During the long, agonizing wait.
The day Nicolas Flamel and Dumbledore arrived at Salisbury Plain had finally come.
Perhaps it was because things had gone to the extreme, but even Cassandra, who could never sit still, was squeezed onto the sofa with Luna.
Their heads were pressed together.
Luna stared blankly at the cross before her, while a glistening trail of liquid hung from the corner of Cassandra's mouth.
"Eh?!"
Luna suddenly cried out excitedly.
"What is it?! What is it?!"
Startled awake from her dream, Cassandra opened her emerald-green eyes and shouted incoherently.
"Cypher has lifted the seal! Let's get to work!"
Luna jumped off the sofa, stretched her stiff limbs and joints, and called Cassandra over to begin.
Cassandra had fully woken up by then. She wiped the drool from the corner of her mouth and immediately joined in.
Her bonelessly supple body did not need warming up at all!
"Right."
After moving Iris into a silver bucket that had been prepared long ago, Luna slapped her forehead and walked over to the portrait on the desk.
"Ariana..."
At Luna's soft call, the sleeping girl in the portrait slowly opened her eyes.
"The seal has been lifted! We're going to remove the parasitic demon from Iris!"
Ariana in the painting did not answer. She merely nodded gently.
Then she opened a wooden door at the edge of the portrait, slipped through it, and vanished.
After seeing Ariana off, Cassandra removed the outer clothing from Iris, who resembled a plastic mannequin.
Luna stepped forward, and together they summoned Corporeal Patronuses.
Under Lady Diana's guidance, they gradually removed the demon egg from Iris's body.
At some point, Ariana, who had left through the wooden door in the portrait, returned. She quietly watched Luna and Cassandra busy themselves, a clear smile