Krum seemed to want to say something.
But his mind had become a boiling jumble, and he couldn't find the right words at all.
All he could do was wave his hands vigorously, the flush on his face already spreading to his ears.
"A thank-you letter! It's just a thank-you letter!"
"Thank-you?" Harry blinked, still unable to wrap his head around it.
"Yes! Thank-you!"
Krum took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down, and explained rapidly.
"A long time ago, in Germany, I ran into some troubles."
"At the time, I thought he was just a... an ordinary, kindhearted person who was very good at helping people work things out."
Krum's gaze drifted into the distance, as though he had slipped into some memory.
"He said some things to me about... weeds growing in the cracks of a wall."
"He said to be like the weeds, not the wall."
Harry froze.
That did indeed sound like something Douglas would say.
That style of hiding profound truths in the most inconspicuous everyday things.
"I went looking for him afterward. I wanted to thank him in person, but I couldn't find him."
Krum's gaze focused on Harry's face again, his eyes filled with sincerity.
"I didn't know he was a wizard, much less that he was a professor at Hogwarts."
"So this really is just a thank-you letter!"
Harry let out a long "Oh."
So that was it.
The weight on his chest finally lifted.
Yet for some reason, as he looked at Krum's almost pitifully earnest face, that strange feeling inside him didn't disappear. Instead, it grew even stronger.
He held the letter, turning it over and over.
His gaze was still full of suspicion.
Krum felt as though he was going mad.
He felt that if he stayed here