[Rohan POV] [HPU]
After meeting with everyone, we all went to the computer room. The room was far less messy than before. Books were neatly arranged on shelves, with a few stacked on tables. The computers were spaced apart properly now. The mess of wires I had seen last time were now covered by carpets that, on closer look, seemed layered with copper and aluminium sheets.
I looked at Edward. He already seemed eager to explain.
"They don't look great," he said, scratching the back of his head, "but they do a good job protecting the electronics."
"You must have spent a lot of time figuring that out," I said as I sat down in front of a computer. "I can't imagine it was easy."
Edward gave a small nod. "It wasn't… but it works."
I glanced at everyone before continuing, "Alright, let's see the books you all have made."
Everyone gathered behind me as Edward pointed me to the correct folder. A list of files appeared on the screen.
Forty.
I opened one.
A clean white page appeared with the title in the center. As I scrolled through, I saw neatly written content, along with scanned images placed properly.
I nodded. "Great work, everyone."
Then I reached into my pocket and pulled out a floppy disk.
"This is something I worked on during my free time," I said. "Let's see how it performs."
I inserted the disk into the drive and pressed a few keys.
"This is a small program," I added, eyes still on the screen, "it lets us search through all the books at once."
The program loaded quickly. A black screen appeared with a single line:
Search:
I typed Mandrake and pressed Enter.
The screen instantly filled with results—book titles, page numbers, even short lines from the text.
A low murmur spread across the room.
"Pick any result," I said.
Olivia stepped forward and selected one.
The exact page opened immediately.
Edward leaned closer to the screen, clearly surprised. "It searched everything… that fast?"
I gave a small smile. "It's just a basic search tool. Nothing too complicated. Though… it might slow down once we have hundreds of books."
Even as I said that, I knew it was faster than it should be. Edward, being a Muggle, had seen library systems before—but even those weren't this quick.
Still, I said nothing.
"All forty books… in seconds…" someone whispered.
I stood up and stepped aside. "Why don't you all try it yourselves? I need to speak with Edward."
Charlie quickly took my seat while the others gathered around him.
I walked with Edward toward his room.
As I stepped inside, I immediately felt the difference. The air was warmer. All the main systems were here, connected to the other room through long cables.
Edward had clearly made this place his own.
In the center stood a Faraday cage, inside which the main computer units were kept. To one side, broken parts and old peripherals had been stacked together to form a makeshift desk. Books were piled high at the back, almost like a wall.
"Edward… this looks like a full lab," I said, looking around.
He stepped into the Faraday cage, checking the machines as they blinked.
"That's still an understatement," he replied. "The amount of things I've learned about EMP protection in the past few months… This place should be the bleeding edge of EMP research by now."
He paused.
"And even then… I still feel like I'm not doing enough."
"Don't say that," I replied. "I heard from Olivia that things are breaking less now."
"They are," he admitted, "but I think that's more because they're learning to control their powers… not because of anything I did."
I shook my head. "You're underestimating yourself. They improved because you gave them a stable system to work with."
I walked toward the makeshift table.
An open keyboard lay there, along with books on electronics and magnetism.
Edward stepped beside me. "Keyboards are the most common thing that breaks. I keep replacing them… but I've been trying to fix some as well."
I picked one up and examined it. "And? Any success?"
Edward hesitated. "Not really. I've been trying for weeks, but the circuits keep shorting out… no matter what I do."
Just then, a voice called out from outside.
"Edward! The keyboard stopped working again!"
He reacted instantly, almost like it was routine, and rushed out to replace it.
It was quick.
Too quick.
Everyone was already used to this.
I stepped forward and clapped my hands to get everyone's attention.
Once they settled down, I spoke.
"When I asked you all to create these books digitally, I didn't expect this level of progress so soon."
I paused for a moment, looking at each of them.
"So… as a small reward for your hard work, everyone will be getting a bonus."
For a second, there was silence.
Then the room burst into cheers.
I let them celebrate. They had earned it.
After things calmed down, I continued.
"As you all know, Olivia has been working on getting the permit for the summer camp. We should be getting it soon."
I turned toward her.
"Olivia, how long do you think it will take?"
She stepped forward. "I've been visiting the Ministry regularly. Today I met with the Department of Education. If everything goes smoothly… we should have approval within a month."
I nodded. "That's faster than I expected."
Oscar let out a small laugh. "For the Ministry? That's very fast. Looks like Dumbledore's support helped more than we thought."
Olivia then continued, "I was going to talk about it later, but I guess now is as good a time as any… Today at the Department of Education, they made a few demands of us."
As soon as she said that, everyone started murmuring among themselves. Slowly, all eyes turned toward me.
I stayed quiet for a moment, then asked calmly, "What demands?"
Olivia took out her diary from her pocket and flipped through a few pages before reading.
"Yes, well… for starters, they want us to clearly explain what exactly we would be doing here."
I leaned against the table and crossed my arms, pretending to think.
In truth, I had already gone through all of this back when I was bedridden.
"Our original goal for the Summer Camp," I began, "was to provide a safe place for children living in the mundane world—a place where they could practice magic in summer."
I paused slightly.
"But that was before we met Dumbledore."
Olivia nodded. "You mean his one condition?"
That immediately caught everyone's attention.
"Wait… you met Dumbledore?"
"When did that happen?"
The murmuring grew louder, some even looking shocked.
I raised my hand slightly to calm them.
"Yes. And his condition was simple," I said, looking at everyone.
"The camp will be open to all students, not just Muggle-borns and half-bloods. From Muggle-borns to pure-bloods… first years to final years. Everyone."
This time, the reaction was instant.
"What?!"
"All of them?"
"That's too many!"
The noise in the room increased again.
This was expected.
Earlier, when we were only targeting muggle-borns and half-bloods, the number of applicants would have been small, manageable. But now, opening it to everyone meant a much larger group. Even the first batch could easily reach fifteen or more.
And we were not ready for that; we simply didn't have enough people.
"Everyone! Please!" I clapped once, louder this time. "No need to worry."
The room slowly quieted.
Henry spoke up, clearly concerned. "But… how are we supposed to manage so many students?"
I smiled.
"Everyone, listen. I've already thought about this."
That got their full attention.
"This is not going to be a school," I continued. "We are not going to run it like Hogwarts, with classes and schedules."
"Then how?" Charlie asked.
"We train them together."
"…Together?" Henry repeated, unsure.
"Yes," I nodded. "This will be more like a joint training program. Instead of classes, everyone will be given challenges to complete."
"Challenges?" Olivia asked, already preparing to write.
My mind briefly went back to the time I had asked the AI the same question during my research.
I smiled slightly.
"Yes well... These are based on Eastern methods of training i have seen. As we all know, a wizard's ability is not just magic—it's a combination of the mind, body, and soul."
I raised three fingers.
"So the challenges will focus on these three aspects. I call them… the Three C's."
"The Three C's?" Henry repeated.
"Courage. Confidence. Control."
"…."
For a moment, everyone just looked at me, unsure.
So I continued.
"The Challenge of Courage will test your ability to face fear."
"The Challenge of Confidence will test your trust in your own abilities and allies."
"And the Challenge of Control will test how well you can control your magic."
Now their expressions began to change.
They were interested.
Questions started coming from all directions. Olivia quietly wrote everything down as I spoke.
I raised my hand again.
"Now, for the rules—Olivia, write these down properly please."
She nodded.
"Each student will receive a personal challenge on the first day. They will have four weeks to complete it."
"They will also receive daily tasks that will prepare them for their challenge."
"There will be no exams."
"The students will come forward when they feel ready to attempt their challenge."
"They may succeed. They may fail. If they fail, they can try again…"
I paused briefly before adding,
"But to complete the camp, they must finish at least two out of the three challenges by the last day."
"Wow… so it's like a real-life video game?" Edward said, amused.
I pointed at him. "Exactly."
Henry frowned. "I don't get it… What's a video game?"
Charlie immediately said, "I'll explain later."
A few people chuckled.
I then noticed Olivia had stopped writing.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
She hesitated for a moment before answering, "This is all really good… it's just that…"
"Hm?"
"There's no reward at the end," she said. "If they work this hard for a whole month, there should be some incentive to keep going."
I listened and stroked my chin for a moment.
Then I nodded.
"I see."
I thought for a second before speaking again.
"Alright. Each main challenge will give 10 points. Daily tasks will give 1 point."
"They can use these points to redeem rewards at the end."
"We can decide the rewards ourselves."
Olivia's face lit up. "That's a great idea!"
She quickly wrote everything down.
"So, Olivia… anything else?" I asked.
She flipped another page.
"Yes. They want us to have a Healer on-site during the camp."
"That's reasonable," I said. "We'll arrange that."
"And…" she hesitated slightly, "they want to visit this place before giving final approval."
"They want to inspect?" Oscar asked.
"Yes. They said other departments were consulted, and they want to see the location beforehand."
I shrugged. "That shouldn't be a problem. Talk to them and fix a date."
It didn't concern me much.
It was expected.
Then Jacob, who had been quiet this entire time, finally spoke.
"So these challenges… what exactly are they? And how do you make them different for each student?"
That was a good question.
Everyone turned toward me again.
I smiled.
"I already have a structure in mind."
I began explaining in detail—simple obstacle courses, controlled magical exercises, illusion-based mental challenges… each designed to test one aspect properly. Ideas given by the AI.
"The students would take a personality test, that would decide the challenges but the only remaining problem is," I said after finishing, "that these challenges need to be tested before we give them to children."
I straightened slightly and looked at everyone.
"You all know what that means, right?"
There was a brief pause.
Then realization hit.
I slammed my hand lightly on the table.
"From today onwards—no more book duty."
For a second, there was silence.
Then the room exploded with cheers.
Finally freed from sitting and typing all day, they immediately rushed toward the training hall, eager to start testing.
Edward, however, stayed behind—as expected.
"Edward," I said, turning toward him, "your work isn't done yet."
He looked at me, attentive. I then handed him a small note and a letter. On it was a name and an address.
"This is someone who can help us make magic-proof electronics. I want you to meet him in Oxford and give him the letter. He will know as we have talked before. Learn what you can from him in these months. "
He thought for a moment before replying, "I am on it."
I said immediately. "Best of Luck."
He nodded, clearly satisfied, and headed back to his room.
After that, everyone stayed in the training hall till night. We tested ideas, discussed different setups, and slowly began shaping the challenges into something real.
By now, the team had grown comfortable with each other.
They worked naturally together.
And as I stood there, watching them…
It felt like I was the only one who didn't quite belong.