Winnie waited in line, peering out anxiously and looking around, as a blonde ponytail flopped around behind her head.
'One, two, three, four, five, six, six more ahead.' She counted silently.
From her viewpoint, she could see Felix Hap sitting behind a desk with a stack of documents laid on the desk - that had been handed to Mr. Hap by the witch who had received them this morning. Every now and then Mr. Hap would write and draw on it, and there is also a bell on the table.
" Jingle jingle."
Winnie jerked her head up and stared intently at the man at the front of the room. More than one person did as she did, simply because the next scene would be magical enough. Mr. Hap gestured to his right, and in front of him, the wizard Mr. Achill - a Squib to be precise, in his forties with half his hair balding - cautiously prodded with his one foot forward as if the ground was littered with unseen and unknown traps.
No one urged him on, and all eyes opened wide to discern something in him, but, just like the previous instances, after a few steps, he disappeared out of thin air.
Winnie once again marvelled at the wonders of magic, which was more magical than anything she had ever witnessed before.
She recalled that just ten minutes ago, this man, who looked almost her age, had closed a huge wooden door, over twelve feet high, with a wave of his hand, without even using his wand. That hand had silenced everyone in the room, most of them, if you counted the wizards, couldn't even wield the wand properly, and the rest of them - didn't possess a wand at all.
Winnie stared at Felix's dark hair and blue eyes as he worked -- should that count as work? -- looking serious, as he asked questions without urgency, and she wondered how much it would cost to hire a wizard like Mr. Hap, she couldn't even contemplate it, it simply wouldn't happen in reality any time soon.
All she knew about was that 'Kwikspell beginner's magic correspondence course' which she attended a short distance from Sword Castle, would cost fifteen gold galleons for a total of two weeks of instruction. It was something she had personally gone out of her way to ask about, and - well, she didn't even have the qualifications to think it was too expensive. Because she is a Squib.
Apart from the long lingering gloomy emotions of that day when she was sent to a foster home, Winnie didn't have many strong memories of her childhood before 11. And with all these years gone by, she had long managed to gain a foothold in Muggle society, where she's now working in a law firm and occasionally publishing a few short and crisp stories in magazines.
She's not going to tell anyone that her brilliant imagination comes from another world - a world where the magic truly exists.
All her colleagues know is that she loves to read and listen to music, and she loves to visit various bookshops and record shops in her spare time. So - and Winnie was never shy about saying this whenever she went out - "I'm going to drop by Charing Cross."
Her friends would ask her for niche titles or for the most popular records on the market, and she always had an answer for them.
"Jingle jingle."
Winnie suddenly woke up to the fact that there was no one else in front of her. She took a few quick steps and stood in front of the desk, sizing up the silhouette of Felix Hap, a man who is nearly the same age as her but has accomplished so much that she couldn't even muster up the emotion of jealousy.
Felix and Valen looked up together, finding the girl's eyes a little distracted.
"Winnie Valentine, 24 years old, graduate of ... The Queen Mary University of London?" Felix asked as he looked up.
"Yes, that's right." Winnie said with a little tremor in her voice, "You're totally accurate."
"... It's all written right here on the paper."
Valen looked curiously at the person who had a similar phonetic pronunciation to her name, amber eyes, with a bit of natural curl to her hair, and a very artistic black and white piano key-shaped badge pinned to her chest.
Winnie blushed slightly, not looking straight into those light blue eyes, and lowered her head to look at the Platypus sitting nearby - no, a Niffler. It seemed bizarre ... her mind was spinning with odd thoughts; if only she could take a picture of Niffler and send it to the magazine, it would probably cause a sensation.
Felix tapped on the table and Winnie immediately stared at his fingertips. A subconscious picture flashed through her mind: this was the hand that, with a mere wave, transformed a gilded letter 'O' from the lobby display into a desk, and another letter 'K' turned into a dark green banner embroidered with ornate floral patterns, as a beautiful banner was created in front of her eyes.
If it had been in a knitting shop, it would have sold for a lot of money.
But it is completely superfluous, Winnie thought. She found another place where magic and technology differed: technology tends to converge, while magic diverges. Then she sighed; there is absolutely no way she could share these thoughts with someone.
Felix noticed her wandering off again and snapped his fingers in front of her. Winnie was taken aback.
"You look a little nervous? Then I won't ask any more questions, just go straight this way." He pointed to the right.
Winnie breathed a sigh of relief, then a little regret, had she acted too poorly? A few steps away, she suddenly looked back behind her - the desk, along with the young man who was sitting behind it, the Niffler on the table, the bell, and the people in line ... were all nowhere to be seen.
So that's what the people before had seen. Winnie thought.
"Hap Nine at your service." A voice suddenly said and Winnie was startled, she looked back at Felix, "You - oh," she asked excitedly, "you're magically made?"
" You could interpret it that way." Hap Nine said.
Realizing the person in front of her isn't a real person, Winnie wasn't freaked out that much, and her nervousness considerably dissolved. She had seen many magic props that talked. Like the Quidditch team posters that shouted "Come on!", the cups that urged her to finish her drink quickly, the mirrors that stuck to the wall that reminded her that she had some dirt on the tip of her nose ...
The strangest talking thing she had ever seen was an exquisite dressing table, with mirrors, perfume bottles, drawers, and standing lamps, each with their own ideas and would belittle each other's aesthetics, which, according to the shopkeeper, "it had turned into something like this as soon as a particularly fussy customer tried it on."
Winnie actively looked for a topic: "So what have you changed from? Gilded letters, teacups, parchment, ink bottles, detergent ..."
"None of those," said Hap Nine, "I'm a memory."
Winnie thought for a moment and lowered her voice, "A ghost?"
"No, just a temporarily constructed memory, my task is to guide you through some tests and get the magic inside you to move a little." The man who claimed to be Hap Nine said.
Could memories exist on their own? Winnie couldn't figure it out, it obviously didn't have anything to do with technology, but well, it's quite magical, isn't it?
She didn't really know much about magic herself, although she had read a lot of books, but being a Squib, especially one who had gone to university, brought her attitude towards magic closer to that of 'observation', with a natural detachment like how she occasionally watched the other customers in the record shop.
Hap Nine walked ahead of her to guide the way.
"Be careful not to run into other people's territory." He said.
Winnie looked around and found that she is walking on a narrow luminous path, surrounded by what looked like a soap bubble-like membrane, that is being magnified thousands of times, and the contents inside are blurred, but Winnie can vaguely guess roughly based on the colours and shapes: she could see a quiet, deep forest river in one soap bubble; on her right is a beautiful garden, but she can't make out what flowers are growing in it.
Then she saw a lofty castle, just the outline, and she knew what it is.
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
"What are these?" She asked curiously.
"Memories that you all find comfortable and pleasant," Hap Nine dutifully explained as Winnie jumped over what looked like a small puddle and accidentally poked her head into a 'soap bubble', and freaked out, worrying that she would ruin the dream-like environment.
But the quality of the soap bubble turned out to be better than she expected, and she sniffed a sweet and savoury air, which was sweet enough to make her intoxicating.
The place was full of chocolates and sweet delicacies. With just a cursory sweep, she found a dozen or so candy heaps, and at the top of one short candy mountain, a short, chubby male wizard weeping with excitement. There was also an identical 'Felix Hap' whispering something without moving.
The next second, she was yanked from outside.
"Told you to be careful."
"Oh, sorry."
"That's okay." Hap Nine said, pausing for a few seconds to fix the large hole Winnie had smashed out with her head - until then, the sweet, intoxicating air had been blowing out of it.
"So the - you in there," Winnie pondered how to define their identity, " what number is he?"
"Seven."
They walked for a few more minutes, and finally, Hap Nine stopped, "We are there."
Winnie found herself standing in front of a beautiful exhibition display cabinet that contained a shallow wooden disc with a silvery haze of smoke. She realized she is still in the ground floor lobby of Future World Company.
"What do I need to do?"
"Memories." Hype Nine said, "Dig through your memories to find the strongest feelings you have towards magic, good and bad alike, but I recommend happy memories."
Winnie searched her mind, and after a long time, she stared blankly at Hap Nine.
"Can't find it?" Hap Nine asked, Did this girl have such a rough life? It didn't look like that at all.
"Too much." Winnie said.
"Then pick the one that makes you most comfortable." Hap Nine said with an expressionless face.
Winnie thought carefully, being a Squib, she tried to stay away from magic during her childhood and barely had a few memories related to the magic that are worth remembering. But when she went to college and took a Psychology course, she gradually let go of her past experiences and was able to see things in a more positive light.
So one day in her sophomore year, she walked into the Leaky Cauldron Inn with considerable nervousness ...
Hap Nine reached out his hand and pulled an ebony wand out of thin air. With its help, the visions in Winnie's head appeared in reality. Felix behind the desk looked up, his gaze piercing through one soap bubble to gaze at the small, old pub.
The scenes changed rapidly from the Leaky Cauldron Inn, to what looked like a tourist guide to Diagon Alley.
The wall behind the pub slowly opens up to form a wide arched bridge that connects to a curving, cobbled street at the other end. That is Diagon Alley. The sunlight pours down and many shops come into view, ranging from cauldron shop, pet shop, apothecary to bookshop...
Finally, they arrived at a Junk Shop, which was littered with a dozen wooden crates containing all sorts of second-hand magic items: tattered wands with unicorn hair peeking out of the core, old scales that wobbled and never aligned, old cauldrons stained with poison, old patched cloaks with suspicious blood stains that never seemed to have been cleaned, books with loose spines and missing covers. A spell book with a spine so loose, that even the cover was missing ...
Winnie took a deep breath, a wave of relief coming out of her every pore.
Felix, sitting behind the desk, wondered a little, but he did feel a positive, vibrant burst of vigour and joy, and the thin magic in her pulsed a little in his magical perspective. He jotted down a few symbols quickly on his parchment.
"You like it here?" Hap Nine asked.
"Yes." Winnie said cheerfully.
"Have any exciting stories happened here?"
"Oh, well it was just for me personally ... I got my first spell book, my first cauldron, and my first wand here." She said with deep emotion, "It cost me nine galleons and I still couldn't use it. It supposedly cost the same as the first wand Ollivander sold to a young wizard, but I'm an adult, so it would have been more expensive."
"You can get that sum?" Hap Nine asked, knowing that Winnie had always stayed in muggle society, even if she wasn't short of money, he figured the Gringotts wouldn't casually exchange that much money to her, those goblins had very tight control in that regard.
"I have a good relationship with the owner of that Junk Shop," Winnie said, "you know those London Antiques Market streets? I sometimes pick up some interesting trinkets and bring them to the owner of the Junk Shop ..."
"Right." Hap Nine came to the bright realization, yes, there are many squibs in the market, working as a broker of a sort. "You'll have a real wand soon, although there are spell casting restrictions, ... it works pretty decently."
"I thought I was being scammed when your staff approached me, but luckily I ended up coming over ..." Winnie said excitedly, "How much does it cost?"
"Oh, it's free - only for now. Your wands are all special custom-made one and various tests are required in order to match them as closely as possible to you. Let's get back to business, firstly, Miss Valentine, I'm going to assess your magic, scoring it according to activity, quantity, and quality ... Don't worry, it's just a general estimate as I haven't taken the time to work out the general rules for it yet."
An hour later.
The soap bubbles in the lobby of the sword castle faded away and Winnie's head spun from side to side as the vision, supposedly constructed from memories, existed in the atmosphere for another ten seconds or so, then they quickly faded in colour and shape as if they were ancient relics that had been exposed to the light of day again. Winnie let out a slow breath as she stared at a particularly beautiful clock tower disappearing before her eyes.
Along with it nineteen 'Haps' disappeared, from number one to number nineteen. Hap Nine gave a final wave towards Winnie and blended into the atmosphere. Winnie was disappointed as if she had lost a friend she had known for a long time.
"Everyone, wait a moment, I need some time to make your exclusive wands. You can visit the exhibition cases in the meantime."
Silence fell over the lobby as Felix disappeared, and then some people gathered together.
"It should be true." An old wizard said, having taken off his scarf to reveal a wrinkled face.
"Old Borg, you think a big man like Mr. Hap would lie to you?" Another man asked in a loud voice.
"Of course not!" Borg, who had initially spoken, turned bright red and retorted angrily.
Winnie didn't get involved in the discussion as she began to pace around the exhibition cases in the hall. The ground floor lobby of 'Future World' company was occasionally open to the public, inviting a number of wizards to experience products that had yet to become available, for modification purposes based on feedback. She had been here a few times before, but only once she had been chosen, and the product she experienced was an anti-spell hat.
The thing was incredible, the hex would just bounce off of you, even if you were just simply standing there staring at the person reciting the hex, in a completely automatic manner. She also gave her opinion carefully, well, she couldn't really pick any faults, but she wished there would be more styles, for which she specifically drew a few sketches of women's caps.
Ten minutes later, Felix reappeared.
This morning he had arrived sort of well-prepared, with all the materials on hand, and he just needed to tweak the magic frequencies. Which went very fast as soon as he became adept.
He lined up a row of wands set with small, colourful gems and slowly swept his gaze over a line of eager eyes.
"Gentlemen, most of you are in fact signed up for the Beginner's Magic course from the newspaper, but Clammy should have told you the truth earlier, right?"
Everyone in the room nodded.
"At the moment this research is not public, so there are some confidentiality contracts that you will need to abide by."
"There are two confidentiality contracts, one from Future World Company, which prohibits the disclosure of this research to the public, and the other from the Ministry of Magic, which prohibits the performance of magic in the presence of non-magical people, and if it involves your immediate family, you can report it to the Ministry."
"In addition, because this work is of a research nature, you will not have to pay extra money, but you will have to cooperate by doing some tests, and the staff of Future World Corporation will observe your spellcasting data, so we can improve the product. In the long run, this will contribute to the advancement of this product ..."
" Is there anyone who holds a different opinion regarding this?"
Felix waited a moment, "Very well." A wand flew up to them, "The magic on it is fixed, but it's all practical, the Levitation Charm alone has dozens of application scenarios ... You have half an hour to familiarize yourselves with your wands, after which we will begin the testing."
Winnie stroked her wand and the more she looked at it, the more she liked it. From the way the wooden wand curved, to the small gems embedded in it, it looked like an outstanding piece of craftsmanship. She stared at a dark red gem that seemed to hide a swirling vortex inside, which slowly spun.
She followed the guidance of the now-vanished Hap Nine, mobilizing her emotions as strongly as she could, letting the desire to cast a successful Spell fill her whole body, and then she raised her wand and recited the incantation, "Lumos." A glow of light was released from the tip of her wand.
Winnie gasped as she looked up in disbelief and looked around; someone had managed to successfully cast a Levitation Charm, allowing himself to levitate three feet above the ground, and he was so stunned that both of his legs thrashed like frogs.
"Think about what you're going to do, and don't constrain your imagination." Felix made occasional reminders.
The morning passed quickly.
Winnie and the others fondly and reluctantly handed their wands back, in the hope that Mr. Hap would make adjustments based on their performance today. Winnie included a small note with her thoughts on how she would like to have an additional movement spell on the exclusive wand, a spell that would allow the item to move.
She was envious of the way how Mr. Achill directed his two shoes to dance next to her.
She headed for the door when she suddenly heard someone call her name.
"Miss Valentine?"
She looked up and met Felix's gaze, and she pointed at herself in surprise.
Felix nodded at her, which implied, "Yes, it's you."
Winnie walked over to him feeling nervous.
"I read your file again. You studied law back in university?" Felix asked.
Winnie nodded.
"So - interested in making some extra money? The short-term kind." Felix asked gently, and Winnie stared at him. "I have a few properties in muggle society, not many, but I kind of need some advice from someone with a professional background ..."
------------
Thanks for all your love and support.
Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.
Happy Reading!!!