The black cat woke up.
When it opened its eyes, the mist in the Borderland was surging thickly.
"You are very similar to one of my... teachers," Leta said casually.
She conjured an image, and the black cat recognized it as the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom at Hogwarts.
—Seventy-nine years ago, the lesson in this Defense Against the Dark Arts class was about Boggarts.
Dumbledore was guiding a line of teenagers forward to make their attempts.
"Riddikulus"... "Riddikulus"...
The young wizards' voices rose and fell. The Boggart turned from a shark into a buoy, from a zombie head into a pumpkin, from a vampire into a buck-toothed rabbit, accompanied by bursts of laughter.
"Alright, Newt. Be brave," Dumbledore said.
The black cat had never seen Headmaster Dumbledore look so young.
Sixteen-year-old Newt walked to the front of the line. The Boggart turned into a Ministry of Magic desk.
"That's an unusual one. So what does Mr. Scamander fear above all else in the world?" Dumbledore asked with a smile.
The black cat looked at Headmaster Dumbledore. It seemed the Headmaster enjoyed watching a show even when he was just a professor.
"Having to work in an office, sir," sixteen-year-old Newt said faithfully and sincerely.
The whole class roared with laughter.
"Go ahead, Newt," Dumbledore smiled too.
"Riddikulus!"
Newt turned the desk into a frolicking wooden dragon, then stepped aside.
"Good job. Very good," Dumbledore applauded.
Now it was sixteen-year-old Leta's turn, but she didn't move.
She was afraid.
"Leta, it's only a Boggart. It can't hurt you. Everyone is scared of something," Dumbledore said kindly to Leta.
In front of him, a group of girls gathered together, gloating over her fear.
"Let's see her make a fool of herself," those girls said.
Leta stepped forward. The Boggart also began to transform, and instantly, all the laughter disappeared.
Green light reflected on every terrified face. The Boggart turned into a shadow with a tiny human hand.
Leta let out a sob and ran out of the classroom.
The black cat and the adult Leta followed behind her, watching as she hid in another empty classroom.
After an unknown amount of time, child Leta was still sitting on her old desk. At this moment, Dumbledore walked in.
"What a surprise," Dumbledore said.
"Because you saw me in a classroom? Am I that bad of a student?" Leta said coldly to Dumbledore.
"On the contrary, you are my cleverest student," Dumbledore said.
"I said bad, not stupid. Don't bother thinking of an answer. You never liked me," Leta dropped these words coldly.
"That's not true. You're not a bad child," Dumbledore came over and sat down.
"Then you're mistaken," Leta didn't look at him.
But Dumbledore examined her carefully.
"Leta, I know how painful the rumors about your brother Corvus must be for you," Dumbledore said.
"No, you don't. Unless you had a brother who died too," Leta said sharply.
"In my case, it was my sister," Dumbledore said.
She stared at him. Both held hostility, yet were also very curious.
"Did you love her?" Leta asked.
"Not as well as I should have done," Dumbledore's eyes were gray and dim. "It's never too late to free yourself. Confession is a relief, I'm told. A great weight lifted."
Leta still stared at him.
Thinking about what he knew.
"Regret is my constant companion. Do not let it become yours," Dumbledore left.
The illusion shattered.
"I suspected him, sometimes wondering if he was also a monster, until I met someone," Leta said to the black cat.
The black cat's ears twitched. Leta could now be certain that dear Bastet traveled through more than just Newt's dreams.
"A witch who forgot her own name. No, she wasn't completely a witch," Leta looked reminiscent. "She only remembered she had two brothers at Hogwarts, and she kept waiting. And in my memory, not many people fit that description...
"A few simple deductions, and I understood who she was."
The black cat naturally knew who she was too.
"Only then did I realize that what the teacher said was true. We are the same kind of people," Leta said.
"But what about you? Dear Bastet, can an existence like you also understand the heart of a wizard?"
"I am a wizard," the black cat said.
Leta burst out laughing.
"Yes, I understand. You are not a cat, you are a wizard," Leta said solemnly.
The black cat nodded its head up and down in agreement, and Leta laughed until her body shook.
A powerful magical creature possessing magic beyond a wizard's imagination.
Yet it was willing to listen to a wizard's wish and even grant it.
Truly wonderful.
Leta felt that this day was more interesting than she could have imagined.
"Ms. Lestrange, can you still find her?" the black cat asked.
"Oh, her, of course," Leta rolled her eyes. "You rush through the Borderland just to bring good luck to wizards? Whose wish are you going to grant this time?"
The black cat remained silent.
"I'm willing to help, for my teacher, and because of you," Leta sighed.
The mist surged even more violently. Both the black cat and Leta knew it was time to part.
"When will you come again?" Leta put a trimmed Gabriel's Trumpet flower into a vase and asked the black cat, like asking an old friend of many years.
"I don't know," the black cat shook its head.
And Leta understood that good luck might never come again, or it might come tomorrow.
After a while, the black cat looked back at her, turned around, and sank into the deep mist, disappearing without a trace.
Only a witch who liked trimming flowers remained in the Borderland. Occasionally, she would tell the story of a black cat to those guys who came to cause destruction and were tied up by her.
...
Hogwarts.
The bell rang three times.
Sean rarely didn't wake up at his usual time. This trip to the Borderland wasn't very smooth; he had used the power of the Blank Rune too thoroughly.
This led to a disappointing result: he wouldn't be able to go to the Borderland for a while.
But this time wouldn't last too long; Sean estimated it would be a whole month.
He recalled Leta's words and inexplicably thought of the Headmaster's office full of silverware.
The old wizard guarded this castle as if guarding a cage he had built himself.
When he passed the Headmaster's office, the bell was still ringing, and Sean could already smell the sweet scent of pumpkin from the Great Hall.
He recalled the pumpkin pie Leta made and finally concluded that Leta's cooking skills were better than his Ravenclaw teacher's.
However, his pace quickened slightly. Exam week was arriving, and he had a Potions exam in the afternoon.
Potions, for the wizards, this exam was no longer an utter disaster.
Relying on some truly useful notes, they at least didn't have to make Professor Snape's face turn completely black as coal.
Harry still remembered that the last time he was embarrassed was during a class test in Potions. Back then, no matter what he did, he couldn't make his Forgetfulness Potion thicken.
Snape watched from the side with a look of delight and jotted something down in his notebook before walking away. It looked very much like a zero.
Now, such things were completely in the past. He could even pass the Potions exam relatively easily.
When coming out of the dungeon, everyone was still discussing this test that was more scary than dangerous.
At midnight that day, the young wizards took their Astronomy exam on the top of the highest tower.
Gazing at the starry night sky, Sean always thought of his Divination magic.
After studying with the centaur teacher for such a long time, he still hadn't unlocked Divination magic.
The centaur teacher inevitably frowned and had been searching for answers in the knowledge of the centaur tribe recently.
Besides that, the time Sean stayed in the Borderland had exceeded three hours.
Tales of Dreams mentioned that after seven hours, the sky in the Borderland would turn dark, the stars would become brilliant, and the clear and bright night sky could be seen, which was the best time for divination.
This extraordinary progress made Sean think of the legend of the Borderland, the legend about the Lucky Black Cat.
At the same time, viewing Tales of Dreams as Tales of Merlin also made Sean realize that before long, perhaps he would witness a different Borderland, a Borderland with brilliant stars, a Borderland sufficient for wizards to peek at a corner of such a hazy thing as the "future."
What changes would occur in the Borderland then? Perhaps only Merlin knew.
The weather was clear that night. After the Astronomy exam ended, Sean went to study divination with the centaur teacher again.
Although the progress of Divination magic was still stuck at the last step, it didn't hinder him from learning the centaur tribe's knowledge about prophecy.
And the exams continued unhurriedly.
History of Magic was tested on Wednesday morning. When Professor Binns's ghost told them to put down their quills and roll up their answer parchments, the young wizards couldn't help but cheer together.
As long as they had read Green's Notes, full marks in History of Magic were waving at them. And the History of Magic section of Green's Notes happened to be one of the extracurricular books wizards liked reading the most.
Its popularity almost caught up with Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and The Tales of Beedle the Bard.
Moreover, hearing that Green's Notes was about to launch a new section called History of Magical Careers, the pre-order letters almost filled the entire Green's Bookstore these days.
Wednesday afternoon was the Herbology exam. Baking under the big sun in the greenhouse, the back of everyone's neck was sunburned when they returned to the common room. Everyone was looking forward to this time tomorrow, when everything would be over.
Thursday morning was the last exam, Defense Against the Dark Arts.
Professor Snape cheerfully acted as the examiner. Wizards had to duel with their partners in front of him.
In his words:
"Weak idiots should have undergone such training long ago."
Although magic flew everywhere during this exam, surprisingly, no one was injured.
When the exam ended, everyone walked out of the dueling arena quickly with excitement.
Only Sean was kept behind by Professor Snape.