Douglas paused, his tone tinged with a teasing note only Lupin could understand:
"Besides, even if someone in the Italian Ministry of Magic really wanted to tip off the Church, all they could find out would be that we'd checked into an utterly unremarkable hotel in Rome."
Douglas kept the steering wheel perfectly steady, a faint smile hovering at the corners of his mouth.
"That illusion Magic Array I left behind might not be anything earth-shattering, but it's more than enough to fool those Church spies whose eyesight isn't quite up to scratch.
"After all, they don't want to openly offend me... a serving Hogwarts professor. They still have to keep up appearances, don't they?"
Lupin sat in the passenger seat and chuckled, saying nothing more.
As the off-road vehicle left the city's glow behind and plunged into the deep night of the Apennine Mountains, he went on high alert.
The air outside the windows seemed to come alive, filled with a primal, restless vitality.
There were the low growls of nocturnal animals slipping through the woods, the breathing of thousand-year-old trees in the wind, and, more than that... faint, indescribable pulses unique to magical power.
Lupin even had the illusion that countless eyes in the darkness were peering from behind layer upon layer of tree shadows, watching the two uninvited intruders in their territory with curiosity and greed.
Douglas held the steering wheel, seemingly focused on the road, while discreetly glancing at the rearview mirror out of the corner of his eye.
Sure enough, several dark shapes, almost indistinguishable from the night, trailed the car at a measured distance like a disease clinging to the bone.
Director Piero's people really were so dedicated it was almost touching.
Douglas lowered his voice, as though stating some trivial matter:
"Looks like