"Magic Mobile Phone Official Flagship Store?"
Draco repeated it, still only understanding the "Magic Mobile Phone" part. "What's that?"
"A shop that specializes in Magic Mobile Phones, though they aren't on sale yet."
Goyle was brimming with enthusiasm. "But we can play on Magic Mobile Phones in the shop for free, and even try demos of new games. We only get an hour each, though."
"Demos?" Draco felt as though he had fallen behind after just a few days apart.
"Trial versions," Crabbe explained. "Like how Madam Malkin lets you try on wizarding robes before you buy them."
"It's the first shop in Knockturn Alley," Goyle said, now in his element. "My family won't let me go to Knockturn Alley because they say it's too dangerous, but the shop is right where it meets Diagon Alley. It looks very safe."
"There are signs outside, too."
"The billboards look really nice as well."
"I saw loads of people going in and out. No bad guys would dare cause trouble there."
As Crabbe and Goyle chattered away, taking turns chiming in, Draco began to want to take a look himself.
"Who opened that shop?" Draco refused to give up. What if Director Lorne wasn't the inventor of the Magic Mobile Phone?
"You'll never guess who the manager is," Crabbe said mysteriously. "It's Professor Quirrell. He resigned from Hogwarts, and he doesn't stutter at all now."
"But he said he isn't the owner. He's just the manager the owner sent there."
Goyle, however, couldn't care less. "Who cares? Whoever owns it, it won't stop me playing on Magic Mobile Phones."
The real owner behind the scenes, Lorne, was busy taking the final exams arranged for him alone.
By now, Lorne had completed the theoretical and practical exams set by Professor McGonagall, Professor Sprout, and Professor Flitwick. He had passed both Transfiguration exams, the subject he had revised most. His performance in the Herbology practical and Charms Class theory exams had been somewhat lacking, but both professors said they would pass him in recognition of his having once petitioned Dumbledore on their behalf to reduce the staff's workload.
And because Lorne had gone through his History of Magic textbook many times while making gacha characters for his game, he wasn't worried about that subject either.
The only subject he felt uncertain about was Potions.
Professor Snape.
Snape had once swept out of his office with his robes billowing, and now, what went around had come around: Lorne was sitting in Professor Snape's office himself.
"You look a little different today, Professor Snape," Lorne said, trying to establish a rapport first. "You look very approachable."
"Really? Then you must be mistaken."
Snape gave him no face at all, handing Lorne the set of exam papers in front of him.
To be fair, Lorne had spent more time revising his Potions Class textbooks than anything else, precisely because he feared Snape would make things difficult for him.
But one cursory glance told Lorne that he couldn't answer most of the questions on the papers.
He even wondered whether these were first-year papers at all.
"It appears many professors have overlooked your advanced age, Director Lorne," Snape sneered calmly. "I believe that, compared with those children who have yet to come of age, you certainly deserve a paper better suited to demonstrating your abilities."
Lorne: "..."
"I thought that suggestion you once gave me was excellent. What was it called again? Oh, teaching according to aptitude. Given Director Lorne's talent for doing as he pleases at Hogwarts, I'm sure completing this merely slightly more difficult paper will pose no problem."
Lorne suspected the old bastard was repaying kindness with ingratitude.
"May I make another suggestion?"
"What novel expression is it this time?"
"Happy education."
"I'm very sorry, but this is a task Dumbledore assigned me." Snape effortlessly shifted the blame. He knew Lorne had only been forced to come here after getting nowhere with Dumbledore. "Also, a reminder: your exam began five minutes ago."
Lorne scanned the papers carefully again. Finding that many questions were indeed beyond first-year level, he decisively gave up. "I forfeit, Professor Snape. Potions Class truly is a vast and profound subject. But my suggestion to you remains unchanged. I mean the first suggestion, not that happy education one just now."
With that, Lorne stood to leave. He wasn't the sort to enjoy putting up with mistreatment.
Just as Lorne reached the door, Snape's voice came from behind him, sounding somewhat expectant and embarrassed.
"Wait. There's still the practical exam."
Lorne turned around. "I don't think that's necessary."
"It is," Snape blurted out.
Realizing that his reply had come too quickly and made him seem a little eager, he immediately resumed his air of disdain for everything. "Dumbledore told me you used a potion to save Quirrell, whose soul had been shattered, from Voldemort. I think, if you can brew that potion again, I will give you an A in Potions Class."
Lorne said nothing.
Professor Snape raised his offer. "If the quality is good and there are no issues with your technique, even an O isn't out of the question."
Lorne had never really intended to let anyone else know about potions like this, which he had learned from the system. There had been nothing he could do about Dumbledore discovering it, but he hadn't expected him to turn around and tell Snape.
"Professor Snape, much as I'd like to get an A or an O from you," Lorne said, no longer a complete novice when it came to the Wizarding World, "you know how precious potion formulas are."
With his intentions exposed, Snape remained entirely unruffled. "I simply want to confirm whether it's real. No one throughout history has ever been able to brew a potion concerning the soul."
Lorne pondered for a long time. Although Snape was rather haughty, he was, in fact, a pitiful man who had been hurt in the films.
He might not need Snape's friendship, but he didn't want them to walk past each other with stony faces whenever they met, either.
"Three conditions." Lorne held up three fingers.
"First, you must guarantee that you won't divulge the formula or tell the outside world that such a potion exists. But you may research it and brew it."
"Second, brewing this potion takes rather a lot of time, so I won't brew it again. I'll give you the formula, but you need to give me an A in Potions Class. I don't need too high a grade."
"Third, please go to the trouble of brewing a few bottles of Felix Felicis for me. I'd also like you to give my earlier suggestion some serious consideration. That part isn't compulsory, and I'll pay you appropriately for the Felix Felicis, too."
Snape, however, was somewhat surprised. "You're going to give me the formula?"
The formulas for potions circulating on the market were indeed public, but in most cases, a potion formula initially served as a tool for a family to amass wealth or a stepping stone to publication for some eminent Potions master.
For newly discovered potions like these, the value of their formulas was simply immeasurable.
Lorne nodded. "Yes. How else would I prove that what I brewed was real?"
Snape kept his expression neutral. "I accept."
In truth, if he couldn't publish it or let anyone else know about it, he wasn't gaining all that much at Lorne's expense. This counted as an equal exchange.
Snape thought this because he had automatically added another item to Lorne's gains: the favor and friendship of a renowned Potions Class professor.
Lorne knew nothing of this. He returned to Snape's desk and covered a blank sheet of parchment with the names of more than a dozen ingredients.
"I call it the Soul-Healing Potion. What do you think?"