Sunny days were rare in Britain, and tonight was yet another cloudy night.
So not only were the stars invisible, but there wasn't even a trace of moonlight.
Under the heavy darkness— Whoosh!
A mass of black mist shot down from the sky, landed, and gathered itself back into the form of a man.
"Hmm.."
Wade set down his suitcase and patted his cheeks, which had gone a little numb from the wind.
The Flight Spell was great in every way—except it couldn't block the wind…
On this point, Wade always felt helpless.
His whole body had turned into black mist, so how was the wind still hitting him in the face so precisely?
Could it be that this black mist was actually just a visual effect? That his body hadn't really turned into vapor at all?
And besides, this whole dark and smoky look didn't seem like sothing a good guy would use.
He'd have to figure out a way to change its appearance later—at the very least, his entrance effect shouldn't make him look like so Dark Lord.
Once feeling returned to his cheeks, Wade picked up his suitcase again.
At that mont, Nagini poked her head out from his sleeve.
She had hidden inside his sleeve the entire trip, unable to see outside, only feeling like she was soaring through clouds and fog. Now she was still a little dizzy.
But when she saw the surroundings, Nagini was also a bit surprised.
It seed that… they had arrived?
It looked like only about ten minutes had passed since Wade had been standing dazed on the street earlier.
She hadn't expected they would get here so quickly…
Nagini didn't know that Wade had been secretly conversing with the Senior at the ti, so she thought he had just been standing there spacing out, trying to find the way.
Even so, Nagini chose not to ask Wade how he had managed to arrive so fast.
Because she knew Wade seed to have many secrets, and she felt it was better not to ask.
Wade, unaware of Nagini's thoughts, walked straight up to the door of the house.
He hesitated for a mont, but in the end, didn't knock.
He raised his hand and said to Nagini, "We're at Mr. Scamander's house now… It's just, I didn't expect it to be this late, and I'm not sure if we'll disturb them… What do you think, should we find a place to stay first and co back tomorrow morning?"
Nagini nodded. It really was very late, and none of the lights in the house were on.
"Alright, let's go then." Wade had just turned around— Creak..
When suddenly, the door behind him creaked open!
And four wands imdiately pressed against his back!
"Don't move! Stand still!"
"Uh…" For a mont, Wade actually felt like he was being held at gunpoint.
"Turn around!" soone ordered.
But Wade recognized their voices.
"Uh, okay, but whatever you do, don't shoot… no, I an, don't cast a spell!" Wade said as he slowly turned around.
And then he saw two n and two won, all pointing their wands at him warily…
"Huh? It's you!? Wade!" Newt held up an oil lamp close to Wade's face, exclaiming with delight.
Then, as if suddenly rembering sothing, Newt quickly lowered his wand.
"Sorry… I… we just…" Newt looked so apologetic he could barely string his words together.
Seeing it was Wade, the other three also lowered their wands.
"So it's you! Sorry! We thought… you know, things haven't been too peaceful lately, so we've been a bit on edge…" Jacob also put away his "wand."
Wade blinked when he saw Jacob's "wand."
"Aha! I know what you're thinking. This was a gift from Dumbledore! Pretty intimidating, right?" Jacob said cheerfully.
"Oh… Jacob… honestly, a .38 revolver might suit you better than a wand," Wade replied just as cheerfully.
"Oh? Didn't think you knew a bit about firearms! But… ever since I ca back from the war, I've never touched a gun again." Jacob shrugged. "I just want to live my peaceful life… I hate war!"
"Hating war doesn't conflict with picking up a gun to protect your family, Jacob. I think even against wizards, firearms can be quite threatening sotis. Though you might need to inscribe so ancient runes on them for magic resistance," Wade said with a smile.
At his words, a flicker of struggle passed over Jacob's face…
"Oh, don't just stand at the door, co in already!" one of the won said as she stepped aside.
Hearing that, Newt suddenly seed to rember, hurriedly took Wade's suitcase, and welcod him inside.
"R-really sorry, Wade. With that person making so many waves lately, everyone's been a bit jumpy…" Newt finally managed to say a full sentence.
Wade shook his head. "I should be the one apologizing—it's who disturbed you."
Once Wade stepped through the door, Jacob said, "Oh right, I haven't introduced you yet. This is my wife, Queenie. And this is Tina, Queenie's sister—and of course, Newt's wife."
"Hello, Mrs. Kowalski, Mrs. Scamander." Wade politely greeted them, so courteous it reminded one of Tom.
"Just call us by our nas," Tina said generously.
"That's right. You call Jacob by his na, no need to be so formal with us," Queenie added, studying Wade curiously.
Among everyone, she was the most curious about Wade, because she had read two sets of thoughts in him!
It was as if Wade had two personalities, and one of them even seed to be female?
But since this was their first eting, she couldn't just ask directly.
However, her question was quickly answered.
After everyone relit the lamps and let Wade sit on the sofa to rest, Wade placed Nagini from his wrist onto the table.
"Newt, this is Nagini… you two are old friends, aren't you?"
Because Nagini had been hiding in Wade's sleeve earlier, Newt only noticed her now.
"Ah! Of course! Last ti Dumbledore even brought her by to see ." Newt looked at her with so excitent. "To be precise, we were comrades-in-arms… back then, we fought against Grindelwald together… It's just a pity that later, she suddenly disappeared… But all of us vaguely suspected sothing, though… none of us wanted to say it out loud…"
Those who knew the inside story all looked at Nagini with sympathy—including Jacob.
Clearly, their bond went far deeper than Wade had imagined.
It seed that after the end of the film's story, they had gone through much more together…
But from that abruptly-ended film series, Wade couldn't learn any more details.
"Her physical condition is quite good," Newt said happily as he examined Nagini. "What do you usually feed her?"
"Boiled eggs or so other raw foods… I once tried giving her cooked food besides eggs, and she herself wanted to try, but… she couldn't really swallow it," Wade said regretfully.
"Mm… her body has fundantally changed, even her digestive system has beco that of a snake. If you feed her like a human, she can't adapt anymore… Ow!" Newt looked at Tina in surprise.
It turned out Tina had rapped him on the head, her face full of annoyance.
Newt imdiately understood why Tina had hit him. Saying such things in front of Nagini really wasn't appropriate—it was no different from tearing open soone's wound.
"Sorry… I… it was just habit," Newt said awkwardly.
"And you deserved that hit!" Tina said in dissatisfaction.
When it ca to magical creatures, Newt would always unconsciously slip into his professional role.
But how could he treat Nagini as just another magical creature?She was a person!
"Hiss hiss hiss…" Nagini lifted her head and said softly.
Wade translated for her: "She says it's alright. As long as she can stay clear-headed, she's already very satisfied…"
Nagini nodded, confirming Wade's translation was correct.
"Oh! My God! Buddy, you can understand snake language?! That's amazing!" Jacob exclaid in surprise.
Queenie asked curiously, "Do you speak Parseltongue?"
Wade shook his head. "I didn't originally, but I have a friend who…"
"Tom Riddle?" Queenie asked.
Wade pretended to look at her in shock.
"S-sorry, I couldn't control myself." A trace of panic flashed across Queenie's face.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Wade. Queenie is like that. She was born able to hear other people's thoughts… This ability is passive, so if she offended you, my apologies," Jacob quickly explained.
"Uh, it's fine…" Wade said in 'surprise'.
In truth, under his Occluncy, the only thoughts Queenie could read were the ones Wade allowed her to.
Co to think of it, he had cramd to learn Occluncy back when he thought he was about to et her.
Only, that eting ended up being disrupted by Grindelwald.
"Sorry for reading your mind… but your thoughts are very pure, Wade," Queenie said happily.
Though it might sound a little unflattering, it was almost impossible for a person's thoughts to remain entirely clean and kind.
Even the best of people would sotis have a flash of darker thoughts.
Queenie was long used to that. But Wade's thoughts were the purest she had ever encountered.
In his heart, there seed to be only a thirst for knowledge, a longing for friendship… and sadness about his ho..
Of course, the minds of powerful wizards like Dumbledore were an exception.
For wizards like Dumbledore, even if he stood right in front of her, she couldn't read a single thing.
"Mm… one more question, Wade. How did you get here? I don't think I saw anyone bring you… and, well, Nagini seems curious about this too," Queenie couldn't help but ask.
"Uh, is that so? It's nothing special, really—I flew here," Wade said honestly.
Newt asked curiously, "Flew here? You an you rode a broomstick? Isn't that a bit dangerous?"
"No…" Wade shook his head, but once again, he didn't manage to finish his sentence.
"Oh! My goodness! The one the papers reported on, the young wizard who invented the Flight Spell—that was you?" Queenie covered her mouth in surprise. "You're a genius, Wade!"
Wade helplessly closed his mouth and shrugged. "Yes, that's right."
"Uh… sorry, I… I slipped again," Queenie apologized once more.
"It's fine, I understand. You can't control it…"
Queenie gave an awkward smile. For others, being born able to read people's hearts might seem like an incredible gift.
But when that gift was an uncontrollable, passive ability… it beca a curse.
_______
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