Just a Little

No one could tell what his Magic Image was supposed to be. Most of it had no pattern at all, looking like a child's random scribbles in several colors of crayon.

The Old Wizard couldn't understand it either. Since becoming a Ghost, he could no longer add new knowledge to his Memory list. No matter how long he stared at the drawing, he couldn't remember or make sense of it.

"Everyone." Anton took off his coat, rolled up his shirt sleeves, and gently drew his Wand from inside his coat with his right hand.

"Now, it's time to witness a miracle!"

He waved his Wand gently, making countless gestures with his arm as he muttered incantations. It looked less like spellcasting and more like dancing.

"Caw, caw, caw! The second Biomimicry Charm. What will it be this time?" The Old Wizard was clearly looking forward to it.

Anna silently watched Anton's profile. He's always been so wonderful.

Just then, Anton suddenly leaned backward, his waist bending with extreme flexibility.

His upper body quickly lowered until he was arched, belly up.

Then he kept bending until his head slipped between his feet, forming an O shape.

"Perfect flexibility, a perfect spine!" Pedro burst out laughing. "Kids are so limber. Anton, you shouldn't be a Wizard—you should study dance, go and—dance—Merlin's holey socks!"

His mouth fell so wide open that he could have stuffed a Cat into it.

Anton's head, poking out between his legs, had turned into a Snake's head!

It was triangular and covered in scales, with pale blue, slit-pupiled eyes. It was a Viper.

The Snake's head kept gliding forward, and its long body gradually stretched out from Anton's upper half.

Its body coiled on the ground, and finally even his feet turned into a Snake's tail.

The Viper was a full twelve feet long, and the widest part of its body was as thick as a truck tire.

The Snake reared its neck high and lowered its head from above, staring at Anna as it flicked its tongue.

The Snake spoke.

It said,

"Oh, sweet little Witch, do you know?"

The Snake swayed its body. "Being a Snake feels fantastic!"

The sight was so ridiculous that Anna, who had been looking miserable, burst into laughter. She giggled and reached out to touch the Snake's cold cheek. "Really?"

"Yes~" The Snake sighed. "I've never felt so free before."

"Come on!"

The Snake urged her. "Turn into a Snake too. I can't wait to go play with you in the Castle."

"Mm." Anna nodded firmly, and her body began to change. Ever since her first burst of Magical Power gave her the ability to transform, this was the first time in a month she had turned into a giant Snake.

"Hahaha, come catch me!" Anton moved incredibly fast, slithering across the floor and out of the room in an instant.

Anna wasn't about to be outdone. She hurried after him.

"Merlin's moldy underpants!" The Old Wizard looked conflicted. "He really did it!"

"He actually did it!"

"He really did it just like that!!!"

At the time, he had warned Anton not to give Lupin and Anna hope too soon. If Anton failed, or gave up because it was too difficult, it would bring the greatest despair to people who had been holding on to hope.

Yet, unbelievably, Anton had taken another step toward his goal!

"This isn't an Animagus!" Goblin Pedro was stunned. "I can't find any trace of Transfiguration!"

"This isn't a Blood Curse. I know that much!"

"And it's not a Goblin Secret Art he stole from my Memory!"

"Caw, caw, caw." The Old Wizard laughed smugly. "Foolish teacher, what do you know? This is Anton's 'Biomimicry Charm.' He forged his own path based on my Fiennes Potion Studies!"

The Old Wizard looked immensely proud.

"Good heavens," Pedro exclaimed. "Your apprentice is far more impressive than mine."

But the Old Wizard didn't retort. He merely smiled. "That's true."

Outside the door, Anna's delighted laughter echoed.

The Old Wizard waved a hand at his head, as if shaking it. "With such a terrible teacher, and such a terrible teacher's teacher, and such a terrible life, he still kept a kind heart. That's what's truly rare."

Goblin Pedro disagreed.

He sneered. "Kind? You have no idea what he's been doing in my Memory. He's been secretly learning the Magic of the Goblin clan!"

"That shameless thief who takes what isn't his is just as despicable as his teacher."

"Caw, caw, caw~" The Old Wizard was delighted by Pedro's displeased expression.

"Sometimes he really is a bastard. But sometimes, he'll save Lupin, save you, save Nagini without expecting anything in return. I think he's a decent person."

The Old Wizard's eyes grew distant. "I don't know how much longer I can hold on to my will. I can feel the gales of this world slowly sweeping the will from my Ghostly body, erasing it bit by bit."

"What a shame. I wonder if I'll ever get the chance to see him shine."

The Old Wizard turned to Pedro. "He'll be the brightest person of this era, like Dumbledore and Grindelwald. No matter how brilliant anyone else of their time may be, they'll fade into the crowd beneath that dazzling light!"

Pedro chuckled. "Perhaps he'll turn out as you say. But he might also die on some adventure. That little rascal isn't one to sit quietly at home."

The Old Wizard shrugged and said nothing more.

Hmph. Talking to an old Goblin like that was a complete waste of his precious Ghostly life.

Get out of here.

As Anna gradually grew cheerful again, an important day quietly drew near.

The day Nagini would turn into a giant Snake, lose all awareness, and attack her own daughter.

Then her beloved husband would kill her.

Of course, she would eventually crawl out of the graveyard. But it went without saying how much of that woman's Memory, Emotions, and will would remain in the Snake that crawled out.

"Let's go back." Anna cast a lingering glance through the Castle window at the Wooden Cottage, and at the beautiful woman inside it.

Her little hand reached into empty space, as if grasping the valve of some machine.

Pedro sighed. The Old Wizard shook his head, and the giant Snake flicked its tongue.

Only Anton remained seated behind the desk, piled high with Parchment. He raised his head and looked at everyone seriously, as if he had made up his mind. "Everyone, I have a proposal."

They looked at him in confusion. Anna seemed to lose her nerve and quickly pulled her hand back out of empty space.

"Mr. Pedro, you're a Goblin 'Collector and Traveler of Time and Memory.'"

Pedro nodded.

"I saw this question in your Memory. It's a Goblin philosophical problem: if someone went back in time and, on the day his wife conceived their child, took the place of his past self and got her pregnant, would their child still be the same child who was supposed to be born?"

Pedro looked disgruntled. "What else have you been looking at in my Memory?"

Anton shrugged. "That's not the point. Let's get back to the philosophical question."

Pedro angrily cursed in Gobbledegook. Seeing that Anton seemed to understand him only made him more annoyed. In the end, he said, "There's no answer to that kind of question. Toying with time is the domain of gods. The Goblins have split into all kinds of Schools of Thought over it."

"One group of madmen did conduct a similar experiment, but nobody knows what the result was, because history didn't change afterward!"

"Is that so?"

Anton grinned. "I've spent this time brewing a Secret Potion belonging to the Goblins."

"Bullshit!" Pedro was truly enraged. He rushed over and stared at the Cauldron on the desk, frowning as he sniffed it. "Sealed Prison? Why did you make this?"

Anton smiled. "If—just suppose—"

"If the Nagini before us, who can no longer turn back into a human, went in place of the Nagini from thirty-eight years ago, when she could still have been saved..."

"If we let Rosier attack her, while we feed the Nagini from thirty-eight years ago 'Sealed Prison' to seal her consciousness, then bring her back as the Nagini from the future..."

"Wouldn't that be like switching them out and getting a Nagini who could still be saved?"

The explanation was enough to muddle an ordinary person, but it rang out clearly in the ears of the three clever people there: Pedro, the Old Wizard, and Anna.

Anna's eyes lit up. She grabbed the hem of the Goblin's suit. "Could we really do that?"

Pedro furrowed his brow and pondered for a long time. "It's a bold assumption. If it fails, all we'll bring back is a Nagini who can never turn human again."

The Old Wizard looked puzzled. "Why give the Nagini we bring back the 'Sealed Prison' Potion instead of giving it to the Nagini who has to live through those thirty-eight years?"

Pedro was thinking and answered impatiently, "Because of Temporal Reversal Correction Interference. It's an advanced theory. I couldn't explain it to you in days."

Suddenly, he stared at Anton in shock. "Just how much have you looked at in my Memory?!"

Anton smiled and raised his thumb and forefinger, holding them almost together to indicate an extremely tiny amount. "I didn't mean to look. Just a little."