"I'm going to ask Dumbledore right now why he hired a librarian who isn't right in the head to work at Hogwarts."
Snape gave Brian a look of mingled emotions, then turned and strode away at speed-if Brian hadn't heard his muffled grunt, he might have thought Snape's leg had already healed.
"Slow down. You'll make the wound worse," Brian offered as a token gesture of concern, without trying to stop him-yes, he had regretted his offer as soon as he made it. Not because he didn't want to heal Snape, but because he was worried something might go wrong.
He was confident he had learned the ancient healing magic recorded in Book, but he wasn't sure he could cast it smoothly. Even if he managed it, the results might not be right.
Just as Professor Babbling had said, ancient magic had only a goal, not a process-if he actually cast that spell, he might heal Snape's leg while also making his leg hair grow wildly until it was longer than the hair on his head.
In short, until he found a suitable test subject and confirmed the spell's effects, Snape's injured leg was best left tucked safely beneath his robes.
Brian encountered no further trouble on the final stretch back to the library-when he opened his door, his room was just as he had left it. The jealous Book lay wide open on the bed, making its desire to be read abundantly clear.
"No, I'm too tired today, Book." Brian let his muscles go slack and collapsed onto the bed. "Besides, you already crammed all that knowledge into my head in one go, didn't you?"
Book closed itself in disappointment.
"We need to talk... oh, right. Let's try this first."
Brian really didn't want to trouble his legs again. Lying on his side, he used a Summoning Charm to fetch the brush from the cupboard and began brushing Book's fur.
He tried a few small strokes first. When Book showed no resistance, he felt confident enough to get to work properly, saying in a conciliatory tone:
"Book, next time you're about to do something dangerous, could you tell me first? You know, this afternoon I really thought my life was over-my last thought before I passed out was, I don't want to become a ghost."
He watched the fur on Book's cover fall neatly to one side beneath the brush, while Book once again pretended not to hear him-so he switched to poking Book with the brush's wooden handle. That didn't work either. Book seemed to rather enjoy it.
Brian could only stop brushing altogether and imitate Snape's stern expression as he said:
"Listen, Book. I know you meant me no harm. You were trying to help me-I'm guessing you shoved that knowledge into my head because I thought I needed magic. Is that right?"
The fur on Book's cover stood up proudly.
Brian shook his head.
"Thank you, but what if I'd had something to do right then that I only had one chance in my whole life to accomplish, something I could never make up for-and I just passed out? I'd regret it for the rest of my life."
The fur that had been standing upright on Book's cover drooped limply. Brian guessed this meant Book was dejected.
He thought for a moment, then continued,
"I'm not really blaming you. If anything, I like you a lot, and I'm very grateful-you helped me learn seven years' worth of Hogwarts lessons in just a few hours, after all-though the price was pretty steep..."
Brian recalled the time he had spent ruled by the urge to cast spells-it had felt awful. He had almost ceased to be himself, as though an evil spirit had possessed him. If the drums hadn't awakened a shred of his reason, he probably would have wreaked havoc in the library.
Book grew even more dejected, its fur sticking out every which way in a tangled mess. Brian couldn't bear it and picked up the brush to smooth its fur again.
"It's all right. At least it ended well-but next time, ask me before you do anything, okay?"
Brian was expecting Book to make a check mark with the brush, but instead, Book opened itself-to a page containing an article about the Love Potion. Most of the article consisted of questions and answers between a teacher and a student, which left him rather puzzled.
But Brian soon noticed that one line in the article, the student's "OK" in response to the teacher's question, had turned bold and bright-clearly, this was Book's answer, more precise and efficient than using the brush.
Book turned another page. This time, the highlighted word was "Sorry."
Brian no longer had the slightest desire to reproach it. He moved Book closer and couldn't help remarking, "You really are clever."
He almost suspected that a human soul lived inside Book-though some people weren't even as understanding as Book was.
Brian kept brushing Book's fur for a while. Before long, a ripple unique to house-elf magic accompanied the appearance of beef ribs with gravy, an apple pie, a serving of Pumpkin Juice, and a few translucent mint sweets on his desk.
"Thank you! I can't wait!" Brian, who had been hungry all afternoon, lit up. He scrambled off the bed, leaving the now-languid Book to enjoy the soft mattress all by itself after its brushing.
After leaving the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, he had ordered a meal from the Hogwarts house-elves. The ordering process was rather remarkable, too-
All one had to do was say, "I need a menu," into thin air. Once the ever-present house-elves heard, they would conjure a menu into the person's hands. Then the person simply had to tell the air what they wanted, and the meal would appear automatically in their room.
Of course, this service was reserved for staff. Students had to go and eat at the tables in the Great Hall.
"I'm full!"
Brian put down his knife and fork, thoroughly satisfied.
The moment he finished speaking, the plates-which were clean enough to serve as mirrors-vanished from the desk. The house-elves' reaction speed was truly astonishing. It made Brian wonder whether a house-elf had been hiding somewhere, watching him throughout his meal.
"I'd like some more... mint sweets?" he ventured.
A large plate of mint sweets appeared in front of Brian-ah, he shouldn't have forgotten to specify how many.
But his guess had actually been right!
A little startled, Brian looked around. Unable to spot the hidden house-elf, he could only address the mint sweets.
"Hello? Could you tell me how many colleagues you have?"
The mint sweets on the desk moved without a breath of wind, arranging themselves on the plate into the shape of "300↑."
"Wow... thank you." Brian blinked. That number was far higher than he had imagined.
He rubbed his stomach and decided to find an opportunity to share the neatly arranged mint sweets with students leaving the library after borrowing books.
After washing up, he changed into his pyjamas and hesitantly took the sack down from the cupboard-the drums he had casually repaired were inside.
Honestly, Brian wasn't quite sure how to face the drums. He had thought the moment he repaired them with Reparo would be deeply sacred, but reality had gone completely against his expectations-
Not only had he failed to take a proper look at the drums, he had abandoned them and run off. He had even nearly destroyed them again-if the drums were as clever as Book, they would surely have voiced their displeasure through a stream of cursing drumbeats.
Brian carefully took the drums out of the sack-the bass drum, snare, hi-hats, double pedal, triggers... yes, this was his old companion. But... something was strange. His old companion looked a little too young now.
He began carefully running his hands over every part of the kit, unable to keep a trace of sadness at bay.
"Drums... you're a little different from what I imagined."
He should have found a dent near the snare wires, one he had accidentally left during his first performance onstage. It had pained him for an entire month;
He should have found a scratch on the bass drumhead, one he had accidentally made with a fingernail after forgetting to trim his nails. He had never forgotten to trim them again;
He should have found two bumps on the inside of the hi-hats, defects that had been there when he bought them. He had even received compensation for them...
But now, all those marks had vanished.
Brian stared at the drums, speechless for a long time.
Eventually, he glanced at the moon emerging from the clouds and said to the drums:
"It's all right... at least you're back. We can make new memories together."
Reparo hadn't restored his drums to the way they looked in his heart-but this was already more than good enough.
Brian shrank the drums and made them lighter, then dragged his weary body to the grass beside the Black Lake. He enlarged the drums again and cast a Silencing Charm on them.
He took out his drumsticks and was just about to practise some basic beats when he heard water splashing. Ripples spread across the calm Black Lake-
A familiar tentacle, accompanied by a familiar fish flung into the air, reached straight for Brian's drums!
Brian recognised the tentacle's owner-the Giant Squid. After his Flying Car, it had now set its sights on his drums.
"No, you can't have these as a toy!"
As he spoke, he swiftly shrank the drums and grabbed them.
Yet the Giant Squid still showed no intention of backing off. Its tentacle successfully wrapped around Brian's thigh-
Just as Brian thought the Giant Squid was about to drag him underwater as a substitute for the drums, he realised the tentacle wasn't gripping him very hard.
Brian's pyjamas were soaked. Clutching his wand tightly, he asked tentatively:
"...Are you hungry? Shall I go back and bring you some bread?"
His answer came in the form of another tentacle breaking through the water-
Nestled in one of its suckers, an enticing Firefly Orb shone.
Before you continue