The circular office was filled with curious, intricate silver instruments.
Behind the desk sat an elderly man with a long white beard and half-moon spectacles, writing with a quill.
A beautiful scarlet bird dozed on a perch behind him.
Suddenly, its eyes snapped open.
It gave a cry of alarm.
‘Hmm?’
The old man stopped writing and turned.
‘Fawkes?
What is it?’
In all their years together, he had never seen the phoenix so agitated.
Fawkes flew a circuit beneath the ceiling, calling urgently.
The old man frowned and rose from his chair.
‘You want to take me somewhere?
Very well.
I’ve never known you to be in such a hurry, Fawkes.’
He reached out and caught hold of the phoenix’s magnificent tail.
A flash of fire, and they were gone.
Open the Starter Pack!
Black kept running as he gave the command.
Whatever was inside might help him deal with their current predicament.
‘Hello?
Are you even listening to me?’
Hermione’s voice came from behind him, but his attention was fixed on the system.
‘You are so annoying!’
[Opening Starter Pack.]
[Basic Occlumency learnt.]
[Basic Legilimency learnt.]
[Gandalf Template acquired.]
[Apply template?]
Gandalf Template?
Black’s attention passed straight over Occlumency and Legilimency.
Both sounded useful, but neither would do much about the creature chasing them.
Gandalf, on the other hand…
Was that Gandalf the Grey or Gandalf the White?
Either would be an enormous improvement on his present circumstances.
Apply it!
[Applying Gandalf Template.]
[Template applied successfully.]
[Physical strength and magical adaptability greatly enhanced.]
[Wand-Lighting Charm and fire spells enhanced to an extraordinary degree.]
Black nearly stumbled again.
Strength?
The Wand-Lighting Charm and fire spells?
Are you serious?
Then again, Gandalf had been rather fond of getting into close combat.
Having delivered its rewards, the system fell silent.
It offered no answer.
Despite his misgivings, Black couldn’t help being delighted by the change in his body.
He felt his arm, discovering a rather pronounced bicep, then the newly firm muscles elsewhere.
Well.
Nothing wrong with a wizard having a few muscles, was there?
He took a moment to assess the tremendous strength that had appeared from nowhere, then gradually slowed to a halt.
Physical stamina and magic were connected to some extent.
Although the system hadn’t mentioned it, his magical reserves had increased enormously along with his strength.
Even the weakness from his earlier spellcasting had vanished.
The improvement in magical adaptability mattered most of all.
Previously, even when he could cast without a wand, there had been a certain awkwardness to it.
Now his magic responded smoothly and immediately.
He had power to spare, and it moved as readily as his own limbs.
There was no need to run any more.
He was confident he could kill the creature.
Even basic Transfiguration would be enough.
‘Why… why have you stopped?’
Hermione halted beside him, breathing hard and staring in bewilderment.
First he’d insisted they run.
Now, for no apparent reason, he’d decided to stop.
An enraged roar sounded in the distance.
The creature had broken free.
Hermione went white.
She still didn’t really believe it was a tiger.
From the sound of it, it might be something worse.
That cry made her skin crawl.
‘What did you do to make something like that come after you?’
Her voice shook.
‘I hurt myself a little earlier.
There was some blood.’
‘You mean it followed the smell?
What is it?’
Another roar carried through the trees.
Hermione was desperate to keep running, but the boy showed no intention of moving.
Black was asking himself the same question.
Thanks to Perfect Recall, everything he had read in his previous life was now clear.
He sifted through the magical creatures he remembered until he found a description that matched.
A Hidebehind.
A nocturnal creature that lived in forests and preyed on humanoids.
It could turn invisible, had silvery-white fur and a tall body resembling a bear walking upright.
Only witches and wizards could survive its attacks.
Muggles became its food.
‘A Hidebehind,’ he murmured.
‘That’s what you are.’
‘What did you say?’
‘I said we might not be able to run now.’
‘What?
But—’
Something crashed into the clearing.
A deep crater appeared in the earth five metres in front of them.
‘What’s happening?’
Hermione stared in horror.
There was nothing there.
How could something make a hole like that when there was nothing there?
Black glanced at her with a trace of regret.
All that fear, and he wasn’t the cause.
Otherwise, he would probably have earned another chest.
Perhaps, some other time, he could find a way to give her a fright.
‘It’s some sort of invisible monster,’ he said.
‘I don’t know what.’
He kept the truth to himself.
A boy brought up in an orphanage shouldn’t know what a Hidebehind was.
With Hermione watching, he couldn’t use his other offensive spells, either.
A child raised among Muggles, supposedly without any contact with the magical world, had no business knowing them.
Transfiguration, however, was different.
It didn’t depend on a particular spoken incantation.
Any young witch or wizard who had experienced accidental magic might stumble into changing something’s shape.
Black drew a breath, ready to act.
Hermione stepped in front of him.
‘Go!
I’ll deal with it!’
He stared at the back of her head.
What?
This wasn’t how he’d expected things to go.
‘Wait—’
‘You don’t understand!
It’s a magical creature.
You’re a Muggle.
Muggles can’t fight things like this!’
She faltered.
‘I… I’m… That’s why I can deal with it.’
For all the determination in her voice, her legs were trembling.
A slender wooden wand had appeared in her hand.
‘You can’t handle it,’ Black said quietly.
‘Let me.’
‘What can you do?
You’re a Muggle!
Just go!’
She raised her wand in a shaking hand.
‘I don’t know how long I can hold it off.’
She pointed at the apparently empty ground ahead.
The Hidebehind seemed to have had an unpleasant encounter with a wizard before.
At the sight of her wand, it checked its advance.
But Hermione hadn’t even started school yet.
She had read plenty of books about the magical world.
She had even committed her textbooks to memory.
Unfortunately, first-year textbooks weren’t exactly full of spells for fighting monsters.
She stood with her wand raised, desperately searching for something useful.
Plenty of everyday spells came to mind.
Not one suited the situation.
For a moment, girl and invisible creature remained locked in a peculiar stand-off.
Black shook his head.
How had he ended up with her trying to protect him?
Then, without warning, he shoved her aside.
Already rigid with nerves, Hermione lost her balance and fell to the ground.