Although Steven was eager to go write the letter, and Vid assured him he'd be fine on his own, Steven still refused to shirk his duties and run off.
He discussed the wording of the letter with Vid for a while, then started talking about the magical creatures he was raising.
Though Professor Morry didn't agree to let him travel to those dangerous places where magical creatures live, he didn't totally shut down Steven's dreams, either. After graduating from Hogwarts, Steven got himself a farm, and over the years he's raised lots of "little cuties."
Vid knew that Hagrid over at Hogwarts liked raising all sorts of dangerous creatures — fire dragons and such — calling them "adorable little animals." He originally thought Steven was the same, but after digging deeper, realized Steven kept actual cute and mostly harmless magical creatures, like Diricawl, Silence Bird, Puffskein, Little Fairy, Crup and the like. The most dangerous was an Occamy, which could change its size at will, becoming as huge as a dragon, but only ate insects, birds, and mice.
"I've always wanted to raise a Granian," Steven said. "Do you know it? It's a kind of Pegasus. Granians can fly, they're faster than the wind when running. But apart from the mythical Siegfried, no one's ever tamed a Granian."
"Is it really hard to tame these Pegasi?"
"They're very dashing animals, longing for freedom, and not at all keen on being tied down."
As he spoke, Steven talked about other Pegasi — the Thestrals at Hogwarts, Divine Talisman Horses at Beauxbatons, and Yseron, the fire-breathing Pegasus.
Some wizards looked down on all magical creatures outside wizardkind, viewing them as lesser beings. But Steven was obsessed; he knew all the species as if reciting a litany, and Vid felt like he'd already learned a ton just chatting with him.
Suddenly, the arrival of someone interrupted their conversation.
It was a blond wizard who'd stood by the little stone terrace earlier, looking jaded and frustrated, who walked up and greeted Steven, then looked at Vid, forcing a smile: "Mr. Greg, I'm sorry we didn't get a chance to work together this time. I hope next time you have a new piece, you'll contact me, and I'll certainly offer a price you'll be satisfied with."
He handed over a business card, showing his name and contact address.
Steven raised his eyebrow, losing his smile. His usually honest and gentle expression suddenly looked a bit frosty.
Vid took the card with a smile, saying, "Hope we get that chance in the future."
The blond wizard relaxed a bit and hurried off.
"You're not seriously going to work with him, are you? He called you by the wrong surname," Steven said, not too happily.
"Yeah, he got it wrong." Vid tucked away the card, "But it doesn't matter, since I didn't plan on remembering his name either."
The blond wizard seemed to have flipped some kind of switch, as two more wizards came over to say their farewells, each giving Vid their business card and saying much the same thing.
This time, at least, they finally remembered Vid's full name.
Once they'd gone, Steven quietly introduced them to Vid.
"—Don't work with Bolton. He seems easygoing, but he's cunning and ruthless, always fiddling with the contracts. He just doesn't dare mess with my father."
In other words, Vid would easily get taken for a ride dealing with him.
A wizard with a center part and a circle of beard came to say goodbye, a conspicuous black staff in his hand.
"Mr. Gray, I really admire your talent, but unfortunately Professor Morry and I have major differences on the price — hope we can stay in touch and maybe, in the future, there'll be new opportunities."
"Of course, thank you for your time and effort." Vid said, taking the business card.
[Cyrus Sharp] — that was the wizard's name.
"Sharp's quite a capable guy; always able to get his hands on stuff that's hard to come by, even lots of contraband. I've heard he's been in Azkaban three times in his youth — My father doesn't like him much, but sometimes still buys things from him." Steven explained afterward.
"You can get out of Azkaban after being sent there?" Vid was surprised. In his mind, Azkaban was a lonely island in the middle of the ocean, a prison where you went in and never came out.
Steven misunderstood Vid's meaning, and explained: "Yeah, because he's cunning, good at hiding his crimes, and each time his sentence didn't last more than six months."
"Oh — mmm — so that's how it is."
Vid realized he'd made a fool of himself — the films only showed Death Eaters sentenced for life, but it didn't mean Azkaban only had lifetime prisoners.
The wizards gradually all left, with only Machioni finally emerging from the stone terrace, striding and loudly "complaining": "Dear Professor Morry, I was once your student, but now I feel I never got any of your special favor at all — Of course, I'm not really complaining, just want to say, even though I've left school, I'll always respect your decisions and hope you'd share a little bit of your care and attention my way."
He pinched his thumb and forefinger to show a gap smaller than a hair, emphasizing just how humble his request was.
"Come on, when have you ever gotten the short end of the stick?" Professor Morry grumbled.
And for real, even when Machioni was whining, he couldn't help the corners of his mouth from twitching upward, his expression full of smug delight. He strolled sprightly over to Vid, took off his hat and bowed, grinning from ear to ear: "Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Vid Gray! Allow me to introduce myself — I am Marco Marchioni, dealer of all kinds of magic items. I believe today's meeting is pure luck, and I look forward to forging a deep friendship with you, bringing the Wizarding World more positive changes, or say, earning more money!"
"—Uh, hi?" Vid was startled by his over-the-top gestures, and instinctively looked at Professor Morry.
Professor Morry nodded, going straight to the point: "Machioni is willing to pay fifty thousand Galleons for the technology authorization of the Friendship Book. Also, for every Galleon he earns in future using the Friendship Book, he'll pay you 3 Sickles."
Machioni's dazzling smile instantly wobbled a bit — clearly, while the price would still let him make plenty, realizing he'd have to pay so much when maybe he could've paid less stung him with heartache and disappointment.
So he kept muttering, complaining that Professor Morry spoiled Vid too much, as if he were carving meat from the bones of his poor business rival.
Professor Morry ignored it, as if Machioni's voice was no more than a buzzing fly. He quickly drew up a contract, and as witness, prompted Machioni and Vid to seal the deal.
The benefit of the Magic World is, you never have to worry your business partners will break their word, because the price of violating a magical contract is usually worse than death.