After several days of testing, Black had reached a conclusion about the Emotion Chest System.
Anger offered the best chance of a chest.
It was also the easiest emotion to provoke.
Shock and astonishment came next.
So, if he wanted rewards—if he wanted to grow stronger—he would probably have to do a few things that people found rather trying.
Possibly while standing well within striking distance.
But with Dumbledore behind him, he ought to survive, provided he didn’t go too far.
And if he was lucky enough to annoy Dumbledore himself, so much the better.
Someone like that was bound to produce excellent rewards when angry.
Black might become a little unpopular.
Still, what harm could a child possibly mean?
He only wanted to get stronger.
Little by little, his decision became clear.
Black didn’t have much luggage.
He had given most of his belongings to the other children.
What remained fitted into a small suitcase.
Holding it by the handle, he took a last, reluctant look around the room where he had spent so many years.
Mrs Marian waited in the doorway, watching him quietly with reddened eyes.
‘Don’t be sad.
I’ll come back and see you often.’
He put down the case and hugged her tightly.
‘I hear your relative is a professor,’ she said.
‘I’m sure he’ll give you a very good life.’
Black smiled.
A professor, certainly.
Just not quite the sort she imagined.
Dumbledore was waiting at the entrance when Black emerged, accompanied by Mrs Marian and the children.
‘Goodbye, everyone.
I’ll visit.
I promise.’
He and Dumbledore had walked some distance before he looked back.
They were all still standing at the entrance, silently watching them go.
Only after they had turned a corner and passed out of sight did Dumbledore stop.
‘Now, take my hand, and we’ll Apparate.’
He added an explanation before Black could respond.
‘Apparition is a way of travelling instantly from one place to another.
The journey isn’t particularly comfortable, but it is very useful.’ The source of this chapter is g.com.
‘Magic really is extraordinary,’ Black said sincerely.
‘Indeed.
Ready?
Take my hand.’
‘Actually, Professor, I’ve just remembered something.
I’ve left my little pet behind.
He’ll go hungry if I don’t bring him.’
‘Then we had better collect him.
What sort of pet, and where is he?’
Black pointed towards the nearby woods.
‘In there.
He’s a hamster.’
A pause.
‘A Siberian hamster.’
‘Lead the way.’
Five minutes later, Dumbledore stood looking at an enormous brown bear.
‘This is your Siberian hamster?’
It might have been on the lean side for a bear, but it still had to weigh at least two hundred and fifty kilos.
That was a generous interpretation of hamster.
Yet Black was stroking its head, and the creature lay placidly at his feet, quite content to let him.
Dumbledore found himself staring.
Did Grindelwald put some of Newt’s blood into that experiment as well?
How else had the boy persuaded such a powerful animal to behave so meekly?
[Astonishment detected.]
[Silver Chest obtained ×1.]
Black smiled.
That was precisely why he had brought Dumbledore to meet his little pet.
A pity it was only a Silver Chest.
‘With a bear this size…’
Dumbledore had been about to explain the difficulties of keeping it, not to mention taking it along by Apparition.
Then he saw the happiness in Black’s face as he stood beside the animal.
He abandoned the objection.
It was one bear.
If the boy wanted to keep it, they would find a way.
‘Can’t we take him, Professor?’
Of course we can.’
Dumbledore smiled.
‘May I borrow your suitcase?’
Black handed it over.
Dumbledore set it on a large rock and removed the few clothes inside, laying them to one side.
Then he drew the Elder Wand.
Black heard no distinct incantation, but something inside the case seemed to bend and stretch.
Space itself was shifting.
‘There.’
Dumbledore closed the lid and returned it.
‘Point the open case towards him, and it will draw him inside.
There’s plenty of room.
He won’t be cramped.’
Black accepted it eagerly.
Dumbledore had turned his suitcase into something like a beast-capturing bag—a Nab-Sack.
He stroked Bear One’s head, bent close to his ear and murmured a few words.
Then he opened the case towards him.
The bear offered no resistance as he was drawn inside.
‘Now we can leave,’ Dumbledore said.
‘You can let him out when we reach your new home.’
He took a piece of cloth, Transfigured it into a small bag and packed Black’s clothes inside.
‘Once you’ve had a chance to settle in, we’ll visit Diagon Alley.
It’s time we bought your school things.’
He smiled.
‘Most importantly, a wand.
‘And I shan’t hand you your letter myself.
I’ll have an owl deliver it properly.
I wouldn’t want to spoil the pleasure of receiving your Hogwarts letter.’
Black brightened at the mention of Diagon Alley.
At last.
He would have a wand of his own.
After casting without one for so long, he was eager to discover how it felt to use one.
And then there were the books.
Transfiguration.
Alchemy.
Ancient Runes.
He could finally begin.