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The conductor was issuing tickets while trying to upsell additional services.
"Then we'll each have a hot chocolate as well," Ian said generously, much to Lupin's surprise. Lupin clearly didn't realize just how much debt Ian had mentally tallied under his name.
The impoverished werewolf thought Ian was treating him to both the fare and the hot chocolate. Little did he know that, according to Ian's calculations, this trip wouldn't cost him a thing, in fact, he'd make a profit.
"All right then! Wishing you both a pleasant journey!"
With a bright smile, the conductor served hot chocolate to the two of them, just as the Knight Bus suddenly roared to life, and the huge burst of inertia nearly caused Ian to splash hot chocolate all over his face.
Fortunately, the jolt from acceleration only lasted about a second.
"This is pretty fast," Ian commented, regaining his balance and holding the hot chocolate steady.
"Why do you look so smug?" Lupin asked suspiciously. He'd woken up that morning with an empty stomach and hadn't had time to eat breakfast. Now sipping the hot chocolate gently, he turned to look at Ian in puzzlement.
"Wouldn't you be happy if you made money?"
Ian replied cheerfully, though his words were vague. His eyes were fixed forward, where the driver, apparently unfamiliar with handling the steering wheel, kept veering the Knight Bus onto the sidewalk.
Fortunately, this ultra-fast bus didn't hit anything.
Streetlights, mailboxes, and trash bins all leapt aside on their own when the bus approached, then returned to their original positions after it passed.
It was absolutely magical.
It almost felt like the space itself was being distorted.
"You're talking about Greengrass House reimbursing your travel expenses, right?" Lupin guessed aloud, rubbing his right eye. For some reason, his eye had been twitching badly all day.
Probably from poor sleep.
"How are those werewolves doing lately?" Ian didn't answer the question directly. Instead, he suddenly changed the subject, catching Lupin off guard. After a moment's pause, Lupin responded.
"You had me go collect blood samples a few times, they didn't resist at all. You must've scared them into some kind of psychological trauma." Lupin's tone was tinged with both surprise and reflection.
He had never imagined the werewolves in Knockturn Alley could have such a well-behaved side.
"You gave them money, right?"
After confirming Lupin had paid them, Ian nodded in satisfaction. "I'm not the kind of person who robs blood from others. Only when I've paid can I use their blood with a clear conscience."
Faced with Ian's self-righteous declaration, Lupin was left speechless.
"With the tiny amount you gave… might as well not have paid them at all…"
Even he found the amount laughable, which said a lot.
"Money stinks of copper. My care for them is priceless. Haven't you heard the saying: 'Love is the most valuable kind of magic'?" Ian didn't give Lupin any time to question the obvious contradictions in that logic.
"See? This is my token of care for them." As he spoke, he pulled out a brand-new cloth pouch, which had clearly been magically expanded using a Permanent Extension Charm.
Inside was a space roughly the size of an entire room, packed full of all kinds of food items.
"Red dates, pig liver, mulberries, longan fruit, kelp, spinach, black beans, angelica root, donkey-hide gelatin, polygonum multiflorum, rehmannia glutinosa…" Lupin examined the contents one by one.
Yes.
They were all relatively fresh, hard-to-find items. But the more Lupin looked through them, the more something felt off. These didn't seem like ordinary groceries at all.
"Make sure they eat more, get proper nourishment, can't have the werewolves going hungry," Ian said warmly, pushing the pouch into Lupin's hands.
His tone was so filled with care that Lupin began to wonder if perhaps he was overthinking things.
"Alright, I'll thank you on their behalf… Their food supplies have indeed been quite scarce lately." Lupin didn't think too much about it. After storing the pouch away, he replied softly.
"Let them eat more, eat plenty! I've got loads more where that came from." Ian's smile grew even wider.
"You went pretty hard on them last time, you're surprisingly warmhearted," Lupin couldn't help but remark, as if seeing a new side to the young wizard's personality.
How to put it…
A study-loser when it comes to Potions, but sometimes, truly pure of heart.
…
Time passed slowly.
With the Knight Bus breaking every traffic law and speeding nonstop, the journey of over 100 kilometers from London to Wiltshire was completed in just under ten minutes.
Even high-speed trains decades in the future might not reach this kind of velocity.
"Please ride with us again! Remember, just raise your wand if you need us, the Knight Bus is always at your service!" As he said goodbye to the two passengers, the conductor cheerfully addressed Ian.
Perhaps his sharp eyes had already discerned that Lupin was the kind of wizard who couldn't afford a ride on the Knight Bus alone.
"It looks like my destination is still a bit further ahead?" Ian looked around. The area was clearly remote countryside, desolate, with only a faint silhouette of a building visible in the distance.
"Can't help it. We're not allowed to get too close to noble families' estates." The conductor, Stan, shrugged and made a little "see you again" gesture while hanging off the door.
"You'll have to walk the rest of the way yourselves."
With a loud BANG, the bus doors shut, and in the next instant, the Knight Bus vanished into thin air. Such a magical sight only made Ian more certain, there's no way the Knight Bus didn't involve advanced alchemical methods.
"One day, I'll get one to study myself!" He turned to look at Lupin, who didn't look too well, pale and a bit nauseous, like he was carsick.
"You okay?" Ian offered him a homemade preserved plum candy. This wasn't a joke; something sweet and sour can actually help with motion sickness.
"That driver's a lunatic. Can't drive, yet still insists on doing it," Lupin muttered under his breath, eyeing the candy but not reaching out to take it.
The ever-cautious werewolf didn't dare eat anything handed to him by Ian. He was afraid that Ian might've laced it with some sleep-inducing potion or sedative. After all, Ian had always been a little too interested in his "pure" werewolf blood.
"I agree. Tie a border collie to the steering wheel and it'd probably drive better than that guy." Dragging his small suitcase, Ian walked alongside Lupin down the narrow path,
After walking for just over ten minutes, a grand, imposing estate came into view.
Perhaps the Greengrass family wasn't as rich as the Malfoys, but they were still part of the Sacred Twenty-Eight, and these pure-blood families pretty much controlled all of the most profitable industries in the wizarding world.
So by wizarding standards, the Greengrasses were definitely well-off.
(To Be Continued…)
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