At the Eyrie on Eagle's Nest Mountain, Krujë, Jon spent a thoroughly dull night.
He kept turning over his next steps in his mind—
The name carved into the wall wasn't hard to explain. Fresh out of Hogwarts and barely in his twenties, Tom Riddle had gone out into the world on his own.
Rather than carelessly using his real name, he'd picked a random alias. That was only natural—after learning the truth of his origins, the young Tom had grown to loathe the name that once belonged to his father.
As for his other relatives—his grandfather, his uncles, and the rest—Tom held them in complete disdain. The only one he could accept was his mother, which was why he used the surname "Gaunt." And among all the wizards he'd encountered, the only person who earned even a trace of his respect was Hogwarts' Transfiguration professor, Albus Dumbledore. Thus, he took the name "Albus."
It did feel a bit strange…
What left Jon even more exasperated was the fact that Tom Riddle, this so-called senior, had collected so many Vampire teeth in one go. Had he wiped out all of Transylvania single-handedly? Even hunting livestock wouldn't be done like that.
Jon had originally thought that bringing back one or two pairs of Vampire teeth might be enough to muddle through and exchange them for a branch from the Soul Tree. Judging from his predecessor's "achievements," though, that was almost certainly impossible.
There was no helping it. Tomorrow, he would have to head to Transylvania and try his luck.
...
Early the next morning, Jon climbed out of bed in the mountain cabin.
After getting dressed and checking the contents of his suitcase one last time, he stepped out of his room.
He followed Sandru out of the cave and into the square where they had landed the night before. For the first time, Jon saw the scenery in daylight…
Dense deciduous forests stretched in every direction, filled with primeval oaks and maple trees. Most of them were ancient, and in many places, towering trunks blotted out the sky entirely.
Old roots and creeping vines tangled together, rushing streams scoured smooth pebbles, and giant eagles wheeled overhead, crying out joyfully.
Quite a few male and female sorcerers were already gathered in the square. When they saw Sandru and Jon, they began pointing and whispering among themselves…
Clearly, Elder Finis had already told everyone why Jon had come.
The Albanian girl who had greeted Jon at the "restaurant" the night before suddenly ran over, her face flushed. She wrapped a thin silk scarf around his neck while murmuring something softly.
"She's wishing you a safe journey and a smooth return," Sandru explained.
Jon thought silently that a smooth return was asking too much. He probably wasn't going to come back like Voldemort, lugging a huge sack of Vampire teeth.
Even so, he didn't remove the scarf.
Sandro transformed into a giant eagle, let Jon climb onto his back, and then spread his wings, soaring up into the sky.
Only once they were airborne did Jon realize that Eagle's Nest Mountain, Krujë, was actually a colossal sculpture of a double-headed eagle.
The eyes and nostrils of both heads had been hollowed out, forming passageways to the outside world…
The sculpture was incredibly lifelike, every feather rendered in fine detail.
At the same time, hundreds of giant eagles rose into the air behind them—some true giant eagles, others Animagi. They cried out sharply, as though seeing Jon and Sandru off.
From the eagle's back, Jon waved to them, then lowered his head and spoke softly to Sandru.
"First, we're heading to the banks of the Mures River, to a small town called Gilău."
...
From the Muggle girl attacked by a werewolf, to the discovery of Death Eater werewolves seeking allies in Transylvania, to Voldemort's past massacre of Vampires there…
Everything felt tangled and obscure—bordering on the incomprehensible.
To understand it all, Jon decided to start from the beginning.
So he chose to go first to the Muggle town of Gilău, to find the girl who had been attacked. She was already dead, but the dead were not necessarily unable to speak.
The giant eagle flew swiftly, and the distance between Transylvania and Albania wasn't particularly great. After a full day of flight, Jon and Sandru reached their destination before nightfall.
"Where are we going?" Sandru asked after transforming back into human form outside the town.
"The town cemetery," Jon replied calmly.
Sandru knew a little Romanian. Though his pronunciation was awkward, he quickly helped Jon locate the cemetery.
Jon soon found the grave he was looking for. It wasn't difficult—this was the only newly built grave in the area.
The headstone bore a familiar name: Gina Pistol.
Her story had appeared in the Balkan Contemporary just a few days earlier.
And according to Jon's deductions, the girl had been attacked by werewolves outside the town and then killed by a dark wizard's Killing Curse.
Now, he needed to prove it.
"What do I need to do?" Sandru asked curiously.
"Wait," Jon said calmly, shaking his head.
He then carefully took a stone no larger than a fingernail from his pocket.
...
"That Elder Wand can grant us unparalleled power; as for that Resurrection Stone, to him—Grindelwald—though I pretended not to know before him, it represents an army of Inferius."
Albus Dumbledore's words echoed first in Jon's mind.
Then he recalled Grindelwald's explanation atop the tower of Nurmengard.
"Inferius… The Resurrection Stone has never truly resurrected corpses. It can only summon a substance more real than a soul, yet more illusory than physical matter. It can call forth the dead from your memories, or draw out those who still cling to this world from their graves. This entity, hovering between an Inferius and a spirit, is what I call a 'shadow soul.'"
"Then I'll try summoning a shadow soul," Jon murmured.
He rotated the nail-sized stone in his hand three times clockwise.
"Return, Miss Gina Pistol," he said evenly. "If you still harbor any resentment toward this world… I permit you to return."
As his quiet call faded, he saw a faint, fragile figure moving lightly across the branch-strewn ground of the graveyard.
From behind a headstone, a girl slowly emerged.
She looked young, about the same age as Jon, dressed like a student—a pretty girl. Yet her body was drenched in blood, her face frozen in terror and despair.
"Don't be afraid, Miss Pistol," Jon said gently as he approached.
"Tell me everything… I will avenge you."
...
Watching Mr. Patrick appear to struggle against thin air, Sandru froze, then instinctively took a few steps back.
He had already guessed that the other man was using a kind of magic he couldn't possibly understand.
The spell didn't last long. Ten minutes later, Mr. Patrick slipped whatever he had been holding back into his pocket.
"Should we leave?" Sandru stepped forward and asked.
Before the other could answer, Sandru's expression changed abruptly.
He spun around and shouted angrily toward the bushes behind them.
"Who's there?"