Chapter 856: Long Time No See
Chapter 856: Long Time No See
Number 12, Grimmauld Place.
As everyone was attending Lupin's wedding, the place was currently empty. However, Kyle knew that it wouldn't be long before Mrs. Weasley and Sirius returned, so he didn't dare to enter rashly. Instead, he supported Dumbledore and led him to an alley nearby.
Dumbledore was in a terrible state at the moment, devoid of any strength, and could only remain standing with Kyle's support. Yet, his expression remained calm and indifferent.
"How are you feeling, Professor?" Kyle asked, offering a bottle of invigorating restorative potion, which helped Dumbledore regain some of his strength.
"I thought I could try to kill Tom, but I overestimated myself."
Dumbledore stood up shakily. "The potion Nicolas gave me only temporarily suppressed the effects of time rejection. In my current state, it's challenging to cast magic powerful enough to kill Tom."
"It's alright; what you've done is already impressive." Kyle said, "Besides, you couldn't have killed the mysterious man anyway. I've met him before."
"That's why I feel regretful." Dumbledore said as he glanced at their surroundings. "Grimmauld Place... Why did you bring me here? It's best if you don't appear before them; going elsewhere would be preferable."
"I suggest going to Nicolas' manor or the Hog's Head Inn."
"Fox has the same idea as you." Kyle smiled, "After rescuing them, he sent them straight to the Hog's Head Inn. At the time, Aberforth even thought you were dead."
"He must have been delighted." Dumbledore's eyes dimmed.
"On the contrary, he was quite concerned about you." Kyle said, "He not only provided a safe place for everyone but also sent someone personally to inquire about your whereabouts."
"Oh, look, he's here."
Following Kyle's finger, Dumbledore indeed saw Aberforth apparating with two people in tow—Mrs. Weasley and Sirius Black.
However, their condition was not ideal, as their faces were pale, and they immediately fell to the ground, looking like they would vomit endlessly.
"What's wrong with them?" Dumbledore asked in confusion.
"Professor, did you forget what I just said?" Kyle whispered, "They were rescued by Fox."
"Oh!"
Dumbledore immediately understood. Being carried by a phoenix through apparition would indeed result in such a state.
Recalling his first attempt at this mode of transportation, he had also spent an entire day unable to eat anything.
It was a terrible memory.
But it felt different when it happened to others. Looking at Sirius and Mrs. Weasley's state... Dumbledore struggled to suppress the corners of his mouth from turning upward.
No, he must not laugh; it would be impolite.
However, Kyle had no such reservations, and his shoulders shook with suppressed laughter.
Although he had witnessed it once before, experiencing it from a bystander's perspective felt entirely dissimilar... Perhaps it was also because he already knew that they were all safe.
Kyle took out his camera and, amidst Dumbledore's incredulous gaze, clicked the shutter.
"Just recording this moment." Kyle smiled, "Scenes like this are rarely seen, aren't they?"
Dumbledore raised an eyebrow, his gaze involuntarily falling on the camera.
His intuition told him that there was something extraordinary about it, and it would be best to destroy it immediately and blast all the film to smithereens with magic.
The urge was strong.
Dumbledore wasn't sure why he felt this way, but since it belonged to Kyle, who had saved him and Ariana before, it would be unreasonable to destroy it without explanation.
Dumbledore could only forcibly suppress this impulse and shift his gaze elsewhere.
"Quick, hide it and stop staring." He reminded Kyle.
At that moment, the other Kyle arrived, and the three of them entered Number 12, Grimmauld Place together.
"We should leave this place soon." Dumbledore said, "In case Alastor shows up. His magical eye might detect us."
"Don't worry; he has other matters to attend to and won't come here." Kyle said, as in his memory, Alastor Moody had never appeared.
"Moreover, I came here for another reason."
"What reason?"
"I can't tell you now." Kyle shook his head, "Be patient, Professor. You'll know soon enough."
Although Dumbledore was curious, he didn't press further, seeing that Kyle wasn't willing to divulge more. He waited quietly by the side.
Soon, someone emerged from the house.
"I'm going to fetch the others now; they're all at the Hog's Head Inn." Kyle explained.
"That place is indeed quite safe." Dumbledore nodded silently.
Despite Aberforth's less-than-friendly attitude towards him over the years, Dumbledore considered him one of the most trustworthy people, just like how Fox instinctively sent people to him.
The two continued to wait.
"Oh, right." Kyle suddenly remembered something and said, "Professor, when I was rescuing people, I also bought some drinks and liquor, which can help them recover faster from the discomfort caused by Fox's rescue method."
"My name?" Dumbledore looked at Kyle, puzzled.
Logically, mentioning his name would make Aberforth even less likely to sell it to him... Could it be that his younger brother had finally forgiven him?
"Well... it's like this..." Kyle stammered, "To be precise, I put the drinks on your tab, and, the price was a tiny bit higher than the market rate."
"Oh, that's fine." Dumbledore also understood, but he didn't mind.
It was just a few bottles of liquor, and he could still afford them. Besides, this incident was partly due to his impulsiveness, so it was only reasonable that he should pay for it.
"I'll make up for it later, so don't worry." Dumbledore said calmly.
"That's good." Kyle said, but he had already started thinking about finding a place to hide for a while.
Back then, he had doubled the price of the liquor. Who knew how much Aberforth, that black-hearted guy, had marked up the price per bottle? The only certainty was that Dumbledore was probably going to be ripped off big time.
Of course, that was something to worry about later.
After a while longer, neither Kyle nor the others had returned, but Kingsley showed up. He must have just gotten the news and rushed over from the Ministry of Magic.
Soon after, his father, Krist, and a Silent Stranger arrived. Kyle remembered that Krist had said the stranger was sent by Diana to check on him.
Upon seeing this Silent Stranger, Dumbledore's entire body stiffened, and his eyes were fixed on the figure, oblivious to anyone else.
Seeing this, Kyle confirmed his guess.
Indeed, the Silent Stranger must be Ariana, and the person he had met at the door of the Department of Mysteries was also her.
No wonder he always felt like she knew him. Kyle had thought it was because of Diana, but it turned out they had truly met before.
It was just that he hadn't known her back then.
"Professor, you mustn't act rashly." Kyle patted Dumbledore on the shoulder, "There are many people there, so just be patient for a little longer."
"Don't worry." Dumbledore came back to his senses and said softly, "I've been waiting for a century, so a little while longer won't hurt."
Although he said so, Kyle could hear the longing and urgency in his trembling voice.
Yes, even though they had met not long ago, once Dumbledore's memories returned, his longing and regret for his sister also resurfaced. A century's worth of emotional void couldn't be filled by a brief reunion.
Dumbledore must be eager to see Ariana, to confide in her, and to... apologize.
"Just a little while longer, Professor..." Kyle said again.
Finally, the others arrived, and a large group of them squeezed a door key, appearing out of thin air next to Number 12, Grimmauld Place.
Kyle saw Krist walking over and talking to him...
Dumbledore became increasingly anxious, and Kyle could even feel the arm he was holding start to struggle, the strength in it growing.
At that moment, the hooded Silent Stranger seemed to sense something and abruptly turned her head toward them.
Almost instinctively, Dumbledore shrunk back, hiding himself behind the wall.
"Professor, what are you doing..." Kyle was speechless, "You were so eager a moment ago, why are you hesitating now?"
"I, I don't know." Dumbledore pressed his lips together, his voice tense and disjointed. "I... I'm just afraid..."
"Afraid of what?"
"Afraid that, like with the Erised Mirror, she'll be right before my eyes... and then disappear again in the blink of an eye."
"Oh, so you thought I didn't want to see you." A voice, tinged with pleasure, came from the side.
Only then did Dumbledore realize that the speaker wasn't Kyle. He opened his eyes and saw a very unfamiliar, yet extremely familiar face.
"Long time no see, Albus."
Tears welled up in his eyes, and Dumbledore laughed and cried, looking every bit like a madman.
"And you too." Ariana turned her head to the other side, "...
"Shush, don't you dare say it." As she opened her mouth, Kyle shuddered and quickly stopped her from finishing her sentence.
"Just call me Kyle; don't add any suffixes."
Although he didn't know what magic the Department of Mysteries had used to make Ariana appear much younger than Dumbledore and Aberforth, she was over a hundred years old by her actual age.
If she called him "big brother" like she used to, Kyle would find it extremely awkward.
"Suffix... Ha, you wish." Ariana chuckled, "You guys sure deceived me for long enough. Do you know how surprised I was when I first saw you?
As for the matter of his name, he had been deliberately concealing it ever since he returned to the past, fearing that it might somehow affect the future.
In fact, even Codex, with whom he often drank, didn't know Kyle's name. Kyle had been asked about it many times, but he always managed to deflect the question with a different topic or a generic nickname like "friend" or "wanderer."
"The truth? Do you think they would tell me?" Ariana replied. "For a Silent Stranger, any stimulation could potentially trigger an outbreak of the Silent Fury within them.
To be honest, after I arrived at the Department of Mysteries, they chose to hide my youthful memories from me. Even I must admit that it was for the best, otherwise, I would have been overwhelmed by my longing and caused an outbreak."
"But now you know," Kyle said, looking at her curiously. "Does this mean you've achieved perfect control over the Silent Sentinel?"
"Can you tell me what it feels like to use Silent Incantation to cast magic?"
"Do you need to recite incantations? Do you need a wand, or do you just throw magic silently at your opponent's face?"
The more Ariana listened, the more her expression soured, and the gentle figure from her memory began to fade from her mind.
However, she didn't find this strange; in fact, she had a premonition about it.
Think about it; a person who breaks into someone else's school with you and even washes their face in their opponent's cherished magical fountain can't be a good influence.
But those memories were so beautiful that she didn't want to dwell on them, and now, with the overlap of memory and reality, the rosy filter of her childhood had shattered.
However, this was the real Kyle.
Just as Diana had described him... 'He may have done things that landed others in Azkaban, but you'll never find him there.'
This assessment was good in a sense, but it also implied that he couldn't be the Kyle from Ariana's memories.
"You guess," Ariana said unhappily. "Or, why don't you guess how a Silent Stranger uses magic, or... if you like, I'd be happy to satisfy your curiosity."
Kyle pursed his lips.
He didn't want to guess, and he definitely didn't want to be punched.
Damn, kids these days! Not only had he become harder to extract information from, but he also seemed to have developed a violent streak... Ariana from back then, who answered every question, was much cuter.
Hmm, that didn't sound right either.
"Well..."
"You..."
"So, anyway..."
While Kyle and Ariana were talking, Dumbledore was making all sorts of faces and occasionally making unnecessary noises, looking like a peacock trying to attract attention.
Kyle's fingers itched, and he quickly pulled out his camera and snapped a picture of him.
"Okay, you two chat. Take as long as you like, but I suggest you find another place. Occasionally, Muggles pass by here."
Kyle calmly put away his camera. "That's it for now. I plan to go for a walk in Diagon Alley and will probably stay at the Leaky Cauldron for a while... or maybe I'll go to Newt's place. If there's anything important, just have Fox come find me."
With that, Kyle tactfully left the siblings to their reunion after a century apart.
Moreover, he had a lot to do himself.
First of all, he was short on money. He had spent most of his savings, and what little remained had been given to the Hungarian Horn Tail Dragon Sanctuary, leaving him with a meager few hundred Galleons.
He was almost as poor as Ron... well, maybe slightly better off, but what could a few hundred Galleons buy? Not even a broomstick.
Kyle was worried about his financial situation and needed to find a way to refill his coffers... at the very least, he wanted to turn Norberta's nest back to its golden color. The current ashen hue was simply hideous.
In addition, he had to deal with the two dragon eggs soon. For some reason, perhaps due to the Time-Turner, the eggs had suddenly become active, baffling Norberta, who was responsible for caring for them.
Yes, Norberta was a female dragon, but according to the age of the Hungarian Horntail Dragons, she was still considered a juvenile and lacked experience in hatching dragon eggs.
The reason they had entrusted the eggs to her was mainly due to a lack of other options. They certainly couldn't give them to Charlie, that goofball, whose brain wasn't much bigger than a walnut. If left to him, he might end up eating the eggs as a snack.
As for the Venomous Vipertooth Dragons and the Chimaera Cats, they were out of the question as well. The Vipertooth Dragons were from Peru, and the Chimaera Cats were viviparous, so they were even less suited to caring for dragon eggs.
All things considered, Norberta, despite her reluctance, was still the best option. With Kyle's gentle persuasion, she reluctantly agreed to take on the task, regularly bathing the eggs with her dragonfire.
(End of Chapter)
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