Chapter 556: Chapter 161: Returning to Diagon Alley, The Spinning Alley Fright_4
"That senior of yours is no good person."
Lupin’s voice grew heavy as he delivered a vague warning. Every ti he thought of the one who once walked out of here, he found it hard to suppress the deep sorrow he felt for his departed companions.
"What a coincidence."
Ian’s answer was brief and to the point.
Lupin couldn’t help but glance at him several tis. He led Ian all the way back to his own gloomy little room, then walked over to a wall partially hidden behind a pile of junk.
And then—
Lupin pointed his wand and moved aside the clutter piled up in the room, then gently tapped the wall with his wand. The apparently solid wall began to shift, just like the wall at the Broken Cauldron Bar.
The wall was transforming.
It wasn’t simply sliding or being pushed aside.
Instead, it disappeared in a way that felt both elegant and infused with magical power, as if space itself were being rewoven, revealing a hidden secret chamber behind it.
It was an old-looking fireplace, still carrying traces of residual warmth. Ian suspected Lupin had recently used this Floo Network entrance to Knockturn Alley to buy Wolf Poison Flavor Potion.
"How did you find this place?" Ian curiously examined the wall hiding the fireplace; the traces of magic on it were deep and hard to discern.
He wasn’t looking down on Lupin’s capabilities—this was obviously one of Senior Tom’s later works, and there was no way a washed-up werewolf could discover it so easily.
"Information from Dumbledore."
Lupin’s reply confird Ian’s guess. Ordinary wizards would never notice sothing Tom hid, but if it were the old headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, that was another matter entirely.
"You’ve never used the Floo Network, have you?" Seeing the little wizard’s eager look, Lupin figured out Ian’s situation and cheerfully took out a small cloth pouch.
"Life’s full of first tis."
He offered a philosophical line, then pointed his wand at the fireplace. Without uttering any incantation, a small, ever-growing fla ignited within the grate.
The tongues of fire licked and flickered.
The flas quickly engulfed the entire interior of the fireplace.
"That’s the Fire-Making Spell. I used silent spellcasting—you might learn this in your senior years," Lupin said with just a hint of pride to the little wizard.
Perhaps, in the original tiline, Lupin beca a teacher precisely because of his natural urge to teach others.
"Impressive,"
Ian clapped politely, proffering so emotional validation.
Lupin’s mood visibly lifted.
"Study hard, young one," he said with a chuckle, fishing out a pinch of powder from the little cloth bag and tossing the sparkling dust straight into the fire.
"Whoosh—"
In that instant—
As the flas soared upward—
It was as though they’d been tinted with an unusual hue; the flas in the fireplace turned erald green in the blink of an eye and shot up taller than a grown man.
"The key to using the Floo Network is to enunciate very clearly—be careful not to inhale the ash that flies up, and don’t move around too much while you’re inside,"
"If you feel dizzy during the process, don’t panic—it’s perfectly normal, so people just..." Lupin continued, teaching the little wizard all the proper Floo etiquette.
This ti, his penchant for instructing others was actually useful. Ian concentrated on morizing every detail. However, as Ian was about to repeat the seven or eight rules,
"Of course, this fireplace is a bit special. It can only send you to a specific place, so it doesn’t matter what you shout," Lupin’s final conclusion nearly made Ian lose his composure.
He almost took out his little notebook to jot down Lupin’s na.
"I’ll show you how it works, and et you on the other side." Lupin, sensing the little wizard’s less-than-friendly gaze, gave a sheepish grin and charged straight into the fireplace.
"Hogwarts!"
He shouted the na of the school that carried the happiest mories of his life.
The next instant—
With a crisp swoosh and a flicker of fla, Lupin vanished from the room under Ian’s gaze, leaving behind only Ian and the flickering fire in the dim room.
With Lupin gone, the fire resud its normal color and shrank considerably, once again becoming the blaze of a mundane hearth.
"Interesting."
Ian began analyzing the operation of the Floo Network in his mind. But to learn more about how it was constructed, he’d clearly have to try it out for himself.
"Misty Illusion Realm!"
Ian grabbed Lupin’s little cloth pouch, tossed in a bit of the sparkling powder, and, after watching the flas change color, carefully packed up the rest of the Floo powder before stepping in.
This was unlike anything Ian had ever experienced before—the sensation was utterly unlike Apparition. He saw flas billowing all around him, but instead of burning him, they felt incredibly warm.
Puffs of hot air even lifted the hem of Ian’s robe, giving him the curious sensation of stepping into a balmy holiday resort—except, through the fiery glow, everything around him looked utterly chaotic.
The scenery spun around him.
But not violently.
Only a whistling in his ears, sowhat sharp, and a faint pressure, reminded Ian of the feeling of an airplane just as it was taking off for the first ti.
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