The voice in the Communication Pea immediately fell silent, but the call was not disconnected. Stern could clearly hear faint breathing on the other end.
"Stern?" The lean man rubbed his hair in confusion. "Could something be wrong with that kid's ears?"
"No way! Daddy, you've got the wrong person!"
The man was holding the hand of an adorable little blonde girl. Wearing an expression far too mature for her age, she said disdainfully:
"Why didn't he mishear them when they wanted ice cream just now? So you definitely got the wrong person. He thought you were calling someone else!"
She rattled it all off at lightning speed, then raised her voice and shouted, "Hello, one chocolate ice cream, with rainbow sprinkles!"
We can't keep stalling!
Stern quietly took a deep breath and slowly turned around, his expression instantly shifting into one of embarrassed surprise.
He pulled down his hat, revealing a face that looked somewhat cowardly, even faintly panicked.
"Headmaster Fontana..."
Stern's voice trembled slightly. Like a student caught by a professor after pulling a prank, his face flushed bright red.
"Y-you, why are you here?"
Fontana's deep gaze lingered briefly on Stern's cheap casual clothes, the clean but battered ice cream truck, and his slightly weary face. A flicker of understanding passed through his eyes.
"I brought my child out for a stroll, to take a look at... this side of the world."
His gaze swept over the nearby Muggles as he asked, "What about you? Why are you... selling ice cream?"
Of course, there were plenty of small vendors in the Wizarding World as well. But to have "fallen" so far as to become a peddler in Muggle society was still somewhat difficult for wizards to understand.
"Well..." Stern rubbed the hem of his clothes awkwardly and