"All right, then."
Professor Quirrell smiled. Cradling the Bowtruckle carefully in his hands, he bowed respectfully and vanished from sight.
After the professor left, Sean remained where he was.
He had asked Quirrell to search the Albanian forest for traces of Voldemort.
After Voldemort failed to steal the Philosopher's Stone while possessing Quirrell, he should still have been wandering there.
But finding him was obviously difficult, and more importantly—even if they did find Voldemort, how were they supposed to destroy something that technically did not exist?
Voldemort was drifting about in a soul-state. When he fled Quirrell's body, even Dumbledore hadn't been able to stop him.
When he had entered Harry's body, even Dumbledore had been powerless.
Still, Sean needed to find him—not just because the Soul Relic could affect souls in special ways, but also because he needed to understand exactly what state Voldemort was currently in.
Now the professor had told him something important: even if they destroyed every Horcrux, Voldemort would not simply die.
He would merely become killable.
Only by damaging that main portion of his soul could they truly eliminate Voldemort.
There was no other way.
And that piece of Voldemort's soul was hiding there, in the Albanian forest.
It might be riding inside a rat, a snake, or a lizard—or it might be whispering into the mind of any wizard it found useful…
Unless…
Sean walked into Flourish and Blotts. He knew there was one wizard who could definitely find Voldemort.
But finding him was useless.
Sean had to destroy him.
He could only hope he still had enough time.
Flourish and Blotts was noisy as ever. When Sean looked up, he was a little surprised.
The shop usually displayed thick, gilt-edged magical books as heavy as paving stones. But now behind the glass stood a huge iron cage containing roughly a hundred copies of The Monster Book of Monsters.
All the books were tangled together, savagely fighting each other like wrestlers in a championship match, with torn pages flying everywhere.
Sean pulled out his book list and read it carefully.
The Monster Book of Monsters was listed as the textbook for Care of Magical Creatures. So this was what Hagrid had been talking about all along—why it would come in handy.
At that moment, the manager hurried over.
"Hogwarts?" he asked abruptly. "Here for your new books?"
"Yes."
Sean replied.
"Then—Mr. Green?!"
The manager stared at him carefully, then cried out, "You're here too? Oh, of course, that's right—you haven't graduated yet!"
Apparently, the manager recognized him.
That wasn't especially common.
Only the earliest editions of Green Notes had included a photo of Sean, and even that had been added only because the owner of Flourish and Blotts had insisted.
In all the various newspaper reports afterward, only Sean's back had ever appeared.
"It's such an honor to see you!"
The manager pulled out a copy of Green Notes and a pen, just as Sean had expected. It was one of the earliest editions—the version published through Flourish and Blotts before Green Bookshop had even been established.
"Mr. Green, please—an autograph."
The manager grew a little bashful.
Sean's quill floated up and smoothly wrote the words Sean Green across the page.
"Oh, oh, this is marvelous—"
The manager was grinning from ear to ear.
A personal signature from Mr. Green could fetch well over ten Galleons from certain witches in old wizarding families.
"You know, you still get forty percent off here. And if you'd be willing to give us a few more distribution rights, Flourish and Blotts would be happy to help you expand.
I'll get your books right away."
Beaming, the manager hurried off.
Sean saw him put on a pair of very thick gloves, grab a knotted wooden staff, and march over to the cage of Monster Books.
"Sir, there's no need. I already have that one."
Sean said.
"Do you?"
The manager looked instantly relieved.
"Thank Merlin for that. I've already been bitten five times this morning—"
A loud tearing sound split the air. Two copies of The Monster Book of Monsters had grabbed a third and ripped it clean in half.
"Stop! Stop!"
the manager shouted, jabbing his stick into the cage and thumping the books apart.
"I'm never stocking these again, never! What an absolute disaster!
That time we bought two hundred copies of The Invisible Book of Invisibility—cost us a fortune, and then we couldn't find a single one…
I thought nothing could be worse than that… Now then, is there anything else you need?"
"Yes," Sean said, glancing down at the list. "I need Unfogging the Future by Cassandra Vablatsky."
"Ah, you're taking Divination, are you?"
The manager pulled off his gloves and led Sean to the back of the shop, where a corner was devoted entirely to Divination books.
A little table there was piled high with heavy volumes like Predicting the Unpredictable: Insulate Yourself Against Shocks and Broken Balls: When Fortune Turns Foul.
"Here you are,"
the manager said, climbing a ladder and pulling down a thick black volume.
"Unfogging the Future.
Excellent beginner's guide. Teaches all the most basic methods of divination—palmistry, crystal-gazing, bird entrails…"
Midway through his sentence, he stopped on his own.
Then both he and Sean looked down at the same person crouched in front of them.
Sean recognized Harry immediately.
He was hunched there in a daze, clutching one book and half-blocking their path.
People were constantly coming and going in Flourish and Blotts, but Harry just remained there, staring.
Sean followed his gaze and saw the title:
Death Omens: What to Do When You Know the Worst Is Coming.
"Oh, I wouldn't read that one myself,"
the manager said lightly to Sean when he saw what Harry was looking at.
"Once you've read it, you'll start seeing death omens everywhere. Enough to scare you to death."
He wasn't speaking quietly, but Harry didn't seem to hear him. He was still staring at the cover.
On it was a huge black dog, as large as a bear, glaring out with shining eyes.
It looked awfully familiar…
The manager pressed Unfogging the Future into Sean's hands.
"Anything else?"
he asked.
"Yes. Intermediate Transfiguration and The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 3…"
Sean recited every remaining title on the list without missing one.
Then he quietly took a position in front of Harry, blocking him off from the stream of customers.
While the manager fetched the books, Sean's gaze wandered to the other young wizards collecting theirs from around the shop.
At last, it settled on a short "goblin" leading a black dog.
~~~
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