“Number 7 Privet Drive,
Little Whinging, Surrey
To Mr.
Kyryll Flins”
A letter, written in a style unlike any nation Flins knew in Teyvat, suddenly dropped onto his head.
A second ago, he was still in Nod krai, planning with the Traveler to spend the Lantern Rite in Liyue this year.
But just as he stood up and took one step to see his guest out, he ended up in this completely unfamiliar world.
Yes, an unfamiliar world.
It was clearly not the Evernight Cemetery where he lived, because sunlight this strong would never appear there.
Besides, he could not feel any Kuuvahki energy at all right now, and his body had shrunk quite a bit.
Fortunately, he still seemed able to return to his true form and control some Electro energy.
Flins caught the letter out of habit.
Then he noticed a white bird with a round face and big eyes staring at him without blinking.
It looked a bit like an Augur Bird.
The round-faced white bird kept staring at him stubbornly.
Flins blinked in confusion.
After a while, he finally understood—it was asking for food.
So, without rushing, he walked around the house, found some food, and threw it over.
The white bird took two bites and stopped bothering him.
Only then did Flins look carefully at the envelope in his hand.
The envelope was made of thick parchment.
The address was written in green ink, which seemed to contain a little bit of special power.
Flins turned the envelope over.
The wax seal had a crest on it: a shield with an ‘H’ on it, surrounded by four animals.
Flins looked at the writing on the front again.
He realized that even though he could understand the meaning, the words were completely foreign to him in nature.
He opened the letter:
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore (Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorcerer, Chief Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confederation of Wizards)
Dear Mr.
Flins,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted…
Due to your special circumstances, we will send a professor to answer your questions.
They will arrive by eight o’clock tonight at the latest.
Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress
“A school?”
Flins frowned a little, his eyelids half lowered.
Given his age, going to school with a bunch of children did not feel right no matter how he thought about it.
“Hey, hey!
Can you hear me?”
A familiar voice suddenly rang out beside his ear.
Right after that, a screen of light appeared in front of him.
Flins looked up and saw a girl who looked just like the Traveler looking at him curiously from the screen.
She waited for a while, but seeing that Flins had no plan to speak, she coughed a bit awkwardly:
“Hello, Flins.
I’m Lumine, a Traveler from another world.
Just now, I was doing an experiment in another world and accidentally affected the Traveler on your side…”
“So…
well…”
Flins’s face did not change.
His candle-yellow eyes just looked at her quietly without a word.
Lumine just gave up trying to soften it: “Anyway, I accidentally sent you to this world.
And because something went wrong with the experiment, you might not be able to return to Teyvat for now.”
“That really is quite unfortunate.”
He said the words, but his tone did not sound worried at all.
Lumine squeezed her hands, feeling a little guilty: “I will find a way as soon as I can.
You…”
Flins let out a soft, faint laugh: “No need to worry too much, young lady.
I believe in your ability.
After all, you are the Traveler.”
“Haha—”
Lumine felt relieved, but in her mind she could not help complaining about the other world’s version of herself—how did she ever think this guy was easy to get along with?
Isn’t he just a tricky old fox?
“Anyway, Flins, I already fixed up your background story in this world a bit.”
Lumine clapped her hands, looking like she wanted credit.
“Right now, you are an orphan.
Your parents were wizards from the Soviet side and died during the wizarding war years ago.
An old friend of theirs has been taking care of you all these years, so it makes sense that you are living here.”
She paused and added: “Don’t worry, the records are all set up.
No one will find any problems.”
Flins showed no reaction; he just tilted his head and glanced at her.
Seeing that he did not object, Lumine grew braver and kept talking:
“So you can just relax and enjoy school life in this world.
Think of it as a vacation—eat good food, attend classes, make new friends.
Isn’t that great?
Once I fix the experiment on my end, the timeline won’t be affected when you go back to Teyvat.
Just treat it like a long trip.”
As she spoke, she started believing it herself, her voice getting lighter and happier.
At the end, she added: “And don’t worry, that world is pretty interesting.
You won’t be bored.”
Only then did Flins speak up slowly: “So what you mean is, you want me to behave and act like a child for a while?”
“Pretty much,” Lumine giggled.
“Please?
Just do it as a favor to me?”
Flins did not say yes, but he did not refuse either.
He looked down at his shrunken little hand, raised it, and waved it at Lumine in the screen.
Lumine blinked innocently.
He pulled his hand back and said calmly: “A vacation, right?
Fine.”
Lumine froze for a moment, clearly surprised that he agreed so easily.
Then she smiled right away: “Then it’s settled!
Call me anytime if something comes up; the screen can open whenever you need.”
The light screen flickered twice, and her face vanished into thin air.
Flins stood where he was, stayed quiet for a moment, then picked up the letter again, flipped it over, and looked at the wax seal on the back.
“Hogwarts,” he said softly, his voice rising a little at the end, unsure if he found it amusing or troublesome.
Before Flins could think for long, three steady knocks came from the front door.
Severus Snape could not understand what went wrong in that old madman Dumbledore’s head to make him pick Snape to collect this new student.
Of course, he had heard about the child from Minerva—both parents had died near the end of the wizarding war.
A group of wandering Death Eaters had run into their home, and the child probably only survived because his parents hid him with all their might.
Was it pitiful?
Yes, it was.
But that was exactly why he should not have been sent.
He had never learned how to deal with children in his whole life, let alone a half-grown orphan with no one to rely on.
Yet Dumbledore clearly did not see it that way.
“Severus,”
The old man sat behind the desk, resting his intertwined fingers on the surface, speaking with that soft tone that made people want to turn around and leave immediately.
“This child’s parents were tragically killed just before the end of the war.
A group of fleeing Death Eaters…”
He paused and added, “The child only survived because his parents protected him.”
Saying this, Dumbledore raised a hand and slowly wiped the corner of his eye, making sure Snape saw it.
Snape watched him with a blank face.
“Recently, the old friend who had been looking after him—an old friend of his parents—also passed away from illness.”
Dumbledore sighed.
“Now, this child is all on his own.”
After speaking with so much emotion, the old bee popped a toffee into his mouth.
The corner of Snape’s mouth twitched.
He stayed silent for a few seconds, and finally forced words through his teeth: “Assuming you know that I do not know how to handle children, especially a little troll that sounds this difficult…”
“You have always been reliable, Severus,” Dumbledore said with a smile, the tears completely gone from his eyes.
Snape turned and walked away, his black robes billowing—yet in the end, he still went.