"Remember, don't talk about the heir with anyone, not even the Friendship Book or the Communication Pea is necessarily safe. The real secret should be buried in your heart, only then will it not be leaked."
Ali vividly mimicked Moody's way of speaking, then turned and jumped to the side, knitting its short eyebrows, and spoke in Ferdinand's tone:
"If that's the case, you could have chosen not to tell us, but you decided to tell us as a couple... Is there another consideration?"
Ali swayed back to where Moody was standing, remained silent for a moment, then gruffly said:
"Actually... I tried telling others my suspicions, but they all thought I was crazy. Even Dumbledore..."
It paused, then after a few seconds slowly spoke with an odd stubbornness, saying:
"If one day I die, pass on what I told you to Vid, tell him—he must stay vigilant! There are things I still can't figure out now, but he better keep his eyes open and not easily trust anyone!"
Ali supported itself on the table with both hands, glaring fiercely at the empty space in front of it. Unfortunately, its beady black eyes still looked adorable, no matter how fierce it tried to be.
Then, the Little Demonic Puppet relaxed its actions and expression, sat by the table, and swung its legs, saying: "And then he left!"
"Thank you, Ali." Vid rubbed the Little Demonic Puppet's head with his fingertip, suppressing a smile, and said, "You mimic him excellently."
Ali held onto his finger and asked, "Will master be in danger at school? Can Ali be of help?"
Vid looked into its eyes and laughed, "My request from you is the same as before—protect my parents, that's more important to me than anything."
Ali nodded vigorously.
…
Returning to the wardrobe space, Vid saw Mikhail resting leisurely in its nook with eyes closed; the cloak lay sprawled lifelessly on the floor, like a devilfish ready to be dried.
Apart from these two fellows, the wardrobe space looked like an ordinary Wizard's residence:
Comprising of more than a dozen rooms of various sizes, serving as an Alchemy Room, library, storage, bedroom, Magic Potion Room, etc.
There were rather large open spaces in front of and behind the dwelling, with some flowers planted, and some exercise equipment placed.
In the distance, there was a tract of land planted with various herbs; and a not-too-large lake, where some leisurely living creatures could be seen by the shore.
A cloud drifted slowly in the sky, raining as it went, like an automatic sprinkler.
When Harry and his friends entered the wardrobe space, the scene they saw was just like this. Other than the space's impressiveness, there seemed to be nothing unusual.
They didn't know that the wardrobe space was Vid's own creation, only thinking it was a gift Professor Morry had given to his students.
Vid stood in the center of the open space, ignoring the cloak's whimpering, gently clapped his hands.
The bell hanging by the door saw the signal and immediately began to shake.
"Ring-a-ling—ring-a-ling—"
The ground in front of Vid instantly collapsed, like the entrance to Diagon Alley, disappearing layer by layer from the inside out, finally becoming a deep entrance, from which came various noisy sounds.
The cloak immediately jumped up from the ground, cheered, and rushed in, followed by the moving floor below Vid's feet, carrying him downward.
The wardrobe space, transformed by Vid, actually had two layers: the upper layer was simple, quiet, and tidy; the lower layer was where Vid's true efforts lay.
This basement was like a huge, disorderly base, filled with poppets as far as the eye could see.
The largest poppet was two stories tall, shaped like a giant jellyfish, with slender tentacles hanging down below. It functioned as the basement's crane, easily placing objects high up, and drifted around when idle.
The smallest poppets could even crawl into people's ears. They crawled around inside instruments like ants, performing various precise tasks. Sometimes, when they accidentally got stuck, they'd emit sharp "chirping" sounds.
There were also two half-human-height, crab-like poppets, responsible for preparing materials needed for making poppets. Some required fine powders, some were sliced thin, others stretched into fine threads, or tempered with fire.
Their eight legs busied about efficiently with clear division of labor, their prepared materials filled several boxes, only waiting for Vid to start crafting.
Additionally, there were some fist-sized little poppets, shaped like groups of wasps, with rotund bellies filled with ink, flying between shelves, some carrying books, others scribbling on parchment.
Despite their small size, these little poppets were very intelligent, with the task of organizing Vid's countless collections. Nicolas Flamel's gifted clock library was placed beside them.
The Magic World's various books and notes, who knows how many there were; new books and magazines increased every year, and even if Vid lived as long as Nicolas Flamel, he couldn't read them all.
So, these little poppets served a filtering role, they screened out erroneous, outdated, and repetitive books, excerpting valuable content from most, compiling them into collections.
Only the most precious books, densely packed with content and nearly devoid of errors, would be placed on a separate shelf, waiting for the day their owner would take and read them.
When no outsiders were in the wardrobe space, these Wasp Puppets also flew to the upper level, cleaning, tending to various herbs, sometimes serving as assistants to Vid in Alchemy, doing very well.
"Hey, guys, did you miss me?" The cloak flitted around greeting: "Long time no see... although it hasn't been that long, you could never imagine what I've experienced this time..."
"Go away!" A deep voice boomed from inside the jellyfish body: "Don't disturb my work."
"Oh, have you found a new Magic Book? What? You haven't? Then what could possibly surprise me." A Wasp Puppet disdainfully flew past the cloak.
Another Wasp Puppet drew close to the cloak, asking, "Have you finished reading 'Spell Inverse Deduction Algorithm'? If you have, I recommend 'Medieval Magic Pattern Research' next. Staying by the master's side, you need to master more knowledge."
The cloak, if it had eyes, would certainly have an expression of wide-eyed bewilderment at this time.
It foolishly retorted: "I'm just a cloak, flying, fighting, and defending against magic spells is all I need, why do I have to study?"
"I advise you not to waste time." Another Wasp Puppet hovered near the cloak, mockingly telling the previous Wasp, "It hasn't even memorized the Latin roots of common Magic Potion Materials! Not to mention..."
"Hey!"
The cloak swatted away several Wasp Puppets before they could finish and sulkily returned to Vid's side.
"Master, these bookworms simply can't comprehend how many remarkable things you've done!"
"Alright, go have fun yourself."
Vid casually said, patting the cloak for comfort, then looked at the piled-up materials, pondering what poppet to craft this time.
Since the first batch of poppets was destroyed on that island, he rarely crafted humanoid poppets.
Objects resembling oneself, regardless of whether warm blood flows through their body, easily carry more emotional attachment.
But now... perhaps he still needed more poppets that were convenient to hide among people.
Vid mused, lightly waving the Magic Wand, and various materials gathered in the air, gradually forming a humanoid shape.