Translator: Exodus Tales
Editor: Exodus Tales
The morning breeze in the summer was particularly refreshing. The soft sunlight broke through the thin layer of mist over Loch Lomond and fell upon the water’s surface, causing it to glisten with golden light.
A silver-haired girl was sitting on the meadow by the lakeshore, hugging her legs while her leather boots restlessly kneaded the grass. She was clearly not as calm as she tried to let on.
Nearby, an old, white-haired man stood with his hands held behind his back, watching the birds flitting across the lake with great enthusiasm, as if this was the most interesting thing in the world.
“Okay…Professor Dumbledore, what in the world are we doing?”
After hesitating for a long while, Alina finally stood up and broke the silence.
Once breakfast was over, Alina had followed Dumbledore to the lakeshore. Her guilty conscience had made it so that she had kept to simple grunts and single-word answers when replying to Dumbledore on the way here.
But after spending what must have been at least fifteen minutes doing nothing on the lakeshore, her desire to go to Diagon Alley overcame her embarrassment.
“If I recall, aren’t we supposed to be going to buy the things I need for school?”
“Correct. Actually, we’re in the middle of heading to Diagon Alley right now.”
Hearing Alina’s voice, Dumbledore turned around and happily nodded.
“In the middle?! We’ve clearly done nothing but stand by the lake for fifteen minutes! We haven’t gone anywhere!”
The silver-haired girl’s patience was dripping away by the second. She was beginning to wonder if Dumbledore was trying to perform some sort of strange educational experiment.
The old wizard blinked his eyes, a mischievous smile on his face as he glanced at the grass that had been annihilated under the girl’s shoe.
“There are times when waiting forms a necessary part of one’s journey.”
“So you’re saying that we can’t just use Apparition? I hope you’re not going to say that you need to wait for the cooldown on your skill to finish!”
Alina somewhat crazily kicked at the grass. This was why she loathed those old rascals who didn’t know how to speak properly and were always trying to make a philosophical point.
“Apparition? Of course not. After all, we’re heading for London, which is several hundred kilometers away.”
Dumbledore raised an eyebrow. He realized that while Alina seemed to know a great deal about the Magic World, most of this consisted of fuzzy concepts.
Dumbledore took a strange pocket watch from his pocket, glanced at it, gave a slight nod, and then began to patiently explain to Alina.
“Apparition has a distance limit. To be more precise, the greater the distance, the greater the burden on the wizard, thus increasing the difficulty. Trying to forcefully cross a large distance is rather dangerous. I certainly don’t think placing you in danger to save a little time is a wise decision.”
Although Dumbledore’s explanation was rather unclear, Alina instantly realized what was going on. In truth, the old man’s meaning was very simple: It’s too far, and I don’t have enough mana to make it.
Since they couldn’t use Apparition, there weren’t many transportation methods left. These were by train, by broom, using Floo Powder, or using a Portkey.
She could use logic to immediately exclude Muggle methods of transportation. After all, it would take at least a day to get from the Scottish highlands to London.
Alina also didn’t find it likely that the elderly Professor Dumbledore would act like a youngster and take her on a broomstick to fly her to London in broad daylight.
Based on what Alina remembered from the original work, using Floo Powder to enter the city should have been the method of transportation most commonly used by witches and wizards.
For example, in the second book, ‘Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets,’ the Weasley family had used Floo Powder to travel from the family home, the Burrow, straight to Diagon Alley.
But a fireplace was needed to use Floo Powder, and the shores of Loch Lomond did not seem like a place that would have a fireplace connected to the Floo Network.
In other words…
The silver-haired girl who had been counting with her fingers suddenly paled, a look of extreme rejection appearing on her face!
“Professor, wait for a second! We’re not using a Portkey, are we?! No, no, no! I refuse!”
From the current situation, there was an eighty percent chance that Dumbledore was waiting for a Portkey that was headed to London to appear.
Alina’s small face was ghastly pale as she rushed up to Dumbledore’s side and pleadingly pulled on the wide sleeves of his robe.
“Professor Dumbledore, let’s go back to Hogwarts! We can use Floo Powder! It’s just a tiny, insignificant request…and Hogwarts has so many fireplaces.”
If Alina had to pick out the most frightening method of travel, she would undoubtedly choose the Portkey.
Even though this was the most convenient method of long-distance travel in the Magic World, this couldn’t change the terrifying experience it put one through.
This was because when one used a Portkey, one would feel like a hook had latched onto their belly button and then pulled them unstoppably into the air. They would fly through the air like a gust of wind, not able to clearly make out anything in front of them.
From the descriptions in the novel, the Floo Network was clearly the more comfortable choice.
One was a quick journey through a warm fireplace (with only a little carsickness), while the other was a hook that pulled you on your belly button. The description alone was terrifying enough!
“But, Miss Alina, just half an hour ago, you said that you had made your last request.”
Dumbledore looked in slight confusion at the panicked little girl and mischievously blinked his eyes.
“I’m rather confused. Just which one is your last request?”
“…Eh?”
Alina’s face froze. After some thought, she timidly raised two fingers and spoke in a fawning whisper.
“What if we count that as my second-to-last one, and this will be my last?”
Although he didn’t understand why Alina disliked Portkeys so badly, this would not affect his decision.
“Returning to Hogwarts to use Floo Powder?”
Dumbledore glanced at the girl’s hopeful eyes. Naughtily, he spoke in a slow and contemplative tone but ended swiftly. “Of course…not!”
The silver-haired girl’s expression crumbled, her lips pursing, and her lake-blue eyes staring at Dumbledore in grief as she took on the pitiful face of a girl about to cry.
If words couldn’t win the day, she had one final option. She could activate the magic in her blood and get her way by acting cute.
It made one instinctively wonder; perhaps I should reconsider?
Dumbledore couldn’t help but silently chuckle and shake his head. He vaguely understood why Benitez so adored this little girl.
After some thought, Dumbledore raised three fingers and began to explain in a gentle tone.
“One, only fireplaces connected to the Floo Network can be used to transport, and the fireplaces of Hogwarts are currently closed to the outside world.
“Two, our first destination is the goblin-run Gringotts Bank. They’ve never allowed the wizarding world access to their fireplaces.
“Three…it’s time.”
At this moment, Dumbledore took his left hand from behind his back. In his palm was a shabby cloth bag that was trembling and radiating blue light.
“Welcome to the Magic World!”
“Wha…”
Before Alina could react, the pair disappeared in a flash of twisted light.