Birthday Present

Under the pitch-black night sky, the stars glittered like diamonds. Waves ceaselessly pounded against the stone pillars, creating a somewhat hypnotic sound.

At the place where they usually practiced magic, salamander skewers were roasting over a charcoal brazier. Charles was brushing them with oyster sauce and sprinkling them with cumin powder.

Jack sat in a chair nearby, looking up at the stars. No one knew how long he had been gently swirling the red wine in his glass.

"You're serious?" Charles asked.

Jack knew what he was asking and answered calmly, "To be honest, I don't know."

Charles sighed and said seriously to the Old Man, "You'd better think it through. You're already so old. If anything happens, someone could really die."

Jack did not want to continue the topic, so after taking a sip of wine, he asked, "What about you? What are your thoughts on marriage in the future?"

Charles put the roasted salamanders on a plate, carried them over to the table, sat down in the chair on the other side, picked up a skewer, and began eating.

Salamander blood had healing properties and could be used to make potions. The minor aches and injuries Charles had sustained from training did not require potions now, so he treated them with food instead.

Only after eating half a salamander did he say, "We'll talk about the future when it comes. As far as I remember, there's no one suitable for me at Hogwarts. The world is so big; there's no need to hang myself from that one tree."

"Suit yourself," Jack said. "Just don't end up like me, still a bachelor at over a hundred."

"By the way." Charles picked up a second salamander and began eating. "Are you going to get involved with that Double Socket business?"

Jack said with a smile, "It's just children fighting. Why should I meddle?"

"What about you? Will you stick your nose into it?"

Charles said irritably, "Didn't you move to Privet Drive just to watch the show up close? I told Dumbledore everything on the first day of school. What else is there for you to watch?"

Jack poured wine into his empty glass. Staring at the starry sky, he said, "I'm not watching a show. You might think you're an outsider, but I'm a local."

"I just want to see whether Harry is worth nurturing. Every era has its villains. In my era, I was fortunate enough to serve as one of the pillars of the righteous side. This is Dumbledore's era, and after Dumbledore, there'll still need to be someone powerful enough to step forward when necessary."

Charles opened a bottle of chilled Happy Water, took a few gulps, burped, and then asked, "What exactly did you do at Hogwarts back then? There's no record of your years there in Hogwarts: A History. It directly became Hogwarts: A History."

Jack quietly finished a glass of wine and said slowly, "Let the past stay in the past. If problems arise again in the future, trust in the wisdom of those who come after us."

Charles continued eating the last salamander with his Happy Water. Once he was full and satisfied, he prepared to wash up and go to sleep.

He did not think he was some chosen one destined to save the world. Doing what he could within the scope of his abilities was enough.

The Old Man was both family and a friend from a different generation. Charles would not abuse the Old Man's position to do anything outrageous, and the Old Man would not force him to do anything he was unwilling to do—except visit the dentist.

At present, one of them watched the younger generation make a commotion, while the other had only one thought on his mind: when the time came, he would run. Neither had much interest in interfering with the major events unfolding before them.

A contented mind was a perpetual feast. This old man and young man were living quite happily.

When Charles was about to return to his room, Jack called out to him.

"Here." The Old Man tossed over a dark, indistinct object. "Happy birthday!"

Charles smiled. Eleven years ago today, the Old Man had found him in a trash can.

"Thanks, Grandpa!"

After thanking the Old Man, he began examining the gift. It looked somewhat like a running phone armband. The black rectangular pouch was made of some unknown fabric and had three straps, seemingly meant to be fastened around his arm.

"This is a Bag of Holding," Jack said. "It can hold a lot of things. You can put anything important you have in it."

"Hmm... Just say I bought it from a wizard with his head and face covered in Knockturn Alley."

Charles fastened the Bag of Holding around his left arm. After learning how to use it, he froze when he saw what was inside.

As soon as he raised his hand, a wand flew out of the bag. It was Jack's.

"This is..." Charles looked at the Old Man. "Your wand?"

He had never had a clear sense of wand length before. He had thought Jack's wand being sixteen inches, or 406 millimeters, was perfectly normal. It was only after visiting the wand shop that day that he discovered wands generally did not exceed fifteen inches. His and the Old Man's wands were unusually long.

Jack smiled and said, "Take it and use it. Don't let others see it easily, especially the ghosts and portraits in the castle. I still want to live a peaceful life."

After saying that, he took a light sip of grape wine and gazed at the starry sky as if recalling something.

Charles scratched his head. He felt that the Old Man must have done something earth-shattering during his time at Hogwarts.

After returning to his room, he tried putting everything he had bought in Diagon Alley into the bag and discovered that they occupied only a very small portion of the space.

The next morning, before training, he conducted an experiment using crushed stones and discovered that the space inside was almost as large as two shipping containers.

Just then, a seagull flew overhead. Charles raised his hand and aimed at it, and the seagull was sucked into the Bag of Holding.

Not long afterward, he released the seagull. It was still alive—and it had even pooped inside!

When Charles used the Bag of Holding, it seemed that part of his consciousness entered it and retrieved whatever he wanted, so he had no choice but to throw the seagull's droppings into the sea with a dark expression.

"I never knew you had such a hobby!" Jack happened to see this scene when he came out.

Charles hurriedly explained everything, then asked the Old Man, "How long can animals stay inside?"

Jack replied, "The space inside this one is too small. It's nothing like Scamander's. The air will run out."

Then the Old Man suddenly became serious. "So don't kidnap some pretty girl just because you find her attractive. People can die. When that happens, I'll personally kill you and put you back in that trash can."

Charles suddenly shuddered. The Old Man was serious. He really could kill without batting an eye.

Back when he had run for council, one of his opponents had sent several thugs to his home to intimidate him. The leader had kicked over a chair and received ten minutes of the Cruciatus Curse for it. Then he and the others were all hit with the Imperius Curse and went to jump into the River Thames.

"Do I really need to?" Charles said. "Couldn't I just take a few hairs from her and brew two pounds of Polyjuice Potion?"

Jack was silent for a moment before pulling him along. "Sigh, you'd better just go straight to Azkaban. I'm familiar with the Dementors..."