The day after the evaluation ended, Beauxbatons Castle settled into a completely relaxed day of rest.
All the competition events had concluded, with only tomorrow's award ceremony remaining to bring the grand occasion to a close.
The winter sunlight was warm and gentle as Lucien strolled alone through the magnificent campus. Enjoying a rare moment of leisure, he walked much more slowly than usual.
He stopped from time to time, pausing before sights that were either world-famous or uniquely distinctive.
The iconic Beauty Spring, the playful merperson sculptures in the fountain square, the enormous magical tapestry depicting the legend of Beauxbatons' founding, and the ancient yew trees trimmed into the shapes of unicorns, shimmering beneath the sunlight...
With great interest, Lucien raised the vintage film camera hanging around his neck, adjusted the angle, and pressed the shutter.
Click.
Click.
Like Hogwarts, the dense magical protections surrounding Beauxbatons caused most Muggle electronic devices to malfunction.
The devices that could operate normally here were usually classic models like this one, with relatively simple structures that relied mainly on mechanical components and basic principles.
Developing photographs also followed the traditional process, requiring a series of steps in a darkroom, including developing, stopping, and fixing.
However, the addition of magic made the final result completely different.
By simply replacing ordinary chemicals with a specially prepared alchemical potion during the final fixing stage, the images captured on the photographic paper would "come to life."
The people in the photographs would smile and wave, the water in the fountains would ripple endlessly, and leaves would sway gently in the breeze.
Besides taking pictures of the scenery, Lucien also included himself in some of the photographs.
Sometimes, he asked passing students to help press the shutter. At other times, he used a Levitation Charm to suspend the camera in mid-air, set a delay, and hurried into the frame to pose with a natural smile.
In truth, Lucien understood very well that what parents wanted to see was not the scenery in the photographs, but the child standing within it.
He intended to send all these pictures home so that Aunt Penelope, far away in Britain, would know that he was enjoying himself abroad.
"Ding, du-du-du..."
A crisp ringtone with a slightly comical vibrato sounded from his pocket.
Lucien pulled out a thin booklet and opened the cover.
What a coincidence.
A faint glow shimmered across the page. The person requesting a connection was indeed Aunt Penelope.
"Good morning, Aunt," Lucien said with a smile as her face gradually became clear on the page, raising a hand in greeting.
Aunt Penelope looked as beautiful and elegant as ever, but she did not respond immediately. Even her expression remained completely frozen.
Lucien was not surprised.
This was an unavoidable problem with long-distance international communication. After travelling across such vast distances and passing through layers of interference, the transmission of audio and video became unstable, often resulting in severe stuttering, delays, or even audio and video falling out of sync.
Improving communication quality was indeed the next major technical problem that Instant Speech urgently needed to solve.
Lucien patiently held the book and waited for the connection to buffer.
About ten seconds later, Penelope's gentle voice finally came through in broken fragments.
"Morning... little Lucien. The wizarding world really is... magical. Such a... thin little book can actually... transmit both images and sound..."
Her amazement was perfectly understandable.
Although the Muggle world already had mobile phones and televisions in this era, most were still at the stage of bulky brick-like phones and large, cumbersome television sets.
Something like Instant Speech, which was lightweight, portable, and capable of real-time video communication, was closer to the smartphones of later generations. It truly surpassed the mainstream level of current Muggle technology, almost like a device from the future.
As he slowly walked along the sunlit gravel path, Lucien chatted with his aunt through the intermittent images and sound.
From time to time, he turned Instant Speech towards his surroundings, allowing her to see the towering spires of Beauxbatons, the peaceful Ice Crystal Rose Garden, and the outlines of distant snow-covered peaks.
Instant Speech had originally been designed for wizards and required a small amount of magic to operate, but Lucien had specially made a customised version for his aunt that did not require any magical input.
This also reminded him of a problem he had previously overlooked.
Some young wizards had Muggle parents who could not use the standard version of Instant Speech.
But missing one's child had nothing to do with whether a person possessed magic.
Muggle parents naturally wanted a more convenient way to communicate with their children while they were away at school.
Therefore, it would be necessary to design a batch of specialised Instant Speech devices that could operate without requiring any magical input from the user.
"Good morning, Lucien."
Lucien had just stepped into a garden filled with crystal ice sculptures and cold-resistant magical plants when he heard a clear greeting.
He looked up and saw Fleur walking towards him, her figure surrounded by a soft silver glow that slowly diffused through the chilly air.
"Good morning, Fleur," Lucien replied with a smile.
Fleur had noticed Lucien speaking to a book from a distance earlier. Now that she was closer, she couldn't help asking curiously,
"Were you just... um, 'voice chatting' with someone?" She pointed at the Instant Speech in Lucien's hand.
"It's a video call," Lucien explained, naturally turning slightly so that Fleur was also within the camera's view. "Perfect timing. Aunt, let me introduce you. This is a friend I met at Beauxbatons, Fleur Delacour. Fleur, this is my aunt, Penelope Grafton."
On the page, Aunt Penelope's face was clear, her manner elegant and composed.
Fleur immediately offered the image a polite smile.
"Hello, Mrs. Grafton."
However, several seconds passed without any response from the other end. Aunt Penelope's expression remained unchanged, as though frozen in time.
Lucien was just about to explain that it was caused by the delay in international communication when...
"Dear Lucien," Aunt Penelope's voice suddenly came from the page without warning.
Her speech was slow, carrying the concerned and slightly rambling tone of an elder. "Summer holidays are only a few months away. Should we arrange for you to meet the second daughter of the Swinton family?
"Your aunt knows you're not in any hurry to think about romance or marriage, but it's never a bad thing for young people to get to know more outstanding friends their own age. Besides, you're the only child in our family, and your aunt was thinking..."
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