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 something 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 some Dark Lord.
Once feeling returned to his cheeks, Wade picked up his suitcase again.
At that moment, 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 seemed 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 time, 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 seemed 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 moment, 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 come 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 immediately pressed against his back!
"Don't move! Stand still!"
"Uh…" For a moment, Wade actually felt like he was being held at gunpoint.
"Turn around!" someone ordered.
But Wade recognized their voices.
"Uh, okay, but whatever you do, don't shoot… no, I mean, don't cast a spell!" Wade said as he slowly turned around.
And then he saw two men and two women, 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 remembering something, 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 came 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 sometimes. Though you might need to inscribe some 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, come in already!" one of the women said as she stepped aside.
Hearing that, Newt suddenly seemed to remember, hurriedly took Wade's suitcase, and welcomed 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 me 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 names," Tina said generously.
"That's right. You call Jacob by his name, 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 seemed to be female?
But since this was their first meeting, 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 time Dumbledore even brought her by to see me." Newt looked at her with some excitement. "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 something, 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 seemed 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 some 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 fundamentally changed, even her digestive system has become 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 immediately understood why Tina had hit him. Saying such things in front of Nagini really wasn't appropriate—it was no different from tearing open someone's wound.
"Sorry… I… it was just habit," Newt said awkwardly.
"And you deserved that hit!" Tina said in dissatisfaction.
When it came 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 exclaimed 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 Occlumency, the only thoughts Queenie could read were the ones Wade allowed her to.
Come to think of it, he had crammed to learn Occlumency back when he thought he was about to meet her.
Only, that meeting 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 sometimes 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 seemed to be only a thirst for knowledge, a longing for friendship… and sadness about his home..
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 mean 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 became a curse.
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