Time slipped away in small increments.

Just as Dumbledore had hoped, Aileen's daily schedule was packed. She was perhaps the busiest person in the entire school, even busier than most of the professors.

Besides completing her daily coursework, she also needed to oversee the normal operation of the Weekly World News, regulate the Hogwarts Potato Currency Market, conduct cooking classes in each of the houses, and attend Quidditch training two evenings a week.

So, when October inadvertently slipped through people's fingers, Dumbledore suddenly realized that Aileen had actually spent a whole month peacefully at Hogwarts. The old man's first reaction was disbelief.

For Aileen, the castle had gradually become like home.

It was a different feeling from the orphanage by Loch Lomond. She didn't need to think about too many distant things, just happily cooking and slowly mastering those magical secrets, which was already very interesting.

As for the more distant and grander things, Dumbledore and Grindelwald would control and execute them.

With the plump, round chickens running around, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, or more precisely, the "Third Generation Dark Lord,"'s tentacles had spread to various fields in Europe. An invisible net was spreading across the non-magical European continent.

Grindelwald's appearance filled the most critical link in Aileen's plan. The decades-long First Wizarding War had caused huge trauma to the entire European magical world, while also leaving deep-rooted, indelible marks.

And each former acolyte was a node that made up the network – without any orders, just simply re-establishing contact, informing them that a major change was coming, hoping they could prepare in advance.

In silence, a magical transport line capable of transporting large-scale materials and personnel had begun to be built, although most people did not know the purpose of this magical transport line that ran through the entire European continent.

According to the current production forecast of Hogwarts Potatoes, by around Christmas, they would be able to hoard enough grain reserves to allow most of the Russian population to survive the winter – and this would also be Hogwarts's most powerful currency in the future plunder.

Negotiations between the Ministry of Magic and Gringotts seemed to have reached a stalemate.

The goblins of Diagon Alley in London did not intend to use the power of wizards to overcome the threat from across the ocean. Regarding the kindness shown by the Ministry of Magic, and the title deed to Hogwarts Castle, they wanted to grab both in their hands.

Because in their assessment, the Soviet whirlpool was actually a particularly bad investment quagmire. Before those Muggles and goblins from Wall Street could reap the rewards, they would likely exhaust themselves first. In order to snipe those American "traitors," the European Gringotts goblins even began to bolster the ruble, trying to use their strong capital to drag down the other side.

Cornelius Fudge was not a fool, at least he never viewed himself that way.

After inadvertently learning the goblins of Gringotts' confidence and movements, high-ranking officials in the Ministry of Magic quickly held a secret meeting and quickly adjusted their original plan. Repurchasing Hogwarts in the name of the Ministry of Magic was once again put on the agenda.

Although they didn't have the outstanding financial channels of the goblins, as a government agency that could directly connect to the British Prime Minister, exchanging and purchasing rubles in an official capacity was not as complicated as imagined.

Of course, everything was being done behind the backs of Albus Dumbledore and the Hogwarts Board of Governors.

Apart from the undercurrents in the magical world, the only less-than-good news this month was the collective breach of contract by multiple magazines, including the Daily Prophet. Dozens of mainstream publications found various excuses and were no longer willing to bundle and give away the Weekly World News, even for paid advertisements.

The editor-in-chief of the Daily Prophet, Barnabas Cuffe, even came to Hogwarts in person. While expressing his respect for Dumbledore, he also frankly stated his difficulties, his tone extremely humble and modest, to the point that Dumbledore was a bit puzzled.

As a newspaper, Barnabas Cuffe had to first ensure that he could survive in the increasingly fierce competition.

Undoubtedly, the content and model of the Weekly World News had led all publications by more than one era. In just less than half a month, Cuffe could feel the soaring reputation of the Weekly World News.

Now, apart from a very few extremely reclusive hermits, almost all wizards in the United Kingdom were talking about this publication full of topics and exciting content. Even its share in the overseas market had surpassed the Daily Prophet. Foreign wizards did not pay attention to news happening in the UK, but the love of food and animals was a common attribute of all humans.

Faced with this sudden over-the-river dragon, the first reaction of most newspapers and magazines was to find ways to jointly kill it, or to hollow out its core foundation together and turn it into their own.

However, according to Cuffe, the editor-in-chief of the Weekly World News, in the first few weeks before this publication suddenly became popular, there were also some insidious tabloid wizards or reporters who tried to sneak into Mr. Lovegood's home, seeking cooperation in some "wizarding ways."

However, more than a month had passed, and the operation of the Weekly World News had not experienced any turbulence. On the contrary, many wizards who had once threatened to make trouble in the dark had never appeared in his "unofficial news" since then.

Where did those troublemakers go?

What kind of magical strength did that mysterious Lovegood editor-in-chief have?

What kind of layout was hidden behind this publication, and what roles did Hogwarts and the Ministry of Magic play in it?

Barnabas Cuffe dared not think, let alone ask. He didn't want one day he would disappear from everyone's sight without a sound, like Rita Skeeter, a special correspondent for the Daily Prophet.

In this way, a joint boycott was absolutely out of the question, and secretly striking a blow was even less possible.

According to the original agreement, obediently paying a large sum of compensation and taking the initiative to bear the consequences of breach of contract was already the most perfect result in the eyes of the Daily Prophet.

At least Barnabas Cuffe believed that Hogwarts, with Dumbledore in charge, was still a reasonable place.

And it wasn't just the Daily Prophet that made the same decision.

Thus, in Dumbledore's inexplicable mood, after spending more than a month on advertising expenses, the deposits in the Hogwarts underground vault not only did not decrease, but also increased by a lot of "default fees."

Considering that there was currently no economic pressure at all, Aileen simply completely opened up the subscription channels for the Weekly World News, only temporarily setting the price of each copy at 1 copper Knut, a near-free price.

Even so, the huge population dividend from the magical world still made the coins in the Hogwarts underground vault grow non-stop as if they could reproduce themselves. After all, the materials, printing costs, and labor were mostly from their own people's output. Even the raw materials for the paper were now relying on the unified planting of the Hogwarts Botanical Garden.

And in order to solve the "mailing channel" vacancy caused by the withdrawal of mainstream newspapers such as the Daily Prophet, Hogwarts had to additionally fund the purchase of a large number of plump, round chickens, some raised in the school tower, and more raised next to Mr. Lovegood's cottage.

Of course, Dumbledore did not let Aileen interfere with these specific matters.

Albus Dumbledore still remembered that a few months ago, at the dining table by Loch Lomond, he accidentally heard the phrase "Hogwarts Chicken Farm" from the children in the orphanage.

He was worried that once Aileen touched those poor owls, they would become the next batch of Hogwarts Black Lake's big blue fish. As students preferred fish dishes, the wild fish in the lake quickly decreased. Last week, Hogwarts unprecedentedly took the initiative to release fish fry into the Black Lake, and issued a temporary fishing ban.

What made Dumbledore feel more at ease was that Aileen had been behaving especially well since entering October.

On the other hand, Hogwarts suddenly experienced a small influenza outbreak this month. Perhaps because they had been running around the lake and the Forbidden Forest for a long time, several of the girls around Aileen had been feeling sick.

Even Aileen had sneezed several times in the past few days, and she seemed a little more sluggish than before.

In recent days, apart from complaining about Professor Sprout forbidding her from going to Helga's dungeon alone, there were not many out-of-the-ordinary behaviors. Every night, she either stayed in the library with Hermione and others to organize manuscripts, or cooked delicious food in various common rooms.

And what made the professors even happier was that Professor Binns had finally recovered after a month of recuperation.

As the dedicated ghost professor returned to the History of Magic class, Mr. Otto, who was temporarily teaching the class, naturally happily resigned from his job and returned to being a "retired veteran," occasionally helping Mr. Filch patrol the castle.

In this peaceful daily life, time finally came to the last day of October.

At the same time, it was also one of the most popular and beloved holidays in the Western world, Halloween.

Compared to Christmas, this festival, which originated from the Druid religion and ancient Rome, could be regarded as the most important day in the magical world. It is said that on this day, witches and ghosts are the absolute protagonists.

(Note: Halloween is November 1st, and Halloween Eve is October 31st, similar to the relationship between Christmas Eve and Christmas. The main celebrations take place before nightfall on this day, not the next day.)

Happy Halloween Eve to all the little wizards!

Begging for guaranteed monthly tickets!