Video Chat with His Sister

Video Chat with His Sister

Just as Bell finished today's homework and took out Ultimate Transfiguration to continue reading, his Personal Terminal suddenly received a notification. Bell was confused for quite a while before he realized what was going on.

Taking out his Personal Terminal and looking at the prompt on the screen, Bell desperately wanted to slap himself.

Bell had never video chatted with anyone. He had always treated his Personal Terminal as nothing more than a watch and alarm clock, occasionally using it to look up information.

In fact, ever since Bell's internal clock had become increasingly accurate, he might not even touch his Personal Terminal once a week.

Now, looking at the video request his sister had sent him, he suddenly realized: It can do that too!

Bell believed Shanna had probably forgotten that they could communicate through their Personal Terminals as well. Otherwise, she definitely would have video called him last night.

But now was not the time to think about that. Bell quickly got to his feet and sprinted back to the dormitory. He leaped onto his bed, drew the curtains, took out his Wand and set up a Soundproof Barrier, then enlarged his Personal Terminal. The whole series of actions flowed smoothly in one go before Bell accepted the call.

"Gege! I missed you!"

Sob...

Seeing his little sister pouting with such a pitiful expression on the screen, Bell felt as though his heart were about to melt.

"Gege missed you too! Very, very much!"

"Has Shanna been good at home all by herself?"

Bell tried to distract Little Shanna, or she might start crying the next moment.

"Mm! Shanna has been very, very good!"

The little girl nodded forcefully.

Seeing how adorable his sister was, Bell could not help reaching out to ruffle her hair. Unfortunately, he only touched the cold screen in the end.

Grr!

I really want to smash it!

"Gege, what is Hogwarts like? Are you happy there?"

"Not happy! I'm super unhappy because I can't see Shanna!"

At that moment, Bell even wanted to blow up this lousy school. How could he possibly be happy?

"Shanna too! I'm super unhappy because I can't see Gege!"

In truth, Shanna had long wanted to blow up that lousy school called Hogwarts. How dare it keep her from going to school with Gege!

Afterward, the siblings told each other every detail of what they had experienced over the past day or so. What time they got up today, what they did after getting up, what they ate for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Shanna was especially interested in Bell's life at Hogwarts. From the menu to the class schedule, from the Great Hall to the dormitory, she kept asking questions without end.

Perhaps outsiders would think such trivial matters were not worth wasting time on. Yet one of the siblings spoke with great enthusiasm, while the other listened with rapt attention.

It was not until Mom Elena's voice came from behind Shanna that their conversation had to end. Bell could clearly see Shanna's little mouth moving in displeasure on the screen. Judging by her lips, she seemed to be saying, "Mom is so annoying."

Bell could not help laughing.

"Sweetheart, it's getting late. You two should go to sleep."

Elena had no choice but to interrupt the siblings' conversation. Otherwise, she had no doubt they could keep chatting until tomorrow morning.

Only then did Bell realize it was already past ten. Aside from the two roommates who had gone out for a nighttime adventure, the other two had already climbed into bed.

Seeing Shanna's unhappy face on the screen, Bell comforted her. "Go get some rest, Shanna. How about Gege video chats with you again tomorrow night?"

"Really?"

Shanna looked delighted.

"Shanna can talk to Gege tomorrow too?"

"Of course," Bell said firmly. "Not just tomorrow. The day after tomorrow, the day after that—Gege will talk to Shanna every day, okay?"

"Mm! Then it's a promise. Gege isn't allowed to go back on his word!"

"Of course. When has Gege ever gone back on his word? I'm more worried that Shanna won't want to talk to Gege."

"Shanna wants to talk to—"

"Alright, you two."

Elena helplessly interrupted them again. Otherwise, who knew when these two siblings would ever finish? No, they definitely would not finish.

Elena snatched the Personal Terminal from Shanna's hands and held it up where Shanna could not reach it.

In the corner of the screen, Shanna could still be seen jumping with all her strength, trying to take back the Personal Terminal while constantly shouting, "Give it back! Bad Mom, give it back!"

"Bell, you need to rest early too. No staying up late! Alright, that's enough for now. Bye-bye~"

With that, Elena ended the video call.

As the screen gradually went dark, the smile on Bell's face slowly disappeared as well.

As warm and happy as he had felt while talking to his sister just now, he now felt equally cold and lonely. Intense pain surged into Bell's heart, forcing him to use magic to ease the agonizing ache within him. However, it did no good.

Aah!

"Lim—!" Bell threw back his head and shouted.

Pop! Lim appeared beside Bell's bed, looking at him in panic.

"What is it, Young Master? Did something happen?"

"No, nothing happened." Bell spoke despondently. "Prepare some food for me. Prepare a lot, quickly."

"Yes, Young Master. Lim will bring the food right away!"

Lim hurried off in a fluster to prepare food for Bell.

Bell fell back onto the bed, staring blankly at the still-unfamiliar ceiling.

I'll worry about pulling myself together tomorrow.

Unknowingly, more than a week had already passed since he arrived at Hogwarts. Bell had gradually grown accustomed to life at Hogwarts, repeating his regular yet somewhat dull routine every day and working hard to enrich himself.

If Bell had to choose his favorite place at Hogwarts, it would be neither the warm and comfortable dormitory nor the cool, beautiful shore of the Black Lake, but the slightly deserted and dim Library.

Hogwarts truly lived up to its reputation as a professional educational institution. The Library's collection far surpassed the Menethil Family's family library. Although the major Pure-blood Families all possessed their own unique inheritances and secret records, the Hogwarts Library contained nearly every book that had appeared on the market over the past thousand years.

After Bell discussed the matter with his Dad William, William was currently negotiating with Headmaster Dumbledore, hoping to copy all the books in the Hogwarts Library and upload them to the Personal Terminal network's main Server, making them convenient for wizards to purchase and read. That would effectively mean the Menethil Family had obtained all of Hogwarts's accumulated collection from nearly a thousand years.

Dumbledore himself did not oppose this. Of course, it was also difficult for him to oppose it. After all, as the Menethil Family had developed over the past few years, the number of Galleons it donated to Hogwarts had increased year by year. It had now become the family with the greatest influence on the Hogwarts Board of Governors. Moreover, uploading books would itself help prevent knowledge from being lost, so Dumbledore had no reason to object.

The main point of disagreement between the two sides was whether the books in the Restricted Section should also be uploaded.

Dumbledore believed that some of the knowledge concerning Dark Magic was too dangerous and should not be spread. The Menethil Family, naturally, wanted as much knowledge as possible. Who cared whether it was dangerous? What magic was not dangerous?

Although the two sides were still discussing the matter, Bell did not think Dumbledore would budge. It seemed that if he wanted to browse and study the books in the Restricted Section in the future, he would have to find another way.