Chapter 262

Information gap.

It is a problem every wizard faces in battle.

And Wizard Sean’s youthful appearance always lets him exploit this perfectly.

In full Baofa mode, Wizard Sean, who masters Master-level Transfiguration, can release two spells simultaneously, and cast Instant Silent Dark Magic—enough to suppress an elite Auror for a short while.

About as he expected.

But his weakness was also clear: he had only just begun learning magic and lacked sufficient magical power to sustain these powerful spells.

At this point, he had two choices.

Wait for his magical power to gradually increase with age—wizarding power grows stronger with the accumulation of years.

Or improve his mastery of magic.

For magic, the higher the proficiency, the easier it becomes to cast, and the less physical strain it places on the wizard.

Wizard Sean thought:

【Proficient】-level magical transfiguration should be just barely sufficient.

In the following days, Wizard Sean always trained in duels with Marcus.

Marcus also noticed the young wizard’s flaw.

His spell-casting time was too long—long enough for Marcus to cast several Disarming Charms himself.

At this point, the young wizard could only counter with Stupefy, and his subsequent spells became feeble, ineffective attacks.

But what was terrifying was that once he realized this, the young wizard began casting Stupefy while simultaneously performing Transfiguration.

Soon after, Marcus took another major blow.

When Marcus began overwhelming him with a storm of spells to prevent the young wizard from casting lengthy Transfigurations, Wizard Sean made another move Marcus did not anticipate.

Wizard Sean abandoned casting powerful spells and instead used simple Transfiguration to force Marcus to cast the Iron Shield Charm, which also required preparation time.

Marcus had never seen a young wizard react so quickly—he had an exceptionally high command of his magic and could produce many variations.

And through this Shizhan training, Wizard Sean also learned the boundaries of his own abilities.

He also deeply realized how much he still lacked in Transfiguration.

……

A month had passed since the last operation of the Fairy Tale Shop.

For these past few days, rumors had spread throughout the entire British Wizarding World.

The Wizarding Weekly had been stationed, eager to photograph the mysterious Alchemist—even just his back.

Many curious witches in the Wizarding World were waiting, and Mrs. Weasley naturally joined the frenzy.

“Mom’s concern for Wizard Sean… that Alchemist, is even greater than her admiration for Gilderoy Lockhart… oh, he’s a celebrity, Mom worships him.”

Because Harry had first come to the Burrow, Ron always accompanied him. Now Ron picked up a book, its cover inscribed in gilded cursive script:

Gilderoy Lockhart Teaches You to Eliminate Household Pests.

Beneath the title was a large photograph of a handsome wizard with wavy golden hair and bright blue eyes. Photos in the Wizarding World were animated—the wizard in the picture was winking at them.

“Is that the Alchemist who might be at Hogwarts?”

Harry asked, confused.

“More than just ‘might’! I mean, it’s very likely.”

Ron’s face turned beet red, and he finally managed to squeeze out a few words.

Harry gave him a strange look just as an owl delivered the Daily Prophet.

As they opened the envelope, Ron whispered to Harry:

“Are you still planning to go back?”

His meaning was obvious.

“I have to go back.”

Harry paused for a moment, then said.

“We’ll help you, remember? Jia Jia Siting wrote—he’s investigating those bastards… your aunt and uncle’s family.

Don’t worry.”

Ron reassured him.

When he said “we’ll help,” Harry’s eyes quietly welled up.

Ron realized he had said too much and quickly snatched the Daily Prophet from the owl’s claws.

“Look at the paper—maybe they’ll invite you too…”

The newspaper showed the same shop, the same tall, slender back of the young wizard at the entrance.

Every time Ron saw it, he felt a strange thrill—he was one of the few who knew the secret most wizards didn’t.

The only regret was that he still hadn’t collected the Chocolate Frog card—it appeared less frequently than the “King Arthur” card in the bizarre Wizard’s Chess.

Below the photograph on the newspaper was a bold headline:

【Never-Before-Seen Invitation System! Hype or Real?】

This snapped Harry out of his daze, and he looked curiously—expecting criticism of the shop’s unique sales method—but instead found nothing but praise.

Rita, the witch with voluminous wavy hair, had praised the system to the heavens.

In her words, receiving an invitation from this shop proved you had real power and status in the Wizarding World; without it, you were merely pretending.

Such grand claims stunned a large crowd of wizards. But when Rita named those who had received invitations, the wizards fell into deep thought.

Albus Dumbledore, Nicolas Flamel…

More importantly, neither of these two wizards had refused—they had accepted the invitations.

Everyone knew this was an implicit endorsement.

This made the wizards’ already excited emotions burn even hotter.

Unfortunately, the shop extended invitations only via paper airplanes.

It gave no opportunity to buy entry with Jin Jin Jialong.

Perhaps, as the article suggested, only wizards of sufficient status could obtain one.

Afternoon.

The cobblestone pavement shimmered with warm light; the shop’s brick walls were hot from the sun. Outside Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlour, several empty tables and chairs stood, with only one parasol gently dozing in the breeze.

Not far from Florean Fortescue’s, a group of distinguished wizards had gathered.

The Weasley twins watched this modest crowd from the Joke Shop and suddenly understood what Wizard Sean meant by “no disruption.”

Wizard Sean had arrived at the shop long ago—it had been completely renovated, transformed anew.

A door carved from a single block of ebony stood quietly; its brass handle was a coiled ouroboros.

The glass display cases, once lying flat, had been raised upright; behind each was a lifelike magical creature.

Wizard Sean waited for Professor Professor Tela’s arrival when the Daily Prophet arrived—he glanced at it casually.

【Never-Before-Seen Invitation System! Hype or Real?】

He read on silently, puzzled when he reached the part about status and prestige.

The invitation system was not nearly so complicated—it simply existed because Fairy Cookies were produced in extremely limited quantities and were always pre-ordered by Alchemists and the Ministry.

On the surface, seventy invitations were issued, but in truth, no one knew how many invitations were actually sent via paper airplanes.

Giving Wizard Sean flexible production time,

That was the true goal.