Chapter 813: Reunion
Chapter 813: Reunion
France, home to the renowned alchemist Nicoleme and the prestigious Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, is equally renowned in the magical world. While it may not boast the same level of fame and recognition as Britain, it holds one distinct advantage—the French Minister of Magic can proudly declare that their nation has not produced a notorious dark wizard in several centuries, making their reputation far superior to that of Britain.
Seventy years ago, the peace that had endured for centuries in France was shattered when Grindelwald suddenly appeared and held a rally there.
However, that was the only disturbance, and since then, France has remained peaceful, making French wizards appear more relaxed than their British counterparts.
In the heart of Furstenberg Square in Paris stands a uniquely shaped building resembling a left-pointing arrow or a vertical triangle when viewed from the outside.
Its distinct design attracts attention and serves as a local attraction, although most people are unaware that it is even more famous within the magical community.
This is the renowned Ministry of Magic and the destination of Kyle's journey.
Although the drunk Muggle did not respond to Kyle's question, the answer had already formed in his mind upon hearing it.
Thus, Kyle didn't need to reply, as the Catamount could see everything clearly, including the specific location and the city map.
Fortunately, Kyle was not far from Furstenberg Square, just a few streets away, and he arrived in half an hour.
At 8 o'clock, Kyle approached the massive glass door, straightened his clothes, and walked inside calmly.
He ignored the security and the open door, heading instead to a fountain in front of the building.
There were two statues, and after some thought, Kyle chose the left one, a statue of a pegasus. As he approached, the pegasus' wings lifted, revealing a passage.
Stepping inside, the bustling streets and skyscrapers vanished, replaced by uniquely designed buildings and wizards in distinctive robes instead of suits, long skirts, and trendy shirts.
French Diagon Alley.
Of course, it was not called Diagon Alley, but the meaning was the same—a shopping street accessible only to wizards.
"Phew, I didn't choose the wrong entrance," Kyle sighed in relief. He remembered Fengnu mentioning that there were two entrances here, one leading to this place and the other to the Ministry of Magic. If he had made a mistake, he might have had to explain to the Aurors why he was there.
Fortunately, his memory served him well.
Kyle continued walking, curiously examining the shops on the French side.
On the left was a large candy store, at least five times bigger than Honeydukes, filled with various candies that Kyle had never seen before, half of which were chocolates.
It seemed that Beauxbatons had also started its term, as there weren't many customers in the store.
Across from the candy store was likely a stationery shop, although Kyle couldn't read the French sign written in fancy calligraphy. Still, he recognized the quills and parchment, so he didn't need to read the sign.
Further ahead were a broomstick shop, a pet shop, a bookstore, a souvenir shop, an antique store, and in the middle of the street, the prominent Gringotts Wizarding Bank, constructed from white marble.
The shops here were similar to those in Diagon Alley, but the styles and designs were completely different.
Diagon Alley maintained a centuries-old traditional style, with buildings dating back to the previous century or even earlier, blending seamlessly into any era.
In contrast, the French side was noticeably newer, with many buildings that Kyle could tell were recent constructions.
There was even an anti-theft door on the broomstick shop, a metal security door.
Kyle doubted that such a door could withstand an unlocking spell.
He continued walking, passing by Gringotts and a bustling pub, before stopping near the end of the street.
"Prince Potion Shop."
Kyle glanced at the straightforward French sign and nodded, "This should be the right place."
However, what Kyle couldn't understand was that while the surrounding shops were open for business, this one was closed, with no merchandise displayed in the window.
Could it be that Conna wasn't here? Kyle paused for a moment, then looked at the sign again.
Prince... it was correct. It couldn't be that there was another Prince shop in France.
With a curious mind, he approached and knocked on the door.
There was no response from inside.
He knocked several more times, but there was still no answer.
"Could it be that no one is here?" Kyle wondered, feeling lost. Both the address given by Fengnu and the shop name seemed to match, so why was there no one inside?
Just as Kyle was considering sending a letter to Fengnu, he finally heard movement from within the shop.
"Sorry, we're closed today."
Upon hearing the voice, Kyle's heart immediately relaxed.
Although she was speaking in French, Kyle could still tell that the speaker was Conna.
"Ministry inspection, please cooperate and open the door." Kyle cleared his throat and said.
The shop immediately echoed with hurried footsteps, but soon, silence returned.
Several minutes later, accompanied by a creak, the door was opened.
Conna seemed to have just woken up, and her hastily combed hair revealed her rush. But her face was filled with surprise.
"Kyle!" Her voice held a hint of disbelief, but her body instinctively rushed forward.
Kyle quickly spread his arms to catch her. After their long-awaited reunion, the two embraced at the shop entrance.
At this moment, neither of them cared about the onlookers' gazes. They hugged each other, unwilling to let go. Kyle felt his mouth touch a piece of sweet cream pudding.
No one knew how long it lasted—maybe ten minutes, maybe an hour, maybe even longer.
"Hey, that's enough." Another person's voice came from inside the shop, "I understand how you feel, but can you please come inside? You've been standing there for a while now."
Although Fengnu was a half-Veela, at this moment, Kyle still felt that her voice must have been cursed by a witch, it was so grating... even though she herself was a witch.
"Aren't French people supposed to be romantic?" Kyle looked at Fengnu, who was leaning against the shelf, and said with dissatisfaction, "Why are you being so nosy?"
"Do you want to hear yourself speak?" Fengnu immediately exploded, exasperated, "Think about it, I left my boyfriend and came all this way to be with Conna, and you say I'm being nosy?"
The more Fengnu thought about it, the angrier she became. When she and Bill parted ways, they were still in the throes of a passionate romance, even considering marriage.
But this dog, Kyle, not only didn't thank her for leaving her fiance to take care of his girlfriend, but also said such ungrateful words.
She seemed ready to transform, picking up a bottle of potion and wanting to fight Kyle. Fortunately, Conna stopped her.
Conna also snapped out of her initial surprise at seeing Kyle.
"Calm down, calm down, don't stoop to his level." She soothed the almost-exploding Fengnu while giving Kyle a glare.
"Okay, I apologize." Kyle quickly raised both hands in surrender... when in Rome, do as the Romans do.
"To express my apology." He took out a gift he had prepared in advance, "This is for you."
"What is this?" Fengnu's anger subsided a little as she picked up the bottle from the table, "It looks like shampoo."
"It's similar." Kyle said, "Newt has studied Veela, and this magical creature is especially prone to shedding in the fall. I thought that since you have half Veela blood, you might also lose your hair, so I used ginger root, cloak grass, and mandrake juice to research this hair serum..."
Before Kyle could finish his sentence, a bottle flew over, grazing his ear and hitting the wall behind him. Conna didn't even try to stop it.
Or maybe she didn't intend to stop it at all.
It was no surprise that Fengnu, who usually kept people at a distance, was so angry. Smashing him once was not a loss, it was just a pity that she smashed her bottle of Vitality Elixir.
Conna sighed and closed the shop door again.
By the time the room became quiet again, twenty minutes had passed. Fengnu sat there, panting and glaring at Kyle.
But interestingly, the items Kyle had brought were gone.
"Speak up, what are you doing in France at this time?"
"Wait!" Conna suddenly realized, "Why did you suddenly come here? What about..."
"Don't worry, nothing's happened there. The Dark Lord and his Death Eaters are up to something, but they've been rarely seen lately."
"Also, Hogwarts has already started the new term, so I thought I'd come and see you." Kyle said, and with a wave of his hand, the broken items on the floor quickly returned to their original state and floated back to their original positions.
This was a wizarding shopping street, and the passersby were all wizards. Using magic here was completely fine.
"Speaking of which, how did you know it was me outside?" He asked casually.
When Conna opened the door earlier, she didn't hesitate at all and rushed over. She must have known that the person outside was Kyle.
"Of course I knew." Conna said with a smile, "If it were a French wizard, they wouldn't be able to speak such terrible French."
"Is my French really that bad?" Kyle ran his hand through his hair, feeling that his pronunciation was quite good.
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"My ten-month-old sister speaks better than you." Fengnu scoffed.
"Alright." Kyle sighed, "I should've known, I should've made a translator. This trip has been quite inconvenient."
"How did you get in? Did you use the door key?" Conna poured a glass of cherry soda for Kyle. This was a popular drink in France, equivalent to butterbeer in Britain.
"No, I didn't use the door key." Kyle explained, "A phoenix brought me here, so I could avoid the Ministry of Magic."
"A phoenix...?" Conna blinked, "Professor Dumbledore's phoenix?"
"Yes, it's very convenient, I must say."
Kyle rubbed his forehead. "The process was a bit unfriendly."
Despite Fengnu sitting right next to him, Kyle didn't seem to be hiding anything from her.
Fengnu's character was still trustworthy.
Moreover, it was foreseeable that Fengnu and Bill would eventually get married, and at that time, she would naturally become one of the Order of the Phoenix. There was no need to hide anything from her.
However, Fengnu wasn't particularly interested in the topic of the Order. She was more concerned about something else.
"I'm curious... With your terrible French, how did you find this place?" She looked at Kyle. "The French Ministry of Magic values Furstenberg Square highly, and there are Aurors everywhere. They couldn't have missed a new wizard appearing."
"Really?" Kyle blinked. "Then I must be lucky. I appeared a few streets away, not too far from here, but not too close either."
"Then how did you get here? You didn't ask for directions, did you?"
"Of course, I asked for directions," Kyle said earnestly. "I asked a Muggle, and he was so enthusiastic. Plus, he could understand everything I said."
"Really?"
Fengnu was skeptical of Kyle's statement, but since he had found his way here without the Aurors showing up, it seemed he hadn't used magical means.
"But... That's not right. Muggles can't be that accommodating with language, can they?" Fengnu whispered. "You must have found a Muggle who could speak English."
Kyle chose to ignore her baseless speculation.
"By the way, it's almost noon. Why aren't you opening the shop yet?" He changed the subject. "Are you really selling potions?"
"Of course..."
"Of course we are," Conna said before Fengnu could speak. "I just didn't want to open so early. Anyway, this shop isn't about making money. We open whenever we feel like it. Usually, we open around noon."
"Then why are the windows empty?" Kyle asked, pointing.
"Of course, we sold out," Conna said. "A few days ago, when Busbaron started, those students almost bought out all our stock."
"I didn't plan to open today so that we could restock as soon as possible."
To add credibility to her words, she stood up and opened the inner door.
Kyle peered inside. The room was filled with potions, leaving only a small clearing near the door for easy access.
Seeing this, Kyle believed Conna's explanation.
After all, so many potions couldn't be faked, and Conna was indeed running the shop with dedication. This put Kyle at ease.
Subsequently, they switched to another topic, but from then on, it was mainly Conna and Kyle chatting.
After such a long time apart, the two seemed to have endless things to talk about.
"Let me tell you, things here are quite interesting. Did you see those alchemy shops when you arrived?" Conna had already grabbed Kyle's hand without anyone noticing.
"I saw three," Kyle nodded.
"There are more," Conna said. "This place doesn't seem to value potions as much. They prefer alchemy."
"Then can you sell your potions?"
"Exactly because they're rare that they're popular," Conna said. "After all, the effects of potions can't be replaced by alchemy. No matter how little they value potions, there's still a demand."
"That's true."
"How's the situation in England?"
"It's okay," Kyle said. "The Death Eaters were active when Hogwarts started its vacation, but there haven't been any major moves recently. Oh, and Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks got married."
"Really? When?"
"Early August."
"It's a pity I couldn't attend."
"It's fine, and that day was quite dangerous. Bellatrix and the Death Eaters came to disrupt the wedding."
...
The two of them chatted as if no one else was around. Initially, Fengnu could listen, but as time passed, she felt the atmosphere becoming more and more awkward.
It was as if she had become an invisible person, transparent to everyone.
She, Fengnu, a half-Veela, was always the most dazzling person in any crowd. She never thought that there would be a day when she would be ignored.
But today, she experienced it.
It was as if there was a magical aura around the two of them, automatically shielding them from everything around. Fengnu tried to interject several times, but she was ignored each time.
"Hey, can you two at least respect me a little!" Fengnu shouted, finally getting a response.
"What's wrong?" Kyle looked up.
"I wanted to ask about Bill. How is he doing lately?"
"When you write letters, you almost tire out three owls a day. Do you need me to tell you how he's doing?" Kyle said calmly. "And if Bill had something going on, do you think I wouldn't have mentioned it to you by now?"
Fengnu took a deep breath. Her good manners kept her smiling, but no one knew what she was thinking.
"You two continue... I'm going to take a walk."
Fengnu stood up and stormed out, slamming the door behind her.
She couldn't stand staying there for another minute.
...
(End of Chapter)
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