Chapter 209: Do You Believe in Magic?

For the remaining two weeks of the holiday, Wade had no plans to go out.

He had copied a dozen magical books from the Black family's collection, and Dumbledore had generously lent him a chest full of books, all of which he deemed worth reading.

Professor Flitwick had suggested that sometimes it's good to put down the wand and delve deeply into magical theory. When you pick up the wand again, you'll find it becomes more intuitive to use.

Learning magic is fascinating, but as with any subject, theory is always dry and tedious.

Even though Wade was better at this sort of thing than most, he still needed to eliminate all distractions and fully focus to work his way through the dense magic books one by one.

Of course, he also had holiday homework. But that was the least of his concerns—he had completed it all on the very first day of the break.

Immersed in the sea of books, the Christmas holiday flew by unnoticed. Fiona had already started packing Wade's things for his return to school.

One morning, when Wade came downstairs for breakfast, he noticed that his father was in a particularly good mood. He even took a bottle of rum out of the wine cellar.

—It's worth noting since mom normally forbade him from drinking before dinner.

"Get ready, your Uncle Johnson is coming over," Fred said cheerfully. "Do you remember their youngest son, Caryll? You used to play with him a lot when you were little."

Wade skipped over the topic of that troublesome child and asked:

"Uncle Landon Johnson? I remember you said their family moved to the United States."

"Yes, they did. It was right before... oh, about two weeks before you received your Hogwarts letter. Their entire family moved to the United States, and we lost touch after that."

Adjusting his tie in front of the mirror, Fred continued:

"Landon used to say he wanted Caryll to attend the same school as you! I told him it wasn't possible—our Wade's grades are good enough for St. Paul's, but Caryll probably couldn't make the cut..."

"Caryll isn't just a little behind—he's miles behind!"

Fiona came out carrying some fried eggs and pursed her lips. "Good thing they moved away. Otherwise, when they saw Wade didn't go to St. Paul's, Mrs. Johnson would have pestered us with endless questions."

"Don't say that, dear," Fred said ingratiatingly. "Mrs. Johnson doesn't mean any harm; she's just a bit competitive. And you know Landon is a generous and kind man."

Fiona snorted a few times but said nothing more.

Wade was, of course, familiar with Landon Johnson. He had once been his father's business partner.

Although they eventually parted ways professionally to pursue separate ventures, Landon had voluntarily relinquished part of his interests, and their relationship remained unaffected.

In fact, without the entanglements of business interests, their friendship became even purer.

However, Caryll Johnson was an entirely different story, at least in Wade's opinion.

Perhaps because his mother was the USn, Caryll exhibited several distinct traits—enthusiastic, outgoing, boastful, and a bit careless.

Fred always assumed that Wade and Caryll were good friends, but Wade saw it differently. To him, it was merely a matter of tolerating a troublesome child while occasionally helping out the adults when it wasn't convenient for them to keep an eye on Caryll.

The thought of Caryll's visit made Wade frown slightly.

Fiona, aware of Wade's less-than-favorable opinion of Caryll, smiled at his reaction and said: "You don't need to be overly friendly. Just be polite, and that'll suffice."

After breakfast, the Grey family tidied up the house. Wade stashed all his magical belongings into the wardrobe space and locked his bedroom door.

Knowing Caryll's tendency to snoop around, Wade didn't want to risk having his magic books discovered. If that happened, not only would Wade find himself in trouble, but the Johnson family might also end up being hit with a Ministry of Magic Obliviate spell.

From Wade's understanding, the Ministry of Magic only operated with astonishing efficiency when enforcing the Statute of Secrecy.

When everything was finally in order and Wade returned to the living room, Fred was already resting on the sofa from exhaustion. Not long after, the sound of a car pulling up reached their ears.

"They must be here!" Fred exclaimed, and quickly stood up to greet them. As he glanced toward the door, his eyes met a pair of beady green ones.

"Doll!" Fred shouted in alarm. "Fiona, your doll is wandering around the living room again!"

The doorbell rang.

"Oh, heavens! I completely forgot about them!" Fiona hurriedly grabbed Coco, who was peeking out, and hastily stuffed it onto a bookshelf.

"Stay still and don't make a sound!" Fiona whispered urgently. "Do you understand? This is very important!"

Coco clasped its tiny hands over its mouth and nodded its little head seriously.

Fiona sighed in relief, but as she straightened up, she spotted two more small dolls busily dusting a vase nearby.

"Stop cleaning!" Wade rapped on the shelf and said, "Stay put and don't move."

Ari and Lena, one holding a rag and the other a miniature broom, plopped down on the shelf with a thud, and sat motionless like two exquisite ornaments.

The hallway echoed with Fred's enthusiastic voice:

"Landon, it's been so long… How… how have you been?"

Fiona and Wade moved toward the door to greet their guest.

Fred gave the man outside a strong hug, and patted his back firmly before ushering him inside.

Both Fiona and Wade froze for a moment.

Landon Johnson had once been a plump businessman, sporting a well-groomed mustache, always wearing a gray hat no matter the weather, and carrying a cheerful, endearing smile that could brighten anyone's day.

But now, he looked gaunt and haggard, with sagging lips and dark, sunken circles under his eyes—evidence of many sleepless nights.

The only familiar part of his appearance was the gray hat perched on his head.

Notably absent was his usually chatty and overly cheerful wife, and there was no sign of Caryll either.

"Good morning, Fiona, Wade," Landon greeted as he removed his hat. He then extended a gift:

"Merry Christmas, Wade. This is for you. Sorry it's a few days late."

Wade took the old leather suitcase he was handed, puzzled. "Uh… thank you?"

It was only then that Landon seemed to realize what he had given Wade. He quickly snatched the suitcase back, awkwardly apologizing:

"Sorry, that's the wrong one."

He turned abruptly, stepped outside, opened his car door, and rummaged through the backseat for a moment. He returned carrying a massive gift box, which he handed to Wade.

"This… this is the real gift," he said, as if suddenly remembering something. He added, "Congratulations on getting into St. Paul's School. You must be having a wonderful time there."

Wade accepted the heavy gift, opening it to reveal an extremely expensive model car—though one that didn't particularly suit his taste.

Wade suspected that Landon had probably purchased it with the mindset of a nouveau riche, saying something along the lines of, "Give me the most expensive one," without really considering what he was buying.

Politely, Wade thanked him and then explained, "Actually, I attend a different school. It's not quite like St. Paul's, but life there is indeed very interesting."

"Is that so?" Landon responded absentmindedly, nodding slightly. "St. Paul's is an excellent school. You must be truly exceptional to attend it. If only Caryll could be more like you…"

Wade blinked, unsure how to respond.

Fred placed a hand on Landon's shoulder and asked, "Landon, are you facing some sort of trouble?"

Landon looked at him, and suddenly tears began to flow down his cheeks.

"Fred, my friend," he said with a trembling voice, "do you believe in magic?"

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