Tver was quite pleased that he had successfully lowered Joanne's guard.
Joanne's role was similar to Professor Burbage's role in spreading Muggle technology through the wizarding world. Both of them were introducing their own communities to the realities of another world they were unfamiliar with.
The difference was that Joanne needed to influence far more people, and the workload and difficulty were both much greater.
Letting her run wild the way Burbage did was definitely not an option. Her work needed to place much more emphasis on the kindness and friendliness of wizards.
That was why it was especially important for Joanne to understand his intentions.
So, after reaching an understanding, Joanne eagerly opened the book to its first page.
After all, she was still curious about this magical world and its strange abilities. If she had not been a mother who needed to protect her child, she probably would have been pestering Tver with question after question already.
"It looks like I need to teach you some basic common sense about the wizarding world," Tver said, as though he had read her mind.
"We call our abilities magic. It is a skill that can be learned and mastered by a particular group of people, and those people call themselves wizards."
"Learned? Your abilities can actually be learned?" Joanne asked quickly.
She did not even realize that, deep down, a trace of longing for magic had already begun to stir in her heart.
"Every child in Britain with magical ability receives an acceptance letter from Hogwarts sometime before officially starting school at age eleven, usually in July."
"So that means there's no chance I could ever attend that school?" Joanne said, her emotions complicated.
"That's right. But it may be different for Catherine. It isn't certain yet, but I think there's a good chance she has magical talent."
Wizards usually display odd abilities when they are young, like Harry's perpetually messy hair, or Neville floating through the air without even realizing it.
But some wizards never show obvious signs, or at least not very obvious ones.
So unless Catherine's name failed to appear in the Book of Admittance, she still had a chance of being a witch.
Besides, Tver was genuinely looking forward to seeing this little cutie attend Hogwarts. For all he knew, Marvolio might even get interested in becoming a teacher there or something...
"You people... are you always this casual about things?"
Joanne realized her attitude sounded a little off, so she quickly lowered her head and pretended to focus on the book to cover her expression.
"That's magic, not being casual." Tver shrugged.
Joanne immediately stopped dwelling on that and turned her attention fully to the open book in front of her.
"Voyages with Vampires? There are Vampires in this world?!" She looked up in surprise.
"Of course. There are also Werewolves, Giants, Goblins, and more. You don't need to be so shocked. These magical beings, and even wizards themselves, are all still under the Ministry of Magic's control for the most part, which is why your world's order hasn't been disrupted by them."
"Then is this Gilderoy Lockhart some kind of... writer in your magical world?"
After flipping through a few pages, Joanne had finally learned the name of the man on the cover.
Of course, after only a few pages, she had already read more than a dozen self-congratulatory passages from the author. It would have been impossible not to know...
"Er..."
Tver paused. Thinking of Lockhart, who was still enjoying his luxury ward in Azkaban, he found himself at a loss for how to answer.
"He is indeed a writer. He's written a lot of... very interesting stories, and I think they're perfect for spreading in your world."
He had originally considered just reproducing Harry's original story directly, but too much had diverged from the original by now.
Take Sirius, for example. His circumstances were completely different. If Tver wrote him as a fugitive in hiding, his name only cleared after death, Sirius would definitely storm over in person and make a scene.
To avoid that trouble, Tver had no choice but to use the set of books Lockhart had once given him. In any case, Lockhart's stories really were compelling, or they never would have attracted so many readers in the wizarding world.
Besides, Lockhart was hardly in any position to demand royalties from him now...
Joanne cast Tver a puzzled glance. She could not shake the feeling that there was something more to this author, Lockhart, something she did not know.
But since Tver had offered no explanation, she did not feel it was appropriate to press.
"The story really is quite interesting..."
She had only read a little, but even so, Joanne had to admit that this mysterious magical world had thoroughly piqued her interest.
Still, that immediately led to an obvious problem.
"But I don't really understand some of the specific terms. For example, curse. Is that the kind of curse I'm familiar with? And wand, is that the tool used to cast magic?"
"I don't know any of these things. How am I supposed to rewrite the story in a way that's more... easy for ordinary people to understand?"
"That's all right." Tver had already anticipated this. He smoothly took out a business card. "I've arranged a position for you at the Joint Operations Office."
"If you have questions, you can go there and find Miss Crystal. And of course, Marvolio will also be at the office to answer things for you. I think he'll be more than happy to help."
At the mention of another wizard, Joanne still felt uneasy.
She absolutely did not want to spend time around a strange wizard like Marvolio. Tver, of course, was the exception, since he was much more gentlemanly.
"What about you? If I remember correctly, you're the head of that office."
"I'm rather... busy." Tver nodded with a mixture of guilt and confidence. "That's right. I'm still a professor at Hogwarts too, so I may not have much time to stay in the office."
Seeing the dissatisfaction in her eyes, Tver felt a little helpless.
Just what exactly had Marvolio done to leave such a terrible impression on this sensitive mother?
"But don't worry. There are other wizards in the office. You can ask them whatever you need, have them demonstrate magic for you in person, or even accompany them on missions that aren't too dangerous."
No sooner had he finished speaking than Catherine came pattering out of the room on her little legs, holding a stuffed doll bigger than her head.
"Hee hee hee, come catch me!"
After her string of laughter, a plump little brown bear came bouncing out after her through the air.
Its mouth opened and closed with Marvolio's voice coming from it.
"Princess Catherine, please do not leave the safety of the castle. Outside... er, you're still here?"
The little bear froze the moment it saw the stunned expressions on Tver's and Joanne's faces.
"..."
"If I said I was testing the autonomy of imp magic, would you believe me?"
"..."