"Professor Dumbledore?" Kael asked doubtfully.
"It’s ." Dumbledore nodded. He glanced at Kael’s wand and said, "When I taught you that charm, it wasn’t for you to use on your friends."
Alright then, now he could be sure—the person in front of him was indeed Dumbledore himself.
Kael withdrew the Magic Text at the tip of his wand and glanced behind him.
A blurry figure was stumbling and running toward them.
"That’s Harry," Dumbledore explained. "Since you just happen to be standing in the moonlight, he recognized you from far away."
Kael tried to make sense of what was happening, but he just couldn’t figure out why he was seeing Dumbledore here.
Could it be that the Ministry of Magic detected the Portkey? Did Dumbledore specifically co to pick them up?
That shouldn’t be right; it wasn’t like he couldn’t Apparate.
"Professor, why are you here?" Kael couldn’t help but ask.
"I think that question should really be mine to ask you," Dumbledore said. "Weren’t you dealing with the Giant problem? Why have you co to Budleigh Babberton in the middle of the night?"
"Babberton Village?" Kael couldn’t help glancing at Newt, "Uh... that’s a long story to explain, but really, under normal circumstances, we should be arriving at Ottery St Catchpole right now."
Dumbledore followed his gaze.
At this mont, Newt was looking up at the sky, seemingly fascinated by the night sky.
After a mont, Dumbledore seed to understand sothing.
"Sorry, I didn’t think of that," he said. "I really should have had Fawkes go with you on this trip."
Kael opened his mouth, and honestly, compared to being brought back by a Phoenix, this situation didn’t seem so bad, either.
At that mont, Harry ca running up to them, gasping for air.
"Kael, it really is you!" he said with delight. "I told you I couldn’t have gotten it wrong. Did you hear calling your na just now?"
"So, you were the one calling my na?" Kael’s expression was a bit strange.
"Yeah," Harry nodded. "What’s wrong?"
"Oh, nothing," Kael said. "Just a word of advice, in the future, don’t shout people’s nas loudly in a place like this, late at night, where nobody’s around."
"Uh, why not?"
"Because everyone is sleeping," Kael continued. "If you yell out like that, you’re likely to get punched."
"I know, I was just too excited," Harry said. "By the way, why are you here? Did Professor Dumbledore bring you too?"
"No, it’s because..." Kael hesitated, shook his head, and said, "Never mind, it’s a long story. Just think of it as a coincidence."
Then he looked at Dumbledore. "Professor, we’ll just head back now."
"Oh, no need to rush. Since we’ve t, let’s all go together," Dumbledore said with a smile. "I was going to invite you along anyway—now it works out perfectly."
He then turned to Newt, who was still studying the night sky, but in the blink of an eye, Newt disappeared, leaving only a crisp sound echoing through the silent village.
"Uh... alright then."
Dumbledore looked at Kael again, blinked, and said, "Rember, keep it secret. Honestly, it’s been a long ti since he cast so particular Charms—getting the details a little wrong is perfectly normal."
"I understand," Kael said.
"Good," Dumbledore said, walking towards the village again. "Co with , I think we’re almost there."
"Professor, where are we going?" Kael asked.
"I can’t even rember how many tis I’ve said this in the past few years," Dumbledore sighed. "But there’s no other way—Tonks insisted on transferring back to the Auror Office, so now we’re short a professor."
"We’re here this ti to persuade a retired colleague to co back for work, and return to Hogwarts."
"But how can I help?" Harry asked.
"I think you’ll co in handy," Dumbledore said. "Oh, and Kael—sa for you. With the two of you there, I’m sure our chances of success will go way up... turn left here."
Old colleague? Kael could probably guess who they were going to see.
Harry kept asking, "But Professor, why can’t we just Apparate directly to that old colleague’s—uh, I an, that old professor’s house?"
"Because that’s as rude as kicking down soone’s front door with your own foot," Dumbledore said. "Besides, most wizards’ hos have Magic wards against unwelco Apparators—like Hogwarts..."
The walk was a bit boring, so Kael looked at Dumbledore in front and asked, "Professor, I rember Professor Cecily at St Mungo’s Hospital once said she wanted to retire to Hogwarts—why aren’t we inviting her?"
"If Cecily were willing to co, I’d even give up the headmaster’s position for her," Dumbledore sighed. "But she changed her mind, especially after she received those rare Potion Materials—she probably won’t choose to retire again any ti soon."
Kael imdiately shut his mouth.
He hadn’t expected that a bored, offhand comnt would sohow circle back to himself again.
He didn’t want to take the bla for this. Besides, donating those Snake Shedding and Snake Blood to St Mungo’s was supposed to be a good deed.
Harry, however, didn’t notice anything odd and turned to chat with Kael about holiday plans.
"I heard you went traveling?"
"Traveling? Who told you that?"
"Ron," Harry said. "Fred and George went looking for you, but your dad told them you went traveling with Mr. Scamander, so they told Ron."
"I thought you weren’t coming back until the holidays were over."
"Ah, it wasn’t anything special, just ca back early," Kael said.
"Where did you go?"
"You could call it Romania."
"The Fire Dragon Reserve?"
"No, it was another place. Mr. Scamander took ."
"That must have been amazing," Harry said wistfully. "Hermione told —Mr. Scamander is the greatest Master of Fantastic Beasts of our ti."
"It was alright, pretty interesting," Kael said after thinking for a mont. "We got to witness a tribe choosing a new chief from start to finish—that’s sothing you rarely see."
Dumbledore looked fascinated as well, and asked, "What about the new chief? Is he easy to get along with?"
"I suppose so," Kael said. "At least, he had a great ti talking with Mr. Scamander."
Dumbledore nodded. "And the tribe, what happened to them in the end?"
"After such a grand celebration, they’d need so ti to rest," Kael said. "They aren’t welcoming guests anymore."
"I see," Dumbledore said with a smile and didn’t ask any more.
"What a pity," Harry looked at Kael with a hint of envy.
A tribe picking its chief... a grand celebration... just hearing about it, you knew it had to be fun.
He truly envied Kael for being able to go wherever he wanted, see new things, unlike himself—stuck at Privet Drive, unable to go anywhere.
But soon Harry cheered up, since Dumbledore had promised that after this was over, he’d take him straight to No. 12 Grimmauld Place.
Just thinking about seeing Sirius soon filled Harry with real joy.
This ti, he was finally going to set up a room just for himself... a proper room, not a cupboard, or so attic storage space.
Thinking about it like that, going to Romania didn’t seem quite as enviable anymore,
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