Chapter 107: Thestrals
No—he couldn't do that. How could he possibly ask Russell for money over something like this?
Putting Scabbers aside for a moment, how could he stoop so low over such a trivial matter?
Scabbers: Think of me—for my sake, think of me!
In the end, after some back-and-forth bargaining, they settled on a final price: ten Knuts per session—buy three, get one free.
Scabbers had no idea he'd already been sold out by his owner. He was still happily munching on a Chocolate Frog, tail in the air.
After parting ways with them, Russell returned to his compartment. The three inside had already changed into their school robes.
"Wednesday," Russell said, "new students are supposed to go with Hagrid, so we won't be traveling together."
"But it's fine," he added. "I've already spoken to Hagrid. You remember him—the big guy we ran into at the wand shop. He'll take good care of you."
"Oh, right," Russell said after glancing around. "Where's Hades?"
Hades was the gift Russell had given Wednesday in Diagon Alley—a raven. Unlike ordinary ravens, Hades was exceptionally intelligent and never cawed. From a distance, he looked almost like a small statue.
"I let him out to play," Wednesday replied while tidying her luggage. "When he gets tired, he'll come back."
Just then, she felt a faint tremor coming from beside her suitcase.
She reached in swiftly and pulled out a severed hand stitched together with thick seams.
"Oh, little thing," she said calmly. "Why are you here? Did you miss me? Or did Mother and Father send you?"
She stared at it as if interrogating a suspect.
"It's very finely made," Cedric said, looking at the hand with admiration.
"Must've been expensive."
At that moment, the hand suddenly sprang to life, wriggled free from Wednesday's grasp, and raised a middle finger at Cedric.
"It's alive?!" Cedric nearly jumped out of his skin.
Cho was just about to scream when Cedric reacted instantly and covered her mouth.
"Yes," Wednesday said evenly. "It's alive. It's one of my pets… Thing."
She turned to look at it.
"Very well. I won't ask why you're here for now. Tonight, I'll interrogate you properly."
She stuffed Thing back into her suitcase just as the train began to slow.
The corridor quickly filled with students, and because of the crowd, they were among the last to disembark.
"Russell," Cedric said, "let's ride in the same carriage later. I'm sure you've never seen carriages that fly on their own."
"I'm looking forward to it," Russell replied.
After saying goodbye to Russell, Wednesday looked toward the large man holding a pink umbrella. That must be Hagrid.
"Harry! Over here—I can see you!" Hagrid shouted, his booming voice drowning out the surrounding whispers.
Then he scanned the crowd again and quickly spotted Wednesday. Her presence was unmistakable—her aura alone made her stand out.
"Addams, child! Over here!" he called, grinning broadly.
"Russell already told me all about you. I'll make sure to take good care of you."
Wednesday walked toward Hagrid. As she moved, the surrounding young witches and wizards felt an invisible force gently but firmly pushing them aside.
Russell had placed a Shield Charm on her in advance—partly out of concern that something might happen along the way, and partly because he knew she wasn't comfortable with close contact.
"Hi, Wednesday," Ron greeted her enthusiastically.
Wednesday merely turned her head, glanced at him, and gave a small nod—no words.
Ron didn't mind at all. Though he wasn't particularly close to Wednesday, he had already grasped her temperament: other than Russell, she treated everyone else with the same cool detachment.
"Hey, you guys," Hermione called out as well, spotting Wednesday and squeezing through the crowd.
Because the three of them had shared the experience of beating up Malfoy in the train compartment earlier, their relationship had become surprisingly amicable.
Soon, under Hagrid's guidance, they boarded a small boat together.
"I heard Russell say that there are many strange creatures living beneath the Black Lake," Wednesday suddenly asked Hermione. "Is that true?"
"Oh—let me think," Hermione tilted her head, searching her memory.
"There's a giant squid that's lived there for a very long time, a merpeople settlement, grindylows… and aside from those, mostly fish and freshwater crabs. That's all I know."
She looked slightly embarrassed, as though apologizing for not knowing more.
"I suppose I haven't read enough," Hermione muttered softly to herself.
Ron rolled his eyes. He didn't even know what the Black Lake was—how was he supposed to feel about that?
Wednesday said nothing more. She turned her gaze toward Hogwarts Castle under the moonlight, hoping it would contain enough interesting things to keep her entertained.
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Second-year students and above took a different path. At its end stood roughly a hundred carriages.
In front of them waited a strange kind of creature.
Tall and skeletal beneath the moonlight, their bodies were so thin it seemed as if skin had been stretched tightly over bone. Russell recognized them instantly—Thestrals.
They had glossy black skin, faintly reflective like polished leather. Their skull-like faces were sharply defined, hollow white eyes nearly pupil-less, empty yet mysterious.
Huge batlike wings extended from their shoulder blades, thin and semi-transparent, trembling slightly. They possessed an eerie, unsettling beauty—creatures poised between life and death.
Only those who had personally witnessed death could see them. To everyone else, the creatures were completely invisible.
"This is my first time seeing Thestrals," Russell said excitedly as he approached one of the carriages, reaching out to touch it.
The Thestral seemed surprised that Russell could see it. It gently turned its head and nuzzled against him.
Its texture wasn't pleasant—like cheap leather stretched over a wooden table—but Russell still didn't pull his hand away.
Perhaps unused to being petted, the Thestral was unusually cooperative. It even extended its dark tongue and lightly licked Russell's hand.
"Good boy… good boy," Russell said, stroking its head.
"Could you spare me one of your tail feathers?"
At last, his true motive surfaced.
A Thestral tail hair was far more precious than unicorn hair or dragon heartstring. While countless wizards used the latter two as wand cores, there were said to be only three living wand-wielders whose wands contained Thestral tail hair:
Albus Dumbledore.
Gellert Grindelwald.
And Wednesday Addams.
Granted, compared to the first two, Wednesday was still young—but Russell firmly believed her future would rival theirs, whether for good… or ill.
"Russell, what are you doing?" Cedric whispered, trying to pull him away.
To those who couldn't see Thestrals, Russell appeared to be talking to thin air and stroking nothing—deeply unsettling.
"You'll understand in a moment," Russell replied calmly, pulling a handful of dried mushrooms from his pocket.
These were prepared in advance—a bribe. He suspected Thestrals would like them.
Sure enough, catching the scent of Putrefaction fungi, the Thestral grew restless, stretching its neck forward yet hesitating.
Russell smiled and offered the mushrooms.
The Thestral let out a raspy, pleased sound—something like a night raven's call—and wrapped its tongue around the fungi, chewing enthusiastically.
Cedric stared, dumbfounded.
He watched as the mushrooms vanished into thin air—and then saw a strange black feather suddenly appear in Russell's hand.
Only then did he believe.
"So the carriages don't fly on their own?"
Once they boarded, the Thestral spread its wings and lifted the carriage into the air toward Hogwarts Castle.
Perhaps because it had been fed, the Thestral pulling Russell's carriage flew significantly faster than the others, leaving them far behind.
"I've never gotten this kind of speed before," Cedric said sourly.
"If I wanted to see Thestrals," Cho asked, "what spell would I need?"
"Very simple," Russell replied casually.
"You just need to have witnessed death firsthand."
Cedric and Cho both paled.
"Russell… you don't mean—" Cedric raised a trembling hand.
"What nonsense," Russell snapped, knocking his hand away.
"Witnessing death doesn't mean killing someone yourself."
They soon reached their destination. When Russell looked back, the other Thestral carriages were nowhere in sight.
Professor McGonagall was leading the first-years to the Great Hall. The upperclassmen, meanwhile, were met by the Head of Slytherin House—Professor Snape.
"Good evening, Professor," Russell said as he jumped down, feeding the Thestral another handful of mushrooms and patting its head.
Cedric and Cho immediately straightened up and greeted Snape respectfully.
"Hmph," Snape replied through his nose.
Though sharp-tongued, he was more tolerant toward high-achieving students—provided they weren't from Gryffindor.
"Fythorne," Snape said coldly, "Thestrals are not creatures that can eat just anything. If something goes wrong—"
"Thank you for the reminder, Professor," Russell replied easily.
"I believe it won't be an issue."
Snape paused, then glanced at what he was feeding it.
"Putrefaction fungi?"
"You're rather lucky. It's one of a Thestral's favored foods."
He didn't seem surprised. After all, he had already seen Russell procure rare materials back when he'd helped Slughorn's protégée.
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