Chapter 262: Invitations
Information asymmetry.
This is a problem all wizards face in combat.
Sean's youthful appearance always managed to leverage this to his advantage.
In a state of full-scale eruption, Sean, who possessed Master-level Transfiguration, the skill to release two spells simultaneously, and the ability to cast silent Dark Arts, was capable of suppressing an elite Auror for a short period.
It was exactly as he had anticipated.
However, his shortcomings were also evident. He had been in contact with magic for too short a time and did not possess enough magical power to sustain such powerful magic.
At this point, he had two choices.
He could wait for his magical power to increase naturally with age—a wizard's power grows more formidable with the accumulation of years.
Or, he could improve his mastery over magic.
For any spell, the higher the proficiency, the more naturally and easily it could be released, thereby reducing the physical strain on the wizard.
Sean thought: Adept-level Magical Transfiguration should be barely sufficient for his needs.
In the following days, Sean spent his time in duel training with Marcus.
Marcus also discovered the young wizard's problem.
Sean's spell release took too long—long enough for Marcus to have sufficient time to cast several Disarming Charms.
At such moments, the young wizard could only counter with Finite, and his subsequent spells would become harmless attacks.
But the terrifying thing was that once Sean realized this, he actually began to cast Finite and Transfiguration simultaneously.
Soon, Marcus was made to stumble again.
When Marcus began to use a storm-like barrage of spells to prevent the young wizard from casting time-consuming Transfiguration, Sean once again made a move beyond his expectations.
Sean abandoned the release of powerful magic and instead used simple Transfiguration to force Marcus to cast the Shield Charm, which also required a certain amount of preparation time.
It could be said that Marcus had never seen a young wizard with such quick reactions. Sean's mastery of his own magic was high, allowing he could create many variations.
Through such practical exercises, Sean also grasped the boundaries of his own abilities.
He also deeply realized that he was still lacking in many aspects of Transfiguration.
One month had passed since the last time the Fairy Tale Workshop was open for business.
During these few days, buzzing news had spread throughout the entire British wizarding world.
Witch Weekly was lying in wait, desperate to snap a photo of that mysterious alchemist, even if it was only from the back.
Many curious witches in the magical world were waiting, and naturally, Molly joined this wave of excitement.
"Mum is now more concerned about Green-kun... about that alchemist, than she is about Gilderoy Lockhart... Oh, he's a celebrity, Mum adores him."
Because Harry was visiting the Burrow for the first time, Ron was always accompanying him. Now, Ron picked up a book with gilded, flowing script on the cover:
Gilderoy Lockhart's Guide to Household Pests.
Under the title was a large photograph of a very handsome wizard with wavy golden hair and bright blue eyes. The photographs in the magical world were all moving, and the wizard in the picture was winking at them.
"Is it that alchemist who might be at Hogwarts?" Harry asked innocently.
"More than just 'might'! I mean, it's very likely."
Ron's face turned bright red, and he finally managed to squeeze out those few words.
Harry gave him a strange look, just as an owl arrived with the Daily Prophet.
As they opened the envelope, Ron asked Harry in a low voice:
"Are you still planning on going back?"
The implication was clear.
"I have no choice but to go back," Harry said after a moment of silence.
"We'll help, remember? Justin wrote to say he's investigating those... your aunt and uncle's family. Don't worry."
Ron offered comfort.
When he said the words "we'll help," Harry's eyes silently reddened.
Ron realized he might have said too much and quickly took the Daily Prophet from the owl's talons.
"Let's look at the paper. Maybe they'll invite you too..."
On the paper was the same shop, and at the shop's entrance was the same tall silhouette of the young wizard from behind.
Every time Ron saw it, he felt a mysterious surge of excitement—after all, he knew a secret that the vast majority of wizards did not.
The only regrettable thing was that he hadn't yet collected that Chocolate Frog card; the probability of it appearing seemed even lower than the probability of finding "King Arthur" in Weird Wizard's Chess.
Beneath the photograph in the newspaper was a line in bold letters:
The Unprecedented Invitation System! Is it just hype, or is it the real deal?
This caused Harry to snap out of his thoughts and look over with curiosity. He had expected to see doubts about the unique selling method of the shop, but instead, it was filled with nothing but praise.
Rita, the witch with big, wavy hair, was hyping the system to the heavens.
In her words, receiving an invitation from this shop was proof that you possessed a certain level of strength and status in the magical world; otherwise, you were merely a wizard in name only.
Such grand claims left many wizards stunned. But when Rita listed the names of those who had received invitations, the wizards fell into deep thought.
Albus Dumbledore, Nicolas Flamel...
The important thing was that these two wizards had not refused; instead, they had accepted the invitations.
Anyone could see that this was a form of tacit endorsement.
This also caused the already excited hearts of the wizards to grow even more fervent.
Unfortunately, this shop only invited guests through a type of paper airplane.
It didn't even give anyone a chance to buy their way in with Galleons.
Perhaps, as the report said, only wizards of sufficient status could obtain one.
Afternoon.
The cobblestone road was radiating a warm glow, and the brick walls of the shops were hot to the touch. A few empty tables and chairs stood outside Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour, with only a single sunshade umbrella nodding gently in the breeze.
Not far from the ice cream parlour, a group of extraordinary-looking wizards had gathered.
The Weasley twins watched this group of wizards, who weren't particularly numerous, from within the joke shop. Suddenly, they seemed to understand what Sean meant when he said it wouldn't interfere with their business.
Sean had arrived at the shop quite early. The place had been refreshed and renovated once again.
A door carved from a solid piece of ebony stood quietly, its brass knocker shaped like an Ouroboros.
The glass cabinets that had previously been lying flat were now standing upright, and behind each glass cabinet was a lifelike image of a magical beast.
Sean was waiting for Professor Terra's arrival. Just then, the Daily Prophet arrived, and he took a casual look at it.
The Unprecedented Invitation System! Is it just hype, or is it the real deal?
He looked down silently, feeling somewhat confused when he saw it being described as a symbol of identity and status.
The invitation system was not complicated at all; it was simply introduced because the production volume of Fairy Tale Biscuits was extremely low and they were always fully booked by alchemists and the Ministry of Magic.
On the surface, there were seventy invitations, but in truth, no one knew exactly how many invitations were sent out via paper airplanes.
To give Sean enough flexible time for production—that was the ultimate goal.
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