Chapter 637: Bringing Them Out
The Lands Between.
Mist permeated the air.
Alice sat crouched on the ground for a long time; Frank stood beside her, like a steadfast city wall.
"The old gentleman who recently arrived in The Lands Between said that our Neville is doing wonderfully..." Frank comforted Alice with his deep, gravelly voice. "He has learned a great deal of magic, made some friends at Hogwarts... He is exceptionally good at Defense Against the Dark Arts—he takes after me in that regard; and Professor Sprout is always praising him in Herbology, which I imagine is a testament to inheriting your gift..."
Alice stared blankly ahead, saying nothing.
Frank continued slowly, relaying what he had heard from the old gentleman. "We should trust him; he is more than capable of protecting himself... Alice, did you know? He achieved the second-highest marks in Defense Against the Dark Arts, second only to that 'Green' boy... We should be proud."
The rumbling thunder ceased, dark clouds rolled in from the distance, and a violent sound—like a colossal structure collapsing—echoed through the air.
Frank and Alice both looked ahead.
They saw a black cat.
It was standing in the wheat field, next to a black cat statue outside a distant wooden cabin.
"Frank..." Just as the dark clouds were about to sweep over them, and as The Lands Between trembled violently from the colossal collapse, Alice finally spoke. "Why would our Neville need to be so good at Defense Against the Dark Arts...?"
Frank was left speechless. He saw a crystalline tear roll down Alice's cheek; a sudden wave of sorrow welled up in his heart, and he silently bowed his head.
The wind was a transparent river; the rain was icy shooting stars.
As the icy shooting stars pattered down on Hogwarts, Neville sat blankly on his bed.
Tears abruptly rolled down his plump cheeks.
He felt an inexplicable wave of sorrow; his throat felt hoarse, unable to make a sound.
He looked at the sweet wrapper in his palm, pondering questions that had no answers.
Would they ever wake up?
His father, with his deep, gravelly voice; his mother, with eyes that shone gentler and brighter than sweet wrappers...
Were they dead?
Why had he seen them in that place...?
His eyelids could not bear the weight of these thoughts, and fresh tears welled up once more.
He sobbed quietly.
He completely failed to notice that Ron and Harry had just woken up.
The two of them cautiously poked their heads out from under their covers, not daring to make the slightest sound.
The Lands Between.
The wheat field.
The black cat gazed at Frank and Alice from afar.
It seemed to have no intention of approaching them; instead, it simply sat down where it was.
Around its furry neck, the ancient stone tablet had already cracked a full five times, drawing perilously close to the limit of seven mentioned by Madam Hufflepuff.
Even more unsettling was that right now, a sixth, fine crack was cutting across the stone tablet, spreading along its peculiar runic patterns.
The sixth crack—the mark of its current entry into The Lands Between—emitted a faint sound.
The black cat stared at it, lost in thought.
"Master of Dreams and Mist, Bridge Between Life and Death, Symbol of Eternal Good Fortune..."
A respectful, deep call roused the black cat from its reverie.
It saw Frank walking stiffly and formally into the wheat field, stopping beside the black cat statue.
"Good evening, Mr. Frank," the black cat said, its tail curling.
"Good evening, honorable deity," Frank bowed his head.
"Neville..." he began hesitantly.
"There won't be a next time," the black cat said, gazing into the distance.
Hope shattered in Frank's eyes, and his ramrod-straight frame swayed slightly.
"Regardless, the wizard Frank offers you his highest respects. May the Limbo dream endure eternally, and may dear good fortune forever twitch its ears."
The black cat remained silent for a moment before looking up. "Do you want to say your goodbyes?"
"Are you leaving?" Frank asked.
"Not me."
The black cat gently raised a paw; the stone tablet floated upward, and the white mist began to swirl, as if obeying a divine decree.
"Are you saying..." Frank suddenly grew tense.
"You are leaving, Mr. Frank. You don't belong here," the black cat said, its expression serious.
"You must be joking... That's impossible... Even for a deity..." Frank had never felt such panic in his life. "Alice—come here—quickly—"
While denying it, he shouted Alice's name.
"Do you want to say your goodbyes?" the black cat repeated.
"Of course—of course—" Panic was written all over Frank's face as he tightly embraced Alice, a childlike excitement washing over him.
"Frank, you..." Alice, held tightly in his arms, asked gently but confusedly.
"You won't believe what I just heard, so come with me; we have to say goodbye to Mrs. Lance, Mr. Floyd, and the others..." Frank's voice was trembling.
"Frank!" Alice gasped his name again, and Frank gave her a rapid nod.
"Mr. Longbottom, Mrs. Longbottom, you must hurry..." the black cat spoke, gazing at the black and red mist howling toward them in the distance. "...Before The Lands Between manages to throw me out..."
Its final words were spoken at a moderate volume, but the Longbottoms clearly didn't hear them. The two were already rushing off, racing against time.
The black cat stood guard in the wheat field, wrapping its tail around its paws.
The milky-white mist floated all around it.
Its thoughts drifted as well.
Once a wizard's soul sank into The Lands Between, there was no possibility of returning to reality. The eternal Lands Between possessed rules that had endured for millennium after millennium.
But what if a wizard's soul hadn't completely sunk into The Lands Between?
Could a fractured soul be reunited?
Of course it could.
In the world beyond, when a wizard embarked on their great adventure, their separated soul fragments would eventually reunite.
Not even Tom Riddle was an exception; if his soul could be saved and had not been judged, upon his death, regardless of how many pieces it had been torn into, they would all merge back into one.
But... could a wizard's soul reunite in that world?
That was, of course, impossible—for a wizard.
But I am not a wizard, at least not right now...
As the black cat thought this, the trembling of the Void Rune grew even more violent.
It recalled Headmaster Dumbledore's words:
"I was once wholly absorbed in studying the Uagadou Soul Hallow. Its power is profoundly esoteric, and among all those who have studied it, I am merely the most inconspicuous, insignificant, and unremarkable. The act of pulling a wizard into one's own 'dream'—to this day, no one has been able to accomplish it. The wizards of Uagadou can easily perform transfiguration, and can make genuine prophecies based on astronomy, much like the centaurs you've encountered. However, they firmly believe that only a wizard capable of bringing a soul in or taking one out is the true master of the Soul Hallow, and the eldest child of the Supreme God, Katanda."
Bringing them out...
The moment it sank into The Lands Between, the black cat realized that it was possible.