Chapter 40: Halloween Night At The Three Broomsticks
Wizard children have no custom of dressing up as ghosts to beg for candy, the Hogsmeade festival atmosphere is not intense, not even comparable to Hogwarts. Except for a box of candy placed at the entrance of Honeydukes for people to take freely, only a few pumpkin lanterns indicate that today is Halloween.
As evening approached, the sky darkened, ordinary shops had cold business, shop assistants hiding behind the counter counted the time preparing to close and rest, but the taverns gradually became lively.
“The champion of the last Quidditch World Cup should be Scotland!”
“Has dragon dung blocked your brain! The Canada national team won!”
“We led by 120 points at one point, our strength was clearly superior…”
The middle-aged male wizards crowding the counter gradually escalated from normal discussion to roaring arguments, from polite wording to vulgar greetings, the wizards’ faces flushed red, cursing and yelling to go outside to find a place to duel.
Some wizards were drunk on alcohol, yet had not lost their reason, showing off their male wizard demeanor while observing the female tavern owner mixing drinks behind the counter, hoping to win her favor.
“Their Seeker caught the Golden Snitch, they are the champions!”
“That’s because Lamont’s fingers are too short, he was only half an inch away from catching the Golden Snitch at the time!”
“Who can he blame for that? His parents?”
“…”
Madam Rosmerta’s silver ladle flew between the copper pots, her expression calm. Having run the tavern for decades, she had seen such scenes at least thousands of times and was long accustomed to it.
Butterbeer bubbled with fine dense bubbles, with flavors of salt and cinnamon powder inside. The bitterness of the beer was neutralized by the rich aroma of butter, the beer’s fresh fragrance suppressing the butter’s greasiness, moderately salty and sweet, with a slightly sour aftertaste.
Melvin sipped the beer foam. If not for their argument shaking his ears with a buzzing sound, he would think the tavern was a good place to discuss matters.
Listening to Wright recount the technical difficulties encountered in the memory projection mirror production process, terms like quartz melting and potion blending drifted into his ears, but Melvin’s thoughts had long drifted back to Hogwarts.
Melvin was somewhat curious. Affected by that day’s candy, how would Miss Granger and the other classmates get along, and would the first-year students directly conflict with the troll.
No matter what, Quirinus Quirrell luring the troll into the castle would surely make for a good show, he just didn’t know if he could catch it.
Wright also didn’t know to pick a suitable time, why insist on this evening before Halloween?
“…I now understand why the Pensieve is so rare. The raw materials for this developing mist are too expensive; a small bottle costs six hundred Galleons.
“To ensure the developing effect, this mirror sample is infused with a full four bottles. Including the magic circle engraved on the outer shell, a mere ten square feet mirror costs three thousand Galleons to make!”
Wright spoke slowly, his inner thoughts very complex at the moment.
As a conscientious merchant, his moral conscience wanted to advise the customer to stop in time.
As a technical artisan, his spiritual pursuit wanted the boss to add investment.
Wright quietly observed Melvin’s expression, trying to read some inclination from it, but unfortunately only saw that the butterbeer was delicious, with a hint of disdain towards him.
“…”
After a fierce internal struggle and entanglement, in the end his moral conscience prevailed.
Wright sighed and advised: “Mr. Lavent, this plan costs too much. According to the size of a magic movie screen, the cost could reach tens of thousands of Galleons. Let’s try another plan.”
Melvin came back to his senses and glanced at the projection mirror on the table, nodding slightly: “Let’s see the effect first.”
This was a whole piece of oval flat quartz, with a one-finger-wide small opening chiseled at the top, and the edges embedded with silver thread engraved Runic magic circle.
Melvin’s finger stroked the projection mirror; the surface was smooth with no drag, crystal clear and transparent. Slight vibration made the internal mist agent appear, with strands of silver mist swirling and surging.
Wright’s wand tip pressed against his temple, drawing out a strand of memory silver thread, and placed it into the small opening at the top.
The silver mist surged and dissipated, an image appeared and gradually became clear—it was the current scene at The Three Broomsticks, the picture delicate and fine, even the expressions of the patrons next to the counter could be seen clearly.
“Fixing the memory to a single picture, abandoning the immersive effect. From a purely visual perspective, the projection mirror surpasses all imaging equipment in the world.” Wright was very satisfied with his work.
“The effect is indeed good…”
Melvin picked up the butterbeer and took a sip close to his mouth.
Previously commissioning Wright to make a magic screen was just for temporary transition. If in the future the times progressed to the point where the wizarding world introduced Muggle technology, he still preferred the Muggle technology solution. But seeing this memory projection mirror’s imaging effect surpass all screens in his memory today, he realized that magic’s effects in projection might far exceed his expectations.
Moreover, this memory film solution had a complete upgrade path, able to easily upgrade from flat to three-dimensional pictures.
From the imaging projection effect, the memory film proposed by Wright directly surpassed Muggle technology thirty years later. From a practicality standpoint, this magic solution also better fit the current social environment of the wizarding world.
High cost was not its flaw, but his own flaw.
Unfortunately, this flaw was temporarily hard to overcome.
If only there was some way to quickly obtain Galleons.
He couldn’t go rob the Philosopher’s Stone from Voldemort, could he?
Melvin involuntarily fell into thought, holding the butterbeer and sipping it in small mouthfuls.
“…”
The tavern unknowingly quieted down. This sudden quiet interrupted Melvin’s thoughts; he looked around, somewhat puzzled.
The male wizards vying to please the female tavern owner quieted down, the fan male wizards who minutes ago were clamoring to duel outside now sat shoulder to shoulder, the old witch snoring in the corner had woken up at some point and ordered a whiskey.
Everyone kept silent, staring at the counter with bright eyes, as if expecting something.
Wright seemed to notice his puzzlement and gestured for him to stay quiet and wait patiently.
Madam Rosmerta then pulled out an old-style radio from under the counter—not a banned product from Wright, it had a Ministry of Magic certification mark, clearly a legitimate product.
“Dear listeners, welcome to the Wizarding Radio Alliance Halloween special program. Here we convey Cetina’s greetings to all friends, wishing everyone a happy Halloween. Now please enjoy the lead single from Cetina’s new album《You Stole My Cauldron, But You Can’t Steal My Heart》…”
A melodious female voice drifted out in song.
“You stole my cauldron, then fled like a vampire bat, you said you loved me, said we’d never part, yet you stole my cauldron…”
The arguing middle-aged wizards sat shoulder to shoulder in silence, the old witch closed her eyes and sang softly along, Madam Rosmerta’s bun swayed lightly with the melody.
Melvin looked at the patrons quietly listening to the song in the tavern, then at the projection mirror in his hand, and said softly: “Wright, let’s go with this plan.”
In this gorgeous magical wizarding world, some barren places urgently needed nourishment.
