[One Week Later, on Hogsmeade Village's Open Day]
Link and Emily stood in front of a window on Hogwarts' fourth floor, gazing from afar at the long line forming at the school gates.
"Let's go too."
After watching for quite a while, Link finally turned and said this to Emily.
"Okay!"
Emily said happily, and with that she was about to head toward the staircase.
But Link caught her hand and led her in the opposite direction.
This left Emily a little confused, but fortunately Link soon explained, "Given how vile the incident under the Black Lake was, and since attacks like that could happen again at any moment, the school is making us take other passages to get to Hogsmeade."
"Other passages?"
"You'll know when we get there."
Hearing this, Emily didn't say more, letting Link pull her straight to a one-eyed witch statue.
This place had always been rather secluded, and since today was Hogsmeade open day, it was even more deserted.
Only Hagrid and Snape stood guard in front of the statue.
To be honest, this pair was clearly not a good match. Hagrid was so terribly afraid of Snape that the usually cheerful giant now looked nervous and silent. Even when he saw Link coming, he only managed a strained smile.
"At a time like this, you still think about going to Hogsmeade. I'd guess the concept of crisis awareness has never even crossed that walnut-sized brain of yours, Fl–i–t–wick!"
Snape mocked coldly, but Link shot back without hesitation, "You should say that to Harry. He's the one who most needs to understand that. And also, has Dumbledore been told about what happened?"
Snape gave a cold snort and said no more.
Link frowned.
It had already been quite a while since Snape passed the message to Dumbledore. By rights, facing such a grim situation, Dumbledore should have reacted immediately.
At the very least, he should have summoned Link to have a serious talk about it.
But instead, Dumbledore had done absolutely nothing during this time, simply sinking into silence.
This made Link suspect whether Dumbledore and Snape were doing something behind his back.
If Snape knew what Link was thinking, he'd probably die of injustice on the spot.
Because he was even more confused than Link.
Dumbledore barely paid him any attention either. Otherwise, why would he be personally stuck guarding the one-eyed witch statue? He truly was worried about Harry and Link's safety.
"All right, Link, it's getting late, you two should go on."
Seeing Link and Snape on the verge of a quarrel, Hagrid hurried to smooth things over.
Hearing this, Link nodded, pulled out his wand, and pointed at the one-eyed witch statue.
"Dissendium."
With a dull grinding of gears, the statue slowly split apart, revealing a deep passage inside.
Link quickly pulled Emily in.
Once inside, Link was a little surprised.
Although this was his first time here, he had been through the Whomping Willow passage, so he had a clear sense of what secret tunnels at Hogwarts usually looked like.
But the one-eyed witch passage was unexpectedly well-kept.
It was not only dry, but thanks to the many magical torches fixed on the stone walls, it was brightly lit.
And throughout the whole passage there wasn't a trace of debris, no rat droppings, no broken stones. It was as if someone had deliberately cleaned it in advance.
As for Emily, she had completely turned into something like a tourist.
Her eyes sparkled as she looked around nonstop, occasionally touching the not-so-even stone walls on both sides.
She turned to Link and asked, "Link! I can't believe Hogwarts has a secret passage like this!"
"Not surprising," Link shrugged.
"After all, when this castle was built, European wizards were in the middle of wars. The four founders must have thought about safety, so they built lots of secret chambers and escape passages."
"If you're interested, you can ask Filch. He's been at Hogwarts for decades, I think apart from Dumbledore no one knows this castle better."
Emily's eyes shone even brighter. She nodded eagerly, looking as though she couldn't wait.
Link didn't mind, just smiled and quickened his pace.
Thanks to the passage being refurbished, it only took them about twenty minutes to reach the end. Pushing open a trap door, they smoothly entered the cellar of Honeydukes sweet shop.
And like at the statue, there was someone guarding here too.
Professor McGonagall scanned Link and Emily with a sharp eye, even carefully straightening Emily's slightly messy hair.
Then she warned Link, "You may only stay in Hogsmeade until 4 p.m. I'll be here waiting the whole time. Don't be late."
Link and Emily hurried to thank her, and under McGonagall's direction, they exited by another newly opened passage that led directly onto Hogsmeade's street.
Looking at Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop nearby, Emily suddenly seemed nervous and uneasy. Today, that was the arranged meeting place with Mrs. Flamel.
Link wasn't feeling any more relaxed than she was.
Because he knew very well, Mrs. Flamel hadn't come to praise him for his brilliant showing in the Triwizard Tournament, but to demand answers.
This didn't surprise him.
In his earlier letter to Mrs. Flamel, he had already explained what he wanted to do, his later plans, and even mentioned Voldemort's plot to resurrect.
The result was that Mrs. Flamel's reaction had been far more intense than Link expected, she immediately sent Button with a note saying she must meet him.
From that urgency, Link could tell this wouldn't be something he could brush off easily.
"Whew!"
Emily seemed finally ready, exhaling deeply as she said to Link, "Let's go."
Link didn't refuse. He too took a deep breath, then walked with her into Madam Puddifoot's.
Hand in hand, the two of them were led personally by Madam Puddifoot through the back door to an upstairs private room.
Compared to the cramped, gaudy, vulgar first floor, the private room's space and furnishings radiated elegance and grandeur.
According to Madam Puddifoot's proud explanation on the way, this room was decorated in imitation of the Versailles Palace style from Louis XIV's era.
Mrs. Flamel sat there naturally, occupying the main seat on a high-backed chair, with Button the house-elf standing behind her.
"Aunt Leonie!"
As soon as she arrived, Emily seemed to forget all her earlier nervousness. With a cheer, she rushed into Mrs. Flamel's arms, taking out a food box as she said, "This is something I made myself! For you."
The box contained cookies, Link knew this.
Because Emily didn't actually know how to bake. In truth, Link had taken her to the Hogwarts kitchens, where the house-elves had taught her step by step.
If anything, the elves had done most of the real work.
Of course, no one cared about that, and Mrs. Flamel certainly didn't. She tasted a cookie with great delight and then praised Emily endlessly.
The two of them laughed and chatted for a long time, so long that Link grew impatient, before Mrs. Flamel finally said, "Emily dear, would you fetch something from the post office for me? It's a gift I prepared for you both."
At that, Emily's smile stiffened.
She wasn't stupid; she understood Mrs. Flamel was trying to send her away.
Emily glanced nervously at Link, and only when he nodded did she force a smile, say goodbye, and leave with Button guiding her.
The moment Emily was gone, the cheerful atmosphere collapsed into heaviness. Mrs. Flamel no longer smiled, but sat in the main seat staring expressionlessly at Link.
Link knew, the real storm was about to begin.
Sure enough, after a long silence, Mrs. Flamel finally sighed and said, "Link, do you understand what kind of consequences there will be if you interfere in the war between Voldemort and Dumbledore without permission?"
"Of course I know, Mother." Link leaned closer, speaking in as gentle a tone as possible. "In my view, we actually don't have any other choice."
"We could leave, couldn't we? To America, or to Asia. I've already arranged places in those regions long ago. We could move there ahead of time and live out our lives peacefully."
Mrs. Flamel's voice had grown agitated.
To her mind, Link was acting recklessly. The risks of meddling in this were far too great.
The Flamel family's power might seem strong, but compared to Dumbledore and Voldemort, legendary figures on the level of strategic nuclear weapons, they were nothing.
No matter which side they chose, if things went wrong, they would face destruction.
Mrs. Flamel's husband had already proven this with his own life.
She would not let her son go through it again.
Link knew very well, at heart, Mrs. Flamel didn't care about world peace, nor even about the Flamel family.
She just wanted her son alive. She just wanted to see Link marry Emily and have a bunch of children surrounding her every day.
But Link also knew, this seemingly ordinary wish was, in reality, very difficult to achieve.
He was silent for a moment, then touched his chest and said calmly to her, "Mother, how many secrets are still hidden in my body?"
At this, Mrs. Flamel froze, her body trembling slightly.
Her reaction did not escape Link's notice. He sighed softly and said, "You all know. You just don't want to tell me. But that doesn't matter now."
"The key issue is, Voldemort is very interested in me and my blood. My blood seems able to increase his power. That's why I say we really don't have another choice."
"Because if Voldemort truly wins, then no matter where we flee, I believe he'll send people after us."
"So, what we can do now is only to strangle the danger while it's still in the cradle."
Mrs. Flamel trembled harder, her face turning pale.
Link quickly grasped her hand, only to find it ice-cold, her whole being had sunk into immense fear.
Sighing again, Link realized this was the first time he'd ever seen her so shaken.
He hadn't intended to tell her these things, since the truth was too cruel for her. And now, it seemed her emotions would take a long time to calm.
But unexpectedly, after that brief collapse, Mrs. Flamel quickly regained her composure.
She instead gripped Link's hand tightly and said through clenched teeth, "Sorry, Link, I still cannot tell you that secret. But since that Voldemort already knows of your existence and wants war with us, then let it be war!"
She pressed her forehead against his, speaking softly, "Mother will never let them harm you!"
With that, Mrs. Flamel stood and walked to the fireplace.
Link was baffled, hastily trying to stop her, but then heard her say, "Go on, follow your own plan, Link. Mother will find some outside allies for you!"
Whoosh!
Flames swallowed her figure as she disappeared into the fireplace.
Link sat back down, speechless.
He thought perhaps his suspicion was correct, Mrs. Flamel had long prepared for this, hence her mention of "allies."
Now, it only remained to be seen whether her allies would be reliable or not.
Just then, the crackling of firecrackers suddenly erupted beside him. Moments later, Krell, wearing a pirate's eye patch, appeared out of thin air.
He casually sat next to Link, grabbed a cookie, popped it into his mouth, and only after finishing did he shake his head and say, "Link, no matter what the lady says..."
Link glanced sideways at him and said firmly, "She is my mother."
"But in the end, she's an outsider by marriage!" Krell raised his voice, refuting without hesitation.
"You are the heir of the Flamel family! I hope you understand that."
"She's only been exercising the rights of the family head in your stead. But now, you're grown. It's time for that power to return to you. This is my belief, and the belief of the whole Flamel family."
"Rest assured, Link, we're all willing to obey your orders!"
"Your plan is brilliant! Go forward boldly!"
"Let the glory of the Flamel family shine on this world once more! Seize back everything we once lost, in place of the old head and your father!"
Krell whispered in Link's ear nonstop.
His expression grew ferocious, every scar on his face twitching as if to proclaim his resolve.
═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═
patreon.com/AmbitiousTranslator
🥳Joining Patreon keeps me motivated and eager to work diligently, so please consider joining.🥰 You can access upto 20 advance chapter through Patreon.