When Sean returned to the Ravenclaw tower, the rain still hadn't stopped. Droplets slid down the clear windows one by one.
Soon, only the soft crackling from the fireplace broke the silence.
Back from the bitter cold outside, Sean reflexively summoned a little fire salamander to curl around his feet, and in no time he'd warmed up.
On his chest, the Null Charm shimmered faintly. Sean knew that meant he could enter the Boundary again.
The Boundary, the world behind the Veil, the place beyond the Curtain of Death… whatever you called it, it was one of the deepest, most mysterious domains in the magical world.
Naturally, coming and going followed certain ancient rules.
Basic Null Charm Usage listed several "entry and exit" patterns in detail—explaining how timing, moon phase, planets, and the linking medium all influenced travel to and from the Boundary.
In the end, Sean came to only one conclusion:
it mostly depended on the state of the soul-relic itself.
He suspected he'd overused the charm earlier, so it had needed time to "recover," which explained the brief period where it wouldn't respond.
Now, night had deepened, and thin mist curled upward.
In front of the "Children's Home" sign, a black cat—larger than normal, with sleek, fine fur—stepped off the crumbling street.
It slipped quietly into the deeper fog.
Among the strange swirling banks of mist, the cat stopped beside one that was laced with faint black threads.
With a soft meow, a red-haired little witch appeared in the haze, then hesitantly walked closer.
"Merlin's whiskers—it's the lucky black cat! Am I dreaming? Oh, I am dreaming!"
Ginny's eyes shone, her red hair flickering like fire as she reached out to pet him.
The black cat dodged left and right, then remembered the dream wouldn't last long. His bright green eyes flashed with a very human kind of exasperation.
"Ginny."
"Who's talking? That voice sounds familiar…"
Ginny whipped her head around, scanning the white fog, until her gaze locked on the black cat lying atop a wisp of mist.
"Hannah wasn't lying—there really is a magic black cat at Hogwarts!"
Ginny's eyes glittered.
"How have you been lately? Groggy at all?"
the cat asked.
Ginny's outstretched hand shrank back.
A talking cat… maybe it wasn't very polite to just grab its ears…
"How do you know that, Mr. Black Cat? Is this your dream?"
Ginny asked in a small, earnest voice.
The cat was slightly surprised.
The Weasley family always seemed to have a knack for odd intuitions.
Was this his dream?
Yes—and no.
It was the Boundary, but only the piece of it that belonged to him. Beginner's Null Charm described it like this:
"The souls here are either timid or brave. Only a tiny fraction wander; only intruders move like travelers.
The wanderer waits; the traveler is awaited.
The traveler brings change; the wanderer is changed."
The wording was vague, but Sean's understanding was simple:
a wizard entering the Boundary through the Null Charm had the right to influence a small part of it.
That "influence" manifested in all kinds of ways:
He could see the Hollisey orphanage.
He could call in wizards who didn't resist him.
And he could slowly strip away the Dark Lord's soul-corrosion—
The logic was simple: Voldemort had never been invited there.
When it came to black magic, Sean had to be extremely cautious with Voldemort.
But in the Boundary, Voldemort, with his soul shattered into fragments, was barely stronger than an infant.
The original described Voldemort's state like this:
"The thing was the shape of a small, naked child, curled on the ground, its raw, red skin rough as if flayed.
It shivered and gasped for breath beneath a bench, carelessly shoved there as refuse."
"I feel so much lighter… Is it because I've had so many nightmares?
After each one I wake up with feathers all over my robes. I don't even know how they get there."
Ginny didn't mind talking to the black cat at all. In fact, she was thrilled.
She had no one she could confide these things to in the waking world. Saying them here, in a dream, made her feel so much better.
"You'll be better soon."
the cat said.
Ginny felt a fuzzy sort of happiness washing over her.
In her dream, she'd met a black cat—the very black cat she'd wanted to meet even in her dreams. It was so odd:
Sometimes it acted like it wanted to lick its own paw, then stopped itself, its whiskers trembling from the effort.
Sometimes its tail accidentally brushed its side, and it would push the tail back into place with a paw, as if the tail had a life of its own…
"Mr. Black Cat… will I see you again?"
Ginny asked drowsily, voice very small.
"If everything goes well, our paths won't cross again."
the cat answered.
After all… he would be dealing with the basilisk very soon.
Once he had its fang, the diary would no longer be a threat.
He had a hundred different ways to destroy it without touching it.
"What does 'go well' mean?
What if things don't go well?"
Ginny was clearly disappointed; she raised her voice.
"Things never go smoothly."
The cat's final words faded from her mind.
Her curiosity only deepened. It was as if the black cat was dragging soft, furred claws across her heart, tickling at something deep inside.
…
"Lucky black cat!"
Ginny shouted as she jerked awake. Her hair was a wild tangle, and all her roommates were staring at her in surprise.
Beaming, she checked the time—still a while before breakfast—then launched into a vivid retelling of her dream.
When Sean arrived at the Great Hall, he could still see the little knot of first-year girls huddled together.
Ginny was in the middle, patiently telling the story again. When she finished, she walked over to Luna at the Ravenclaw table.
Luna was sitting not far from Sean and his friends, so they could hear every word.
"…and that's how it was—the black cat came to help me… But, Luna, was that really my dream?"
Ginny's face was full of troubled longing.
"Look."
Luna propped her cheek on one hand, as though she hadn't been listening at all—then plucked a single black cat hair from the top of Ginny's red head.
"It was real."
Harry and Ron had already drifted closer to listen; Minister Hannah screamed that she had to write this down.
Even Hermione couldn't resist glancing suspiciously at Sean before sliding over a little to eavesdrop.
By then, Sean had already left the table and made his way up to the second floor.
Outside the girls' bathroom, Peeves was marching up and down with an uncharacteristically solemn expression, lugging something that looked disturbingly like a spear.
"Get lost, you little pests!
If you dare bully poor Myrtle again, I'll eat you!"
he screeched, pulling a face—then snatched a hat off a first-year girl's head and hung it on a nail in the wall.
"Hey! Ghost!"
the girl shouted back, full of courage.
"I only just got here—I don't even know who 'Myrtle' is!"
~~~
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