Hogwarts: Voldemort, don't stop me from studying!

The party was held around a fountain, in the center of which stood a mermaid statue—the kind of mermaid from legend, incredibly beautiful, with a graceful figure and a shimmering fish tail, uttering enchanting chants.

Small dancer statues adorned the surrounding stone railings, dancing tirelessly, their swirling movements scattering tiny golden orbs of light. Vader reached out and gently touched one of the orbs; it burst like a bubble, leaving his fingers feeling a slight coolness.

The surrounding green lawns were neatly trimmed, resembling a soft, velvety carpet. Around the fountain and in the flowerbeds, a variety of vibrant flowers bloomed in competition, their clusters of blossoms crowding together, creating a dazzling spectacle. Some of these flowers, typically only seen in spring and summer, bloomed here regardless of the season.

Along both sides of the road are planted tall trees with canopies like giant umbrellas, which is the origin of the name "Tree Fern Garden"—tree ferns. Steven proudly introduced this plant to him, saying that its history can be traced back at least 200 million years, earlier than dinosaurs, making it a true living fossil. The Mori family has a house-elf specifically responsible for taking care of these tree ferns.

Halfway through the tour, a paper crane flew over and suddenly opened its beak, speaking in Professor Morrie's voice: "Steven, bring Wade to the small stone platform."

“Okay,” Steven replied, and the paper crane landed on his shoulder. Suddenly, it tilted its head as if looking at Wade beside it.

Seeing Wade staring at the paper crane, Steven smiled and said, "This is my father's creation. He once visited a magic institute in Japan and discovered that the students there liked to fold these little paper cranes. After returning, he started using paper cranes to send messages. Later, the Ministry of Magic introduced it, but they found paper cranes too troublesome and changed it to paper airplanes—which are neither flexible nor talkative, and they lack aesthetic appeal. Their only advantage is that they are very cheap."

“The Ministry of Magic?” Wade thought for a moment and asked, “So before paper airplanes, what did they use to send messages?”

Two-way mirrors are too expensive, it's impossible. It can't be Filu's internet, right?

“Use owls.” Steven said, suppressing a laugh. “You can imagine—dozens of owls flying around the office, or filling the elevator with droppings and feathers everywhere—I saw one when I was a kid, it was a disaster.”

Wade now understood why his tone unconsciously carried a hint of disdain for the Ministry of Magic—anyone who had seen those officials scrambling around in owl droppings would hardly have any respect for them.

The small stone platform is a small garden with a foundation two or three feet higher than the ground. It has white marble steps, pale purple peach-leaf bell flowers swaying in the wind, larkspur and geraniums scattered around, moss climbing the brick walls, and the air is exceptionally fresh and pleasant.

Besides Professor Morrie, there were only five or six other people in the garden, all dressed in fine clothes and appearing to be of high status. Hearing the sound, they all turned to look.

Everyone acted in unison, first noticing the tall Steven, then their gazes all fell downwards to find Wade, who looked like a dwarf compared to the former.

“Oh, Wade, my child!” Professor Morrie walked over happily, completely ignoring his real child, and put his hand on Wade’s shoulder, leading him toward the crowd: “This is my new student this year—my real student—Wade Gray!”

Everyone nodded and smiled at Wade. A man with brown curly hair complimented him, saying, "It seems this child must be exceptionally talented to be appreciated by you, Professor, at such a young age."

Professor Morrie nodded and said, "He's only a first-year student, yet he's already surpassed your alchemy level when you graduated, Machione."

Everyone burst into laughter. Clearly, they all knew that although this man named Machione had studied alchemy, his skill level was really not that great, and he probably gave Professor Morrie a lot of headaches when he was in school.

Marchionne chuckled, not embarrassed at all, and gave Wade a serious look.

Professor Morrie seemed to find the previous statement unconvincing, so he immediately gave another example: "This child memorized the entire contents of the 'Magic Phonetic Chart,' 'Magic Symbol Collection,' 'Runic Dictionary,' and 'Simplified Introduction to Ancient Magic Runes' through self-study—in just two months!"

"Oh——"

Now everyone finally understood the weight of "extraordinary talent." They had all taken classes in ancient runes and even alchemy, and knew very well how difficult those crooked symbols and strange syllables were to memorize.

Putting everything else aside, this child has already surpassed 99% of people in terms of memory and diligence.

"Not only that—"

Professor Murray drawled out his words with a smug tone, deliberately putting the most important part at the end, and everyone cooperated by adopting an interested listening posture.

Wade observed silently.

Although he didn't yet know the identities of these people, it was clear that Professor Morrie's status was quite evident.

"He's only been learning from me for a little over a month, and he's already created his first piece! I swear, he did it all on his own; I didn't give him a single word of guidance!"

Professor Morrie proudly displayed his knowledge, as if revealing winning lottery numbers, and slowly produced a brand-new "Book of Friends," suspending it among the crowd. Suppressing a smile, he asked, "Can you guess its purpose?"

"Book of Friends?"

The group looked at each other and then orderly gathered around the Book of Friends, taking turns to examine it with their wands. The Book of Friends was enveloped in various lights again and again.

However, Professor Morrie had added a protective spell to the Book of Friends, making it impossible for ordinary detection spells to probe its magical structure.

Soon, two people gave up. They had no interest in a child and didn't think he could make any amazing alchemical products. They were just flattering Professor Morrie to curry favor.

After the others had been testing for a while, the man named Marchionne suddenly had a flash of inspiration. He plucked a leaf, turned it into a quill pen, and wrote a line on a piece of paper.

Money is a bottomless ocean, and I am willing to swim freely in it.

Then he quickly flipped backward, his expression becoming more and more frenzied with each flip. At first, the people around him didn't think much of it, but then their eyes widened and they kept swallowing.

Professor Morrie smiled, as if to say, "Everything is under control."

Chapter 53 Steven's Ideal

"No, sir, this number is too much... Professor, please consider my situation. Business is slow right now, could we perhaps share some of the profits?"

"The idea is clever, but it's actually very easy to replicate... You should know how rampant piracy is... If the cost is too high, people would rather buy counterfeit goods... I wouldn't make much money..."

"Two-way mirror and Floo Powder can both serve the same purpose, so it might not be as popular as you think. We're just testing the waters at first, and nobody knows how it will actually sell... If your price is too high, I'll have to give up..."

The crowd surrounded Professor Morrie, talking amongst themselves as if they were besieging him.

When Marchionne started making offers, Wade was finally certain that Professor Mori's party was actually a product launch for his Book of Friends.

No wonder he didn't let Wade sell the Book of Friends at school—if information about such products had leaked beforehand, the results might not have been as good as they are today. Besides, Wade's small-scale operations at school could only earn him a little pocket money from students, which couldn't compare to the efficiency of these "multinational corporations."

These unfamiliar wizards in the small garden could all be considered the heads of "multinational corporations"—because of the Floo Network and Portkeys, wizards can travel across different countries much more easily than Muggles. And with the Unseen Stretch Charm, the costs of logistics and transportation are negligible, so wizards can easily sell their goods to different countries, even different continents.

Vader followed Professor Morrie, watching him argue fiercely with the wizards about the licensing fees for the Book of Friends—one person offered 100,000 Galleons for a one-time purchase, almost getting kicked out by Professor Morrie. He raised the price to 200,000 Galleons, but Professor Morrie insisted on not agreeing, only willing to sell the usage rights.

At this moment, the wizards no longer fawned over and respected Professor Morrie as before. Instead, they negotiated meticulously, some pestering him relentlessly, some finding fault with everything, some pretending to give up, and some trying to appeal to his emotions. But Professor Morrie was like a stone pillar in a river, unmoved by the currents from all directions.

He started by asking an incredibly high price, then gradually negotiated with these people, constantly highlighting the advantages of the Book of Friends—quick, convenient, inexpensive, and something wizards all over the world would buy, and repeat throughout their lives… Do you know how beautiful and stable its structure is? Counterfeit items simply don't possess the stability of the Book of Friends; try it yourself if you don't believe me! Your transformation charm might fail beyond fifty meters and won't be able to transmit complex information…

When some people realized they couldn't persuade Professor Morrie, they bypassed him and went to find Wade. But Wade just smiled and didn't say anything, as if he were shy, and hid behind Professor Morrie.

He knew that at eleven years old, there was no need for him to act sophisticated, mature, or sharp; he could simply leave everything to the adults. He was also self-aware enough to know that if it were just Vader himself, he might have readily agreed to the 100,000 Galleon buyout offer…

Before this, Vader's best idea for the Book of Friends was to earn a few hundred or a thousand Galleons from his classmates at Hogwarts, which would require him to work day and night in his dormitory to produce a large number of Books of Friends, like an assembly line worker.

But now, he's about to sit at the capitalists' table.

Of course, the reason for handing over the decision-making power is that the adult in front of him is trustworthy and will truly consider his needs.

Wade looked up at Professor Morrie, who was giving him his all—the old man's thin back resembled a towering cliff, and Wade's eyes held a mixture of confusion and complexity.

Seeing that Wade was being harassed and looked a little pitiful with a blank expression, Professor Mori waved his hand, telling Steven to take Wade out to play and not get in the way. Then he rolled up his sleeves, looking ready to fight.

Steven, as quiet as a plant, and once again categorized as a child: ...

He hesitated, then finally shut his mouth and obediently led Wade away. Once outside, he couldn't help but let out a deep sigh.

“If you have something to do, you can go ahead and do it. I can just find somewhere to read,” Wade said understandingly, looking at him.

Who would enjoy playing with kids? He doesn't even like it himself.

“No—it’s not your fault—” Steven said dejectedly. He hadn’t wanted to say it, but under Wade’s gaze, he slowly revealed his troubles: “I’m already thirty-six years old, and my father still treats me like a child—actually, I want to follow in Mr. Scamander’s footsteps, travel the world, and become a magizoologist. But my parents don’t want me to go far away, saying it’s too dangerous…”

Wade looked at him, puzzled: "But—they didn't put you under house arrest—"

A man in his thirties, and a wizard at that, surely he can leave if he wants to.

“If I leave without saying goodbye, how heartbroken my mother will be—and my father will definitely be angry too—” Steven said worriedly. “I still hope to get their understanding and support, otherwise I won’t dare to come back after I leave.”

Wade was speechless. He hadn't expected Professor Morrie's son, who looked like a bear, to have such a gentle, rabbit-like personality. After thinking for a moment, he asked, "Why don't you write to Mr. Scamander?"

"—Write a letter? Write, write what kind of letter?"

“I’ve heard that Mr. Scamander keeps many magical creatures. Perhaps you could ask him for a job as a zookeeper or something. The salary isn’t important; what matters is that you can learn about magical creatures from Mr. Scamander. If one day you can handle all kinds of magical creatures as easily as he does, Professor Morrie should be able to let you travel with peace of mind, right?”

Wade thought of the magical box in Scamander's hands that contained multiple environments and climate changes, and felt genuine envy.

"Yes, how come I didn't think of that!" Steven was overjoyed. After a moment of excitement, he hesitated, "How should I write this letter? Will it be offensive?"

He asked for advice earnestly, even though the person in front of him was just a child.

“Let’s be honest,” Wade suggested. “Write down your worries and aspirations, as well as your knowledge of magical creatures. That way, even if Mr. Scamander disagrees, he won’t be angry.”

—I wonder if Mr. Scamander, upon receiving the letter, would think, based solely on the tone and wording, that the writer was a recent graduate.

When they first met, Wade thought he was a very tough person; then he found him to be gentle and calm; but after spending some time with him, he felt that his true personality was like that of a child, even more innocent than many children.

No wonder Professor Mori didn't dare let him go out. If this were his own son, Wade wouldn't dare let him travel the world alone either.

Chapter 54 Contract

Despite Steven's eagerness to write the letter and Wade's assurance that he could manage on his own, Steven still refused to abandon his responsibilities and run away.

He discussed the wording of the letter with Wade for a while, and then began to talk about the magical creatures he kept.

While Professor Morrie disagreed with his plan to travel to places inhabited by dangerous magical creatures, he didn't completely reject Steven's dream. After graduating from Hogwarts, Steven owned a farm where he had raised many "little darlings" over the years.

Wade knew that Hagrid at Hogwarts liked to keep all sorts of dangerous creatures, like dragons, calling them "cute little animals." He assumed Steven was the same, but after learning more, he discovered they were all genuinely cute and largely harmless magical creatures, such as the Ball Bird, the Silent Bird, the Fluffy Bird, the Fairy, and the Swallow-tailed Dog. The most dangerous of them all was a bird-snake, a creature that could freely expand and contract its size, becoming as large as a dragon, but feeding on insects, birds, and mice.

“I’ve always wanted to own a Glaling,” Steven said. “You know, it’s a type of Pegasus. Glalings can fly and run faster than the wind. But apart from Sigurd in mythology, no one has ever tamed a Glaling.”

"Are these Pegasus horses very difficult to tame?"

"They are very free-spirited animals, yearning for freedom and unwilling to be bound."

Steven continued, then spoke of other winged horses—Thestrals of Hogwarts, the Runehorns of Beauxbatons, and the fire-breathing winged horse, Iserlohn.

Some wizards look down on any magical creatures other than wizards, regarding them as inferior animals. But Steven was fascinated by them, knowing all sorts of creatures like the back of his hand, and Wade felt that he had learned a lot just from talking to him.

Suddenly, someone's arrival interrupted their conversation.

It was the blond wizard from the small stone platform earlier. He looked dejected and frustrated. He came over and greeted Steven, then looked at Wade and forced a smile: "Mr. Greg, it's a pity we didn't have the opportunity to work together this time. I hope you will contact me next time you have any new works. I will definitely be able to offer you a price that satisfies you."

He handed over a business card with the wizard's name and contact address on it.

Steven raised an eyebrow, his smile vanished, and his originally kind and gentle expression suddenly turned somewhat cold.

Wade took the business card, smiled, and said, "I hope I'll have that opportunity in the future."