Phil was startled, leaning back, then caught by a hand.
"Careful," Vid said.
Phil turned his head and almost bumped into the red cap of the poppet, whose eyes were now swiveling fiercely, glaring at him.
The person in the mirror ahead was fierce, and the poppet behind him was also menacing. Phil froze immediately.
Vid patted the poppet's head and said, "Go wait by the wall."
Phil was about to stand up when he saw the poppet obediently nod, walk to the wall, and stand there, holding its wooden stick like a cane.
Vid sat next to Phil and said, "Don't worry, that person is far away in London."
"Yes," Phil nodded, unconsciously moving closer to Vid.
...
In the dilapidated building, Claire rushed to the window and saw an owl perched outside, undisturbed by her movement, just tilting its head to look at her.
"It's okay, it's just an owl."
Claire turned back to tell her companion, then turned around and saw the owl gracefully lift a claw, holding a letter and a snakeskin pouch.
"A wizard's letter?"
Fatos hobbled to the window, saw the situation, and said angrily, "You're contacting wizards now? Don't you know how those people see us? Have you forgotten the harm they've done to you?"
"I remember, of course I remember," Claire said, "but I believe not every wizard is bad! And if we want to rid ourselves of our fate as werewolves, only wizards might have a solution!"
"Wizards have no solution!" Fatos shouted, "It's been thousands of years. If they had a way, there wouldn't be any werewolves in the world!"
He looked as temperamental as a bear, yet Claire wasn't afraid at all. She retorted while reading the letter:
"Just because there wasn't before doesn't mean there won't be in the future! Look at the changes in the world; I think anything is possible."
"Will thought the same, but where is he now?" Fatos said angrily, "I absolutely cannot let you end up like him!"
But Claire ignored him. After reading the letter, she fed the owl some jerky, then quickly found a scarf to wrap around her head and neck, leaving only the top and her eyes exposed.
"You're going to Diagon Alley?" Fatos said hastily, "What did the letter say? Don't go! Or wait until I'm better and I'll..."
"You're overthinking it," Claire said, "No one asked to meet me; they just sent me payment. I'm going to buy you some medicine—a real magic potion that will heal your wound instantly."
She took out a money bag to show, a small pile of gleaming Galleons almost dazzled Fatos's eyes.
After Claire finished speaking, she quickly ran downstairs, the sound of her footsteps getting further away.
Fatos stood stiffly for a while and turned to see the owl still on the windowsill. He approached, pulled out a note, and scribbled a sentence in sloppy handwriting—
[If you need anything, contact me, but don't harm Claire! I'm a werewolf too!]
He casually rolled up the note and stuffed it into the owl, but it refused to take it.
Fatos understood: "You want a reward, right? Wizards' owls are so cunning..."
He grumbled while taking out jerky, tearing a long strip, and fed it to the owl.
"Go on, little demon! Take the message to your master—tell him if anything happens, come to me! If anything happens to Claire, I'll hunt you down to the ends of the earth!"
The owl picked up the jerky and the letter, spread its wings, and flew into the sky.
It flew high and soon saw Claire running down the street again.
The bulky scarf was a bit of an eyesore, but it was a necessary choice.
Those with lycanthropy appear almost the same as ordinary people in their normal state, with some features resembling those of a wild wolf.
Some people have very mild changes, just a little abnormal, not easily noticeable, so they can conveniently hide among ordinary people or wizards, like Will or Lupin.
Others have very pronounced transformations in their forehead, eyes, nose, teeth, ears, each part potentially becoming unusual, visible at a glance.
Claire's mouth and nose showed more obvious changes, making it easy for a wizard to recognize her as a werewolf—wizard children learn how to identify and kill werewolves from the third grade.
Even though the Ministry of Magic has enacted some laws prohibiting wizards from harming non-human Magical Creatures, many still take pride in hunting werewolves.
So Claire can only choose to work in the Muggle society—Muggles don't know werewolves exist and just think she's an odd-looking girl.
She found some jobs she could do while wearing a mask, managing barely to make a living.
But if she wants to obtain Wolf Poison Potion, she needs to travel to the magical world, exchange Galleons at Gringotts, and each time she goes to Diagon Alley, it's like an adventure.
Eva turned her gaze.
The message was sent, and the reply received; it couldn't wait to return to its master.
So it didn't linger, changed its direction, and flew towards Hogwarts.
Seeing the screen turned into a fog of white clouds, occasionally revealing vast farmlands, Vid put away the Flow Mirror.
"Is that enough?" Phil asked.
"Yes," Vid said with a smile, "Thank you for your help, Phil."
"You're welcome; Phil is happy to help." Phil said shyly, "Phil has to go to work now; today's work was done with the help of Zoe and Habi."
"Then I must thank them; of course, most thanks go to you." Vid turned and asked, "Phil, is there anything you'd like? I can get it for you."
"Phil... um... Phil..."
The House-Elf swayed as if wanting to say something but held back.
Vid knew how to handle such moments.
He said, "It's okay, I want to know. Please tell me."
The command relieved Phil's expression.
He shyly twisted his long fingers and softly asked, "Phil... can Phil have a fava bean?"
"—A fava bean?" Vid didn't understand, "What kind of fava bean?"
Isn't there plenty of that in the kitchen?
Phil said, "Not an ordinary fava bean... one like the one Zoe has... a summoning fava bean..."
Vid suddenly understood.
His very first Alchemy Work wasn't the Friendship Book but a small safety-guaranteeing fava bean that was given to Zoe.
But later, he no longer needed it and almost completely forgot about it, not expecting the House-Elves to remember.
Vid smiled and said, "Alright. Tomorrow morning, you'll receive this gift."
Phil beamed with joy.