After being led out of Knockturn Alley and into Diagon Alley by Hagrid, Harry finally ran into Hermione, who was also there to buy supplies for the new term. Seeing that Harry's glasses were broken again, Hermione used the "Repairing Charm" (Oculus Reparo) to fix them, just as she had in the first film.
At this point, Wayne paused the story. Although Diagon Alley remained bustling with people, the plot would no longer advance while paused.
He walked into the nearest magic shop and threw a stone at the glass display case. With a loud crash, glass shattered all over the floor.
Of course, this was all virtual. Once the story resumed, everything would be restored instantly.
He picked up a wand from the counter and pointed it at the shattered window, chanting the "Repairing Charm." Immediately, as if time were reversing, the shards of glass on the ground flew back up, returning to the window frame piece by piece and knitting together. The cracks slowly vanished until it looked as if nothing had ever happened.
Tess jumped up, looking back and forth between the screen and Wayne. "Boss! You're... you're amazing!"
Wayne hadn't expected to succeed on his first try. He picked up the stone again, this time smashing the magic shop's counter into splinters, and cast the charm once more.
Just like the glass window, the fragments of the counter returned to their original positions, the cracks sealed, and everything was as good as new.
"Boss, are you practicing?" Tess asked again.
Wayne nodded, but his attention was entirely on the movie, so he didn't pay much heed to her.
Suddenly, a clink-clink sound rang out. At first, Wayne was confused, thinking it was a sound effect from the shop.
He immediately took off his goggles and saw Tess running in from outside, holding two stones in her hands.
"Boss, let me smash the windows of the net cafe so you can practice your magic!"
As she spoke, she raised a stone in her right hand, ready to throw!
Wayne didn't even have time to stand up; he reached out and grabbed her arm. "Holy crap! You're a counter girl, not a counter-smasher! Stop!"
Tess scratched her head. "But don't you want to practice magic?"
Wayne rolled off his chair and crouched on the floor. "That's a movie. Just like the game we played this afternoon, it's all fake. It's like the stories in those picture books you read."
Tess blinked. "Picture books?"
Wayne: "You know, books for kids. Fairy tales and things like that... Grimm's Fairy Tales, Hans Christian Andersen, Aesop's Fables... Dammit, you wouldn't know them anyway... Didn't your parents ever tell you stories?"
At the mention of her parents, Tess couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness. Her lip curled, and tears began to well up in her eyes. "If they didn't, they didn't. It's not like it's a big deal if they had... sniff..."
Oh, boy... Seeing her on the verge of tears, Wayne quickly grabbed a handful of the popcorn he had just bought. He looked at Tess and simply handed her the entire large bag, keeping only the handful he already had.
Tess held back her tears and said stubbornly, "Boss, didn't you say snacks shouldn't be shared?"
Wayne quickly ushered her into a seat. "That's for customers. You're not a customer. Close the door, and let's keep watching."
After a bit of comforting, the two continued watching the movie while munching on popcorn.
Harry and his classmates encountered the Malfoys again in Diagon Alley. Lucius Malfoy, Draco's father, bumped into them inside Flourish and Blotts. In a seemingly casual gesture, Lucius took a book from Ginny's cauldron and inspected it.
Then, after a few insulting remarks, he returned the book he had snatched from Ginny's bag.
"Boss! That's wrong!"
Tess immediately shouted, "He only took one book out, but he put two back in!"
Wayne looked at Tess, who was shouting while chewing popcorn, and couldn't help but feel impressed. He thought to himself: This girl is only twelve, yet she has such powers of observation. Back when this movie first came out in theaters, how many people noticed that detail on the first watch?
Following her lead, he asked, "You're watching very closely. Tell me, why do you think this father and son are bad people?"
Tess said without hesitation, "They do bad things in secret while acting close to Harry on the surface. They're obviously villains!"
It was a textbook answer, and exactly what Wayne wanted to hear.
He continued, "So, Draco becoming a bad person is, to some extent, because he listens to his father, Lucius. A bad adult raises a bad child."
He took off his goggles and looked at Tess. "Have you ever been taught to do bad things by an adult?"
Tess shook her head without any hesitation. "No. Tess is a very good person. And Tess found a good adult boss. If a good adult boss doesn't let Tess do bad things, Tess definitely won't do them."
Wayne couldn't see any sign of deception, but he found himself getting confused again.
If this was an act, then this twelve-year-old girl was terrifyingly talented. If it wasn't an act, then a twelve-year-old having such quick reactions, conversational skills, and observation powers was also quite a frightening thought in its own way...
They watched for a while longer, seeing Harry fly the magical car back to Hogwarts, before Wayne let out a yawn. He turned off the goggles and the screen and headed to his room to sleep.
Before leaving, he told Tess that from now on, he would leave the bell active when he left the net cafe. That way, if anyone entered or left in the middle of the night, he would hear it and come over immediately. He also told her that once she finished her evening preparations, she shouldn't leave the net cafe until the next day when old Andrew and the others arrived at the blacksmith shop.
Tess nodded repeatedly, promising to follow his instructions to the letter.
Back in his bedroom, Wayne confirmed there was no movement around him, locked the door, and slipped into the cellar to research what rewards would be unlocked for clearing Monster Hunter.
The next day, near noon, four people stood outside the net cafe in two pairs, facing each other with about ten meters between them. They looked as if they couldn't stand the sight of one another.
Tess, sitting on the steps of the net cafe and boredly watching the passersby while chatting with old Andrew who was smoking outside the blacksmith shop, watched them curiously. She didn't know what the relationship between these four people was.
But in each pair, there was one person she recognized.
On one side was old Marlin, standing next to a man wearing Archmage robes identical to his own. The normally stubborn and aggressive Marlin treated this man with great respect.
Although the man's attire was similar to Marlin's, there were two distinct differences.
One was his thick hair. His grey hair was not only lush but also featured a long, drooping lock of bangs that covered the outer side of his right eye. Furthermore, he had a full beard that covered his cheeks and chin completely—a sharp contrast to the balding Marlin.
The other difference was the staff. At the top of this man's staff was a massive green magical crystal that emitted a faint, eerie glow, flickering weakly even under the bright midday sun.
On the other side was Raymond, accompanying a man in bright red robes.
Compared to the man with Marlin, the man in red also had thick brown hair, though he lacked that distinctive lock of bangs.
Raymond's attitude toward him wasn't just respectful; it was downright fawning.
From the looks on their faces, it was clear they all knew each other, yet they were deliberately maintaining expressions as if they hadn't seen the other party at all.
The Archmage with the bangs next to Marlin looked at the wooden sign at the entrance of the net cafe. "How interesting."
As if hearing his words, the man in red next to Raymond asked Raymond in a questioning tone, "Is this where you've been spending all your time lately? Aren't the words on this board absurd?"
"If you want to play, you have to pay 5 gold first, plus another 1 gold for every hour of play. It even says, 'No refunds once paid.' Aside from those self-important mages, I doubt there's a shop owner more conceited than the one here."