Flourish and Blotts hadn't seen this much of a commotion since Gilderoy Lockhart's arrest.
Harry leaned against the railing, peering curiously into the distance. Among the sea of witches and wizards surging toward the bookshop, he spotted one wizard quietly moving against the tide.
"Sean!" Harry called out in pleasant surprise.
The young wizard in the crowd looked up to see Harry, Justin, and the others waving frantically at him. He weaved his way through the dense crowd, finally reaching the area near Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour.
"Morning," Sean said.
"We've been waiting ages for you!" Hermione shot him a pointed look.
"Sorry. Tracking down the external wisdom for the Blinding Light Curse—the exact pronunciation and wand movements—took a bit longer than expected—"
Justin cut him off before he could finish.
"Oh, Sean, let's save the academic talk for next time," Justin said with a bright grin.
"Yeah, please. Don't remind me we actually have to go back to school," Ron chimed in.
"We've got all our books sorted, right? Anything missing?" Justin asked, glancing around the group.
"We're good. But seriously, what is the deal with The Monster Book of Monsters? When we said we needed two copies, the poor clerk looked like he was about to cry," Ron said, pointing to a large, shifting sack shoved under his chair.
"What's all that, Hermione?" Harry asked, curiously gesturing at three bulging bags piled onto the chair next to hers.
"Well, I am taking more subjects than the rest of you, aren't I?" Hermione said matter-of-factly. "Those are my textbooks. Astronomy, Divination, Care of Magical Creatures, Ancient Runes, Muggle Studies—"
"Why on earth are you taking Muggle Studies?" Ron asked, rolling his eyes at Harry. "You're Muggle-born. Your parents are Muggles. You already know everything there is to know about them!"
"If you have a problem with it, you can take it up with Sean and Justin. They both signed up for it too," Hermione snapped.
"Well... you can never have too much knowledge," Sean replied smoothly.
"Same here," Justin said with a laugh.
"Exactly. Plus, studying Muggles from a purely magical perspective is bound to be fascinating," Hermione added enthusiastically.
"Same here," Justin echoed again.
"Right, Justin. I bet if Sean decided to take Divination, you'd jump right on that train too, wouldn't you?" Ron teased, giving an exaggerated wink. "Oh, Sean, you're taking Divination? Brilliant, same here!"
Harry snorted with laughter the second the words left Ron's mouth, and even Neville had to slap a hand over his mouth to muffle his giggles.
"You're not wrong, Ron. Studying isn't exactly a thrill, but it becomes fun when you're doing it with your friends," Justin replied, completely unbothered. He smiled warmly. "My mum always says that even the roughest path is a good one if you walk it with good company."
That actually shut Ron up for a moment. He thought about it seriously before declaring, "Fair point. Same here!"
The group erupted into laughter. Sean watched them from the sidelines, a quiet smile slowly spreading across his face.
A little while later, as the chaos around Flourish and Blotts continued to roar, Harry stared at Hermione's massive pile of books. "Are you actually planning on eating or sleeping this year, Hermione?"
Ron snickered next to him. Hermione ignored them both. Instead, she turned her attention to the jam-packed bookshop, clearly puzzled as to why the crowd had suddenly exploded like this after ten o'clock.
"Should we go take a look?" Hermione asked hesitantly. She phrased it as a question to the group, but her eyes were locked directly on Sean.
"Let's check it out," Justin agreed, looking eager. For him, anything was fun as long as they were all doing it together.
"Yeah," Sean agreed softly. He was already wondering what his old senior, Newt Scamander, had written in his new book. He turned his gaze toward the ringing brass bell above the Flourish and Blotts door.
With that, the six young wizards naturally merged into the surging crowd.
Witches and wizards of all sorts were packed tightly together, buzzing with excited chatter. As they pushed their way forward, they noticed massive banners strung up every thirty feet leading to the shop, each plastered with dramatic, eye-catching slogans:
SWEET DREAMS OR NIGHTMARES? DO SPIRITS LURK IN A WIZARD'S SLUMBER? GODS OR MAGIC? THE SECRETS YOU MISS WHILE YOU SLEEP! IF YOU HAVEN'T MET THE LORD OF DREAMS AND LUCK, GET READY FOR A STREAK OF TERRIBLE MISFORTUNE! "Whoa," Sean heard Ron mutter as he stared up at the banners.
Sean observed quietly. The closer they got to the entrance, the more banners there were. However, right above the main doors, the pattern broke. There was only one single, massive banner:
A SPECIAL THANK YOU TO THE FIRST PURCHASER OF "DREAMS AND DEITIES": THE ESTEEMED ALBUS DUMBLEDORE "Headmaster Dumbledore..." Sean heard Hermione gasp.
Sean stared at Dumbledore's name printed in bold letters, thinking that the Headmaster seemed to have a lot more free time on his hands than he'd assumed. As for Flourish and Blotts, they were practically one step away from putting up a Dumbledore Was Here plaque.
"I need to buy a copy—" Hermione said, shoving her way toward the front.
Sean watched her go, musing that this must be the power of celebrity endorsement. Within seconds, Hermione's voice and small frame were completely swallowed up by the fanatical crowd of wizards.
"Give me two copies!"
"I want ten!"
"The Collector's Edition, sir! I need the Collector's Edition!"
An exhausted-looking wizard was stationed at the door, desperately trying to hold back the stampede. "Ladies and gentlemen, please! Quiet down—no pushing! Mind the books—!"
Sean shuffled along with the crowd in a winding queue that stretched from the entrance all the way to the back of the shop. As he finally managed to pick up a copy of Dreams and Deities to flip through, a familiar silhouette caught his eye.
"Goodness, it's Newt Scamander!" Hermione exclaimed.
Sean looked up. The elderly Hufflepuff alumnus was shyly signing books, offering a genuine, warm smile to every witch and wizard who stepped up to the table. Three Kneazles were draped casually across his shoulders, basking lazily in the sunlight that gave their fur a golden halo.
A tall witch in a vibrant purple coat was pacing back and forth around him, wielding a large black camera. Every time the blinding flash went off, thick plumes of purple smoke billowed from the lens.
Sean suddenly realized he had vastly underestimated just how seriously his old Hufflepuff senior was taking this book release. His curiosity was piqued. How exactly did an incredibly knowledgeable and powerful wizard view the Borderlands and the realm of dreams?
Sean, of course, knew that the rumors of a luck-bringing black cat were total nonsense. He knew it better than anyone. But the Borderlands were real—a magical frontier that very few had ever explored. Most of what Sean knew about it came from Dream Tales. Now, maybe he could add his old Hufflepuff senior's book to his sources.
He looked down at the book in his hands, studying it closely. Right in the center of the cover was an illustration of a black cat. It was perched on a swirling cloud of mist, staring out at the reader with a mischievous, almost mocking gleam in its eyes.
And this particular black cat was one that Hermione and Justin had definitely seen before.
At that exact moment, as if on cue, both of them turned to look at the young wizard quietly reading his book. Their eyes were filled with unmistakable, profound confusion.
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