บท 171: Finally
(3rd Person POV)
Harry Potter sales were climbing as people rushed to read it after seeing the trailers. Many soon regretted this - not because the book was bad, but because it was so good they wished they'd waited for the film.
This led others to hold off on reading, preferring to see the story fresh in theaters.
Meanwhile, other studios tried releasing their own movie trailers, but none could match what Harry Potter had shown.
The anticipation surrounding Harry Potter prompted most studios to adjust their release schedules, avoiding direct competition. All except Titan Pictures, who scheduled "Great Knight Conqueror" for June 22, 1273 - mere days after Harry Potter's June 18 release.
Titan Pictures seemed blind to the situation, with their director openly declaring in newspapers that their film would surpass the "hyped" Harry Potter.
Many industry watchers saw history repeating itself - Titan Pictures once again refusing to back down from a clash with Hellfire Studio.
The rivalry sparked widespread speculation about which studio would prevail. At Wall Street in Apple City, USE, investment brokers even set up informal betting pools.
"Which one's getting your money?" asked James Wheeler, a veteran broker managing the bets.
"Harry Potter," replied a trader, straightening his collar.
"Not backing Titan's new film?" Wheeler's eyes crinkled with amusement.
The trader shook his head. "Look at the facts - Harry Potter's popularity is through the roof. Besides, remember how Titan's 'Desired Crown' fell flat against Hellfire's western movie? Even with that massive budget, they couldn't compete."
"Fair point," Wheeler chuckled, noting down the bet.
Not everyone was convinced Harry Potter would dominate. Some backed "Great Knight Conqueror", partly because betting against Harry Potter offered better odds, though a few genuinely believed the hype was overblown.
Arguments erupted across Wall Street trading floors.
"This Harry Potter thing's just a kids' movie," one trader scoffed. "People are only excited because Arthur Morningstar made it."
"Arthur Pendragon," his colleague corrected. "He changed his name. And don't write it off as just a kids' film because the cast is young. Mark my words - it'll be something special."
"I'm not buying it," the first trader shook his head, but couldn't deny the world's growing anticipation for Harry Potter's release.
***
(Mark Stark POV)
The Harry Potter trailers have been great for business - my publishing company Stark Quill is seeing book sales shoot up like never before.
I couldn't be happier about this. Having read the book several times myself, I can honestly say it's one of my favorites. It stands right up there with works by some of the best authors I know.
My whole family's caught the Harry Potter fever. My kids and wife have read it too, and we're all dying to see the film. Sometimes I wish I hadn't read it - might be more fun to watch without knowing what's coming - but I'm still excited to see how they bring it to life.
As Stark Quill's owner, I got an early look at Arthur's second book, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets." I'm halfway through and completely hooked. Makes me wonder where Arthur gets these amazing stories from - The Demonfather, Lord of the Rings, The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, and now Harry Potter. The man's got an endless supply of great tales.
Arthur's endless creativity amazes me, but right now I'm focused on something else - getting my family to Horn Kingdom for the premiere.
We've booked our flights already.
The premiere in Horn Kingdom's capital would only be an hour ahead of Morningstar and other Anatolia kingdoms, but that hour meant everything to us. If Arthur hadn't mentioned this detail, we'd have settled for the Morningstar screening.
Sometimes, it's hard to believe I'm business partners with such an influential demon. His reputation grows by the day, yet he still takes the time to share these small but crucial details.
"We're going to another kingdom? Yes!" Erica bounced around our sofa, her excitement contagious.
Jeffrey couldn't contain his grin either. Their enthusiasm was understandable - this would be their first trip outside Leaf Kingdom. Usually, my business travels kept me away from family, but Harry Potter's soaring sales had finally given me breathing room to plan a proper family vacation.
***
The Horn Kingdom's capital welcomed us with unexpected sights. While waiting for Harry Potter's release, I took the kids exploring.
We discovered the city had fallen in love with a new sport called "football." Children filled the streets wearing team jerseys, kicking balls with friends. My kids were instantly fascinated.
Following their interest, I bought tickets to a match. The spectacle amazed us - floating cameras captured every moment, and a dance troupe performed before the players took the field.
I found myself unexpectedly drawn into the football match. It's strange - back home in Leaf Kingdom, and across most of Evros, nobody pays attention to the sport. It barely exists in people's minds.
Yet here in Horn Kingdom, the atmosphere was electric. During my last visit, football hadn't even registered as entertainment. Now I sat in a packed stadium, caught up in the excitement.
Only afterward did I learn that Arthur's Hellfire Network broadcasts these matches live. I had to laugh at myself - I'd been so buried in running Stark Quill and other businesses that I'd missed Arthur's moves into football, including his acquisition of major associations. The demon never stops innovating.
From what I can see, he's transformed football's popularity in Horn Kingdom. Other kingdoms might not have embraced it yet, but this feels like just the beginning.
***
June 18th arrived before we knew it. Standing outside Pendragon Theatre with my wife and bouncing children, I felt the crowd's anticipation. We found our seats among the buzzing audience, my own excitement building.
Whispered conversations filled the theatre until the lights dimmed. As darkness fell, the murmurs faded to silence. The moment we'd traveled so far to experience was finally here.
The film opened simply with "Hellfire Studio" - quite different from the usual parade of studio logos.
Must be because of Arthur's split with his distribution partners, I thought, recalling the recent industry gossip about his falling out with previous collaborators.
The story followed the novel closely, though I noticed subtle differences.
Harry's character felt different - less mischievous than in the novel, more innocent as he endured Dudley's constant bullying. The audience around me grew increasingly frustrated watching these scenes.
"If that fat kid was my son, I'd teach him some proper manners," someone muttered behind me.
I had to smile at their protective reactions. The whole theater seemed to share a moment of satisfaction when Dudley found himself trapped behind the snake's glass enclosure.
"Ha! That's what you get!" a man in the front row called out, drawing scattered laughs of agreement.
The mood lifted considerably when Harry's Hogwarts letter arrived by owl. My kids practically bounced in their seats at this first real sign of magic in Harry's life.
When Hagrid finally arrived to take Harry away, a demon in the audience couldn't contain himself. "Thank demon lord. Those Dursleys were driving me crazy."
"About time someone stood up to them," his neighbor agreed.
Their reactions were understandable. After watching Harry's aunt, uncle, and cousin mistreat him for so long, there was something deeply satisfying about seeing the massive Hagrid terrify the Dursleys into giving Harry his first-ever birthday cake.
As Harry left Privet Drive, the audience leaned forward in anticipation - the trailers had shown us his destination would be King's Cross station, where everything would change.
When Harry reached King's Cross, he was surrounded by ordinary humans until he passed through that mysterious wall to find the Hogwarts Express.
"I had no idea King's Cross had a magical barrier," whispered the man next to me.
I turned with a smile. "You're from Wales?"
He nodded proudly. "Born and raised."
I held back a chuckle, not wanting to spoil his imagination of secret passages in his local station. As a fan of the novel, I shared his wish that Platform 9¾ really existed.
The scene shifted to Harry aboard the Hogwarts Express, surrounded by young elves and demons his age. The setting radiated magic - Arthur had captured the wonder perfectly.
บท 172: Almost hitting a billion
(3rd Person POV)
The film captivated its audience as Harry's journey continued. Viewers smiled watching his first friendship form with Hermione on the Hogwarts Express, their anticipation building until Hogwarts finally appeared - its magical architecture drawing gasps of wonder.
The Sorting Hat ceremony introduced the four houses: Gryffindor for humans like Harry, Ravenclaw where Hermione surprisingly joined the elves, Slytherin housing demons like Draco Malfoy, and Hufflepuff with its diverse mix. The magical world mesmerized everyone - the sight of wands amplifying spells so dramatically had audience members wishing they owned such powerful instruments.
Then came the ghosts, and Mark found himself puzzled. Nearly Headless Nick appeared to welcome Harry, Ron, and Hermione to his ghostly party, floating transparent through the great hall. The Bloody Baron, The Fat Friar, and The Grey Lady drifted in the background, passing through walls with eerie realism.
Mark couldn't figure out how Hellfire Studio had achieved these effects. Even the most sophisticated illusion magic couldn't make actors appear truly transparent or pass through solid objects so convincingly.
The thought that they might be actual ghosts crossed his mind, but he dismissed it as impossible. Still, the effects were unlike anything he'd seen in other films.
The audience delighted in the ghosts' humorous interactions, and Mark eventually decided to stop analyzing the technical aspects and simply enjoy the story unfolding before him.
The flying lesson scene had the audience fascinated. A wizard professor in the crowd watched intently, wondering if such broom flight was truly possible.
Harry took flight for the first time, his natural talent was obvious - he moved through the air like he'd been doing it for years.
As the story moved forward, Harry discovered the Mirror of Erised, revealing his deepest desire. His conversation with Albus Dumbledore about the mirror's power left many in the theater feeling sympathy for the young wizard.
The film continued, with Mark and other viewers completely absorbed. Harry and his friends faced off against a Primal Troll - a creature far larger than the trolls that roamed the world today. Despite the odds, they emerged victorious.
Time passed in the story, leading to Harry's first Quidditch match. Gryffindor's victory brought smiles to everyone's faces, including Harry's.
"Makes me wish I could play that," someone whispered in the audience, voicing what many felt, though they knew magical flying brooms weren't exactly common.
The story took a more serious turn when Hagrid revealed the truth about Harry's parents. "Lily and James Potter," he said warmly, "weren't just known for fighting dark forces. They worked hard to bring humans, demons, and elves together when everyone was divided. They believed working together was the only way to keep peace in our world."
His words resonated throughout the theater. The world outside remained deeply divided - humans maintaining their superiority over demons, elves clashing with dwarves over environmental issues, dwarves claiming intellectual supremacy, and demons nursing centuries-old grievances from their fallen empire of four hundred years past.
The audience understood why the Potters' cause had been so important.
The story built toward its climax, drawing stronger reactions from the audience with each scene.
When Quirrell revealed Voldemort's face on the back of his head, children throughout the theater gasped in fear. Even adults recoiled - a dwarf in front involuntarily touched the back of his neck, shuddering.
Though Mark knew Harry would survive, he still found himself tense. Next to him, an elf couldn't contain herself. "Run!" she cried out as Quirrell cornered Harry with a wall of magical flames.
"This is it, you brat. Give me the stone!" Quirrell advanced menacingly.
"No!" Harry backed away, only to burn himself on the flame wall.
"There is no other way, Harry. Give me the sorcerer's stone!" Voldemort's face demanded.
The audience leaned forward as Harry gritted his teeth before saying, "You want the stone?" He held it up.
"Yes, yes." Quirrell's eyes gleamed with greed. "Hand it!" Voldemort echoed.
"Here!" Harry tossed it past the flames.
Quirrell rushed through his own flame wall to catch it - a decision that proved fatal. The magic, amplified by his wand, set him ablaze. Yet his obsession drove him forward.
Harry, seeing the flames die down after Quirrell passed through, followed and grabbed the stone. He watched as his pursuer writhed in agony.
"Ahh!!!" Quirrell screamed, Voldemort's shrieks joining his own.
The audience couldn't help but appreciate the irony, some even chuckling at Quirrell being consumed by his own spell. When Harry's touch turned the already burning professor to dust, a demon in the crowd remarked, "What an idiot. Done in by his own flames."
Scattered laughter filled the theater - the villain's downfall proving both satisfying and slightly amusing.
***
Harry Potter's opening day exceeded even the most optimistic predictions. Rather than losing momentum, the film's popularity grew stronger each day. When Titan Pictures released "Great Knight Conqueror," their stubbornly scheduled competitor barely made a ripple in the market.
While Titan Pictures struggled with disappointingly low numbers, Harry Potter dominated screens across Empirica, Anatolia, Evros, Eden, and the Middle East.
A week into its release, the film stunned the industry by reaching 310 million dollars in box office earnings.
Records fell one after another.
Arthur watched these numbers with a mix of satisfaction and concern. The fact that one dollar here equaled ten in his previous world's economy made this achievement even more staggering. Three hundred million dollars meant the equivalent of three billion in his old world's terms - an almost unthinkable sum for a single film to generate so quickly.
He could already see the coming rush - major corporations would be scrambling to invest in film production, attracted by such astronomical returns.
With Harry Potter's massive earnings, media outlets dusted off their old economic concerns. These were the same headlines they'd used when Lord of the Rings had broken records - warnings about "economic shock" and "rising inflation."
The newspaper on his desk read: "Harry Potter Earns Astronomical 310 Million Dollars! Economic Experts Warn of Potential Market Destabilization"
The article speculated about the "Dollar" currency facing significant inflation. But Arthur viewed these concerns differently. He understood this world's currency dynamics - value would hold steady overall, with inflation varying by nation rather than hitting globally.
Horn Kingdom's cost of living was rising, true, but salaries kept pace. The simple equation of one dollar here equaling ten from his previous world no longer held up, as currency values had been gradually shifting anyway.
Wealth itself wasn't Arthur's primary concern - he focused more on accumulating Entertainment Points. Though he recognized his growing fortune would attract unwanted attention from both government officials and criminals, the Horn Kingdom's authorities posed little threat.
Criminals, however, warranted caution. Arthur flexed his fingers absently - it had been a while since he'd had a good fight.
***
(Arthur POV)
Five weeks in, and "Harry Potter" finally hit its ceiling at 800 million dollars.
[Congratulations! Your film has set new records and earned 800 million dollars!]
[Reward: Bracelet of Lifeblood Veins]
[A delicate band of darkened metal interwoven with crimson veins that pulse with a subtle glow. The veins contain an ancient enchanted substance that resonates with the world's mana, creating an elegant interplay of deep crimson and gold that seems to breathe with life.]
"A bracelet?" I examined its functions, finding it could enhance magical spells like my Devourer Ring.
The interesting part was its {Heartbeat Sense} ability, supposedly letting me feel the world's "heartbeat" and detect shifts between secret realms and the surface world.
World's heartbeat? I wondered if it was sensing something like tectonic movements or magnetic field fluctuations - there had to be some scientific explanation behind this mystical description.
It also came with {World Traversal}, allowing one teleport per day through the Lifeblood Veins' power.
"Nice bracelet, but..." I frowned. "For 800 million dollars? Really?" The teleportation seemed particularly underwhelming - I rarely left my office anyway.
Still, I pulled it from storage. The thin band looked decent enough on my wrist, at least.
While admiring the bracelet's design, I felt the ancient amulet in my pocket suddenly vibrate.
Pulling it out, I watched with raised eyebrows as it reacted strongly to my new accessory. The bracelet sent an odd sensation through my wrist - somehow it could detect that the amulet held information about various secret realms.
My curiosity peaked when the amulet began glowing helplessly, as if the bracelet was forcing it to reveal its secrets. It surrendered the location of one realm.
Information flooded my mind through the bracelet: "Glacia Expanse... Anus Gate..."
I processed this new knowledge. Glacia Expanse lay at the world's end, far south of Horn Kingdom - essentially this world's version of Antarctica. And within it stood the Anus Gate, supposedly a portal to the Netherworld.
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