The short time at school was heartbreakingly brief, and almost in the blink of an eye, the time to leave arrived.
When the first-year students lined up, following Hagrid out of the school, the few students who chose to stay stood by the window, watching them enviously. But in reality, Vid also envied these students—they could freely stay at school for two weeks, almost having exclusive access to the library and the Potions Classroom, and consulting with professors anytime, almost like one-on-one tutoring.
Vid sighed.
If it weren't for Fiona looking forward to the day he returned home for a month now, Vid would have wanted to stay at school too.
Of course, the feeling of going home was also nice.
After being away from home for half a year, the accumulated longing and love from his parents almost burst out at the first sight of him. Fiona hugged him at least ten times a day and would occasionally kiss his forehead with affection. Ferdinand was a bit more reserved, but he would also occasionally touch his hair and pat his shoulder.
During the months at school, Vid had grown three centimeters taller. Because he climbed stairs every day, and after sitting for a while, he would exercise for ten to thirty minutes, over time, his body became stronger, and he even had noticeable abs.
But all these good changes in Fiona's eyes were summed up in two words—"lost weight."
His mother touched Vid's face, saying with distress, "Have you not eaten enough at school? Wait, I'm going to prepare a big table of delicious food for you today!"
She rubbed her hands together eagerly and went off to get busy.
Vid looked at the mirror—the eleven-year-old boy in the mirror still had a bit of baby fat that hadn't faded, looking a bit round, with a rosy complexion and very good color.
Ferdinand sat beside Vid, asking very seriously, "Vid, you always report the good news and not the bad in your letters. Now tell me the truth—did anyone give you trouble at school?"
Vid equally seriously said, "No—it's true. Ravenclaw is inherently a peaceful house, where most of the students only care about ability and not much about bloodline, and I'm first in the grade in several subjects. Our house head, Professor Flitwick, likes me very much, as well as Professor Morry, who dedicates two hours every week to teach me alchemy and even invited me to his private party before the holidays."
"That's good, sounds like you have some good teachers." Ferdinand smiled: "Are you happy at school?"
"Of course," Vid smiled: "Very happy."
...
Before Christmas, Vid sent out all the gifts. The next morning, when he woke up and went downstairs, he saw a pile of gift boxes under the Christmas tree.
Fiona came over, hugged his head, and kissed his forehead forcefully, saying happily: "Thank you, dear. I really love the gift you gave me."
Vid had given her a bottle of beauty potion he brewed himself, which was approved by Professor Snape.
Ferdinand also nodded, "The magic shaving razor is great. But is there any special use for the parchment you put in the gift box?"
"This is an alchemy work I completed independently—Friendship Book," Vid said with some pride.
He took out a self-bound booklet from his pocket, with "Friendship Book" written on the cover in both Chinese and English. When opened, the top of the first line had "Family" handwritten on it. On the right side, in smaller font, was the word "Name," followed by a line.
Vid gave quills to his parents, each holding one, and wrote his name on the right side.
"The three Friendship Books we have are linked together. Write your name like I did, then I write down what I want to say—"
He wrote a line at the blank space below the line—"Merry Christmas."
Fiona let out a small gasp, only to see the parchment she held also appeared with a line of words:
[Vid: Merry Christmas.]
"Oh, I see."
Fiona quickly wrote her name in the upper right corner and then wrote a sentence below: [Merry Christmas, darling.]
The same words appeared on both the father's and son's parchments.
Ferdinand understood: "Like a forum?"
Home computers had been around for many years, costing only a few hundred Pounds Sterling, so naturally, the Gray family had bought one early, and they were all familiar with computers.
"Yes, just like an internet forum." Vid spread his hands, "Since the carrier is just a piece of paper, it seems a bit magical. It can't transmit video or sound, and actually can't match the internet, but it isn't affected by magic fields, so even when I'm at school, you can contact me anytime."
In more precise terms, the Friendship Book is the magic version of WeChat. It's just now, similar to MSN Messenger, WhatsApp, QQ, WeChat, etc., have not been developed yet, making Vid's Friendship Book seem quite advanced.
"I have to say, this is the best Christmas gift I've received this year, Vid." Ferdinand's eyes sparkled: "But even better is, you've truly gained something from Hogwarts—I'm proud of you, child."
Fiona quickly became like most people who first encounter communication software, obsessed with "online chatting." Even though Vid and Ferdinand were not more than two meters in front of her, she used the Friendship Book for all communication.
Soon, other pages in Vid's Friendship Book began to see words appear.
The second page was linked to SSC members.
[Michael: Hello?]
[Padma: Merlin, I can really see the words you wrote.]
[Hermione: Can you also see what I wrote? Oh my god, it really appeared! How is this done? I haven't seen a similar spell in books!]
[Padma: Don't mention books, Hermione, today is Christmas, and we should be happy.]
[Michael: Vid, I thought you just started learning alchemy! You should have told me earlier; you made such a great thing!]
[Theo: I read the instructions and just figured out how to use it—it's really amazing! This is the best magic item I've seen!]
[Leian: ...I'm too shocked to know what to say. I'll just write something random to prove I've seen this.]
[Neville: I accidentally fell off the sofa, my grandmother thought I received some dark magic item and almost confiscated it.]
[Vid: Merry Christmas, everyone.]
His words seemed to ignite a pot of oil, and everyone's messages kept appearing. They quickly found out each line of words could occupy limited space, disappearing within one or two seconds after being read, and at most only fifteen lines of words could appear on the page at the same time, with "online chat" forcibly limited in speed, preventing a "999+" unread message situation appearing in just a few minutes.
Within a few minutes, they quickly learned to send emoticons without a teacher, and it seemed they wouldn't stop for a while.
Vid flipped further, and the third page was dedicated to house-elves, with those he was closer to receiving a page. They cautiously tested writing words on the parchment and wrote many thankful words to Vid.
Following that were pages respectively for Professor Morry, Professor Flitwick, Professor Sprout, Professor McGonagall, and Professor Snape. Except for Snape giving a "barely usable" evaluation and Professor Morry reconfirming an invitation for a couple of days later, the others all praised his ingenuity and expressed that they could also tutor him during the holidays.