School time felt heart-breakingly short, and in what seemed like an instant, it was time to leave for the holidays.
As the first-year students lined up behind Hagrid to depart, the few students who chose to stay at school stood by the window, watching them enviously.
But in reality, Wade also envied those students—they could freely spend two weeks at school, practically having the library and Potions classroom to themselves, and being able to ask professors questions at any time, almost like one-on-one tutoring.
Wade sighed. If Fiona hadn't been anticipating his return home for a month, Wade would have truly wanted to stay at school.
Of course, being home felt wonderful too.
After being away for half a year, his parents' accumulated longing and love burst forth the moment they saw him.
Fiona hugged him at least ten times a day and kissed his forehead with boundless affection at random intervals. Ferdinand was a bit more reserved, but he also frequently ruffled his hair and patted his shoulder.
In his months at school, Wade had grown three centimeters taller. Because he spent all day climbing stairs, he would also exercise for ten to thirty minutes after sitting for a long time.
After a period, his body became stronger, and he could even see noticeable abdominal muscles.
But all these positive changes, in Fiona's eyes, translated to just two words: "You're thin."
His mother stroked Wade's face, saying tenderly, "Were you not eating enough at school? Just wait, I'm going to prepare a huge feast for you today!"
She enthusiastically went off to busy herself.
Wade looked in the mirror. The eleven-year-old boy's face still had a lingering hint of baby fat, making him look a bit rounded and rosy-cheeked, with a healthy glow.
Ferdinand sat beside Wade, asking very seriously, "Wade, your letters always brought good news and hid any worries. Now, tell me the truth—did anyone at school make things difficult for you?"
Wade responded just as seriously, "No—that's true. Ravenclaw itself is a non-competitive House; most students there only care about ability, not so much about bloodline, and I'm first in my year in several subjects.Our Head of House, Professor Flitwick, likes me very much, and so does Professor Morrie. He specially sets aside two hours every week to teach me alchemy and even invited me to his private party before the holidays."
"That's good, it sounds like you've met some good teachers," Ferdinand smiled. "Are you happy at school?"
"Of course," Wade smiled. "Very happy."
Before Christmas, Wade sent out all his gifts. Waking up the next morning, he went downstairs and saw the Christmas tree laden with gift boxes.
Fiona walked towards him, hugged his head, and kissed his forehead warmly, saying happily, "Thank you, darling. I love the gift you sent me."
Wade had given her a bottle of beauty potion he had brewed himself, a finished product approved by Professor Snape.
Ferdinand also nodded. "A brilliant magical razor. But does that parchment you put in the gift box have any special use?"
"It's an alchemical creation I completed independently—the Book of Friends," Wade said with a touch of pride.
He took out a self-bound notebook from his pocket. The cover had "Book of Friends" written on it in both English and Chinese.
When opened, the first page had "Family" handwritten at the top of the ruled lines. On the right, in smaller script, was "Name," followed by a line.
Wade took out quills, gave one to each of his parents, and wrote his own name on the right.
"These three Books of Friends are linked. Like this, I write my name, then I write what I want to say here—"
He wrote a line in the blank space below the line: "Merry Christmas."
Fiona gasped softly, as on the parchment in her hands, a line of text also appeared:
[Wade: Merry Christmas.]
"Oh, I see."
Fiona quickly wrote her name in the top right corner, then wrote below: [Merry Christmas, darling.]
The same words appeared on both the father's and son's parchments.
Ferdinand understood. "It's like a forum?"
Home computers had been around for many years, costing only a few hundred pounds, so the Gray family naturally had one, and they were familiar with computers.
"Yes, it's like an internet forum," Wade spread his hands. "Because the medium is just paper, it seems a bit more 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 when I'm at school, you can contact me anytime."
More accurately, the Book of Friends was the magical equivalent of a messaging app. However, at that time, similar apps like MSN Messenger, WhatsApp, QQ, and WeChat had not yet been developed, making Wade's "Book of Friends" seem incredibly advanced.
"I have to say, this is the best Christmas gift I've received this year, Wade," Ferdinand's eyes sparkled. "But even better is that you've truly learned something valuable at Hogwarts—I'm proud of you, son."
Fiona quickly became engrossed in "online chatting," much like most people experiencing communication software for the first time. Even though Wade and Ferdinand were less than two meters away, she communicated entirely through the Book of Friends.
Soon, text began to appear on other pages of Wade's Book of Friends.
The second page was linked to the SSC members.
[Michael: Hello?]
[Padma: Merlin, I really see what you wrote.]
[Hermione: Can you all see what I write too? Oh my goodness, it really appeared! How did you do it? I haven't seen a similar spell in any book!]
[Padma: Don't talk about books, Hermione, today is Christmas, we should be happy.]
[Michael: Wade, I thought you were just starting to learn alchemy! You should have told me earlier that you made something this amazing!]
[Theo: I read the instructions and just figured out how to use it—this is truly incredible! It's the best magical item I've ever seen!]
[Ryan: ...Too stunned to say anything. Just writing a random sentence to prove I saw it.]
[Neville: I accidentally fell off the sofa, and my grandmother thought I received some Dark Arts object and almost confiscated it.]
[Wade: Merry Christmas, everyone.]
His single message seemed to ignite the page, with everyone's messages appearing one after another.
They quickly discovered that the space each line of text could occupy was limited, and each message would disappear after about one or two seconds.
At any given time, a maximum of fifteen lines of text could be displayed on the page. "Online chat" was forcibly speed-limited, preventing situations like "999+ unread messages" from appearing within a few minutes.
Within a few minutes, they quickly learned to send emoji-like pictures without being taught and seemed unable to stop.
Wade flipped further back. The third page was for the house-elves; the house-elves he was closer to had each received a copy. They cautiously tried writing on the parchment, then wrote many words of gratitude to Wade.
Following that were Professor Morrie, Professor Flitwick, Professor Sprout, Professor McGonagall, and Professor Snape.
Except for Snape, who gave a "barely usable" evaluation, and Professor Morrie, who reconfirmed his invitation for two days later, everyone else highly praised his ingenious idea and offered to tutor him during the holidays.