The next day, Sirius, Lupin, and the rest stayed at the Burrow, celebrated Harry's birthday, and then turned their heads to their own messes. Before leaving, Lupin cryptically told Harry that some big news would be announced tomorrow. Harry immediately thought of what Hermione had told him.
"There's a big event in the near future at 'Future World' ... Professor will definitely be there ..."
On the first day of August, the Daily Prophet released big news.
'Future World' Company has successfully solved the Squibs' spell casting problem using a special wand!
In just two days, the concept of an exclusive wand and magic frequency was widely spread all over the world. In the newspaper, the 'Future World' company headquarters announced that it would be open to the public for a week, with each day focusing on one new product, but the exclusive wand was undoubtedly the well-deserved protagonist, attracting away all the attention.
At the weekend, the exhibition hall on the ground floor of the Sword Castle was packed to the brim.
The centre of the hall had been temporarily transformed into an illuminated stand, around which three circles of people had gathered, crowded and surprised to find the new business talents who had previously been extremely daring in releasing a series of You-Know-Who-related prank products standing on the stand, acting as commentators.
Felix and Lupin stood in the corner, talking in a low murmur.
"Do you feel assured to leave such an important matter to them?" Felix asked with an odd look on his face.
"I've been teaching them for at least a year and have barely worked together for a while, they know what to do in their hearts," Lupin said with a grin, but as he watched the twins begin to pretend to clear their throats, he said with slight hesitation, "Probably ... "
"They're good at livening up the mood." Felix said in a neutral tone. The two men looked at the stage.
"Good morning, lads!"
"-and the girls."
"Yes, that's right, and the girls."
Fred and George, in their formal attire, looked enthusiastically at the group of wizards and squibs below the stage, whose average age had exceeded forty, many of them had grey hair, and their faces looked worn and wrinkled.
These people stared up at the twins who were asking questions and answering them by themselves with mutual cooperation, wondering if they had come to the wrong place, perhaps this would be the time for two big, burly men to come up and carry them away and tell them that what had just happened was an accident?
Fred pointed towards the ceiling overhead, "Don't think we're babbling, today's speeches are being simultaneously broadcast over the radio, and, see those cute little bugs up there? They have been through a lot of battles and have been known for capturing fascinating and embarrassing moments of the champions during the Tournament of Champions ..."
People tilted their heads and looked up to see the blue Billywig insects hovering in mid-air and flapping their transparent wings, they slightly flinched when they saw a thin and long curved needle on its buttocks.
"... Some of you might ask what the difference is between an exclusive wand and a magic wand, good question!"
"We are both here to answer this question for you."
"The thing I admired most about them from childhood was their energy." Ron said.
"Oh, don't interrupt." Molly said, her eyes staring earnestly at the stage as she whispered, "Look how handsome they are."
The whole Weasley family was here, even Percy had taken the day off, and Harry and Sirius were standing with them. Not far away was the Granger family, who was standing slightly further back, making it easier for Hermione to familiarize her parents with the concept.
"For the sake of clarity without confusing the concept," Fred continued, "let's start by making it clear that there is no unicorn hair, dragon heartstring, or anything else hidden inside the exclusive wand, it doesn't have any such thing as a wand core- -"
"But that doesn't mean it's a low-level toy, folks, and I can assure that, can you see all these little rows of gems? They're not for decoration, or to show off your individual tastes, those little guys plays a big part."
"A single gem merely about the size of a fingernail cap has a collection of protection spells, rune engravings, and functional charms inside, you can well imagine their value."
"The gems on exclusive wands are divided into three categories according to their function -"
"The first one, which is used to capture specific, weak magic frequencies and amplify them; the exact principle has been discussed many times in the newspapers over the past two days, so we won't expand on it here."
"The second one, which is used to store magic and consume it as a substitute for wizard magic to cast spells; like the batteries that muggles use to store energy - I read about it in a comic book, not sure if that's the right analogy? Does anyone get it ... I think they are similar. As a side note, these magic energies can only be stimulated by a specific magic frequency."
"Well, it would use the first one to get it right." George said.
"Yep and finally, the third type, which has a built-in functional charm; this little gem will come with a specific spell stored inside, it might contain a cleaning charm, or even a killing curse, who knows? It was just a joke ..."
"They've got a lot of nerve." Harry under the stage said in amazement, when he looked around the audience, many people stared in shock, even Hermione's mouth had stopped moving, and she was looking at Fred and George in amazement as if they had silently casted a Silencing Charm.
"Don't you know that from the very first day you met them?" Ron muttered in a small voice.
"The current wands released by 'Future World' are between ten and fourteen inches, and have the same grip and body compared to a normal wand, except a small extra row of gems that are alchemically fused and linked with the wand material; for now it can only be inlaid with a maximum of nine gems. "
"Yes, it's not easy to cram all of them together. But we can slightly look forward to a follow-up product, I have learned that the muggles have a sort of button communicator, imagine pressing a button and triggering a spell ..."
"Next, we will demonstrate a few products for you, so let's proceed one by one; I would like to invite my assistant - Lee Jordan." Fred pretended to offer a hand. A dark-skinned boy stepped onto the stage, with dense dreadlocks on his head.
"Thank you, and you can also call me by my code name - Old River." Lee Jordan excitedly said.
"Are we in some secret underground organization?" Fred asked with interest, "And what would be a good code name for me?"
"How about Mouse?" Lee Jordan asked.
"Never - I would prefer something like a Big Sword."
George took up the conversation -
"Lee has a life style wand in his hand, it's good for most everyday needs, washing and cooking, moving things around, chasing away gnomes from the garden - one more thing, this is something we strongly wanted to add, if you think outside the box you'll see that it's not just gnomes that you can chase away. "
Lee Jordan waved the wand and a gem lit up as he waved it and commanded a row of magic golems to march majestically through the stage and do a tap dance, then he motioned one of the heavy wooden crates to follow him around the stage.
"It's a bit hard, and this is the result of two days of practice." Lee Jordan said.
...
"Exclusive wands that are specifically designed for combat and medical purposes are reserved for the Ministry of Magic Aurors and Hit Wizards, and will not be available to the public for the time being."
"Finally a comprehensive general wand that is balanced with multiple aspects and also has a built-in disarming charm for defense; which I personally think is too general to be accurate ... Ah, I see someone waving at me, I hope he's not coming up to the stage to beat me ... Well, let's give a warm welcome to Mr. Felix Hap, the owner of 'Future World' company!"
Felix walked onto the stage with a gentle smile on his face.
"The reason why I'm up here is certainly not because of Fred and George's wonderful speech, and as their professor at school, I personally have no habit of detaining them up, deducing their house points, punishing them by making them copy assignments, school rules, or make them copy the sentence 'I solemnly swear I am up to no good' -- oh, that phrase is their new motto, and it's very popular at school ..." he said while spreading his hands, and with considerable regret, "because they've graduated."
The crowd below the stage roared with laughter.
"Is there really no such a thing? He looks kinda expert in it ..." Mr. Granger asked his daughter.
"Hmm, the professor is lazy, he's just saying." Hermione said casually.
"I have more pressing reasons for being on stage."
"It occurred to me while I was standing below the stage, and I was inspired by a certain trial user of the exclusive wand. In that sense alone, one of my aim for creating 'Future World' company has been achieved; with the dedication of all the members of the company, we hope to bring together the wisdom of more people than just the simple interaction of 'we provide the product, you choose the product'. "
"I mentioned inspiration - so next I'll share with you the new idea I've just come up with, which I like to describe as a highly significant concept." Felix said, "Well - this idea came up suddenly, so I need an exclusive wand for modification and demonstration."
"Here, Professor!" Fred called out and threw up a wand.
Felix stared at it as it flew over in a mid-air in a whirl, and finally hovered in front of him, motionlessly.
The crowd waited with bated breath.
The reporters raised their cameras, ready to record the significant scene. With a wave of Lupin's wand, the Billywig insect-like alchemical device that hovered above the crowd descended slightly in height.
Felix waited two seconds and reached out to brush his hand over the exclusive wand in front of him, as a broken star-like gem blossomed with different colours, he watched silently, followed by the glowing wine-red gem coming off the wand, then a second and a third ... Two or three minutes later, he showed the wand in his hand to the crowd, with only two gems remaining on it.
The other six gems of varying colours blinked mischievously and were gathered in Felix's palm as he pocketed them.
He stood up straight and faced the audience and said calmly.
"Gentlemen, magic is marvellous and varied beyond all measure and should not be limited."
"What I have done now is to add amplification circuits and circuits for storing magic energy on top of the traditionally recognized wand - of course, the one I have is lacking a wand core of an appropriate kind, so what you see is only a half-finished product, but it is perfectly adequate for me and does not affect the rest of the demonstration. "
"If you are a handicapped individual who can't wield magic to cast spells - I mean Squibs - and have dreams of using magic freely, and don't mind working harder than the average person ..., then this wand I'm presenting will certainly meet your expectations."
"Mr. Hap, can you elaborate on that?" A journalist, sensing the smell of big news, asked bravely.
Well, it was indeed brave. In fact, not even Felix himself was aware of it, but one thing was true: everyone is trying to adapt to how to live with Felix Hap. The native British wizards feel this particularly keenly: a strong man comparable to Dumbledore, and Voldemort and possibly will surpass both of them in the future, he is too strong to be ignored by all and - this strong man seems to be following the same route as Headmaster Dumbledore once did, showing not the slightest interest in politics.
It is unknown how many people are secretly glad about this.
In particular, several successive over-the-top duels over the past year have made the public recognize the unparalleled oppressive and dominating power that a wizard at the top of the world can exert, and it could be argued that with such a man, the British magical community could rest easy for a century or two without having to worry about any danger at home or from overseas.
In fact, there is no need for Felix to do anything, as long as he remains alive, that is perfectly all that matters.
As this trend continues, the honours and perks that Dumbledore once enjoyed are presumably available to this Mr. Hap without fail, for example, if Ms. Bones has plans to retire (although unlikely in the short term), the first person she will consider replacing her is not from the Ministry of Magic but from one of the professors at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry or someone that Mr. Hap supports (just like how Fudge became Minster with Dumbledore's support).
The same is true internationally.
Dumbledore's voluntary resignation as the Head of the International Confederation of Wizards has to be said to be a huge loss that has left countless people sighing, but they are equally overwhelmed with the conviction that it probably won't be more than a decade or two before this position will fall precisely on Felix Hap's head.
Although he might just as well refuse it ...
Many wizards inwardly hoped that this young Warlock would not be overly wilful.
Faced with a journalist's question, Felix thought for a moment and said, "Compared to the previously released exclusive wands, it has fewer built-in spells, so this may bring inconvenience to the user, at the same time, on the other hand, it will free the product from its initial restraints, and will offer the same unlimited potential as the first wands carefully selected for the young wizards."
"... This product is the next major product that will be developed and perfected by the Future World."
Felix had left some room for doubt, in fact, he had already solved all the technical difficulties and even the final product was out - only it didn't have much to do with him, it was old man Grindelwald who had worked on it.
With his proud nature, that old man would never allow himself to use an inferior and restricted wand.
"For the next project, 'Future World' will consider teaming up with the leading figures in the wand industry - such as Mr. Ollivander - to explore a brand new territory, which I am very confident will create another innovation in the history of wands. Because if this succeeds, Squibs will also be able to learn magic on their own, just like young wizards who are newly enrolled in school, without any restrictions on their ability to cast spells!"
People murmured, the voices of the crowd buzzed, and the heated chatter drowned the place out. Many Future World employees rushed out to check out the situation, especially on the third floor, where a row of tiny heads of house elves crowded through the railing, looking particularly conspicuous in their neat, clean clothes and exuberant spirits.
Some reporters with a keen sense of smell had snapped a few photos and were even started to consider applying to stay at the company for a tour and an interview when the exhibition wrapped up.
As the noise subsided, a trembling old man stepped forward, shivering, and the cane in his hand was so unsteady that Felix seriously doubted that even if he got an exclusive wand, he probably wouldn't be able to use it for more than a few years.
"Sir, do you have any questions?"
"I ... do," the old man struggled to keep his eyes wide and asked with expectancy, "If what you have said is true, and the squib is able to learn magic on their own, does that mean... ...means that squib children also have the opportunity to attend Hogwarts?"
Everyone held their breath, either with a serious and solemn face or with a look of longing and hope.
Felix's face looked hesitant.
He preferred not to say everything he wanted to do, and there were many things he could say to avoid this question, such as the fact that such a wand has not been created yet, or that such an issue was not part of the discussion and was not his responsibility at all; he could also explain to the old man the reality of squib children attending school, the discrimination and ridicule they might be subjected to, the fact that the decision is too important to be taken lightly, and even the magic power consumption that would be caused by the large number of squib children attending school. ... In short, all aspects are involved.
"There's a possibility." But finally, he stated this.
Felix optimistically estimated that there wouldn't be too many people, at least for the first few years, and as for later ... the big deal, he would set up another magic school, well, the headmaster position would just be pushed to Remus.
At the end of the session, Felix looked up at the huge ice crystal-like chandelier and a thought suddenly flashed through his mind: in another decade or two, would he be the uncrowned king of the magical world? Gee, he could already feel the torrent and the endless stream of trouble coming up to swallow him whole.
This must not be allowed to happen!
Felix made up his mind that he must find a few more tools at Hogwarts ... ahem, a like-minded partner. Thinking about it this way, Grindelwald would be his direct competition - a certain someone had long suspected that Grindelwald had a well-hidden agenda, besides the excuse of wanting to get some fresh air and observe the changes that happened outside in between his imprisonment period, like looking for a successor to carry out his ideals.
The good tool couldn't be allowed to be taken away by that old man. Felix pumped his fist.
It is predictable that the new school year at Hogwarts would not be too quiet.
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