After cleaning the kitchen, Harry finally returned to his bedroom—the cupboard under the stairs.
He brushed away the spider crawling beside his pillow, shook out his bedding, and swept away the dust that had fallen from above.
Whenever Dudley went up or down the stairs, he deliberately stomped as hard as he could, sending clouds of dust raining onto Harry’s makeshift wooden bed.
Normally, Harry would have been annoyed, but tonight, such trivial matters could not dampen his mood.
His heart was filled with anticipation for tomorrow and for the magical world that had finally begun opening its doors to him.
Admittedly, shoveling dragon dung was exhausting and more than a little nauseating.
Even so, Harry would gladly choose it over staying at Number Four, doing endless housework while being scolded by the Dursleys or bullied by Dudley and his friends.
With that thought, Harry carefully removed his newly repaired glasses and placed them beside his pillow.
Filled with anticipation for the following day, he closed his eyes and soon fell into a deep sleep.
…
“The magic of this world truly is strange…”
In the Moving Castle’s second-floor study, Calcifer rested atop a small brazier connected to the main fireplace, watching the intricate magical arrays glowing around Hermes.
Hermes stood at the center of the overlapping formations.
A terrifying torrent of magic surged around him, whipping his brilliant golden hair wildly through the air.
“An almost entirely conceptual system of magic,” Hermes concluded as he withdrew his power.
Unlike the magical system he had inherited from the Moving Castle, wizarding magic required almost no external price.
Every witch and wizard was born with an innate reservoir of magical power that matured with age and could be controlled through proper training.
There was no need to meditate for years or accumulate power through a complicated cultivation method.
A wizard merely needed to draw upon their emotions and intent, recite the appropriate incantation, and guide their innate magic through a wand.
With the right knowledge and sufficiently powerful intent, that modest amount of innate magic could even produce an instant-death spell like the Killing Curse.
Hermes raised one hand slightly.
The cedar wand he had left in another corner of the castle flew into his grasp.
A translucent green light flickered at its tip, and a bone-chilling cold capable of piercing the soul spread through the study.
“A soul-targeting death spell capable of extinguishing the life of a living creature in an instant,” Hermes murmured.
“Yet compared to its effect, the amount of magical power it consumes is astonishingly small.”
Of course, the Killing Curse could not be cast through magical power alone.
It required genuine intent to kill, but its efficiency was still terrifying.
As Hermes finished speaking, the green light at the tip of his wand gradually faded.
Calcifer immediately flared, sending a wave of heat through the study and dispersing the lingering chill.
“Right, I nearly forgot.” Calcifer suddenly looked at Hermes.
“When do you plan to begin the Animagus transformation?”
His bright eyes settled curiously on the cedar wand in Hermes’s hand.
As far as Calcifer knew, a wizard’s Animagus form was closely connected to their personality and physical characteristics.
It was similar to how a wand’s wood, core, length, and flexibility often reflected the nature of the wizard it had chosen.
Hermes’s cedar wand was thirty-three centimeters long, with a smooth, nearly seamless grain.
It rarely accumulated dust, resisted stains and moisture, and could be restored to pristine condition with a simple wipe.
That was precisely why Calcifer was so interested in discovering what form Hermes would assume as an Animagus. Read this novel at g.com for the best experience.
“Probably not anytime soon,” Hermes replied, shaking his head.
“There’s less than a month remaining before the Hogwarts term begins.”
The first stage of becoming an Animagus required keeping a single Mandrake leaf in one’s mouth continuously from one full moon to the next.
Hermes could hardly stand in front of a classroom and lecture students with a Mandrake leaf tucked beneath his tongue.
Although, strictly speaking, it was not entirely impossible.
At that moment, Calcifer suddenly paused and turned toward Hermes.
The two exchanged a single glance.
Hermes’s figure distorted and vanished from the study.
A moment later, he appeared in the castle’s main room and opened the door leading to Privet Drive.
Harry stood outside, looking rather uneasy.
“Good morning, Mr.
Moriarty.”
Hermes glanced past him at the sun already hanging high in the sky.
“It is no longer particularly early.”
Embarrassment flashed across Harry’s face.
Yesterday, he had confidently promised to arrive early and help Mr.
Moriarty clean the habitats of his other magical creatures.
Yet on his very first day, he had already missed the agreed time.
It was all that fat pig Dudley’s fault.
Harry complained bitterly in his heart.
He had risen early and completed every household chore his aunt and uncle had assigned him that morning.
Unfortunately, just as he was preparing to leave, Dudley had begun pestering him, and it had taken Harry quite some time to escape.
Perhaps out of pride, Harry did not want Mr.
Moriarty to see how badly the Dursleys treated him.
Nor did he want him to witness Harry arguing with or cursing Dudley.
Therefore, he kept the explanation to himself and merely lowered his head.
“I’m sorry.”
“It doesn’t matter.
I’m not in a hurry,” Hermes replied.
Even if Harry did not complete those chores, Calcifer would eventually take care of them.
Of course, Hermes would then have to endure Calcifer’s endless complaints and pay him several Galleons, but neither problem was particularly serious.
A Silencing Charm could deal with the complaints.
As for the Galleons, that was even simpler.
The magical-creature materials and potions Hermes had accumulated represented a considerable fortune.
Harry waited nervously as Hermes remained silent for a moment, his heart pounding so violently that it felt ready to leap from his chest.
Harry froze briefly before joy surged across his face.
He immediately crossed the threshold and entered the Moving Castle.
“Which creature’s enclosure are we cleaning today?”
Standing just inside the entrance, Harry cleverly reached for the dial beside the door and turned its pointer to the red section.
He had already cleaned Opal’s nest.
Since Mr.
Moriarty still needed help with this sort of work, there must be other magical creatures living inside that mysterious sanctuary.
Anticipation shone in Harry’s eyes as the image of the enormous six-winged bird surrounded by thunder flashed through his mind.
Of course, what Harry wanted most was still the chance to learn that wondrous, unreasonable power called magic.
However, Mr.
Moriarty had warned him that children without formal training could lose control if they tried to force their magic recklessly.
Even worse, a child who was abused and compelled to suppress their magic entirely might become an Obscurial.
Harry did not fully understand what an Obscurial was, but he understood what it meant to lose control.
It was obviously not something good.
Besides, his eleventh birthday was already approaching.
There was no reason to rush and risk harming himself when Hogwarts would soon teach him properly.
Hermes appeared to see through his thoughts.
“Your courage is commendable,” he said as he opened the red door.
“However, a Thunderbird is not a creature you are ready to approach.
We will begin with something harmless.”
His gaze shifted toward a corner of the warehouse.
A dark-furred creature had buried its head inside an iron bucket, apparently believing that if it could not see anyone, no one could see it either.
It had clearly been preparing to sneak into the castle and begin another treasure hunt.
In the next instant, an invisible hand seized the creature by the scruff of its neck and lifted it into the air.
Realizing that its latest prison break had failed, the creature allowed all four limbs to hang limply.
Its entire body radiated a deep sense of defeat.
Harry blinked at the strange animal floating before him.
It resembled an unlikely combination of a platypus and a mole.
“What is that?”
“A Niffler,” Hermes explained.
“It is irresistibly attracted to anything shiny and hides whatever it steals inside the pouch on its belly.”
As he spoke, Hermes’s gaze settled on the Niffler’s bulging pouch, and a thoughtful gleam appeared in his eyes.
Come to think of it, this Niffler had been the very first magical creature he brought back and had accompanied him for many years.
Did that also mean…