Although he was more interested in the headmaster's younger days, Bathilda clearly didn't want to go on, and it didn't feel right to press her.
"How can it not be here…" Bathilda rummaged in the trunk for a while. "Maybe I left it upstairs, I'll have to go and look."
She came to the stairs and slowly walked up.
After Bathilda left, Kael looked around the place for the first time.
The room was a mess and rarely cleaned; there was dust everywhere.
Beside the sofa stood a chest of drawers, with lots of photos arranged on top. Kael once again saw Grindelwald there, a solo portrait, and he looked even younger.
He was lazily smiling at Kael from inside the silver frame.
"Click…"
At that moment the door sounded; Dumbledore walked in from outside.
What timing—Bathilda had just gone upstairs when he returned.
Kael looked at him, picked up the silver-framed photo on the chest of drawers, and asked, "I'm guessing Bathilda Bagshot just mistook me for this man, her nephew?"
Dumbledore paused slightly, then nodded. "That's likely. She rarely uses that tone when speaking to anyone else."
"But we don't look alike at all, especially our hair." Kael glanced at the photo.
The person in the frame had golden hair, while his was black; that was no small difference.
And being mistaken for a Dark Wizard was not exactly pleasant. Kael had always seen himself as a good person.
"That I don't really know. Maybe it's her age—her eyesight isn't what it used to be.
And she's been getting more and more muddled lately; several times she's mistaken me for my father, even though we don't look alike at all."
"Is that so?" Kael put the frame back, and Dumbledore seemed to let out a faint sigh of relief.
He came to stand beside Kael and asked, "Do you find it strange that I suddenly came here?"
"A little." Kael nodded.
To be honest, he had already guessed one possibility, but he didn't say it; he just looked at him like this.
"After I left last night, I went to Devon." Dumbledore's expression was conflicted, as if wrestling with something. After a few minutes he said in a low voice, "But Nicolas told me that what I'm looking for is with you."
"Nicolas, huh?" Kael wasn't the least bit surprised. "Last time I visited his estate, he did give me a gift."
Kael groped around in the Transfiguration Lizard Skin Bag for a while and took out a golden Pocket Watch with five hands.
For a moment, Dumbledore's breathing suddenly grew rapid; Kael even felt a chill on his back, and his body tensed instantly.
He was sure that Dumbledore had absolutely entertained the thought of snatching the Pocket Watch, but forced himself to resist.
"Can you lend it to me?" Dumbledore worked hard to keep his emotions in check. "It's very important to me."
"Because of Arianna?" Kael asked, feigning lightness. He raised his head and met a pair of sharp, bright blue eyes.
"How do you know?"
Maybe it was his imagination, but although Dumbledore was questioning him, Kael still felt he had long known it would come to this.
"A guess. Bathilda told me some secrets about your youth." Under Dumbledore's gaze, Kael opened the trunk and put the Pocket Watch inside.
During that time Dumbledore just watched, making no move at all, not until Kael closed the trunk.
"Perhaps I can make a bolder guess. You brought me here from the start because you wanted to use Bathilda to tell me about Arianna."
"Yes." Dumbledore didn't deny it. "Bathilda has grown more and more fond of reminiscing lately. When she saw me leave, she would surely guess I was going to visit Arianna, and that would naturally lead into the subject."
"Why?" Kael couldn't make sense of it, nor understand why he had to do it this way.
He could have said all this himself, so why go to such lengths and have Bathilda relay it?
"Because I need that Time Turner, but I don't have the courage to tell you my reason." Dumbledore sat down opposite Kael. "I don't dare recall what happened back then, even less dare speak it aloud, so I could only use this roundabout way to tell you why."
"What if Bathilda hadn't mentioned Arianna?" Kael asked. "Or what if I wasn't interested in that name and never asked?"
"I can only say I've always been lucky," said Dumbledore. "This time is no exception."