What Do You Think?

Anton was in a terrible mood, down in the dumps all day.

He realized the Old Wizard had corrupted him.

In the heat of the moment, he'd actually released the Cruciatus Curse on instinct.

He felt like Azkaban was beckoning him.

"If this keeps up, I really will end up in Azkaban." Anton sighed at the sky, wondering if he should find a way to get a gun. That way, his instinctive reaction wouldn't be to cast an Unforgivable Curse.

The magical world was far too wondrous; sometimes, you really couldn't take things for granted. He'd thought he needed to maintain the extreme emotions required for Dark Magic in order to cast spells smoothly and without hindrance.

He'd been wrong. He'd been in a perfectly good mood, but in a moment of excitement, his emotions surged, and the spell came out naturally.

The Old Wizard hadn't lied.

The old geezer might really have changed.

He'd become someone who loved life.

He floated outside Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour in Diagon Alley, smiling at the Young Wizards eating ice cream, his eyes filled with the kindly warmth unique to old people. Sometimes the Young Wizards would work up the courage to come over and touch him, but he didn't get angry.

Oh, so the evil Old Wizard had become a good person.

And he'd become an evil Dark Wizard?

"How ridiculous. You only start wanting to live after you're dead." Anton's mockery did nothing to move the Old Wizard. He'd started playing his head-tossing game again, making the children on the street shriek in delight.

Anton arrived at Gringotts with an unhappy look on his face, and Griphook greeted him warmly once more.

He put the Old Wizard's diary and the three textbooks back, then pulled a book list from his pocket and quickly searched the shelves for books and a few Potion Ingredients.

Yes, he'd agreed to the deal with the Old Wizard.

He would officially become this Dark Wizard's Apprentice and study Potions under him.

Ghosts couldn't make an Unbreakable Vow with him. The Old Wizard had frankly admitted that he couldn't control Anton's actions; all he could do was influence Anton's decisions with "a teacher's love and devotion."

Well, that was something you didn't see every day.

Damn it!

The materials needed for the introductory lessons were considerable. They filled an entire backpack.

Anton walked through Diagon Alley. After hesitating for a moment, he returned to Flourish and Blotts.

He bought the First Year Herbology and Potions textbooks, One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi and Magical Drafts and Potions. He also picked up Newt's Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

He made a special stop at Wiseacre's Wizarding Equipment and spent a whopping 26 Gold Galleons on a set of magical dentures as a gift to thank Old Tom for looking after him all this time.

Under Anton's influence, Old Tom had developed a passion for Chinese cuisine. Anton figured that with the dentures, Old Tom would finally be able to enjoy the delicious food he cooked.

Old Tom was delighted.

Then, with his backpack on and his Flying Broomstick in hand,

he set off.

"Exchanging Gold Galleons for Muggle money at Gringotts is a terrible deal," the Old Wizard said, floating beside him. "You can go to the Wandering Wizard Camp instead."

"At Gringotts, one Gold Galleon only gets you five pounds sterling. But at the camp, you can get ten pounds. If you find someone with money to spare, sometimes you can even get fifteen or twenty."

Anton blinked. "Why don't they exchange their money at Gringotts themselves?"

The Old Wizard shrugged his headless shoulders. "Fugitives, registered Dark Wizards, nonhuman beings, people who don't want anyone to know where their money came from. There are all sorts of reasons."

"Compared to Gold Galleons, Dark Wizards have an easier time getting Muggle money. You know how it is. They only have to step over the line a little, and there are always ways to keep the Aurors from finding out."

"The closest place is Carmella's café, in a cavern beneath a barren mountain. The Witch Carmella always has ways of getting hold of a certain amount of Silver Sickles. Over time, everyone started coming here to exchange money."

A cavern, a café, a Witch...

Anton looked puzzled. He didn't know why it reminded him of Sun Erniang's human-meat bun shop in Water Margin.

He didn't need to think twice to know the place would be full of danger.

"Wear a mask, pull your hood up, find some Ink to blacken your hands, and stuff a cushion under your shirt. That way, no one will mistake you for a child. They'll think you're a strange, shriveled old dwarf." The experienced Old Wizard offered another tip.

"Three drops of Toad venom, ground up with Honora Leaves and held in your mouth, will make your voice hoarse and deep. Rinse your mouth with egg white from an egg left out overnight mixed with Honora Leaf juice, and your voice will go back to normal."

Anton looked at the Old Wizard in astonishment. "That's not in your Diary."

The Old Wizard's head chuckled in his hand. "I stopped writing a Diary when I was twenty. I spent the next fifty-odd years gradually accumulating all this knowledge."

"Trust me. It's particularly hard for a young Wizard to survive on his own. You'll find you can't do without me."

Anton's feelings were complicated.

He couldn't forget the time the Old Wizard had tormented him, nor the terror and despair of constantly facing death.

But he couldn't bring himself to reject the Old Wizard's kindness, either.

The reason was the same for both: he only wanted to live a good life, nothing more.

Suddenly, A Stir in the Heart came over Anton. "How did I become your Apprentice?"

When he saw the Old Wizard's strange expression, Anton added, "Your Cruciatus Curse still has side effects on me. I don't remember my past."

The Old Wizard's expression was downright bizarre. He gave Anton a half-smile. "A single father brought his young son to the chaotic camp. The father might have been single for too long. He saw a beautiful woman and couldn't resist the stir in his heart. So he died in bed, and he died happy."

"He probably didn't know the rules of the Wandering Wizards. You must never touch a beautiful woman. He ran into a Centaur who knew how to brew Polyjuice Potion. The man lost his life, and his son was sold to me for ten Silver Sickles."

Anton raised an eyebrow. "That's a sad story."

"No, no, no." The Old Wizard wagged a finger on his left hand. "That child died two months ago."

"???!!!" Anton shuddered, staring blankly at the Old Wizard.

"D...died?"

The Old Wizard held his head in his right hand and gently smoothed his hair with his left, speaking in a chillingly quiet voice. "I was studying the Demon-Summoning Ritual at the time. Even the stupidest Dark Wizard wouldn't believe in a spell like that, but as it happened, I had a child's corpse on hand to use as a sacrifice."

"Then the child came back to life, and was perfectly healthy." The Old Wizard cackled. "There was an explosion at the time. The whole Laboratory was destroyed, and all the Potion Ingredients went flying. At first, I thought I'd made a mistake and the child had only been in a deathlike trance."

"But later, that child took a massive number of Cruciatus Curses without dying. It really made me wonder if the experiment had actually worked."

The Old Wizard raised his eyelids and stared at Anton.

"What do you think?"

What the hell did he think?!

A Dark Wizard was a Dark Wizard, after all. Anton's mind was in chaos. In the end, he said nothing, simply lowering his Flying Broomstick and looking toward the barren mountain below.

"We're here."

The Old Wizard only cackled. His laughter was particularly grating.