When Emily came back again holding a paper box, inside the teahouse's private room there was already only Link left, sitting all alone on the chair.
"Aunt Leonie?"
Emily frowned as she asked, sounding a little disappointed.
"Uncle Krell's business ran into some problems. She went back first to take care of it."
"Really? …Fine then."
Hearing this, Emily pouted a little unhappily, but she quickly adjusted her mood. She leaned close to Link and said, "Come quick, take a look at this, Aunt Leonie gave us a gift! This is just too amazing!"
The gift box was opened and handed over in front of Link.
Inside lay two sets of Russian nesting dolls, one male and one female. Most importantly, the faces and expressions of the dolls looked very similar to Link and Emily.
The meaning behind it, wishing Link and Emily many children and a prosperous family, couldn't possibly be more obvious.
But Emily clearly loved the gift. Her cheeks were slightly red as she kept opening the dolls one after another, placing them onto the table, while whispering to Link, "This is too many though… Do you think we could really have that many children in the future?"
"I think having just one boy and one girl would be enough. Best if the boy is born first, then a girl. That way, the older brother can look after his younger sister."
"Of course, if the older one is a girl, that's fine too. Then the sister can run around chasing her little brother all day, it'd be lively."
Link put his arm around Emily and said slowly,
"After we have kids, maybe we can move out of Flamel Castle and build a cozy little villa of our own, just the two of us."
"By then we'll rise with the sun, rest with the sunset. In our free time, we could play Quidditch with the children, or invite a few friends over to barbecue in the yard and hold a big party. Or maybe we could plant roses and climbing roses…"
As Link spoke, Emily's expression gradually became dreamy, as if she were sinking into the world he was describing.
When Link saw her like this, he stopped speaking and let out a deep sigh.
Yesterday's meeting with Mrs. Flamel and Krell had left him especially restless, weighed down with worry.
The main reason was simple, everyone had their own demands.
Emily's demand was to be with Link, then have lots of children and live a happy life.
Link's demand wasn't all that different from Emily's. The only difference was that while he wanted that warm life too, at the same time he also wanted to expand his wealth and authority as much as possible.
Ideally, his whole remaining life would be wrapped in power and Galleons, and in the end he'd pass it all down to the next generation.
Of course, the part about enjoying wealth and power only took up a small portion of his wish. The real core of his demand was, to pass something on.
In his past life, Link had been utterly alone. No parents, no lover, no children.
Every day he ate and drank as he pleased, living carefree.
So when he first came into this world, he naturally carried over his old mindset.
He was a free and untied wanderer.
He thought he could do anything he wanted, live however he pleased.
The Flamel family's power and wealth held little meaning for him.
Even Hogwarts, he thought if it came to it, he didn't really need to attend.
But as he grew closer to the people of this world, especially after confirming his relationship with Emily and talking about children, Link's thoughts began to change.
He suddenly realized that his shoulders had grown much heavier.
He understood this new weight had a name, responsibility.
This change, perhaps it should be called growth? A boy growing into a man?
Link had never experienced this before, so he didn't fully understand it, nor could he name it precisely.
But he knew clearly that from yesterday onwards, he was no longer alone.
He was Mrs. Flamel's son, Emily's lover, and the future father of their children.
He had to give these people a better, safer life.
That was why he fought so desperately, why he wanted to seize and struggle, why he even wanted to grow the Flamel family into something greater.
Even though Link had never voiced this demand to anyone, the people around him could clearly sense it through his actions.
Mrs. Flamel, in fact, opposed it.
Because at heart, she was even more laid-back than Link had been at the beginning.
She didn't really care what kind of life they lived. As long as Link was safe, she would be happy, even if it meant eating gruel and wild greens.
Krell, however, was delighted by the changes in Link.
Because in truth, he was the most loyal to the entire Flamel family.
Having once received great kindness from the old family head, his only wish in this life was to see the Flamels become great again.
To ensure that dream came true, in his heart he was always wary of Mrs. Flamel.
He didn't believe a woman who had merely married into the family would truly take on its burdens.
He only obeyed her before because Link wasn't yet grown.
But now that Link was showing his own strength, Krell decisively abandoned Mrs. Flamel and threw almost all of the family's power behind Link.
That was why Link had been able to gather so many elite hunters around Hogwarts. If Mrs. Flamel had still been in charge, he wouldn't have been able to call even half a person to his side.
After all, Mrs. Flamel would never allow Link to be involved in something so dangerous.
As things stood, Mrs. Flamel's demand and Krell's demand were in sharp conflict.
Stuck in the middle, Link was deeply troubled.
"What are you thinking about?" Emily's voice suddenly rang out.
Link turned his head to see she had already tidied up the Russian dolls and was now looking at him with a worried expression.
"Nothing, just… I'm a little worried about the third task."
Link forced a smile as he spoke. Emily sighed, then gently reached out to smooth his furrowed brows. Slowly, she said, "It'll be fine. I believe you can do it."
Looking at her smile, feeling her warm touch against his face, the doubts that had been clouding Link's heart seemed to ease a lot.
He drew in a deep breath, as if making some decision.
Then he grabbed Emily's hand and smiled, "You're right! I can do it!"
"Then… shall we head back?"
"Mm, let's go back."
With that, the two of them packed the paper box, and hand in hand they strolled leisurely toward Honeydukes.
The conflict between different demands truly couldn't be reconciled, especially between Krell and Mrs. Flamel.
But Link didn't believe he would let either of them down.
Just like Emily said just now,
He would definitely succeed.
What Link didn't know was that at this very same time, in the Headmaster's Office at Hogwarts, Dumbledore was also facing a situation not much different from his own…
———
[Hogwarts, Headmaster's Office, Eighth Floor]
Dumbledore still sat behind his claw-footed desk. Aside from him and the portraits of past headmasters on the walls, two familiar guests sat on the sofa opposite.
Snape and Moody.
They sat on either side of the office, locked in a heated debate full of sparks.
Of course, calling it a shouting match would be more accurate.
"I don't agree with you!"
Snape, very rarely abandoning his usual composure, raised his voice nearly to a shout.
"Every single student of Hogwarts is a precious treasure! Especially Harry Potter, who once defeated Voldemort and rescued the entire British Ministry of Magic from the shadows!"
Y"es, we need to strike at the remaining Death Eaters, but such strikes cannot come at the cost of endangering Harry Potter and the other students' lives!"
"If we really do that, what difference would we have from Death Eaters and Dark wizards?"
"So I suggest we simply cancel this Triwizard Tournament! Or at least make up some easy third task, something as simple as rock-paper-scissors!"
"We absolutely must not give the Death Eaters a chance to get near Harry Potter!"
The moment Snape finished, cheers erupted from many of the portraits behind him, those of the conservative headmasters.
But before Snape could enjoy it, Moody immediately stepped forward, jabbing his finger right at Snape's nose, "Ha! A seasoned ex-Death Eater suddenly worrying about the students' safety?"
"The chance of that being real is smaller than lions deciding to eat grass!"
"Don't think I don't know what kind of scheme you're cooking in the shadows! Maybe the mole among us is you!"
"Maybe you're still secretly helping Voldemort, trying to revive that damned demon and wreck this world with your comrades, am I right!?"
At those words, Snape's pale face flushed with green rage. His hand trembled as he reached for his wand, but Moody didn't give him the chance.
Moody's arm lashed out, grabbing Snape's wrist mid-reach, while his mouth kept firing, "If you ask me, the Death Eaters only want to use this Triwizard Tournament, take Harry Potter as a sacrifice to revive Voldemort!"
"Fine then, let's turn their plot against them! Let's use this chance to wipe them all out, root and branch! Believe me, that's the only way to maintain this hard-won peace!"
"And as for scum like you, Death Eaters should be eliminated first!"
"You!"
Snape roared in fury, struggling against him. The two men immediately locked in a grapple.
The portraits on the walls behind them also split into sides, shouting insults back and forth.
In an instant, the spacious office became as noisy as a marketplace.
Dumbledore, seeing this, could only shake his head helplessly. He rose, leaving them to quarrel, and walked over to the glass balcony at the back, gazing out toward the Forbidden Forest.
Arguments like this had already broken out countless times since Link's message arrived.
Dumbledore understood Snape's and Moody's demands very clearly.
Moody wanted to preserve stability as much as possible, keep the war contained to a small scale, and under that condition, eliminate all unstable elements.
For that goal, he was even willing to let some, including himself, be sacrificed.
Snape's wish was simpler.
He just wanted to keep Link, Harry, and Emily, those close to him, from being sacrificed.
As for the high-sounding words he spouted, Dumbledore saw them the same way Moody did.
Utter nonsense.
The problem was, whether Snape or Moody,
their core demands weren't the same as Dumbledore's.
What Dumbledore wanted to achieve was far greater and more astonishing than either of theirs.
But for now, he could only act quietly and keep silent. Otherwise, the whole team might fall apart.
"Sigh…"
On the glass balcony, Dumbledore let out another long sigh.
He had once devised a long-term plan centered around Harry Potter to defeat Voldemort.
This plan would cost many lives.
But according to his calculations, as long as it carried on smoothly, Voldemort's threat would be wiped out completely.
Yet the world was changing too quickly.
His plan had barely begun when Link Flamel, someone he had once only nurtured as a minor side path, rose rapidly.
Link Flamel.
He had magical talent comparable to Dumbledore and Grindelwald. Though lacking in breadth of knowledge, in sheer combat strength he could already rival most professors.
Not only that, he was heir to the Flamel family and had already gathered most of its power.
Most crucially, he held inside him that power which Dumbledore dared not name.
He was so outstanding, so much so that Dumbledore's original plan had been thrown into upheaval. At the same time, a brand-new path revealed itself before him.
"Perhaps…it's time to change my thinking. I could build a plan centered not on Harry, but on Link Flamel instead?"
Lately, this thought had been raging uncontrollably in Dumbledore's mind, leaving him tormented.
He rubbed his temples and sighed again.
Just then, he realized the sounds of quarreling behind him had unknowingly stopped.
He turned in surprise and saw Snape and Moody both staring at him intently.
Moody said, "Hurry and make a decision, Dumbledore. If we keep arguing like this, we'll never get anywhere!"
Snape stayed silent, but nodded in agreement.
Dumbledore remained quiet for a long while. Finally, under their gaze, he lifted his head and said, "Then let's invite our informant this time, Link Flamel, to join us.
Perhaps he might offer us a different perspective?"
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