Sterling immediately noticed a large, immaculately maintained shop window that was the complete opposite of the dusty Ollivander's wand shop. Through the crystal-clear glass, he could see an impressive row of books with gleaming gold-embossed covers.
"'Sailing with Vampires,' 'Walking with Trolls,' 'Weekends with Werewolves'... all written by the same author."
Gilderoy Lockhart. Sterling carefully memorized the name.
He had absolutely no intention of limiting his fairy tale writing to only the Muggle world. Surely there were children in the wizarding world too? Of course there were. He wanted as many people as possible to discover and enjoy his dreams.
Therefore, he needed to thoroughly investigate what kinds of stories people in the magical world actually enjoyed reading. Studying works by established magical authors was obviously the most efficient approach.
"Oh, Mr. Lockhart..."
Professor McGonagall's tone carried an unmistakable awkwardness. She caught sight of the blond wizard winking confidently from the book cover, flashing his trademark brilliant smile, and immediately turned her head away in obvious discomfort.
Sterling didn't notice her reaction at all. Like an excited little bird, he practically fluttered into the spacious bookstore. At the very front of the towering shelves stood large display cabinets filled with neat bundles of books tied together with string. Each bundle bore a simple paper label identifying contents like "First Year Textbooks."
This arrangement suited Sterling perfectly. Professor McGonagall was clearly pressed for time, so eliminating the search process for required textbooks meant he could dedicate more precious time to hunting for the books he truly wanted to explore.
First came the extensive series by Gilderoy Lockhart. The books certainly weren't inexpensive. Each volume cost a substantial five Galleons. Since Sterling wanted to purchase other materials as well, he carefully selected the two titles that interested him most: "Sailing with Vampires" and "Traveling with Dementors."
He chose the first because Sterling was genuinely curious to see how vampires in the magical world differed from those he'd encountered in the dream realm. The latter was reportedly the most classic and best-selling book in the entire series.
"Next, the fairy tale books should be located in... children's literature... here they are!"
While novels primarily revealed reader preferences, to find genuine creative inspiration, it would be far better to examine the actual fairy tales that young wizards read. The priorities absolutely must not be reversed.
However, Sterling felt immediately disappointed. Compared to the spacious, well-organized areas dedicated to other literary sections, the children's literature corner occupied merely a small, cramped space with only a handful of modest bookshelves.
Sterling tried to console himself. Low popularity for children's books was probably normal in any society. Naturally, they couldn't possibly compete with practical magical texts. These few shelves represented quite a substantial collection, all things considered.
But his premature optimism proved unfounded.
When he actually approached the shelves for closer inspection, he discovered that three of the four bookshelves were filled entirely with identical copies of "The Tales of Beedle the Bard." Only the final shelf contained a few scattered fairy tale collections like "Merlin's Legendary Stories" and "Adventures of the Fire Dragon," barely managing to fill even that limited space.
Observing the thick layer of dust that had accumulated on that last neglected shelf, Sterling felt his heart becoming covered with its own layer of melancholy dust.
The situation was painfully obvious. The fairy tale market in the magical world was completely dominated by Beedle the Bard. He had learned the business term "market dominance" by accidentally eavesdropping on one of Andrew's professional phone calls.
"The Tales of Beedle the Bard" represented the first choice for magical fairy tales and, far worse, appeared to be virtually the only choice. Even the nearby "Adventures of Plumpluff the Pixie" was draped in cobwebs! If not for Sterling's exceptionally sharp eyesight, he couldn't have made out the dust-covered title clearly.
Taking a deep, steadying breath, Sterling carefully opened "The Tales of Beedle the Bard," flipping randomly to the beginning of a story to discover what kind of literary masterpiece this was... one powerful enough to completely overshadow all other fairy tale collections.
"The Warlock's Hairy Heart? What a strange title."
He skimmed down the page quickly, intending only a brief glance since he hadn't forgotten that Professor McGonagall was waiting impatiently.
But that single glance caused his eyes to freeze completely on a startlingly familiar name that he absolutely could not ignore.
"...The sorceress Maleficent raised her ancient staff, summoning countless thorns from the corrupted earth..."
Sorceress... Maleficent?
Sterling rubbed his eyes vigorously to ensure he wasn't somehow mistaken. Whether it was Maleficent's distinctive name or the specific magical elements of ravens and thorns, everything seemed to clearly indicate an impossible fact.
Someone else had somehow reached the dream world before him. Perhaps it was the mysterious wizard who had traded those Galleons with Lady Maleficent?
Could that person have been Beedle the Bard himself?
The more Sterling read, the more bewildered he became. "The Warlock's Hairy Heart" told the story of a prosperous kingdom that had accidentally angered a powerful dragon. The dragon, surrounded by deadly green poisonous mist, had seized control of the entire kingdom. The fertile land no longer produced clean, nourishing food... only corrupted fruits that would poison anyone who consumed too many.
Just as the kingdom's desperate people were approaching starvation, a noble knight happened to pass through their territory. Upon learning the terrible truth from the suffering farmers, the knight mounted his golden steed and rode angrily to confront the dragon directly.
Tragically, the brave knight ultimately fell beneath the dragon's terrifying poisonous fire. The dragon's toxic flames could instantly reduce a person to a withered corpse with even minimal contact. The knight fought valiantly for five days and nights but was finally burned through the gaps in his protective armor.
The people, upon hearing news of the knight's heroic death, were absolutely devastated. They flocked to his fallen body to mourn properly and composed beautiful songs celebrating his extraordinary bravery. Other knights who subsequently arrived charged the dragon courageously, but none could penetrate its deep emerald scales.
The knights' fearless sacrifice deeply moved the Crow Witch Maleficent, who dwelled in the nearby marshlands. She came to the barren, poisoned land and wept genuine tears over the knights' graves. Her magical tears watered the corrupted earth, causing a pure golden wand to sprout from the blessed soil.
Wielding the wand blessed by the fallen knights' spirits, the Crow Witch battled the poisonous dragon throughout the empty royal city. The toxic fire obscured all vision, burning continuously for seven full days and nights. Just when everyone believed the Crow Witch had surely perished, the flames finally died away. The Crow Witch emerged victorious, holding aloft the dragon's severed horn as proof of her triumph.
From that day forward, the kingdom's poisoned land once again grew healthy crops. Lady Crow Witch inherited the knights' noble mission to protect innocent people, conjuring a magical forest beside the kingdom to guard it forever against future threats.
The end.
After finishing the tale, Sterling had only one overwhelming thought: Beedle the Bard was probably a fairy tale writer of exactly the same extraordinary kind as himself.
That Maleficent was undoubtedly the same Lady Maleficent from his dream world visits. The magical elements roughly matched her actual abilities and personality. But beyond those basic facts...
Everything else was purely artistic embellishment and creative interpretation.
Sterling understood that Beedle the Bard had likely wanted to express the inspiring message that the legacy of courage can overcome any difficulty. Fairy tales needed such clear moral lessons for their young readers.
Therefore, Beedle the Bard had probably "moderately" altered the actual facts for dramatic effect.
Oh, and regardless of whether he was the same wizard who had made that ancient trade with Lady Maleficent, he was surely a gifted individual like Sterling... someone capable of crossing the mysterious boundaries between the waking and dream worlds.
He probably wasn't the original trader, since, according to Lady Maleficent's account, that particular wizard had only visited briefly and seemed somehow rejected by the entire dream world. Meanwhile, Beedle the Bard appeared to have carefully observed complete story cycles unfolding throughout the dream realm.
Honestly, Sterling still felt somewhat disappointed. Until this moment, he had believed himself to be the only person capable of consistently and stably traversing between worlds. He hadn't expected such a talented individual to have already existed during medieval times.
Children always preferred feeling uniquely special.
However, discovering a kindred spirit also genuinely surprised Sterling. Not only did they share the same rare talent, but they also shared the identical profession as fairy tale writers and... the same creative approach to storytelling.
Beedle's "The Warlock's Hairy Heart" reminded Sterling strongly of his own previous work, which still topped the children's bestseller lists in London bookstores: "The Helpful Sea Witch and the Unruly Little Mermaid."
Artistic creation naturally involved "a certain amount" of "reasonable" and "harmless" adaptation. Authors, editors, and readers all gladly accepted such creative liberties.
Perhaps Lady Maleficent and the Mermaid Princess wouldn't be entirely pleased to see these particular interpretations, but... fairy tale books would never be distributed within the dream world itself.
Since they had never expressed any disapproval of his work, that clearly meant they had no serious objections.
Sterling solemnly selected the best-preserved copy of "The Tales of Beedle the Bard" and resolved to study this distinguished predecessor's masterpiece with appropriate reverence and scholarly attention.