"Then… see you next time, Director Jessie?"
"Mm. See you next time, Isa."
"Safe travels."
"Oh~ thank you~ and I hope you'll happily receive a callback invitation."
Leavesden Film Studios was only about twenty miles from Mayfair—a half-hour drive at most.
That is, if there wasn't traffic.
After saying goodbye to Director Jessie, who had personally driven them, Isa glanced at the garage before entering the house. No car. That meant Mom wasn't back yet. She looked at the clock in the living room—five minutes to one in the afternoon.
"Oh~ looks like I really am a master of time management~"
The fact pleased Isa greatly. "Katherine, do you remember what I said when we left? To be safe, everything needed to be done before three o'clock. Now it's still two hours away from three. Aren't I efficient?"
"Yeah…"
Her sister's agreement made Isa's eyes curve into a smile.
She tossed her bag onto the sofa, then hopped lightly into the dining room.
Lifting the silver dome cover, she revealed the hearty lunch Mom had prepared.
Uh… well, although it looked decent, it still came across more like a dry old lunch.
But that didn't matter. In Isa's eyes, even a dry lunch was a feast at the moment. "Katherine, passing the first round is worth celebrating, but popping champagne halfway might jinx things. So how about we just polish off these sandwiches at home?"
"And also—thank you so much for your help. I really do want to treat you to a fancy meal, but since Mom doesn't know what we've been up to, let's postpone eating out. Don't worry, I won't forget."
Out there, Isa had kept her composure. But now?
Oh! My! God!
She'd just auditioned for Hermione Granger!
When J.K. Rowling's friend Susie had welcomed her warmly, and casting director Jessie had been satisfied with her performance—how could she say she wasn't excited? That would be pure pretense.
Outside, she couldn't show it, because Hermione was a steady character. She admitted it—she'd been acting a little during the audition, shaping herself into what the role needed. But at home? With only family? Why would she keep up the act here?If she didn't strut a little now, she'd feel unbearably itchy all over!
As Isa happily divided the lunch, ready to wash her hands before eating—oops, she hadn't washed after coming back! That wasn't hygienic—she suddenly noticed something.
Her big sister hadn't said much since they got home.
That wasn't like her at all. Earlier, when she'd caught Jessie's hint, Katherine had practically shouted with joy.
Puzzled, Isa lifted her head. Seeing her sister frozen at the table like a wooden statue made her blink.
"Katherine? What's wrong with you?"
Their eyes met. After a long silence, Katherine suddenly said, "I feel like you're the older sister."
"What?"
"You're so good."
"…."
Since arriving in this world, Isa had noticed her new family's atmosphere was excellent.
If she had to describe it, she'd say it was a truly loving family.
Her dad, Eric, might have seemed a bit calculating, but his motivation was always to make life better. Her mom, Vivian, might have looked like a wealthy society lady, but when it came to raising children, she always did everything herself.
Honestly, in an environment like this, it was hard for either Katherine or Isa to grow crooked.
Because there was no conflict at home, the sisters had always gotten along—talking about everything with each other.
"Isa, I always thought that because I'm older, I'd naturally know more than you."
Katherine gazed at her little sister with a trace of melancholy. "So when I thought you weren't helping Mom with her burdens, I wanted to talk to you about it. But starting yesterday, I realized… age doesn't mean everything."
"Your thoughts about our family were something I never considered. Today, your perspective on Hermione and Harry was something I'd never even thought about. And yet… we watched Harry Potter together…"
She trailed off.
Meeting her sister's eyes, she lowered her head, sounding a little lost. "On the way back, you were chatting so easily with Director Jessie. I thought about it—if I were in your shoes, I couldn't have done that."
She hesitated, then asked softly:
"Do you think… I'm a bit of a failure?"
Oh~
Isa laughed.
Their family might be harmonious, but the only person in the world without a trace of competitiveness was Harry Potter himself.
The sisters might not argue or fight, but comparisons still happened.
Before, Katherine had always had the edge. But now, she could feel the gap.
That was normal, though, wasn't it? After all—Isa had a different soul now.
"Katherine."
Isa walked over, took her sister by the hand, and pulled her to sit down. "I don't think you need to feel so down."
"Why?"
"Because everyone has their strengths. I just happen to be good at this, don't you think?"
Isa started counting on her fingers: "You can ride horses—I can't. You can paint—I can't. My best skill used to be piano. Now, maybe I've suddenly gotten better at talking to people?"
Katherine thought for a while, and nodded. It made sense.
But soon she frowned again. "Our teacher said communication is an art, sure. But if that's your specialty, you've improved way too fast. You weren't like this before."
"Oh~ that's because Dad isn't here anymore, isn't it?"
Isa explained: "When Dad was around, we didn't need to talk much. People just called us the Haywood girls. But now? We're just Katherine Haywood and Isabella Haywood."
"In the face of that change, we have to grow up—just like you said yesterday."
"And since you're the older one, you feel you need to be steady. So your growth has been in becoming quieter."
"But me? I'll always be the younger daughter of the Haywood family. With you shielding me in front, being steady would be the surprise. Mischief is my normal, isn't it, sis?"
Isa raised her brows playfully.
"Pfft—"
Katherine burst into laughter through her tears.
A girl's heart was like a June rain—shifting, complex, impossible to predict.
Ren Xianqi even had a song teasing this very idea:"I think and I think, I guess and I guess, but a girl's heart—how strange it is~"
One moment Katherine had been gloomy; the next, she was cheerful again.
Part of it was Isa's coaxing, but more of it came from Katherine figuring things out herself.
With Katherine cheered up, Isa's excitement cooled down as well. In comforting her sister, she realized—her way with words might be stronger than other kids her age, but she'd never acted before. How would she look on camera, really?
Who knew?
Which meant…
She still had work to do.
Just as Isa was wondering if she should crash-learn some acting techniques, she finished her sandwich and was about to head upstairs to research when her sister called her back.
"Isa, will you come with me to the studio?"
"Sure, but… why?"
"To celebrate you passing the first round! We can't tell Mom, but we can mark the moment with a painting."
"Oh, no problem."
Before cameras, people had recorded life through painting. And after cameras were invented, painting became a more artistic way to celebrate. That didn't matter, though—as long as Katherine was happy.
Following her upstairs, Isa found Katherine's art studio a little messy compared to her own music room.
There were cabinets, yes, but easels, canvases, and supplies were scattered everywhere. The only neat thing was the artwork hung on the walls.
Since Katherine managed the room herself without cleaning staff, she kept it however she liked.
Clearing the sofa for Isa to sit wherever she pleased, Katherine tied on an apron at her workstation, sifting through her materials.
"I want to paint in oils."
"Huh? Don't tell me you want me to sit here for a whole month?"
"What are you thinking? Once I finish the base coat you can go. Even I wouldn't sit around here waiting for the paint to dry."
Oil painting uses oil-based pigments, giving the finished work rich colors and delicate textures. But because oil paint dries slowly, choosing to let it air dry stretches the creation time considerably.
Once Katherine settled on her subject, she fetched a canvas already primed with titanium white from her supplies and began sketching the outline. Two hours later, Isabella—who had fallen asleep from boredom—was finally shaken awake by her sister.
When she got up and looked—
Good grief!Her sister had turned her into some kind of Sleeping Beauty–style pinup!
Isabella admitted her sister's craftsmanship was solid, the painting was honestly quite good, but still—
"Katherine, is this supposed to be me?"
Looking closer, Isabella realized something felt… off.
"Of course! Doesn't it look like you? Want me to grab a mirror for comparison?"
"It does kind of look like me, but what's with the whiskers and the tail…?"
Indeed, the girl on the canvas sported a few strokes of whiskers and a tiny tail.
Not only that, but as though bothered by imaginary flies, the little tail was flicked upward and wagging.
"Oh, I was originally just going to paint you, but it felt too plain. At first I didn't know how to start, but when you fell asleep I suddenly realized—you looked like a little beaver. And of course, Hermione gave me some inspiration too…"
"Ohhh~ so you're saying I'm cute?"
Isabella felt she had caught her sister's meaning.
In Western culture, beavers are often seen as symbols of cuteness. Well… maybe that was obvious—most people found them adorable.
But Katherine shook her head: "No. You're cute when you're quiet. But when you're being noisy, definitely not."
"…"
Great. So basically, she was saying Isabella was wild.
Her little face tightened in annoyance, but Katherine just laughed harder.
"Tell me I'm wrong? Just take today for example—how are you planning to explain things to Mom?"
That… Isabella really hadn't figured out yet.
How do you cover all your bases when you've snuck out behind your mom's back?
Since she couldn't answer, Katherine only smiled wider.
"That's what little beavers do—they never think about the consequences. Beavers build dams, they're nature's architects, but they also sneak into people's homes to steal food when they're hungry."
"Oh~ my dear sister, I think that's your problem to worry about. Because in today's bet, I won."
Not bothering to keep arguing, Isabella tossed out the reminder of their earlier wager and darted off.
If she couldn't find a good solution, then she'd just play ostrich.
She was only human, after all.
Maybe it was the short nap she'd taken in her sister's studio, but after returning to her room Isabella felt refreshed. So she hopped online to search for information about acting. That was when she stumbled upon An Actor's Self-Training.
If her goal was to become a comedy king, she might have eagerly devoured it. But that wasn't her path, so…
She flipped through it anyway.
Books in Europe and America were expensive due to intellectual property protections, but the internet thrived on resource sharing. A quick search on the Yahoo forums pulled up all sorts of versions uploaded by "Grandpa Niu."
She downloaded a well-reviewed one, skimmed a few pages, then deleted it.
The prose was way too dense—she couldn't understand a thing.
Time for something else.
She searched and searched, but found nothing useful.
Still, the hours flew by, and before she knew it, it was evening.
They say when you're focused, time slips past unnoticed—and Isabella was no exception. What finally jolted her was Katherine knocking at her door, looking unusually grave.
"What did you just say? Mom still isn't back?"
Isabella was stunned.
"Yeah. I had just finished a thin glaze on my painting, looked up, and realized it was already five o'clock. I thought Mom must have come back while I was painting and didn't want to disturb me—but when I went downstairs, the house was empty…"
"That doesn't make sense. How many theaters could Mom possibly have appointments with in one day?"
Isabella frowned. "And besides, at this hour every theater should be running shows, right? Who would be holding auditions now?"
In London's West End, theaters ran every day.
And usually, each theater staged two shows daily—afternoon and evening.
So no matter how short-staffed they were, auditions were always scheduled in the morning or early afternoon.
Never as late as three o'clock or beyond.
Which meant… where was their mom?
"Did you call her?"
"Uh… I realized she hadn't come back yet, so I came to find you first."
Isabella nearly choked.
"Katherine! I might be a bit more mature than you, but I'm not Aladdin's lamp!"
"If Mom's not back, you call her! What's the point of running to me? What, do you think if you make a wish at me, she'll magically appear?"
"…"
Katherine conceded the point and hurried off to call.
Isabella trailed after her downstairs. But just as they were about to dial—
Click.
The front door opened.
They both turned toward the sound.
And there was Mom, finally home.
"Mom! Where have you been? Why are you just getting back now? I was worried sick!"
Relieved, Katherine rushed over to greet her.
"Didn't I say before I left that I had several theater appointments today?"
Vivian smiled, hugging her eldest daughter. "Did you two lose your memories?"
"We remembered you said you had multiple appointments, but we didn't think it would keep you out this long."
Isabella came closer to explain.
"That's because Lady Luck was smiling on me," Vivian said.
"Oh~ Mom, does that mean you found a job?" Katherine asked excitedly.
"Mm… something like that. I've got one good piece of news and one bad piece of news. Which do you want first?"
Vivian teased them.
But neither daughter cared about the suspense.
What mattered most was that Mom seemed energized again.
Having a goal—and conquering it—that was the surest way to find her strength.
"I'll take the bad news first."
Katherine eagerly played along.
"Okay. The bad news is I visited four theaters today, and not a single one wanted me."
Vivian smiled as she said it.
"Ah?"
Katherine froze.
No theaters wanted Mom?
That meant… she hadn't found work?
So then what was this so-called good news?
"So?" Katherine asked, bewildered.
Vivian didn't answer right away. Instead, she looked deeply into her eldest daughter's eyes, then slowly turned to gaze at her younger one.
After a long, almost unnerving pause, she finally spoke:
"The good news is… this afternoon, I had a two-hour tea meeting with people from Warner Bros." Vivian's lips curled into a smile as she looked at Isabella. "Congratulations, Isabella. You passed the Hermione Granger audition with top marks…"
Boom!
Both Isabella and Katherine felt as though thunder had exploded in their ears. In an instant, their blood ran cold.
Wait—
How on earth did Mom know they'd gone to audition for Hermione Granger?
They had only gone to Leavesden this morning!
And they'd left their own contact details!
No—
Earlier today, it was Jesse who drove them home.
And recalling his parting words of encouragement, Isabella's face went pale.
Oh no.She'd been set up by the capital.