Chapter 22: Eye of Demiguise and Sigil of Invisibility
Flourish and Blotts, Diagon Alley
Ronald Bilius Weasley
July 15, 1989, Saturday
Ron placed the Eye of Demiguise on the counter and then began to explain.
"This item is called the Eye of Demiguise. It makes invisible objects and wizards and witches visible again within a 20-meter diameter," Ron said.
"Does it work on wizards and witches, too?" Mr. Flourish asked in surprise, then picked up the item from the counter and began examining it.
"Yes, but if the wizard or witch is powerful enough, they can counter the Eye of Demiguise's power with a strong spell. This also applies to objects with powerful spells," Ron said.
"What do I need to do to use it? You activated it by saying something, right?" Mr. Flourish asked.
"To activate it, you just need to say, 'Show me what I cannot see,' and to deactivate it, you just need to say, 'I have seen what I needed to see,' Mr. Flourish," Ron explained.
"Show me what I cannot see," said Mr. Flourish, then Eye of Demiguise activated, and The Invisible Book of Invisibility, which had been still on the counter, reappeared.
But Mr. Flourish wasn't satisfied with that, so after placing the Eye of Demiguise on the counter, he touched his head with his wand and vanished for a moment, only to reappear the next.
This time, however, he was glowing, just like The Invisible Book of Invisibility.
Ron realized he had been using the Disillusionment Charm to test the effects of the Eye of Demiguise on wizards and witches.
Mr. Flourish stared in astonishment at his glowing hands, muttering to himself, "It really does work on wizards and witches."
Then, Mr. Flourish must have broken the Disillusionment Charm because the glow on him disappeared. Ron could now see him grinning happily.
But Ron would soon wipe that smile from his face. "Mr. Flourish, I'll show you the other item of mine now. I'm sure you'll love that one too," he said.
"Of course. Of course. You can show me whatever you want," said Mr. Flourish, holding the Eye of Demiguise in his hand without looking at him.
Ron then pulled his keychain-sized chest from his belt, placed it on the ground, and resized it back to its original size. Mr. Flourish was so engrossed in his own world that he didn't even notice the expanding chest on the ground.
On the other hand, shrinking and engorgement charms were quite normal for wizards and witches, and trunks were usually the most common targets of these spells. So, seeing a shrinking and growing trunk was normal for them, even though Ron's wasn't a trunk but was a chest.
Ron quickly opened his chest and found what he was looking for. What he found was actually a small wooden box. But what was really important was what was inside the box.
Ron closed the lid of his chest and carried the box to the counter, placing it on top. Then he opened the box. Inside the box were neatly stacked papers with rune designs.
The papers weren't very large; each was a square measuring 5 centimeters on a side.
Ron picked up the top paper from the box, placed it on the counter, and pushed it towards Mr. Flourish.
When Mr. Flourish saw Ron pushing a piece of paper towards him, he emerged from his reverie, looked at Ron, and said, "Young Weasley, what is this?"
"It's the item I just told you about. I call it the Sigil of Invisibility. This sigil makes an object visible or invisible at the user's discretion. I originally designed it to make items invisible, but it will also work the other way around. You can easily sell the Invisible Books of Invisibility with them, right?" Ron said.
"What do you mean by saying 'I can easily sell them'? I already have the Eye of Demiguise. I can easily find and sell them now," Mr. Flourish said.
"But won't The Invisible Book of Invisibility become invisible again once it leaves the Eye of Demiguise's effective area? Would people buy a book they can't see or read?" Ron asked innocently.
And at that moment, Mr. Flourish froze. He looked first at the Eye of Demiguise in his hand, then at the paper on the counter that Ron had pushed towards him.
He had just thought he had made the most profitable deal of his life.
'But why do I feel cheated now?' he thought.
Ron's next words left him utterly bewildered. "Normally, I would sell one of these for 5 sickles, but I promised you a discount, so I'll sell you the ones you buy now for 3 sickles each. What do you say?"
'What do I say? What do I say?!! I want to say you're one of the most ruthless merchants I've ever met,' Mr. Flourish thought.
But he didn't voice his thoughts because he knew that if he wanted to sell those damn books, he'd have to buy the items Ron had placed before him.
And frankly, Ron's asking price wasn't that high. After a little haggling, he could buy them, sell those damn books, and finally move on. At least he'd made a profit, albeit a late one, and his investment wouldn't have been lost among the bookshelves.
Mr. Flourish was about to open his mouth to haggle with Ron when Ron's next words shattered everything he'd been thinking.
"But I only have 100 right now. If you want to order the remaining 100, those orders will be at the normal price. And that includes any future orders you place for the new Invisible Books of Invisibility."
"New Invisible Books of Invisibility'? Why would I order more of these troublesome books?" said Mr. Flourish in astonishment.
"Hmm? But now you have a way to display them in your shop and make them visible. And thanks to the Sigil of Invisibility, those who buy the book can read it easily. Doesn't that make you the sole seller of this book? Besides, since the book can be made invisible and visible at will, I think it will also attract collectors," said Ron.
Before Ron could finish his sentence, Mr. Flourish felt like he was struck by lightning, and then the gears in his brain started turning.
The publishing house that printed The Invisible Book of Invisibility hadn't sold it only to him. It had been released in Magical Britain and many other countries, but due to the well-known problems, everyone was left with unsold copies.
Furthermore, the stores that had bought the books couldn't even return them because they couldn't find many of them.
If he became the sole seller of these books in Magical Britain—no, cross that out—the whole world, it wouldn't just bring in huge profits, it would also add prestige to the names of Flourish and Blotts.
These thoughts flashed through Mr. Flourish's mind at lightning speed, a smile appearing on his face, and he turned to Ron, saying, "Young Weasley, why don't you show me how this sigil works?"
"Okay," Ron said normally, as if he didn't know exactly what was going through Mr. Flourish's mind.
Ron took the sigil of invisibility paper and opened the cover of his own The Invisible Book of Invisibility, which was on the counter as well.
Since Mr. Flourish hadn't yet deactivated the Eye of Demiguise, the book was still visible.
After placing the Sigil of Invisibility on the inside of the book's cover, Ron said, "Signo," and then the paper sank into the book's cover, leaving only the red sigil imprinted on the cover.
Just below the sigil were the initials R.B.W.
Ron hadn't yet decided on names for his business, shop, or brand, but that didn't mean he couldn't put his own signature on his products. Therefore, the sigil bore his initials as his signature.
"Once this sigil is imprinted on an object, it cannot be removed. To imprint the sigil on the object, you must say 'Signo' while touching the sigil," Ron explained.
Then, closing the book's cover, he picked it up and said to Mr. Flourish, "Mr. Flourish, could you please deactivate the Eye of Demiguise? Otherwise, I cannot reveal the sigil's effects."
Mr. Flourish immediately understood and deactivated the Eye of Demiguise.
With the Eye of Demiguise deactivated, the book in Ron's hand became invisible again. But then he said, "Become visible to me," and The Invisible Book of Invisibility became visible again. However, this time it didn't glow as it did under the effect of Eye of Demiguise before.
When he said, "Become invisible to me," the book became invisible again.
"With these two sentences, objects imprinted with the sigil can be made visible and invisible, provided they are touched," Ron said. Then he made the book visible again and placed it on the counter.
When he turned back and looked at Mr. Flourish again, Ron saw that his smile almost split his face in two.
"Young Weasley. This item would be very useful to me, but if we're going to have a long-term partnership, we need to discuss the price," said Mr. Flourish.
Then Ron and Mr. Flourish resumed negotiations and finally agreed on a price of 1 sickle for the remaining 99 Sigils of Invisibility and an additional 100.
These Sigils of Invisibility would allow Mr. Flourish to sell the books he currently possesses.
But, if Mr. Flourish placed any more orders, the first 1000 would cost 3 sickles per Sigil of Invisibility, and after 1000 orders, the price would drop to 2 sickles.
Following their agreement, Mr. Flourish immediately paid Ron 199 sickles in the form of 5 galleons and 12 sickles for the 99 ready-made sigils and the additional 100 he had ordered.
Ron had earned 21 galleons and 12 sickles from his first business, in addition to the books he got for free, and he thought he'd done pretty well for the first time. Moreover, he'd opened up a potentially lucrative business opportunity.
But whether that would be possible depended on whether Mr. Flourish could convince the publishing house to print more copies of The Invisible Book of Invisibility.
For now, all Ron needed to do was deliver the order for 100 Sigils of Invisibility within a week. But since those hundred sigils were already in his inventory, it wasn't even a problem.
Then, after Ron collected the payment for the sigils and put it in his pocket, he opened the lid of his chest again and levitated the books on the counter into it.
Meanwhile, Mr. Flourish felt something strange about the scene, but he couldn't quite figure out what it was. For some reason, the scene both felt very wrong and very right to him.
End of Chapter 22.
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Ch.23: Hidden Achievements
Ch.24: The Value of a Galleon
Ch.25: Are You Using NDAs Here?