14 Dragon Enterprises
After few months passed since Daphne's birthday and Draco's meeting with Tracey, one day during dinner Lucius told his son some good news:
"Draco, I met with an enchanter today and he says that he would like to hear more about your project. When do you feel ready and are available for a meeting?"
It has been almost four months since Draco first raised the topic of creating his company. He had plenty of time to ponder on how the magical communication mirrors would work and what kind of additional functions could be included. With all these ideas spinning inside his head, the boy was naturally very excited to finally have some progress.
"I can meet with him tomorrow at tea time. I already have some designs and ideas in mind, however, you will have to ask him to sign a secrecy contract first, father," Draco replied without thinking too much.
Lucius nodded, "Naturally. Do you want for me or your mother to be present during the meeting?"
"It's alright, I will manage. I am just afraid that this wizard will look down on me because of my age," Draco thought that if the enchanter was there just for the money and wouldn't listen to his opinion, then he would rather find someone else to work with.
"You don't have to worry about that. It took this long to find someone precisely because they didn't want to work with a child. Eugenius Billwick, the enchanter you will meet tomorrow, doesn't care about your age - he really liked your idea though," Draco's father said in a certain tone.
The boy was satisfied and he couldn't wait to properly start his business.
When he had time, Draco did some research about magical mirrors currently in the market and how they were usually made. As it turned out, if witches and wizards wanted to communicate using this method, they had to have their mirrors made by the same enchanter and at the same time.
It worked like the first muggle phones, which had to be connected by individual lines between themselves, in order to work. Besides that, if these magical mirrors were charmed even a bit differently, they would quickly malfunction.
Draco wouldn't even mention the futility of trying to communicate with mirrors, which were created by different people.
---
As it turned out, Eugenius Billwick was a very easy-going forty-year-old wizard. He had curly chestnut-colored hair that reached his shoulders and seemed to have been brushed last year at the earliest. The man's eyes were brown and reflected his personality, in that they were very gentle and warm.
When Eugenius met Draco, the man didn't look down on the boy for being a young child. Instead, he energetically shook the blond's hand and, without even properly sitting down, started discussing:
"I like the idea of communicating in real time through magical mirrors, however, how do you want to connect all of them to make sure that people can call each other even when having mirrors made from different batches? After all, when making magical mirrors, they have to be manually connected to each other. Well, I have some ideas, but I am not sure..." the slightly unkempt man continued his tirade enthusiastically.
Draco could instantly see that this wizard was a talented one because with only few words from his father, to whom Draco didn't explain his idea in too much detail, Eugenius could deduce what the boy really meant and already considered how it could be done.
"I thought that we could do something like Protean charm on all of the mirrors. We would have one main mirror, through which we could carry out magical updates, so any magic which would be cast on the main mirror, would also be reflected in all the others. And if we connect all of the mirrors to the main one, by adding the customers' names to the main mirror, they will be able to call whoever they want, as long as another person also has their mirror connected to our network."
Draco had this idea from Hermione, who in the fifth book charmed galleons to reflect what was written on the main one and gave them out to Dumbledore Army's members.
However, mirrors would be a bit more complicated. Draco intended to first make them with the 'call' function and later, when there was some profit, research how to make other functions, such as leaving messages, and slowly add them through the main mirror.
Of course, he didn't know what magic would be needed to make it happen (he hadn't even started properly learning magic!) and that's why finding good enchanters and arithmancers was very important.
Eugenius kept nodding and asking questions when there was something he couldn't quite understand, as he listened to Draco's explanations. The man was getting visibly more excited as time passed by. Finally, he left after signing the employment contract with promises to start with the prototype's creation.
However, the man was disappointed to hear that an arithmancer hasn't been found as of yet. So there was no one who could figure out, how to best connect the spells and magical mirrors, to make the network that Draco envisioned.
---
Draco's luck was actually quite good because only few days later his father informed the boy that an arithmancer, Dirk Crowdling, also seemed to be interested in working on the project.
Draco didn't waste time and quickly arranged for them to meet.
"Mr Malfoy, a pleasure," said a tall and elegant man, who seemed to be in his thirties. He bowed to the blond boy with practiced ease, not showing any indication of unwillingness to perform the gesture.
Dirk Crowdling was a pureblood, however, he wasn't from a rich family, as Lucius informed Draco last night.
The man seemed to be very cold and distant - his pale blue eyes were indifferent, as he observed the boy standing before him.
"Mr Crowdling, I heard that you are interested in my little project," Draco made a polite half-bow and indicated for them to take a seat.
Dirk Crowdling was a complete opposite from Eugenius Billwick in terms of almost everything - appearance, temperament and upbringing. However, they did have something in common - as soon as Draco and the man started discussing the project, an interested sparkle appeared in the older man's blue eyes.
Draco was sure that he got another one hooked and few hours later he was proved right.
After signing employment and secrecy contracts, Draco selected a day and introduced his two new main employees to each other. Without wasting any more time, the boy had them start working together on his idea.
Draco was sure that it wouldn't be long before Dragon Enterprises were established and known in the whole Wizarding world!
