Fail Demon King

little snake named nagini

The tide was rising faster than expected, and the water level in the dark passage was rising at an alarming rate.Billy didn't know how far they swam, but he could clearly feel the clefts getting narrower and the rocky top lower and lower.

When the turning point was reached, the dark passage suddenly began to widen, and the turbulent sea water poured in with black foam, making it impossible for people to advance a foot, and could only circle helplessly in place.Billy choked several times and struggled desperately to get his head up to breathe, only to find in despair that he could touch the roof of the cave just by floating a little higher.

He struggled to hold on to the rock, wiped the water off his face, and looked back—there was nothing but black water behind him, not even the white Amy.

"Riddle—where are you? Bishop! Benson!—Riddle!" Billy tried to call out, but all he answered was the sound of splashing water.

He didn't intend to wait any longer, the water was almost up to his chin.Billy took a deep breath and dived.He paddled hard, trying to keep his eyes open.It was dark and ignorant under the water, and he felt something white streaked across his face—it was a person's wrist!It flopped and swayed from side to side without any rules, not paddling at all, and it seemed that its owner was exhausted.

Billy didn't have time to think, he grabbed the wrist and desperately pulled the person behind him to swim forward.He couldn't see anything in the murky waters except for the seaweed that drifted by now and then, and the man dragging behind him was like a big sail in the water, and the last breath he raised his head out of the water seemed to be squeezed through a one-inch gap But it's just as difficult.The sea water rushed in with a lot of foam, and the torrent hit his cheek, but he didn't care, because his lungs were so painful that they were about to explode——

Last second species!

Billy came out of the water with a "crash", panting heavily, feeling his mouth dry and his heart beating like a drum.He greedily breathed the salty air, and the cold sea breeze made him shiver.And the person whose wrist he grabbed——

"Riddle?" Billy cried out, "You..."

"Of course it's me." Riddle shook his head violently, pushing his wet hair back.They scrambled up to a large raised rock, and Billy collapsed on it, and Riddle sat there, looking better, but panting, "You... you're such an idiot, Star Booth... completely messed with my breathing..."

"You're paddling like you're dying..." Billy said feebly, "and you're not... breaking away, are you?"

Riddle stared wide-eyed, and looked at Billy sarcastically: "That's because she slipped away from my wrist, and I'm looking for her!" As if to prove his words, a small snake coiled around his wrist Come up, hissing and spitting out the letter proudly.

"..."

"As for me not breaking free," Riddle said slowly and tactfully, "it's because I want to see how long you can swim with me. It's quite energy-saving to be pulled, isn't it?"

Billy felt a cramp in his stomach, and the exertion and the taste of salty sea water on his lips made him want to throw up.He struggled to stand up from the rock, leaned over and retched for a while, and began to untie the little crab that was entangled with his hair with trembling fingers: "I thought...that was Amy. You should be thankful that your wrist is not like Dennis So thick..."

"Oh," Riddle raised his eyebrows, "If it's Dennis, don't you care?"

"Of course it doesn't matter." Billy coughed dryly twice, "He's too heavy, I can't drag it, there's no need to be dragged by him to death."

As soon as he finished speaking, the surface of the water parted with a splash.Dennis and Amy also swam out. Their faces were purple, and they climbed up to a nearby rock panting, but their eyes still looked dull and painless.

Billy stared at them for a moment, then lay back on his back on the rock.The dark night sky was still raining, and the waves were crashing. He said softly, "Actually, you have already decided to come to this place, and you also know exactly what you are going to do here. You have planned everything, and you brought Dennis Coming with Amy, apart from not wanting them to go back and sue, I probably intend to scare them once."

"Not bad," Riddle laughed, and while teasing the little snake on his wrist, he looked at Billy with interest, "Go on."

"As for me—" Billy pondered slowly, "you also want to try to scare me, and see if my attitude towards you is not a fake of suppressed fear. But in fact, you don't want to provoke me, So after confirming that I am angry, this matter can almost be over."

"I told you, you're not a fool." Riddle let go of the snake and let her roam the rocks by herself for a while, looking into Billy's face, and said slowly, "I've been to this place last year, I made a deal with her then: If old Cole still chooses this damn place for an outing this year," he smiled sarcastically, "and we did—she'd give me this little thing. She said She's leaving and it's making her feel bad to be here. Obviously the jungle suits her better than the sea."

"Oh." Billy murmured, thinking about the big guy, "I can see that."

"I can talk to snakes," Riddle said softly, looking intently at Billy. "I can understand, like English—"

"Yeah," replied the boy lying on the rock feebly, his dark chestnut hair a complete mess, "I hear you. I think it's a great talent, Riddle. You know, I The best I can do is trick myself into thinking Miss Oster's cat understands me, but I understand hers—that's really impossible."

They were silent for a while, and the seemingly endless darkness between the sea and the sky was slowly receding.The rain was no longer mixed with the wind, and the sun seemed to be about to rise from below the horizon.

"Tom," Riddle said suddenly. He lowered his eyes casually, stretched out his pale wrist calmly, and the little snake swam up obediently. "You can call me Tom."

Billy was choked by the air: "What?" He coughed violently, "I thought...ahem, you...you don't like being called by your Christian name..."

"I don't like this name," Riddle frowned in disgust. "Think of how many people are called Tom in this world! Of course your Billy is not much better." He didn't speak any more, and the only one around was There was the sound of waves crashing against the cliffs and little snakes hissing.After a while, Dennis and Amy's mixed terrified cries came from the nearby rocks.

Billy turned his back to the sky and rested his arms on his pillow. He watched the sky turn white little by little, and a golden-red light appeared at the end of the sea.

For Merlin, he thought, he and Tom Riddle should have finally made up.

All in all, an unforgettable caving event.However, in the face of Mrs. Cole, its ins and outs have been somewhat censored.The director of the orphanage could not do anything about it, because among the four people who experienced the incident, two children had the same account. They gritted their teeth and sang the details together; , in fact, even they themselves don't seem to know exactly what happened the previous night.

Poor Dennis Bishop seemed to have been terribly frightened, and he came back the next morning drenched and shaking, with the cysts on his face a hideous pallor.Little Amy Henson was better, but she too was pursed, blue-faced, and reacting like a frightened rabbit to every little noise.

While Mrs. Cole strongly suspects that they are a little out of order due to over-stimulation, Tom Riddle dismissively insists that they are no different from before-"except now they see you and me and start posting Walking along the walls," he said to Billy.

"I think you'd better be concerned about something else now," Billy told him. "Obviously, Tom, your little snake is about to get stuck in the bread, and she's wagging her tail, and there's a bulge in her neck." Induration."

"You didn't break the bread at all, did you? You just gave her a whole piece." The black-haired boy stroked the little snake whose pattern was not clear yet, "Also, I thought of her name yesterday—she Nagini."

In the blink of an eye, it has already entered winter, and the cold and humid London is often filled with fog.During the short days and long nights, the warm sunshine has almost become a luxury. The Great Depression in the late 20s was coming to an end, but the unemployed and homeless elderly with their collars tightly wrapped could still be seen on the bone-chilling streets. From time to time, crowds gathered in front of the poor relief offices.

In mid-December, a light snow visits the city.

Another year is coming to an end, and 1838 is close at hand.

On New Year's Eve, the children sat around and shared dinner downstairs.It was just after Christmas, and the dinner preparers seemed exhausted from another festival, so the meal was somewhat perfunctory, and there were even dishes that had been seen five days ago on the long table.Yet even Mrs. Cole looked a little sweeter under the brighter clothes and adornments, with her bony cheeks glowing and telling long-winded jokes only old ladies would listen to.

Billy and Tom nestled in the far corner, as if they were invisible people who could only be seen by each other.For the second time, Billy wished Tom happy birthday.

"No presents," Billy had to mutter in Tom's ear, because Miss Wooster's laughter was so loud, "I delivered them for Christmas."

Tom snorted and narrowed his eyes lazily. "If you mean that ugly braided glove, I assume you mean one for Christmas, one for New Years, and a pair together. , is my birthday present, isn't it?"

"Yes," Billy said without shame, "so I actually delivered it."

Tom drew his voice and said slowly: "They have been dragged to the den by Nagini, maybe she thinks that thing is good for practicing strangulation."

Billy stared at him in disbelief, speaking faster in anger: "Merlin's briefs—"

"what?"

"I mean for God's sake!" Billy said quickly, raising his voice half an octave, "I had a hard time making that up, and you saw how Mrs. August Use a cane to whip me." In fact, no one has the right to ask a person who is accustomed to magic to quickly master this kind of thing, not to mention that even in the field of magic, this should belong to the automatic weaving spell that housewives are most familiar with." And what position do you have for me? Tom Riddle, don't forget you never gave me a present!"

"Because I'm not going to do that ridiculous knitting homework," said Tom flatly. "Besides I don't know your birthday. Did you? Don't tell me you don't know."

Billy was stunned, and he suddenly realized a problem-that is, he had no idea how old he was now, nor his birthday.But he knew that Tom was 11 years old this year, so what was certain was that Hogwarts would definitely need to send someone to the orphanage to complete some procedures before September, so that he could be admitted normally.

He had a chance, maybe he could go back, if he could explain his situation to the wizard—

Billy slumped his shoulders—it was naive.Obviously, he's more likely to be identified as insane than to be in a magical accident.Man-made, large-span time travel must be strictly prohibited, otherwise the world will be messed up sooner or later.And even in the wizarding world, it's not a good sign to encounter something that others rarely encounter.

He was silent for too long, and Tom misunderstood his silence.

The dark-haired boy chewed some words slowly, as if he was looking for some not-so-obvious remedy and comfort: "It's not a big deal not to know your birthday. You know, Billy, except for being thrown at the door. People who carry memos and IDs, or people who already remember things when they are thrown in by relatives, the date of bad luck is a mystery to most people. Or you can set an age and birthday yourself, it’s okay.”

Billy watched him for a moment before realizing what Tom meant.He shrugged, and then mentioned his own birthday as Owen, and made a special emphasis: "Next time you will have no reason to forget the gift."

After dinner the show was all over, and Mrs. Cole began urging the others to take the children upstairs to bed.Billy and Tom got up and followed the last of the line up the narrow, dark stone staircase.

"It's boring," Billy grumbled. "I thought something special would happen on New Year's Eve to break the hellish gloom, but I should give up after Christmas, ha!"

"Something happens," said Tom slowly, walking behind him. "Something special happens every year, that's why they're called 'another year.'"

"Perhaps, and there's always a special year, isn't it? If you'll just be patient--Happy New Year, Tom."

"Happy New Year."

7 A wizard who counts

In the summer of 1938, an outbreak of chickenpox broke out in an orphanage in London.Apart from being a little unlucky for the people there (the nurse wives cursed their luck a thousand times), it doesn't seem to be a big deal for the whole of England.However, this is destined to be an unusual day, although nothing can be seen now.

A horse-drawn milk cart stopped in front of a large iron gate, and a fat woman in a white apron hurried across the bare yard.She was like a monitor lizard, heavy on her feet, but moving fast: "You can't stop here Charles! Go! Go to the side door—"

"I can't... you left all those dirty blood-stained sheets there, please, I still have two little things in my house that haven't been out of this..." The driver rubbed his hands wearily, "today The milk, Mrs. August. Just try to keep them isolated, it's nothing, it's not a big deal, it's nothing, it's nothing to worry about."

"Don't be silly, Charles, which eye of yours can see that I am worried?" Mrs. August said angrily, and she beckoned to a few girls standing in the yard to come and help her with milk. I might as well worry about Mrs. Cole—that old drunk stole all the gin in the kitchen!"

Billy walked down the second-floor corridor, silently bemoaning his bad luck.Miss Osor had just thrown him out of the house because she thought he had scratched the scabs and stained the sheets.But Merlin, he didn't have chickenpox at all.

Billy walked on, turned the corner, and pushed open the door at the corner. "I've got to stay here for a while until they finish the iodine—"

Suddenly there was a loud "Tell the truth!" from Tom's voice, which sounded a bit fierce, but it was just his usual threatening gesture.

Billy stopped suddenly, and he realized that there were two people in the room. They stopped talking at this moment, and they all looked back at him.One was Tom, whom he knew, needless to say; the other, a grown man with a long auburn beard and long hair, seemed to be a wise and nice gentleman in a well-crafted fuchsia suit, and was addressing him kindly. smiling.

Merlin—Billy gasped inwardly. He recognized who it was!

Despite being much younger, the distorted, broken and reconnected nose is too consistent with the portrait of the chocolate frog card.Billy had collected at least ten of them when he was a kid.

—Albus Dumbledore.

Two important figures in the history of modern magic met in this simple room in the orphanage. Billy felt that if William also returned to this era and was lucky enough to walk into this room, he would be ecstatic, after all Dumbledore was one of his favorite wizards.Yet he himself was excited as well as flustered, for Tom lifted his eyelids lazily as if he hadn't seen him at all.Billy stood at the door a little awkwardly, not knowing whether to advance or retreat: "I'm sorry, I don't know—I'm going out right now."

"No, you can come in." Tom finally looked directly at Billy, and then the black-haired boy turned his head and raised his voice to Dumbledore provocatively and contemptuously, "If the 'school' you mentioned really exists, I think It's all right for Billy Stubbs to hear. That old hag just told you I hanged his rabbit, and it was a vicious affair, wasn't it? But I'm not crazy, 'Professor', I would See which of you dares to send me to a madhouse."

"It's all right," said Dumbledore patiently, continuing to smile kindly, and with a wave of his hand, the door closed behind Billy, "Billy, hello, please come in—I was going to see you in a while ...Looks like I'm going to introduce myself again: I'm Professor Dumbledore, working at a school called Hogwarts - I've just told Tom - and I'm here to invite you and Tom to This is the school to go to, if you will. It is, it has to be said, a school for exceptionally talented people—”

"He's not crazy!" For some reason, Tom looked almost furious. "I'm not either!"

"I know you're not crazy," Dumbledore continued, flatly, as if he hadn't heard Tom's words. "Hogwarts is not a school for madmen, but a school for wizards and wizards."

silence.

The lengthy silence seemed to erupt from some corner suddenly, and no one spoke for a while.Tom pursed his lips, and his face grew very pale.Then he looked back sharply at Billy - who had just had time to put on a dumbfounded expression - and there was a frenzy in his dark eyes, as if to say "Look, I said we were different, here There's always something."

Tom turned to Dumbledore and said softly, "So - those abilities of mine are magic? So are Billy's?"

"What skills do you have?"

Tom took another look at Billy, who looked excited, a blush starting to spread from his sunken cheeks to his slender neck.However, he quickly controlled himself, lowered his voice, and said slowly, as if inadvertently: "I have everything. I can move things without using my hands. I will hurt anyone who makes me angry." He paused "I can still talk to snakes."

Billy felt he couldn't stand there like a stake anymore, and he nodded, giving himself a look of slowly recovering from surprise: "Uh... by the way, he can still get out of the oven after baking." The rabbit broke the pipe in the upstairs bathroom when he was trying to put out the fire."

Tom gave a short laugh.

Billy scratched his eyebrows: "Well, I did this." Through the half-moon lens, he met Dumbledore's blue eyes.The future headmaster of Hogwarts' eyes lingered on him for a while, which made him feel uncomfortable, so he added, "That's it, Professor."

Tom took the words, and he faced Dumbledore unceremoniously: "So you can also use magic?"

Dumbledore still looked at him calmly, but his smile was slightly restrained: "Not bad."

"I want to prove it." Tom narrowed his eyes domineeringly. "Prove it to me."

Dumbledore raised his eyebrows: "If, as I understand it, you agree to study at Hogwarts—"

Tom raised his jaw: "Of course we agree!"

"Then you're going to call me 'Professor,' or 'Sir,' as Billy did just now."

Tom froze for a moment, and Billy passed him, took two steps closer to Dumbledore, cleared his throat and interjected: "Sir, I think Tom just wanted you to show—"

"Yes, Professor." Tom glanced at Billy and changed his tone. Although his accent sounded a little ironic, he was suddenly polite as a different person, "I mean, Can you show me--?"

Dumbledore didn't say a word, he deftly pulled out his wand from the inner pocket of his suit, and waved at a dilapidated wardrobe in the corner at random, which immediately caught fire.

Billy and Tom uttered an exclamation at the same time, and Tom jumped up and rushed there: "Nagini!"

Billy rubbed his nose anxiously, he held Tom, and he was sweating—put out the fire...how to put out the fire?

But the next moment, the flames suddenly disappeared, and Dumbledore waved his wand casually towards the ceiling, and put it away again.

There was a hissing sound from the closet, and Tom slammed open the closet door, and Nagini, who had been entrenched in the corner, sprang out with a "swish", tightly wrapped around his arm.

"Are you all right?" Billy asked softly. He touched Nagini's cold head, and the little snake, which had grown to the thickness of three fingers, snorted and cupped his hand.

Tom pursed his lips and shook his head. Billy had just breathed a sigh of relief when he heard a sudden rattling sound from inside the closet. A small cardboard box on the top shelf was shaking violently, as if something inside It's like something that's frantically struggling and trying to get out.

"Take it out." Dumbledore's voice came from behind them, "Open it."

Billy and Tom exchanged glances, Nagini bowing his neck between them.Tom hesitated, handed Nagini to Billy, and took out the box.He looked a little anxious, holding it by the bedside, his black eyes unblinking, and he showed a very stubborn look.

"I think there's something here that doesn't belong to you?" Dumbledore squinted towards the bed, "Pour it out."

Tom's voice sounded like a squeezed sponge: "Yes, sir." But he opened the box without hesitation, and Billy watched as he pulled one of the contents out from the bottom of the box, and then He dumped the other things on the bed without looking at them.

No one could complain that Tom treated them like a pile of junk, for they were very inconspicuous indeed.Among them was a coin, a silver thimble, and a harmonica with a faded luster.What Tom held in his hand was a pair of poorly woven green woolen gloves. He looked at Dumbledore calmly: "This is mine, sir."

Dumbledore nodded, and he calmly put back his wand: "You have to return the other things to their owners and apologize to them..."

He went on talking, but Billy didn't hear him at all.He noticed that Tom didn't look at the odds and ends of the bed, but his pale fingers tightened his grip on the ugly gloves.Nagini's body was wrapped around Billy's forearm, her scales were slippery and cold even in summer.

Billy swallowed dryly as the thought swirled wildly in his head—if he told Dumbledore everything (including why he came here), then Dumbledore could Can't...can you send him back?

But—how was he to explain everything about Tom and the Dark Lord?

He felt his throat ache like a rasp.

"...September [-]st, depart from King's Cross Station." Billy began to recover, and Dumbledore's voice gradually became clear, "Billy, put your ticket with Tom's."

"Uh... ok." Billy blinked, seeing Dumbledore shaking hands with Tom.They stared at each other for a moment, Tom looking much more docile, but there was no doubt that he was silently weighing the bearded man opposite him.

They let go, and Dumbledore made his way to the door.

"Goodbye, Tom and Billy." He straightened the collar of his fuchsia suit, "I'll see you at Hogwarts."

Billy watched him go out, the sound of footsteps getting farther and farther in the corridor, he paused in his heart, opened the door and chased out: "Wait a minute—sir!"

Tom stared at his back, and slowly, a trace of irritation emerged from his dark eyes.As if angry with himself, he sat back heavily on the bed.

Billy ran to the end of the corridor, and Dumbledore was waiting for him at the top of the stairs, looking smiling: "What's the matter, Billy?"

"Sir, I want to ask..." Billy hesitated for a moment, and he suddenly realized a problem: If Dumbledore had a way to span a few years or even ten years, then he could completely recover from the catastrophe decades later. Back to the present—just wave your wand on Tom now, and you have a chance to solve all future problems.But Dumbledore didn't prevent everything from happening, that is to say, maybe he didn't have the ability to travel through time and space.

Besides, the scariest thing is: Once he speaks about the future and is finally believed - what will happen to Tom?

Billy shivered.

"I guess you probably have something to tell me," Dumbledore still looked at him with a smile, "difficult to make a choice, difficult to judge? To be honest, sometimes I also encounter similar troubles - just relying on color It is too dangerous to judge the taste of Bibi's multi-flavored beans."

Billy hesitated for a final moment, then said something quite different from what he had in mind: "Sir, I just... just still can't believe it..."

"Oh, it's nothing." Dumbledore said casually, "I would be surprised if someone suddenly jumped out at me one day and told me that I am actually a Muggle." Walking down the dark stone stairs, "but I'd better tell Mrs. Cole now that she has to check the boys' bathroom on the third floor as soon as possible. You broke its water pipe again when you were trying to put out the fire. Billy, I can't hold back those currents for a while longer—see you at Hogwarts."

8 Oxford Street in a wizarding world

When Billy came back into the house dejectedly, he found Tom sitting on the edge of the bed. While swinging his long legs by the edge of the bed, he weighed two leather purses and took out a Galleon from them. Look carefully at it.Nagini swam on the ground, hissing and spitting.

Tom glanced at Billy lightly, then turned his gaze back to the galleon, as if the gold coin had suddenly aroused his great interest: "These coins are different from the ones we use."

"Wizard currency," Billy shrugged, "is different."

"We're going to use them to buy things—the thing that the man just used, and the necessities written on it," Tom shook a piece of parchment, which clearly printed Huo Gwartz's coat of arms, "not even knowing their units."

Billy sat cross-legged on the floor and took a money bag to look through.Those familiar coins had a heavy intimacy, and he replied casually: "This is Galleons. The silver coins are Sickles, and the copper ones are Nats. Seventeen Sickles are for one Galleon, and 29 Nats are for one Sickle. Once you get used to it—”

Billy paused, looking up, and met Tom's dark eyes.The black-haired boy sitting on the bed flicked up the gold coin in his hand with his thumb, and then asked in a flat tone: "How do you know?" He brushed his slightly curly black hair, his forehead was as pale as marble, and said softly Repeatedly, "How do you know?"

The Galleon fell down and spun quickly on the ground, turning into a ball of golden light.

Billy faced Tom's dark eyes and had goosebumps on his arms.He put down his leather purse, touched his nose, and lied as calmly as possible: "I chased him out to ask some questions, and it was...Professor Dumbledore who told me."

Tom didn't speak, he picked up the Garen on the ground and put it back into the money bag, and then began to sort out the list of items.The atmosphere of silence reminded Billy of the interrogation in Azkaban-even though he hadn't experienced it.

"Wait," Billy licked his lips, and when he saw Tom put both purses into the drawer, he decided to break the unnerving silence, "All of this—to you?"

Tom looked at him calmly. "Do you know how to get to the Leaky Cauldron from here?"

Billy froze for a moment, he really didn't know how to find the Leaky Cauldron from the orphanage in the Muggle world.

"I knew it. You didn't listen to him at all, and you were distracted at that time." Tom laughed mockingly, and closed the cabinet door unquestionably, "So from now on, everything will follow my orders."

Billy opened his mouth and wanted to ask Tom what the relationship between leading the way and being in charge of financial power was, but he couldn't say anything.Nagini swam past him and stopped by his legs, coiled up and hissed at him.

Noon the next day.

The subway rumbled, and Billy sat pale next to Tom.After they explained their needs to Mrs. Cole—it wasn't too difficult, maybe the old lady really wanted to get rid of them two hot potatoes, or because she seemed dizzy from yesterday until today Yes, the usual shrewdness on that thin face was gone—they walked out the gate of the orphanage, Tom leading Billy expertly through the alleys and into the subway.

Now Billy had to raise his voice dizzily, "I hate subways!"

Tom frowned: "I'm not deaf."

"But I'm going deaf." Billy's face became paler, and he kept blinking, "This kind of transportation is just..."

"I remember you didn't have this problem before."

A feeling of nausea came over me, and Billy's vigilance suddenly dropped when Merlin was on top: "When did you say...before..."

"I can't tell when," said Tom slowly, meeting Billy's brown eyes, and then hesitated. "It's the rabbit—"

"Stop!" Billy said suddenly, and the last of the color faded from his face. "Don't talk to me until this goddamn car stops . . . "

Tom turned his head away, silently looking at the dark tunnel.And by the time they finally arrived, Billy had completely forgotten about it.

Diagon Alley in the 30s wasn't much different from the next century.This is one of the busiest markets in the wizarding world, whether it is now or in the future, it will be a bustling scene.Billy had a feeling early on that wizards must love the fun of gathering in the central city of Muggles without being noticed by them, just like some wizards in the Middle Ages were keen on being caught by Muggles, enjoying the magic while chanting the fire spell. Same with the burning habit.

"...yet Diagon Alley's magical bazaar began to take shape long before London became a cosmopolitan city. In this regard, historians of modern magic in New York and Los Angeles cannot deny." - Magic history"

Billy looked into the winding alleys beside the road, and somehow found something different.

Many of the dilapidated gadgets he dismantled in the Sko Manor when he was a child are still shiny and new here, and the new brooms displayed in the broomstick shop are not even comets, but much older Thunder 260s.There are several peeling paint on the facade of Lihen Bookstore, it seems that they are due for a major charm renovation soon; and the sign of the robe store next to it says "Mr. Malkin", Billy looked through the window. At a glance, Mrs. Malkin was now a good-natured young girl, happily going about her business.

It felt so strange, but also so interesting, everything seemed paradoxical, like being in a realistic dream.

Billy became more and more dizzy as he watched, but Tom kept