A certain Hogwarts professor of runes.

As expected, a spectacular fireworks display took place at sea that evening.

The entire celebration lasted for half a month, completely different from the lonely Christmas Felix had envisioned. Even the New Year was spent in a noisy atmosphere, and the vast sea seemed to connect wizards from all over the world even more closely.

Every day he saw familiar figures. Luna, seemingly lost in thought, as if she had wandered here by accident… Hermione waving at him while holding Varen… Sirius Black, who had found a new motorcycle, which Harry and Ron would occasionally borrow for a ride… former Old Magic professor Bathsheba Barbling… Professor Bubbaggie, concerned about the island's soil problems… the eccentric Trelawney… Lupin, Tonks, Hogwarts students and professors, officials from various Ministries of Magic, pen pals he had never met, and even journalists…

Their story has only just begun.

---Aside---

That's basically the end of the main text. I'll add my thoughts later during the day.

Author's Closing Remarks + Side Story Arrangements

Let's talk about this book.

From April 6th of last year to June 5th of yesterday, I wrote for about a year and two months, totaling 235 million words, which is much more than my own estimate (expectation) of 2 to 2.2 million words. If you include the side stories that I haven't started writing yet, the word count will be even higher.

Comments aren't displayed on Qidian these past few days, but authors can see them in the backend. I just went through everyone's comments, so let me answer a few questions that might be of interest—why does the story end here? How is the romance handled (yes, there's more of it)? Are there any side stories?

Actually, the story didn't stop there; it just ended there. My personal understanding is that the main story is continuous in time and coherent in plot, while the epilogue can step outside of time and focus on some representative and meaningful events.

The recent chapters mark the climax of the book; continuing would simply depict the return to normalcy, political intrigue, and the details of establishing a new order. The substantial changes resulting from the merging of the magical and non-magical worlds require time to unfold. While it's not impossible to write it chronologically, it would slow down the overall pace and make the story feel lengthy and tedious. I've always strived to avoid 'tediousness,' even in everyday scenes, making them as engaging as possible and putting considerable thought into them. These everyday scenes all serve a clear purpose, such as showcasing the protagonist's actions from another perspective, foreshadowing events, highlighting character charisma, and demonstrating the wonder of magic…

When I was writing the book, I was the one who most wanted to write a good ending, ending it abruptly at the climax, leaving a lingering impression. At the same time, I put the content that couldn't be written into the main text into the epilogue, filling in the foreshadowing as much as possible, some briefly mentioned, and some described in detail.

The second and third questions can be addressed together. Regarding the romance, after much deliberation, I've decided to place it in a separate side story chapter so readers who don't enjoy it can skip it. The story is tentatively set five years after the main story ends (2003), a date with special significance as it marks the beginning of the budding romance between the two characters.

It's actually somewhat similar to the final part of the original work—'The Epilogue Nineteen Years Later'. This can be compared to the entire set of interconnected side stories that follow.

There may be a dozen or so side stories depicting the future of the magical world. My current idea is to borrow the POV writing style from Game of Thrones, where each chapter uses a different person's name as the title and the main narrative perspective, showcasing the various changes in the future magical world through their current situation, social relationships, and current activities. They will also naturally intersect with other people, and the perspective will constantly shift, eventually bringing these people together in a suitable setting.

The above are my considerations for the side story. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, I will update one side story chapter daily starting June 11th (next Saturday). The five-day break in between is a buffer I'm giving myself to rest, brainstorm plot ideas, and deal with things that have been piling up for a long time.

Okay, now that we've covered the important stuff, let's talk about our thoughts.

First of all, I would like to thank the new patrons of this book—euru, 尘漪sain, 黑萌优, and momus—and thank you all for your tremendous support. In total, this book has nineteen patrons, including two silver patrons. I checked, and the book has accumulated 200,000 collections, 300,000 recommendation votes, and 10,000 monthly tickets (I think it's much more, but I can't find the exact number). It has been featured on major promotional pages, awarded "Featured," reached 10,000 subscriptions, and become a one-star work of honor. During its serialization, it frequently appeared on the first page of category charts…

It's no exaggeration to say that this is a complete miracle for me.

On the day I uploaded Chapter 1, I made a pessimistic prediction (based on past experience): this book would most likely fail—publishing a book out of pure enthusiasm, only to have it ignored, like playing a one-man game, getting rejected after reaching the word count, and then all sorts of other things piling up, ultimately leading to its demise. From university to the years after graduation, I've written six or seven beginnings, so I'm very familiar with this process. But I couldn't help it; my enthusiasm was too much to handle… The excellent results I've achieved now wouldn't have been possible without everyone's support. Thank you all so much!

I love you all!!!

Well, let me tell you about my writing journey.

This book was very difficult to write, and it became increasingly difficult to produce as it went on. However, the challenge lay in how to present the story in a better way, rather than in the psychological burnout caused by continuous writing. From beginning to end, I really liked and loved this story, and I poured countless efforts into it.

I believe that anyone who has devoted thousands of hours to something will hope that it will have a perfect ending and give the characters in the story a happy conclusion.

On April 26th of last year, I posted a thread mentioning three keywords regarding the writing style of this book: logical, original style, and foreshadowing. At that time, the book had been published for less than a month, and I mainly relied on my intuition to feel that this was the best way to write it. I had no idea how many challenges it would bring me later. Of course, after more than 4 chapters, I have indeed tried my best to achieve these goals and feel that I have not deviated from my original intention in publishing the book—to write a magic story that is as authentic as possible.

To achieve this goal, I gradually set limits for myself during the writing process. For example, I tried not to add new characters, but instead explored the charm and more possibilities of the original characters; I did not create duplicates at will, and the content I wrote could be traced back to the original work and reference materials; I focused mainly on the school and students; I respected the original work; I pursued logical rationality... and I also laid foreshadowing.

Some foreshadowing came to me in a flash of inspiration while writing, things I thought might be useful, so I just casually mentioned them, usually hidden in dialogue or a detail; others were events that needed time to develop and take a turn. I remember Hermione's foreshadowing particularly vividly… from her initial idea, to Harry and Ron's reactions, Felix's guidance, writing the paper, her conversation with the house-elves, contrasting it with the treatment of the Ilvermorny goblins, establishing her ideal of becoming Minister for Magic, and finally the Pan-Magical Alliance. It went through many chapters, and I didn't have a complete plan from the beginning; rather, I discovered as I wrote that it could be integrated together.

Paying attention to detail and foreshadowing means that the later the book goes, the more time is spent thinking about the plot—far more than the time spent typing. This is actually a profound realization I've had after writing a complete story. The chapters readers see are the result of the author's repeated weighing and consideration, chosen from countless possible plot developments as the most suitable and confident (not necessarily the best). This is particularly evident in the seventh-grade plot, where the author racked their brains to avoid falling into various moral dilemmas, rejecting many ideas.

These limitations may not be entirely positive; they can also become problems in themselves. But at least they helped me write smoothly to the end, without falling apart or deviating from the topic. I'm already very satisfied with the result, especially since summarizing the gains and losses can help with future writing.

Then there's what to write in the new book. Well, I haven't figured that out yet. I plan to think about it carefully while I'm writing the side stories.

Finally, I would like to thank every reader again for their support and companionship along the way. Thank you for your subscriptions, rewards, comments, monthly tickets, recommendation tickets, and bonus chapters... for the footprints you have left on this book and the emotions you have poured into it; I would also like to thank my three editors, Xiaoyuan, Otter, and Good Luck, and the editor-in-chief, Green Bean, for their attention and support for this book; thank you to the operations officer, Lazy Fat Cancer, for his tireless efforts; thank you to the many administrators of the book club for maintaining order despite my long-term inactivity; thank you to all the fanfiction and art masters for enriching the book's content and scope; and thank you to the original author, Rowling, for providing such a wonderful story, from which I learned many of my writing techniques...

That's about it for now. I'll ask the editor about investing in this book tomorrow when they're at work. I vaguely remember seeing it in some group chat; it seems the final step requires the author to click "complete" themselves. See you again on June 11th! Perfect timing, the author's off to get some beer and kebabs!

Han Yousi, June 5, 2022.