The next morning, Link lay on his side on the bed, propping his head up with his arm, smiling as he gazed at the sleeping Emily.
Emily's face bore a trace of fatigue, her brows were slightly furrowed, and two faint, barely perceptible red clouds floated on her cheeks.
These were all marks Link had left on her during last night's storm.
Link reached out and gently rubbed between Emily's brows, wanting to smooth them out.
This action seemed to startle the sleeping Emily.
She opened her eyes silently, meeting Link's gaze with her clear ones.
Neither of them spoke, but smiles slowly appeared on both their faces simultaneously.
After a long while, Link took out a tube of pink potion and said, "Drink this. It will make you feel better."
Hearing this, the red clouds on Emily's cheeks showed a tendency to spread down to her neck. She pulled the quilt up forcefully, covering her arms, while her hand hidden under the quilt pinched Link not too lightly nor too heavily as she said coyly, "If you knew I'd feel unwell, you should have been gentler last night!"
"My mistake, it's all my fault."
Link said without hesitation, simultaneously pushing the tube of potion towards Emily again.
However, Emily pushed the potion tube back and said, "I'll drink it later. We should get up now. Today is the day to return to school. If we don't hurry, we'll miss the Hogwarts Express!"
After saying that, Emily naturally reached her hand towards the bedside table. Two sets of neatly folded clothes were already placed there. Link didn't need to think to know this was the work of the house-elf, Little Button. Little Button never disappointed when it came to service.
Link didn't insist further on Emily taking the medicine.
He wasn't that kind of male chauvinist. He fully respected Emily's thoughts and will, and wouldn't force his good intentions onto her.
As for whether Emily was just being coy, wanting Link to persuade her a few more times.
That was impossible.
Firstly, Emily wasn't the type who liked to act up or say one thing but mean another.
Secondly, Link's Legilimency spell had been trained to LV4. With such a high skill level, even without a wand, it was enough for Link to perform simple lie detection on Emily.
Link quietly put away the potion, planning to take it out again when Emily wanted to drink it. Then he leaned back against the headboard, smiling as he watched Emily get dressed.
As if sensing Link's gaze, Emily's movements stiffened, and she suddenly turned around and cried out, "Ah! Hurry up and turn around, don't look at me! This is so embarrassing!"
"Alright, alright, whatever you say. I won't look, I won't look."
Link said with a laugh as he turned around, simultaneously picking up his clothes and starting to get dressed.
The only problem was, the degree to which Link turned was quite ingenious; he was at an angle where he wasn't facing Emily directly but could still see a lot out of the corner of his eye.
To put it bluntly, Link had turned around, but not completely.
Not only that, but faint blue light also flickered deep within Link's eyes.
Of course, such a little trick couldn't escape Emily, who knew Link very well. Thus, a soft pillow very naturally hit Link on the head.
The two fooled around in the bedroom for a while longer before finally getting dressed neatly and going downstairs.
"Be careful."
While going downstairs, Link carefully held onto Emily's arm. Last night, having eaten and slept well, they had been a bit too wild, so Emily's legs were still not quite steady.
Emily didn't refuse Link's help. She leaned most of her body against Link, but her gaze unconsciously drifted downstairs.
Following her line of sight, Link could clearly see Mrs. Flamel and Krell quietly watching them.
Both of them wore warm, eager smiles on their faces. Especially Krell; his large mouth full of sharp teeth was stretched extremely wide, the corners even reaching his ears. Tears welled up in his large eye sockets. His expression was as if a long-cherished wish had finally been fulfilled.
Seeing this, Link immediately understood why Emily had refused to take the medicine earlier, and he clearly felt Mrs. Flamel and Krell's urgent desire for the next heir of the Flamel family.
It was a pity, though; Link thought Mrs. Flamel and Krell's expectations would probably have to wait several more years.
Because after research, Link clearly knew that as the price for mastering magical power, wizards were fundamentally different from Muggles in essence.
Although the two could still interbreed.
As a higher existence than Muggles, wizards had a lower probability of reproduction than ordinary humans.
At the same time, the actions of pure-blood wizard nobles over the past hundreds or thousands of years, constantly intermarrying within a small circle to maintain bloodline purity, had also caused many defects in the genes of pure-blood wizard nobles, further increasing the difficulty of breeding offspring.
These two factors combined directly led to the fact that the reproductive probability of pure-blood wizards would inevitably be pitifully low. Even if they were fortunate enough to have children, the number of offspring would not be large.
As for the situation of the Weasley family.
That was just an exception. If the circumstances of this generation of the Weasley family were truly universal, then their family wouldn't be so famous throughout the UK and even all of Europe.
After enduring a round of scorching gazes from Mrs. Flamel and Krell, Link and Emily couldn't help but quicken their pace, darting swiftly into the castle's transport room.
Little Button had long been waiting here and handed over two brand-new Undetectable Extension Pouchs containing all the items listed on the Hogwarts new year book list.
"Whew! Well done, Little Button."
Link, now free from those scorching gazes, took the bags, casually praised Little Button, and quickly headed towards the fireplace. Emily had already gone in first and was waving urgently for him to hurry.
"The young master praised Little Button! Little Button is really…"
The previously bowing Little Button was so excited he couldn't control herself. Muttering to himself, he looked up, only to see Link squeeze into the fireplace, violently throw a handful of Floo Powder, causing a mass of flames to rise from the fireplace, completely swallowing Link and Emily's figures.
The familiar feeling of dizziness came again. By the time Link felt solid ground under his feet, the scene before him had changed from the Flamel castle's transport room to the Ministry of Magic's designated transport point inside King's Cross Station.
"Come out quickly, don't block the firep… Mr. Flamel?"
Guarding the transport point were still the same two Ministry workers, one tall and thin, the other short and fat.
At first, the tall, thin wizard was coldly urging them, but after seeing Link's appearance, his indifferent, cold face rippled with astonishment.
"Is it really you? Merlin's beard! It's such an honor to meet you here!" The other short, fat wizard reacted much faster.
He first flattered Link with a full-faced smile, then turned and scolded the tall, thin wizard with a stern face, "Hurry up and make way for the distinguished guests!"
Clearly, these two unlucky souls stationed long-term at King's Cross Station were also old Barty's subordinates, which was why they were so respectful to Link and Emily.
However, Emily clearly had no intention of chatting with these two any longer. Link merely smiled and nodded at the two, then Emily pulled Link out of the transport point, jogging through the bustling platform filled with witches and wizards in strange attire, and directly boarded the Hogwarts Express.
It wasn't until they entered the exclusive school director's compartment that Emily showed a pained expression, hissing and sucking in cold air while punching Link and saying, "The medicine! Give it to me, quick!"
Link knew what was up and hurriedly presented the tube of potion, even carefully helping to remove the stopper.
After downing the tube of potion, the color quickly returned to Emily's pale cheeks, and her previously tense muscles relaxed.
Emily let out a long sigh of relief. Seeing Link looking at her with a faint smile, her relieved expression immediately stiffened, and she then pounced on Link, biting his shoulder and saying, "It's all your fault! Couldn't you have been gentler?!"
This was already the second time Emily had brought up this topic today.
But Link didn't immediately admit fault like last time. Instead, he picked Emily up, held her, and said with a laugh, "There's no helping it. You are just too enchanting. I simply couldn't control myself!"
"Ah! You're really something!"
Hearing this, Emily cried out and bit Link's shoulder again.
Only this time, the force was much lighter than before.
Clearly, Emily was very pleased with Link's words.
The school director's compartment, as a benifit given to the families of school directors, was extremely comfortable and private.
Link and Emily fooled around here for a while longer. It wasn't until the train started with several blasts of its whistle that Emily climbed down from Link, panting, and lay down on the sofa, saying, "I can't anymore. I need to sleep. I'm too tired and sleepy."
"Then you rest well." Link said as he pinned the Head Boy badge to his chest. "It just so happens I need to go maintain some order among the lower year students."
Hearing this, Emily's yawn, halfway done, suddenly got stuck.
She looked at Link with a surprised expression and said, "Why would you suddenly think of doing that job?"
Emily was genuinely somewhat confused.
Although maintaining order in the train compartments was indeed the Head Boy and Girl's duty, for people like her and Link, that basically didn't exist.
Last year, when Link and Emily had just become Head Boy and Girl, they hadn't had the slightest intention of fulfilling their Head duties or using their Head authority. After all, given their status and power, they no longer needed the Head Boy/Girl identity to grant them authority.
So now Link actually wanted to go maintain student order?
Emily wouldn't believe this was a whim.
Hearing Emily's question, Link paused, turned back, and said with a cold laugh, "Right now, the entire Durmstrang Institute plus most of the Ministry of Magic already belongs to us. And next, Hogwarts naturally should be no exception."
"The Head Boy/Girl identity is a good breakthrough point. It allows us to legitimately gather those scattered forces. Even Dumbledore wouldn't be able to say a single word against it."
"So not only me, but you also need to use your Head Girl identity more in the future to assert your presence and try to bring the Slytherins under our control. Even if we can't bring them all over, we must prevent them from becoming Voldemort's aids."
Emily's brows furrowed.
In her original understanding, Link wasn't the type with strong desires for power.
But the current Link was constantly devouring other forces in a by-any-means-necessary way to strengthen himself.
Was it really necessary to go to such lengths to fight Voldemort?
Emily didn't know. She just instinctively felt something was a bit off.
But in the end, she still suppressed this trace of concern. Because Link was her fiancé, her love. When they formed that engagement contract, they had sworn to never leave nor abandon each other in this life, to support each other.
Although that contract wasn't binding, its ceremonial nature far exceeded its practical binding force, Emily still had no intention of breaking it, because she knew Link surely felt the same way.
"Whew!" Emily let out a long breath and said with a smile, "Okay, we'll do as you say."
"Then, rest well."
Link said, giving Emily a light kiss on the forehead before pushing the compartment door open and walking out.
The main body of the Hogwarts Express actually only had three types of compartments, one for the staff compartments, another for the ordinary student passenger compartments, and the third being the Head Boy/Girl compartment located at the very front of the train, right next to the locomotive.
This was a respect for the Heads' authority.
While the Hogwarts Express was in motion, the Head Boy and Girl acted as the proxies of the Hogwarts professors and Headmaster, the controllers of the reward and punishment mechanisms for all students, so naturally, they had to be in the foremost position that best signified their status.
Another saying was that the reason the Head compartment was at the front was because that position was closest to the locomotive and suffered from immense noise and bumps constantly, making it the worst position on the entire Hogwarts Express.
It was said that the Heads, because of their special status, voluntarily took on this hardship on behalf of the other students.
Of course, this was completely unfounded. Link had been to the Head compartment; under magical enhancement, it was so comfortable it hardly felt like being on a train at all.
As for the school director's exclusive compartment, that was more special.
It was located at the very tail end of the Hogwarts Express, with a dedicated dining compartment and a washroom compartment. The overall treatment far surpassed the Head compartment and most areas within Hogwarts, can be considered luxurious.
Unlike the other compartments, the school director's compartment didn't normally appear on the Hogwarts Express.
Only when the school director themselves or their family members had a need would the staff attach the relevant compartment to the tail end of the Hogwarts Express, exclusively for the school directors' use.
The reason for this 'special case' was entirely because when the Hogwarts Express was first put into use, it was boycotted by almost all the pure-blood noble families.
They simply couldn't accept their children having to ride a Muggle transport to school.
The school director's exclusive compartment was the compromise made by the Ministry of Magic. At the time, its name wasn't the school director's compartment, but the 'Nobles' compartment', a compartment that only pure-blood nobles could use by paying extra.
Precisely because of the school director's compartment's special location, when Link walked out of the compartment, he directly entered the very last ordinary student compartment of the Hogwarts Express.
Pushing open the compartment door, a chaotic scene met Link's eyes.
A dozen or so older students were gathered together, constantly shouting and laughing. The surroundings were a mess, the floor littered with various snack wrappers and other unknown magical items. The air was filled with smoke and had a special smell of gunpowder.
Link wasn't surprised by this.
This was the compartment farthest from the Head compartment. Due to its 'the mountains are high and the emperor is far away' nature, it was perennially occupied by older, seasoned students.
Discipline was terrible here; fights and brawls were considered minor incidents. The Weasley twins, Fred and George, sold various contraband here.
"Ahem!~"
Link covered his nose and coughed lightly. The sound wasn't loud, but through magic, it clearly reached the ears of everyone in the compartment, as if he had coughed right next to their ears.
The older, seasoned students finally realized an outsider had arrived. Smirks appeared simultaneously on more than a dozen faces.
The tail compartments of the Hogwarts Express were quite 'notorious'. Ordinary students simply didn't dare come here. The older Head Boys and Girls were already familiar with these old-timers and basically never came to bother them. So, the person coming could only be a new 5th-year Head Boy or Girl who didn't know the depths yet.
There was almost always such a rookie every year. The old-timers in the tail compartments were used to it.
And towards such people, the old-timers naturally had their own set of enthusiastic methods; it had become their annual tradition.
However, the moment they saw the person standing at the compartment door was Link, the smirks on the old-timers' faces almost instantly froze. The entire compartment immediately fell silent, the atmosphere turning strange.e
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