Chapter 47: Gift – Book of Friends

The school term passed heartbreakingly fast, and almost in the blink of an eye, it was time to leave.

As the first-year students lined up behind Hagrid to leave, the few students who chose to stay behind stood by the window, enviously watching them go. 

In truth, Wade also envied these students—they would have two weeks to roam freely around the school, practically having the library and the Potions classroom to themselves, and they could consult professors at any time, almost like receiving one-on-one tutoring.

Wade sighed.

If it weren't for his mom Fiona eagerly anticipating his return for the past month, he would have loved to stay at school as well.

Of course, the thought of going home also felt great.

After being away for nearly half a year, the love and longing his parents had bottled up seemed to burst forth the moment they saw him. 

Fiona hugged him at least ten times a day, occasionally kissing his forehead tenderly. Fred, though more reserved, would pat his shoulder or tousle his hair from time to time.

During the few months at school, Wade had grown three centimeters taller. 

Since he was constantly climbing stairs and occasionally exercised for ten to thirty minutes after sitting for too long, his body had become stronger, even showing the beginnings of noticeable abs.

But to Fiona, all these positive changes amounted to just two words—"too thin."

She said with concern while gently touching Wade's face, "Are you not eating enough at school? Just wait, today I'm going to prepare a huge feast for you!"

With that, she excitedly went off to get busy.

Wade glanced in the mirror—the eleven-year-old boy reflected there still had a slight bit of baby fat on his face, making him look a little round, with a healthy, rosy complexion.

Fred sat next to Wade and asked seriously, "Wade, in your letters, you only ever share the good news and none of the bad. Now tell me the truth—has anyone at school been giving you a hard time?"

Wade replied equally seriously;

"No—honestly. Ravenclaw is a peaceful house, and most of my classmates only care about ability, not bloodline. I'm top of the class in several subjects, and our head of house, Professor Flitwick, likes me a lot. 

There's also Professor Murray, who sets aside two hours every week to teach me alchemy. He also invited me to his private party before the holidays."

"That's good to hear. Sounds like you've found some good teachers," Fred smiled. "Are you happy at school?"

"Of course," Wade smiled back, "very happy."

…

Before Christmas, Wade sent out all his gifts. The next morning, when he came downstairs, he saw the area under the Christmas tree piled high with presents.

Fiona came over, hugged his head, and gave him a firm kiss on the forehead. She said happily, "Thank you, dear. I really love the gift you gave me."

Wade had given her a bottle of beauty potion he brewed himself, a finished product approved by Professor Snape.

Fred also nodded. "The magical razor is great. But is there something special about the parchment you put in the gift box?"

"This is an alchemy project I completed on my own—it's called Book of Friends," Wade said with a bit of pride.

He pulled out a notebook he had bound himself, with the title "Book of Friends" written on the cover. When he opened it, the first page had "Family" written at the top of the first line, with the word "Name" in smaller text on the right, followed by a blank line.

Wade handed each of his parents a quill and then wrote his own name on the right-hand side.

"The three of our ledgers are linked. Like this, I write my name, and then write what I want to say here—"

On the blank line, he wrote: [Merry Christmas.]

Fiona let out a small gasp of surprise as she saw the same words appear on the parchment in her hands:

[Wade: Merry Christmas.]

"Oh, I get it," Fiona quickly wrote her name in the top-right corner and then added a message below:

[Merry Christmas, sweetie.]

The same words appeared on both Fred's and Wade's parchments.

Fred nodded in understanding, "It's like a forum?" (TN: Something like, Bulletin Board Systems (BBS), Usenet (Newsgroups), AOL )

Home computers had been around for many years, costing only a few hundred pounds, and the Grey family had bought one long ago, so they were familiar with the concept.

"Exactly, like an online forum," Wade shrugged. "Since it's just paper, it seems a bit magical. It can't transmit video or sound, so it's not as good as the internet. 

But it's not affected by magical interference, so even if I'm at school, you can contact me at any time."

To be more precise, the Book of Friends is the magical version of iMessage. Given that technologies like iMessage, MSN Messenger, WhatsApp, QQ, and WeChat hadn't been developed yet, Wade's Book of Friends was quite ahead of its time.

"I have to say, this is the best Christmas gift I've received this year, Wade," Fred said with his eyes shining brightly. "But even better is that you've truly learned something at Hogwarts—I'm proud of you, my child."

Fiona quickly became absorbed in "Online chatting," much like most people experiencing communication software for the first time. Even though Wade and Fred were less than two meters away, she used the Book of Friends exclusively to communicate.

Soon, text began to appear on other pages of Wade's Book of Friends.

The second page was linked to SSC members.

[Michael: Hello?]

[Padma: Merlin, I can really see what you wrote.]

[Hermione: Can you see what I wrote too? Oh my, it really appeared! How did you do it? I didn't see any similar spells in the books!]

[Padma: Forget the books, Hermione. It's Christmas, we should be happy.]

[Michael: Wade, I thought you were just starting with alchemy! You should have told me earlier that you created something so amazing!]

[Theo: I just figured out how to use it from the manual—it's really impressive! This is the best magical item I've ever seen!]

[Ryan: …I'm so shocked, I don't even know what to say. Just writing something to prove I can see it too.]

[Neville: I accidentally fell off the couch. My grandma thought I received some dark magic item and almost confiscated it.]

[Wade: Merry Christmas, everyone.]

His message seemed to ignite a flood of responses. 

They soon realized that the space for each line of text was limited, and it would take about one or two seconds for each message to disappear after reading. The page is able to display only about fifteen lines of text at a time. 

This limitation prevented a situation where "999+" unread messages appeared in just a few minutes.

Within minutes, they quickly learned to send emojis and appeared to be unable to stop after that.

Flipping further back, Wade found the third page dedicated to house-elf contacts. Each elf he was close to had received one. They cautiously tested writing on the parchment and repeatedly expressed their gratitude.

Following that were pages for Professor Murray, Professor Flitwick, Professor Sprout, Professor McGonagall, and Professor Snape. 

Except for Snape who gave a "barely acceptable" comment and Murray's reconfirmation of the invitation for a few days later, the others all praised his ingenuity and offered to help with his studies during the break.

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