Chapter 584: Miss Winnie's Magical Journey

Winnie stood in the queue, anxiously leaning her head out to look around, her pair of golden ponytails swinging back and forth behind her head.

'One, two, three, four, five, six, there are still six people in front.' She counted silently.

From her perspective, she could see Felix Hep sitting behind a table with a stack of information on the table - it was handed to Mr. Hep by the witch who received them this morning. Mr. Hep wrote and drew on it from time to time, and there was also a bell on the table.

"Ding-ling-ling."

Winnie raised her head sharply and stared at the person in the front. More than one person did the same as her, because the next scene was magical enough. . . Mr. Hep pointed to the right, and the wizard in front of him, Mr. Archer - a squib to be precise, in his forties, half bald - cautiously stretched out one foot, as if the ground was covered with invisible unknown traps.

No one urged him, and everyone stared at him, trying to figure out something from him. But just like the previous times, he disappeared after taking a few steps.

Winnie was once again amazed at the magic, which was more magical than anything she had seen before.

She recalled carefully that just a dozen minutes ago, this man who was almost the same age as her waved his hand and closed the huge wooden door that was more than twelve feet high, without even using a wand. This move stunned everyone present. Most of them couldn't even control their wands, and the rest didn't have wands at all.

Winnie stared at Felix's black hair and blue eyes. When he was working - should it be considered working? - he seemed very serious and asked questions slowly. She didn't know how much it would cost to hire a wizard like Mr. Hep. She didn't even dare to think about it. This had never happened in reality.

She only knew that the 'Extraordinary Adult Magic Boutique Course' not far from Sword Castle cost fifteen gold galleons for a total of two weeks of instruction. She went to ask this in person, and - she didn't even have the qualifications to complain about the price. Because she was a Squib.

Winnie didn't have many memories of her childhood, except for the lingering gloom of the day she was sent to a foster home. And as the years passed, she had already successfully established herself in the Muggle society. Now she worked in a law firm and occasionally published a few short and sharp articles in magazines.

She would never tell others that her excellent imagination came from another world - a world where magic existed.

Her colleagues only knew that she liked reading and listening to music, and loved to visit various bookstores and record stores in her spare time. Therefore - Winnie never hesitated to say every time she went out, "I'm going to Charing Cross Road."

Her friends would ask her for niche books or inquire about the most popular records on the market, and she could always give an answer.

"Ding-ling-ling."

Winnie suddenly woke up. There was no one in front of her. She walked a few steps quickly, stood in front of the table, and carefully looked at the outline of Felix Hepp, a man who was almost the same age as her but had achieved great success. She couldn't even feel jealous.

Felix and Valen looked up together and felt that the girl's eyes were a little dull.

"Winnie Valentine, 24 years old, graduated from... Queen Mary University of London?" Felix looked up and asked.

"Yes, that's right." Winnie said with a trembling voice, "You are right."

"...It's all written on the paper."

Valen looked curiously at this person with a similar pronunciation to his name, amber eyes, slightly curly hair, and an artistic black and white piano key-shaped badge on his chest.

Winnie blushed slightly, not looking at the pair of light blue eyes, lowered her head and stared at the platypus next to her - no, it was the Sniff. How strange... She had strange thoughts in her mind. If she took a photo of the Sniff and sent it to the magazine, it would probably cause a sensation.

Felix knocked on the table, and Winnie immediately stared at his fingertips. A picture flashed subconsciously in her mind: it was this hand that just waved lightly, and a gilded letter "O" on the display cabinet in the hall twisted and jumped down, turning into a table in front of her eyes, and the other letter "K" turned into a dark green table runner embroidered with gorgeous patterns.

If it were in a knitting store, it would probably sell for a lot of money.

But it's totally unnecessary, Winnie thought. She found another difference between magic and technology: technology converges, magic is different. Then she sighed, these ideas are totally impossible to share with others.

Felix found that she was distracted again and snapped his fingers in front of her. Winnie was startled.

"You look a little nervous? Then I won't ask questions, just go this way." He pointed to the right.

Winnie breathed a sigh of relief, and then regretted it. Did she behave too badly? After taking a few steps, she suddenly turned around and looked behind her - the table, the young man behind the table, the sniffers on the table, the bells, and the people in line... all disappeared.

So this is what the previous people saw. Winnie thought.

"Hype Nine is at your service." A voice suddenly said, Winnie was startled, she turned around and looked at Felix, "You-oh," she said excitedly: "You are made by magic?"

"That's understandable." Hype Nine said.

Realizing that the person in front of her was not a real person, Winnie was not afraid, and her nervousness dissipated a lot. She had seen many magic props that could speak. For example, the Quidditch team posters that shouted "Come on", the cups that urged her to drink up the drink quickly, and the mirrors on the wall that reminded her that there was dirt on the tip of her nose...

The strangest talking thing she had seen was an exquisite dressing table. The mirror, perfume bottle, drawer, and floor lamp each had their own ideas, and they would belittle each other's aesthetics. According to the owner, "It has become like this since a particularly picky customer tried it."

Winnie took the initiative to find a topic: "Then what are you transformed into? Gilded letters, teacups, parchment, ink bottles, detergents..."

"None of them," said Hyp No. 9, "I am a memory."

Winnie thought about it and lowered her voice and said, "Ghost?"

"No, it's just a temporary memory. My task is to guide you to do some tests to make the magic in your body move a little bit." The person who claimed to be Hyp No. 9 said.

Can memory exist alone? Winnie was confused. This obviously had nothing to do with technology, but it was very magical, wasn't it?

She herself didn't know much about magic. Although she had read many books, as a Squib, especially one who had been to college, her attitude towards magic was closer to "observation", just like she would occasionally observe other customers in a record store, with a natural sense of alienation.

Hype No. 9 walked in front to lead the way for her.

"Be careful not to run into other people's territory," he said.

Winnie looked around and found that she was walking on a bizarre narrow road, surrounded by a film like a soap bubble, but it was magnified thousands of times. The things inside were blurry, but Winnie could vaguely guess based on the color and shape: she saw a quiet, deep forest river in a soap bubble; on the right was a colorful garden, but she couldn't see what flowers were planted in it.

Then she saw a towering castle, just the outline, she knew what it was.

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

"What are these?" she asked curiously.

"You feel comfortable and beautiful memories," Hype No. 9 explained dutifully. Winnie jumped over something like a puddle and accidentally stuck her head into a "soap bubble". She was scared, worried that she would destroy the dream-like environment.

But the quality of the soap bubble was better than she thought. She smelled the sweet air, so sweet that she was trembling.

There were candies and sweets everywhere. She only took a quick glance and found a dozen piles of candy, a short and fat wizard with tears in his eyes, and an identical 'Felix Hep' inside, whispering something calmly.

The next second, she was pulled out from outside.

"Told you to be careful."

"Oh, sorry."

"It's okay." Hep No. 9 said, he stayed here for a few seconds to repair the big hole that Winnie had knocked out with her head - before that, sweet air was blowing out from inside.

"You in there," Winnie was thinking about how to define their relationship, "which number is it?"

"Number 7."

They walked for a few more minutes, and finally, Hep No. 9 stopped, "We're here."

Winnie found herself standing in front of a beautiful display case, inside which was a shallow wooden disc with silver smoke rising from it. She realized that she was still in the lobby on the first floor of Future World Corporation.

"What do I need to do?"

"Recall." Hap-9 said, "Dig out the strongest feelings about magic from your memory. Good or bad is fine, but I recommend happy memories."

Winnie racked her brains, and she and Hap-9 stared at each other for a long time.

"Can't find it?" Hap-9 asked. Was this girl having a miserable life? It was impossible to tell.

"Too many." Winnie said.

"Then pick the one that makes you most comfortable." Hap-9 said expressionlessly.

Winnie thought carefully. She was a squib. She had almost no connection with magic in her childhood, and she didn't have many memories worth praising. But when she went to college, she took psychology as an elective, and gradually let go of her past experiences and was able to look at problems from a more positive side.

So one day in her sophomore year, she walked into the Leaky Cauldron with a nervous mood...

Hap-9 reached out and fished out an ebony wand from the air. With his help, Winnie's imagination appeared in reality. Felix raised his head behind the table, his eyes piercing through the bubbles, staring at the small and old bar.

Starting from the Leaky Cauldron, the scene changed rapidly, just like a guide to Diagon Alley.

The wall behind the bar slowly opened up to form a wide arch bridge, and the other end of the arch bridge connected to the winding cobblestone street. That was Diagon Alley. The sun shone down, and one shop after another came into view, the cauldron shop, the pet shop, the pharmacy, the bookstore... one after another.

Finally, they were in a junk shop, surrounded by a dozen wooden boxes piled up in a mess, and the boxes were filled with various second-hand magic items in different categories: tattered wands with unicorn hair exposed, wobbly old scales that could never be aligned, old cauldrons stained with medicine, patched old cloaks that seemed to have never been washed and had suspicious blood stains, magic books with loose spines and missing covers...

Winnie took a deep breath, and a sense of relief emanated from every pore.

Felix, who was sitting behind the table, felt a little strange, but he did feel a positive, vigorous vitality and joy. From the perspective of magic, the thin magic on her body jumped. He quickly wrote down a few symbols on the parchment.

"Do you like it here?" Hap-Nine asked.

"Yes." Winnie said happily.

"Are there any wonderful stories here?"

"Oh, just for me personally... I bought my first magic book, my first cauldron, and my first wand here." She said with deep emotion, "It cost me nine Galleons, and I can't use it yet. It is said that the price is the same as the first wand sold by Ollivander to the little wizard, but I am an adult, so it is more expensive."

"Can you afford this money?" Hap-Nine asked. He knew that Winnie had always stayed in the Muggle society. Even if she was not short of money, he estimated that Gringotts would not help her exchange it casually. Those goblins were very strict in this regard.

"I have a good relationship with the owner of that junk shop," Winnie said, "Do you know that street with the antique market in London? Sometimes I find some interesting gadgets and give them to the owner of the junk shop..." "

Okay." Hype No. 9 realized that this was still a broker. "You will have a real wand soon. Although there are restrictions on casting spells, the effect is pretty good."

"When your staff came to me, I thought they were scammers. Fortunately, they came in the end..." Winnie said excitedly, "How much does it cost?"

"Oh, it's free - only for now. Your wands are all specially customized, and various tests need to be done to match you as much as possible. Let's get back to the topic. First, Miss Valentine, I want to evaluate your magic power and score it according to activity, quantity and quality... Don't worry, it's just a rough estimate, because I haven't found the time to figure out the general rules."

An hour later.

The bubbles in the hall of Sword Castle gradually disappeared. Winnie turned her head left and right. The scenes that were said to be constructed by memory existed in the air for more than ten seconds, and then they quickly faded in color and shape, just like ancient relics that had been exposed to the light of day. Winnie stared at a particularly beautiful clock tower disappearing in front of her eyes and slowly exhaled.

Nineteen "Hypes" disappeared with it, from number one to number nineteen. Hype number nine finally waved to Winnie and merged into the air. Winnie felt lost, as if she had lost a friend she had known for a long time.

"Everyone, wait a moment. I need to spend some time making your own wands. You can visit the display case."

After Felix disappeared, the hall fell silent, and then some people gathered together.

"It should be true." An old wizard said, he had taken off his scarf, revealing a wrinkled face.

"Old Borg, do you think a big man like Mr. Hype would lie to you?" another person said loudly.

"Of course not!" Borg, who had spoken at the beginning, blushed and retorted angrily.

Winnie did not participate in the discussion. She began to pace around the display cabinets in the hall. The first floor hall of the Future World Company is occasionally open to the public, inviting some wizards to experience products that have not yet been finalized and make modifications based on feedback. She had been here several times before, but was only selected once. The product she experienced was a curse-proof hat.

That thing was incredible. As long as you stare at the person who is chanting a curse, the curse will be rebounded. It is a completely spontaneous reaction. She also gave her own opinions seriously. Well, she couldn't find any faults, but she hoped that there would be more styles. For this reason, she specially drew a few simple sketches of women's hats.

Ten minutes later, Felix appeared again.

He came prepared. All kinds of materials were ready-made, but he just needed to correct the frequency of magic power. Once he was proficient, he would be very fast.

He lined up a row of wands inlaid with colorful small gems, and his eyes slowly swept across a pair of eager eyes.

"Everyone, most of you actually signed up for the introductory magic course from the newspaper, but Clemmy should have told you the truth earlier, right?"

Everyone present nodded.

"Currently, this research has not been made public, so you need to abide by some agreements."

"There are two confidentiality agreements, one from Future World Company, which prohibits the disclosure of this research to the outside world; the other from the Ministry of Magic, which prohibits performing magic to non-magical people. If it involves immediate family members, you can report to the Ministry of Magic." "

In addition, because this work is of a research nature, you don't need to pay extra money, but you have to cooperate in doing some tests. The staff of Future World Company will observe your casting data and make improvements. In the long run, this will promote the progress of this product..."

"Does anyone have a different opinion on this?"

Felix waited for a while, "Very good." Wands flew to them one by one, "The magic on it is fixed, but it is very practical. There are dozens of application scenarios for the levitation spell alone... You have half an hour to get familiar with your wand, and then we will start testing."

Winnie stroked her wand and liked it more and more. From the curved shape of the stick to the small gems inlaid on it, it looked like an outstanding work of art. She stared at a dark red gem that seemed to have a vortex hidden inside, slowly turning.

Following the guidance of the disappeared Hyp-9, she tried her best to mobilize her emotions and fill her body with the desire to cast a spell successfully. Then she held up her wand and chanted the spell: "Luminescent Flash." A beam of light was released from the tip of the wand.

Winnie was panting. She looked up in disbelief and looked around. Someone had successfully cast a levitation spell, allowing himself to float three feet above the ground. He was frightened and kicked his legs like a frog.

"Think about what you want to do and don't constrain your imagination." Felix reminded from time to time.

A morning passed quickly.

Winnie and the others reluctantly handed in their wands. Mr. Hyp would make adjustments based on their performance in casting spells today. Winnie left her thoughts on a small note. She hoped that there would be an additional movement spell on her exclusive wand, which could make objects move.

She envied Mr. Archer next to her for directing the two shoes to dance.

She walked towards the door when she suddenly heard someone calling her name.

"Miss Valentine?"

She looked up and met Felix's gaze, and pointed at herself in surprise.

Felix nodded at her, which meant "Yes, it's you."

Winnie walked over with a nervous mood.

"I looked at your information again. Are you studying law in college?" Felix asked.

Winnie nodded.

"So - are you interested in making some extra money? The short-term kind." Felix asked gently, and Winnie stared at him. "I have some industries in the Muggle society. Not a lot, but I need advice from people with a professional background..."