Chapter 221
Chapter 221
In the end, Suer opened the box with magic. The centaur before him appeared to bear no hostility, but caution remained essential.
Lys naturally raised no objection. She merely smiled and waited for his choice.
The lid opened. Bright-yellow silk cushioned the object inside.
It was a bronze badger. Suer froze when he saw it. Apart from being almost unnaturally lifelike, it possessed nothing remarkable. No black mist rushed into his face when the box opened. The figure remained ordinary and silent.
Lys, who had watched Suer’s expression throughout, smiled more deeply.
He understood why it looked familiar. It was identical to the bronze badger from Vault 777–except Suer knew with certainty that his first figure remained on the bedside cabinet in his dormitory.
“Do you remember now?” Lys asked softly.
Suer nodded in silence.
“To my knowledge, that witch prepared three identical objects.”
“Three?” Suer reached out and stroked the badger inside the box. Its patterns were so precise that the finest hair seemed visible. Yet it was certainly not a magical object. He had handled the one in his dormitory many times.
Suer had assumed it was merely a keepsake. Now it appeared far from simple.
“Yes, three.” Lys nodded. “Three is a most interesting number.”
“Why?” Suer asked.
“I cannot tell you more.” Lys smiled mysteriously. “Revealing the answer too soon would oppose the lady’s wishes. Fate will arrange everything in the end.”
“It is growing late. Will you accept this gift?”
“A gift?”
“Yes. From what I know of the lady, it is a gift for you.”
“Is it connected to Hogwarts? To a secret?”
“You must find the answer yourself, though I doubt it will remain hidden from you.” Lys spoke gently. “When you find the third, bring all of them to me.”
“You still have not answered. Will you accept?”
“All right.” Suer nodded, closed the box and lifted it. “You seem very certain I can find the third.”
“Fate has already made its arrangements.” Lys offered no direct answer. Light shimmered in her green eyes.
“Now, young wizard, did you not come to find this little one? Go and do what you intended.”
“Chirp, chirp…” Before Suer could answer, the Bowtruckle sprang up, scrambled to his shoulder and tugged hard upon his ear.
“Why do you love pulling my ear so much?” Suer poked the creature. From now on, he would call it Ear-Tugger.
“One more question. How old are you?” Suer could not resist asking before he left.
“How old? An interesting question. Among humans, asking a lady’s age is considered impolite.” Lys waved. “You should go.”
Before Suer could react, he found himself outside the building. Was centaur magic truly this extraordinary?
“Chirp!”
The Bowtruckle on his shoulder tugged his ear and pointed in one direction.
Apparently, women of every species cared about their age.
Suer patted his satchel. “All right, we’re going now, Ear-Tugger.”
“Chirp-chirp!” It seemed to be shouting, My name isn’t Ear-Tugger!
“Then you shouldn’t tug ears so much.”
“Chirp!”
The wizard and Bowtruckle gradually disappeared into the distance.
…
Some time later, Suer left the Forbidden Forest and entered the castle through the oak doors in a daze. There was no other reason: the Bowtruckles’ cries had been impossibly infectious.
Especially when he produced the jar of Doxy eggs.
The Bowtruckles inhabiting all three trees went as mad as cats presented with catnip.
For a while, chirps filled the forest without pause.
Even so, Suer had gained some understanding of Mr Scamander’s unique happiness. Covered from head to foot in Bowtruckles–wonderful.
It was nearly dinner by the time he left the Forbidden Forest. Too lazy to return to his dormitory first, Suer wandered to the familiar long table and sat.
“Are you all right?”
Hermione waved a hand before him.
Suer instinctively caught the small, pale hand, raised it to his lips and gave it a nibble.
“Ah!” Hermione cried out. Colour flooded past her cheeks to her ears. Noticing the teasing looks from all around, she yanked her hand back and smacked Suer in embarrassed fury.
That blow finally woke him.
“What happened?” Suer looked blankly at the red-faced Hermione, then felt the pain in his arm. Why had she hit him?
Unfortunately, Hermione ignored him and refused even a word of explanation.
Several young wizards nearby huddled together, glanced repeatedly towards Suer and Hermione, then lowered their heads and giggled.
“What did I just do, Harry?”
Harry wore an expression that seemed to say, Please behave like a human being and leave me out of this. He ignored Suer too and turned to murmur with Ron.
Until dinner ended, Suer tried several times to speak with Hermione and failed. Each attempt received only a pretty roll of her eyes.
I absolutely will not say one word to you today. Not one!
Back in the dormitory, Justin and Morn wore openly envious expressions and asked with wicked grins what a girl’s hand tasted like.
Suer still could not remember what he had done. Three invisible question marks appeared above his head.
From Justin and Morn’s sarcastic hints, he finally reconstructed the incident.
“If you want to know what a girl’s hand tastes like, find girlfriends and nibble their hands yourselves,” Suer replied irritably.
“Provided, of course, that you’re handsomer than I am.”
“That’s too much!” Justin’s eyes widened. He signalled to Morn. “We can’t let that pass, can we?”
Morn nodded fiercely without a word. “Get him!”