Chapter 813 Reunion after a long absence
As the country of one of the three major magic schools in Europe, the home of Beauxbatons, and the hometown of the famous alchemist Nicolas Flamel, France is also very famous in the wizarding world.
Although their popularity and reputation are not as loud as Britain's, there is one thing... The French Minister of Magic can proudly say at a diplomatic conference that their country has not produced any notorious dark wizards in recent centuries, and their reputation is many times better than Britain's.
Seventy years ago, Grindelwald suddenly came here and held a mobilization meeting, which broke the peace in France that had lasted for centuries.
But that was only that time. After Grindelwald, there has been peace here, which also makes the French wizards seem more leisurely than the British.
In the middle of Place Furstenberg in Paris, there is a peculiarly shaped building. From the outside, it looks like an arrow pointing to the left, or a vertical triangle.
Its unique shape has attracted a lot of people's attention, and it is considered a nearby tourist attraction. However, most people don't know that this building is even more famous in the wizarding world.
Because this is the famous French Ministry of Magic, and it is also Kyle's destination.
Although the drunk Muggle did not answer Kyle's question, the answer had already appeared in his mind when he heard the question.
So Kyle didn't need to answer. Cat Leopard saw it very clearly, including the specific location here and the city's route map.
Fortunately, Kyle was not far from Furstenberg Square at the time, just a few streets away, and could be reached in half an hour.
At eight o'clock, Kyle looked at the huge glass door in front of him, straightened his clothes, and walked over calmly.
He ignored the security guard and the open door and came to a fountain in front of the building.
There are two statues here. Kyle thought for a while and chose the Pegasus statue on the left. When he walked over, the Pegasus' wings lifted up, revealing a passage.
As soon as I took a step inside, the scene before my eyes instantly changed to a different one.
The bustling streets and tall buildings disappeared, replaced by peculiarly shaped buildings. The clothes of passers-by also changed from suits, long skirts, and fashionable shirts to the unique robes of wizards.
Diagon Alley, France.
Of course, this place is definitely not called Diagon Alley, but the meaning is the same. It is a shopping street that only wizards can enter.
"Fortunately, I didn't make the wrong choice." Kyle breathed a sigh of relief. He remembered that Fleur said there were two entrances here, one of which was here, and the other led to the Ministry of Magic. If he accidentally went to the wrong one, he might have to explain to the Aurors why he was here.
Fortunately, his memory is still good.
Kyle continued walking forward, looking curiously at the shops on the French side.
To the left of the entrance was a large candy shop, at least five times larger than Honeydukes. It was filled with all kinds of candies, all styles Kyle had never seen before, and more than half of them were chocolates.
Probably because school has started in Beauxbatons, there aren't many people in the store.
Opposite the candy store...it should be a stationery store. Although Kyle couldn't understand the French signs written in special cursive script, he knew quill pens and parchment, so he didn't need to recognize the signs.
Further ahead are the broomstick shops, pet shops, bookstores, souvenir shops, second-hand shops, and the most conspicuous building in the middle of the street, the Gringotts Wizarding Bank, built of white marble.
The types of shops here are similar to those in Diagon Alley, but the styles are completely different.
Diagon Alley continues the traditional style that has remained unchanged for hundreds of years. Those buildings are from the last century... or even earlier, and they would not look out of place no matter which era they are placed in.
The French side is obviously much newer, and Kyle can tell at a glance that many of the buildings are the products of recent years.
There's even a security door on the door of the Broomstick Shop... one of those metal ones.
Kyle found it hard to believe that this thing could resist the Unlocking Charm.
He continued walking, passing Gringotts and a noisy pub, and stopped at about the end of the street.
"Prince's Potion Shop."
Kyle glanced at the standard French sign and nodded, "This must be it."
But what Kyle couldn't understand was that all the surrounding shops were open for business, but this one was closed, and there wasn't even any merchandise in the window.
Could it be that Kanna is not here?
Kyle was stunned for a moment, then looked at the sign again.
Prince... That's right, there can't be a Prince in France.
Deciding to give it a try, he went up and knocked on the door.
There was no response from inside.
He knocked a few more times, with the same result.
"No way, he's really not here?"
Kyle was a little confused. Both the address and the store name given by Furong matched, so how could there be no one there?
Or did Kanna not open a store when she came to France, but went somewhere else?
Just as Kyle was hesitating whether to give the letter to Furong, there was finally movement in the store.
"Sorry, we're closed today."
The moment he heard the voice, Kyle felt relieved.
Although she spoke in French, Kyle could still tell that it was Connor who was speaking.
"Ministry of Magic inspection, please open the door and cooperate." Kyle cleared his throat and said.
There was a sudden sound of hurried footsteps in the store, but soon there was no movement.
It wasn't until a few minutes later that the door opened with a creak.
Kanna looked like she had just woken up, and her hair had obviously been hastily done, but her face was full of surprise.
"Kyle!" There was a hint of disbelief in her voice, but she had already pounced over subconsciously.
Kyle quickly opened his arms to catch her, and after a long separation, the two hugged each other at the door of the store.
At this moment, neither of them cared about the eyes of passers-by. They just hugged each other, and no one was willing to let go. Then Kyle felt his mouth touch a piece of sweet cream pudding.
I don’t know how long it took, maybe ten minutes, or maybe an hour, or even longer.
"Hey, that's enough." Another person's voice came from the store, "Although I understand your feelings, can you please come into the house first? Aren't you tired of standing all the time?"
Even though Fleur was a half-Veela, at that moment, Kyle still felt that her voice must have been cursed by a witch, it was too harsh... even though she herself was a witch.
"Aren't the French very romantic?" Kyle looked at Furong leaning against the shelf and said unhappily, "Why are you so nosy?"
"Do you want to listen to what you are saying?" Furong exploded all of a sudden, and said angrily: "Can you please consider me? I left my boyfriend alone and came all the way here to accompany Kanna, and you actually said I was meddling?"
The more Furong thought about it, the angrier she became. When she and Bill broke up, they were in the passionate period of love and had even decided to get married.
As a result, Kyle, that bastard, not only did he not thank me for leaving my fiancé to help him take care of his girlfriend, but he also said such conscienceless words.
She seemed to be transforming, and she grabbed a bottle of potion and was about to fight Kyle, but fortunately she was stopped by Kanna.
Connor also came back to her senses from the surprise she felt when she first saw Kyle.
"Calm down, calm down, don't bother with him." She tried to comfort Furong who was about to explode, and at the same time glared at Kyle unhappily.
"Okay, I apologize." Kyle quickly raised his hands to show surrender... When in Rome, do as the Romans do.
"To express my apology." He took out the gift he had prepared long ago, "This is for you."
"What is this?" Furong's emotions finally calmed down a little. She picked up the bottle on the table and said, "Why does it look so much like shampoo?"
"Almost." Kyle said, "Newt has studied Veela. These magical creatures are prone to hair loss in autumn. I thought that since you are half Veela, you might also lose your hair, so I used the juice of ginger root, mantle grass and mandrake to develop this hair care product..."
Before Kyle could finish his words, a bottle flew over, hit his ear and hit the wall behind him. Kanna didn't even bother to stop it.
It is also possible that she did not intend to stop it.
It would be nice to hit Furong, who always keeps people at a distance, to make her so angry. It would be a pity to waste her bottle of vitality potion.
Kanna sighed and closed the store door again.
Twenty minutes later, the room quieted down again. Fleur sat there panting, glaring at Kyle fiercely.
But what’s interesting is that the things Kyle brought on the table are gone.
"Tell me, what are you doing in France at this time?"
"Wait!" Kanna suddenly realized, "Why did you suddenly come here? It's in England..."
"Don't worry, there's nothing going on over there. I don't know what the You-Know-Who and his Death Eaters are doing. Few people have seen them recently."
"Besides, Hogwarts has resumed school as usual, so I thought of coming to see you." Kyle said, and he waved his hand. The broken things on the ground quickly returned to their original state and floated to their original positions.
This is the wizard's shopping street, and all the people coming and going are wizards. There is no problem using magic here.
"By the way, how did you know it was me outside?" he asked casually.
Just now, after Kanna opened the door, she rushed over without any hesitation, obviously knowing in advance that the person outside was Kyle.
"Of course I know." Connor said with a smile, "If it were a French wizard, he wouldn't be able to speak such poor French."
"Is my French really that bad?" Kyle scratched his hair. He felt that his pronunciation was quite standard.
"My sister was better than you when she was ten months old," Furong sneered.
"Okay." Kyle sighed, "I should have made a translator earlier. This trip is really inconvenient."
"How did you get here, Portkey?" Connor poured Kyle a glass of cherry soda, a popular drink in France, equivalent to pumpkin soda in the UK.
"No, I didn't use a portkey." Kyle explained, "Fawkes brought me here so I could avoid the Ministry of Magic's sight."
"Fawkes..." Connor blinked, "Professor Dumbledore's phoenix?"
"Well, I have to say, it's really convenient." Kyle rubbed his forehead, "but the process is a bit unfriendly."
Even though Fleur was sitting next to him, Kyle had no intention of hiding it from her.
Furong's character is still trustworthy.
It is also foreseeable that Fleur and Bill will eventually get married, at which time she will naturally become a member of the Order of the Phoenix, and there will be no need to hide it.
But Furong was not very interested in the topic of Phoenix. She was focusing on something else.
"I'm curious...how did you find this place with your poor French?" She looked at Kyle. "The French Ministry of Magic attaches great importance to Furstenberg Square. There are Aurors everywhere. It's impossible for them not to notice the sudden appearance of a wizard."
"Really?" Kyle blinked. "Then I'm really lucky. I appeared three blocks away. It's not far from here, but it's not that close either."
"Then how did you get here? You couldn't have asked for directions."
"Of course I asked for directions." Kyle said seriously, "I asked a Muggle, he was very enthusiastic, and he understood everything I said."
"is it?"
Fleur was skeptical about Kyle's statement, but since Kyle came and the Aurors didn't show up, it meant that he really didn't use any magical means.
"But... this shouldn't be the case. Are Muggles so tolerant of language?" Furong muttered softly, "No, you must have found a Muggle who can speak English."
Kyle simply chose to ignore her groundless speculation.
"By the way, it's almost noon, why aren't you open yet?" He changed the subject: "Are you really selling potions?"
"certainly……"
"Of course, what else can I do?" Kanna said before Furong could speak: "I just don't want to open the door so early.
"Anyway, this shop isn't for making money, so we'll just do whatever's comfortable for us. Normally, we don't open until noon."
"Why is that window empty?" Kyle asked, pointing behind him.
"Of course they're all sold out." Connor said, "It just so happened that the school started in Beauxbatons a few days ago, and those French students bought up almost all the stock in the store.
"In order to restock as soon as possible, I don't plan to open today."
To add credibility to her words, she stood up and opened a door inside.
Kyle looked inside and saw that the room was filled with potions, filling up the entire room, with only a small space left at the door for easy entry and exit.
After seeing this, Kyle believed Kanna's words.
After all, so many potions cannot be fake, and Kanna really runs the shop with great care, so he feels relieved.
Then they changed the subject, but from then on it was mainly Connor and Kyle talking.
After not seeing each other for such a long time, the two seemed to have endless things to talk about.
"Let me tell you, this side of France is very interesting. Did you see those alchemy shops when you came here?" Kanna had grabbed Kyle's hand without her noticing.
"I see. There are three." Kyle nodded.
"More than that." Kanna said, "It seems that they don't pay much attention to potions here. They prefer alchemy."
"So can you sell your potions?"
"It's because they are rare that they are popular." Kanna said, "After all, the effect of potions cannot be replaced by alchemy. Even if you don't value them, there is still a need for them."
"makes sense."
"How's it going in England?"
"It's OK," Kyle said. "The Death Eaters were pretty active when Hogwarts first got out for the holidays, but they haven't been doing much lately. Oh, and Lupin and Nymphadora got married."
"Really? When!"
"Early August."
"It's a pity I can't attend."
"It's okay. Besides, it was a dangerous day. Bellatrix came with the Death Eaters to disrupt the wedding."
……
The two chatted as if no one was around. At first, Furong could still sit and listen, but as time went on, she felt more and more that something was wrong with the atmosphere.
It’s as if I have become an invisible and transparent person.
She, Furong, a half-Veela, is always the brightest one in the crowd wherever she goes. She has never thought that there would be a day when she would be ignored.
As a result, she encountered it today.
There seemed to be a magical aura around those two people, which could automatically block out everything around them. She wanted to interrupt several times, but was ignored.
"I say, can you please respect me a little!" Furong said loudly, and this time she finally got a response.
"What's wrong?" Kyle looked up.
"I was just about to ask, how is Bill doing lately?"
"When you write letters, you wish you could kill three owls in one day. Do you need to ask me how he is?" Kyle said slowly, "Besides, do you think I would not tell you for such a long time if Bill had something wrong?"
Furong took a deep breath. Her good etiquette allowed her to keep smiling at this moment, but no one knew what she was thinking in her heart.
"You guys continue... I'm going to go out for a walk."
Furong stood up, slammed the door and left angrily.
She really couldn't stay in this place for even a minute.
……
