Not to mention the werewolf couple nearby who stood frozen in shock, even Allen himself was feeling secondhand embarrassment from watching the scene unfold.
Mr. Auror, you really went and planted a giant death flag with that speech. Does your family know what kind of romantic nonsense you're spouting out here?
Well, whatever they were doing, it clearly wasn't lab-related. In any case, this middle-aged Auror uncle didn't look like someone worth grooming as a successor, so it must've been some personal mission.
Not that Allen wasn't curious. Of course he was. But he also knew how curiosity killed the cat, and besides, a literal horde of zombies was about to descend, ahem, correction: Lord Voldemort was about to make a grand reappearance and start farming XP on the Hogwarts Map. Who had time to mind other people's drama?
Eventually, the lovebirds reluctantly parted ways. The female chieftain even cast a spell to make the blush on her cheeks disappear, but no spell could erase the twinkle in her eyes or the subtle lift at the corners of her lips. Even from this distance, Allen and the others could see it crystal clear.
She quickly straightened her clothes, smoothed out the wrinkles, and did her best to look composed before disappearing from view. A moment later, voices of the werewolf guards rang out from the distance.
Meanwhile, the Auror stood there like a lovestruck idiot, staring longingly in the direction she had gone. It took him ages before he finally used Apparition to leave.
Damn it, love really is poison. Back in the day, this same idiot would've immediately spotted Allen and the others hiding in the shadows and launched a preemptive strike, after all, they were unknown intruders. The best strategy would've been to take them out first and brag about it to his beloved afterward. That would've been the perfect chance to show off!
After all that, no one was in the mood for small talk anymore. With a quick goodbye to the guards, Allen and the others stepped into the green flames of the Floo network.
As for the whole chieftain-and-Auror affair? Yeah, right. What did that have to do with them? It's not like they were getting even a single Knut out of it.
Once they exited the fireplace, Annie looked a bit dazed. That's when Allen realized he'd been too caught up in watching the gossip to remember to cover the girl's eyes. With a sigh, he flicked her on the forehead.
"That's enough. Stop daydreaming. Grown-up business has nothing to do with you."
••┈┈┈┈┈༓┈┈┈┈┈•••
Thanks to Allen's previous visit, the shopping for supplies went relatively quickly. Still, the remaining time in the morning was clearly not enough.
So, around noon, Allen took Annie and left Balance Street.
Although they still had some shopping left to do in the afternoon, there was no way Allen was going to settle for just a casual bite to eat while he was out.
Are you kidding me? The whole reason he'd rushed through errands this morning was precisely to make time for a proper lunch!
To hell with British cuisine! To hell with Ilvermorny's cafeteria! Any restaurant that doesn't serve good food is a heresy!
Familiar with the area, Allen confidently led Annie to the same restaurant he'd visited last time. He'd been very pleased with the food then, after all.
Unfortunately, while the same waiter was on duty, he didn't recognize Allen at all, not because he was forgetful, but because Allen had been using a disguise during his previous visit.
As a result, the poor waiter went through another round of existential crisis. The last time, he'd told everyone about the mysterious young customer who ordered like a seasoned gourmand, and how that boy had looked at him like he was dreaming. He'd retold the story so many times he'd almost believed it himself.
But now, here was a completely different-looking kid, bringing another child along, and speaking fluent Mandarin while rattling off the menu...
That broke him.
••┈┈┈┈┈༓┈┈┈┈┈•••
Two hours later, it was Allen's turn to question his life choices.
Yes, the food was still just as delicious.
But he'd made one fatal mistake.
He had brought Annie... to a restaurant.
Even if this restaurant wasn't 100% authentic and had mixed in other regional dishes, it still retained the essence of the cuisine he likes—numbing and spicy.
British cuisine, at best, uses a little black pepper.
Even though Annie had exceptional talent in flame magic, that didn't mean she could handle the fiery enthusiasm of hot peppers.
But it was too late to back out now, they had already ordered.
And so began the cycle of eating spicy food, drinking juice, finishing the juice, then continuing to eat through the burning pain.
The restaurant owner, hearing that one of the guests couldn't handle spice, kindly brought out a pot of freshly brewed herbal tea. Annie, surprisingly, really liked the taste.
So they stayed another half hour.
By the time Allen and Annie finally finished their meal, it was already close to 2:30 PM, and they had barely completed a quarter of their planned purchases.
Thinking about Professor McGonagall's stern, unsmiling face, Allen suddenly felt like life was very bleak.
••┈┈┈┈┈༓┈┈┈┈┈•••
As the scheduled return time drew near, Allen finally dragged Annie out of the temporary Floo Network portal. For the rest of the afternoon, they had been racing through shops at full speed just to barely make it back in time.
Don't underestimate the consequences of being late. With the current official stance between the American Magical Congress and Hogwarts, they would've definitely shut down the portal the very second the return time passed.
Surprisingly, Professor Sprout wasn't angry at all, even though they returned at the very last second.
"All done? Had fun today? Drop the supplies off and go join the others for dinner. The house-elves will take care of decorating. Oh, and don't go telling everyone you two went out to play. I don't think the rest of the kids would appreciate hearing that."
Right... Allen had almost forgotten, in Professor Sprout's eyes, he and Annie were just a pair of kids. This whole shopping trip was basically an excuse to let them go out and have some fun.
After all, the two of them were strong enough to protect themselves, so there wasn't much to worry about.
As for why they got to go while the rest of the little witches and wizards stayed behind?
Simple. This outing was a reward.
A reward for what, exactly?
Well... probably for knocking that Ilvermorny professor flat on his back.
They'd all gotten along so well during the exchange. It was only fair to reward the standout performers, right?••┈┈┈┈┈༓┈┈┈┈┈•••
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