Sirius was wearing a pair of heavy dragon hide goggles.
With a focused expression, he carefully welded a palm-sized brass box using tiny sparks spraying from the tip of his wand.
When he saw Douglas return, he excitedly took off his goggles, leaving two comical pressure marks on his face.
"Hey! You're finally back!"
He held his handiwork high, like a child showing off a new toy.
"Look at this, the Roaring Communicator 2.0!"
"I added a voice-changing function!"
"The next time that old bureaucrat Scrimgeour calls to chase up an order, I'll use Cornelius Fudge's voice to tell him the Ministry of Magic is looking into it, so please be patient!"
Douglas smiled and shook his head. The idea certainly sounded very Sirius.
His gaze fell on a crumpled copy of the Daily Prophet at the corner of the table.
That alarming headline still stood out in the dim light.
Sirius noticed where he was looking and snorted disdainfully.
"Rita Skeeter exaggerated everything tenfold."
"But she didn't bad-mouth us this time. She hailed our Immobilizing Flash Grenades as the Aurors' salvation."
"Scrimgeour even sent someone yesterday to ask when the next shipment would arrive. He's in a hurry to equip every Auror with one."
Douglas casually took the Bouncing Ball containing the captured creation of light from his pocket and tossed it to Wangcai, who was rolling around in the corner by the fireplace.
"A new toy for you."
The golden sphere traced a dazzling arc through the air.
The instant it appeared, Wangcai, who had been happily rolling around buried in a little pile of Galleons, froze.
Its flat nostrils twitched furiously.
Its little black-bean eyes fixed on the golden sphere as it slowly rolled to a stop.
It could not even spare a thought for the brightest,