Chapter 176: L.C.A Publishing
Chapter 176: L.C.A Publishing
The next morning at 9:30, 126a Diagon Alley.
At the entrance of a low, white building, Felix smiled and shook hands with a woman in a purple dress.
"No need to see me out, Madam. It's a pleasure to continue our collaboration."
"Oh, Mr. Heap, you're too modest. Your books are always so inspiring."
Felix descended the dark brown wooden steps and merged into the bustling crowd, feeling a sense of relief. 'The first book is settled, and it hardly took any effort.'
'But the real challenge is yet to come.'
He walked along Diagon Alley, turned at Gringotts Bank, and continued down a side alley, counting the house numbers.
"13a, 14b, 15a... So, 15b should be across the street." Felix turned around and saw a seven-story building.
The building was dirty and neglected, with letters falling off the sign. He could barely make out the letter 'L,' which cast a shadow over his upcoming collaboration.
Between the building and the adjacent house, a row of large trash bins stood, with the letters 'L.C.A.' still visible.
He followed the dark staircase to the second floor and pushed open a heavily scratched oak door, only to be greeted by a cacophony of noise.
It seemed he had entered another world. The walls were covered with densely packed, colorful comic strips, completely concealing the walls themselves.
The main character in most of these drawings was a boy wearing a beret and a striped shirt, active in various scenes: being chased by a group of Bowtruckles, waving a small stick, riding a unicorn rhinoceros, and standing on a cottage roof in a Wizard's cloak...
However, Felix could see that these drawings were quite old. Some of the colors had faded, and a few in the corners were covered in purple mold.
All of this suggested that the publishing house had once been prosperous but was now in a state of decline.
"Is anyone here? Mr. Andis?" Felix called out.
After a while, a door pushed open from the side, hidden behind layers of drawings. Felix hadn't noticed it until now.
A thin, middle-aged wizard stared at him with a scruffy beard, his voice heavy with a nasal tone. "Felix Hep?"
"It's me. I assume you're Mr. Andis? We had an appointment."
The wizard let go of the doorknob. "Come in, it's a bit messy inside." He retreated on his own.
Felix frowned slightly but said nothing, following the wizard into the room. The air was filled with an unpleasant smell, and various items were scattered about. He even saw a few plates of leftover food in the corner.
This made his skin crawl, and he instinctively wanted to Apparate away.
The only thing that provided some comfort was the fresh paint and canvases in this makeshift studio, with a half-finished drawing that was quite impressive.
He decided to delve deeper, but only if the room met his standards.
"Scouring Charm! Scouring Charm! Whirlwind Sweep!"
Felix waved his wand repeatedly, clearing the room of all the garbage. A sudden gust of wind raged through the small space, causing the windows to rattle and the furniture to shake. Dust and dirt were quickly stripped away and swept into a cloud of murky air.
He pushed open the window, and a silver Swift flew out from the tip of his wand. "Do me a favor. I remember seeing a trash bin when I came in." The Swift nodded and flew out the window, followed by a gray trail.
"You, you..." The wizard named Andis stared at Felix, tongue-tied.
"Please sit, Mr. Andis." Felix waved his wand, pushing a cleaned chair in front of him.
Andis sat down, looking around in a daze. After a moment, he muttered, "This seems to be my home?" He then blushed and angrily shouted.
Felix sat across from him, maintaining a calm expression. "Mr. Andis, let's get to the point. Since you agreed to this visit, I assume you are interested in external submissions."
"As your potential collaborator, I have the right to make demands until you explicitly refuse."
"You..."
Felix tapped his ring with his wand, and a stack of drawings flew out. "These are my submissions, Young Wizards. I mentioned them in my letter. You can take a look, and then you can decide if we should continue this conversation. I don't want to waste either of our time."
The wizard clutched the drawings, looking at Felix with a puzzled expression.
"What are you waiting for?"
The wizard swallowed and chuckled nervously. "N-nothing."
He quickly lowered his head and began to read, mentally labeling Felix as a strong-willed wizard.
Wizard decided to point out a few flaws and quickly send him on his way. If Andis was unsatisfied, he would just run to the street and seek help...
As time passed, Andis's initial casualness turned into genuine interest. He occasionally offered various comments.
"Not bad."
"Interesting."
"What's this? A... Ferris... wheel? What makes it rotate? It's really not magic?"
"Good heavens, two cups of water mixed together turn red? I guess it's the effect of some transparent potion."
At some point, he pulled his chair next to Felix and began discussing the manuscript.
"I like this part; I think it's quite clever—"
Felix looked over, and it was a scene where young wizard Mick and his newly acquainted Muggle friend were shopping for clothes:
"How should I say it?" young wizard Mick asked, looking at the array of clothes in the store, his heart pounding. "I have no idea; I'm just a country bumpkin."
"Don't worry, I don't understand either, but my mom taught me a trick", his friend said.
Young wizard Mick watched as his companion confidently told the clerk, "My friend here has a budget of only 15 pounds, but he needs a shirt, a pair of trousers, and preferably a bow tie. Can you manage that, ma'am?"
The young clerk smiled and said, "Of course, young gentleman." She glanced at young wizard Mick's build and turned to fetch suitable clothes.
His companion smiled at young wizard Mick, "See, it's not that hard, is it?"
...
After about half an hour, Felix asked, "What do you think?"
Andis's expression became shrewd as he quickly assessed the manuscript's value. After about eight minutes, he hesitated and said, "To be honest, I'm not entirely sure."
He added, "Personally, I find this a rather interesting children's comic, but I'm not entirely confident in my judgment. As you can see, this publishing house has had its glory days, but since I took over, we've had over a dozen failures. In the end, we had to release a 30th-anniversary edition of an old book."
"Mr. Andis, I haven't asked you, what do the letters L.C.A stand for?" Felix inquired.
"They are the initials of the three founders. The 'A' stands for Andis, my grandfather and his two close friends", the wizard explained.
"What about your company's most famous work, Adventures of Martin Miggs...?"
"That was my grandfather's idea, based on his own experiences. When he was a child, he once hosted a Muggle boy who accidentally entered the magical world. They had a week of fun before the Ministry of Magic's staff erased the boy's memory and sent him back home."
Felix nodded in understanding. He pulled out several parchments from his ring, filled with various tables and data. The parchments floated and stuck to the wall.
"Mr. Andis, I can't guarantee that this manuscript will save your publishing house, but we can analyze the data. Since your company's founding, you've published seventeen comic series, with Adventures of Martin Miggs being the most famous. I have some data from a friend at the Ministry of Magic, and it clearly shows that more novel content is more popular..."
"Moreover, this manuscript, aimed at children, doesn't come across as too young or childish. It's friendly even for adults. If you're willing, we can collaborate."
Andis didn't have many options. Unless he wanted to keep living off the leftovers from thirty years ago.
So, when Felix gave him a plausible reason, he naturally agreed. Their initial plan was conservative: publish a hundred copies to test the waters. Even if it failed, it wouldn't be a significant loss.
At worst, Andis would have wasted a bit of time, which he had plenty of.
After finalizing the collaboration, Andis demonstrated his ancestral skills. He modified one of Felix's drawings, tapping it with his wand, and soon the entire page was filled with vibrant colors, making the drawing look more refined.
In the picture, a young boy stood on a giant Ferris wheel, tiptoeing to peek through a window at the ground below. Next to him, a half-eaten vanilla ice cream floated in mid-air.
Half an hour later, Felix left the L.C.A building, feeling very pleased.
He planned to return to his office via the public Floo Network in Diagon Alley, saving him the trouble of Apparating to the edge of the Forbidden Forest and walking a distance. But just then—
"Professor Hup?"
Felix turned around and saw a familiar figure in the crowd. He said in surprise, "Potter?"
(End of Chapter)
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