Louis's background story, and the contents of the suitcase, were, of course, a narrative he had prepared in advance.
In an apocalypse, a child dragging around a heavy suitcase was bound to attract attention.
Before he mastered spells like Muffliato, the wand and invisibility cloak could at least be kept close to his body. But those precious magic textbooks? They had to be carried openly.
Rather than hiding them and inviting suspicion, it was far better to expose them proactively.
An image of a naïve orphan, deeply immersed in the "well-intentioned lies" left behind by his parents, firmly believing himself to be a wizard, was the perfect disguise.
For an eleven-year-old to obsess over fairy tales and toy wands was completely normal in anyone's eyes.
Once he learned spells like the Shrinking Charm or Muffliato, and could properly secure his belongings, he could simply announce that he had "grown up," that he was letting go of childish fantasies and moving forward with his parents' hopes.
Judging by Shane's reaction, the plan had worked flawlessly.
With that settled, Louis hugged his books to his chest and quietly slipped beneath the large manager's desk.
It was an ideal hiding spot, a blind angle where even if Shane woke suddenly, he wouldn't immediately see what Louis was doing.
From a drawer, Louis took out a flashlight. He adjusted it to its dimmest setting, wedged it in place using a few books, and carefully opened his spellbook.
The first spell he chose to study was also the simplest, and the most immediately useful.
The Levitation Charm.
Louis took a deep breath, forcing the turbulence in his mind to settle.
He recalled Hermione's standard posture from the movies, her strict lecturing tone, and the elegant swish and flick illustrated in the textbook.
"Wingardium… Leviosa…"
His voice was barely above a whisper. His right hand tightened around the ebony wand as he pointed it toward a pen lying on the floor.
He focused with everything he had, imagining the pen gently lifting into the air.
"Wingardium… Leviosa!"
The wand tip flicked.
The pen didn't move.
Louis frowned, but he wasn't discouraged. Beginnings were always difficult. For a self-taught wizard who had never attended a single Charms class, failure on the first try was only natural.
He cleared his throat, adjusted his grip, and tried again.
"Wingardium, Leviosa."
"Wingardium, Leviosa!"
Time ticked by.
Under the desk, only the boy's quiet, tireless repetitions echoed in the darkness.
Yet no matter how many times he tried, the cursed pen remained stubbornly glued to the floor. Forget floating, it didn't even wobble.
Why?
Irritation crept in.
Was his pronunciation wrong? Was the wand movement off?
He reviewed every detail, making tiny adjustments. He even changed targets, first a paperclip, then a small pebble.
The result was always the same.
Nothing.
"Wait… this isn't right, is it?"
Doubt finally surfaced.
Had he misjudged himself? Did he actually have no talent for spellcasting?
Or worse, were the laws of this world different, making magic unreliable?
No. Impossible.
The invisibility cloak was real. The resonance he felt from the wand couldn't be fake.
The problem had to be him.
Was his voice too quiet? But he didn't dare raise it, Shane was sleeping nearby. Was his mindset wrong? The harder he tried, the tenser he became, drifting further from the focused calm described in the book.
He kept trying.
Again and again.
From deep night until the faintest hint of dawn appeared beyond the window.
Only then did Louis stop, utterly exhausted.
An entire night, and he hadn't mastered even the most basic Levitation Charm.
'Where's the "Chosen One" treatment I was promised? he grumbled silently.'
'As a transmigrator wasn't I supposed to be a magical genius? Why is even Levitation this hard?''
Even if he couldn't punch Dumbledore or kick Voldemort, he should at least be on Harry or Hermione's level, right?
At this rate, he couldn't even reach Ron's baseline.
At best… half a Ron.
Forget it.
Louis exhaled slowly. It was probably a mindset issue. Too much had happened today, his emotions were all over the place. He'd try again tomorrow, after resting and calming down.
In any case, it definitely had nothing to do with talent.
As dawn broke, Shane was roused by his ingrained biological clock.
The first thing he saw was Louis crawling out from beneath the desk, dark circles hanging heavily under the boy's eyes.
"You really didn't sleep all night?" Shane sighed helplessly. "Kid, I told you to wake me up if you got sleepy."
"Sorry, Officer." Louis rubbed his aching eyes and let out a long yawn. "I… I got too absorbed in studying magic and lost track of time."
Looking at the exhaustion on the boy's face, and the way he still tried to act relaxed, a warmth quietly spread through Shane's chest.
How could he not understand?
The kid had clearly wanted him to rest.
Shane shook his head without pressing the issue. He simply handed Louis his water bottle.
"Drink some water, then get some sleep on the sofa. I'll go check the situation outside and see if there's a way out."
With that, he stood and began checking his equipment.
"Officer," Louis said after taking a sip, "when you go out… don't block the door."
Shane frowned. "That's too dangerous. Why wouldn't I block it?"
"Please listen to me," Louis said calmly. "If you barricade the door from the outside and something breaks in downstairs, or danger appears upstairs, I won't have any way to escape."
He gestured toward the door.
"Just close it normally. If I hear Walkers, I can block it from the inside in time."
Shane studied Louis's clear, rational eyes. After a brief hesitation, he nodded.
If it were any other child, Shane wouldn't have considered it.
But Louis was different. Smart. Level-headed. Leaving him an option, to flee or hide based on circumstances, was indeed safer than sealing him in completely.
After Shane left cautiously, Louis locked the door from the inside.
But he didn't go to sleep.
Instead, he made a bold decision.
He wanted to personally verify just how effective the invisibility cloak really was.
He pulled the silvery fabric, smooth as liquid moonlight, from his suitcase, took a steadying breath, and draped it over himself.
In an instant, it was as if he had been erased from the world.
His body vanished. His breath stilled. Even the faint rustle of movement seemed to disappear.
Louis looked down.
He couldn't see himself at all.
Suppressing the surge of excitement in his chest, he relied on memory alone as he crept quietly down the stairs and stopped before the blood-smeared glass front door.
Outside, seven or eight Walkers wandered aimlessly, completely oblivious to Louis standing right beside them.
His heart thudded violently.
Slowly, very slowly, he extended his invisible right arm through a crack in the shattered glass.
The instant his arm passed beyond the cloak's coverage, the nearest Walker snapped its head around.
Its hollow eye sockets fixed on that spot as a low, threatening growl rose from its throat.
The surrounding Walkers stirred, becoming restless.
Startled, Louis yanked his arm back immediately.
And just like that, the Walkers calmed.
They returned to their vacant wandering, as if nothing had happened at all.
Louis held his breath, stunned.
Then, deliberately, he made a small noise against the glass.
One Walker shuffled over, stopping right in front of the door. It lingered there, swaying slightly, but made no attempt to attack.
Louis tapped the glass again.
The Walker tilted its head, confused, staring at the source of the sound, yet still showed no urge to bite.
A wave of relief washed over Louis.
The invisibility cloak was even more effective than he'd hoped.
Then a new question surfaced in his mind.
'So… what about scent?'