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He could be thoughtful like that, sometimes.
But… the little wizard actually knew exactly what was going on.
"Oh! As expected of my senior!"
Ian gave a heartfelt expression of admiration for Voldemort. When it came to being bad, Tom-senior really was in a league of his own. Ian merely bent school rules, Tom-senior was the definition of lawless.
Illegally tapping into the Floo Network...
That was probably the magical equivalent of stealing electricity in the Muggle world.
"Your senior wasn't exactly a good person."
Lupin added, his tone low and somber, a vague warning. Every time he thought about that student who had once left this place, a wave of sorrow for his fallen friends would wash over him.
"What a coincidence," Ian responded simply and cryptically.
Lupin couldn't help but glance at him several times. He led Ian back into his own dimly lit room and walked toward a wall covered in clutter.
Then,
Lupin used his wand to move the piled-up junk aside and lightly tapped the wall. What appeared to be an ordinary wall suddenly began to move, like the bricks of the Leaky Cauldron.
But this wall was transforming.
It didn't simply slide or swing open.
Instead, it began to vanish in an elegant, magical fashion, as though space itself were being rewoven, revealing a hidden alcove behind it.
There sat a slightly worn fireplace, still carrying a faint warmth. Ian figured Lupin must've recently used it to travel to Knockturn Alley to buy some wolfsbane potion.
"How did you even find this place?" Ian asked curiously, examining the wall that had hidden the fireplace. The magical traces were complex and difficult to perceive.
He wasn't underestimating Lupin's abilities, but this clearly looked like something created in Tom-senior's later years. No way a worn-out werewolf could've just stumbled across it.
"Dumbledore told me."
Lupin's answer confirmed Ian's suspicion. No ordinary wizard could've discovered something Voldemort hid. But old Headmaster Albus Dumbledore? That was another story.
"You've never used the Floo Network before, have you?" Lupin asked, noticing the eager look in Ian's eyes. Smiling, he pulled out a small cloth pouch.
"There's a first time for everything in life."
He offered a little life wisdom as he aimed his wand at the fireplace. Without uttering a spell, a small flame sparked to life and quickly grew within the hearth.
Tongues of fire licked upward,
The flames swiftly engulfed the entire interior of the fireplace.
"That was an Incendio spell. I used a nonverbal casting technique, you might learn it yourself in the upper years," Lupin said with a trace of pride.
It was moments like this that showed why he might have become a teacher in the original timeline, he definitely had a knack for sharing knowledge.
"Amazing."
Ian clapped sincerely, giving him some emotional validation.
Lupin visibly brightened at the praise.
"Study hard, little one." Chuckling, Lupin reached into the cloth pouch and grabbed a small handful of glittering powder, which he tossed into the roaring fireplace.
"Whoosh~"
In an instant.
As the flames surged up,
It was as if they had been tinted with an otherworldly hue, the fire inside the fireplace turned emerald green in the blink of an eye, and the flames leapt to a height taller than a person.
"The key to using the Floo Network is speaking clearly. Be careful not to choke on the ash that may kick up, and don't move around randomly during the process,"
"If you start feeling dizzy, don't panic, that's normal. Some people just, " Lupin continued explaining the proper use of the Floo Network to the little wizard(s).
This time, his tendency to act like a teacher was actually helpful. Ian listened intently and committed every detail to memory. However, just as he was about to repeat all seven or eight usage rules to confirm them,
"Of course, this particular fireplace is a special one. It can only transport to one designated location, so saying the destination out loud doesn't actually matter." Lupin's final summary nearly made Ian mentally collapse.
He almost pulled out his little notebook just to write down Lupin's name, for future payback.
"I'll go first to demonstrate, and also to be there waiting when you arrive." Sensing the not-so-friendly glint in the little wizard's eyes, Lupin chuckled awkwardly and quickly dashed into the fireplace.
"Hogwarts!"
He called out the name of the school that held the happiest memories of his life.
In the next moment,
With a crisp swooshing sound and the flicker of flames, Lupin disappeared right before Ian's eyes. The room, now dim once again, held only him and the dancing fire.
Now that Lupin had departed, the flames returned to their normal hue and shrank down significantly, once again looking like an ordinary fireplace.
"Interesting."
Ian muttered, analyzing the inner workings of the Floo Network. Of course, to truly understand how the Floo Network functioned, he would have to step into it and experience it firsthand.
"Twilight Zone!"
Ian picked up the small cloth pouch Lupin had left behind, threw a small amount of the sparkling powder into the flames, and after watching them change color, carefully sealed the rest of the Floo powder before stepping inside.
This was unlike anything Ian had ever experienced. Totally different from Apparating, he could see the flames swirling around him, but they didn't burn. Instead, they felt warm and comforting.
Hot gusts of wind even lifted his robes. The sensation was like walking into a vacation resort with perfect weather, except everything around him, seen through the flame's glow, was an indistinct blur.
The scenery spun.
Though not violently.
Only the howling in his ears was a bit sharp, and his ears felt a little pressurized, reminding Ian of that sensation during airplane takeoff.
Ian strained to look outward.
A sequence of fireplaces and rooms flashed past in the swirling chaos, private homes all linked to the Floo Network. What Ian was doing now was essentially a magical form of illegal border-crossing via the Network.
"Even without a nose, he really was a genius."
Ian genuinely praised the legacy left behind by Tom.
As the swirling images outside began to settle, Ian found himself arriving in an extremely dim shop, or more precisely, in front of a wide, shadowy wizarding store's stone fireplace.
"Not a bad ride, huh?"
Lupin was already there waiting for him. Upon seeing that the little wizard didn't look nearly as disheveled as he expected, his tone even carried a trace of disappointment.
"It was alright."
Ian's eyes swept around the surroundings. Just as he suspected, Tom-senior's fireplace had been linked to Borgin and Burkes, the infamous dark magic shop in Knockturn Alley.
All the items in the surrounding display cases were unmistakably illegal. On a cushion inside a glass case sat a withered human hand, a stack of bloodstained playing cards that once belonged to Scabbers, and a glass eyeball staring blankly into space. Grotesque masks loomed from the walls, and the countertop was littered with various human bones.
Sinister instruments, some rusted, some still stained with dark dried blood, hung from the ceiling. Their spiked shapes made it obvious they were brutal torture devices.
"Creepy, huh?"
Lupin noticed the little wizard's gaze.
"Mm."
Ian nodded and looked toward the counter, where an old man sat motionless behind it. He didn't even look up at them, as if people stepping out of his fireplace was a daily occurrence.
"Can I buy something?"
Ian's intrigued expression caught Lupin off guard.
(To Be Continued…)