Meeting in Dorset
November 1979, Dorset, Britain. It was a perfectly ordinary morning.
Evita stood before the bathroom mirror and tied her hair into a high ponytail. Her silver hair was beautiful, but it was also thick and long. She had cut it several times, but unfortunately, it grew back so quickly that she had no choice but to let it be.
After struggling to tie up her hair, she turned on the tap, gave her face a quick wash and wiped it haphazardly with a towel. Then she jumped down from the little stool she stood on and pushed open the door.
"Why did you tie your hair up today?" asked a silver-haired woman, who was using a balance scale to cook according to a recipe.
"I'm going to play with Tina," Evita said sweetly. "It would be rude to show up with messy hair."
The silver-haired woman's hair was as messy as a bird's nest, and the dark circles under her eyes made her look utterly haggard. She put down the graduated cylinder and dropper in her hands and said seriously, "Host, don't use a child's innocent, adorable expression to make snide remarks at your system. As far as everyone else knows, we're mother and daughter."
Her voice was strange, utterly flat, with a subtle stuttering and mechanical quality that made her sound less than human.
"Mom... Adele... System." Evita changed her tone and asked with a fake smile, "What do you have to say about turning a twenty-year-old adult like me into a newborn and making me start life over?"
"The way you're questioning me now makes you look just like a child." Adele looked away.
Evita's face reddened, and she pressed on. "What about the fact that I transmigrated into the world of Harry Potter, but you took away my golden finger of knowing the plot? Any thoughts on that?"
"Because no native would know the plot. That means your new identity is very secure, Weiwei."
Evita puffed out her cheeks. "Before I transmigrated, you made it sound so wonderful. You said you had all kinds of abilities, but-"
"I can't use a single one." She widened her eyes, trying to make sure Adele could see the reproach in her clear, amethyst-like eyes.
"Actually..." Adele looked a little guilty, and her voice changed pitch slightly. "Once a mission is triggered, you'll be able to use those abilities."
"Then when will a mission be issued?" Evita asked, looking up.
"It will happen. Missions are triggered by the host's wishes. It'll be whatever you most want to accomplish at the time."
"But... I've already forgotten the plot," Evita said gloomily.
"Don't worry. Triggering a mission will let you briefly recall the relevant plot. Consider it... a benefit for minors."
"Will I forget it again after I remember?" Evita asked.
"Sorry, I'm not sure."
"All right," Evita said. She ate the sandwich on the table and skipped out the door.
Returning from watering the flowers in the garden, Newt Scamander heard cheerful laughter coming from the house.
Although Evita was only one person, she was still making plenty of noise as she chased three Kneazles back and forth. Finally, she threw herself into Tina's arms and wheedled, "I want to hear more stories about the old days."
"What would you like to hear, Weiwei?" Tina gazed at her gently.
"What were American Aurors like?" Evita asked curiously. "What spell did you use to catch the man who was trafficking a Thunderbird back then, Tina... Can I learn it?"
With those last words, she finally revealed her true aim.
Tina smiled helplessly. "I really don't know what Adele teaches you every day... Children shouldn't be too fond of studying."
Newt walked slowly over to the sofa and sat down. A Kneazle jumped over to him, and the softness of its touch made him drift off a little.
Six years ago, the retired Newt Scamander and his wife Tina had moved to Dorset. There, they met a mother and daughter.
The mother, Adele Lorand, was a well-known alchemist, and her daughter, Evita Lorand, was a lively, outgoing girl.
The alchemist's research occasionally made a great deal of clanging and banging, and an accident during one experiment caused an explosion at the Lorand house. Tina immediately rushed in and carried Evita out. Unable to hold back, she scolded Adele, and the silver-haired woman, covered in soot, obediently admitted her mistake. Thus, the elderly Scamanders developed a friendship with the young Lorand mother and daughter.
What truly brought them close, however, was that Evita was an eager learner who persistently chose the right times to visit them.
Tina had once been the head of the Aurors at the Magical Congress of the United States of America, and Evita asked her about many spells. Newt was a renowned Magizoologist, and she asked him about all sorts of animals.
Evita was not only eager to learn but also an exceptionally gifted student, capable of giving anyone who taught her an unprecedented sense of accomplishment. Add to that her lively and considerate nature, and it was hard for anyone to dislike a child like her.
"Newt, Newt," the girl chattered. "I just read Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them yesterday. In the foreword, you wrote, 'I was the first to capture Gellert Grindelwald, and that is a fact; Albus Dumbledore was more than just a headmaster to me, and that too is a fact.' So what happened back then?"
She lowered her head in thought for a moment, then asked, "And who was Gellert Grindelwald?"
Newt coughed awkwardly. Seeing the child's expectant gaze, he could only say, "Gellert Grindelwald was a very powerful dark wizard. During his twenty-year reign of terror over wizards, I..."
"I did a few things," he said vaguely.
"What things?" Evita pressed.
Newt searched his memory but couldn't find a single thing he could tell an eight-year-old. Or rather, those dark events of the past weren't worth telling a child about. In the end, he changed the subject. "I helped some animals back then."
Evita's interest was immediately drawn elsewhere. Tina breathed a sigh of relief as well and said, "I saw those animals too. There were Demiguises, Nifflers, a Thunderbird..."
"Yes," Newt said. "They caused me quite a bit of trouble back then. That Niffler, for example, once burrowed into a bank's central vault and stuffed every gold bar inside into its pocket."
A look of longing appeared in Evita's eyes.
"I... I want to keep some animals too," she said hopefully. "I'll treat them well."
Tina smiled and rubbed the girl's cheek. "Taking care of them isn't easy. You need the determination to look after them properly."
Newt also patted the girl's fluffy hair. "It's very difficult, Weiwei."
"All right..." Evita lowered her head regretfully.
Seeing her put on such a pitiful expression, Tina couldn't help saying, "Shall we practice spells?"
"Yay!" Evita immediately raised her head and cheered. "No taking it back!"
"Of course not." Tina laughed. "Are you still using Adele's wand, Weiwei?"
"Yes." Evita had already gotten to her feet. "I think it works pretty well."
Tina nodded. The two of them, one grown and one small, practiced for nearly two hours before Evita left in high spirits.