Fred and George found no reason to refuse, so they took out a small, dark knife and handed it to Harry.
Harry reached out to take it, using his fingers to exert force, wanting to try adjusting and modifying the magical rune circuit on the mask.
However, it was only when he actually put it into practice that he realized how difficult it was; too little force might lead to imprecise carving, while too much force could easily cause the knife to slip.
"From a beginner's perspective, your hands might not be that obedient; this is a matter of technique and proficiency," Howl slowly said, "But don't forget, besides these two hands, you have other hands.
A hand that, if capable enough, can perfectly replicate whatever you think of."
Harry, who was struggling a bit, heard this and his eyes lit up, confirming, "Is that possible?"
"Why not?" Howl smiled, "But before that, let me tell you about the problems first."
Saying that, Howl took the mask from Harry's hand: "The comfort of wearing the mask, as Harry said, is indeed caused by the conflict between the carving trajectory of the magical runes and the natural grain of the wood itself. In Alchemy, the preliminary treatment of materials is also a very important part.
And for wood materials, if you cannot integrate the circuits with the wood grain as you do with the wands in your hands, then we must try our best to mitigate the influence of the wood grain on the magical runes."
Hearing this, Fred and George took out their wands, each closing one eye, and carefully examined the gaps in their wands.
"Wow!" George exclaimed, "I'm only just noticing these tiny magical rune circuits here for the first time!"
"I always thought these were scars on the wood before," Fred said.
After they finished examining their wands, Howl slowly said, "Regarding the preliminary treatment of wood, perhaps you can ask our Forbidden Forest keeper, Mr. Hagrid. I think he should have extensive experience in handicrafts.
As for the facial expression issue, since you chose a flowing, enveloping rune circuit to act on the mask, then naturally, a fully enveloping mask should already be able to capture our every expression.
The problem is that the captured expressions will not synchronize correctly after the mask transforms.
In such cases, we can divide the solidified Transfiguration circuits into individual, detailed units. Eyes correspond to eyes, nose corresponds to nose!"
"We've tried that method, but..." Fred said, sounding a bit unsure.
"But it didn't succeed, or the effect was minimal. So you don't know if this is a better method," Howl said.
George nodded, smiling, "Exactly, we thought there was an easier way."
Howl spread his hands and smiled, "For you, segmenting the Transfiguration runes for correspondence is a simple and effective method. As for an even simpler way... it's simple for me, but not necessarily for you."
The two brothers smiled helplessly: "Alright, getting the correct research direction is satisfying enough, isn't it?"
"I think we should be able to get the items done by Halloween Eve," Fred patted Harry's shoulder.
Having sought Howl out so many times, they never wanted direct answers, but rather hoped for guidance on the direction.
Giving a correct direction is much better than simply giving them the answer.
The two took the mask from Howl's hand, thanked him, and turned to leave. Just before leaving, Fred turned back: "Potter, hurry up, we need to go find Hagrid."
"Oh, okay."
Harry hadn't quite caught up with the brothers' swift pace yet.
Howl watched them leave, and just as he picked up his book to read, another boy stood up and walked over.
He was the boy who first set foot here, and it was from him that this place gradually became a reading room.
"Mr. Jones, why do they call you Captain?" he asked.
"You can too, that's what I used to be called," Howl turned around: "Cedric, is there something you need?"
The boy smiled somewhat awkwardly: "I just happened to have a question from Charms Class, and I wasn't sure if it was convenient for you, because I just heard Fred and George both came to you..."
Howl's eyelids drooped, looking at him helplessly.
Good kid! After the reading room, are you going to ask me to answer questions again?!
He smacked his lips, but finally nodded, smiling helplessly: "Alright, ask away. Consider it me reviewing this knowledge myself."
...
...
Five days later, with Harry's participation and Howl's answers, the Weasleys' new product successfully debuted the day before Halloween Eve.
On Thursday, Halloween morning, after Harry's classes, he immediately rushed to the Weasleys' private workshop, which was an abandoned classroom.
Fred was responsible for using Charms to shape the mask into a facial curve and then making holes for the eyes, nose, and mouth.
Lee Jordan was responsible for polishing and finishing the mask.
George was responsible for using a pencil to pre-sketch the most suitable magical rune carving trajectory based on the wood grain.
Harry was responsible for carving with the Wizards Hand.
"Potter, do you really not want a snake head mask?" Fred said with a chuckle.
Upon hearing this, Harry immediately shivered all over. A snake head... that would be far too hideous.
Lee Jordan, who was polishing an uncarved mask, looked disgusted: "George, stop intentionally grossing Harry out."
"But I think Potter can't be without a mask," Fred said, shaking his head.
At this point, through their concerted efforts, they had successfully produced over a dozen lion king masks, as well as several eagle head masks and badger masks representing Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff.
But there wasn't a single snake head mask.
Well, Slytherin was never their customer base. But what about Harry? Harry was their partner!
"No, I think I'll pass," Harry quickly shook his head. Just thinking about wearing a snake head made him very... uncomfortable.
"Alright, but you can't be without a mask. We're a team, so how about a lion mask for you?" Lee Jordan said.
Fred slapped him: "Why do you keep saying foolish things? Letting a Slytherin wear a Gryffindor mask, even if the Slytherins don't say anything to him, our Gryffindor people might..."
"Oh," Lee Jordan realized, "Sorry, Potter. Consider what I said foolish."
Harry shook his head: "No, I don't mind. It's just... what would Gryffindor say?"
George, who was sketching the magical rune trajectory for Harry to carve on a mask with a pencil, said without looking up: "Potter, you know. The relationship between Gryffindor and Slytherin...
In short, there are also many annoying people in our house who are hostile to others indiscriminately."
"I thought this kind of thing was only more severe in Slytherin," Harry frowned, "Because Slytherin equally looks down on everyone from other houses."
"No," Fred shook his head, "The Sorting Hat doesn't sort good or bad, and Gryffindor is exactly the opposite of what you said.
Gryffindor treats everyone from all houses equally—except Slytherin!!"
"Of course, we're an exception; we're just talking about the general situation," George added.
"Honestly, I think the animosity between Slytherin and Gryffindor is really stupid and strange," Lee Jordan said indignantly.
"Hattenali won't even talk to me anymore, and I found out after asking around that she's been isolated by her Slytherin clique."
"Why?" Harry asked, puzzled.
"Just because she talks to me, talks to a Gryffindor," Lee Jordan explained, grumbling irritably.
"How stupid!"