At the pace of a young wizard, it was hard for Sean to keep up with a Wampus cat.
But clearly, he wasn't always "a young wizard."
So, high above the canopy, a strange sight appeared.
A black cat stood on the back of an owl, eyes sharp as it scanned the distance.
Below them, an animal shaped like a mountain lion sprinted at full speed.
But the forest was too dense. After only a few breaths, even Whitey lost track of the Wampus cat, and could only watch it vanish into the thick woods.
The black cat's whiskers trembled. It tapped the silver-white owl's tail feathers with one paw.
A moment later, from behind an ancient, gnarled tree that looked tough as iron, a small wizard stepped out, his robe dusted with snow. An owl still perched on his shoulder.
Whitey glared angrily at the dense canopy, chattering as if it wanted to burn the whole forest down.
"No."
Sean said softly.
Whitey was clever for an owl, but it still didn't have a wizard's mind.
Sean always found that oddly amusing.
They walked through the snow, surrounded by the faint sounds of footsteps and brushing fabric, and the occasional clatter of falling stones and snapping twigs.
They were climbing down a steep, wooded slope, gradually nearing a narrow riverbank below where glowing mushrooms clustered.
Sean was thinking.
The good news was that Ilvermorny really did have Wampus cats—and apparently, quite a few.
The bad news was that Wampus cats were incredibly fast. Even if Sean found one, he might not be able to get close—after all, not every Wampus cat would be as friendly to wizards as the one inside Professor Scamander's suitcase.
Still, Sean had an even better piece of news: the one teaching him spatial magic was a world-class master of magical creatures.
So, carrying his questions with him, Sean went to find Scamander, who was standing by a frozen stream.
At Scamander's feet, three Kneazles padded around in the snow, leaving plum-blossom prints.
It reminded Sean that Scamander seemed to like Kneazles a lot.
After all, in his retirement in Dorset, he and his wife kept three pet Kneazles—Hoppy, Milly, and Mauler.
"Good morning, Professor Scamander."
Sean crossed a wooden bridge and stepped over the stream.
"Good morning."
Newt replied, as shy as ever. He looked toward the distance.
Following his gaze, Sean's heart skipped a beat.
There, in the trees, a Wampus cat was watching them with curious eyes.
"Wampus cats are proud—and fiercely curious. That means a wizard has to meet their hidden, magic-filled eyes head-on.
They're very intelligent creatures. They can read a great deal from a wizard's eyes. That's why they rarely take to a wizard—most of the time they simply disappear.
But for a rare few, a Wampus cat won't refuse their approach. That's how Cherokee warriors successfully obtained Wampus cat hair."
Scamander spoke in a gentle, storytelling tone.
When he turned slightly, he saw the young wizard struggling to force his eyes wide enough to keep eye contact with the Wampus cat.
Newt almost laughed.
"Distance can be a problem, too," he reminded quietly.
So Sean crept closer.
The big cat tilted its head and stared at him with yellow eyes.
[You gained the fondness of a magical creature: Wampus cat (Unnamed). Fondness +50 (Expert standard)]
The panel chimed at just the right moment. Sean's breathing was as light as the snow drifting down.
"Wampus cats can hypnotize and use Legilimency. It's hard to drop your guard in front of a creature like that.
It means… a wizard has to lay their inner world bare."
Newt added softly.
Sean was already close. The Wampus cat hesitated for a long time—then, in a blur, vanished again.
Sean couldn't help feeling a little disappointed.
"Once, when I was talking with a gnome in a herb garden, I brushed aside some perilla and found something as big as a monster of a ferret.
Instead of running or hiding the way ferrets usually do, it lunged at me and knocked me flat on my back.
It was a Niffler-mole—an awfully stubborn one. It took me two months to stop it from wrecking the herb garden."
Newt said this with his usual shy composure.
Sean looked up at the snow-dusted treetops and understood: earning a magical creature's trust was a long, patient work.
In the days that followed, the Wampus cat kept appearing, again and again, in the margins of Sean's studies.
When Sean severed and shrank a patch of ground, the Wampus cat was chasing crows in the woods.
When Sean shrank a yew tree and restored it again, the Wampus cat tested the thickness of ice on the stream with its paw.
When Sean finally managed to place a section of grassland into the Wizard's Book, the Wampus cat tried to catch Whitey—only to be frightened off when Whitey turned into a massive fire dragon. It didn't come back to watch Sean for the rest of the afternoon.
The space inside the Wizard's Book kept growing, and Sean's technique grew smoother.
After a few days, he could practice alone without things going wrong.
His progress jumped again.
Sunlight rose and hid. Snow stopped and fell again. Sean spent his days buried in spatial charms and weather charms.
On a day of windblown sleet, the magical-creatures course—originally three days, then extended to five—was about to end.
Professor Scamander would be leaving Ilvermorny.
That only made Sean feel the clock pressing harder.
Finally, right at the end of the fifth day, he achieved something:
[You practiced the Severing Charm at the Skilled standard. Proficiency +10]
[Spatial Charms: Beginner (70/900) (Collapsed)]
All spatial charms had been consolidated together—though Sean could still open them to view individually.
[Weather Charms: Apprentice (20/300) (Collapsed)]
His weather charms were still limited, but at least he now had a basic way to adjust climate.
With both branches improved, Sean finally had the foundation to build the internal environment of the Wizard's Book.
So, at dusk, he went to the little river where he and Scamander often stayed.
After one dusk of reshaping, the inside of the Wizard's Book had taken on a real outline:
At the entrance was an open plain—green, velvety grass dotted with small yellow and pink flowers, carrying the scent of spring sunlight.
To the left ran a small stream, winding past a little wooden cottage. The cottage had bright windows and a chimney breathing warm steam. A sign hung on its door: Wizard Cottage.
Beyond the cottage lay dense woodland—beech and yew were the most common trees.
It looked like an oil painting.
Standing at the cottage door, Sean felt quietly satisfied. Three hundred square meters should be enough to house a few magical creatures.
~~~
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