After finishing the letter, Herman checked it word by word. Only after confirming there were no spelling mistakes did he gently push open the window of Room 304. He reached out and took out the whistle used to summon Xiao Hei the raven.
As a low, distinctive whistle drifted through the air, Xiao Hei soon came flying back like a bolt of black lightning.
As soon as he had settled into the Leaky Cauldron, Herman had let Xiao Hei roam freely. Just as the Magical Menagerie had said, Xiao Hei quickly adapted to living in the city wilds.
Eating bread people put out for pigeons and snatching snacks from children on the street, he was perfectly capable of feeding himself.
Moreover, with just one whistle from Herman, Xiao Hei came on command like a well-trained soldier, perfectly meeting all of Herman's expectations for a pet.
Herman tied the letter and old newspapers all together to Xiao Hei's leg, then took out his wand. Following the instructions, he murmured Hugo's name and address while waving his wand as elegantly as a conductor.
As the wand moved, Xiao Hei let out a rather hoarse, unpleasant screech, like a soldier receiving the signal to march, seemingly indicating that he understood his mission. Then he spread his powerful wings and flew up into the sky.
"Pets trained with magic really are different. I can't make heads or tails of how any of this works." Herman could only marvel at how wondrous the magical world truly was.
After sending Xiao Hei off, Herman first tidied the room carefully, putting his belongings in order, then locked the door.
By now, he had read most of his books and felt somewhat mentally exhausted. He also had no idea how to go about exchanging foreign currency in Knockturn Alley, so Herman decided to leave the Leaky Cauldron for a while and return to the orphanage to deal with some unfinished business.
Leaving the Leaky Cauldron and stepping onto Charing Cross Road, Herman watched the beetle-like taxis coming and going and the hurried pedestrians in modern clothing. A strange feeling welled up inside him, as though a lifetime had passed.
Less than a month ago, he had still had a normal, orderly plan for his life-leaving aside the superpowers for the moment. Yet now he had transformed into an incoming first-year student at a wizarding school and had even learned some wondrous magic. His current task had also changed completely: go to school and study magic properly.
"I'll take it one step at a time. The priority is to get stronger, or I won't even be able to go to Knockturn Alley on my own." Having settled on a plan, Herman reached out and hailed a taxi.
Seeing a child get into the car alone, the driver froze, his face full of confusion. After a moment's hesitation, he asked with concern, "Where are your parents, kid?"
Herman sighed helplessly, picked up his wand, and gave it a gentle wave, chanting, "Confundus Charm."
The Confundus Charm was a wondrous, fascinating spell whose power could be great or small. At its strongest, it could alter the perceptions of mysterious magical objects like the Goblet of Fire or throw powerful wizards' thoughts into confusion. At its mildest, it could subtly change a Muggle's perceptions, just as Dumbledore had done to Director Margery, making her mistake Harry's photograph for Herman's.
Herman had discovered this spell in "100 Practical Spells." Although the book stressed that young wizards' limited magical power meant their success rate would not be very high when using it on wizards or magical objects, Herman had keenly noticed another side that the book never mentioned-if the success rate was low against things with magic, then surely it would be much higher against Muggles with no magic at all.
With Herman's current grasp of the Confundus Charm, even using a wand and the prescribed gestures, he could only slightly influence a Muggle's thoughts. Compared with Dumbledore's superb ability to change someone's perceptions without leaving a trace, he was still far behind.
Still, that was enough to make the driver believe his words without question. "My father's in Cokeworth. He told me to take a taxi to meet him," Herman said calmly.
"All right, Cokeworth. Run the meter?" the driver asked.
"Yes," Herman replied briefly.
As mentioned before, Britain was not particularly large. Although there was no high-speed rail from London to Cokeworth, a car traveling at full speed could make the journey in four or five hours.
Along the way, Herman cast the Confundus Charm a few more times, successfully keeping the driver from noticing anything unusual.
Once he arrived in Cokeworth, Herman did not immediately head to St. Chris's Children's Home. Instead, he walked toward an area controlled by local gangs.
At night, when darkness blanketed the land like an enormous black curtain and households turned off their lights and went to sleep, certain special establishments were only just coming to life.
Scar Reed frowned as he patrolled back and forth through his casino like a vigilant cheetah.
The casino's takings had been terrible lately. Although people still came and went and customer numbers had not fallen, its earnings kept dwindling. According to the dealers' reports, someone was very likely cheating in the casino.
Someone cheating was not really much trouble in itself. As far as Reed was concerned, he did not need to bother with evidence. He only needed to find the cheat and get rid of them.
The difficult part was that he had no idea who was cheating, nor did he know whether it was an individual acting alone or an organization pulling strings behind the scenes.
Previously, Reed had hired several specialists to watch the floor, but after that amazing boy came along, he had dismissed them. The boy seemed to possess some mysterious power, as though the playing cards would volunteer information to him. No cheat could hope to escape his eyes.
In fact, the playing cards really were reporting to Herman. Every card that entered the casino had passed through his hands and been turned into a magical object, so the moment a card that did not belong to the casino appeared, Herman could detect it.
"Have you found that boy?" Reed asked the gang deputy following behind him, a trace of anxiety in his voice. The deputy shook his head helplessly and replied, "No, but we've already posted men to watch the orphanage. The moment he shows up, I'll hear about it."
Reed nodded at that, but immediately reminded him, "Be careful. If you see him, be polite. Don't start swearing at him over every little thing. I'm still counting on him to do me a big favor."
"Don't worry, boss. I've already told them. But should we find some more specialists? Just waiting around for him to come back isn't a long-term solution," the deputy suggested cautiously.
"Go ahead, but there's no need to rush about the specialists. I have a pretty good idea who's behind this. Around here, only the Fierce Tiger Gang would have the nerve to cause trouble on my turf. They'll pay for what they've done," Reed said viciously, a savage gleam in his eyes.
After hearing Reed's words, the deputy hesitated, then finally plucked up his courage and suggested, "Boss, we're about evenly matched with the Fierce Tiger Gang. If we really go head-to-head, I'm afraid we'll end up wearing each other down and letting someone else reap the benefits."
Reed glanced around. The two had reached the office, and the underlings following them had tactfully fallen back. Only after making sure no one else was nearby did Reed whisper to his deputy, "That's exactly why I told you to find that little guy. He has superpowers!"
"Superpowers?" The deputy wondered whether he had misheard. His eyes widened, his face full of disbelief. As far as he knew, his boss was not someone who enjoyed those strange films. From their past dealings, the deputy thought his boss might not even have finished primary school and could barely read, much less be likely to read Western comics.
"That's right!" Reed said with a serious expression, the scene of his first encounter with Herman involuntarily surfacing in his mind.