Chapter 357: The Book of Friends Improvement Plan
Wade hadn’t seen Dumbledore at all during the morning or afternoon. He’d assumed the Headmaster would return to the school before dinner, but when the feast began, the Staff Table remained conspicuously empty.
Wade sent a message through the Book of Friends—no reply came. Unease crept in.
Logically, four vampires shouldn’t pose any real threat to Dumbledore. But what if they did?
Those people held mastery over items capable of forcing a Werewolf’s transformation early. Who knew what other weapons they might have?
For the rest of the evening, Wade remained distracted. It wasn’t until Harry found him that his mind began to settle.
At Saturday breakfast, Harry leaned close, lowering his voice. “Wade, I want to go back to Hogsmeade through the Vanishing Cabinet.”
The cabinet was hidden in the Room of Requirement—Harry knew that.
Wade had stored so many secrets in that room that even if he didn’t use the room himself, at least one House-elf remained inside, performing simple tasks to keep the space “active.” This ensured the room stayed protected and never left unattended.
As a result, the chance of someone accidentally stumbling in was extremely low. Even if someone guessed the correct password, the House-elf would alert Wade immediately.
So far, that had never happened.
Which meant Harry needed to inform Wade first—so the House-elf could be sent out before he entered the hidden room.
“Go back?” Wade asked, surprised. Then realization flickered across his face.
Sure enough, Harry’s voice dropped, tense with worry:
“Remus hasn’t replied to my messages. I asked Sirius Black—they’ve lost contact too.”
“I’m worried… what if something’s happened to him? Could it be Ministry of Magic again? They’ve been after him before.”
“Sirius says he’ll come back eventually, and tells me to stay put at school… but I still want to go check.”
“I’m sorry,” Wade said, his expression guilty. “I know what happened to Remus… but I forgot to tell you.”
It had only been a day and a half since the incident—but Wade had used the Time-Turner multiple times. In his own perception, Remus Lupin’s transformation into a Werewolf had already happened days ago.
He’d been so focused on Dumbledore’s absence that he’d completely forgotten to inform Harry and Sirius.
Harry froze. “…Remus really is in trouble?”
“Kind of,” Wade said, glancing toward the Long Table where students moved back and forth. He whispered, “It’s not the right place to talk. Let’s go outside after breakfast.”
Harry nodded distractedly, grabbing a slice of pie and shoving two bites into his mouth. “I’m done.”
“No, you’re not,” Hermione said sharply from nearby. “Don’t forget—you’ve got Quidditch practice today. Training on an empty stomach won’t do you any good.”
It was Saturday—no need to rush to class. Hermione finally had the chance to enjoy her breakfast in peace. Even so, her backpack was stuffed full, heavy with books.
Harry reluctantly picked the pie back up and chewed a few more bites.
Wade knew he was anxious. He finished his meal quickly, and the two of them left the Great Hall together.
Just as they stepped out, a breathless student came sprinting after them.
“Harry… Harry Potter, sir!” The young student stared at the young Savior with wide-eyed admiration, stammering, “Professor McGonagall wants you in her office—right now.”
“Now?” Harry hesitated. “I’ve got something to do.”
The first-year looked just as flustered. “But… but Professor McGonagall said—”
“Go on, Harry,” Wade said. “Afterward, you can find me in the Library. I’ll be free all day.”
“Fine,” Harry nodded, then followed the student away.
Wade turned toward the Library.
He didn’t actually have any assignments to complete.
Among the twelve classes he took, Transfiguration, Charms, and Defense Against the Dark Arts were all far ahead of his peers. The professors had granted him permission to skip writing assignments altogether.
The other subjects—Arithmancy, for example—were so easy for him that he’d already mastered most of the material. Writing assignments was a breeze.
History of Magic, Divination, and Muggle Studies were the only ones that required actual written work.
If the classrooms weren’t so sparsely populated, he might have skipped them entirely—someone missing would be noticed too quickly.
But to keep his Time-Turner safe, Wade maintained perfect attendance—just like Hermione.
Among his friends, Harry and Neville were baffled by how he managed it. The others, at least, had guessed something was going on.
Recently, Wade had begun experimenting with improving the Book of Friends.
Adding more functions to a single piece of parchment was far more difficult than casting magic on an entire house.
The parchment’s capacity was limited—any mistake could easily destroy it.
Even a small upgrade came with exponentially higher costs. Yet, the price couldn’t rise dramatically, or customers wouldn’t be willing to pay.
Wade didn’t expect the Book of Friends to become as powerful as a modern-day smartphone.
His goal was simple: increase its ability to store messages.
Currently, if a message wasn’t checked in time, it vanished after a while.
Minor group chats disappearing was fine—but important messages vanishing caused real trouble.
Additionally, the alert system needed improvement.
Wade, who disliked chatting, often felt the Book of Friends grow warm during the day—sometimes all day long.
When he opened it, the messages were usually trivial: a House-elf discussing today’s chores, or SSC Members planning Maze strategies or assignment tips.
So when the parchment heated up, he hesitated.
Open it? Risk wasting time on nonsense.
Don’t open it? Risk missing something vital.
He decided to fix this flaw in the group chat alert system.
From now on, messages would be categorized by importance, each with a different kind of alert.
The most urgent messages—life-or-death level—would trigger a shrill, piercing alarm, like a siren.
Finally, Wade planned to add a new feature: Image Teleportation.
Previously, the Book of Friends could only teleport hand-drawn illustrations.
Now, he was preparing a new method: simply place a picture between two pages of parchment, and within seconds, the image would be copied and teleported to the other side.
This feature had been quietly requested by several students.
Not for any grand purpose—just to cheat on assignments during holidays.
They wanted to send their homework via Book of Friends, only to discover that the person who wrote it still had to copy it by hand into the parchment.
That was frustrating.
After thinking it over, Wade decided it wasn’t too complicated.
Plus, it could be useful later for sending photos to parents.
So he added it to his plan.
(End of Chapter)
Chapter end
Report
