Chapter 244: Curiosity
Wind and snow fell together.
Then Fleur felt something warm and wet.
The next moment, her vision returned. A huge horse head hovered directly in front of her face, enormous fire-red eyes fixed on her. A young Abraxan had lowered its head and was giving her cheek another slow, unhurried lick.
The source of the warmth was not difficult to identify.
"You're back with us?"
Following the calm voice, Fleur found Leonardo standing a short distance away, a silver pocket watch open in his hand.
The snow was falling all around, but his black robes and pale blue scarf were untouched by it, and the wind hadn't disturbed a single strand of his dark gold hair.
As though the weather had decided not to bother him.
The moment her eyes found his, though, Fleur instinctively looked away. The soul-deep rigidity from a moment ago still sent a shiver through her, and her heartbeat had not entirely settled.
Her reaction led Leonardo to conclude she hadn't quite recovered yet. The Eye of Arcane Perception, reshaped through the basilisk eye fusion, now carried an effect similar to petrification — and the students who had been petrified by the basilisk had all described the experience as deeply unpleasant.
This was a bit of a problem.
He glanced down at the pocket watch. The petrification had lasted two minutes and thirty-seven seconds.
Was direct eye contact at close range, making the effect stronger?
Probably, and there was the matter of magical power as well.
Thanks to his SS-rank magical aptitude, Leonardo's reserves had been growing rapidly — near enough a visible increase every month or two. The petrification effect of the Eye of Arcane Perception was directly tied to his magical reserves, and the greater the gap between his power and the other person's, the more pronounced the effect.
The gap between him and Fleur, evidently, was considerable.
Once she had calmed down a little, Fleur noticed that the wind and snow were keeping their distance from her too. She wasn't cold at all. She glanced at the young Abraxan swaying its head beside her, unsure whether it was the heat from its flames that had kept the chill away, or something else.
She was about to look toward Leonardo when she heard him say:
"That was an accident. I'm sorry for it—"
He hadn't finished before Fleur was already waving him off.
"It's fine, it's fine. An accident. Don't worry about it."
She tilted her head slightly to the side, a faint trace of embarrassment on her face.
She didn't fully understand how he had put her into that strange rigid state, but she could piece together enough — it had something to do with their eyes meeting, something to do with his.
That close, direct stare had been neither polite nor particularly ladylike of her.
It had come from curiosity. She was curious about Leonardo.
Curious about how someone three years younger than her had managed to impress Nicolas Flamel — what talent, what ability had earned him a place as that legendary alchemist's student.
And curious about his eyes.
Fleur's maternal grandmother was a full-blooded Veela. Because of that bloodline, she had grown up with beauty that drew notice wherever she went. Because of the allure that came with it, she had always had an unusual effect on the men around her.
She had seen obsession in men's eyes. Admiration. Things more unsettling than either.
But the first time she had seen Leonardo, at the school gates — the way the look in his eyes had cleared so quickly — that was something she rarely encountered. Especially from someone close to her own age.
So she was genuinely curious. What kind of person was Leonardo Grafton?