Chapter 242: Fleur's Warning
Two barrels floated at Leonardo's sides as he walked steadily toward the Abraxans, the falling snow parting around the hem of his robes.
Sensing a stranger's approach, the herd turned to look. Fire-red eyes sharpened with instinctive wariness, and hot breath shot from their nostrils in brief, ember-flecked bursts.
But as Leonardo drew closer and they caught his scent, the wariness in their eyes faded considerably.
He noticed the shift and smiled slightly. A tap of his wand sent the barrel lids flipping open, and thin tendrils of wind curled from the tip, carrying the rich scent of the whisky toward the herd.
The Abraxans' nostrils flared. The last of the wariness vanished. One or two of the younger ones were already shifting their weight forward, impatient.
Proper little drunks, Leonardo thought, glancing at the pure malt whisky in the barrels. It was a favourite of the breed.
He was in the mountain range surrounding Beauxbatons — a stretch of terrain that served much the same purpose as Hogwarts' Forbidden Forest, home to a wide variety of magical creatures, including the Abraxans that were native to the area.
He had come partly to observe them, partly to gather materials for Alchemy and Potions work. He had cleared the trip with Madame Maxime beforehand, naturally. He wasn't at Hogwarts, where he had long since started treating the Forbidden Forest as his own back garden.
"Hogwarts student. I would advise you not to go any closer. Those horses have difficult temperaments."
A clear, melodious voice came from behind him, carrying a faint coolness.
Leonardo didn't look particularly surprised. He kept walking at the same pace.
"Thank you for the warning, Miss Delacour."
In the snow, some fifteen metres back stood a girl who looked as though she had stepped out of the landscape itself. She wore a long silk school robe embroidered at the chest with two crossed golden wands, each crowned with three stars — the crest of Beauxbatons. A soft silver radiance, like moonlight made faint, surrounded her, making her already striking features seem all the more otherworldly.
At being named so directly, Fleur's beautiful face showed a brief flash of surprise.
She had been following at a distance, hanging well back. When Leonardo showed no reaction at all, she had assumed he simply hadn't noticed her.
While she was still processing that, two young Abraxans had already trotted up to Leonardo.
Even at their age, they were large enough to look down at him.
Fleur instinctively opened her mouth to warn him. Abraxans were notoriously ill-tempered toward strange creatures that came too close, and the younger ones were especially prone to lashing out.
But what happened next stopped the words in her throat.
Both Abraxans lowered their enormous heads and nuzzled into Leonardo's outstretched palm with something that looked unmistakably like affection.
Leonardo waved his wand. Amber-coloured pure malt whisky lifted from the barrels and divided into several bright, thin streams.
A snap of his fingers.
A ball of orange flame ignited in mid-air. The streams of whisky passed through it, warming from cold to pleasantly heated, then drifted in trailing wisps of white steam toward the Abraxans' waiting mouths.
He turned to look back at Fleur.
"Thank you again for the kind thought. I'm reasonably comfortable around magical creatures."
Fleur's brow furrowed slightly.
"I had assumed Nicolas Flamel's student would be entirely devoted to Alchemy."