Snow was falling outside—thick, dense snow like woolen fleece.
Fine droplets had condensed on the greenhouse windows too.
The droplets quickly ran down, because a fireplace came thudding over.
The snow on Justin's scarf and hair melted rapidly.
Only then did his slightly trembling body calm down.
"It's too cold outside."
Justin wiped his face.
"You should wear something thicker."
Sean looked down at his own clothes:
wool underwear, an embroidered silk waistcoat, a thickened plain wool work robe, a black winter cloak with silver clasps…
They had wrapped his usually slender body into a ball.
Professor McGonagall always liked buying wizard robes like this, and he had no real objections.
After all, for most of the year, Britain's weather made the idea of wearing something warm and fluffy extremely tempting.
Justin, on the other hand, laughed.
"Don't mind me, Sean. My mother used to buy me things like that too."
he said with a smile.
"But later, she changed."
Sean cast him a questioning look.
"She realized I could handle these things myself."
Justin said gently.
Sean nodded. Thinking of Professor McGonagall's faint smile when she bought clothes, he stopped minding it.
Just as they were about to go out, a hand suddenly reached out from the fireplace, followed by a head.
"Professor Quirrell."
Sean said.
"Sorry to disturb you, sir."
Professor Quirrell was wrapped in wind and snow, his face full of apology.
"That urgent order…"
Quirrell's words left Sean momentarily dazed.
These past few days, he had been busy practicing Elemental Activation and had forgotten that he had set aside Fairy Tale Workshop's orders for a long time.
Ordinarily, buyers would quietly wait a while.
Fairy Tale Workshop's delivery dates were always more of a range. They might be late, but they would definitely arrive. That was almost one of the workshop's features by now.
The problem was that this batch of magic hand mirrors was for Uagadou.
Cross-border trade procedures were tedious and complicated. If they didn't deliver soon, they probably wouldn't make it in time.
"How long until the Quidditch match starts?"
Sean looked at Justin.
"Two hours."
Justin looked curiously at the fireplace.
They had known for a long time that Sean's fireplace was connected to the Floo Network, but they had rarely seen him use it, and didn't even know where it connected to.
Now it seemed the answer was Fairy Tale Workshop.
"Do you want to go to the Quidditch pitch first?"
Sean asked after Professor Quirrell left.
"Oh, I still have some buttered toast to finish today…"
Justin tugged at his scarf, smiling as he headed back to his seat.
By the time Sean had made three magic hand mirrors, he had no difficulty noticing Justin peeking over.
"That's… a magic hand mirror?"
Justin's peeking became open observation.
"The third-generation improved version. It comes equipped with a movable local magic network… By the way, did you collect Hermione's and the others' mirrors?"
Sean asked while engraving ancient runes.
"Of course."
Justin carefully placed several mirrors onto the tabletop.
A magic hand mirror was certainly a magical object with communication functions.
But at the end of the day, it was still a mirror. If it wasn't treated carefully, it could break.
"Sean, is this why you asked me to collect them? You're adding the local magic network to ours?"
Justin said excitedly.
"Mhm…"
Sean answered.
"The local magic network can store text for a period of time, allows everyone to receive the same message, and supports wizards creating their own separate channels within the network… The Daily Prophet will also publish news on it. If you don't want to see it, you can block it by pressing the rune on the side…"
Sean explained while modifying them.
It was only recently that the local magic network technology had matured.
For now, it could at least cover all of Hogwarts.
If every wizard went to Fairy Tale Workshop and bought a third-generation magic hand mirror, then they would be allowed to communicate within the same magic network.
Of course, only through text.
It felt a little like a chat channel.
A Hogwarts group chat?
Sean thought for no particular reason.
"That's amazing!"
Justin cried out excitedly.
He could hardly wait.
Soon, he received his own magic hand mirror from Sean.
[Justin: Anyone there? Can you see me?]
Text suddenly appeared on Sean's mirror.
"Not yet. The third-generation magic hand mirrors haven't been released for sale…"
Sean looked at him, a little helpless.
"Oh, oh, oh—"
Justin was clearly still excited.
"Then when…"
"Within this week."
Sean thought for a moment.
A total of seventy third-generation magic hand mirrors had been produced.
Nearly all of them had been reserved by various Ministries of Magic and Magical Congresses around the world.
Among them, there were even foreign wizards who had failed to buy one and then refused to leave.
Unfortunately for them, they were clearly intimidated by the green glow coming from Professor Quirrell's wand, and had left reluctantly.
"I need to give these to the others—"
Justin happily carried the mirrors and left Hope Cottage.
He could already imagine how lively things would become.
Without a doubt, the students, the professors, the staff, and perhaps even Headmaster Dumbledore would all join the network.
Maybe wizards would even split into little groups… like a Hufflepuff House chat, a Quidditch Club chat, an Always-Fed Club chat, and so on.
As for Sean, he silently looked at his panel.
[Wizard Sean, Alchemy Talent: Gold]
[Advanced · Anywhere Door: Beginner (100/900)]
[Advanced · Wizard's Book: Expert (8900/9000)]
[Advanced · Magic Hand Mirror: Master (100/?)]
[Advanced · Fairy Tale Biscuit: Master (1700/?) (collapsed)]
[Advancement: Three types of Master-level advanced alchemical creations can unlock the Master-level title in the field of Alchemy (2/3)]
He only needed a little more proficiency in the Wizard's Book before he could unlock Master-level Alchemy.
The problem was that expanding the internal space of the Wizard's Book was not a particularly fast process.
Sean estimated that it would still take another two weeks for the space inside the Wizard's Book to stabilize enough for his next modification and expansion.
Perhaps… that old Hufflepuff senior would have a way?
Outside, the snow was still falling, and the grounds were soft beneath it.
As Sean walked down the stairs toward the outside of the castle, he could feel the gentle breeze and the snowflakes melting as they landed on his cheeks.
Then he heard the sound of the entire school flooding toward the stadium outside.
He took out his magic hand mirror, and inside it, things already seemed to have descended into chaos.
[Hermione: Is this real? I can leave messages too?]
[You received a message from "Hermione": Oh my god, it's real!]
[You received a message from "Justin": Sean, we're in the third row.]
*[You received… (5)]
[Ron has renamed this magic-network channel from "Hogwarts" to "Know-It-All."]
[Hermione: ?]