Harry Potter and the Candy Factory

“Master Charlie, are you awake?”

Fawkes' temper came and went quickly. After finishing the salt-baked rat jerky, she returned to her original state, curled into a ball in her special spot, and leisurely began her nap.

Just as Charlie put down the letter and was wondering why Headmaster Dumbledore had called him over, Russell's voice suddenly rang out from outside the door.

“I'm awake.”

Charlie stopped thinking, subconsciously looked up towards the door, and then replied.

The next moment, the door opened, and Russell rushed in excitedly with a stack of unknown documents, his eyes flashing with joy, completely devoid of his usual composure.

His little legs moved quickly, only slowing down when he reached the desk. With a "whoosh", the documents in his hand were placed in front of him.

Without waiting for Charlie to ask, Russell couldn't wait to speak first, his words filled with an undeniable excitement and admiration, as he loudly reported:

“Master!

‘Scent of Violet’ candies have created a new sales record! Now the letters from various candy distributors have filled my desk, and without exception, they all want to order even more candy!”

Saying this, as if still afraid that Charlie wouldn't believe him, Russell hurriedly took out a large portion of the letters from behind him, waving them vigorously in front of Charlie. Roughly estimated, there were about twenty letters.

Fawkes was awakened by Russell's noise. To express her dissatisfaction, she flapped her wings twice, raised her furry body, and was about to follow the old routine of throwing the documents on the carpet, but fortunately, Charlie saw through her plan and stopped her in time.

“Goo——” Seeing that her attempt had failed, Fawkes didn't continue, but instead turned her rear towards Russell and continued to sleep.

Charlie listened to Russell's words, picked up the reports and sales record documents from the desk, and a slight smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, but his eyes did not show the same surprise and excitement as Russell. After all, in his opinion, the "Scent of Violet" candies were always positioned to compete with the original Charlie's Chocolate Factory's trump card product, "Hazelnut Chocolate". If it didn't achieve such an impressive result, it would be strange, so he had been mentally prepared for it.

He only glanced at it a few times before putting the documents back down and simply asked a few questions.

“How much inventory is left in the warehouse?”

“Uh… about half.”

“Notify the team leaders on the production line to temporarily put aside the Icy Plum Sweet, Strawberry Star Diamond, and Licorice Sticks production, and concentrate on making ‘Scent of Violet’ candies for the next two days… Also, contact the material suppliers and order another batch of raw materials to prevent unforeseen circumstances.”

“Uh, yes… Okay, I understand, Master Charlie.

Russell excitedly made notes in his notebook while nodding quickly to show that he understood.

“By the way, I'm going to Hogwarts this afternoon.”

Just as Russell was remembering enthusiastically, Charlie's instruction came again, causing him to pause slightly and stop the pen in his hand.

But immediately, Russell quickly reacted and continued to ask, "Is there anything Russell needs to prepare?"

After a moment of thought, Charlie said, “The same as every year.”

“Okay, understood!”

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

Perhaps because of the time, when Charlie arrived at Hogwarts, he didn't encounter Harry and Ron, or even a few young wizards. The only group of Slytherin snakes he encountered stopped in their tracks after seeing him, watching him go upstairs as if they were seeing an idol, without even having the courage to say hello.

“Knock knock knock”

Standing in front of the Headmaster's office, Charlie knocked on the door.

“Please, may I come in?”

Inside the office, that familiar and gentle voice quickly sounded, with simplicity and a smile, saying

“Ah, of course! Charlie, I was just waiting for you.”

Hearing this, Charlie also smiled, no longer hesitated, and pushed the door open.

“Merry Christmas!”

As soon as the door opened, he only heard Headmaster Dumbledore shout this greeting.

But the scene he saw in front of him made Charlie couldn't help but stunned slightly.

His eyes widened unconsciously, and his steps faltered at the door, looking at the old man sitting behind the desk, he didn't know whether he should go in for a moment.

“What are you still standing there for, my child!”

Beneath the thick and white eyebrows and beard, Headmaster Dumbledore was still as energetic as ever, not at all like an old man who was over a hundred years old.

[Seriously, I've been using reading to catch up on updates recently, switching sources, with many audiobook timbres, both Android and Apple are available.]

“Uh… … … … Okay, Headmaster Dumbledore.”

Dumbledore's voice pulled him back from his surprise. Although he restrained the expression on his face, his eyes were still filled with a faint strangeness.

Only after sitting down on the chair did he reorganize his tone and asked in a small voice with both tact and politeness: “Headmaster Dumbledore, how have you been… You, you seem to look quite good recently?”

“Ha, yes, I feel that way too.”

Seeming very happy with Charlie's words, he nodded in agreement, while speaking, his hand subconsciously took out a piece of chocolate that had already been broken off from the drawer and skillfully stuffed it into his mouth.

“… … … … … …” Charlie was indifferent, and his eyes unconsciously glanced at the candy vending machine in the corner behind Dumbledore. Sure enough… it was empty at this moment.

He continued to organize his language and tried to ask

“Then, have you noticed anything wrong recently?”

“Have I?” Headmaster Dumbledore frowned slightly. After a moment of thought, he said, “It seems that other than my robes suddenly becoming a little ill-fitting, there are no other problems.”

That's the problem!

!

Looking at Headmaster Dumbledore in front of him, who was clearly getting fat to the point of looking almost like Aberforth, Charlie cried out in his heart.

At this moment, he was reflecting in his heart whether the candies he had sent here over the years were a bit too much, to the point of making Headmaster Dumbledore's style collapse, while hesitating whether the gift he had just asked Russell to prepare was still necessary to take out.

However, obviously Headmaster Dumbledore didn't realize that there was anything wrong with himself right now, and began to tell Charlie the reason for summoning him over this time.

“It's like this, Charlie… … …

While speaking, Dumbledore opened the drawer and slowly took out the Philosopher's Stone wrapped in parchment, placing it on the desk in front of him.

“I hope you can help me return this Philosopher's Stone to my old friend Nicolas Flamel.”