Wenge Manor.
A three-story villa stood in the picturesque backyard.
Shawn had been staying there lately, and Wenge had spared no effort in welcoming him, even arranging more than a dozen servants to attend to him outside.
But Shawn had never called for them, and he had also declined Wenge's daily visits to pay his respects.
At that moment, Shawn was in the villa's basement, painstakingly carving a complex alchemy matrix.
The matrix shimmered with all manner of intricate, mysterious magical runes circuits, densely packed yet meticulously ordered, like some kind of integrated circuit board. It was remarkably precise.
This, too, was part of his preparations for treating Astoria.
With the Malfoy family's attic unavailable for the time being, Shawn had simply come to Wenge's estate to carve the alchemy matrix.
It consumed a tremendous quantity of precious alchemy materials as well. Fortunately, the Greengrass family had substantial resources.
An ordinary person could not have afforded it even if they knew how.
Just then.
Draco slipped inside, carrying a tray of food.
After setting the tray on the desk, he wanted to remind the Chief that it was time to eat. But seeing how absorbed Shawn was, he could only wait obediently off to the side.
His gaze involuntarily drifted toward the nearly completed alchemy matrix.
Draco's vocabulary was too limited to describe it. All he could say was that it was beautiful!
A tremendous sense of admiration welled up within him.
They had both had nine years-no, wait, they were both second-year young wizards, yet the things the Chief knew were simply on another level.
Meanwhile, he was still worrying about why his Shield Charm would not break through to level four, his unfinished summer homework, whether he would be benched in Quidditch next term, and other such trivial