"Hmph. What, are you surprised to see me?"
Fleur crossed her arms and spoke in an unfriendly tone.
"A little. What are you doing in England?" Leonard asked.
"You know each other?" Giggs cut in from the side.
"Uh... we're pen pals. Yeah, pen pals." As he spoke, Leonard shot Fleur a look.
It was better not to let anyone know about the connection between him and Lehende Delacour. It was not that Giggs was suspicious, but he wanted to avoid any chance of news about their alliance leaking out.
Fleur rolled her eyes at Leonard. "That's right. We really are pen pals."
She walked up to the counter and said to Giggs, "Mr. Giggs, I came to ask about the brewing method for the Draught of Living Death."
"Oh, right, I remember. Wait here a moment. I'll go prepare some ingredients." Giggs nodded, then waggled his brows at Leonard. "You two talk."
With that, he left the counter and went to the back to gather the ingredients.
"Why are you here?" Once Giggs was gone, Leonard looked at Fleur and lowered his voice.
"Why can't I be here?" Fleur let out a huff. She still looked proud and a little haughty, but she explained, "The competition Mr. Giggs recommended is very good. It's perfect for young wizards who want to build their reputation, and that'll help me in the future."
"Oh, so you're here to build prestige." Leonard got it.
The Delacour family was fairly well known among pure-blood families, and Lehende paid close attention to his daughter's upbringing, making use of every possible opportunity.
Being selected for the Triwizard Tournament would be more than enough to prove her excellence.
Coming to take part in this competition organized by the European Potionists' Association was probably just a small part of that elite upbringing.
Fleur choked on Leonard's bluntness. She glared at him and asked, "Then why aren't you entering?"
"There's nothing in it for me, and I'm not confident I could take first place." Leonard spread his hands. "So I'm not interested."
"But even just participating would still be worthwhile," Fleur said softly.
"Ah... actually, I'm not very good at potions," Leonard said honestly. "Compared to studying potions, I prefer studying magic."
"That makes sense..." Fleur believed him. She had seen Leonard's standard in magic for herself. Even a genius would still need a great deal of practice to reach that level of proficiency.
Even though Leonard seemed mature, he was not even in his third year yet, and he came from a Muggle family. Practicing magic probably already took up most of his time, so it was perfectly normal that he had not had much time to study potion brewing.
"Did you come here alone?" Leonard asked.
"Yeah. Gabrielle got sick, so my mother is at home looking after her, and my father is taking care of his plants. Cleaning up the ones he picked out for a certain someone who never showed up." Fleur sounded annoyed.
"Uh..." Leonard felt a little embarrassed. "When you put it like that, I really do feel kind of bad..."
"If you know that, then don't go back on your word so casually..." Fleur's tone softened when she heard Leonard giving in, and a smile appeared on her face.
Then, in the very next second, Leonard said, "Tell him not to bother putting things away just to fool me. The next time I go, I'm definitely going to look through all his plants. Hiding them is useless."
Fleur's smile froze.
She remembered very clearly that her father really had hidden some of his favorite plants away in the secret room at home. This time, the frantic cleanup had been because those plants had to be moved, and after the move they had all looked half-dead, so he had been rushing to save them.
That left her feeling a little guilty.
"But your family really is at ease letting you come here by yourself. Aren't they worried you might run into danger?" Leonard said.
Other than Fleur's mother, everyone else in her family was a bloodline wizard. Were her parents really not worried that Raven's people might grab her halfway there if she went out alone?
"Father said there was no need to worry. Those people probably wouldn't dare make a move somewhere like Diagon Alley, so I've been staying at the Leaky Cauldron the whole time," Fleur explained.
No need to worry? That sounded awfully confident.
Leonard found himself wondering what exactly Lehende was planning.
Just then, Giggs came back out from the rear. "What are you two talking about? What do you mean, no need to worry?"
"Nothing much. We were talking about Fleur entering the competition. I said she doesn't need to worry. She'll definitely get a good result," Leonard said offhandedly.
"Haha, you really do have confidence in her. But that competition isn't as simple as you think. With Miss Delacour's current level, winning the championship would still be quite a challenge."
As he spoke, Giggs laid several ingredients for the Draught of Living Death on the counter. "Miss Delacour, are you planning to brew the Draught of Living Death in the competition? That's bold of you. If I remember correctly, the Draught of Living Death is usually sixth-year Potions material, isn't it?"
"That's right. I want to challenge myself." Fleur nodded gracefully. In front of outsiders, her manners were still impeccable.
The Draught of Living Death...
Leonard glanced at the ingredients on the table. Valerian root, powdered asphodel, and the main ingredient, Sopophorous beans...
This powerful sleeping draught was not particularly useful to him, but he remembered that Snape's copy of Advanced Potion-Making, the Half-Blood Prince's book, contained what was basically a detailed guide to brewing it.
And not just the Draught of Living Death. The book clearly recorded detailed instructions for making many other advanced potions as well, and it even contained the powerful spell Snape had developed himself, Sectumsempra.
Unfortunately, Leonard had not gotten his hands on that book yet. Snape had no idea where it was, probably using it to prop up a table leg somewhere.
That was the book Snape had signed as the Half-Blood Prince. Pure black history. Snape himself probably did not want to see it either.
While Leonard drifted off thinking about Snape's book, Fleur had already started examining the potion ingredients Giggs had brought out.
"Mr. Giggs." Fleur picked up a Sopophorous bean and squeezed the surprisingly resilient ingredient. "Do you have any advice on processing Sopophorous beans? They're so tough. They're really troublesome to handle."
"Sorry, I don't have any particularly good method either. It all comes down to experience. I used to cut them wrong all the time and send them flying. Practice more, and you'll gradually get a feel for the right spot." Giggs shrugged helplessly.
Fleur looked troubled, her lovely brows drawing together.
She was in a difficult position. Brewing the Draught of Living Death during the competition would count in her favor, but if she made a mistake, things would go very badly.
Sopophorous beans were tough and springy, a seriously unpredictable factor. With a bit of bad luck, just one bean could knock her out of the competition.
If she could not solve the problem of handling Sopophorous beans, then she would have to consider changing the potion she planned to brew during the competition.