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"There's no problem a game of Wizard Cards can't solve!"
Within the world of The Witcher, Gwent was one of the most memorable things for anyone who played it.
Wizard Cards, in turn, was the board game Dudley created based on Gwent.
Just like in Gwent, card rarity in Wizard Cards was also divided into four categories: Common, Rare, Epic, and Legendary.
The old leader cards, meanwhile, were adapted by Dudley into famous wizards from the history of magic.
This board game had two main strengths: it was extremely easy to learn, and it was suitable for all ages.
At the same time, it also had two core elements.
One was collecting.
The other was dueling.
Dueling needed no explanation.
The charm of Gwent was something anyone who had played it understood perfectly well. You fired up a AAA game like The Witcher, only to end up turning into a full-blown card addict. Some people had even played The Witcher just for Gwent.
Or are you really going to say Kaiba did not go so far as to spend a fortune and absurd amounts of resources, all because his addiction to cards kicked in, just to go all the way to the afterlife and play cards with the Pharaoh?
That was the charm of card games.
But the most important point was something else.
With the help of magic, the static figures on the cards could take on real form, and during battles, illusory images of the characters would appear attacking each other.
That was what made the matches even more addictive.
If even those half-baked electronic games in the Muggle world could hook so many people so easily, then just imagine a card game on this level appearing in the wizarding world, where entertainment options were so scarce.
Just imagine it.
Under your command, legendary wizards would fight for you.
That alone was already more than fun enough.
And the collecting side...
That was the real money-maker.
Witches and Potions Publishing only sold the basic version of Wizard Cards to the public, meaning cards featuring common-rarity characters.
The basic version cost only three Sickles.
Even the poorest young wizard could afford it.
But if someone wanted stronger, rarer characters, there was only one way:
Buy special packs and draw at random.
The price of a special pack was not high either.
Three Sickles.
The problem was that each pack contained only a single card.
As for whether or not you got the character you wanted...
At that point, only two things mattered: luck or money.
Of course, you could also trade cards.
But to trade, the other side had to have cards too, right?
One person told ten.
Ten told a hundred.
A hundred told a thousand.
The moment it launched, Wizard Cards caused a huge reaction.
In just one month, it spread across Europe at a ridiculous pace.
In truth, the wizarding world had already had something somewhat similar to collectible cards: Chocolate Frog cards.
But that had been pure collecting.
It had never developed into anything beyond that.
It was like those stickers or cards that became a craze for a while and then simply faded away.
In the end, everyone realized that even if they completed the whole set, it did not really amount to much.
And then interest died out on its own.
But Wizard Cards was different...
"Let's play a game of Wizard Cards!"
That phrase had almost become the standard greeting among wizards.
"My turn. I draw a card!"
That was already the second one.
There was no problem a game of Wizard Cards could not solve.
And if there was, then you just played two.
Because of that, even interest in Quidditch dropped by several percentage points.
Following Dudley's suggestion, Carrow even went so far as to propose to the Ministry of Magic that they hold an official Wizard Cards tournament.
By all indications, the idea was already being considered.
There was nothing to be done.
Wizarding entertainment options were simply too scarce.
At that point, a month had already passed since Dudley, Harry, and Hermione arrived in Godric's Hollow.
The old Potter house had already been partially restored.
The ground floor was fully livable now.
The main reason the rest was not finished yet was simple: there was simply too much work to do.
On top of that, the Potter house was hundreds of years old, and some of the materials used in it were magical.
There was no way to restore everything with ordinary materials.
And there was another issue too.
Dudley could not spend every single day fixing the house.
He had other things to do.
So after the ground floor was finished, the restoration was temporarily put on hold.
In any case, the Potter house was more than large enough.
The ground floor alone was already enough for the three of them to live there.
Over the past few days, Dudley had kept feeling as if there was someone else, or something else, in the house.
But every time he tried to look for it, he found nothing.
Even so, his Data Eyes seemed to have picked up some information...
That day, two owls arrived at the same time, bringing two invitation letters from friends.
One was from Ron.
The other was from Neville.
Each of them was inviting the three of them to spend some time at his house.
"There isn't enough time. We can't go to both places at once, Harry."
Accepting one invitation meant rejecting the other.
And no matter which one they chose, someone would end up hurt.
"So, Harry, you'll go to Ron's house. Hermione and I will go to Neville's."
As it happened, Dudley also wanted to talk to Augusta, Neville's grandmother, about a few things.
The moment Harry heard he would have to separate from Dudley, he clearly did not like the idea one bit.
But in the end, he still agreed.
'For Big D's happiness.'
That was what Harry thought.
After all, there was no way they could send Hermione alone to either Ron's or Neville's while he and Dudley went to the other house.
"Around August 15, Hogwarts will probably send out the second-year book list. We'll meet at Flourish and Blotts."
Dudley said that to Harry as his final instruction.
As a side note, both Harry's birthday and Dudley's birthday that year had been spent at the old Potter house. Hermione, just as expected, gave Dudley a bag with even greater capacity. Meanwhile, Petunia and Vernon had been acting mysterious lately, as if they were hiding some kind of secret.
When they heard the three would not be coming home, they were strangely pleased.
The same thing happened with Hermione's parents, the Grangers.
But whenever anyone asked them directly, they acted as though nothing was wrong.
It was hard to make sense of.
When the three of them left the old Potter house, Dudley brought his hands together.
Beneath the ground, a transmutation circle slowly began to appear.
But it soon disappeared again.
The three of them parted ways in front of the fireplace of a wizarding shop in Godric's Hollow.
...
At the same time, in Malfoy Manor...
"Father, why do you keep refusing to invite Dursley and Potter to our house?"
Malfoy looked at his father, waiting for an explanation.
"Now they've accepted the invitations from the Weasleys and the Longbottoms."
Lucius, seated elegantly in his chair, did not answer his son's question directly.
Instead, he responded with one of his own.
"Draco, I've heard that, at Hogwarts, you've been associating with someone like Hagrid, the gamekeeper."
"Is that true?"
His voice was calm, but that calm carried his usual slow, distinctive drawl. He lowered his head slightly so that his eyes could look directly into Draco's.
If this had been the old Draco, that alone would have been enough to make him shrink back.
But a year at Hogwarts had already changed quite a lot in him.
'Damn Goyle. Damn Blaise. They actually had the nerve to snitch on me.'
"Father, I think we should invite them."
"It will be important for my future and for the Malfoy family."
You can answer without answering.
Then I can keep asking without answering what you want either.
"We are pure-bloods. I believe I've told you before not to associate with people like that."
The phrase "people like that" seemed to stir something in Draco.
"Father—"
"Draco."
It was Narcissa Malfoy who interrupted him.
A tall, slender woman with impossibly pale skin and that same arrogant expression always fixed on her face.
"Do not question your father's decision."
"In all these years, he has never made a mistake."
Never made a mistake?
A strange expression crossed Draco's face.
Big D told me the stupidest decision the Malfoys ever made was openly siding with the Dark Lord and putting themselves against Dumbledore. That choice nearly buried the entire Malfoy family.
And that was only because Professor Dumbledore was patient.
Otherwise...
"Draco..."
Lucius's voice rang out again, still slow, still controlled, still carrying that same oily tone so characteristic of him.
"You only need to watch..."
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