Was it because Pheobe's private declaration carried no real weight, or was Beauxbatons offering a false gesture of goodwill?
Vaughn felt neither possibility was likely. Beauxbatons had no reason to do that, and Madame Maxime's support for the Potions exchange showed that she thought highly of his initiatives.
Nor did Vaughn believe the system would judge things by bureaucratic standards, insisting that Beauxbatons publicly announce its stance before counting it as invited.
If that wasn't the problem, then the issue most likely lay with the International Confederation of Wizards.
Although Beauxbatons had expressed its support, as long as the Confederation refused to budge, the so-called Eight-School Tournament was nothing more than a slogan.
He probably had to wait until the Eight-School Tournament proposal was fully approved before the quest would start tracking progress.
Vaughn shook his head helplessly. All he could do now was hope Dumbledore would put in a little more effort and clear the obstacles soon.
His gaze returned to his Reputation Points, and he slowly closed his eyes. He had been saving for four whole months. It was time to spend some.
In his mindscape, at the Memory Archive.
Looking at the constantly shifting Rule Hypercube before him, Vaughn reached out. Several folders flew off the rows of shelves and landed in his hand.
His teaching progress had stalled, but it wasn't really because Cheng Quandao, Pheobe, and the others weren't smart enough. Their limited knowledge of Muggle subjects was the main reason, but not the whole story. The problem lay primarily with the Magic Extraction Method itself.
To make the Potions exchange happen, Vaughn had offered bait that the major Wizarding Schools couldn't refuse: an unfinished spell developed from the Magic Extraction Method and Trait Sensing—the Essence Charm.
It wasn't that Vaughn hadn't considered developing a