Chapter 106: Harry And Ron’s Battle With The Whomping Willow
In the early hours, Slytherin Common Room.
The magical flames burning in the fireplace emitted no heat, only a faint blue light that illuminated the dormitory situated at the bottom of the lake.
It also illuminated Vaughn’s pensive face.
It had been a full hour since he returned from the Room of Requirement, but Vaughn hadn’t moved, merely keeping his notebook open, lost in thought.
Guo Guo Cha, having already slept, awoke from a sweet dream. It dreamt of once again eating a dried fish-flavored mouse; the exquisite taste made it involuntarily lick its lips even after waking.
“Meow~”
Guo Guo Cha stretched and nuzzled up to Vaughn, rubbing against him.
Vaughn leaned over, scooped the adorable creature onto his lap, and scratched its neck. “Guo Guo Cha, tell me, what does a true alchemist consider real and what do they consider false?”
“…Meow?”
“Heh…” Vaughn chuckled, “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t ask you such strange questions.”
With Guo Guo Cha’s interruption, Vaughn finally stopped staring blankly.
He picked up his quill and began to record the evening’s events in his open notebook.
And… the homework Dumbledore assigned…
“How do alchemists view the world?”
The quill wrote this title on the parchment.
Vaughn vaguely understood why Dumbledore assigned such homework, as they had discussed the Aether today, and he had consistently expressed skepticism about alchemical theories.
This was by no means a bad thing.
As Vaughn had said before, interpreting objective phenomena with subjective judgment inevitably had limitations; there was no absolutely correct principle in the world.
Dumbledore agreed with this, which was why he had said the Muggle theories were interesting in the Aether earlier.
He wasn’t against Vaughn’s questioning, but worried that Vaughn’s questioning would blind him, just as he had said at the end.
Vaughn wasn’t even an alchemist yet, and his understanding of alchemy and the Aether was still shallow.
Therefore, he hoped Vaughn would step on the brakes before his views became rigid, and first learn to become an alchemist, to understand their thoughts and the essence that underpinned them.
“Dumbledore is a good teacher.”
Vaughn said softly.
Guo Guo Cha, nestled in his arms, lifted its head: “Meow meow!”
“Heh, you think so too?”
Stroking Guo Guo Cha’s thick fur, Vaughn smiled. Old Dumbledore’s behavior today was truly rare—when the Chocolate Frog Company made wizard trading cards, Dumbledore’s card highlighted his achievements in alchemy as his most significant trait.
Such an old wizard, who had dedicated most of his life to researching alchemy, showed no resistance or dissatisfaction today due to Vaughn’s remarks, but instead made every effort to understand and be a good mentor.
Truly broad-minded.
Since Old Dumbledore had given him a plum, Vaughn would reciprocate with a peach, and moreover, as modern alchemy had been developing for centuries, he would have to delve into its study first.
What Dumbledore had said was correct.
Vaughn was ambitious, ambitious for knowledge and truth.
This path was difficult to tread; to achieve it, he would need a large number of like-minded people to assist him.
In the realm of knowledge, there was never a rule that might made right; one had to prove to people that they were on the correct path to become a leader they supported.
Currently, Vaughn clearly fell far short of this standard.
Looking at the title he had written on the parchment, Vaughn pondered for a moment, then wrote a few small characters below:
“Whether it is magic or science, wizards or Muggles, the definition of matter is the same—everything that exists in the universe, an objective reality independent of human consciousness!”
“Both also speculate that matter possesses another state; magic calls it ‘spirit,’ and science calls it ‘information.'”
“From this perspective, spirit can be equal to information.”
“Aether, a collection of spirits = an informational universe!”
“The study of the essence of the world has reached this point, where both share a tacit understanding of converging paths. The main divergence currently lies in the fact that scientific views emphasize objective factors, while magic, or rather alchemy, is more accustomed to proceeding from a subjective perspective.”
“Alchemists view the world subjectively… why?”
Vaughn paused, his pen still, and frowned slightly. Normally, alchemists who acknowledged matter as objective reality would abandon objective viewpoints, even separating the Aether from matter and viewing it as ‘the soul （ and consciousness ） of the great reality’?
This was precisely the purpose of Dumbledore’s homework assignment.
What caused the shift in alchemists’ thinking?
Recalling Dumbledore’s final demonstration in the Aether earlier, and the question he had repeatedly asked—what is real, what is false?
Vaughn furrowed his brow, contemplating. He could vaguely grasp that Old Dumbledore’s question wasn’t truly asking him to define reality and falsehood.
Instead, it was hinting at something.
“This riddle-lover…”
Feeling that he wouldn’t figure anything out by just thinking dryly, Vaughn put down his quill and picked up Guo Guo Cha again.
“Meow?”
“I haven’t finished, I’m stopping for now. I haven’t rested all night, I need to sleep.”
“Meow meow!”
“It’s nothing, it’s just that my consciousness is a bit chaotic from the experience in the Aether. That state of being split into countless moments per second, with a consciousness in each moment, was simply…”
Vaughn grumbled as he snuggled into bed with Guo Guo Cha.
Guo Guo Cha couldn’t quite understand the experience he described. It was more concerned with another issue; it struggled out of Vaughn’s arms and let out a call: “Meow~”
Vaughn was astonished. “Why don’t you want to sleep with me?”
“Meow!”
“Hot?”
Right… it was already May.
Even in the Scottish Highlands, where the temperature was consistently low, summer had begun to arrive. Although the Slytherin Common Room, located at the bottom of the lake, was relatively cool, for Guo Guo Cha, with its thick fur, the current temperature was no longer comfortable.
Furthermore, it was foreseeable that as summer truly arrived, it would become increasingly uncomfortable.
Vaughn also thought of this problem.
If there was anything inconvenient about the wizarding world, then summer would definitely rank first.
Speaking of which, when he had first started trying to make money with potions, before he had awakened to “eating” from women’s advantages, Vaughn had considered developing a potion to cool people down.
However, after calculating, England, where the climate wasn’t extreme yet, only had about a month of summer. Developing a potion specifically for this wasn’t very cost-effective, so he shelved the idea.
“When Fred and George’s technology improves further, we can consider installing air conditioning in the dormitory.”
Mithril amalgam rubber was developed for wires and had a narrow range of practical applications. Besides wires, it was only suitable for small electronic products; given its small size, a thin protective sleeve could be made.
Due to cost and heat dissipation factors, its effectiveness in large appliances was not good.
It was rumored that the twins were currently attempting new methods of improvement.
“I wonder how Fred and George’s research is progressing?”
Just as Vaughn was suddenly reminded of the twins, in Gryffindor Tower, the door to the Common Room entrance quietly opened from the inside.
The Fat Lady guarding the door yawned sleepily, complaining, “You mischievous little wizards, don’t you let anyone sleep? I really want to… huh? No one?”
Amidst the Fat Lady’s confused mumbling, a faint trail of footsteps cautiously moved away from the tower, reaching the first floor of the castle without a sound. The air then abruptly shifted.
A head “squeezed” out from the air. It was Harry, his face flushed, currently taking deep breaths of the cool, pre-dawn air.
Then came Ron, his eyes bulging and gasping for breath, “I must be crazy, wandering around at midnight instead of sleeping.”
Harry whispered, “Shh, keep it down… Don’t you want to try the camera? Fred and George need more actors to help test the functions of the modified camera. We’re good friends, so I’m quietly bringing you along. I wouldn’t tell just anyone.”
This immediately made Ron swallow his complaints.
Harry had been chattering about the “filming” experience in his ear for the past two days, making him envious. He dreamt of trying it.
“Where are they?”
“In a secret passage that supposedly leads to Hogsmeade. They’re experimenting with a new improvement process there.”
Ron’s anticipation was immediately dashed.
Harry didn’t know where that passage was.
“Merlin’s beard, you haven’t been with them?”
“No…” Harry explained awkwardly. “We were in the Room of Requirement before, but yesterday Fred and George wrote to me saying the Room of Requirement was occupied by their beloved patron, so they had to move their secret laboratory to a safer location.”
As he spoke, he took out the envelope, pulled out a note with messy handwriting, and read: “…Go out from the side door of the castle, in the direction of Hagrid’s Hut. You’ll see a very ugly tree with a huge knot. The entrance to the passage is beneath the tree.”
“See, not too hard to find, right?”
Harry shook the note and said to Ron.
Ron had a bad feeling. In his experience, places the twins considered “safe” were usually not friendly to him.
However, the directions were indeed clear, and Ron couldn’t think of any problems for the moment. Besides, now that he was out, without Harry’s Invisibility Cloak, he wouldn’t dare return to Gryffindor Tower alone.
After some hesitation, Ron suppressed his inner unease and decided to follow Harry to find the passage.
The two donned the Invisibility Cloak again and quietly slipped through the deserted corridors. When they reached the side door of the castle, they even encountered Madam Pomfrey on patrol.
Ever since Madam Pomfrey had helped him find the twins last time, Harry had optimistically felt that he and the skinny, creepy cat had reconciled.
From then on, every time he encountered her, Harry would feed her a piece of dried fish. This time was no exception.
Seeing a piece of dried fish suddenly drop from the air, Madam Pomfrey’s bulging eyes widened. She sniffed, then turned and ran.
Ron found it incredible, not the fact that Madam Pomfrey ran away, he knew where that stinky cat was going. He was surprised by—
“Why do you carry dried fish when you go out?”
“I suddenly realized it’s a pretty good snack. Cats like it, and people can eat it too… Ron, would you like some?”
“I hate dried fish!” Ron said emphatically. “And I hate cats even more!”
“Ron, I think you should let go of your prejudice against Guo Guo Cha and Madam Pomfrey. They’re actually quite cute.”
“I don’t think so. Both those stinky cats are ungrateful white-eyed wolves… Listen, your cute Madam Pomfrey has called Filch.”
From deep in the corridor came the sound of Filch running with a limp and his angry shouts.
However, the two weren’t worried about being discovered by Filch, because they now knew that Filch couldn’t use magic.
Harry had personally heard the twins say last time that Filch was a Squib. He had shared this news with his friends as soon as he returned.
Ron had laughed so hard that day, and even the usually timid Neville couldn’t help but smile. Neville even shared a small secret—his family had always worried he was a Squib, but luckily he had received his Hogwarts letter.
Everyone was happy, until Hermione sternly lectured them:
“Why do you think discovering someone else’s flaw is something to be happy about? Harry, could you laugh when Malfoy mocks you by calling you ‘Scarhead’?”
That day, Harry and the others felt a pang of guilt towards Filch for the first time, but that didn’t stop them from enjoying teasing him.
Just as Filch, being a Squib, never missed an opportunity to torment every young wizard.
Harry and Ron leisurely watched Filch, in his pajamas, run breathlessly, while Madam Pomfrey circled their invisible hiding spot, Filch looking suspicious.
After they had had enough amusement, the two quietly slipped away from the castle’s side door, chuckling.
“Poor guy, I bet he doesn’t even know what an Invisibility Cloak is, or maybe he’s never even seen invisibility magic,”
Ron said happily to Harry.
But this happiness soon vanished without a trace.
To be fair, the landmarks written in the twins’ letter to Harry were indeed clear.
To curb the spread of the Forbidden Forest, the area between Hogwarts Castle and Hagrid’s Hut was almost entirely lawn.
Moreover, they had specified the features “huge knot” and “very ugly,” which immediately allowed Harry and Ron, after exiting the castle’s side door, to pinpoint their target among the few remaining trees on the hillside.
However, the twins hadn’t mentioned the type of tree!
“The Whomping Willow!”
In the bright moonlight, as they saw the tree, Harry heard Ron groan.
Harry, the novice wizard Potter, looked bewildered. “What is that?”
“A plant with a very bad temper. Anything that touches it gets beaten up!” Ron gritted his teeth. “I knew it! Places that those awful twins consider safe are never normal!”
He didn’t want to play anymore. Past experiences had taught him that he should immediately return to his dormitory and get as far away from those awful twins as possible.
But Harry disagreed.
“We’re already here, and we both have our wands. What are we afraid of?”
“But it’s not an ordinary tree…”
“No matter how extraordinary, is it scarier than a troll? You brag all year about how brave you were facing a troll last year, are you scared of a tree now?”
This remark hit Ron hard. He glared resentfully at Harry, his once-innocent friend, who had somehow become as sharp-tongued as Vaughn.
After provoking him, Harry consoled him. “Besides, we have the Invisibility Cloak. If we sneak over, it won’t see us.”
Ron was finally persuaded.
That’s right, with the Invisibility Cloak, what was there to fear?
The bravery and recklessness in his heart, conforming to Gryffindor traits, overcame his reason. The two, cloaked in invisibility, quietly approached the willow tree that stood against the night sky, its branches occasionally twitching, looking quite large and ominous.
“Ron, can you breathe quieter?”
“Shh—quietly, don’t wake it up!”
“What are you worried about? Does a tree have ears? Look, we’re already very close, and it hasn’t moved… Ouch!”
Harry’s sudden exclamation startled Ron. “What happened? What happened?”
“I think I tripped on a root,” Harry said, rubbing his leg and teasing. “Ron, why are you so timid today?”
Normally, Ron would have been so angry his hair would have stood on end.
But today, Harry didn’t hear a response.
He raised his head in surprise and saw Ron staring blankly at the ground.
“Ron?”
Ron finally responded, his voice trembling. “Harry… the roots seem to be moving…”
“Hm?”
Before Harry could react, he felt something suddenly wrap around his calf.
Immense strength exploded, yanking him into the air.
Everything happened too quickly. Ron vaguely saw the roots seeming to move. Just as an ominous premonition began to brew, a thick, vine-like dark shadow suddenly sprang from the ground and coiled around Harry’s leg.
With a whoosh, Harry disappeared.
The Invisibility Cloak was also flung away somewhere.
The sudden turn of events left Ron completely unable to react. He instinctively drew his wand and blankly looked up, trying to find Harry’s figure.
He found him quickly, because he was right above him.
“Aaaargh—”
Harry’s scream tore through the night sky as a shadowy vine-like thing that had wrapped around his leg dragged him through the air, flinging him around before tossing him high up.
“Ron—!”
Hearing Harry’s call, Ron snapped out of his shock and raised his wand, intending to save Harry.
But caught off guard, all the spells he’d learned over the year seemed to vanish from his mind, leaving it blank.
Only one scene suddenly replayed in his head—
It was last year, during their first flying lesson… Harry, enraged by Malfoy, had rammed Malfoy out of mid-air.
At that critical moment, Vaughn, who had been following behind, uttered a spell like a savior.
It was the first time Ron had overlooked Vaughn’s unpleasant nature and thought he looked cool as he flew through the air, his red hair fluttering, wielding his wand and casting magic.
He had secretly imitated it many times in private because of it.
Although he always bragged about how he faced a troll last Halloween, Ron knew he had stayed behind Vaughn the entire time and done nothing.
Ron, with a blank mind, instinctively waved his wand, mimicking the scene that flashed in his mind, and uttered that spell:
“Full Body-Bind!”
Ron, who had never cast a spell successfully before starting school and often lagged behind afterward, actually succeeded on his first try out of desperation.
Under his spell, the air above suddenly became thick and heavy, blurring his vision.
But it also provided an effective cushion.
The second the spell took effect, Harry plummeted down, screaming, the thick air cushioning the impact of gravity.
Although Ron, due to his magic power and spell proficiency, couldn’t trap people in the air with the same force as Vaughn, Harry still fell.
But at least he didn’t die, right?
With a *thwack*, Harry landed face-first, his nose hitting something unknown, causing a stinging, burning pain.
He ignored the pain and scrambled up, drawing his wand.
Because he had seen in mid-air that the Whomping Willow, which he had underestimated moments before, had completely “awakened.”
Under the night sky, the Whomping Willow’s massive canopy unfurled like petals, but instead of flowers, it bloomed with dense, gnarled branches as thick as an adult’s thigh.
They thrashed and swayed wildly, the night filled with the whistling of branches and leaves cutting through the air.
There were also countless flexible aerial roots—the same vine-like things that had coiled around Harry—attacking from all directions, some spreading rapidly along the ground, others whipping down like sharp ropes.
Harry watched as a startled bird was caught by an aerial root and crushed into pulp.
What should he do?
What magic should he use?
The spells he had learned flashed through his mind. It had to be said that Harry possessed exceptional talent in combat; he determined a plan almost instantly.
“Incendio!”
Plants feared fire; it made sense!
As the spell was cast, intense flames erupted from Harry’s wand and landed on the ground, igniting several aerial roots that had crept close.
Harry thought he heard the Whomping Willow scream.
But he didn’t feel any joy, as the attacked Whomping Willow became even more furious, and more aerial roots surged forward, severing the burning parts.
Sap sprayed out like blood, drenching nearby aerial roots a dark green.
Harry initially paid little attention to this somewhat frantic display.
It wasn’t until he cast the Fire-Making Spell again, and the magical flames no longer affected the aerial roots coated in tree sap, that his face suddenly turned pale—this thing could actually use tree sap to resist fire!
Damnable, cursed magical plant!
Harry was momentarily flustered, and the nose he had bumped seemed to be bleeding, making him feel dizzy.
Fortunately, Ron stepped forward at this moment!
Those sorted into Gryffindor never lacked courage and passion, perhaps also because saving Harry had boosted his confidence.
Ron ran to Harry’s side and yelled, his face flushed, “Diffindo!”
An aerial root that was constricting him exploded as if hit by a cannonball, splattering sap everywhere.
Seeing this, Harry rallied his spirits and yelled out a spell.
“Diffindo!”
“Diffindo!”
But their counterattacks quickly weakened as more and more aerial roots and tendrils advanced, their young wizards’ meager magic power and emotions unable to sustain the effort.
When another splitting spell was cast, it produced only a weak flash, and the root it hit didn’t even break its outer layer.
Harry felt a sense of despair.
He finally understood why Ron was afraid of “a tree.”
Just as Harry was panting, ready to close his eyes and pray he wouldn’t be beaten to death and could at least have enough life left to be sent to the Hospital Wing.
The furious Whomping Willow suddenly stopped.
The aerial roots and tendrils that had been lashing out a second ago went limp and retracted back into the ground. The branches and leaves that had been whistling in the air also fell silent.
If not for their near-exhausted strength and the ravaged surroundings that looked like a hurricane had passed through, Harry would have thought he had just had a nightmare.
Harry and Ron exchanged stunned glances, and then they heard applause.
“Brilliant! George, what a dramatic fight scene—did you capture it?”
“Don’t worry, Fred, with six camera angles, I can’t guarantee 360-degree coverage, but we definitely recorded the whole thing!”
“Excellent, George, you’ve fulfilled your sacred duty. I think you could compete for the Muggle Academy Award for Best Cinematography!”
“You too, Fred. Your masterful directing and screenwriting turned this sudden combat scene into a thrilling roller coaster. Merlin’s beard, when Harry fell from the sky, I almost wanted to intervene. Only you, steadfast for art… How did you know young Ronnie could cast the spell?”
“Because he’s a Weasley, George… Actually, I just didn’t react in time, hehe!”
“Hahahaha!”
Hearing this familiar conversation and the immense information it contained, Harry, having survived, saw his lingering astonishment and surprise turn into speechless exasperation.
“I knew it! I knew it! One day, I’m going to die by your hands!”
“I shouldn’t have had any illusions about you, shouldn’t have believed you could be reliable even for a moment. What kind of brother would put his first-year younger brother in front of the Whomping Willow for some damn art?”
“What sins did I commit in my past life for Merlin to punish me by making me your brother?”
Ron’s furious accusations echoed through the dark tunnel.
He was furious and terrified.
Merlin only knew how scared he had been when his magic finally ran out, watching a root as thick as his head swing towards him.
Shamelessly, he admitted he really wanted to go back to his dormitory and change his pants right now.
Ron swore that this was the most dangerous and terrifying situation he had encountered in his 12 years, even more frightening than facing the troll last year—the troll was certainly more formidable than the Whomping Willow, but at least Vaughn was there with him then!
In response to Ron’s accusations, the twins chuckled:
“This Whomping Willow was planted by the school. At most, it’ll break your bones; dying isn’t that easy, not like a Mandrake.”
“Exactly!”
“Think about it from another angle, little Ronnie. You don’t know how handsome you looked catching Harry when you cast that spell. We were all smitten, weren’t we, George?”
“Yes, Fred. If I were a girl, I’d definitely fall for little Ronnie.”
“And Harry, oh my, his excellent combat talent, his decisive move to use the Fire-Making Spell against the Whomping Willow was breathtaking.”
“Precisely, so brave and resolute, full of Gryffindor’s courage and Ravenclaw’s wisdom. I bet, Harry, once we finish the film, you’ll mesmerize every girl in school!”
Harry, who had been sulking, annoyed at the twins for tricking him and even more so at himself for not knowing what to do with them,’s eyes lit up at their words.
A suspicious blush crept onto his delicate face, inherited from his mother. He stammered, and after a long pause, he asked softly, “Really?”
The twins repeatedly patted their chests and assured him, “Really! In that moment, you were the dream of a thousand maidens!”
Harry’s expression became even more shy.
Ron stared at his friends in disbelief, “Harry, you still believe their nonsense?”
How could the innocent Ron understand that a boy in his hormonal phase had no reason, and his brain was usually just for show.
Of course, a mischievous boy usually had no brain either.
Soon, Ron also succumbed to the twins’ flattery—they told Ron that the tunnel under the Whomping Willow led directly to Hogsmeade and taught him the trick to passing the Whomping Willow.
All they had to do was touch the knots on the Whomping Willow to make it quiet and harmless.
“This is a secret very few people know, passed down through generations!”
“Yes, it’s very precious. If we weren’t in our third year and free to go to Hogsmeade, we wouldn’t tell you.”
The twins’ expressions were serious and solemn, and Ron inexplicably felt like he had gotten a great deal.
After pacifying the two’s tantrums, Fred and George led them to their new secret laboratory, a dilapidated building.
The building had been abandoned for many years.
Harry and Ron followed the twins out of the tunnel, and everything in their sight spoke of decay and squalor.
The empty interior had no furniture, the doors and windows were drafty, the floor was covered in dust, and the ceiling was riddled with cobwebs and the traces of hinkypunks.
Only on the second floor had the twins managed to tidy up a room to house their experimental equipment, which was relatively neat and clean.
“This is the Shrieking Shack in Hogsmeade. No one comes here; even the most mischievous young wizards wouldn’t dare, because for over a decade, the roars of beasts have often been heard here.”
Fred, holding a candle, said with a mysterious and somber expression, “Everyone says it’s haunted!”
A gust of wind, perhaps from a hole in the building, blew in, and Harry and Ron felt a chill run down their spines and shivered involuntarily.
Seeing their nervous reactions, Fred chuckled again, “Of course, that’s just a legend. We’ve never seen a ghost anyway.”
George, using the Levitation Charm to “lift” several cameras, added, “That legend actually helped us. This place is quieter than the Room of Requirement, and at least we won’t have patrons kicking us out on a whim!”
“George, watch your tone. Be careful the patrons find out and cause trouble for us.”
“Oh yeah, little Ronnie and Harry might complain.”
Harry and Ron, looking around curiously, were displeased. They had always been discreet and honest; when had they ever resorted to complaining behind someone’s back?
They said what they had to say to their faces, especially when it came to loud, secret plotting!
After a period of silent sulking, Harry noticed a change as the twins began to handle the cameras: “Have you developed the new method you talked about last time?”
Previously, the cameras Harry had seen were covered in a thin leather casing, which the twins said could reduce the chance of magic causing electrical malfunctions.
However, it wasn’t very effective.
Cameras needed to expose their lenses to record, and the casing couldn’t cover them completely, leading to their internal electronic components （ used for light metering, magnetic recording, sound pickup, etc. ） shorting out after a short time.
Even if they didn’t short circuit, the recording quality wasn’t great, with significant distortion.
For the past few days, the twins had been trying new methods.
Harry noticed that the cameras they held now had no leather casing, only faint golden speckles on their shells.
“Of course!” the twins exclaimed enthusiastically. “We came up with a brand-new solution yesterday: we’re solidifying mercury with mithril and plating it onto the shell like paint. This will significantly reduce costs, though the process is complex, and the protective effect is still not ideal.”
“Later, we’ll need to try developing new magic lenses, inspired by magic telescopes…”
Harry wasn’t interested in their modification ideas; he just wanted to know how well these cameras recorded now.
The twins replied, “Perfectly! We just tested them on you and little Ronnie. The image isn’t distorted, there’s very little noise, and the lifespan has been greatly extended. Based on our calculations, they can definitely record a full tape.”
George said emotionally, “We are changing the world, and you are changing the world too, Harry. Vaughn has already helped plan; once the films starring you are released, we… mmm!”
Seeing him about to say too much, Fred nudged him with his elbow.
Harry didn’t notice the subtle gesture; he only cared about one question: “So, the Quidditch match in a few days, they’ll definitely be usable, right?”
“Absolutely!” Fred said confidently.
In the evening, Vaughn met the twins who had come to report their progress to their “patron.”
They showed Vaughn the new brittle plating technology. For the new technique, they abandoned the more malleable common slime, using instead a gel extracted from the skin and bones of rainbow-colored fish.
“This gel needs to be degraded… is that the word, George?”
“Yes, Fred. You should learn more Muggle terms and stop asking me… Anyway, bacteria are involved in the degradation process, possibly giving these collagens unique physical structures that allow them to adhere and solidify better.”
“In the new recipe, we’ve reduced the amount of mercury, making the mithril-mercury more solid-state. However, with the application of the new gel, we no longer need to make a thick rubber layer, allowing us to form symbols on lighter and thinner materials, significantly reducing the actual cost.”
Vaughn examined the opened camera casing in his hand, with speckles of gold distributed on the inner layer.
That was what ordinary wizards could see.
In his eyes, those golden, fragmented colors were actually dense circular symbols.
After looking for a while and weighing it, Vaughn asked, “According to your new technology, how long can the cameras operate normally now?”
Fred immediately replied, “We tested it at dawn; it was about 80 minutes. The time is not fixed; magical interference is multifaceted and depends on the specific magical environment. The magical environment at the Shrieking Shack is relatively weaker, so it might be shorter at Hogwarts.”
George then enthusiastically began to demonstrate their testing process for the “patron.”
He placed a tape into a projector from the previous generation’s technology, still encased in its leather cover, and turned it on. A beam of light was cast onto the screen.
Then, under the bright moonlight, the scene of Harry and Ron “fighting the Whomping Willow” appeared.
Vaughn: “…”
The battle scene was short, only a few minutes long, clearly just a test of the recording quality. The camera then cut, with almost no editing skill, to a dilapidated shack.
The twins, seemingly not wanting the test to be too monotonous, imitated Muggle films and added plot to the abrupt fight at the beginning.
But the actual effect…
“Ron, is our friendship truly coming to an end?”
“Yes, Harry, don’t force me!”
Watching Harry and Ron in the camera, forcing deep expressions stiffly and reciting their lines woodenly,
Vaughn’s brow furrowed deeply.
He suddenly felt that the “old man on the subway looking at his phone” meme from his past life would be quite fitting for his current state.
So awkward, he could practically dig his toes into the ground.
But the twins, as “directors,” clearly had no idea what they were doing. They excitedly wanted to explain their deconstruction of the plot.
Vaughn had to quickly raise his hand to stop them: “Enough, enough, turn it off!”
The twins were reluctant: “Aren’t you going to watch more? It’s just the beginning, the exciting parts are still to come. We specifically created conflict in the character development for Harry and Ron, then experienced combat and resolution…”
Vaughn didn’t want to watch, nor did he want to comment.
He simply said sincerely to the twins, “I think the initial raw footage is excellent, perfect, really. There’s no need to elaborate further; it’s better to leave some beautiful imagination space for the audience.”
In other words, the plot they designed was the antithesis of “beauty.”
The twins looked a bit crestfallen.
“We were planning to make this the first film from Weasley Productions!”
“Alas, we didn’t expect the patron to have no appreciation for our artistic standards.”
Vaughn: “…Weasley Films?”
Hearing Vaughn mention this, the twins’ optimistic mood lifted again, and they said excitedly, “Yes, Weasley Films, it was your suggestion last time that gave us inspiration.”
“That’s right, we’ve conducted market research these past few days, and it’s unbelievable, there isn’t a single movie theater in the entire wizarding world. Wizards have no other form of entertainment besides reading books, newspapers, and watching Quidditch. It’s truly terrifying.”
“We think there is a vast market space within this!”
“You don’t even need to worry about the market foundation. The Quidditch footage a few days later, and the adventure challenge record you mentioned starring Harry, these two activities will be enough to cultivate an audience. When we launch the movie capitalizing on the hype and novelty, are you still afraid we won’t make money?”
Vaughn didn’t know what expression to make for a moment.
The so-called record of adventurous trials was actually a series of traps and tests designed by Dumbledore for Harry. A few days ago, Vaughn briefly mentioned this to the twins to ignite their enthusiasm for development, encouraging them to quickly finish the cameras so they could film it and make money.
The Boy Who Lived Harry Potter’s personal adventures, wouldn’t that hype sell like crazy?
Of course, Vaughn’s original idea was just to record the video material for later use, such as the actual performance of various mechanisms.
And, Voldemort!
Currently, most of the Wizarding World believes Voldemort is dead, and it’s now a peaceful society… Peace is, of course, good, the problem is that it’s just an impractical dream.
Vaughn felt that, when necessary, he should let everyone see the appearance of the Dark Lord when he was still alive!
As for selling it, that was just a casual remark.
Unexpectedly, the effect was surprisingly good. The twins kept it in mind and extrapolated, preparing to open the market with Quidditch videos and challenge documentaries.
They even specially found Harry to act in what is called the first movie, clearly not letting go of any promotional resources.
A born businessman!
Out of respect for their careers, Vaughn watched the “movie” for another 5 minutes—no more than that, he was afraid he’d awkwardly wear through his shoes.
Facing the expectant gazes of the twins, Vaughn no longer stopped them.
Anyway, he’s not the one who’ll be shamed to death at that time.
“You decide… but currently the lifespan of the projectors is still not long enough, and the recorded footage is not clear enough due to persistent interference. I think you can change your approach.”
The twins, though mischievous and impulsive, were always very respectful to their patron.
Hearing this, he immediately asked respectfully, “Respected investor, what are your esteemed opinions?”
Vaughn wasn’t sure if the two fellows were being sarcastic.
After watching their “movie,” he was no longer in the mood to dwell on it and just wanted to finish quickly.
“You said before that magic interferes with electricity mainly by disrupting the electric field within conductors, causing the current not to move in its intended direction, right?”
The twins exchanged a look: “That’s right.”
Vaughn said slowly, “I’ve verified it these past two days, and your conclusion is correct, but your solution direction is wrong. This situation actually exists in Muggle society too. I think you can refer to the Muggle ‘electrostatic shielding’ design to create a ‘magic field’ that can achieve balance with other magic fields.”
Speaking, he handed the prepared materials to the two: “Quidditch won’t use this, but Harry’s trial is probably at the end of the month, about 3 weeks from now. I hope you can make improvements by then and make… Weasley Films a sensation!”
Fred and George pouted:
“Damn capitalists!”
