The morning's farce stayed in the morning. It was far too embarrassing for anyone to want to bring up again.
As the morning passed, it was time for the Delacour family to say goodbye.
"Are you sure you're not coming back to France with us?" Lehende came over to Leonard and asked.
"Come on, we already made this perfectly clear. You're an obvious target, so there are definitely plenty of people watching you. They may not make a move right now, but they'll absolutely keep an eye on anyone who's had contact with you. I'm not interested in putting myself in danger." Leonard rolled his eyes.
"That may be true, but without me, how are you supposed to make good on our bet?" Lehende said teasingly. "If you don't come, I'm not giving you any of my precious plants."
"Heh, don't worry. What belongs to me isn't going anywhere. You just need to leave me the address," Leonard said.
"All right." Lehende nodded. "15 Rue de Montmorency, Paris. That's one of my residences. You can go there first when the time comes."
As he spoke, he handed Leonard a string of keys.
"What's this?" Leonard asked, taking the keys.
"The key to that house, obviously. When you get there, you can stay there first. There's something inside you can use to contact me." After saying that, Lehende got ready to leave.
"Let's say our goodbyes here. We can't stay too long. See you in Paris."
"Yeah, see you in Paris." Leonard nodded and watched as Lehende prepared to leave with his family.
At that moment, Gabrielle said something to Lehende. After getting permission, she hurried over.
"Little brother..." Gabrielle said a little shyly, her face turning red again. "I'm sorry about what happened this morning."
"It's fine, but be more careful next time. Don't go wandering off after someone while you're still half asleep," Leonard said with a teasing smile.
"Don't laugh at me..." Gabrielle said bashfully. "Oh, and I'm supposed to apologize for my sister too."
As she said this, Gabrielle looked toward her sister Fleur.
Leonard looked over as well. The moment Fleur noticed his gaze, she stiffened and deliberately looked away.
"My sister says the opposite of what she means sometimes. She really does want to apologize, she's just too embarrassed. My sister is actually a very nice person," Gabrielle said, sounding far too mature for her age.
"All right, I know. I accept your apology, and hers too." Leonard patted Gabrielle on the head. "Go on now. Don't keep your father waiting."
"Mhm." Gabrielle nodded hard and ran back toward her family.
Halfway there, Gabrielle turned back and waved to Leonard.
"Little brother, I'm looking forward to you visiting our home. But remember to bring a gift!"
"All right, I got it." Leonard smiled and waved back.
He watched Gabrielle rejoin her family, and then the entire Delacour family suddenly vanished from the spot.
Apparition was the best way to erase one's traces while traveling. With Lehende's magic power, taking an entire family along by Apparition put a lot of strain on him, but in order not to leave Leonard with any future trouble, he still chose to do it that way.
Lehende Delacour was a good man.
Leonard still did not fully trust him, but he had to admit that being around someone like him was comfortable and easy.
And he was also a Herbology expert who specialized in magical plants. It had nothing to do with his beautiful daughters. Based on the man himself alone, Leonard had already decided he wanted this friendship.
Still, this year was not a good time to go to France. There were only a few days left before school started, and if he went now, there was no way he would make it back to Hogwarts on time.
For ordinary people, going from Britain to France was easy. Just take a plane. You did not even need a passport.
But for wizards, crossing national borders was troublesome. Through the proper channels, he would first have to go to the British Ministry of Magic to complete the paperwork, and once he got to France, he would have to go through several rounds of strict inspection.
There was a good chance that somewhere in that process, he would attract the attention of the Raven Organization.
Then they would investigate.
Oh? What are you going to France for, kid?
Then they would dig further.
Oh? You were nearby when our Third Senator got into trouble. How did you get involved with the Delacours?
You look suspicious. Grab him first.
If that really happened, then should Leonard kill them or kill them?
Killing them was a given.
But that would also mean Leonard would be fully exposed in the open and become a target right under Raven's nose.
That was definitely not good.
So if Leonard wanted to go to France, he could not use the official route. The best way would actually be to pretend to be an ordinary person and just take a plane over.
But...
After becoming a Hogwarts student, Leonard's name had already been entered into the wizard registry. The number of wizards across Europe was all accounted for. If a wizard used muggle transportation, that would also be flagged. To put it bluntly, that would basically be illegal border crossing right under the noses of the authorities.
So the method most suitable for Leonard would be actual smuggling. He just needed Midgard to arrange a reliable smuggler.
So-called illegal crossing routes were basically the same routes used by smugglers dealing in prohibited goods. Usually they relied on Portkeys, or first used inconspicuous methods of transportation.
But if he chose smuggling, it would only take even longer. The Ministries of Magic in various countries kept strict control over cross-border Portkeys, so in the end most of it relied on low-profile transportation.
Without making preparations in advance, Leonard estimated it would take at least half a month to reach France.
So for now, he should just go to class honestly. As for Paris, he could wait until next year.
Time continued to pass, and as the start of term drew closer, one letter after another from Hogwarts gradually reached the students.
That day, Leonard had just finished lunch and was discussing where to go play that afternoon with Claudia when an owl burst in through the window.
"Hoot!" Gray called twice at Leonard and dropped a letter in front of him.
Gray had been left outside all summer, and Leonard had assumed he had gone off to enjoy himself. He had not expected him to be this reliable and actually bring back his letter from Hogwarts.
"Well done, Gray. When we get to Diagon Alley, I'll buy you a few extra big rats so you can take your time eating them," Leonard said, praising him as he stroked Gray.
Gray hooted happily twice, then flew back out the window.
Even though Leonard already knew what he needed to buy for this term, he still opened the letter from Hogwarts.
"Mm, the usual stuff... consumable potion bottles..." Leonard skimmed through the contents at a glance. "Textbooks. Aha, just as expected, the textbooks have changed. Let's see... Lockhart..."
When he reached the new textbook list, Leonard froze.
There was no long list of Lockhart's complete set.
There was only a single, very plain copy of Defence Against the Dark Arts.