Chapter 33: Business is Booming

"In Chinese culture, a new moon always spells the beginning of auspicious intents such as marriage, entering into new contracts, starting a business, moving homes, constructing new buildings and even having haircuts. For wizards it is a great time to renew old wards…"

"That is all very interesting Lord Lian but I promised to meet my friends in 15 minutes?" Simon said pleadingly to the old scholar in the painting who was giving him way too much extra information for his short essay assignment.

"Young man, I am trying to get you the top grade in your cohort, you ungrateful…"

"…look, I wrote everything you said already! Plus this paper is not due till next week. I will be back! Bye!"

Simon hurried up the stairs and stepped out of the suitcase, locked said suitcase and slipped it under his bed.

Today, they were making the final touches to their new game before moving on to work on the Quidditch World Cup expansion pack. It was not hard to get the concept of Dungeons and Dragons across to his friends – after all they did live in a world with real dungeons and dragons. Of course this new version called Shadow Adventures (look Dungeon and dragons already existed in 1990 and there would be IP issues) was different from the original game in some ways. By tweaking the player handbook to allow players to act as powerful wizards and enchanters of the past such as the Four Founders and Merlin and Morgan le Fay, or become goblins and giants, even vampires and werewolves, they were sure the game would do well in the wiccan world. Simon was also hoping this could provide an avenue for those in the wizarding world to imagine themselves as other races of beings, and maybe start to open up more and more to diversity over time.

While normal Dungeon and Dragons was mainly driven by imagination and done with pen and paper, this was a wizard version. Simon and his friends made sure to incorporate upgrades. Using the magic they learned when making the Wiccan Insensitivity cards, they designed a booklet and cards. The booklet would be used by the dungeon master (which they would call the storyteller) who would come up with the adventure for the other players. As they tell the story, the booklet would copy what was said so all players could have a copy of their story. It was honestly just a version of the spells behind the Quick-Quotes Quill, except taking notes verbatim instead of creating sensational and inaccurate tales that bore little resemblance to actual events.

The booklet would also record the numbers the players got from rolling the dice and use the numbers to limit the storytelling somewhat – so that the storyteller could not completely break the rules and create a situation where there was a good consequence even though the dice rolled a low number. The cards would be for the players to design their characters with the help of the player handbook – the player can draw their characters and the back of the card would provide their strengths and weaknesses. While a player handbook would be a one-time purchase, there were a limited number of pages in the booklet and cards were one-use only. Hence, they aimed to profit through people buying more booklets and cards.

While of course some cheapskates could start playing with their imagination, it would be hard to do so after experiencing a play-through using the booklet and cards. And Simon was certain some wizards, especially those who looked down on muggles, would not want to play it the muggle way and rather pay extra to be different. Simon had no qualms about taking their money and later funnelling it into projects to help muggles and all those creatures these wizards hate later down the line.

"So we are testing the play-through today to see if there are any remaining issues with the cards and booklets," Row said, passing a card to each of them as they sat in one of the rooms of her father's law firm. It felt safer to test their products away from Hogwarts and Mitty made travelling in and out of the school quite easy.

"Have you decided on your characters yet?" Cedric asked the twins.

"I am Gred Beasley, a magical bard who casts spells by singing songs!" Fred said, showing the doodle he drew on his card, "I also have a hippogriff which could dance!"

"I am Forge Beasley, Gred's scarred twin who had survived a werewolf attack with a mysterious past. I carry a belt covered with pockets filled with many useful potions for adventures to come!" George added. Simon could not help but wonder where George got the idea of the "scarred Weasley who survived a werewolf attack" from but decided to let it slide.

"I am still working on my character," Simon said, "Maybe I can be a wizard turned vampire who is 500 years old…and is an animagus who can turn into a bat? Perhaps called Ambrosius Dracula?"

"Talented enchanter Maximilia Inopinatus at your service!" Row chimed in, seeming to be already in character, "Creator of the best shields, swords and other magical equipment for adventurers far and wide!"

"…I guess I will be a healer? There is no healer in the group yet," Cedric noted, "Eustace Murray, retired quidditch seeker, a generational talent on the broom who went on to be a healer for professional quidditch teams."

"That's just Montrose Magpies' Eunice Murray, but as a bloke," Fred smiled sheepishly, "Where's your creativity Grandpa Diggory?"

"Can you guys hurry up, the game master is waiting," Phoebe said, her icy tone piercing through the incessant chatter and teasing of Cedric by Fred, "I have a very fun adventure planned…"

Simon and George gave each other a look, not sure if they were ready for Phoebe's definition of fun.

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"Dice landed on 5. Unfortunately you could not convince the leader of the giants to allow you safe passage. You ran away from their swinging clubs and fell into a swamp."

Fred groaned, "Just me or also my hippogriff too?"

"And the hippogriff. You shouldn't have asked," Phoebe said with a smirk.

"I think that is enough trial testing for today," Simon noted, "We should be able to provide 2 sets in every common room in the following week and provide a box of booklets and cards for Jae to sell."

"Yeah sounds good, we should really head back. I still have not started on my charms assignment!" George said, putting his card into his pocket. He was also in a hurry to leave the adventure where Phoebe had just caused fiery arrows to hit his character in the back and caused one of his character's potions to explode on its own. Maybe he should be thankful Phoebe was only that violent towards them in an imaginary game and not in real life?

"Sure," Phoebe replied, closing the booklet in her hand, "But we should continue this adventure in a week or so. There is still much to be explored." All the boys shivered at the way she smiled when saying that.

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As expected, Shadow Adventures was a hit in the various common rooms and people were quickly reaching out to Jae for the first batch of this new Wiccan Insensitivity LLC game. While Professor Snape, once again, seemed a bit disgruntled by this game as some students had apparently created monsters in their stories that bear a striking resemblance to him, the rest of the faculty could not help but agree that this game was a lot more appropriate than Wiccan Insensitivity, which they had previously allowed on their school grounds. Hence, it did not take long for Shadow Adventures to be approved by the school and mail orders were soon made available. Due to the more child-friendly nature of this game than their last one, they also noticed many mail orders coming in from families with children yet to attend Hogwarts. As a result of all this, the first batch of over 100 booklets and cards sold out within a month.

"You should consider hiring enchanters for Wiccan Insensitivity LLC," Row's father had written to the children with the suggestion, "Your game business is growing with breathtaking pace and I want you all to still have time to focus on your studies. Magical contracts can be drawn up so the enchanters would each only work on a specific part of the production process and could not communicate with each other. This should speed up production and protect your creations – it is what the broom companies all do."

It appeared like the wizard broom industry took a page out of Henry Ford's business models. After discussing amongst themselves, the children went with Row's father's suggestion and they were able to return their focus to their studies. Only when certain bugs or issues were detected in the games do the children then direct instructions to Row's father, who would then pass them on to the hired enchanters.

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"This Wiccan Insensitivity LLC is making major waves in the wiccan business world," a young assistant reported to a portly gentleman sitting on a leather rolling chair.

"While their business is currently focused only on Wizarding Britain, there had been rumours that they plan to expand overseas…" the assistant continued before briefly pausing, "Excuse me for asking this, and I know I am not in a position to really ask…but I am curious why, Mr. Chairman, you are interested in this up-and-coming wiccan games and toys company."

The Chairman gave the assistant a serious look, which made the young man squirm a little inside. Maybe he really should not have asked the question.

A booming and melodic chuckle could be heard echoing through the Chairman's office. "Do you recall how the company you work in right now first started out?"

"…as a bakery, Mr. Chairman."

"Exactly. The beginning of a business does not dictate where it is going to go. Even if a company sticks to games and toys, look what the Hassenfeld Brothers did selling toys!"

The young assistant looked somewhat blankly at the Chairman, who rolled his eyes. "You really have a lot of catching up to do if you plan to stay here in the long-run. Go read up on major no-Maj businesses in your free time! Understood?"

"Yes sir!"

"We are not like those old family businesses in Europe who look down on small businesses or non-Maj ones! We are a cutting-edge company that bridges the gap between the two worlds. Gods, the Asians have been doing it for god knows how long and honestly, we are just playing catch up."

The Chairman pulled out a cigar and lit it, turning to see the young assistant still standing in front of him.

"What are you waiting for? Go read up and come back when you learn more about Wiccan Insensitivity LLC!"