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Inside the dormitory, thin sunlight struggled through the thick white fog of the winter morning, spilling through the window. Charlie slowly opened his eyes, resting his left hand lightly against his forehead.
He made a habit of leaving the curtains open so the morning light could naturally wake him. Today was no exception.
What was different, however, was his overwhelming desire to just lie there a bit longer.
He had experienced the most incredibly wonderful dream last night. He dreamed he was sleeping in a sea of clouds, hovering over rolling waves of golden wheat. A vast ocean stretched across the distant horizon, ethereal and perfect.
It wasn't about a specific plot or event; it was simply a profound, unparalleled sense of absolute peace. He genuinely didn't want to leave it behind.
Three minutes later, he finally forced himself out of bed. He walked over to his desk, pulled open the drawer, and took out the glass phial filled with the golden sand.
So what exactly are you...?
A vague theory was beginning to form in his mind, but he quickly shook his head. No, he couldn't jump to conclusions just yet. He needed to run more tests.
There was one piece of brilliant news, though: absorbing a wisp of the golden sand hadn't triggered any negative side effects.
Which meant he could safely invite Hector and Anthony to act as guinea pigs for a brand-new chocolate prototype tonight.
He placed the phial back into the drawer and headed into the bathroom to wash up. Stretching his arms in front of the narrow mirror, he mentally reviewed his progress.
Out of the entire first-year Charms curriculum, he only had two spells left to master: the Fire-Making Spell and the Dancing Feet Spell.
Just those two. If he hadn't dedicated such a massive chunk of his schedule to Alchemy, he'd likely already be tearing through the second-year textbook.
He slapped his cheeks to wake himself up.
"Let's get to work."
This morning was dedicated to the Dancing Feet Spell, Tarantallegra.
He stepped back into the dorm. Anthony and Hector were still dead to the world. He grabbed his books and slipped out, heading straight for the Room of Requirement.
The morning flew by in a blur of focused practice.
That afternoon, he paid a visit to Professor Chambers' office to iron out a few technical issues he'd encountered while crafting his Material Vials. After that, he headed straight to the library to dive into the magical theory of dreams.
Dream theory was an incredibly dense and chaotic subject. Charlie spent ages just scouring the shelves for anything remotely relevant.
The first book he cracked open was a Divination text: Dream Symbols and the Art of Prophecy. He speed-read through the chapters, scanning strictly for the magical definition and mechanics of the dream state.
Beyond Divination, he scoured through Shamanism: Dream Walking from the African magical community, and Forest Spirits and Illusory Dreams from Eastern Europe.
And buried within that chaotic mountain of lore, he finally found his answer.
African shamans referred to golden dream-sand as the fragmented souls of their ancestors. By immersing themselves in it, they believed they could commune with ancient wisdom.
Meanwhile, Eastern European texts claimed the dream realm was physically constructed from golden sand by Leshy spirits. If a human absorbed too much of it, they would be trapped in an eternal, endless slumber.
Even more fascinating was the folklore from Northern Europe and Scandinavia. They spoke of a mythical being known as the Sandman.
The exact second Charlie saw the word, a deeply familiar concept clicked into place. In his past life, he knew the entity far better by its cultural translation: the Lord of Dreams.
According to Muggle folktales, the Sandman would sprinkle magical sand into children's eyes to make their eyelids heavy and usher them into a peaceful sleep. When the children woke up the next morning, the crusty sleep in the corners of their eyes was said to be the leftover sand.
It sounded like a simple bedtime story meant to coax toddlers to sleep. But magically speaking, it proved his theory: the golden sand was the literal, physical manifestation of dreams.
He had been dead on.
He carefully reshelved the massive tomes, checked the time, and left the library, heading down to the Great Hall.
Sitting at the Ravenclaw table, he mechanically chewed his dinner, his mind completely absorbed in how to weaponize his new ingredient.
Dream Sand. Given his experience last night, it was undeniably the catalyst for a perfect night's rest.
But could it only produce good dreams? If he altered the chemical composition and introduced other volatile ingredients, could he invert the effect and manufacture pure nightmares?
Either way, any confectionary brewed with Dream Sand had absolutely massive commercial potential.
"Charlie." A voice broke him out of his trance.
Charlie turned his head and saw Harry walking over.
"Evening," Harry greeted him.
"Evening, Harry," Charlie nodded. "What's up?"
"I actually needed to ask you a favor," Harry said, sliding onto the bench next to him.
He quickly got straight to the point. "Halloween is coming up, right? I was hoping to buy some of your sweets to hand out to my friends. The wizarding world doesn't really seem to celebrate it the same way the Muggle world does, but I figure handing out candy is a safe bet no matter where you are."
"Well look at you, the incredibly generous Mr. Potter," Charlie laughed. "I can absolutely sort that out for you. How much do you need?"
Harry frowned in thought. Honestly, he had no idea what a normal amount was. The idea of buying Charlie's custom chocolate had been brewing in his mind ever since their trip down to Hagrid's hut.
"I have to warn you upfront, Harry. My stuff isn't exactly cheap," Charlie added, noticing his hesitation. "Ten Sickles for one piece. Or two pieces for a Galleon. Also..."
Harry leaned in slightly, listening intently.
"I haven't officially launched my business yet. My production pipeline isn't ready for a mass rollout. So please don't go advertising me to the entire school. Keep it strictly quiet for now."
Harry nodded instantly. "Right. Consider it a secret."
"Brilliant," Charlie nodded, staring at Harry, waiting for a reaction to the price.
A few seconds passed in silence. Charlie raised an eyebrow. "...Well?"
Harry blinked, looking entirely confused. "Well what?"
"I mean... don't you think that's incredibly expensive?" Charlie asked flatly.
"I guess?" Harry shrugged helplessly. "Honestly, I don't really have a frame of reference for what's considered expensive here."
Charlie sucked in a sharp breath. He had deliberately priced his chocolate at five or six times the market rate of standard Honeydukes sweets. It was significantly more expensive than even the premium Chocolate Frogs.
But to the fabulously wealthy heir to the Potter fortune, it apparently barely registered as a minor expense.
"Never mind," Charlie shook his head.
"Right now, I've got two flagship products fully finalized: Sunshine Chocolate and Moonlight Chocolate."
Charlie quickly broke down the specific mood-enhancing effects of each batch. He completely omitted the Overload Chocolate from his sales pitch. He still had absolutely zero intention of releasing it commercially. The extreme physical and mental buffs only triggered when the concentration of raw lightning essence was dangerously high, and the subsequent backlash was brutal.
If he diluted the lightning to safe levels, the chocolate just turned into glorified popping candy—which was a massive, unforgivable waste of premium thunder essence.
"Actually, I'm currently prototyping a brand-new product. Just got the inspiration for it over the last two days. If you place an order, I'll throw in a batch of the new stuff completely free of charge. You and your mates can act as my official taste testers."
He was, of course, talking about the Dream Sand chocolate. Halloween was still a few days away—more than enough time to finalize a stable, entry-level batch.
"Really? That would be amazing!" Harry's face lit up with genuine excitement. He quickly made up his mind. "Alright, let's do... ten Galleons worth."
"Done. So that's twenty pieces. Ten of each?" Charlie confirmed.
"No, no," Harry shook his head. "I mean twenty pieces of Moonlight, and twenty pieces of Sunshine."
Charlie froze.
Honestly, since leaving his old Muggle neighborhood behind, he hadn't expected to land such a massive order right out of the gate. Back in Cheshire, he had a solid, returning customer base. Here at Hogwarts, he was starting entirely from scratch.
"Harry, mate, you've just given me a massive surprise. And honestly, you've completely solved my current cash flow problem," Charlie beamed.
He pushed himself up from the table. "Just you wait, Harry. I guarantee my new product is going to be the absolute greatest Halloween surprise you've ever had."
"You really think so?" Harry looked up at him, his eyes shining with anticipation.
"I absolutely guarantee it. Unless, of course... you go actively seeking out a massive tr—" Charlie cut himself off.
"Unless what?" Harry asked, straining to hear. Charlie had dropped his voice so low he was practically just mouthing the words.
"Nothing at all," Charlie smiled smoothly, shaking his head.