A knock came from outside his room.
"Come in."
Ian didn't even have to turn around—just from the footsteps and his ability to sense emotional signatures, he already knew who it was: the disheveled, drifter-looking werewolf, Lupin.
"So, you finally changed your mind?" Ian raised an eyebrow and turned to look at Lupin.
"No. I absolutely will not drink any liquid you hand me, nor will I eat any food you offer," Lupin replied, still extremely cautious and wary.
Considering how, after breakfast, Lupin would rather bankrupt himself buying Wolfsbane Potion in Diagon Alley than let Ian refine one for him, it was clear he truly feared being turned into some kind of test subject for a sewer monster experiment.
"Then how about just one vial of your blood?" Ian still persisted, undeterred.
Lupin pretended not to hear.
"What are you working on?" He looked at Ian's desk and awkwardly changed the subject.
"Obviously, a revolutionary masterpiece." Ian held up the nearly assembled device and pressed the shutter button in Lupin's direction.
The sudden flash startled Lupin. Once he recovered, he quickly patted himself all over, checking that he hadn't lost any limbs or been hit by a soul attack. Only then did he let out a breath of relief.
Clearly, this guy's suspicion of Ian was getting worse by the day.
"A… camera?"
He looked at the boxy device in Ian's hands. If not for the photo sliding out from the bottom, he might've thought it was an urn.
"Yes. Though it's just a prototype, the exterior design's not finished yet." Ian defended his artistic taste and waved the printed photo in his hand.
"A magic Polaroid! Just pour in my custom-made potion and you get animated photos right out of the camera. No need to develop film or deal with that mess." Ian gave an enthusiastic introduction of his invention and then looked at Lupin with expectant eyes.
"This kind of camera will definitely have a market. If it were you, how much would you be willing to pay for it?" Ian's original intention was to conduct a bit of market research.
However—
As soon as he asked the question, he realized he had picked the wrong person.
"I'd rather save up my money than buy this flashy nonsense." Lupin gave an honest answer, clearly after thinking it through.
"Useless? Flashy? Ha! Do you have any idea how advanced this is? How ahead of its time?" Ian waved the photo he had taken of Lupin in front of him.
"I even added a beautification feature! Look how melancholy and handsome you look in this shot! Every witch will go berserk over you thanks to my creative genius!"
Ian's voice was filled with confidence.
Wizards are still people.
Who wouldn't want to see a better-looking version of themselves?
"Beautify?" Lupin looked at the photo Ian handed him with a bit of surprise. If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he really wouldn't have believed that the person in the picture was himself.
At that moment, it was as if he had gained sudden insight into a whole new concept.
"Now you get how amazing it is, right?" Ian grinned and snatched the photo back from Lupin's hands.
"Wasn't that a gift for me?" Lupin looked regretful as Ian stuffed the photo into his robes.
"One photo sheet costs a silver Sickel." Ian couldn't even be bothered to shrug, he knew there wasn't a single Knut to squeeze out of Lupin, this adult wizard.
"It's just a piece of paper. Even with your potion, the cost shouldn't be that high," Lupin said, somewhat astonished. To him, a silver Sickel was already a sizable sum.
"The exact cost is confidential, but if you think the price is steep, that's not my problem. This stuff costs way more to make than things like eyebrow pencils."
Ian replied with full seriousness.
Lupin didn't quite understand the last part of what the little wizard said.
But—
After a brief silence, he finally asked: "Why are you so obsessed with making money?"
That was something Lupin had never understood. In his eyes, Ian already seemed to have plenty of wealth, and students at Hogwarts didn't exactly need to spend much anyway.
"Take a guess." Ian didn't give a direct answer.
"I'm guessing you want to be crucified." Lupin replied with equal seriousness. After years of wandering, he was quite familiar with how Muggles dealt with greedy capitalists.
"…"
Ian didn't expect Lupin to clap back like that.
"Your Wolfsbane Potion must be from Knockturn Alley. I can smell the ocean from it through your clothes and the bottle cap," Ian retorted, refusing to back down.
He chose to strike with the sharp blade of truth.
"?????"
Lupin was momentarily stunned. Then, as if realizing something, he frantically pulled out the bottle of Wolfsbane Potion. The way he carefully opened the cap to inspect it was full of panic.
"You mean... they diluted it?"
He voiced his suspicion, clearly unsure. Lupin's skills in potion-making weren't bad, and from his own testing, he hadn't detected any problems.
"Of course not," Ian replied.
Just as Lupin was about to breathe a sigh of relief—
"It's that the scammer put a little Wolfsbane Potion into the water," Ian corrected Lupin's phrasing.
"…"
Lupin looked like he'd just been struck by lightning. His expression was one of utter devastation, as if he'd lost someone dear to him.
"Looks like I'm still too naïve, nowhere near as bold as those swindlers." Ian sighed and took the bottle of colored "medicine water" from Lupin's trembling hands.
"I need to go back and find them!"
Once he snapped out of it, Lupin's face was full of fury. Snatching the potion back, he turned to leave, gnashing his teeth, clearly ready to go settle the score with the wizard who sold him the fake stuff.
"If I were them, I'd have already run off by now."
Ian's words sent Lupin right back into a state of hopeless despair.
"Oh, right. Did you come looking for me because you wanted me to appraise your Wolfsbane Potion?" Ian was still curious why Lupin had shown up in the first place.
"Of course not." Lupin sighed, still clearly shaken.
"It's a letter for you, delivered by owl..." As he spoke, he pulled out an exquisitely crafted envelope, adorned with gold trim.
From the looks of it—
Lupin had probably tried to peel off those gold-lined edges but failed.
Maybe it was the odd look Ian gave him, but the embarrassed and down-on-his-luck werewolf quickly tried to change the subject:
"You have good relations with pure-blood families?"
His words made Ian freeze for a moment.
Then—
As if he suddenly remembered something, Ian immediately took the envelope from Lupin's hand.
"Ha ha ha ha! No! This moment calls for the phrase: 'Elder Sister, Elder Sister!' to express my feelings!"
Ian saw the sender's name and the wording on the envelope. Without hesitation, he tossed aside the half-finished magical camera in his hand and let out a laugh that left Lupin feeling utterly confused.
Perhaps dissatisfied with how it sounded, Ian even whistled to call back the black Phoenix, grabbed it by the throat, and made it laugh in his place.
"Keh keh keh keh keh~"
Now that sounded proper.
It fully captured Ian's current mood.
"What's wrong with you?"
Lupin couldn't understand why this little wizard's grin was practically stretching to the back of his head.
"I've obviously just ascended the social ladder."
Ian knew—
His compensation had arrived. He immediately tore open the envelope, ignored the lengthy letter inside, and shook the envelope hard over his desk.
"Clatter clatter, clatter clatter~"
To be honest—
Even though Ian had been mentally prepared, the avalanche of keys that fell out still gave him a jolt. Dozens of keys clattered down, each one marked with a specific address.
"Are these Gringotts vault keys?" Lupin leaned in, stunned.
"No!" Ian reached back into the envelope and fished out a thick stack of deeds that had been stuck inside. Like a nouveau riche showing off, he slapped them dramatically down in front of Lupin.
"These are keys to Diagon Alley."
That's right.
Ian had just been compensated with an entire street in Diagon Alley.
Or perhaps more accurately… it was a goodwill offering.
(End of Chapter)
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