheek and said.
Looking at the wooden door that closed again, Katrina turned her head to look at her sister and said, "If you don't want him to run around, you should tell him directly."
"How does it feel to stay at home?" Yin Zebel retracted his gaze to his sister and asked back.
"It's not very good, it's boring, and..." Katrina was interrupted by Yin Zebel before she finished her words.
"We haven't chatted together for a long time, let's go to your room!" Yin Zebel suddenly suggested.
"Chat? Oh, okay!" Katrina had a complicated expression, but finally walked towards her room helplessly.