"Meow (ω`)?"
The man and the cat locked eyes.
Just then, the gas lamp in the room flickered dimly, and the air before them tore open with a hiss—out flew a small black bird. Lilith didn't panic this time, but still instinctively broke free and crouched low, tail twitching unconsciously, slipping into a hunting stance.
The black bird hovered before Edward, flapping its wings and speaking in a voice that was neither male nor female:
"Wands. Two."
"Hold on a moment."
Edward opened the drawer on his nightstand, pulled out a leather pouch, and took out two substandard wands he had bought for emergencies. One was made of holly, the other of birch.
"Toss them over."
Edward threw them one after another. The black bird shot forward like a bolt of lightning, gulping them down—one in each beakful.
Moments later, its chest twitched, and with a bout of coughing, it spewed out a pile of chewed-up wood chips onto the floor.
Edward was stunned. "No way…You can actually tell the difference between defective and proper wands just by eating them?"
"The taste is wrong."
The bird fixed its pitch-black eyes on Edward. "I want the same kind as last time."
"Uh…what's the difference?"
"Don't know. But these aren't what I want."
"Can you tell them apart before you eat them?"
The bird tilted its head in thought. "Not for now."
Edward threw his hands up, exasperated. "You're really making this hard for me, you know. These fai—wands all cost me the same. You can't just eat them and then tell me they're no good. That's not fair to me."
The bird went quiet for a while, seemingly pondering Edward's words. After a moment, it insisted again:
"I want the same kind as before."
Suddenly, its gaze dropped to Edward's fingers. Its pitch-dark pupils seemed to flash, and it flapped its wings excitedly.
"That! That one! Give it to me, and I'll never ask for wands again!"
Edward blinked in surprise. What could cause such a strong reaction from this strange, mysterious black bird?
The Resurrection Stone?!
"That's what you're talking about?"
"Yes!"
The bird grew even more excited but managed to suppress its desire, not lunging for it like it did the first time.
Edward instantly clenched his fist, hiding the Resurrection Stone in his palm. His tone turned serious.
"No. I can't give this to you."
Then he added, "At least…not for now."
The black bird's excitement deflated instantly. It circled the room a few times in silence, then left a final remark before vanishing once again into a newly torn rift in the air.
"Next time, I want the same kind of wand as before."
Edward gently stroked Lilith's soft back fur. Seeing her puzzled gaze, he chuckled.
"It's gone now."
Lilith stretched a paw toward the spot where the black bird had disappeared, but all she caught was empty air.
"Meowuuu~ (>_<)…"
"Tch. The same kind of wand, huh…I did buy a few last time, but even then, I only had one like that." Edward rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "What's the difference, really? Just because these were defective? Or is it the wood or the core?"
In the Harry Potter world, wand differences came down to just a few factors.
Edward's wand was made of blackthorn and had a phoenix feather core. The wood itself was ordinary…so the key must be the phoenix feather?
"That's it!"
Edward clapped his hands in realization. Even though the Harry Potter universe was far weaker than the world of Lord of the Mysteries, a phoenix was still a phoenix. For a bird-like creature like the black one, consuming phoenix feathers to achieve some sort of lifeform evolution sounded…plausible.
If that was the case, then there was no need to keep buying wands. He could just pluck feathers off Fawkes directly! That bird was going to combust and resurrect into a bald clown-thing eventually anyway—why waste all those feathers?
"It's settled then—time to sleep!"
———
Edward yawned and closed his eyes again. He drifted into a drowsy state and felt as if he had started dreaming. In the dream, a blonde girl approached him with a sweet smile, leaning in affectionately. He could even feel the warmth of her breath against his skin.
Hmm?
Edward's eyes flew open—only to see a fluffy head leaning close.
"Holy—!"
He shot upright, stunned as he stared at the large golden retriever standing at the head of his bed.
"Susie? Wha—what are you doing here?!"
Susie wagged her tail happily. "I came to see Lilith."
"No, I mean—how the hell did you get to Tingen?!"
"No idea. Audrey took me into a cupboard, then we went up some stairs, and when we came out…we were here."
"I see."
Edward glanced at the leather pouch on his nightstand. The mouth of the pouch was already open, revealing the space expanded by the Undetectable Extension Charm. He looked around and asked, "Where is she now?"
"She's in the living room playing with Lilith. Audrey said girls shouldn't enter a boy's bedroom without permission," Susie replied with a slight frown, puzzled. "But I'm a girl too, so why did she let me come wake you up?"
"Hm, that's…a good question."
After a quick wash, Edward used a switching spell to change into a casual home outfit and made his way to the living room. Audrey had just tossed a small ball into the air, and Lilith leapt up gracefully to catch it.
Clutching the ball in her mouth, Lilith turned her head to greet Edward with a soft meow. The ball dropped from her mouth, but without even glancing at it, she instinctively raised a small paw to catch it, then kicked it away and darted after it again.
Susie stood to the side, watching eagerly—first crouching low, then hopping up on all fours, itching to join in.
"So," Edward said, "what brings you to me so early in the morning?"
Audrey was wearing a dress she'd bought in London today—a simple, long, light-blue dress paired with white sneakers and a round-brimmed straw hat. She looked like a sweet girl-next-door ready for a spring picnic.
Her expression, however, was serious.
"I've received an invitation to the Duke Negan's ball."
Edward immediately understood. This was likely the ball—where Qilangos would attempt to assassinate Duke Negan. The attempt would fail, and Qilangos, in his escape, would be struck down by Mr. Azik, summoned by Klein.
During the whole event, the Tarot Club pretty much observed from the sidelines—aside from Audrey calling in a tip-off to the Fool. Edward, like Audrey in the original timeline, had no intention of interfering or showing off. His only goal was the same: reporting the event to claim a piece of the hefty bounty on Qilangos.
"When is it?"
"Starts at 7 p.m. tonight."
Edward thought for a moment and said, "We'll inform both The Hanged Man and The Fool right away. I'll also report it to the Church of the Evernight. Then I'll go with you to the ball—if anything does happen, I'll make sure to get you out of there immediately."
Audrey's face lit up with a radiant smile.
"Alright."
Then she called over to Susie, "Okay, I'm heading back now. See you in the afternoon."
"Wait, Audrey, there's something I want to ask you." Edward hesitated, then said, "Lately, I've noticed that Lilith seems to be getting…smarter. It's almost like…she's taken a potion or something."
"Huh?"
"I have been wanting to give her a potion, but I never got the formula or ingredients. So I wanted to ask—could it be Susie…"
Audrey instantly caught his meaning. She frowned in thought before answering.
"I don't think that's likely. First, Susie doesn't have a way to get the ingredients for a potion. Second, there'd be no reason for her to hide it from us, right? But I'll check with her just in case."
"Alright."
Edward sighed. "Maybe I'm just overthinking it. Aside from being smarter, she hasn't shown any other signs of extraordinary traits."
He hesitated a moment, then pulled a pale blue, crystal-clear heart-shaped object from his pouch.
"I originally wanted to give this to you."
Audrey blinked in surprise. "What is it? A heart-shaped gem?"
"More precisely…it's a heart."
Audrey instinctively pulled her hand back, but then quickly caught on. "It's a Beyonder item?"
"This is a Beyonder characteristic left behind by a Sequence 7 Psychiatrist who lost control. Our Nighthawk team took him down last night. I traded in future merits to redeem this. Unfortunately, it's likely been contaminated—otherwise, it could've served as a main ingredient for the Psychiatrist potion." He paused, then added, "But I'll see if there's a way to purify it."
"A main ingredient for the Psychiatrist potion?!"
Audrey's green eyes instantly lit up. As a Sequence 9, she had long experienced the frustration of having money but being unable to buy formulas or materials. She hadn't expected Edward to just hand her the main material for a Sequence 7 promotion—though it might not be usable, and she wasn't entirely comfortable with using someone's heart to brew a potion…
Even so, Audrey smiled warmly.
"Thank you, Edward."
"No need to thank me. I mean, I'm not even sure I can purify it. And besides, I still owe you thousands of gold pounds…"
Audrey leaned forward, gently ruffled his hair, and laughed, "I told you, that was a gift from your onee-chan~ Don't bring up the money again. Be good~"
"…Thanks a lot, huh."
———
[Note]: Don't forget to VOTE. It keeps me motivated.