Four days later, Uncle Mu En dragged himself out of the basement, looking utterly exhausted.
Dark circles filled his eyes, his beard hung limply, and the fur on his face had become tangled.
"You finally came out. I thought you'd died down there," Lucifer said flatly.
Uncle Mu En looked disdainful. "You wouldn't understand. The sense of accomplishment from researching magic is unparalleled. Even if Merlin himself came, he'd be completely engrossed and unable to pull himself away!"
After saying that, he looked around. "Where's Harry?"
"Outside fixing things for people," Lucifer said. "Four days ago, a woman's lawnmower broke, and Harry went over to help. After he fixed it, word spread throughout the whole street that he was a little repair expert."
Lucifer chuckled. "He somehow got hold of a set of repair tools, dressed like a real professional, then went around using magic to fix things at other people's houses."
Uncle Mu En froze for a moment, then nodded. He took out an entire leg of lamb from the kitchen, handled it casually, and handed it to Lucifer.
"Help me roast this. Remember to turn it over."
"You bastard... I'm a mighty demon, and you've turned me into a meat-roasting machine..."
Uncle Mu En fell silent for a moment, then turned toward the second floor. "Don't look down on yourself like that. Oh, and boil some water for me too!"
Lucifer stared at Uncle Mu En's retreating back and suddenly had a great many curses he wanted to spit out. Yet just as he was about to roar in fury, the doors of Moonlight Castle suddenly opened...
Half an hour later, Uncle Mu En slowly came downstairs. After taking a bath, he felt refreshed all over. He picked up the fragrant roasted leg of lamb from the fire and brought it to the dining table.
"By the way, who came just now?"
Lucifer shot Uncle Mu En a sidelong glance and said irritably, "Who else but Harry? Would I allow anyone else in here?"
"What if you let some old hag into the castle for no reason, like Calcifer did?" Uncle Mu En said with a smile.
"If we ever go back, I'll tell Sophie exactly what you said," Lucifer said cheerfully.
"You don't think Sophie is some fierce, nasty woman, do you? Fine, I'll tell her." Uncle Mu En stuffed a piece of lamb into his mouth and looked at Lucifer with an ambiguous smile.
"Do I?" Lucifer froze. Thinking it over carefully, it really did sound like that was what he had meant. He hurriedly waved his hands. "What?! You'd better not tell Sophie. I was wrong, all right!"
But after saying that, Lucifer felt that something was off. It seemed like he had been led around in circles.
"No, you tricked me!!"
Seeing Lucifer like this, Uncle Mu En laughed.
Was that all?
Just then, the door suddenly opened. Harry stood outside, holding a basketball-sized cardboard box in his hands.
Uncle Mu En froze and turned to look at Lucifer.
Lucifer nodded. "That's right. He came in, saw me roasting meat, then rushed back out without saying a word..."
"Uncle Mu En!" Harry greeted him enthusiastically as he carried the box inside.
His eyes shone as he said, "I thought you wouldn't come out for many more days."
"Then wouldn't I have starved to death?" Uncle Mu En waved a hand. "You might be like that someday too, provided you can keep loving magic."
"Of course I can!" Harry nodded solemnly.
"Maybe." Uncle Mu En smiled. "But from what I've seen, even with something as wondrous as magic, after long-term exposure, people gradually become numb to it, and it slowly becomes just another part of everyday life.
"At least, from my current observations of the Wizarding World, most people have already been trapped in a mindset that treats magic as ordinary, domestic, and something to be arrogant about.
"To be honest, I think it's rather foolish for a wizard to toil over three meals a day. They clearly possess power capable of moving the very foundations of the world, yet they only..."
Uncle Mu En shook his head, deciding it would be better to change the subject. "What's in the box?"
"Oh, right." Harry snapped out of his thoughts about what Uncle Mu En had just said and opened the box. Inside was a chocolate cake.
"Uncle Mu En, you don't know this yet, but I've been helping people on the street fix things these past two days and earned quite a lot in tips!" Harry hurriedly told him about the past few days, his tone carrying a hint of pride.
"So... it's your birthday?" Uncle Mu En looked at the cake, then at Harry.
Harry quickly shook his head. "No, my birthday... was quite a few days ago. But I still really wanted a cake, so..."
"This is from Mulleir Cake Shop. Uncle Mu En, hurry and try some." Harry abruptly changed the subject and introduced it. "Unfortunately, they didn't have any chocolate mousse cake. Have you had it before, Uncle Mu En? It's really delicious."
Uncle Mu En suddenly understood. Watching Harry fumble with the cake box, he didn't know what expression to make. In the end, he could only smile helplessly.
"That sounds nice. I haven't tried it yet."
"Then next time, once I've saved up enough money, we can reserve one in advance!"
"Okay."
Harry took huge bites of cake in his left hand and lamb leg in his right, his mouth glistening with grease. When he was nearly done, he looked up and asked, "Uncle Mu En, are you going back to the basement after dinner?"
"No." Uncle Mu En shook his head and traced a symbol through the air with his hand.
"This symbol was something I deciphered from Thales's manuscript. It should represent moisture. At present, it seems to be one of the structural components of magical runes for storms, the sea, and so on."
"So..." Harry copied Uncle Mu En's motion in the air with his hand.
"When you have a certain sensitivity toward magical runes and their corresponding laws, you can sense some changes in the surrounding environment.
"Through it, I sensed that there would be a storm tonight."
Harry immediately understood what Uncle Mu En was going to do, and he grew nervous at once. "So you're going to become an Animagus tonight?"
Uncle Mu En nodded. "After waiting so many days, it's finally here."
Harry looked at the gloomy sky with some concern. According to the books, the process of becoming an Animagus was extremely dangerous. It could even result in death, or leave one reduced to a mindless beast...
After dinner, Harry cleaned up the leftovers, took the dishes to the kitchen, and began casting the Scouring Charm over and over.
Before long, every piece of kitchenware was as clean as new.
Uncle Mu En watched all of this, then looked away. He turned, opened the door, and walked to the edge of the cliff.
The sky had grown dark. Heavy clouds pressed down from above as though they were about to descend upon the earth, while the storm winds made Uncle Mu En's clothes flap loudly.
With a soft patter.
The tip of Uncle Mu En's nose became damp as raindrops the size of beans began to fall.
It had begun!
At some point, Harry had come to stand inside the doorway. He sat on the steps of the entryway, while Lucifer had brought over a brazier and crouched beside him.
Even more unexpectedly, Meteor stood beside the door as well, watching Uncle Mu En outside.
"You can see him??" Lucifer glanced doubtfully at the broom beside Harry. The broom did not dare get too close to him, afraid it would be set on fire.
Creak, creak—
Meteor's broom head bent several times in succession, clearly nodding.
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