Harry Potter and the Candy Factory

“Gulp…”

Russell looked up at the towering wall of fire, more than a man's height, and couldn't help but swallow a mouthful of saliva.

After hesitating for a moment, he ultimately trusted Charlie, closed his eyes, mustered his courage, and stepped inside.

As expected, the moment his foot entered the wall of fire, the scorching heat that Russell had imagined didn't come; instead, a strange warmth swept over his entire body.

Russell strode through the burning area of the fire wall, then opened his eyes, surprised, examined himself from head to toe, turned around, and began to scrutinize the seemingly fierce flames.

He couldn't help but praise:

“As expected of the great Master Charlie!! To actually create such realistic flames, Russell can't see a single flaw!”

In the center of the Fiendfyre Shield, Charlie leaned against his long table, watching the scroll recording magic slowly burn to ashes in his hand, and couldn't help but yawn.

He rose from the table, waved his hand wearing the ring, and the original wand immediately disappeared without a trace.

He strolled leisurely to Russell, picked up the hot coffee from the plate in his hand, and took a gentle sip.

“Foolish Russell…”

A mouthful of bitter coffee in the early morning was enough to dispel Charlie's fatigue from the whole night, and his spirits were lifted.

He glanced at Russell, who was still widening his eyes beside the fire ring, constantly reaching in to probe, and said:

“This isn't some illusion.

”

As he spoke, Charlie raised his arm and waved it violently at the still-burning Fiendfyre Shield.

Suddenly, the flames seemed to be sucked in by something, and they neatly condensed into a line of fire, flying back around Charlie, until it slowly dissipated in the void.

Only then did Russell notice that the place where the flames had just burned had become charred black, and even the places that hadn't been directly touched were visibly blackened.

“This is the Fiendfyre Shield, one of the spells of the previous Dark Lord Grindelwald.”

Looking at Russell, whose jaw had dropped in amazement, Charlie's sense of accomplishment was perfectly satisfied.

After all, it was something he had spent the whole night learning; if Russell had acted as if it were nothing special, that would have been strange!

The corners of his mouth couldn't help but curl up, and he took another small sip of the coffee in his hand. Then, he sat back in his chair.

“This, this, this… it's simply unheard of!” Russell naturally wouldn't restrain his admiration for his master; immediately following were various praises, like they were free and being thrown over in a barrage.

Things like “The first in history…”, “Incomparable…”, “Superb skill…” didn't repeat themselves even once within ten minutes.

Although Charlie knew that most of it was exaggeration, it didn't prevent him from enjoying Russell's worship.

After listening for a while, Charlie finally waved his hand, stopping the still-unsatisfied Russell.

“Let's talk about something serious.”

Russell belatedly realized, looked at the toasted bread he was still holding in his hand, and quickly nodded, placing it on Charlie's long table and beginning his routine report.

“Recently, the distributors of Ice Plum Candy in various regions have been responding very well… Our people are negotiating with the Muggles in that area of America. If all goes well, it won't be long before we can open up sales in the United States.”

“Not bad.” Charlie nodded, not looking too surprised.

He took a bite of the slightly burnt toast and thought for a moment, adding, “Then arrange a few more production lines to make this recently, and strive to increase production… Oh, wait.”

As he was speaking, Charlie suddenly thought of something, his eyes lit up, and he snapped his fingers.

“Try adding a liquor filling; those Americans love that.”

Listening to Charlie's suggestion, Russell very seriously took out a small notebook from who-knows-where and wrote it down.

“Also, there's that Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans that I mentioned to you before.”

Russell said as he buried his head in writing.

“Yes, I remember, what's wrong?”

Charlie pondered for a moment and quickly nodded, indicating that he knew.

“I have to say, the response to it is really… too bad.”

Russell raised his head again, shrugging his shoulders with some regret.

“Whether in the wizarding world or among European Muggles, they don't like it. Many people have complained to us, saying that the thing always has a cow dung taste when chewed.”

Charlie, who was originally chewing on toast, couldn't help but pause when he heard this. Then, he frowned and took a sip of coffee.

“So how do they know what cow dung tastes like?… Never mind those guys, why don't they say Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans also has apple and lemon.”

Charlie waved his hand at this, indicating that there was no need to care at all.

Hearing this, Russell hesitated for a moment, then reached out and scratched his head.

“Actually… I mean, perhaps we can stop the production line of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans and switch to making liquor-filled Ice Plum Candy.”

Listening to Russell's words, Charlie stroked his chin, seemingly thinking about something.

After a long while, he gave an answer:

“It's not impossible, but at least two production lines for Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans must be kept. We don't need to sell to those Muggles who don't know good stuff, but the wizarding world must continue to maintain the supply to distributors.”

“Alright…” Russell hesitated for a moment, but still nodded, honestly writing down Charlie's words in his notebook.

“Um, Master Charlie,” Russell said as he wrote, unable to resist raising his head and looking at Charlie cautiously.

“Can you tell Russell why?”

Charlie didn't directly answer the question, but narrowed his eyes, turned his head to look out the window, and then took a sip of coffee before saying faintly:

“In a letter that Headmaster Dumbledore gave me a few years ago, he mentioned that Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans tasted very good.”

Hearing this, Russell suddenly understood and quickly picked up his pen to especially emphasize this sentence.

… … … … …

Two slices of bread and a cup of coffee, accompanied by the short meeting between the two, were quickly devoured by Charlie.

When he put the last corner of bread into his mouth and swallowed it, the breakfast was completely over.

“The bread is a little burnt.”

As usual, Charlie wiped his mouth after eating and gave a fair evaluation.

“I will definitely tell them to pay attention next time.”

Russell stepped forward, putting the coffee cup into the plate and picking it up, answering as such.

“No need, I like it a little burnt.”

Charlie stood up again, rubbed Vivien, who had shrunk into a ball on the table and was sleeping soundly, and replied.