Chapter 126
The new week began as October approached, bringing damp, cold air that seeped through the entire school.
Many students caught colds, including several of Ethan's roommates.
By the time classes started, everyone felt lethargic.
Ethan was fine for now, but to avoid any misery, he fetched four bottles of Pepperup Potion from the hospital wing. He gave three to his roommates and kept one for himself, planning to take it the moment he felt sick.
Pepperup Potion worked wonders. Colds cleared up quickly after drinking it. It did have one minor side effect, though: for several hours afterward, steam would pour from the drinker's ears.
It was similar to Fizzing Whizbees. One made you shoot sparks from your nose and ears, while the other emitted steam. He wondered if Honeydukes had taken inspiration from Pepperup Potion when creating that candy.
Goyle and Crabbe were clearly in better spirits. They fanned the white smoke billowing from each other's ears, laughing and joking around.
Seeing the constant stream of smoke made Ethan curious to experience it himself.
After putting up with the discomfort for two or three days, Ethan finally felt a scratchiness in his throat. "I know it's probably just the dry air," he chuckled.
He took a small sip of Pepperup Potion and immediately felt steam curling out of his ears.
*But it works wonders. That dry, itchy feeling in my throat is gone, and the taste is acceptable. At least it isn't hard to swallow.*
Ethan thought he should prepare some of this useful potion for his parents. Muggles took nearly a week to shake off a cold; this remedy was infinitely superior to ordinary medicine, except for the smoke that poured out of one's ears.
As October began, the twins sent a steady stream of good news.
First came the wizarding cards they'd spent so long developing, finally ready as a first edition. Then there was the communication device he had hoped the twins would perfect, which had now reached the prototype stage.
"Since we couldn't always find you, we asked Hermione for her opinion. She agreed that what you said made sense, but she doesn't seem to know anything about text messages." Fred looked a bit puzzled.
"Is that so? Perhaps she doesn't pay much attention to the development of such things." Ethan honestly didn't know exactly when text messages were invented. He had simply gotten the idea from early brick-like mobile phones.
"Well, we did manage to make something," said George.
Fred picked up where his brother left off. "We weren't sure if the person on the receiving end would be available for real-time voice communication. If they were in class, the library, or some other sensitive location, any sudden noise could cause problems."
"To prevent accidental noise, we stripped out the voice transmission capability from the mobile phone you described and made this instead."
Fred handed him a silver-white metal card. The front was bare metal, while the back bore the Hogwarts crest.
"It's a communication card. If you need to reach us, just write on it with your wand. It automatically transmits to the matching cards in our hands, though the text only lasts an hour."
George added, "Also, right now it only broadcasts to the group. If one person writes something, everyone sees it. Fortunately, since we've only made three cards so far, no one else will get them."
"Let me try." Ethan placed the business-card-sized metal rectangle in his left palm, wand in his right hand, and casually wrote a word on it.
"Take a look." Fred and George each pulled out their own cards. The text Ethan had written appeared on both simultaneously: Hello.
"Then how will I know when a message arrives?" Ethan thought that was enough for now. For the moment, its main purpose was simply to let a few people arrange times and places.
"It warms up to just above body temperature. When a message comes through, you should notice it right away."
Fred picked up his wand and rubbed away the text Ethan had written, like an eraser. Then he wrote a word of his own.
Almost instantly, the card in Ethan's hand grew slightly warm. The text he had written vanished, replaced by Fred's handwriting. On George's card, the same text appeared as well.
"That works. You just need to sign your name on it."
"But private communication would be better. Otherwise, if you contact George, I'll see it too, which could be a problem," Ethan said.
"Don't worry. We have separate cards." Fred showed Ethan the back of the card in his hand. It had three names written on it: Fred, George, and Ethan.
He pulled out another identical card. The back had only two names on it.
"Good work, you two." Ethan feigned sternness as he pointed a finger at them, but laughed before they could react.
"I hope you can make these standard across the entire wizarding world before you graduate." Ethan slipped the card into his pocket.
"Right, I forgot to ask what you're calling this, or if you've tested the maximum range?"
"The name's straightforward. Since it's a card for communication, we call it the Communication Card. As for distance, we tested it from the Quidditch pitch to the edge of the Forbidden Forest, and the signal came through clearly."
"Excellent. That means you can receive messages anywhere on the grounds." Ethan was quite satisfied. That range effectively covered the entire school.
What Ethan had originally wanted was something like the communication Galleons Hermione had organized for the D.A., but he wasn't satisfied with functionality limited to notifying members of fixed meeting times, so he suggested adding text messaging.
Actually, he knew that in the Fantastic Beasts films, Nicolas had demonstrated technology capable of video calling across vast distances.
But that wasn't what Ethan needed, and he didn't know whether Nicolas had recorded it in his notes. At least in the two books he'd handed out, he could confirm it wasn't there.
But he reasoned that if Hermione could develop that kind of communication Galleon in her fifth year, the twins could certainly manage it now—and do it better. Sure enough, the results were already highly satisfactory.
Next came the wizard cards. The Communication Card was just something they'd worked on in their spare time. The wizard cards had been the main focus of their efforts lately.
The twins spread out more than a hundred cards. The backs displayed the four-colored Hogwarts crest, while the fronts showed the card descriptions. "The card art isn't great yet. These are photos from Colin's camera, and a lot of them still aren't moving."
Ethan examined them one by one, familiarizing himself with each card's description and rarity.
Finally, Ethan took the Slytherin character card, while the twins used the Gryffindor card for the trial run.
Once the round ended, Ethan noticed several issues.
After playtesting every card, he listed all the problems he'd found.
"Not bad. However, some cards are too strong and need to be balanced, or made rarer. Also, your voice acting was a bit rough."
They discussed it further and decided that once Fred and George finished making adjustments the following week, they would hold another duel.
"You two handle the adjustments. I'll write home right away and hire professionals to redraw the card art and get real voice actors. Once the stats and values are finalized, we can move straight into production."
Ethan made another promise to reassure them.
"Right." The twins nodded vigorously.
Fred and George planned to stay a while longer. While the inspiration was still fresh, they wanted to work through some of the issues right away.
Ethan left the Room of Requirement alone.
He had just entered the dungeons when he heard Snape's voice.
"I told you, I don't need your shampoo!"
A roar echoed, followed by the sound of a door opening and someone stumbling into the corridor.
Ethan held his breath and hovered silently in mid-air, drifting slowly toward Snape's office.
"Professor Snape! It's a free trial! I think your hair could use my shampoo!" Lockhart had been ejected, but clearly hadn't given up. He shouted at the office door.
"I've told you countless times. I don't need it!"
Snape yanked the door open and stuck his greasy head out. "Go away!"
With that, the door slammed shut.
Lockhart muttered a few choice words resentfully, and his sea-green robes vanished from view as he swept down the stairwell.
Honestly, Snape needed Lockhart's shampoo more than anyone else in the castle, but it seemed our dear professor didn't want it after all. Ethan clamped a hand over his mouth, struggling to stifle a laugh.
As a result, he couldn't help glancing at Snape's greasy hair several times during class, earning him plenty of glares in return.
Soon, it was the week before Halloween.
The weather had been absolutely dreadful lately. It had been raining every single day. The water level in the Black Lake had risen significantly, and parts of the grounds were even flooded.
"Tell me about it. We're still having Quidditch practice in this rain. We come back to the castle soaked and muddy every time. Wood still won't let us use drying charms, saying it builds willpower," Harry sighed, clutching a cup of hot tea.
It was Sunday. The rain made it impossible to practice Charms, but they still went to Hagrid's hut out of habit.
As they watched the rain fall against the window, the group chatted idly.
Since there was no spellwork practice, Ethan had brought the twins' latest modified wizarding cards and asked the group to give the game a try.
Harry was quickly captivated by the brand-new game. He and Ethan played with great enthusiasm.
Ron, who was still feeling unwell, and Hermione, who considered gaming a waste of time, both played halfheartedly.
"Fred and George made this? It's a very interesting game," Hagrid said, finding himself drawn into their match.
"Those two made it, all right. What do you think? Not bad, huh?" Ethan replied after a moment.
"The internal mechanics are incredibly complex. It really is difficult. It's just..." Hermione examined a projected chess piece as it slowly shifted.
Unable to bear watching any longer, Harry said, "If you don't want to play, you can let Hagrid and Ron take over."
They played cards for two hours. Harry and Hagrid were clearly reluctant to stop. Ron also seemed to perk up. They offered their own insights and feedback, which Ethan jotted down one by one, planning to pass them along to the twins for further adjustments.
"Oh, right. Yesterday, when I finished training and returned to the castle, something happened," Harry said, sipping his tea. He suddenly remembered the story he'd wanted to tell everyone earlier, before Ethan interrupted him.
"It was raining yesterday too, right? That afternoon, after training, I came back to the castle covered in mud. On the way, I ran into Nearly Headless Nick. He's our house ghost."
Realizing Ethan might not know him, Harry explained.
Ethan nodded, gesturing for him to continue.
"I was talking to Nick when Mrs. Norris shrieked at me, and Filch dragged me to his office to punish me."
"What did you do?" Hermione asked.
Harry shrugged. "Nothing. Just tracking mud into the castle."
"Isn't that easy to clean? One Scourgify would handle it," Hermione said. "Filch was making a mountain out of a molehill."
"That's the thing. Nick felt it was his fault I got caught, so he got Peeves to help by throwing things randomly around the corridor to draw his attention."
Just as Filch left, Harry spotted an application form in his office for a correspondence course in beginner magic called Rapid Spell Learning.
Harry left out the fact that he'd opened Filch's envelope and taken the letter out to read it.
"Snooping through other people's things is wrong," Hermione said sharply.
"All right, all right, I know it was wrong. Do you want to hear the rest of the story or not?" Harry said dismissively.
Hermione fell silent.
Harry continued, looking pleased with himself. "When Filch came back, he realized I'd seen the letter. His reaction was odd, though. He gave up on punishing me far too easily and just let me go."
"But later, Nick invited me to his five-hundredth Deathday Party on Halloween night. He invited you two as well."
He gestured at Ron and Hermione.
"A five-hundredth Deathday Party? That sounds quite interesting. I'm definitely going." Hermione seemed fascinated by the unusual invitation.
"We'll see when the time comes." Ron's voice was flat.
Harry felt a pang of regret. He had wanted Ron to go with them.
"I'm not going. That's your house ghost. I don't know him." Ethan met Harry's gaze and declined immediately. A ghost's deathday party didn't sound like something a normal person would attend.
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2.Marvel: Cosmic Forger of Infinity = CHAPTER 197
3.Harry Potter: Beyond Good and Evil in the Wizarding World = CHAPTER 284
4.Harry Potter: Reborn as Draco Black = CHAPTER 124
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