A day at Hogwarts.

Chapter 676 I Won't Stop Your Classes
At Hogwarts, an unwritten consensus has long existed: outstanding students enjoy certain privileges.

However, this privilege comes at a price; it requires consistently outstanding performance to maintain.

Charles, having benefited from this privilege, knew all too well how important it was to demonstrate his abilities.

The initial success of the Magic CT scan is a step towards the next stage of the plan. He needs to produce some impressive results and secure some special privileges for himself.

The day's spell class had just ended, and the students were packing up their textbooks, leaving in twos and threes.

Charles remained quietly in his seat until the classroom gradually emptied before walking to the podium.

Professor Flitwick had already noticed that he had deliberately stayed behind, so he also tacitly and deliberately took his time organizing the lesson plans.

When he heard footsteps, he looked up, raised an eyebrow, and showed a curious expression.

“Ah, Charles,” the professor’s high-pitched voice was exaggerated as if he were performing an opera, “I heard that you’ve come up with some new and interesting invention at Farbatton Castle?”

Rumors have been circulating that Charles's top salesman, Black, is secretly visiting several people who have published bestselling magic books.

Although the content of the conversation was kept secret and no one knew the details, those with keen insight had already noticed it.

However, everyone at Hogwarts was preparing for the October exams, and no one had the energy to think about this.

Now Professor Flitwick wondered if Charles had personally approached him to discuss the business deal.
Charles did not answer directly, but instead took an item from the bag and solemnly handed it over.

Professor Flitwick took it curiously.

The thing felt like a smooth, hard leather board and looked like a menu.

However, when he opened the "book," which consisted of only a cover and two thin pages, he found that the inner pages were completely blank.

Just as he was beginning to have doubts, the blank pages of the book began to glow faintly, and several clear book icons slowly appeared: "Curses and Curse-Breaking Spells," "Ordinary Spells and Counterspells," and "Defense and Deterrence Spells."

Next, a simple beginner's guide appears on the page, teaching users how to click the icon to open the book, swipe to turn pages, add bookmarks, and take notes.

Professor Flitwick immediately understood the purpose of this thing.

He extended his index finger and gently tapped the icon for "Curses and Curse Breaking".

The icon instantly enlarges, and the content of the title page is clearly displayed.

The professor's fingers slid across the blank pages, and the pages turned smoothly.

He looked through a few pages and found it to be the same as the one he had at home. Then he tried adjusting the font, jumping to different pages, adding bookmarks, and using the search function.

“A truly ingenious design,” Professor Flitwick nodded in approval, but didn’t seem overly surprised. “What’s it called?”

This type of magical item book, which integrates multiple books, is not the first of its kind in the magical world; it's just that it doesn't have as many functions.

“A mobile library,” Charles replied. “If Hogwarts agrees, it can access the library’s collection anytime, anywhere.”

Professor Flitwick's fingers trembled almost imperceptibly.

He re-examined the "book" in his hands and suddenly realized that it was not just a magical tool, but a revolutionary invention that could completely change the way knowledge is disseminated.

"The entire library?" Professor Flitwick seemed to have misunderstood. "So many books, it would be difficult to include them all."

There are plenty of books in the library, but judging by the magic of this book, it's probably far from enough.

Charles explained, "If Hogwarts agrees to cooperate, theoretically, whoever holds this terminal can access almost any book in the library, outside of the restricted areas, anytime and anywhere."

"If authorized, it can also access the restricted book section."

Mass production led to a qualitative change, and Professor Flitwick instantly understood the enormous potential it contained.

Three or five books may not seem like much, but if every student and professor could carry such a terminal with them, the acquisition of knowledge would no longer be limited by time and space.

“However,” Charles shrugged, “this technology is still in its infancy. In addition to the technology itself needing improvement, there are mountains of problems such as copyright, cooperation, and magical standards. We still have a long way to go.”

He formally made the request: "I would like to ask the professor to help test this terminal prototype, from the perspective of a top spellcaster, to test the defects in the magical aspects, the shortcomings in the user experience, and especially the stability of the link and the fidelity of information transmission in complex magical environments."

"We are building our own library. The initial collection will mainly consist of popular books on the market, while Black will be responsible for negotiating the copyrights of more classic works with authors and publishers."

Professor Flitwick understood the general idea, but there were still some points he didn't understand, so he asked, "You mean, as long as the magic library has a certain book in its collection, users can read it anytime through this terminal?"

“Yes,” Charles replied affirmatively, “the system is essentially similar to a communication notebook, except that it receives the contents of a book instead of messages from friends.”

The professor said thoughtfully, "So, in the future, people will only need to buy your terminal and won't need to visit Flourish and Blotts anymore?"

In his mind, with this magic book, any new book that Charles's library bought would be equivalent to buying it himself, so who would bother going to Flourish and Blotts? Charles smiled and shook his head, saying, "No, the rights of authors and publishers must be protected."

"For books that have been published for many years, we can buy out the copyright and make them available to users free of charge as basic resources."

"But for new books, users will still need to pay to purchase reading access, and the process will be as convenient as using Delicious Tablecloth."

Professor Flitwick nodded in agreement, saying, "That's to be expected. If people stop paying for books, authors will lose their source of income, which will ultimately lead to a drying up of their creative wellspring."

At this moment, Charles's expression became subtle: "Professor, have you ever considered writing a book yourself?"

Given Professor Flitwick's expertise in Charms and the reputation of the Headmaster of Hogwarts, his book would surely be a huge hit.

To everyone's surprise, the professor looked embarrassed, but the expression disappeared after a moment. He then shook his head and said, "Writing a voluminous book? I don't have that much time."

“Some people suggested that I compile and publish my research papers, but the tedious tasks of organizing manuscripts, contacting publishers, negotiating contracts, supervising printing, and marketing are really daunting.”

"Moreover, publishing books is risky."

"If the content isn't appealing enough, it won't sell, and printing too much will lead to a backlog of inventory and significant losses."

"This is the biggest obstacle preventing many scholars from writing books."

He then changed the subject, saying, "Of course, there are alternative solutions, such as serializing it in a magazine first to gauge the response, and then considering publishing it as a standalone book. This can reduce the risk."

Clearly, he had a long-standing understanding of the publishing industry, and perhaps the seed of writing books had always been planted in his heart.

Charles nodded, having studied these things himself; it was indeed true.

He pointed to the terminal in the professor's hand and proposed an innovative solution: "Actually, there is a way to avoid printing costs and inventory risks."

“You can send your manuscript to our library. After we complete the collection and format conversion, users can read your work directly through their devices.”

"As for revenue, authors can choose to make the content free, negotiate to buy out the copyright, or adopt flexible models such as revenue sharing based on the number of reads or sales. The initiative is in the hands of the authors."

Professor Flitwick's eyes lit up immediately, and after a moment's thought, he said, "That does sound like a good idea!"

When is this library expected to be officially open to the public?

Charles gave a wry smile and said, "This system is extremely complex to build, involving technical issues such as data conversion, compression, transformation, transmission, and security, as well as multiple management challenges, including copyright management."

"Given my current time and energy, it will take at least until next year for it to take initial shape."

Professor Flitwick thought about it and agreed; such a complicated magic system certainly couldn't be completed in just a day or two.

He said with some regret, "If it could be finished during Christmas, it would be an incredibly wonderful Christmas gift to the whole world."

Charles shrugged helplessly and said, "I also feel it's a pity, but the key magic for this project can only be completed by myself. The others in Farbatton Castle can only help solve the secondary problems."

"Unless I stop attending classes and devote all my time and energy to this project, it might be possible to complete the core framework before Christmas and barely reach the point of being ready for sale."

"But is that even possible at Hogwarts?"

“I have absolutely no reason to write a leave request to Professor McGonagall and ask her to approve such a long leave for personal reasons.”

At Hogwarts, nothing is more important than attending classes.

If it were for business, that would be fine, but now it's for his own business, so taking a long leave doesn't seem right.

Back then, when I took leave to study Animagus in Australia, it was all thanks to my father playing the victim, saying that he was getting old and afraid he wouldn't be able to see his old friends again.

Now the old man is still alive and kicking, and he's gone to Hollywood and hasn't come back yet, so that path is blocked.

However, Professor Flitwick suddenly slapped his thigh, raised his voice an octave, and said, "You shouldn't have been attending my classes this academic year at all!"

Charles's lips twitched slightly.

Indeed, he had passed the NEWTs exam, and the professors, including Professor Flitwick, had indicated that he could be exempted from fifth-year courses.

Let alone taking two months of leave, even taking leave until next summer vacation is theoretically not a problem.

“Alright then,” Professor Flitwick straightened his small frame, adopting a businesslike expression, but with a sly glint in his eyes, “I will suspend you from classes for two months on the grounds that you stepped out of the classroom with your left foot first today, violating classroom etiquette.”

Just then, Dumbledore came to see Professor Flitwick and happened to overhear the last half of his sentence as soon as he entered.

He asked seriously, "Felius, which school rule did Charles violate that warrants such a severe punishment as a two-month suspension?"

(End of this chapter)