Bill admired Mr. Tom more and more. The young man, who did not look much older than Bill, had remarkable vision, foresight, and drive.
Even Bill, a traditional Hogwarts top student, got a headache looking at those Muggle books packed with technical terms. Yet Mr. Tom read them without batting an eye.
And he had kept at it not for a day or two, but for over a year!
They had spent an entire year studying in the remarkable land of Australia. During that time, even Australia's slow-moving Wizarding world had begun to change.
The Dream System had caught on there. Dozens of new dishes had appeared, the Floo Network had changed how it operated, restrictions on Portkeys had eased, and even Quidditch had undergone many changes.
Yet Mr. Tom still had not abandoned his tedious studies, nor had he rushed to use what he had learned to improve things that looked easy to fix.
The Ministry of Magic was offering a great deal of money for every worthwhile idea, but not even piles of gold could sway Mr. Tom.
"It's incredible. In the past, I might have gone home to study those Muggle electrical appliances with my father and earn a heap of Galleons. But now even I've given up on that."
The Wizarding World was getting better. Every wizard Bill met said so.
Exchanges were growing, even at that awkward place on the moon that had been renamed Guanghan Palace halfway through construction. It was in close contact with the other schools up there.
The Hogwarts Moon Branch had become a pioneer of reform. Vice Principal Taylor, who had not come down since the Moon Landing Project began the previous year, had led professors and Advanced Class students in improving several plants that could be grown in greenhouses