Christmas gift?
This time, it was Kael's turn to be confused.
"What did you just say?" he asked again, almost out of reflex.
"Is it so hard to understand?" Sirius grinned, "Didn't you find it strange yesterday? Why didn't you receive the Christmas gift I sent you?"
"I did!" Kael said, "Isn't the Firebolt your gift? It even helped me get through the first task of the Triwizard Tournament."
"No, no, no, that was your gift for becoming a Champion."
Sirius said, "You surely didn't think I was lying about what I said back in the Headmaster's Office, did you? If so, you're mistaken. I really prepared a gift that I couldn't send to Hogwarts…"
"Wait a minute," Kael interrupted him, "Is this something your uncle left you?"
"No, it's a property of the Black family," Sirius said, "But it belongs to me now, I can do whatever I want with it."
"Forget it." Kael waved his hand, "The Firebolt is already valuable enough, no need for a shop, I can't accept it."
Kael didn't know exactly how much it would cost to buy a shop in Diagon Alley, but he was pretty sure it would be at least several thousand Galleons—maybe even ten thousand if the shop was big enough.
This gift was way too precious, Kael really couldn't accept it in good conscience.
"That won't do." Sirius said seriously, "You've helped me so many times, I…"
"Stop, it was Professor Dumbledore who helped you."
Kael said, "Whether defending you in the Ministry of Magic or going to the cave to fetch Regulus, he did the most. I was just watching from the sidelines."
"You're wrong." Sirius shook his head.
He seemed tired of standing, so he dragged Kael into Florian's Ice Cream Shop, ordered two hazelnut peanut ice creams, and sat at a little table by the entrance.
"Or maybe you're really underestimating your role in all this." Sirius handed one ice cream to Kael and continued:
"Let's talk about my case first. The truth is, I was prepared to go on the run for good—it was you who changed everything."
"With Peter Pettigrew, you could always clear your name," Kael said.
"That's the most interesting part."
Sirius watched the crowds passing by on the street, "I talked with Professor Dumbledore once. He told me that even with Peter Pettigrew, even if all the evidence was laid out, Fudge would have a hard time doing right by me.
"It was a scandal for the Ministry of Magic. He might even just kill Peter outright to save face."
"But Fudge didn't do that." Kael said
"That's because you said something that made Fudge realize he could distance himself from the whole mess." Sirius said gravely, "Do you remember what you said? 'If you'd been the Minister back then, this mistake never would've happened.' That one sentence instantly changed Fudge's attitude.
"And Professor Dumbledore also said, neither he nor I could ever have thought of saying that. I totally agree.
"In other words, you paved the way for us—we just had to walk down it."
Sirius took a big bite of ice cream, smacked his lips, and continued: "And then Regulus…
"You found Slytherin's Pendant Box; only after that did we hear about his past from Kreacher.
"If you hadn't found that Pendant Box back then, I probably would've just thrown it out as rubbish, and nothing else would've happened. You know how bad things were between Kreacher and me at the time.
Right, and at the cliff—you were the one who called for Dumbledore. I remember you used a precious Phoenix Tail Feather… That's something you use to save your life, worth more than two shops."
"Uh… you might not know," Kael explained. "Fawkes and I get along great, and yesterday on Christmas it gave me another feather."
But Sirius acted like he hadn't heard a thing.
"Just accept it," he said firmly. "Because of you, I can stand in the sunlight, Regulus can return home… I don't know how to thank you enough. This is the best way Lupin and I could think of."
"Really, it's not necessary," Kael said. "Besides, I'm friends with Harry too. Helping out a friend and giving a suggestion—it's no big deal. You should leave the shop for him."
"It's Black's, not mine," Sirius shook his head. "I'll never use it myself, but giving it to you is fine…
"Regulus was my parents' favorite, so I have to thank you on their behalf."
He said it like that, but Kael still thought this felt way over the top—a pie falling out of the sky, and it was so big it left him dizzy.
Also, Kael had never thought about opening a shop in Diagon Alley after graduation.
But Sirius looked like he'd already made up his mind.
"Here's the shop's Magic Contract—it's yours now." He pulled out a piece of Parchment and slapped it on the table. "If you don't want it, just throw it out, because I won't take it back.
"Like my uncle always said, there's never been an instance of something given by the Blacks being taken back."
"Weren't you already disowned by the Blacks?" Kael said quietly.
Sirius had just started swaggering with the Pure-Blood Family thing, but didn't even have time to revel before being knocked back down.
He looked kind of flustered and annoyed.
"Doesn't matter, I still represent the Blacks."
Kael shook his head, picked up the Parchment and gave it a look.
Only one address was listed: 31 Diagon Alley.
Below was an intricate Magic Pattern Talisman—just holding it, Kael could faintly sense the shop's location.
"Take it back for now—we'll talk about the shop after I graduate."
Kael handed the Parchment back, but Sirius just ignored it, stubbornly refusing to take it.
As the two were at an impasse, Kael happened to catch sight of a passerby holding the Daily Prophet.
The cover had a big photo that instantly caught his eye.
Kael got up and walked over. "Excuse me, could I have a look at your newspaper?"
The wizard jumped at Kael's sudden appearance, but once he came to, he handed over the paper anyway. "Oh, sure, take it—I've already finished reading it."
"Thank you." Kael took the newspaper.
"What's up?" Sirius came over to have a look too.
Kael didn't say anything.
He opened the paper, quickly reading through the front-page article, then pointed to a paragraph, frowning, "Hagrid might be in trouble."
Sirius instinctively looked over.
"We can exclusively reveal that this Professor Hagrid's mother is none other than Giant Fridwulfa, currently missing.
Giants are naturally bloodthirsty and violent; we don't know if Hagrid inherited any of that, and whether Hogwarts Headmaster Dumbledore has informed students and parents about it."
"Wait!" Sirius exclaimed in surprise, "So Hagrid's a Half-Giant?"
"Definitely. Regular wizards don't grow over three meters tall," Kael said. "But the problem is, guessing and having it pointed out are two different things. Hagrid's behavior at Hogwarts is nothing like bloodthirsty and violent—in fact, a lot of people really like him. But now…"
Hearing this, Sirius realized how serious the situation was.
He had the perfect example in Lupin.
For a whole year, he'd been one of Hogwarts' most popular professors. But when his identity as a Werewolf was revealed—even though the whole school year was uneventful—he still had to resign and leave.
This all comes from people's deep fear of werewolves, which can't be changed.
As for a Half-Giant… honestly, that identity isn't as terrifying as a werewolf, but it certainly isn't great either.
Every wizard knows Giants once joined You-Know-Who, and they're a byword for brutality.
"So what now?" he asked.
"No idea." Kael stuffed the newspaper in his robe pocket. "Let's head back to Hogwarts and talk to Hagrid."
"Alright!"
Sirius sprang up at once and led Kael quickly toward the Leaky Cauldron.