Volume 1 Chapter 34 Where does the money come from?
Fir trees are the kind of trees that can be used directly as Christmas trees. The place used to celebrate Christmas must have been carefully selected by Hagrid.
There are more than 60 teachers and students in their school, which is not a lot, but not a few either.
If they celebrate in a crowded place, it will attract attention even in Muggle society, so they have to choose a secluded place with no one around.
It is really hard to find a place that has beautiful scenery, no people, and is suitable for celebrating Christmas .
The first thing Flitwick did after getting off the carriage was to draw an area around the students where they could move freely, and also cast a Muggle-Repelling Charm. Even if there were Muggles who accidentally came nearby, they would leave immediately because they suddenly remembered that they had other urgent things to do.
The little wizards started playing in the snow. Today was a rare time for them to move freely.
At this time, the professors began to busy themselves with setting up Christmas decorations. Of course, celebrating the holidays is not just about having a simple meal. The more displaced the people are, the more sense of ritual should be maintained.
Ron, Justin and Lavender went to find the Weasley twins to play snowball fights, while Jon and Neville found a small frozen lake in a corner of the open space. Several senior girls were skating carefully on the lake.
It seemed like it was the first time for them to play this sport. They only dared to jog two steps on the ice and then slide forward a few meters. The colorful scarves fluttered behind them, but this alone made the girls laugh happily.
"It would be nice if the school could offer flying classes." Neville looked at the girls and seemed to have thought of something. "In the past, Hogwarts taught students how to fly on broomsticks, but now that we are in a carriage, we have no way of getting in touch with this sport."
"Because of the limited space, we can't fly on the carriage. The professor can't stop the carriage frequently for a class. That's too dangerous. Or maybe we can't buy a flying broom?"
There was some profound meaning in Jon's last question, but Neville didn't hear it. He thought about it and answered.
"It's unlikely that you can't buy a broom. Flying brooms don't actually require very high technology. There are many magic transportation companies that can make them, although the prices are not cheap."
Jon looked at the senior students helping to move the sumptuous food out of the carriage under the direction of Professor McGonagall, and suddenly asked a question.
"You said that we have food, clothing and other necessities every day. The amount for fifty or sixty people is not small, and our quality of life is not bad. Where did these things come from? It can't be that they were snatched from Muggles by magic, right?"
Neville said, shaking his head subconsciously.
"Of course not! Professors wouldn't do that. Everything we use in our daily lives must have been bought with money."
"The professors teach us all the time, and we don't have to pay tuition. Where do they get the money to buy it?" Jon said softly.
Neville was stunned by Jon's question, because few students would think about this aspect. They usually have enough food, drink, clothing, study and other things, so naturally no one would think about where these things came from.
But now the whole Hogwarts is in turmoil, and the purchase of wands is restricted, so the school's financial resources will definitely be restricted. Where do they get the money for their daily lives?
It can't be that the professors teach them during the day and then go out to do odd jobs at night to earn the money, right?
Neville was stumped by this question. He pondered for a long time before coming up with a guess that barely made sense.
"There are definitely more people rebelling against the Dark Lord than just Hogwarts. There is also a wizarding organization called the Order of the Phoenix with Professor Dumbledore at its core, as well as several pure-blood wizard families. All of our expenses at school should be funded by them."
Jon nodded.
"Well, maybe so."
But in fact, he knew very well that Neville's statement did not make sense at all. Since Voldemort had already taken control of the entire British wizarding world, he would definitely suppress Dumbledore's power in an all-round way.
At a time like this, the Order of the Phoenix would certainly need a large amount of wealth to maintain the operation of the organization, even if its members were wizards with faith and persistence, who regarded money as dirt and would not ask for salary as long as they could maintain basic living.
So they have to spend money to buy potions when they get hurt, right? To collect intelligence and information, they have to spend money to buy connections, right? If someone dies, their family has to be compensated, at least to ensure that they can continue living, right? These are all huge expenses.
The pure-blood families that supported Dumbledore, including the Weasleys, the Longbottoms, and others, were not poor but they were not wealthy either. Moreover, since they had clearly chosen to stand on Dumbledore's side, their assets in the wizarding world would inevitably be suppressed. It was already amazing that they could be self-sufficient, and it was basically impossible for them to provide any major support to Hogwarts and the Order of the Phoenix.
Of course, with Dumbledore's international reputation, he might be able to gain support from other wizarding forces outside the UK, but if that were the case, why did he insist on staying in the UK?
The carriage carrying Hogwarts runs non-stop every day, but it has never left the borders of Britain.
Jon had no information channels to understand the current international situation in the wizarding world, but the situation was definitely not optimistic for Dumbledore, otherwise the entire Hogwarts would not have fallen to this point.
In fact, Jon already has a reasonable answer to this question in his mind.
However, he did not tell Neville the answer, because judging from what had happened in the carriage during this period, some people with malicious intent came just for the answer.
Of course he could trust Neville, but he couldn't trust everyone in the carriage. From now on, it would be better to let the professor handle such matters.
John is not a brainless reckless man. He is very self-aware and knows that no one in this world is smarter than anyone else. What he can think of, Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall can naturally think of as well.
Compared with the powerful professor who has experienced countless wars, he is a first-year student who has just learned a few simple spells and does not need to worry so much.
Just as he was thinking, a snowball suddenly hit him on the head, making his brain stunned for a moment.
"It wasn't me who wanted to hit it! Jon! It was Ron! He used a spell to change the trajectory of my snowball!" Justin explained hurriedly.
Ron cheered from the side: "He did it on purpose! I saw it! Lavender can testify to it!"
Lavender covered her face with her cotton-gloved hands, and her pompomed hat swayed as she shook her head.
"I saw nothing."
Jon's face darkened as he grabbed two balls of snow from the ground and rolled them into balls.
"No matter who it is, just come one by one."
Justin and Ron shouted and ran away. Neville excitedly grabbed a snowball from the ground and followed Jon to chase in the direction Ron and the others ran.
"let me help you!"
The clearing in the woods was filled with laughter, and the students of Hogwarts were truly happy today, just as their professors had wished.
