19 Dragon Mirrors

Draco was, of course, surprised to find out that his family did not only consist of Death Eaters and Voldemort's supporters. When he was reading the Harry Potter series, he had an impression that even if older purebloods didn't become the Dark Lord's followers, they, at least, actively supported him and sometimes even pushed their children into his circle of influence.

That was also the case with Regulus Black, whose mother was very proud of her child becoming Voldemort's servant. Draco could only feel sick at the thought of a mother pushing her child into the madman's path. And willingly at that!

However, the blond boy couldn't contemplate too long about the news he heard and what they implied, because soon he had to go home, back to Britain. Though not before solemnly promising Abraxas that he would keep up with his magical training and would do physical exercises every day, with no exceptions. His grandfather even threatened to make Draco's training ten times harder the next summer if he slacked off! Draco didn't dare to imagine what that would be like, so he sincerely promised to keep up with the set schedule.

Upon his arrival to the Malfoy manor, Draco received good news, which were long since forthcoming. The magical mirror prototype was finally completed! Even the arithmancy calculations, required to make the whole network work, were done. So, after a few greeting words to his parents and Missy, his faithful elf, Draco set off to Diagon Alley, where a building was already set up for his company's use.

Dragon Enterprises was the name that the seemingly-young boy selected without much thinking. First, it sounded cool, secondly - it referred to his name and third... he thought of a grand logotype in form of Eastern dragon, which would be on the back of every mirror! In other words, everything was too cool to pass up.

The building, which was bought by Lucius at Draco's request, stood right next to the Gringotts bank and was easily the most noticeable shop on the street after the renovations were done. It had a bright exterior, with huge windows and white paints, though the most eye catching thing was the sign, which proclaimed in huge purple words the company's name and had a curling golden dragon at the end of it.

Among other traditional and similarly built shops, the white and modern-looking one easily stood out. As witches and wizards passed it by on their way to and from the bank, they occasionally curiously glanced at the sign, wondering what it would be when it finally opened.

The interior of the building matched the outside. On the first floor was an area which would act as a shop - it was brightly lit, had glossy white counters and few aisles, which would later display different magical mirrors. There were also purple sofas situated by the walls to make the waiting more comfortable for the customers. To make the whole place seem more alive, Draco also made sure that there would be some plants scattered around, though they weren't simple and had golden flowers blooming, to match the whole color scheme of he brand.

The second and third floors were dedicated for the personnel's use. The middle floor had desks littered around, where the staff would be able to deal with matters; there were also a few conference rooms and group-work spaces, dedicated to make it easier to have meetings or do projects together, without disturbing others. Finally, on the third floor was the research center - it had a lot of closed-off rooms, which were charmed to let in only those, who were authorized. Of course, there were also some big rooms, which could be used for group projects or conducting rituals and enchantments.

Draco long since had a plan to manufacture the mirrors using muggle machines, to make them all almost identical, and only have his personnel enchant and add them to the arithmancy network. Most of this work would be done outside the headquarters by hiring the dwarves, so the company building didn't have to be too large (and even if it had to be bigger, it was only a matter of using a few expansion enhancements).

When Draco went up to the company's third floor, Eugenius Billwick and Dirk Crowdling, were already impatiently waiting for his arrival. As soon as the two older wizards finally saw their young boss, they quickly went up to him with huge smiles decorating their faces. Well, Dirk's smile was only a small quirking of the lips, but it was already considered as 'huge', taking into account the wizard's usually emotionless face...

"Mr Malfoy! We finally finished the prototype magical mirror and also have the main one, which would connect all of them together!" shouted Eugenius, the enchanter, jovially. "It was so interesting working on this project and I already started trying to work out, how the messaging system would work, but..."

'Cough, cough'

The excitable man was quickly interrupted by a few pointed coughs from Dirk. It seemed that the two wizards got along very well and already had a secret language between themselves, if the arithmancer's glare at his partner was anything to go by... The enchanter quickly understood what his partner wanted to say and obediently shut up.

Draco observed his employees with amusement and finally opened his mouth to say, "So, can you show me the results?"

Another glare was sent the enchanter's way by his partner when the former man tried to answer. After sullenly closing his mouth, Eugenius gave way to Dirk, who started speaking in a much calmer tone, "Of course, Mr Malfoy. Come this way, please."

The cold wizard indicated with his hand to one of the bigger rooms on the floor and went first, with Draco and Eugenius following behind.

When the group entered the aforementioned room, first thing that greeted the blond boy was a huge ceiling-to-floor mirror. It had simple wooden frames, however, the glass was of silver-gold color, rippling as though it was made of water and creating a beautiful image. The mirror didn't show reflection like a normal one would.

Dirk stopped before it and started to explain, "This mirror will connect every other magical mirror that we will sell to our customers. When the customer gets their mirror, they will also get an eight digit number, which would correspond to it. The customer's mirror would be registered with this number as well as their name in the main mirror, which you see here," Dirk indicated to the huge mirror beside which he stood.

The arithmancer then continued after a brief pause, "In order for a wizard to be able to call another wizard, they will have to know both, the number and the name. To make this process more convenient, the witch or wizard can write down the number and name of the person the want to call on the surface of the mirror. Their small mirror will send the signal to the main one, which will check whether the contact's numbers match and if so, the mirror in the wizard's hands will glow a green light. From then on, the wizard will only need to say the other person's name when he wants to call them."

"That's wonderful!" Draco said excitedly. He was very satisfied with his employees work. "What else do you have?" he asked eagerly.

"There is also a block function - the mirror's owner can write down the person's they wish to block name on the surface of the mirror, with the word 'block', and the mirror will glow a red light, indicating the success."

Draco nodded, that was also a useful function, and it didn't require to know the number of the person to be blocked.

"How does the mirror function when it indicates that the owner is receiving a call?" he asked curiously. This time the answer was provided by Eugenius, who was almost trembling from excitement while standing at the side. Obviously, he had been enduring while listening to Dirk's calm explanations.

"The recipient of the call will hear the caller's voice saying his name loudly three times. The caller's name will also appear on the surface of the mirror and if the recipient wants to answer, he just says 'Answer', if not - he says 'Decline'," after quickly rattling out the information, Eugenius took a deep breath and continued, "I also made it so that the call can be silent, but the mirror will vibrate, just like you suggested, Mr Malfoy! One only has to write down 'silent' on the mirror, or 'loud' to reverse the effect!"

The enchanter said all of this while wildly gesturing with his hands, to visually demonstrate how all of this works. Draco was amused. Dirk, who stood at the side listening, had a long-suffering expression on his face.

"Great!" said the young boss finally. "When can we begin the production and sales?"

"Everything is almost ready, Mr Malfoy," This time it was the arithmancer, who answered. "We only need more enchanters, who will be responsible for charming the mirrors. The dwarves already set up the factory and will begin the production whenever you say it. Of course, first you have to approve the mirror's design."

Draco nodded thoughtfully. He observed the small mirror, which was handed to him by Eugenius. It was very simple, with wooden frame and silver surface, showing his own reflection.

"Let's make different types and see how the sales go. We can also get some reviews from the customers after the shop officially opens and starts selling. There can be mirrors with frames made of different types of wood, some can be carved while others can remain simple. Also, make some with metal, golden and silver frames, once again of few types - simple and carved. The dwarves are skilled in this area, so I am sure that they will know what to do. For now don't make too many of each type, I don't want to be unable to sell all of them. However, each one has to be carved with our logotype on the back - I want for the Dragon Mirrors to become a household brand."

Dirk nodded seriously and wrote everything down, however, there was a frown on his face. Draco noticed and asked, "What's wrong?"

"We cannot take care of all of this with just the two of us in the office and we also have to consider promotions," the cold man answered seriously. The boy nodded.

"Yes, I will ask father to take care of hiring management staffs and other personnel, who will take care of sales. It shouldn't take too much time... we can first start productions, so that our inventory is not empty when everything else is already in place. You guys don't have to worry, I won't leave you in these management positions as I know you dislike this type of work," Draco said with a smile. The older wizards were satisfied.

After more arrangements, talks with Lucius and discussing other miscellaneous things, the date of the shop opening was set to 1st of December - to make it for the Yule and Christmas season.