"Good evening, Tom. Are you... planning on closing the store?"
A middle-aged brown-haired man glanced at the empty bar, his eyes fell on the bar owner who was wiping the table, and raised his hand to greet him.
"Not yet, but it's almost there." Old Tom threw down the rag and complained gloomily, "The economy has been bad recently, and there are a bunch of freeloaders. Sooner or later, they will all go bankrupt. What do you want to drink?"
"A fiery whiskey."
The middle-aged man sat down at the bar.
"I only have the cheapest wine left in my cellar."
Old Tom returned to the bar and poured a glass of the cheapest ale for his old friend in front of him. "It's my treat."
"You're not really planning to close the store!"
The middle-aged man stared at the free drink in front of him and was very surprised at the situation in the Leaky Cauldron.
"I guess it will be soon." Old Tom shrugged and said, "After the last batch of drinks are sold, I plan to close this store."
"What about the Leaky Cauldron?"
A young red-haired man came over, obviously surprised by Old Tom's decision.
"It's okay. Whoever wants to take it over can take it over. It's a losing business anyway." Old Tom looked up at the person who came and seemed to have thought of something. He blurted out, "A bottle of Bowell wine, right?"
"Yes, it seems you still remember."
Percy pulled a few Galleons from his pocket and placed them on the table.
"I've kept it for you since you wrote to me last time. I'll go get it for you." It was impossible for Old Tom to squander all the good wine in the bar. After the Death Eaters ate and drank for free, he quietly transferred most of the expensive wine in the wine cellar. Otherwise, if he allowed the dark wizards to harm him, he would be treated so badly that he would even have to sell his trousers.
"I knew this guy had something good up his sleeve."
The middle-aged man drank the ale in the glass in one gulp, put the glass heavily in front of Old Tom and said, "A glass of whiskey."
"I don't sell by the glass anymore. If you want a whole bottle, I can sell it to you at a lower price." Old Tom lowered his voice and said, "I don't have much left. Some time ago, those guys gave me..."
Old Tom suddenly shut up because a few unwelcome guys were walking into the Leaky Cauldron in a group.
Well, rather, they headed straight into the bar, intending to get some ale from the cellar themselves.
This was not the first time that this kind of naked robbery had happened, and Tom didn't even dare to say a word. He just gave Percy a look, signaling him not to say anything, and poured him a glass of ale.
After a while, a few more people came in from outside.
He also went to move the wine himself, and seeing how familiar he was with it, it was obviously not the first time he had done that.
As if drinking was not enough, they shouted to Old Tom to get some food for everyone.
The latter nodded honestly and went to the kitchen to prepare a midnight snack.
But, for some reason, Tom didn't come out of the kitchen.
After the group got tired of waiting, they went straight to the kitchen, only to find it was almost empty, and Old Tom was lying on the floor with blood on his forehead, his life or death unknown.
The dark wizards looked at each other, and held the remaining ale in the cellar with gloomy faces.
As for Old Tom, who cares whether that old guy lives or dies
After the group of dark wizards had all left, Old Tom was seen walking out of the kitchen slowly, holding his forehead. He did not look like he had fallen or fainted at all.
"Are you okay?" Percy couldn't help but ask.
"Here you go. I'm leaving." Old Tom handed the things to Percy.
"Are you planning to play dead?" the middle-aged man raised his eyebrows.
"No, I can't make ends meet anymore. I'm going to give up running the Leaky Cauldron for a while."
After Old Tom gave Percy the bottle of red wine that the other party had ordered, he simply left the Leaky Cauldron and ran away, preparing to find another place to get help.
"You should go back as soon as possible."
The middle-aged man nodded at Percy, turned around and left, leaving Percy Weiss holding a glass of red wine with a look of surprise on his face.
"You said we can't hide it from them?" Old Tom looked at his companions anxiously.
"It should be possible. They will most likely think you are dead. If we encourage them a little, they will believe it." Lee Jordan actually came today to cover Old Tom's retreat.
"That's good." Old Tom breathed a sigh of relief. He had been worried that after he left the Leaky Cauldron, other dark wizards would take their anger out on his family.
Dark wizards have very low moral standards and are capable of doing anything.
The next day, people who went to Diagon Alley suddenly became rich, but there was no one in the Leaky Cauldron. There was only an empty bar. Many wizards speculated that Old Tom was killed by Death Eaters.
In this regard, the dark wizards who have done all kinds of evil have no way to make excuses. Even if someone says that Old Tom fell to his death, no one will believe such nonsense.
The news that "Old Tom is dead" quickly spread in Diagon Alley. For a time, everyone was in danger. They knew about Old Tom's situation, and many shops temporarily suspended their operations for fear of getting into trouble.
This incident soon appeared on the wizard lookout. Lee Jordan, who knew that Old Tom was still alive, still chose to add fuel to the flames, helping the famous Death Eaters to gain enough hatred.
"Aren't you afraid that they will know you're talking nonsense here?" Sana looked at the extremely excited Lee Jordan speechlessly.
"I've talked to Old Tom about this, and he agreed." Lee Jordan explained to everyone, "He's worried that some dark wizards will do something extreme if they know he's still alive. Pretending to be dead is a good choice."
"By the way, I also met your brother."
"My brother?"
"Percy," the little girl reminded.
"Oh, what happened to him?"
"Do you suspect that guy is actually one of ours?" George asked in a strange tone.
"If he really stands on the side of the Death Eaters, it may be difficult for Old Tom to be convinced." Lee Jordan felt that this matter was a bit strange.
"No, he's on the side of profit," Fred sneered.
"I remember Percy's girlfriend seemed to be in the association." Lee Jordan seemed to have thought of something, and asked someone to find Penelope. The former Ravenclaw prefect reacted calmly after hearing about Percy.
"We have been separated for a long time. He said he was worried that it would affect me, so he separated."
Penelope reacted coldly when she talked about this matter. She didn't even use Percy's name, but referred to him directly.
"So, that guy is really our spy hidden in the Ministry of Magic?" The Weisley twins couldn't help but widen their eyes, finding it hard to believe it.
"I don't know. You may have to ask Albert." Penelope walked away.
"It should be true. It's probably related to Albert." It was not surprising that Shanna fell to the ground. If Percy Weiss had really joined the Death Eaters, Tom would not have died so easily.