Gift Book of Friends

Gift—Book of Friends

School time was heartbreakingly short. In what seemed like the blink of an eye, it was time to leave.

As the first-years lined up and followed Hagrid out, the few students who had chosen to stay behind stood by the windows, watching them enviously. In truth, Wade envied those students too—they could spend two whole weeks at school without a care, practically have the library and Potions Class classroom to themselves, and ask the professors for guidance whenever they wished. It was practically one-on-one tutoring.

Wade sighed.

If Fiona had not been looking forward to the day he came home for an entire month, Wade would have wanted to stay at school too.

Of course, going home felt good as well.

After being apart for nearly half a year, his parents' pent-up longing and affection erupted the moment they saw him. Fiona hugged him at least ten times a day and, at random moments, kissed his forehead tenderly. Ferdinand was a little more reserved, but he still ruffled Wade's hair and patted his shoulder from time to time.

During his months at school, Wade had grown three centimeters taller. Because he climbed stairs all day, he would also exercise for ten minutes to half an hour whenever he had been sitting too long. Over time, his body had become stronger, and even fairly distinct abdominal muscles had appeared.

But in Fiona's eyes, all those positive changes could be summed up in two words—"Too thin."

Caressing Wade's cheek, his mother said worriedly, "Were you not eating enough at school? Just wait, I'll make you a huge feast today!"

She rolled up her sleeves and hurried off to get busy.

Wade looked in the mirror—the eleven-year-old boy reflected there still had a little baby fat that had not yet faded from his face. He looked slightly round-faced, rosy-cheeked, and in excellent health.

Sitting beside Wade, Ferdinand asked with great seriousness, "Wade, you only ever shared good news in your letters and never the bad. Tell me honestly now—has anyone at school given you trouble?"

Wade answered just as seriously, "No—and that's the truth. Ravenclaw is a House that mostly keeps to itself. Most students judge one another by ability, and few care much about blood status. I'm top of the year in several subjects. Professor Flitwick, our Head of House, likes me very much, and Professor Murray sets aside two hours every week specifically to teach me Alchemy. Before the holidays, he even invited me to his private party."

"That's good. It sounds like you've met some fine teachers." Ferdinand smiled. "Are you happy at school?"

"Of course." Wade smiled. "Very happy."

Before Christmas, Wade sent out all his gifts. When he woke up the next morning and came downstairs, he found the space beneath the Christmas tree piled high with gift boxes.

Fiona came over and hugged his head, planting a forceful kiss on his forehead. "Thank you, darling. I love the gift you gave me."

Wade had given her a bottle of beauty potion he had brewed himself, a finished product that had earned Professor Snape's approval.

Ferdinand nodded as well. "An excellent magical razor. But does the parchment you put in the gift box have some special purpose?"

"This is an Alchemy creation I completed entirely on my own—the Book of Friends," Wade said with a hint of pride.

He took a handmade notebook from his pocket. Its cover bore the words "Book of Friends" in both Chinese and English. When he opened it, the top of the first lined page had "Family" handwritten on it. To the right, in smaller letters, was "Name," followed by a line.

Wade took out quills and gave one to each of his parents, then picked up his own quill and wrote his name on the right.

"Our three Books of Friends are linked together. If I write down my name like this, then write what I want to say here—"

In the blank space below the line, he wrote a sentence—"Merry Christmas."

Fiona let out a small gasp. A line of words had appeared on the parchment in her hand as well:

Wade: Merry Christmas.

"Oh, I get it."

Fiona quickly wrote her name in the upper right corner, then wrote beneath it: Merry Christmas, sweetheart.

The same words appeared on the parchments held by father and son.

Ferdinand understood. "Like a forum?"

Home computers had been around for years, and cost only a few hundred pounds. House Gray had naturally bought one long ago, so none of them were unfamiliar with computers.

"Yeah, like an Internet forum." Wade spread his hands. "Because the medium is only a piece of paper, it seems a bit magical. It can't transmit Video or sound, so it really can't compare to the Internet, but it isn't affected by magical fields. That means even when I'm at school, you can contact me whenever you want."

More accurately, the Book of Friends was a magical version of WeChat. But since things like MSN Messenger, WhatsApp, QQ, WeChat, and the like had not yet been developed, Wade's Book of Friends seemed remarkably ahead of its time.

"I have to say, this is the best Christmas gift I've received this year, Wade." Ferdinand's eyes shone. "But better than that is the fact that you've truly learned something at Hogwarts—I'm proud of you, son."

Like most people encountering communication software for the first time, Fiona quickly became obsessed with "online chatting." Even though Wade and Ferdinand were sitting less than two meters away from her, she communicated with them entirely through the Book of Friends.

Soon, words began appearing on the other pages of Wade's Book of Friends as well.

The second page was linked to the SSC members.

Michael: Hello?

Padma: Merlin, I can really see the words you wrote.

Hermione: Can you see what I wrote too? Oh my God, it really appeared! How did you do it? I've never seen a similar Spell in any book!

Padma: Don't bring up books, Hermione. It's Christmas today—we should be happy.

Michael: Wade, I thought you had only just started learning Alchemy! You should have told me sooner that you'd made something this amazing!

Theo: I read the instructions and only just figured out how to use it—this is incredible! It's the best Magical Item I've ever seen!

Ryan: ...I'm too shocked to know what to say. Just writing something to prove I saw it.

Neville: I accidentally fell off the sofa. My Grandma thought I'd received some kind of Dark Magic item and nearly confiscated it.

Wade: Merry Christmas, everyone.

His single sentence seemed to set off a frying pan of hot oil, and messages from everyone began popping up one after another. They quickly discovered that each line had limited space, that every sentence disappeared around one or two seconds after being read, and that at most fifteen lines of text could appear on the page at once. Their "online chatting" had been forcibly throttled, so they would not end up with "999+" unread messages in just a few minutes.

Within minutes, they somehow figured out how to send emojis on their own, and it did not look as though they would be stopping anytime soon.

When Wade flipped further back, the third page was for the House-elves. Every House-elf he was close to had received a sheet. They cautiously tried writing on the parchment and repeatedly expressed their gratitude to Wade.

The pages after that belonged, in order, to Professor Murray, Professor Flitwick, Professor Sprout, Professor McGonagall, and Professor Snape. Aside from Snape giving it a "barely usable" assessment and Professor Murray confirming his invitation for a few days later, everyone else enthusiastically praised Wade's ingenious idea and said they could tutor him in his studies during the holidays as well.