[Hi, Michael,
Thanks to Dumbledore, I've returned safely. Everything is fine, and I'll be back at school this Sunday night.
The Book of Friends isn't with me right now, so I had to write to you instead. I'll explain more when we meet.
Please let everyone know I'm safe. I hope you're all doing well.
Best wishes,
Wade]
After signing his name, Wade waited for the ink to dry, folded the letter, slipped it into an envelope, and watched as the owl flew out the window with it.
He had actually wanted to go back to his old apartment to gather the things he left behind — including all the Christmas gifts that were still piled up there. But as soon as Wade hinted at stepping out, Fiona tightly grabbed his wrist. Her fingers were especially cold.
"Not now." Wade gently patted her arm to reassure her and said, "Tomorrow morning, I can ask Mr. Moody to come with me. He used to be the best Auror in the Ministry of Magic — if he's with me, you both can rest easy."
"But Moody hasn't been home recently," Fred said with a frown.
Then it occurred to him — since Wade has returned, and if Moody had gone out to rescue him, he should be back soon too.
Fred changed his tone and said, "Alright then, I'll go with you to visit Moody tomorrow morning. If he's not home… we can contact Lupin."
Fred also had Lupin's contact information.
After this recent kidnapping incident, neither of them dared to let Wade go out alone, even to the house in London — which neither of them currently had much fondness for.
Even though Wade could turn into a peregrine falcon and get there quickly, or even Apparate, he just smiled and nodded in agreement.
After sending the letter to Michael, Wade sat at the desk by the window and began organizing books — the ones on dark magic. Even if they were copies, they weren't suitable for ordinary people to see.
It wasn't just because of their dark and dangerous content — some of these books, due to the spells written in them, could cause actual harm. Some could tempt people into reading more, some could invite disaster, and others might cause hallucinations or delusions.
So these books had to be sealed properly with magic when not in use, and reading them also required special techniques.
Like Hagrid's beloved Monster Book of Monsters — if you didn't stroke its spine first, it would act like a rabid dog and could even bite your fingers off.
Halfway through organizing, Wade faintly heard the loud pop. He instinctively looked up toward the window, thinking it might be Moody returning. But the next second, he saw two familiar figures walking toward the front gate.
"Sirius! Remus!"
Wade leaned out the window excitedly, waving his hand. The two adult wizards looked up at him, then smiled and waved back.
They both looked travel-worn and weary. A moment earlier, they had been talking quietly with serious expressions, but upon seeing Wade, their faces immediately brightened.
Wade rushed downstairs. As he passed the study, Fred opened the door and asked, "Wade, what is it?"
"Sirius and Remus are here!" Wade said.
By the time they reached the ground floor, Fiona had already opened the door and was greeting their guests.
"Good afternoon, Mrs. Grey."
"Long time no see, Mr. Grey."
The two men spoke with warm smiles, then hurried over to Wade. Only when they saw he was safe and sound did they finally breathe a sigh of relief.
"Thank goodness you're alright!" Lupin opened his arms and gave Wade a strong hug. His voice trembled slightly as he said: "I'm so sorry, Wade."
"It's not your fault, Remus." Wade patted him on the back comfortingly. "You know it was Grindelwald, after all."
"Don't look so gloomy all the time, Moony."
Sirius clapped both of them on the shoulders and winked.
"What a remarkable adventure, right? Wade, I almost wish I were you — coming face to face with the dark lord who ruled Europe fifty years ago. That must've been a real thrill!"
Lupin: "…"
He rolled his eyes at Sirius — What on earth are you saying in front of the kid's parents?
Wade couldn't help but laugh.
…
The Greys, sensing the three had much to talk about, brought out some desserts and tea and then retreated to the upstairs study, giving the trio space.
During their conversation, Sirius and Lupin learned the general outline of Wade's experience, while Wade heard about their own efforts — tracking the Alliance and even storming that castle.
"We were sure those bastards would lock you up in their main hideout," Sirius frowned and said as his eyes became sharper. "We didn't expect Grindelwald to take you to the battlefield."
Lupin gave Wade a reassuring pat on the shoulder.
"I imagine those aren't pleasant memories. Wade, if… I mean, if they forced you to hurt someone, you don't have to carry that burden. We all know you didn't have a choice."
"Don't worry. I just did some technical work," Wade said with a smile. "Even during the fighting, Grindelwald just kept me at his side…"
He paused, then continued, "Actually, I think… he probably knew about your rescue plan from the start. I think he was planning to let me leave with Dumbledore all along."
As he spoke, Lupin kept his eyes on Wade's expression. Seeing that his gaze remained clear and his demeanor showed no signs of trauma, Lupin finally let out a breath and truly relaxed.
Sirius snorted. "That bastard definitely didn't have good intentions. Wade, you need to be wary of people like that. Dark wizards are nothing but trouble!"
He hesitated, then remembered Regulus and corrected himself. "...Most dark wizards are nothing but trouble! Their kindness is more dangerous than their cruelty, because those guys always want something more from you!"
Wade thought it over and found that this wasn't exactly wrong, so he nodded.
"Be cautious and hold fast to your convictions," Lupin said to Wade. "Whether it's kindness or malice, as long as we know what truly matters, we won't be led astray."
"I understand," Wade said seriously. "That's what Dumbledore said too."
"Speaking of which," Sirius chimed in, "that Obscurial lured your magical dolls to the Alliance' territory — though it was to rescue you. Wade, do you know about that?"
"You mean Mabel?"
Wade recalled the girl who had been determined to save her friends, then thought about the personalities of the cube, the cloak, and the other magical dolls. He suddenly fell silent.
It seemed almost impossible that the dolls had been lured away by Mabel — far more likely, they had gone and dragged her into the mission.
But the wizarding world preferred to avoid any discussion of the thoughts or personalities of intelligent magical creatures like house-elves. If people found out the dolls had independent will — and were capable enough to organize a rescue mission...
At that point, history might repeat itself, only this time not Muggles hunting witches, but wizards hunting dolls.
"Mabel's kind of a friend of mine. I helped her once on that island," Wade said, subtly shifting the blame for the dolls' independent actions onto Mabel. He furrowed his brow as if thinking deeply and, after a moment, added:
"She probably came to ask me for help, then somehow found out about the kidnapping — and that's what led her to take the dolls and launch a rescue."
Remembering the Dark mist of the Obscurus overturning the truck, and the way the girl had calmly decided to leave the Muggle soldiers to the Alliance, Sirius nodded. That kid, though young, clearly had a sense of resolve.
Just like Wade — still so young, and yet no one could truly see him as just a child.
But Sirius still had one question: "Where did she get that information? Even we weren't sure who was behind it at first."
Meanwhile, Lupin was thinking to himself: Hmm… Wade seems to be hiding something. But why? He should not have known about it before...
A few thoughts passed through Lupin's mind before he turned to Sirius and said, "It might've been because of us. Remember? When we followed that owl delivering gifts to the Greys' apartment, we were discussing the situation."
Sirius raised an eyebrow: "You're saying… She was hiding in the apartment then?"
"Yeah." Lupin nodded and sighed. "Come to think of it, I actually saw that colorful cube doll at the time. I thought it was just a decoration and didn't pay it any attention."
Sirius remembered too and fell silent in disbelief.
The Obscurus— who has eluded the wizarding world's trackers for so long — had once been just a few meters away from us, and neither of us noticed.
Then again, we have only heard about the power and danger of Obscurus; we'd never witnessed one in action. Maybe Obscurus has some unique way of hiding.
"I actually want to go back to the apartment," Wade said. "To see if the dolls have returned, if Mabel is still there — and my Christmas presents are over there too."
Lupin immediately understood his meaning and said, "We'll go with you."
…
Wade didn't plan to be away for long. After dinner, they headed out right away. He had already told his parents he'd be back before bedtime.
"Can't be helped. They're just too worried about me."
After stepping outside, Wade explained a little awkwardly to the two of them.
"Totally understandable," Lupin said gently. "If I were your parent, I wouldn't feel comfortable letting you spend the night out either."
"Having good parents is an incredibly precious experience," Sirius said nostalgically. "Fleamont and Euphemia — oh, that's Harry's grandparents — they treated me the same way, like their own son."
The streets of London at night were very quiet. Brick buildings stood silently on either side, with only a few windows faintly lit.
The three of them stood by the roadside, surveying their surroundings to make sure there were no hidden dangers and no Muggles wandering nearby, before heading toward the apartment.
Inside, the room was dim and chilly in the moonlight. Wade switched on the electric lights, and bright light instantly flooded the space.
There were gift boxes piled on the bed, the floor, and the shelves. The wardrobe was still open, and the little bell that connected the inside and outside lay sleeping soundly with its head down.
"Wake up."
Wade flicked the bell with his finger. It jolted awake and exclaimed cheerfully, "Master, you're back!"
Then it looked around and asked, "Huh? Where's the Cube and the others?"
"That's what I wanted to ask you," Wade replied. "How long have they been gone? Have they come back in the past couple of days?"
"Umm…"
The bell fell into deep thought, unable to answer.
It couldn't be helped — it was just a doorbell, after all. It had no real sense of time. Most of the time, when no one was around, it would fall asleep to conserve energy.
Seeing it stall with that long "ummm," Wade realized he'd asked a dumb question. He stepped into the wardrobe space to take a look — no sign of the dolls. So he used a Levitation Charm to float the gifts inside, planning to open them back home later.
He also put away the magical books from his pocket, filling an entire bookshelf. He made sure to store them in a different room from his regular books to prevent any bad magical interactions.
When he came out of the wardrobe space, he saw Sirius and Lupin helping him pack — clothes flew out of the closet one by one, neatly folding themselves before landing in the suitcase. Other items were lining up, bouncing along and jumping into the suitcase, each finding its designated spot.
Before they left, Fiona had told him to pack all his important belongings. She thought the apartment was cursed and didn't want to live there ever again.
For wizards, moving house was simple — no matter how many things they had, it could all fit into a single small suitcase.
Sirius and Lupin took the chance to tour the wardrobe space. They'd both heard about it before, but seeing how massive it was with their own eyes still left them amazed.
"Even Remus is skilled at Undetectable Extension Charms, but I've never seen him stretch space this much!" Sirius exclaimed. "I've only ever heard that Newt Scamander had a magical suitcase — like a whole world inside it!"
"Professor Murray once took me to visit Mr. Scamander. I really did learn a lot from him."
Wade looked up at the runes inscribed in the space, then turned with a smile and said, "But his space was designed to rescue endangered magical creatures. Mine is mostly for alchemy research — the scenery isn't nearly as rich or interesting."
"Just make sure the Ministry of Magic doesn't find out you have a space this big," Sirius joked. "Otherwise, you'll have a hard time leaving the country in the future."
Lupin gazed at the space and was momentarily lost in thought, without saying a word.
Newt Scamander had made outstanding contributions to the resistance against Grindelwald and had protected countless magical creatures — he is a man worthy of great respect, and Lupin felt the same way.
But Scamander had also established the Werewolf Registry at the Ministry of Magic — a system to catalog all known werewolves in Britain, overseen by the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures.
Perhaps Newt's original intent was to promote harmony between werewolves and humans, but the Ministry's way of enforcing it had always been crude, simplistic, and arrogant.
Werewolves who refused to register were treated as dangerous threats to be eliminated. And those who did register? They faced constant monitoring and regulation in both their personal lives and careers.
Lupin had seen — and experienced — much of that discrimination and inconvenience firsthand.
Wade transformed the wardrobe space into a pen case and tucked it into his pocket. After glancing around the room one last time, he said, "I'll leave a note for Mabel and the others. When they come back, at least they'll know where to find me."
He pulled out a piece of parchment and had just begun writing when Lupin suddenly said, "Look up — do you see something flying toward us?"
Wade looked out the window. In the night sky, a small ball of firelight was speeding rapidly in their direction.
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