The Wind and the Wings of Hogwarts

"What do you think..." he asked again, "that magic rune circuits can be stamped on like a seal?"

With a large number of orders, he really didn't want to handwrite the magic runes on each mirror one by one.

"Great idea, brilliant Scott!"

"Of course, we, being intelligent, have thought of that as well."

The twins said with a grin.

“We’ve tried many times.”

"But in the end, they all failed."

"Magic is needed to harmonize the runes when they are inscribed or written."

"No matter what, a seal can't achieve that effect."

"You can give it a try."

"Clever Scott."

At this point, both Fred and George looked up at Scott, seemingly waiting to witness his failed attempt.

Scott raised an eyebrow, placed the ebony block on the mirror, and took out his wand.

He gently waved his wand and tapped it on the block of wood.

The wooden block quickly flattened, stretched, and widened, soon covering the mirror and becoming a wooden board the same size as the mirror.

When the changes stopped, he put down his wand and flipped open the wooden board.

On the back of the wooden board, there was already a raised, complete magic rune circuit.

The twins blinked.

"Oh... that completes the stamp."

"It's a hundred times more convenient than our attempts."

Eddie, who was standing nearby, asked with a smile, "Why don't you use this method?"

The twins turned their heads and glanced at him simultaneously.

"Because our transformation skills are not up to par."

"Just like you."

After making a sarcastic remark about Eddie, they turned their attention back to the movements in Scott's hands.

Scott then took out a glass bottle from his desk drawer, which contained mercury mixed with crystal powder.

He then picked up his wand and turned a small piece of wood into a brush, which he then dipped into mercury and applied evenly to the wooden board.

After he had coated the entire wooden board with mercury, the twins spoke again.

"Now is the most crucial step."

"Activate the magic rune circuit on the mirror at the same time as imprinting it."

"We can't do it too early, or the magic rune circuit will be activated on the wooden board."

"Also, we need to prevent the mercury from leaking. I hope you succeed, Scott."

Scott touched the wooden board from the side with one hand.

Just as the twins said, mercury is not a good paint for stamps; it just likes to run away.

Fortunately, the wood in question is ebony, a material most compatible with Scott's magic.

Magic surged from Scott's hands, and the magic imbued with his will barely maintained the stability of the mercury on the wooden board.

Scott quickly flipped the wooden board over and placed it over the mirror.

At the same time, he picked up his wand with his other hand and activated the magic circuit printed on the mirror the instant he lifted the wooden board.

Click, click...

The mirror shattered.

"Oh, it failed."

"It seems there's no way to cut corners when it comes to writing magic runes."

The twins watched this scene and shrugged in unison.

Chapter 358 Production, Anxiety, Chance Encounter

Scott looked at the shattered mirror and put down the wooden board that had been used as a seal.

"Looks like I was being too clever for my own good," he said with a laugh.

Think about it, how many alchemists throughout history have studied runes?

If there were such a simple method to replace inscription or writing of magic runes, he wouldn't have needed to come up with a solution long ago.

Fred and George laughed too.

"When we tried it, we knew the chances of success were almost nonexistent."

"But we're the same way; we have to try it out before we're satisfied."

Eddie frowned. "If that's the case, do all the factories that produce magical items need wizards to do this by hand? That would be far too inefficient."

Eddie's father, Mr. Camitcher, was a capitalist who owned several factories.

In his view, Muggle factories have now been mechanized, but wizards still rely mainly on handicrafts, which is far too backward.

Scott, however, didn't seem to care. He said in a flat tone, "Think about the number of wizards in the magical world. Handicraft manufacturing is enough to meet the small market of the magical world."

He has given up trying to slack off.

He turned around, grabbed a mirror, took out a quill pen, and began to write diligently by hand.

In fact, the combination of magic runes required for the [Magic Crystal Player] is much simpler than that for the [Magic Mirror], and it doesn't take him much time. He just dislikes this kind of repetitive, mechanical work.

Since it was unavoidable, Scott quickly changed his mindset and treated the production as a practice exercise.

To be honest, this was very helpful for him in mastering the magical harmony when writing spell circuits.

This is something he should practice.

To fulfill his idea of ​​a one-second alchemy transformation, he must make this skill an instinct.

"Aren't you going to think of any other solutions?" Eddie asked.

He was genuinely surprised that Scott gave up so easily.

Scott remained calm and answered while writing carefully, "I don't want to think about it anymore. Even if such a method might exist, it's not something that can be researched in a short time."

With his current level of ancient magic script and alchemy, he really had no other ideas besides the clever trick he had just tried.

Eddie, however, was still a little confused.

"This is too much trouble," he muttered. "If it's like this, it's not good for us to control costs."

Scott and the Weasley twins ignored him and went about their own business.

Eddie, however, kept muttering to himself.

"There are already relatively few students who take the Ancient Runes course at Hogwarts. This course mainly focuses on interpretation and translation, and there are even fewer wizards who have mastered it and can apply it to alchemy."

"If I want to do any business in the magical world in the future, I won't be able to hire wizards who can inscribe magical runes."

Scott successfully activated the magic circuit on the mirror and handed it to him.

“Hurry up,” he said to Eddie. “You’re in charge of putting the plastic covers on the mirrors and then putting them in the boxes.”

“Okay.” Eddie reached out and took the mirror.

He turned around and found a custom-made hard plastic shell in a pile of cardboard boxes in the corner. He wrapped the back and four sides of the mirror with it and then packed the mirror in a white cardboard box.

These plastic shells and outer packaging were Scott's idea.

The plastic shell comes in four colors, each corresponding to the representative color of one of the four colleges, and is also printed with the college emblems.

The packaging box is even simpler, all white, with the product name and the words "Joke Props Studio" printed on it.

These items were all custom-made through Eddie's business channels, and the prices were very cheap.

But once packaged, it looks much more upscale and formal, which makes them feel more justified in making money.

Scott picked up another mirror and continued writing, saying to Eddie, "You can't think like that. You can make luxury goods. A lot of Muggle luxury goods are handmade."

“You’re right!” Eddie finally understood. “My family’s jewelry business also has a line of handmade products, and of course, they are much more expensive than other products.”

“The rich have more money.” Scott chuckled. “You should probably figure out how to make money off the rich in the wizarding world.”

Fred and George laughed too.

"You can specialize in making money from those pure-blood families."

"They always like to spend a lot of money to maintain a respectable image."

Although Scott wrote the runes very quickly, it was already past 1 a.m. when they finally finished the order.

After stuffing all the packaged players into Eddie's backpack, which had been enchanted with a seamless stretching spell, the four left the studio and arrived near the slide in the secret passage.

“Go look where Filch and his cat are,” Scott yawned and said to Fred.

Fred yawned as he pulled out the Marauder's Map, muttering, "It's so late, Filch should be asleep by now."

“Filch’s ugly cat never sleeps at night,” George said. “Oh, and don’t forget Peeves; he’ll yell and scream if he sees us.”

“I understand,” Fred replied, then muttered the incantation to activate the map again, “I solemnly swear I will not do anything good.”

George held up his lit wand to provide light for him.

“Let me see…” Fred said, “Oh, Filch is in his office, the cat is in the basement, Peeves… oh, that guy is near the library…”

George leaned closer for a look and suddenly exclaimed, "Oh! Dumbledore and Professor Binns are still in Professor Flitwick's office!"

"Could they have been studying those two things all along!" Eddie exclaimed in surprise. "Maybe that box is some incredible treasure!"

George looked up at him. "Are you saying we shouldn't hand it over?"

“Maybe it’s worth a lot of money?” Eddie said regretfully.