"Beep, beep, beep—"
Lupin rubbed his slightly throbbing head, suppressing the urge to check whether his "surgery" was successful by unbuttoning his pants. After all, he had just discerned who the owner of that sound was, and the other person’s frequent twisted sense of humor didn’t worry him too much... But maybe he should check?
"Uh, what’s this on ...?"
Lupin, who had been about to sit up, suddenly felt a pulling force on his chest. He instinctively lifted his clothes, only to discover that several white circular patches were stuck around his chest, each connected to a white wire leading to a tal box by his side, from which the beeping sounds emanated.
"Hey, take it easy, don’t tear them off—"
William stepped forward to stop the man’s rough actions and helped him remove the electrode patches stuck to his chest. "This is to monitor the heart, mainly to see the level of stimulation the dream can achieve... Muggle technology." William patted the ECG machine beside him, explaining to Lupin.
"A dream?"
Lupin keenly caught onto William’s words. He frowned, his light brown eyes glinting slightly. "So you’re saying that everything I just experienced... was rely a dream?"
"So, how was the experience?"
William nodded while packing up the equipnt, admitting that everything Lupin experienced from earlier was his doing.
"..."
What do you an, ’how’s the experience’?
Was it almost having his neck bitten off by a black dog? Or nearly having his knees chopped by an armored goblin? Or perhaps being hit from behind by an Avada Kedavra?
Lupin was not familiar with the sensation of being hit by a Killing Curse, or one might say, nobody in the world should know it, as all historical records indicate anyone hit directly by such a curse has died, but the feelings in the dream... Lupin felt it might truly be akin to the sensation of death.
Despair, suffocation, emptiness... At the mont of being cursed, nearly every negative emotion that resides in human hearts surged toward him.
"...Perhaps next ti, if you have a similar... experint, you could notify in advance."
Lupin silently stared at William’s back for a long ti before finally letting out a sigh and making his suggestion.
"Notify you in advance, and you’ll be ntally prepared—"
Suggestion rejected. William provided his reasoning, "An initial test needs the most authentic data. You did well; you slept the soundest among everyone." With that, William pulled out a notebook from his pocket and started scribbling.
"Slept the soundest..."
For so reason, Lupin felt this description was a bit odd, but he didn’t refute it. He looked up and only then noticed that the room contained more than just his bed; there was a row of them, and even a group of people lay on the last bed.
"Is he the one from last night?"
Lupin, pulling his clothes on to sit up, instantly recognized the man nearest to him as the only Animagus William had captured alive in the sky the previous night. The scars on the man’s face had hardly been tended to, and the other line of individuals seed all to be captives caught on the deck. At the mont, they, like Lupin just monts earlier, had white wires attached to them, their eyes tightly shut, and a terror-stricken expression overflowing on their faces.
"Uh-huh, don’t look at them. They haven’t climbed towers as tall as you have..."
William, without looking up, said, "It’s just that they haven’t woken up yet. This bird-man, if I rember correctly, has restarted three tis... Each ti, he gets decapitated by those armored goblins... Hmm, perhaps I should balance the numbers for the goblin archer; they’re supposed to be an ADC but can’t seem to snag any kills..."
With that, William continued jotting down notes in his notebook.
"Those empty beds..."
"Oh, the one next to you belongs to Mundungus, who couldn’t even handle a few Spinybacked Orbweavers. There are also a few volunteers among the crew who, once they awaken, are set free. The current highest record is just reaching the Armored Troll stage, which today secured the most kills to beco MVP— Hey, how did you get past that tal brute?"
"Uh, used a Diffindo to strip off its armor..."
"That’s one way, though a bit strenuous... Actually, you can just roast it with fire, but the sll of roasting a troll inside a covered pot is a bit potent. It’s like... uh, like stuffing unwashed ten-month-old socks into an oven and roasting for twenty-eight minutes before taking it out..."
William hit the notebook as he tried to vividly describe the odor while frowning slightly.
"Hiss... Uh, but wasn’t the armor supposed to be immune to magic?"
Sensing the sll William described, Lupin’s facial features knotted together, yet he asked curiously, having tried nurous charms, all of which vanished upon contact with the armor as if void of any power.
"Fiendfyre."
Well, nothing more to say.
Upon hearing William’s thod, Lupin fell silent briefly before nodding. Dark Arts were known for this. "So what about these people, when do you plan to wake them—"
"Wake them? What’s the point of waking these scoundrels?"
William glanced oddly at Lupin. "Co on, these poachers invaded our ship and even tried to snatch my dragon, my Niffler, my Thunderbird, and Dumbledore’s phoenix. Plus, they are all Black Wizards..."
"Shouldn’t this an turning them over to the Ministry of Magic—"
"We’re at the British-French border, we’re a British rchant ship, and these people are Germans— now tell , which Ministry of Magic should I notify?"
"..."
"Don’t think about it; no one wants to handle these hot potatoes, especially the British Ministry of Magic—"
"Why?"
"Because it falls under international affairs, and their identity—"
William reached over, flipping open the man’s collar to reveal a badge to Lupin beside him. "Recognize this?"
"...Looks familiar."
"Poachers, specializing in hunting and capturing Magical Creatures for performance and sale. Every hazardous species circulated on the market has one or the other of their doing. I once thought it was confined to within the United Kingdom, but who knows if it’s fast developnt over the century or just my previous ignorance of the mainland— this is an international organization now—"
Following William’s explanation, Lupin now seed to recall sothing, although he was sowhat confused about what William ant by a century.
"So what do you intend to do with them?"
Choosing not to ask further, Lupin shifted to a question he found more concerning.
"Keep so as captives, Mundungus ntioned the ship is short-handed—"
If not for Mundungus’s request, William would have initially planned to turn them all into fertilizer. Of course, remaining individuals would certainly have so charms cast on them, "Two of them seem to be leaders, bring them back to locate their hideout, there’s sothing there I want— By the way, Dumbledore suggests you accompany this sumr? Once we reach land, you’ll co along with ..."
Lupin had no objections to accompanying, "What is it you want?"
"Follow ."
William nodded, turning to walk towards the door.
Reviews
All reviews (0)