"What do you think about this place?"
After dinner, Link brought Emily into the recreation room, which was filled with all sorts of comics, books, and entertainment facilities like billiards and table tennis, and he asked with a smile.
"A lot of things here I've never seen before," Emily said with bright eyes, "It's really interesting."
Hearing this, Link grinned.
In Link's eyes, Richard's tower was just a crude product that violently stacked Muggle elements onto wizard culture.
But for someone like Emily, who had lived her whole life in the wizarding world and whose understanding of Muggle culture was limited to the occasional piece of Muggle clothing gifted by Madam Flamel, this place was novel and fun.
"Then I'll properly show you around here tomorrow."
As Link said this, he was about to take Emily toward the ping pong table.
At the same time, Rolf, who had been following behind them, showed a hesitant expression.
In fact, the reason Newt had sent the invitation to Link for this trip was because Rolf had insisted strongly.
He really wanted to interact with his idol Link and get closer.
But unfortunately, up to this point in the trip, they hadn't exchanged a single word.
This was mostly because he had embarrassed himself back home earlier, and if he stayed silent like this, this rare chance would be wasted.
Moreover, he also had something important he wanted to ask Link's opinion on.
After biting his lip, Rolf finally carefully stretched out his hand, intending to tug Link's sleeve to get his attention.
But just as he was about to touch Link's sleeve, a ferocious-looking snake suddenly burst out from it!
"Hiss hiss hiss!~" (Ha! Got you good!)
Rolf's pupils shrunk violently, and while instinctively pulling his hand back, he let out a sharp scream.
"What's wrong, Rolf?!"
Hearing the noise, Link immediately drew his wand.
This was Richard's territory, and since Rolf was Newt's grandson, an attack wasn't impossible.
But when he saw the situation clearly, he couldn't help but feel a mix of amusement and helplessness.
Jumping out to scare anyone who got too close to Link had already become Arkam's perverse little hobby.
Even Emily and Madam Flamel had been frightened by him before.
Previously, due to Greenland's extreme cold, Arkam had been hiding on Link the whole time and was reluctant to show himself.
This time, he probably saw how pitiful Rolf looked and couldn't resist playing a trick.
"Arkam!~"
Link dragged out the syllable as he spoke, and at the same time, he gave Arkam a gentle flick on the head.
"Sorry, sorry, I really couldn't hold it in!" Arkam quickly shrank back inside and said, "Hahaha! But that face he made just now was hilarious! Look, even Emily is laughing!"
Turning his head, Link saw Emily indeed covering her mouth and giggling.
Shaking his head, Link finally turned toward the still-shocked Rolf and comforted him, "Really sorry, Rolf. What you just saw is my pet. It won't bite you. It just has, um, a twisted sense of humor and likes to scare people."
"R-really?"
"Yup! More real than pearls!"
Looking at Link's sincere expression, Rolf's brain began working at full speed.
Thinking about it carefully, it actually made sense that, as a Parseltongue, Link would carry a snake with him for protection.
After all, snakes were his best friends.
His sudden movement earlier probably triggered Link's personal snake defense system.
So, at the end of the day, this was his own fault.
'Yes! That must be it!'
With this bit of mental gymnastics and self-consoling, Rolf's expression finally improved.
"Whew! I'm fine now."
Taking a few deep breaths, Rolf said, "Senior Flamel, may I ask you something?"
"Of course."
"My grandpa and Professor Kettleburn,"
Rolf said, clenching his teeth, "Are… are they going to be alright? I remember they used to get along so well, but now…"
Rolf trailed off, unable to finish.
Link, hearing this, gave a slight smile.
It seemed that Newt was right earlier, Rolf truly loved magical creatures, and really cared about his grandfather.
"Don't worry, Rolf. I'll talk to them tomorrow. With me around, nothing will happen."
Link said with a smile.
He understood both Newt and Professor Kettleburn's perspectives.
Newt was someone who embodied universal love and responsibility.
He wasn't like what Professor Kettleburn said, wanting to destroy Richard, he simply wanted to fulfill his duty.
According to Link's guess, Newt would probably handle things by turning Richard over to the Ministry, and then pleading for him afterward.
As for Professor Kettleburn, he was even simpler.
He just wanted to help his former student.
Neither of them had bad intentions, only some misunderstandings.
This was also why Link was confident he could help them reconcile.
"Mm! I believe in you, Senior Flamel!"
Hearing Link's promise, Rolf didn't hesitate at all, he chose to believe him immediately.
That was the place Link held in his heart, in his view, as long as Link promised something, he would definitely make it happen.
Seeing this, Link paused briefly, then smiled and gently patted Rolf's head as comfort.
Emily, standing beside them, also smiled softly.
———
It was almost midnight by the time Link returned to his room, having played in the recreation room with Emily for over three hours.
Even though Rolf was a third wheel the whole time, overall, they still had fun.
After all, Richard, being a reclusive nerd who had dabbled in both the wizard and Muggle worlds, had collected lots of good stuff in his recreation room.
Taking a deep breath, Link didn't go to sleep immediately.
Instead, he drank a bottle of energy potion, then muttered the incantation for the Refilling Charm.
Immediately, clouds of mist began rising around him, forming vivid animal shapes in the air.
This was Link's daily required training.
Practicing this improved his precision in magical control.
Although the progress wasn't huge each day, it still produced good results over time.
As for sleep, as a top student trained by Snape, the master of sleepless cultivation, that was out of the question.
If he was going to sleep, it would only be after completing his full day's training.
After all, no matter the reason, Link didn't want to let himself slack off.
But this time, Link had barely trained for long when he suddenly stopped.
It wasn't that he changed his mind halfway, it was because he noticed the temperature in the room was dropping.
The rate wasn't fast, but it had a "boiling frog" feeling.
By the time Link noticed, the room was already cold enough that the mist he released was freezing into crystals.
Link frowned, and activated a heightened sensory charm to investigate the source of the temperature drop.
But just then, the mist he had released suddenly condensed into an ice spear, and shot straight at him, completely out of control.
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