"What's wrong?"
"Hmm, I was thinking about where to take you shopping."
Audrey stopped and pointed at a movie poster outside a cinema. "How about a movie first? Beauty and the Beast? Hahaha, isn't that just you and me?"
Lilith immediately sat up straight.
"You mean you and Miss Lilith~ I'm the beast, a fierce beast~~ Rawr~"
"All right, all right~ Miss Lilith is the beast~"
"That's right!"
"A fierce beast."
"That's right!"
"A fierce beast who likes eating children."
"That's... no, Miss Lilith doesn't eat children." She hesitated for a moment, then curiously flicked her tongue. "...Do children taste good?"
The two looked at each other and said in unison:
"No!"
Several more days had passed by the time Edward returned to Nurmengard.
Carrying the gifts he had brought from Hogwarts, he climbed out of the Leather Pouch. The cold wind blowing through the window immediately left him huddled like a quail again, after he had just enjoyed two days of warmth.
"Mr. Grindelwald, I'm back."
"Meow~" That was Lilith's greeting.
Grindelwald lay in his rocking chair, watching television, and gave him a languid glance.
"You've learned everything you needed to learn. There's no need for you to come back."
"I had to say a proper goodbye, didn't I? You know about what happened a few days ago, right?"
He nodded and said something that seemed to come out of nowhere. "Albus... he's grown old."
Edward understood what he meant. Dumbledore might always look like a kindly, agreeable old man now, but he had been young once, too, and he had once shown his edge.
"By the way, I still have a few questions about prophecy and divination that I'd like to ask you."
Grindelwald waved a hand. "Mine is an innate gift. I can't teach it. Isn't