Knock, knock, knock!
"Come in!"
The door to the room on the second floor opened, and Jerry and Catherine stepped inside. An elderly woman with white hair but a lively bearing sat within.
Wizards lived long lives. Reaching a hundred and fifty or sixty was hardly unusual for them, so despite her white hair, Jerry sensed none of the frailty of old age about her.
"Dumbledore wrote to tell me he had a grandson vacationing in the United States. I wasn't sure I believed him at first." Seraphina Picquery set down her teacup, amusement glinting in her eyes. "Come, dear boy, sit down!"
Seraphina Picquery warmly ushered them onto the sofa. She studied Jerry's face, and her welcoming smile suddenly froze, as though some deep-buried memory had stirred. Jerry's attention, meanwhile, went straight to the wand on the coffee table.
"Oh, that wand." Noticing his gaze, Seraphina Picquery explained softly, "It's mine. A Swamp Summerflower Hawthorn Wand carefully crafted by Violetta Beauvais, thirteen and a half inches long, with a core of Swamp Werewolf hair. Violetta Beauvais once said its hunger for Dark Magic was as fierce and irresistible as a vampire's thirst for blood." As soon as she finished speaking, Seraphina Picquery put the wand away.
"Jerry Green, may I call you Jerry?" Seraphina Picquery asked. "You look remarkably like someone I knew when I was young."
"Dumbledore?" Jerry asked curiously.
"Yes, there's some resemblance there too." Seraphina Picquery smiled and nodded, though there seemed to be something more behind her eyes.
"Did you inherit your hair color from your grandmother? And what about your parents? Why has Dumbledore never mentioned them to me?" Seraphina Picquery pressed.
"To be honest, I don't know much about my family. Dumbledore hasn't told me the details, and I grew up in an