Vivian’s eyes suddenly lit up as if she had just thought of something even better. "Wait. If you’re really not worried about modifying Muggle items, then why not, " She grinned mischievously. "Why not make magic poker? I guarantee it’ll sell like crazy."
Alex blinked, struggling to keep up with her rapid-fire thoughts. "Magic poker? That’s just a regular Muggle game. How would that even work as an alchemy item?"
Vivian rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on. Have you seen wizard’s chess? It’s literally just chess with a few magical effects slapped on. You enchant poker cards to have animated backs, maybe add a self-shuffling feature, throw in a dynamic tutorial, and boom, it’s a magic item. Our poker club would eat it up, and it’d finally shut up those pure-blood snobs who mock us for playing ‘boring’ Muggle games."
Alex gave her a skeptical look. "You basically just described an automatic card shuffler. And you’re clearly pushing this idea for your own benefit. Do you really think anyone would buy this?"
Vivian scoffed. "Of course! Also, " She scanned the room again, eyes gleaming with yet another idea. "Your shop already has such a great atmosphere, and you’ve got that spare space in the back. Why not turn part of it into a game lounge? Fill it with poker tables so wizards can come play in a proper setting. You could make bank selling drinks and snacks."
"Absolutely not," Alex said firmly, his expression one of absolute resistance. The last thing he wanted was for his shop to become a noisy poker den. He had called Vivian here to give him serious business advice, not to set up a personal playground for herself.
"Tch, fine. If you won’t do it, then once I graduate, I’ll open a poker bar. Bet I’ll make a fortune," Vivian muttered, making mental calculations.
"Okay, okay," Alex sighed, rubbing his temple. "We’ll go ahead with the improvements you suggested, but I’m not turning my store into a poker lounge."
"Fine by me," Vivian said with a smug grin. She patted the bulging pouch of gold in her pocket, clearly pleased with how things had gone. "Anyway, my work here is done. How was my service? Satisfied?"
Alex chuckled. "I’ll admit, you really opened my eyes to a lot of things. I wouldn’t mind having you as a full-time consultant. How about this, I’ll hire you as the company’s product designer? I’ll handle production, and you’ll come up with the designs. I’ll even pay you."
Vivian’s eyes gleamed with interest, but she pretended to consider it, tapping her chin dramatically. "Hmm… sounds like a good deal. But I have one condition."
Alex immediately narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "What condition?"
Vivian grinned, her expression positively devious. "I’ll help you design all the products you want. But, you have to make the magic poker set for me. Even if you don’t sell it, I want one for myself."
Alex exhaled in defeat. "Fine. I’ll make it."
Vivian beamed. "Great! Pleasure doing business with you."
Alex sighed again. It seemed like this girl was really addicted to poker. Alex completely shut down the store for renovations and set up a dedicated workspace for Vivian in the testing room, effectively turning it into her personal office. From there, she designed various new products while he worked on crafting prototypes based on her ideas.
Fortunately, with the fireplace in the shop, Vivian could travel daily via the Floo Network to work part-time, maintaining a rather unpredictable but undeniably efficient schedule. Though her grades at Hogwarts were average, Vivian had a wildly creative mind, and she churned out one product concept after another. Later, Alex discovered the secret behind her seemingly endless inspiration, fashion magazines from the Muggle world. Despite being a witch, Vivian had a deep-rooted appreciation for Muggle culture, including a particular fondness for flipping through trendy magazines like any ordinary Muggle girl.
With an almost shameless level of enthusiasm, she borrowed designs from popular Muggle brands, recreating their most stylish models and adapting them into magical products. As long as something looked good, she found a way to incorporate it. Whether it was pocket watches, clocks, music boxes, or gramophones, she replicated their aesthetics and infused them with magical enhancements, turning them into wizarding luxury items.
Vivian’s design process could only be described as unrestrained chaos. She had no regard for feasibility, she just threw out every idea that popped into her head, regardless of whether it was actually possible to manufacture. One of her more eccentric designs was a special magic lamp, where the lampshade was a large glass sphere with a wick inside that transformed into different adorable animals. Another was an enchanted gramophone where the vinyl record doubled as a miniature stage, complete with magical characters that sang and danced when the music played. She even designed a four-season edition, where the animated performers and scenery changed depending on the time of year.
But perhaps the most ridiculous concept of all was her poker card. Not satisfied with mere card, Vivian wanted a table with dynamic visual effects, animated surfaces that shifted between flowing water, blooming meadows, and swirling clouds. She even insisted on adding dramatic light and shadow effects so that, every time a card was played, it would fly into the air with a burst of magical energy.
At one point, Alex couldn’t help but wonder if she was putting more effort into designing this one game table than the rest of his shop combined. While Vivian was off in her world of boundless creativity, Alex was struggling to keep up with the reality of production. He had to evaluate whether her wild ideas could actually be brought to life, then test prototypes to see if they even worked. Sometimes, he felt more like an employee being bossed around rather than the actual business owner.
Eventually, he had to put his foot down. Many of Vivian’s ideas, while brilliant, were completely impractical, or at the very least, not something he could produce in the short term. Since he couldn’t afford to keep the shop closed indefinitely, he decided to prioritize the simpler, more feasible designs and introduce them first. The more ambitious ideas would have to wait.
To streamline production, Alex also devised a more efficient method of manufacturing. Instead of painstakingly crafting every part himself, he outsourced all non-magical components, pendants, belts, bracelets, and pocket watches, to Muggle craftsmen. Since he also owned a Muggle business, it was easy enough to set specifications and have the pieces mass-produced. Once the components arrived, all he had to do was embed the talismans inside, transforming them into magical items.
For larger decorative pieces like gramophones, lamps, music boxes, and clocks, he skipped the crafting process entirely and simply purchased high-quality Muggle versions, modifying them with magical enhancements. Thanks to Arthur Weasley’s influence at the Ministry of Magic, Alex was essentially untouchable when it came to repurposing Muggle items. If any other wizard tried to enchant this many Muggle products, they would have been arrested by the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office in an instant. But for Alex? It was business as usual.