CHAPTER 813: CHAPTER 813: LONG-AWAITED REUNION

As the home of Beauxbatons—one of the three major wizarding schools in Europe—and birthplace of the famed alchemist Nicolas Flamel, France holds a prestigious place in the magical world.

Though it may not be as globally recognized or celebrated as Britain, there is one point of pride... The French Minister for Magic can confidently proclaim at diplomatic meetings that their country hasn’t produced a single notorious Dark wizard in the past few centuries—giving them a far better reputation than Britain by any measure.

It was only seventy years ago, when Grindelwald suddenly appeared to hold a rally, that France’s centuries-long peace was disrupted.

But that was the one and only time. Ever since Grindelwald, the region has remained peaceful, and French wizards appear more relaxed compared to their British counterparts.

...

In the heart of Paris, at the center of Place Fürstenberg, stood a building with a particularly unique shape—its exterior resembled an arrow pointing left, or rather, a vertical triangle.

Its unusual design had drawn quite a bit of attention, making it a minor local attraction. What most people didn’t know, however, was that this building was even more famous in the wizarding world.

This was the French Ministry of Magic—and Kyle’s destination.

Even though the drunken Muggle hadn’t answered Kyle’s question, the moment he heard it, the answer had already taken shape in his mind.

Which meant Kyle didn’t need a response. The Wampus Cat had seen everything clearly: this precise location, along with a complete map of the city.

Fortunately, Kyle hadn’t been far from Place Fürstenberg—just a few streets away—and he reached it within half an hour.

At eight o’clock sharp, Kyle stood before the massive glass doors. After adjusting his clothes, he walked forward calmly.

He paid no attention to the security guard or the open door, heading instead toward the fountain in front of the building.

There were two statues beside the fountain. Kyle considered for a moment before choosing the winged horse on the left. As he approached, the statue’s wings lifted, revealing a hidden passage.

The moment he stepped inside, the world around him transformed.

The bustling streets and tall buildings vanished, replaced by oddly shaped structures. The attire of the passersby shifted from suits, dresses, and stylish shirts to the traditional long robes of wizards.

It was France’s version of "Diagon Alley."

Of course, it wasn’t actually called Diagon Alley here—but the concept was the same: a shopping street only accessible to wizards.

"Good thing I picked the right one," Kyle exhaled in relief. He remembered Fleur mentioning that there were two active entrances—one here, and another that led straight into the Ministry. If he’d taken the wrong one, he’d be explaining his presence to a group of Aurors right now.

Thankfully, his memory hadn’t failed him.

Kyle continued walking, eyes filled with curiosity as he took in the French shops.

To the left of the entrance was a massive candy store—at least five times the size of Honeydukes—lined wall-to-wall with all sorts of confections Kyle had never seen before. More than half the selection appeared to be chocolate.

It was probably because Beauxbatons had already started the school year that the shop wasn’t crowded.

Opposite the candy shop was what he assumed was a stationery store. Kyle couldn’t read the stylized French script on the sign, but he recognized the quills and parchment through the window—no need to decipher the name.

Farther ahead were a broomstick shop, a pet store, a bookstore, a souvenir shop, a secondhand goods store, and—most eye-catching of all, right in the middle of the street—the Gringotts Wizarding Bank, built from gleaming white marble.

The types of stores were much like those in Diagon Alley, but the architectural styles were entirely different.

Diagon Alley preserved its centuries-old, unchanging traditional aesthetic—its buildings, many dating back to the previous century or even earlier, never felt out of place in any era.

By contrast, the French shops were clearly much newer. Kyle could tell at a glance that many of them had been built in recent years.

One shop, the broomstick store, even had a metal security door—the Muggle kind.

Kyle had a hard time believing such a thing could stop an Unlocking Charm.

He walked on, past Gringotts and a noisy pub, before finally stopping near the end of the street.

"Prince Potions."

He glanced at the neatly printed French sign and nodded. "This should be it."

But something puzzled him. All the neighboring shops were open and doing business—except this one. Its door was shut, and the display windows were completely bare.

Could Kanna not be here?

Kyle paused, then looked back up at the sign.

Prince... That had to be it. There couldn’t possibly be another Prince shop in France, could there?

With a might as well try attitude, he stepped forward and knocked on the door.

No response.

He knocked several more times. Still nothing.

"No way... she’s really not here?"

Kyle was baffled. The address matched, the name matched—how could there be no one inside?

Had Kanna come to France but set up shop somewhere else?

Just as he was debating whether to give Fleur the letter, a sound finally came from inside the shop.

"Sorry, we’re closed today."

The moment he heard the voice, Kyle felt a wave of relief wash over him.

Though the speaker used French, Kyle recognized it immediately—it was Kanna.

"Ministry of Magic inspection, please open the door," Kyle said, clearing his throat.

Inside, there was a sudden rush of footsteps—but it quickly went quiet again.

A few minutes later, with a creak, the door opened.

Kanna looked like she had just woken up, her hair hastily combed—but her face was lit up with surprise.

"Kyle!" Her voice carried a trace of disbelief, but she had already thrown herself at him without thinking.

Kyle quickly opened his arms to catch her, and after such a long separation, the two of them embraced tightly in front of the shop.

In that moment, neither of them cared about the passersby’s stares. They just held each other close, unwilling to let go. Then, Kyle felt his lips brush against something soft and sweet—like creamy custard pudding.

He didn’t know how much time had passed. It could have been ten minutes, an hour, or even longer.

"Hey, that’s enough," came another voice from inside the shop. "I get how emotional this is, but can’t you take it inside? Aren’t you tired of standing there?"

Though Fleur was a half-Veela, at that moment Kyle felt certain her voice had been cursed by a witch—it was that grating... even if she was a witch herself.

"Aren’t the French supposed to be romantic?" Kyle muttered, eyeing Fleur as she leaned against a shelf. "Why are you being so uptight?"

"Do you even hear yourself?" Fleur snapped, instantly flaring up. "Spare a thought for me, will you? I left my boyfriend behind and came all the way here to stay with Kanna, and you’re calling me meddlesome?"

The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. She and Bill had been in the middle of a passionate relationship, already talking about marriage when she left.

And now Kyle not only failed to thank her for abandoning her fiancé to help care for his girlfriend—he had the nerve to say something so heartless.

She looked ready to explode. Snatching up a bottle of potion, she lunged at Kyle, but thankfully, Kanna intervened just in time.

Kanna had already shaken off the initial surprise of seeing Kyle.

"Calm down, calm down. Don’t stoop to his level," she said, soothing Fleur while shooting Kyle a scolding glare.

"All right, I’m sorry," Kyle quickly raised both hands in surrender. When in Rome...

"To make it up to you," he said, pulling out a gift he’d prepared in advance, "this is for you."

"What is this?" Fleur’s anger finally began to ease as she picked up the bottle on the table. "It looks like shampoo."

"Pretty much," Kyle said. "Newt studied Veela, and apparently these magical creatures tend to shed a lot in autumn. Since you’re half Veela, I figured you might have the same issue, so I used ginger root, Lady’s Mantle, and mandrake juice to create a hair care—"

Before he could finish, a bottle came flying toward him, grazing his ear and smashing into the wall behind him. Kanna hadn’t even tried to stop her.

Or maybe... she never planned to.

Considering he’d managed to infuriate the usually aloof Fleur that much, taking a hit seemed fair. The only pity was that it had been one of her Invigoration Draughts.

Kanna sighed and shut the door again.

It wasn’t until twenty minutes later that the shop finally quieted down. Fleur sat panting, glaring daggers at Kyle.

Interestingly, however, the gift Kyle had brought was no longer on the table.

"So? What are you doing in France at a time like this?"

"Wait!" At that moment, Kanna suddenly realized something. "Why did you show up here all of a sudden? Is something happening in Britain?"

"Relax, everything’s fine over there. You-Know-Who and his Death Eaters have been keeping a low profile lately—no one’s seen them around."

"And Hogwarts has started its term as usual, so I thought I’d come see you," Kyle said. He gave a wave of his hand, and the shattered items on the floor reassembled themselves and floated back to their places.

This was a wizarding shopping street, after all. With only wizards around, using magic here was perfectly fine.

"By the way, how did you know it was me outside?" he asked casually.

When Kanna had opened the door, she’d rushed out without a hint of hesitation. It was obvious she’d already known it was him.

"Of course I knew," Kanna said with a smile. "If it had been a French wizard, they wouldn’t have spoken such awful French."

"My French is that bad?" Kyle scratched his head. He thought his pronunciation was decent.

"My sister could speak better French at ten months old," Fleur sneered.

"Okay, fine," Kyle sighed. "I really should’ve brought a translator. This trip’s been nothing but trouble."

"How did you get here? Portkey?" Kanna poured him a glass of cherry soda—a popular drink in France, about as common as pumpkin fizz in the UK.

"No, I didn’t use a Portkey," Kyle explained. "Fawkes brought me. That way I could stay off the Ministry’s radar."

"Fawkes..." Kanna blinked. "You mean Professor Dumbledore’s phoenix?"

"Yeah. Gotta say, it’s really convenient," Kyle said, rubbing his forehead. "Though the ride itself could be a bit more comfortable."

Fleur was sitting nearby, but Kyle didn’t try to hide anything from her.

She was someone he trusted.

And realistically, it was only a matter of time before she and Bill got married, which meant she’d eventually be part of the Order of the Phoenix too. There was no reason to keep secrets.

That said, Fleur didn’t seem particularly interested in the phoenix. Her mind was clearly on something else.

"I’m really curious... with how terrible your French is, how did you even manage to find this place?" She stared at Kyle. "The French Ministry of Magic takes Place Fürstenberg very seriously. There are Aurors all over the area—they wouldn’t just miss a wizard suddenly showing up."

"Is that so?" Kyle blinked. "Then I guess I got lucky. I appeared three streets away—not exactly close, but not too far either."

"Then how did you get here? Don’t tell me you asked for directions."

"Of course I did." Kyle replied with complete seriousness. "I asked a Muggle. He was very enthusiastic—and he understood everything I said."

"Really?"

Fleur sounded doubtful. But since Kyle had made it there without Aurors chasing after him, it probably meant he really hadn’t used any magic.

"But still... that doesn’t make sense. Are Muggles really that tolerant of foreign languages?" she muttered to herself. "No, you must’ve found a Muggle who speaks English."

Kyle chose to ignore her baseless guesswork.

"Anyway, it’s nearly noon. Why aren’t you open yet?" he asked, smoothly changing the subject. "Are you actually running a potion shop?"

"Of course..."

"Of course we are. What else would we be doing?" Kanna cut in before Fleur could answer. "I just don’t like opening that early, that’s all."

"This shop’s not meant to make money anyway, so we do things however we like. Normally, we don’t even open until noon."

"Then why’s the display window empty?" Kyle pointed behind him.

"Obviously because everything’s sold out," Kanna said. "Beauxbatons started its term a few days ago, and the students practically cleared out our stock."

"I wasn’t planning to open today at all—I need to restock first."

To back up her claim, she got up and opened a door in the back.

Kyle leaned in and saw shelves full of potion bottles. The room was packed, wall to wall, with just a small open space near the door to walk through.

Seeing all that, Kyle believed her.

There was no way to fake that many potions, and clearly, Kanna was running this shop with real dedication. That alone put his mind at ease.

...

They moved on to another topic, with most of the conversation between Kyle and Kanna.

After being apart for so long, it felt like they had endless things to say.

"I’m telling you, France is fascinating. Did you see those alchemy shops when you came in?" At some point, Kanna had taken Kyle’s hand.

"I did—three of them," Kyle nodded.

"There’s more than that," Kanna said. "People here don’t seem to care much for potions. They prefer alchemy."

"Then can you still sell yours?"

"That’s exactly why they’re popular," Kanna said. "Potions do things alchemy can’t replace. Even if they don’t value it much, there’s still a need."

"Fair point."

"How are things back in Britain?"

"Not bad," Kyle said. "The Death Eaters were pretty active when Hogwarts first went on break, but things have quieted down lately. Oh—and Lupin and Nymphadora got married."

"Really? When?"

"Beginning of August."

"Pity I couldn’t be there."

"It’s fine. Honestly, it was dangerous that day—Bellatrix showed up with Death Eaters to crash the wedding."

...

The two of them chatted away, completely wrapped up in each other. At first, Fleur could still sit and listen, but as time went on, the atmosphere began to feel increasingly off.

It was like... she didn’t exist.

She—Fleur—a half-Veela, who always stood out wherever she went, had never imagined there would be a day when someone could just ignore her.

And yet today, it was happening.

It was as if some magical aura surrounded the two of them, shutting out the rest of the world. Fleur had tried to chime in several times, but had been completely brushed aside.

"Excuse me, can you two show me a little respect?" she snapped. This time, she finally got a reaction.

"What’s the matter?" Kyle looked up.

"I was trying to ask—how’s Bill been lately?"

"You two write letters so often you’re probably wearing out three owls a day, and you still need to ask me how he’s doing?" Kyle said leisurely. "Besides, if there were something wrong with Bill, do you really think I wouldn’t have mentioned it by now?"

Fleur took a deep breath. Her manners kept her smiling, but no one could guess what was going on in her mind.

"Carry on... I’m going out for a walk."

She stood up, slammed the door behind her, and stormed off.

She couldn’t stay in that place another minute.