Inside Hagrid's hut, the three young ones were, for once, genuinely enjoying the snacks Hagrid had made himself.
To be fair, once the rock cakes were actually chewable, they turned out to be surprisingly delicious.
The aroma of wheat and dried fruit came through fully, with just the right amount of crispness. They even had a more distinctive flavour than some of the proper desserts served in the Great Hall at Hogwarts.
Ron wiped the crumbs from the corner of his mouth, looked eagerly at Lucien, and asked directly,
"Lucien, that alchemical work you won the championship with, Instant Speech, is that the same booklet you gave Harry before?"
There was obvious anticipation in his voice.
Ron had personally seen Harry use that thin little booklet to chat with Lucien in real time while Lucien was thousands of miles away.
For such an interesting and magical alchemical item, Ron had long been itching to get one of his own.
Lucien smiled slightly, took several brand-new Instant Speech booklets from his pocket, and handed one each to Ron and Hermione.
"Ah, I get one too?"
Hagrid looked at the large booklet being offered to him, scratched his messy hair, and stared blankly for a moment, forgetting to take it.
The booklet was much larger than the Instant Speech booklets given to Ron and Hermione. Its cover was made of durable dark leather, with the corners reinforced by copper plating.
"Of course," Lucien said with a smile. "It'll make it much easier for you to chat with us later. You won't need to send owls up to the castle anymore."
"Oh, ho ho, thank you so much, Lucien."
Hagrid finally snapped out of it. He first wiped his hands vigorously on his thick clothes, then carefully accepted the Instant Speech booklet.
The one Lucien had given Hagrid was a special edition, roughly twice the size of the standard version.
In the half-giant's enormous hands, though, it looked perfectly normal.
Lucien took out his own Instant Speech booklet and turned it over for everyone to see.
"See this code? It's the unique identification code for each Instant Speech. When you add someone as a friend, you enter this code into the booklet..."
The three young ones immediately lowered their heads and began fiddling with theirs, all looking particularly excited.
Hagrid was no exception. He pulled out his absurdly long wand and began poking and writing on the Instant Speech while muttering under his breath.
A few minutes later, everyone had added each other as friends.
Lucien then demonstrated the group chat function.
"You can also create a group and add several people to it, so everyone can see the same message."
He tapped lightly a few times on his Instant Speech, and soon a line of text appeared simultaneously on Harry's and the others' pages:
"Lucien created the group chat 'Hagrid's Hut Squad'."
Ron's eyes lit up, and he immediately sent a message to the group.
"Hey, can you see this?"
Hermione: "Received."
Harry: "This function is amazing!"
Hagrid spent a long time writing before finally sending a message of his own.
"Oh, I'm in the group too."
A burst of cheerful laughter filled the small hut.
Lucien continued flipping through the photo album, using the moving photographs as he recounted what he had seen and experienced at Beauxbatons.
"This is the main palace building at Beauxbatons. It's much more magnificent than the castle, with marble and magical fountains everywhere," he said, pointing to one photograph. "And this is their garden. Those roses change colour on their own..."
The three young wizards leaned closer to look, occasionally letting out exclamations of amazement.
When Lucien turned to a certain page, a silver-haired girl appeared in the photograph.
The two of them stood side by side in an ice sculpture garden. The girl was surrounded by a faint silver glow as she smiled toward the camera.
A breeze stirred her long hair, and silver light shimmered between the strands like flowing moonlight.
Ron's eyes widened.
"What a beautiful girl!"
"Merlin's beard, she, she even glows!"
Harry adjusted his glasses but said nothing.
Still, he was thinking exactly the same thing as Ron.
The girl really was beautiful, perhaps even the most beautiful girl he had ever seen.
Even through a magical photograph, her beauty seemed almost too striking for the frame to contain. And since it was a magical photograph, there probably wasn't much difference between seeing her here and seeing her in person.
Harry looked more closely at the picture and suddenly felt that something seemed a little strange.
The girl's gaze didn't appear to be completely focused on the camera.
It seemed to be tilted slightly to the side...
Hermione pursed her lips, her gaze subtly shifting back and forth between the photograph and Lucien's profile several times before she asked softly,
"Are all the girls at Beauxbatons this pretty? Do they really use the Beauty Spring every day?"
After Hermione asked that, she immediately followed up with another question.
"But I've read about it in books, and none of them said that bathing in the Beauty Spring would make someone glow."
She frowned, wearing the expression of someone determined to uncover anything that hadn't been written down in a book.
Lucien waved a hand and explained,
"The girl in the photo is Fleur Delacour. The glow is a special trait of hers. As for the Beauty Spring, using the spring water regularly to wash your face and bathe really does have a beautifying effect, though the results vary from person to person. Well, we can go try it sometime."
Hermione nodded vigorously, her tone as serious as though she were making a study plan.
"When I reach the upper years, if there's another exchange competition like this and it's held at Beauxbatons, I'll definitely go and try it!"
After saying that, Hermione glanced sideways again at the silver-haired girl in the photograph.
The glow was her own special trait?
Hermione had seen similar descriptions in books before. This kind of silver glow, combined with such extraordinary beauty, seemed to be...
Hearing the young witch's firm declaration, Lucien chuckled. He realised that he hadn't explained himself clearly enough and Hermione had misunderstood, so he clarified,
"No. We already have a Beauty Spring here at Hogwarts now."
"What?"
The trio froze at the same time.
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