Chris took a week off, but on the second day he found himself with nothing to do.
The entrance requirements for Apparition weren't all that difficult, and with Kael's unexpectedly fast learning speed, Chris managed to teach all the necessary content in just a single afternoon.
The rest—the things he hadn't mentioned—weren't really worth mentioning anymore...
Once Kael got used to the discomfort from Apparition, Chris realized he couldn't even keep his only "Healer" job.
Kael hadn't splinched himself once in two whole days, and as a result, none of the Dittany Essence in Chris's bottle had been used up.
If it kept going like this, weren't those three Galleons just wasted?
Determined not to waste anything, on the third day, Chris made things tougher for Kael—not only setting the target location further away, but also shortening the interval between each Apparition.
Sometimes, Kael barely had time to catch his breath before he had to Apparate again.
And Chris's reasoning was impossible to argue with.
"Apparition is a charm that requires lots of practice. Especially high-frequency repetitive practice—it'll definitely make your efficiency twice as good with half the effort!"
Kael felt Chris had it wrong, but... it did sound pretty reasonable.
There was nothing he could do except vanish and reappear, over and over... and the frequency kept increasing.
The hillside of Ottery St Catchpole sounded like fireworks going off—"pop pop pop," nonstop.
By the fifth day...
On a small hill to the north, Luna was watering the hydrangeas outside the house, occasionally diving into the flower bushes...
"What are you looking for?" asked Mr. Lovegood.
"Jumping Fairy Mantis!" said Luna, "I just saw them, right on the petals."
"Oh, then you'd better look more carefully—"
"Pop!"
Before Mr. Lovegood could finish speaking, a firework-like explosion shattered the warm father-daughter moment.
Someone appeared suddenly in front of them.
Not that it was strange—Kael had been here before, after all.
But what was terrifying was that Kael was missing half an arm, looked completely exhausted, and his clothes were all torn and ragged.
"Someone's chasing this child..." Mr. Lovegood instinctively thought.
Middle of the day, in Ottery St Catchpole, hunting down a student who hasn't even graduated yet... the nerve!
This isn't twelve years ago!
But before he could even draw his wand—
"Pop!"
Another explosion, and Chris arrived.
He expertly pressed the half-arm onto Kael's wound, then quickly smeared a circle of Dittany Essence over it.
"Chris, what are you..." asked Mr. Lovegood, totally baffled.
"Oh, Xenophilius, you're at home..." Chris stammered. "No, I mean—weren't you taking Luna to Northumberland?"
"The Curved-Horned Snoring Beast has already left." Luna said, tilting her head.
"Right, we got back about an hour ago."
Mr. Lovegood nodded, then asked thoughtfully, "So you're... teaching Kael Apparition?
I remember he's only fourteen this year..."
After the initial fright, he basically figured it out.
That familiar popping sound, and the arm that was snapped off and reattached—it was obviously a splinching.
This could only be Apparition.
"Actually we were just... just... well, okay, that's it. Can you keep it a secret for us, Xenophilius..."
Chris sighed and whispered, "I just realized I haven't prepared gifts for the Romanian Ministry of Magic staff. What do you think about an unconventional magazine as a present?"
"Like... the Daily Prophet?"
"No, that's too formal." Chris shook his head. "I think The Quibbler is pretty good."
"Ahem..." Mr. Lovegood suddenly cleared his throat and turned his head aside. "Luna, I think there must be a swarm of fairies hiding in our garden. They're making me hallucinate."
Luna blinked, "Dad, fairies don't cause hallucinations."
"Maybe one of them has mutated..."
While they chatted, Chris quickly pulled Kael away from the hill.
They'd already practiced for five hours, and after being discovered, Chris simply ended today's special training.
The sky gradually darkened.
Back home, Kael flexed the arm he'd just had re-attached and asked, "Is giving The Quibbler to the Romanians as a gift really okay?"
How to put it... the stuff in that magazine was just too... well, let's call it ahead of its time.
Most people couldn't understand it, so everyone tended to think it was a bunch of rambling garbage... Its audience was mostly concentrated in St Mungo's Hospital's Spiritual Magic Injuries Department.
Giving that magazine as a gift... wouldn't the Romanian Ministry of Magic see that as a provocation?
"It's fine," Chris waved. "Most of them can't understand it anyway, and some of the ideas in there might be pretty entertaining for people from other countries."
By the sixth day, Kael's arm was completely back to normal, but his Apparition practice was forced to stop.
Because Diana was back, and just happened to witness their entire training session.
Diana used the excuse of wanting to buy things in Diagon Alley, smiled sweetly, and took Chris's arm, then left.
And then... nothing.
She returned alone in the end, telling Kael that Chris was busy with work and decided to stay at the Ministry for a few days, so he wouldn't be home for dinner lately.
As for why Chris took time off but still went back to the Ministry... Kael glanced at the still-angry Diana and didn't dare ask.
...
July flew by quickly.
On his birthday, Kael received quite a few presents, among them a thing like a glass spinning top from Fred and George.
There were also two notes attached below.
"Happy Birthday, Kael.
This is a Pocket Peeping Mirror—if there's anything suspicious nearby, it'll spin and light up. We've already tested it, it works great."
"The only drawback is that it's not very discriminating. Yesterday, a bug crawled into Bill's soup and it kept shining non-stop... Even though the bug actually crawled in on its own.
Oh yeah, Percy's Head Boy now. We're all happy for him and are planning to give him a new badge."
Kael curled his lip—he didn't believe a single word the Weasley Brothers said.
Just how stupid was that bug to crawl into the soup by itself? The two absolutely helped with ninety-eight percent of the process... And Percy's Head Boy badge—probably in trouble already.
Kael set the Pocket Peeping Mirror aside, and picked up Hagrid's gift.
As expected, it was a book.
The Monster Book of Monsters
As soon as Kael took it out, the book sprang upright, and scuttled quickly across the floor sideways like some weird crab.
That's what made the book special—thanks to some kind of magic, it looked practically alive.
The solution, though, was simple: stroke the spine, or else...
"Relashio!"
Kael tossed out a charm.
The Monster Book immediately stopped moving, lying flat and soft on the floor like a terribly tasteless rug.
Kael walked over, wrapped a cord round the spine, then picked up Hagrid's greeting card.
"Dear Kael:
Happy Birthday!
You'll need this book next term, so I won't say more here—let's talk when we meet. You'd never guess what happened, it still feels like I'm dreaming.
All best wishes.
Hagrid"
Kael raised an eyebrow—turns out quiet Hagrid really could keep his mouth shut.
Gave him a book, said he'd need it next term—clearly, after Professor Kettelburn retired, Hagrid had taken his place, and would soon be the new Professor of Care of Magical Creatures.
Last term's events cleared Hagrid's name, and he finally got a job besides being Gamekeeper.
You could tell just from this letter, Hagrid was genuinely happy.
Kael was happy for him too.
After thinking for a bit, Kael found a piece of Parchment and wrote him a reply.
"Dear Hagrid:
Thank you for your gift, I really like it. I can't wait for school to start, but sadly there's still a month to go.
I'll be heading off to Romania with Mr. Scamander to stay in the Fire Dragon Reserve for a while... Something big is going to happen there—Fire Dragons will fight among themselves until the strongest one becomes their new leader.
Kael.
P.S.: I heard there are dozens of Fire Dragons there."