"Pop..."
With a soft sound, the two figures vanished.
When they reappeared, they were walking down a narrow alley bathed in moonlight. There were hundreds of alleys like this in old London, and Su Er had no idea where in London he was.
The alley looked as though it had been abandoned for over a decade. Rampant brambles reached their heels, snagging the wizard robes around their feet.
"We're here," Sirius said quietly. "Follow me."
They walked single file deeper into the abandoned alley, toward a stretch of utter darkness where the moonlight could not reach.
After walking through the dark for an unknown length of time, Su Er suddenly found light opening up before his eyes.
The intersecting alleys outlined a small square space. Here, moonlight poured down unhindered, falling on a wizard in white robes with a smile on his lips.
"You're here," he said.
This was another alley, but unlike the others, it had not a single weed and was much larger. Tall hedges stood in orderly rows along clean flagstones.
Enclosed within the hedges was a lawn, and in the very center of the lawn stood an exceptionally imposing house.
Su Er raised his head and looked toward a gap in the hedge, a round copper ring threaded onto a cord swaying against his chest.
"Dumbledore!"
Through the gap, amid a shrill yet hoarse shriek, a mass of gray mist surged out of the house, reaching up to the sky and moon.
Dazzling green light flashed.
It's time. Su Er twitched his ears, listening, then raised a paw and felt his way toward the gap. He passed through the hedge and crossed the neatly trimmed, dark green lawn, reaching the back of the house without obstruction.
"How am I supposed to get in?" He looked