The nights were no longer as pleasantly cool as they had been in May.
Summer had arrived, bringing with it warm, humid evenings.
Vincent finished the last of his rice porridge through a thick straw, wiped his mouth, and quietly left the dining hall.
Several of the orphanage children watched him with sympathetic eyes.
“The glass explosion in the corridor must have hurt him really badly.”
“It’s already been a month, and he still can’t eat anything except porridge.”
“Ms. Kenna said it’s part of his treatment. Poor Vincent… the explosion damaged his hearing. He can’t hear us, and he can’t even speak.”
“Shh! Don’t say that. You’ll upset him.”
“You idiot! He’s deaf. He can’t hear you anyway.”
Actually…
I can hear every word.
Vincent complained inwardly.
Naturally, he didn’t say so.
Speaking carried far too much risk in his current condition.
Leaving the dining hall behind, he climbed the familiar staircase to the second floor of the west wing.
Over the past month, he had spent more time here than in the children’s dormitory.
As he passed a window, he caught his reflection in the glass.
His lips were slightly parted.
Hidden inside his mouth…
…was a single mandrake leaf.
A month earlier, Vincent had borrowed money from Neville.
He still remembered Neville’s astonished expression.
“You… you need to borrow money?”
“I don’t have much…”
“But you can have all of it.”
“I’ll just tell Grandma I lost it while traveling by Floo Powder.”
Without hesitation, Neville had handed over every coin he possessed.
Several silver Sickles.
A generous handful of bronze Knuts.
Vincent accepted them with sincere gratitude.
“I’ll repay you.”
“We’ll both be attending Hogwarts.”
“I’ll return every Knut once school begins.”
Using Neville’s money, Vincent purchased the final ingredients he needed for the Animagus transformation:
A fresh mandrake leaf.
And the chrysalis of a Death’s-head Hawk Moth.
After returning to the orphanage, he explained the process to Ms.
Kenna under the pretense of conducting advanced magical research.
Although she clearly didn’t understand everything, she still agreed to help him.
On the night of the full moon…
The ritual had officially begun.
“Living with a leaf in your mouth is much harder than it sounds.”
Thinking back over the past month, Vincent couldn’t help shaking his head.
He had been forced to drink every meal through a straw.
Otherwise, he might accidentally chew the leaf.
He slept wearing a cloth mask to prevent it from falling out while he tossed and turned during the night.
He couldn’t speak.
A single careless word might send the leaf flying.
Worst of all…
He couldn’t practice magic.
Now that he finally owned proper Hogwarts textbooks, being unable to cast spells felt like sitting atop a mountain of gold without being allowed to spend a single coin.
It was torture.
“If living in the Muggle world is already this inconvenient…”
“I can only imagine how difficult this process is for fully qualified witches and wizards.”
“No wonder there are so few Animagi.”
“…At least I’ve finally made it through.”
The moon hung full and brilliant overhead.
Tonight marked exactly thirty days since he had first placed the mandrake leaf inside his mouth.
A familiar pale-blue panel appeared before him.
[Step One: Hold a single mandrake leaf continuously in your mouth for one lunar month — Completed.]
Another notification followed.
Name: Vincent Aydon
Legendary Talent: Legendary Animagus
Secondary Talent: Transfiguration Mastery
Additional Talents: Unlock by completing the Animagus Transformation.
Completion Progress: (1/10)
The progress bar had finally advanced.
“It worked.”
“I can begin the second step.”
Following Ms.
Kenna’s instructions, all of the orphanage children had already gone to bed.
Taking advantage of his special permission to stay in the storeroom, Vincent picked up an oil lamp and quietly slipped outside.
The moonlight flooded the orphanage courtyard.
It was the perfect night.
He extinguished the lamp.
Carefully, he removed a small crystal phial from inside his coat.
Holding it beneath his lips, he slowly allowed enough saliva to fill it.
Only then did he gently push the mandrake leaf from beneath his tongue into the phial.
Bathed entirely in pure moonlight, the leaf floated peacefully inside.
Next, Vincent removed a second container.
Inside was the dew he had collected before dawn that very morning.
The secluded clearing where he had gathered it had remained untouched by either sunlight or human footsteps for seven consecutive days.
To make absolutely certain, he had marked the surrounding area with thin strands of cotton a week earlier, ensuring no one had accidentally disturbed it.
He plucked a single hair from his head and dropped it into the phial.
Using a silver teaspoon, he carefully added the dew.
Finally…
He placed the chrysalis of the Death’s-head Hawk Moth inside.
Almost immediately, faint silver threads of light shimmered through the liquid.
He corked the phial tightly and tucked it safely inside his coat.
Picking up the oil lamp once more, Vincent entered the forest behind the orphanage.
Guided by the discreet marks he had carved into several trees days earlier, he walked for nearly an hour before reaching a secluded grove.
Ancient English oaks surrounded the clearing.
Their dense branches blocked almost every ray of sunlight, even during the brightest summer afternoons.
“A quiet… dark place.”
Exactly as the instructions required.
Vincent knelt beside the largest oak.
He dug a small hole among its roots.
Placed the crystal phial inside.
Covered it carefully with earth.
Then removed every cotton marker he had previously left behind, restoring the clearing to its untouched appearance.
The familiar panel appeared again.
[Step Two: Prepare the Animagus mixture — Completed.]
Completion Progress: (2/10)
The next step awaited only one thing.
A thunderstorm.
Vincent did not immediately return to the orphanage.
There was somewhere else he wished to visit.
Another hour’s walk carried him out of the deepest part of the forest and onto a narrow path.
A few minutes later, the trees gradually gave way to open ground.
He stood atop a gentle hill.
Moonlight washed across endless fields of swaying grass.
Near the summit stood several modest gravestones.
This…
…was the true reason Ms.
Kenna had forbidden the children from entering the forest.
As a Squib, she had quietly supported the Order of the Phoenix throughout the First Wizarding War.
The orphanage had served as a temporary refuge for wounded witches and wizards escaping Death Eater attacks.
Many recovered.
Many returned to fight.
Some never left again.
Each month, Ms.
Kenna visited these graves alone to honor those who had given their lives protecting others.
Vincent’s parents were not buried here.
But to him…
Every witch and wizard who had sacrificed themselves to defend innocent people deserved the same respect.
He carefully removed the fallen leaves from each gravestone.
Brushed away the accumulated dust.
Then stood silently before them with his hands folded.
“Please watch over my Animagus transformation.”
“And my journey as a wizard.”
“I promise…”
“I will do everything within my power to end needless suffering.”
“To stop tragedies before they begin.”
“So that one day…”
“…no one as brave as you will ever have to die protecting others again.”