Chapter 129: Q.W.A.S.P.P.: Development In Picture (1/2)

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The link is also in the synopsis.

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[This chapter is edited by my Editor: Alan_Loo/AlanL]

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”What do you think he is going to show us this time?” asked Lia West to her grandfather and career mentor about the upcoming event that she was so excited about.

George West glanced at his beloved granddaughter and faintly beamed the excitement the young woman was showing. Two years ago, she had been reluctant to sit at the same spot in the same room and complained about why she was called back home while working on another project.

But the success from the meeting's result had charmed Lia and George as well. While he didn't show it, George was equally excited about the meeting that was about to start. The result of the first meeting was by far the best product that West business had ever created. It had revolutionized a majority of the mail industry, bringing in massive profits by the day.

”I'm in the same position as you, my child. I have no idea what he will show us today,” smiled George and thought about how blessed he was to have Lia and Quinn as his grandchildren.

He had taken Lia under his wing when she graduated from Beauxbatons Academy Of Magic and had been guiding-slash-grooming her to be the next head of the business and his successor. George had some expectations of his granddaughter because Lia had always been an intelligent child ever since she was young. She was the top of her class, had excellent communication skills, and held a genuine interest in joining the business and being a part of the family legacy.

However, Lia had surpassed his expectations. She displayed grit and a hard-working attitude towards the work she was assigned, something George thought Lia would lack at the start and gain with time. She actively took on responsibilities, and even though she made mistakes along the way, her tenacity to learn and implement what she learnt had seen that Lia grew at a steady and rapid rate.

As things were going now, George was confident that the future of the West family and his own legacy would flourish under Lia's hands, and when the time came, he would step down and let the next generation take the lead.

Then there was Quinn West, his amazing grandson. Unlike his sister Lia, Quinn wasn't interested in the family business. George knew that Quinn ran a successful mini-business/service inside Hogwarts, something the ancient school had never seen before. And Quinn was the main contributor to the most significant product that had seen the West business and in the entire magical world in decades.

Regardless, Quinn was interested in magic rather than running a business. Quinn's passion had been clear from a very tender age. Ever since Quinn had performed his first accidental magic, he had been hooked on magic, always looking at magic with starry eyes and with a young curiosity. Besides that, Quinn showed overwhelming talent in the field of magic, a talent level that George had never seen before.

The fact that Quinn could practice wandless magic since the age of five (Quinn's own account) had stunned George and the entire family. At that point, everyone in the family realized how talented Quinn was in magic. All of them came to the anonymous decision that if Quinn wanted to pursue a life in magic, they would fully support him to the best of their ability.

'Oh... Maria, if only you were here...' thought George about his late wife, the love of his life, and felt sad that he couldn't share his happiness with the person he had loved the most.

A knock on the door snapped George out of his thoughts. Lia perked up in her chair.

The door opened, and Quinn entered the room. He was smartly dressed in a well-fit white buttoned-up shirt with faint light blue strips tucked into light gray pants under a darker stone-grey sleeve suit vest. The craftsmanship of the clothes looked non-magical, showing his penchant for buying clothes from the non-magical world and modifying them to his tastes. Though the light brown shoes on his feet were of a magical origin, made from the leather of a Re'em, a magical creature that resembled a giant Ox with golden hide.

Quinn looked calm and relaxed as he entered the room with a comfortable smile on his face. George and Lia immediately felt confident about the upcoming hour because of how Quinn held himself. They both were business people and knew how big MagiFax was and knew that expecting something as notable as MagiFax wouldn't be unreasonable. Their expectation from today was to enjoy what Quinn created, and if it was marketable, they would put it into production. Quinn's relaxed demeanor showed them that he was confident in what he was about to show them, and that raised their confidence in Quinn.

”Good afternoon,” greeted Quinn as he closed the door behind him and walked towards the table George and Lia were sitting behind; interestingly, he didn't have anything in his hands. He effortlessly waved his hands for the barstool at a corner which slid across the room, and stopped beside Quinn.

To this day, George and Lia still felt surprised when Quinn used wandless magic. Last summer, Quinn didn't have control over magic, and when he regained it, it was time for him to go back to Hogwarts. They didn't get to see wandless magic from him until Quinn returned home for Christmas and Easter breaks. Quinn entertained their requests during those breaks and showed him what he could do without a wand or a focus.

It boggled their minds how great at magic Quinn was; he, without a wand, was leagues better than children his age were with wands. He had shown them enough magic to confirm that Quinn was way better than most adult magicals and could be considered well versed in magic.

”I hope I didn't make you two wait,” spoke Quinn as he sat down on the barstool and faced them. ”It's good to do this after so long; a shame that we had to skip out on this last year. Unfortunately, my health didn't permit me to conduct an event like this.” Quinn didn't look sad as he summarized the events of last summer: although a tough time, he had gained essential lessons from it.

”I'm healthy this time and I had a lot more time to create some interesting items and products that might intrigue you,” continued Quinn making eye contact with his grandfather and sister. ”And with some luck, let's hope that the items I show you today will bring prosperity to our family and, in turn, all the people around the world who work for us.”

Quinn felt good sitting in front of George and Lia. He then introduced some of his inventions to them. His inventions were practical applications of the magic he learned; Quinn strongly believed in applying whatever he studied. Theoretical knowledge was incomplete if it couldn't be used in real life to create something. Of course, Quinn couldn't use everything he learned, but he tried to utilise whatever he could apply.

”Welcome to Quinn West's Annual Summer Product Pitch Meetings, abbreviated as QWASPPM,” grinned Quinn. He had coined his pitch meeting with a new title and a long, nonsensical abbreviation.

George lightly chuckled while Lia softly giggled; if it was someone else, they wouldn't have shown this reaction, but this was Quinn, and they were family, so being decompressed like this was acceptable. And even if Quinn spoke like this to someone else, he wouldn't have gotten in trouble after the success of MagiFax.

One product had turned into multiple lines of products with various specifications for diverse customer bases. The profits that MagiFax brought were enough for Quinn to act any way he liked. Of course, except for the family, no one knew that Quinn had developed MagiFax. The designs for MagiFax were under the name of the West business, and Quinn was simply granted a share of profits that George had set up for him.

”So what do you have for us today?” inquired Lia; her excitement peaking in anticipation.

Quinn gazed at Lia, slipped his hand inside his vest, and took out a potion vial from his detachable expanded pocket. After placing the vial with the translucent red potion on the table, Quinn's hand once again went into the pockets and took out a rectangle, long policy-styled envelope, placing it on the table beside the vial.

”As you know, I usually frequent Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop in Hogsmeade during my time at Hogwarts,” started Quinn, and the other two nodded. Quinn had been caught in between the abduction of Harry Potter when he was returning from Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop. It was safe to say that Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop was the store that Quinn visited the most in Hogsmeade. ”The shop, being a stationery-cum-printing store, provides many printing services when not serving the students of Hogwarts with their stationery needs. And one of the services that the manager Gary provides is developing film to produce photographs...”

The cameras that were used by magical society were analog film cameras and were non-magical products from the early nineties. These cameras didn't need a single spell to take photographs; everything from the camera components to the film used was non-magical in origin. This was the reason why they weren't flagged by the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office, which regulated the use of magic on non-magical objects and tried to keep items that had been bewitched away from non-magical folks.

The magic behind the signature moving photographs of the magical world didn't come from the camera but from the developing method. The developing solution was a potion that, when used in the developing of photographs, allowed the pictures to move. And because of that developing potion, the magical world could use non-magical equipment to add photography into their culture.

”... Let's put the moving photographs aside for this talk and focus on color,” continued Quinn while talking out three more objects from inside his suit vest, placed them on the table, and faced them towards Lia and George. ”Now, let's see what we have here.”

The three objects that Quinn took out were two pages and one photograph. The two pages had one photo on them; one colored and one black-and-white. The third photograph was a colored print like any other shot printed on a photo paper. This one was a 3R(3.5”X5” / 8.89cm X 12.7cm) size.

”We know that adding color to a picture is possible as seen on this paper and photo,” noted Quinn while tapping on the paper with the colored picture and the colored photograph. ”But the problem is that it is costlier to achieve colour in photographs. Colour photographs are only seen in framed photographs or family albums because we can't achieve it in mass production.”

Quinn placed his finger on the page with the black-and-white picture and pushed it towards Lia and George. ”Pictures like this are what we see in books, newspapers, and magazines. Only a few very costly books and magazines with high subscription costs showcase colored pictures, and even those have a limited number of colored pictures.”

Lia and George stared at the three pictures on the table, and they were well familiar with what Quinn was talking about. Both of them had subscriptions to a few magazines that showcased colored pictures, but they were priced much higher than something like the Quibbler that Quinn was subscribed to.

”The cost of the ingredients used in the developing solution that enables colored pictures to move is just too high for mass production printing like newspapers. That's why the market is filled with black-and-white images and lacks the gift of vibrant colors which, when combined with moving pictures, really catches the eye.”

George and Lia's eyes immediately went to the potion vial as they took a guess about the vial's contents. Quinn, who saw their reactions beamed, they were correct in their guess about the vial contents.

”Yes... you're guessing correctly. It's exactly what you think it is,” said Quinn, causing George and Lia to look above at him. ”Once again, I present to you a product that will revolutionise the world of printing.”

Quinn picked up the vial and shook it in front of them. ”This one potion can be used to develop films with color and can be used to add color to mass printing like newspapers. If you put this potion into the developing tank of photo films it will give color to moving pictures. If you mix this potion with any of the cheapest of the coloured inks that don't support moving photos, the inks will move, so we'll get coloured photos.”

Lia and George waited without speaking a word because the main issue still wasn't addressed. If the main problem for why colored moving photos weren't more prevalent wasn't solved, then all of this was useless.

”... I got estimates from Gary about how cheap the potion must be for printers to turn a profit by selling colored newspapers and books.” The confident smile on Quinn gained then a bit of smugness. ”This potion is below the price that Gary quoted, and thus, I, Quinn West, will provide the world's cheapest colored developing potion.”

Lia and George stared at the potion vial on the table and the translucent red solution inside. The possibilities flashed inside their brains, and if what was promised was true, then this was huge. They would once again hold a monopoly over print media supplies because before anyone figured the recipe or created a recipe with similar effects, they wouldn't have any competitors.

This product was also perfect for a business like Wests. They operated in multiple countries and would directly spread the product without a middleman in numerous countries. Even the countries they didn't have a base in would be a targeted market if they could figure out transportation logistics.

”With colour will come the need for new printing press,” explained Quinn. His potion had the potential to revolutionize the printing industry and push them into the color era in one push, but to accomplish that, the world needed infrastructure. ”The black-and-white printing machines that can print fast for newspapers and books won't work anymore. We need printing machines that print fast and in color.”