As the New Year arrived, Hogwarts's teachers and students were enjoying a quiet, peaceful holiday. Far away in Albania, on the Mediterranean side of Europe, former members of the Order of the Phoenix were hunting the traitor Wormtail.
After realizing someone was following him, Wormtail hurriedly fled by plane. The pursuing wizards Confunded the Muggle airport staff and successfully found his destination, he had bought a ticket to Albania.
Sirius and the others were on the same flight as Lily. Of course, she had arranged that on purpose, even choosing a seat diagonally behind Harry and the others.
Flying by plane was a novelty to many wizards. Lily turned her head slightly to watch the view outside the window while carefully listening to the conversation among the younger wizards in front of her.
Then she faintly heard the word Wormtail, and her heart gave a violent jolt.
Twelve years ago, in order to escape Voldemort's pursuit, Lily and James had chosen to place their home under the Fidelius Charm. Wormtail had been their Secret Keeper. As long as he did not reveal the secret, no one could have found the Potters' hiding place.
When Voldemort broke into their home, Lily and James had already realized that Peter Pettigrew had betrayed them.
The last time Lily heard the nickname Wormtail had been twelve years ago. The years stolen by death had not washed away a mother's hatred. Instead, they only made her fury burn hotter. Whenever she thought of James no longer being alive, and Harry enduring so much loneliness, Lily shook with anger.
Enemies were hateful. Traitors were worse.
They had to find him, throw that bastard into Azkaban, and let him face the Dementor's Kiss.
On January 2, the plane arrived in Tirana, the capital of Albania.
The local temperature was still above freezing, and there was not a single patch of snow on the streets. Instead, there were many Muggle worshippers wearing white caps. The strong foreign atmosphere felt interesting to the British-born wizards.
Lily followed Sirius and the others all the way to this remote little country, while Wormtail had arrived one step ahead of them.
By then, the traitor had already vanished. He had most likely disguised himself again. Polyjuice Potion made that sort of thing convenient. It allowed someone to change identities almost anywhere, as long as no one saw the transformation itself. Sirius had used the Polyjuice Potion Hermione provided to disguise himself as a Muggle and board the plane.
The thought that Wormtail might be hiding somewhere among the dense crowds of white caps on the street gave Lily a headache. For the moment, she could not think of a single lead to follow.
Normally, foreign wizards entering another country had to locate the local Ministry of Magic to file a report and register their wands. The process was rather complicated, and it would greatly increase the risk of exposure. That was precisely why Wormtail had used Muggle transportation. Otherwise, his only option would have been to find an unregistered private Portkey to secretly enter the Continent.
There were countless small countries on the Continent. In a backwater like Albania, the entire country's wizarding population was only a few dozen, perhaps a hundred at most. The magical government had even fewer members, pitifully few, in fact. With official power so weak and lacking effective oversight of illegal activities, it was no wonder places like this were favorites among Dark wizards.
Now Lily could only hope that Wormtail had used up all his Polyjuice Potion. But if he left the city and headed into the vast wilderness, then there would truly be no way to find him.
With no better options, Lily temporarily settled down locally, following Harry while continuing to search for traces of the missing wizard.
Two days later, she saw the dead man's photograph in a local newspaper, the poor wizard from Britain had died in a drainage ditch in a foreign land. That proved Wormtail was no longer using that man's appearance. Polyjuice Potion could only imitate a living person. Once the person being copied died, the potion became useless.
Now, no one knew where Wormtail had gone.
Another dull, bitter day passed before an owl from Hogwarts found Lily.
A snowy owl perched outside the window of Lily's hotel room and tapped the glass twice with its beak, drawing the witch's attention.
Lily had been studying a map of Albania, trying to find possible hiding places Wormtail might use. Hearing the sound, she turned and saw a beautiful owl outside the window, its bright yellow eyes staring straight at her.
She got up to greet it and smiled. "Wait a moment."
Before the witch could open the window to welcome it, the owl suddenly teleported into the room, dropped an oil-paper-wrapped parcel onto the desk, then calmly settled on the windowsill.
"Oh my, how can you Apparate? Are you really an owl, dear?" Lily was astonished. Owls had always been good companions to wizards, but she had never heard of the species possessing magical abilities. The owl before her was clearly an exception.
The witch took out a piece of toffee and handed it to the snowy owl. It picked up the toffee in its beak and stored it in a small pouch on its left leg.
"Are you saving that for later? How clever, dear!" Lily's awful, stifled mood improved quite a bit because of the owl's arrival.
The snowy owl tilted its head and looked at Lily for a while, then pulled a piece of parchment and a quill from the Undetectable Extension pocket tied to its left leg.
The quill automatically wrote: Thank you. My name is Kaia. I can't Apparate, but my master gave me magic, so I can run around like a Diricawl.
A Diricawl was a dodo, though in this world it was a magical creature with an innate ability to teleport.
Lily stared blankly at this intelligent owl for a long while before suddenly asking, "You're Skyl's owl, aren't you?"
Kaia the snowy owl narrowed her eyes and nodded. That little expression made her look like a happy cat.
"No wonder you're so smart and adorable. What did you bring?"
Lily rubbed Kaia's head with the pad of her index finger, then opened the oil-paper parcel. Inside was a copy of A Beginner's Handbook for Spellcasters, along with a letter bearing the Hogwarts crest.
The letter read as follows,
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore, Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, Grand Sorcerer First Class of the Order of Merlin, Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot
To our esteemed teaching assistant, Ivanna Collins:
We are pleased to inform you that, thanks to the outstanding contributions of the Headmaster, multiple faculty members, the alchemy and Charms expert Mr. Jim Hacker, and the seventh-year Gryffindor student Skyl, our school will introduce a brand-new teaching tool in the new term. We are honored to present to you a great invention that will change the wizarding world, A Beginner's Handbook for Spellcasters. Please see the attached item enclosed with this letter. After receiving it, press your fingerprint onto the title page of the Handbook, and the tool will automatically bind you as its sole user. If it is lost, please apply to the Deputy Headmistress for a replacement after the term begins.
Additionally, the new term will begin on January 9, Greenwich Mean Time. Please take the express train directly to Hogsmeade Station on the first day of term and return to Hogwarts.
Deputy Headmistress
Minerva McGonagall
Lily stroked the soft cover of the Handbook in surprise. This was a magical item, without question.
"Hogwarts must be loaded these days," Lily said with genuine feeling. "Did Dumbledore strike oil?"
Following the instructions in the letter, she pressed her fingerprint onto the Handbook.
The magical book abruptly floated into the air. After opening by itself, its pages began flipping rapidly, rising and sinking as if it were alive.
Lily felt a warm breeze blow out from the book. Then she sensed an indescribable connection between herself and the book, almost like the diary she had lost in childhood.
Kaia hooted twice, as if happy for Lily.
Lily flipped through it and studied it for a while, letting out sounds of amazement from time to time. She now understood why Professor McGonagall had been able to write words like "change the wizarding world" with such pride.
She looked up at Kaia and said, "Thank you for bringing this book to me, dear. Did Skyl ask you to deliver it?"
Kaia tilted her head, and the quill beside her wrote: You ran too far away! The other owls couldn't deliver it, so I had to come.
"Please thank Skyl for me."
The female snowy owl gave a cheerful cry and wrote: Just a reminder. If there's anything you don't understand, you can ask the ghost in the book. She knows so much. I'm leaving now.
"I will. Goodbye, Kaia," Lily answered seriously.
Kaia flapped her wings and instantly vanished from the room. The parchment and quill beside her drifted down, but before they could fall to the floor, Kaia teleported back, put away the paper and quill she had left behind, gave Lily a shy little hoot, and used magic to teleport away again.
"So cute." Lily smiled gently.
She opened the Handbook, pondered for a moment, then picked up a quill and tried greeting Helena Ravenclaw inside the book.
"Good day, honored Lady Ravenclaw. There is a matter troubling me, and I hope I might receive an answer from you..."
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