"Professor, let us patrol with you today!"
In Professor Liro's arms, a little boy spoke excitedly.
As soon as he finished speaking, the oldest girl beside him knocked him on the head and said, "Don't be ridiculous."
"The professor is doing serious work. It's already bad enough that we can't help much, but at the very least we shouldn't cause him trouble!"
As soon as she said that, the little boy's slightly flushed face from excitement immediately drooped.
"Hehe, actually, it wouldn't delay anything. To me, this kind of patrol is just like a walk after dinner. It's not really serious work. If you want to come along, then just walk and chat with me."
Professor Liro let go of them and said with a smile, "Besides, even if I didn't take you along, you would probably act on your own and go patrol other places anyway, right?"
"Ah! Professor, how did you know we patrol the castle every night!"
The little boy blurted out in surprise.
But right after saying it, he quickly covered his mouth in panic and kept shaking his head.
Beauxbatons, like Hogwarts, also prohibited wandering around at night.
And what they were doing, this so-called "patrol," was obviously a form of night wandering.
Even if their purpose wasn't to play around, but to maintain Beauxbatons' safety.
Hearing this, the smile on Professor Liro's face grew even brighter as he said, "In fact, Headmistress Maxime and I already knew."
"But it's alright, we won't hold you responsible. As long as you don't act alone anymore. If you want to patrol at night, just come with me. That'll be safer too."
"Thank you so much, Professor Liro!", The oldest girl thanked him sincerely.
Meanwhile, the little boy had already started jumping and cheering in excitement.
Among the three students, only the boy with long bangs covering most of his face still watched the surroundings vigilantly, firmly carrying out the patrol.
Professor Liro let out a soft breath, took the little boy's hand, and slowly walked toward the magical bridge ahead.
The little boy actually wasn't cute.
On the contrary, there was a large bright red birthmark on his face that almost covered his entire right cheek, making him look as if a ghost that had crawled up from hell had possessed him. Horrifying and unpleasant.
The older girl also wasn't some pure and pretty beauty.
She was slightly chubby, her face covered in freckles. Even though she wore the fitted Beauxbatons wizard robe, she didn't have the fairy-like elegance of the Delacour sisters. Instead, she gave off a rustic country girl kind of feeling.
As for the boy behind them, there was even less to say.
He looked gloomy overall, his presence frighteningly faint. If there weren't so few people present, almost no one would even notice him.
But Professor Liro didn't dislike any of this. While holding the little boy's sweaty, slightly sticky hand from excitement, he smiled and said, "What do you all think about Beauxbatons?"
Professor Liro's question came very suddenly. All three students were stunned.
Especially the little boy, who bit his finger, looking completely at a loss.
Professor Liro didn't mind. He knew the three of them would definitely give him an answer, even if that answer might seem childish.
"Beauxbatons is the most wonderful place in the world!"
The gloomy boy who had been following behind suddenly quickened his pace and moved slightly ahead of them, speaking in an extremely certain tone.
"Oh?", Professor Liro said with slight surprise.
His surprise wasn't because of the answer itself.
But because the first one among the three to answer wasn't the lively little boy, nor the girl who gave off a mature impression, but this quiet young boy.
The boy didn't care about Professor Liro's reaction and continued, "Professor Liro, you might not know me. After all, I'm very ordinary."
"Compared to all the students at Beauxbatons, I'm like a raindrop falling into the ocean, completely unnoticeable."
"But I am also a member of Beauxbatons, and I've been studying here from first year all the way to fifth year. So please listen to my thoughts!"
Although the boy spoke somewhat vaguely and indirectly, Professor Liro still understood.
This boy was a true Beauxbatons student who had grown up studying here.
Not like many of the current transfer students who had been relocated and absorbed from other places.
An answer from someone like him indeed had value.
Thinking this, he nodded to the boy.
That simple gesture of acknowledgment made the boy's eyes redden slightly.
He took a deep breath before pointing at the brightly lit buildings outside the window and saying, "Beauxbatons wasn't as prosperous before as it is now!"
"I remember it very clearly. Before, hardly anyone lived here."
"Even the few merchants that remained only stayed because they had signed contracts with the previous headmasters, forcing them to remain on this small island in the lake to provide us poor students with basic supplies."
"If not for those contracts, I think those merchants would've run away long ago."
"After all, this place was remote, and Beauxbatons didn't allow students to spend too much money there."
"They were basically losing money by staying here."
"Back then, Beauxbatons' teaching quality was also very worrying."
"I still remember our former Charms professor, Svanko. That old man had occupied that position for more than 90 years!"
"We all respected him and thought his knowledge was like a library."
"But he always told us..."
"...that it wasn't appropriate for him to continue teaching at Beauxbatons."
"Charms isn't a subject where older means better."
"On the contrary, as a discipline constantly being advanced with new developments, Charms professors should be younger, so they can bring students more updated knowledge."
"The fact that he, a man over 150 years old, was still teaching Charms at Beauxbatons was actually a tragedy."
"Because it meant Beauxbatons was still teaching students outdated knowledge from 90 years ago."
"And the tidal flats outside!"
"That place used to be a complete mess!"
"It was all mud!"
"Upper-year prefects and professors could travel using flying carriages, but we could only walk."
"Do you know how terrible it feels to step into mud like that?"
"The valley outside was even worse!"
"It was full of Muggle tourists and Muggle loggers. They threw garbage everywhere day and night, cut down trees, and made noise constantly. We were completely fed up with it!"
"But now, ever since you came, Professor Liro, everything has changed!"
"Merchants are happily competing to move into Beauxbatons! Because the policies have finally opened up a bit. Within limits, they're even allowed to sell small amounts of luxury goods."
"And students have money now. Through serious study, they can easily earn large scholarships to improve their quality of life!"
"Professor Svanko was finally able to retire!"
"The new Charms professors number five in total! Compared to him, they can all be called 'young people'!"
"The five of them now have to compete for the position every year. Only the one with the best performance gets to be the Charms professor for all Beauxbatons students."
"As for the other four, they can only be assistants."
"And the tidal flats outside…"
The gloomy boy spoke endlessly for a long time.
As Beauxbatons became better and better in his telling, the gloomy aura around him gradually faded, replaced by a light called hope.
Especially in the one eye not covered by his bangs.
The light of hope shining there was so bright it was almost shocking.
This made the little boy and the girl beside him stare with their mouths open in surprise.
They had known this boy for quite some time.
But they had never imagined that this ordinary, low-presence, somewhat gloomy boy had such a side to him.
"…If possible! After I graduate, I want to travel around the world, increase my knowledge and strength!"
"Then come back to Beauxbatons and become a professor like you, Professor Liro! To also contribute my own strength to Beauxbatons' development!"
The boy ended his speech excitedly with a beautiful vision for his own future.
When he finished, Professor Liro and the other two children generously gave him applause.
Amid the applause, which wasn't actually that loud, the boy blushed, hurriedly bowed to everyone, then quickly hid behind them again.
Professor Liro and the girl didn't disturb him further, only looking at him with faint smiles.
They both understood that had just been a brief outburst.
At his core, he was still that shy, slightly socially anxious boy. What he needed now was quiet without disturbance, not questioning from others.
The applause just now was already the best encouragement.
It would give him strength to continue moving toward his goal.
The little boy naturally couldn't think as deeply as Professor Liro and the girl.
Seeing the boy receive applause made him even more excited. Jumping up and down, he said, "My turn! My turn! I also love Beauxbatons the most!"
"Of course, I like Headmistress Maxime even more! She's a great person! She saved me from the church, she took me… she saved… saved…", The little boy's voice suddenly got stuck.
His previously excited face gradually twisted.
Thin strands of black mist carrying an ominous and violent aura began emerging from the red mark on the right side of his face.
That black mist seemed almost alive, constantly twisting and howling in midair.
The girl and the boy's expressions changed drastically as they reached for the wands in their clothes.
But Professor Liro was faster.
He simply placed a hand on the little boy's head.
Immediately, the black mist surrounding the boy rapidly dissipated, and the boy returned to calmness, standing there blankly as if he had lost awareness.
The girl and the boy both let out sighs of relief.
Professor Liro, however, frowned and said, "The aura of an Obscurus. What's going on here?"
The girl glanced at the little boy worriedly before softly saying, "This child… was actually raised in a church orphanage before. You probably know what places like that are like."
"If it were only that, it wouldn't be too bad. At most he would've been thrown out at sixteen and sent to a factory recommended by the church to become cheap labor. But unfortunately, he has wizard talent."
"That's a tragedy."
Professor Liro nodded. "Young wizards before age eleven can't control their magic. Strange things often happen around them that Muggles can't understand."
"If he had been in a normal Muggle family, maybe it would've been better. At least they would be his real parents. But he was in a church orphanage."
"I imagine he must have suffered a lot."
"Those Muggle believers are the most enthusiastic when it comes to suppressing and tormenting young wizards."
"It's a bad habit left over from the witch-hunting era!"
"Yes, he suffered a lot. Those nuns believed a demon had invaded his body. To remove it, they used many methods."
The girl pointed to the red mark on the right side of the boy's face.
"These marks aren't birthmarks. They're burn scars left after the nuns tried to exorcise him with boiling water. And he has many more scars like that on his body."
Professor Liro sighed, "In that case, I understand why he has the aura of an Obscurus."
"After suffering that kind of suppression and torture, forming one is almost inevitable. What a… pitiful child."
Professor Liro's gaze was full of pity.
An Obscurus was actually a powerful but extremely unstable dark magical parasite.
It usually only appeared in children like this boy, who were forced to suppress their magical talent due to outside pressure.
And aside from extremely rare cases, young wizards parasitized by an Obscurus rarely lived to adulthood.
"This child is different," the girl hurriedly said after noticing the change in Professor Liro's expression.
"Headmistress Maxime saved him at the last moment. She rescued him from that place called Saint Orphan Hall!"
"At that time he was already covered in injuries. Fortunately the Obscurus hadn't fully formed yet. After Headmistress Maxime gave him proper guidance, he was slowly brought back onto the right path."
Hearing this, Professor Liro's eyes moved slightly.
"I remember now. At the end of last year, Madame Maxime did bring back a child from outside. I heard she snatched him from Muggles."
"That actually violated the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy. To cover it up, the French Ministry of Magic practically mobilized everyone, and Headmistress Maxime was severely punished by the International Confederation of Wizards. So he's that child?"
"Yes, it's him."
The girl instinctively looked up toward the direction of Maxime's office.
"I still remember how Headmistress Maxime looked back then."
"Her whole body had already been covered in wounds from being punished by the Confederation elders, yet she still forced herself to come comfort us. That's why he likes Headmistress Maxime so much."
Professor Liro nodded, reached out and rubbed the little boy's head again, then looked at the girl with a faint smile and said, "What about you then? What kind of story do you have?"
The girl became flustered under Professor Liro's gaze.
Lowering her head shyly, blushing, she said softly, "I… I'm just a very ordinary student. I… I don't have any story."
"She's lying!" the boy behind suddenly shouted. "Professor Liro! You don't know this! You're actually Harry's lifesaver! She likes you the most!"
"Shut up right now!"
The girl unexpectedly shouted angrily at him, then lowered her head again in embarrassment, secretly watching Professor Liro.
Seeing this, Liro said blankly, "Oh? Your name is Harry too?"
The girl nodded slightly.
"Then tell me about your experience," Professor Liro said with a smile. "I'm actually quite curious."
The girl named Harry still hesitated and refused to speak.
But the boy beside her spoke again, "She was originally born in a rural village in the Czech region. Her parents sold her to a small magic school nearby when she was young to become..."
"I wasn't sold!" the girl Harry interrupted. "I was just sent there to study!"
"What's the difference? The headmaster of that small school gave your parents money and took you away, didn't he?" the boy frowned.
"No, you had it worse than being sold. Normally if someone's sold, that's it. You were sold and still had to help count the money!"
The girl stopped talking, just covering her face as if crying.
By now, without realizing it, they had already walked onto the magical bridge.
The moon hidden in the clouds seemed to have heard their stories.
It peeked out, turning its light into a gentle hand that softly touched the girl's head as if to comfort her.
Professor Liro, meanwhile, said thoughtfully, "The Czech region… I remember there was indeed a small magic school there that we sent people to destroy."
"That school, in name a school, was actually just a potioneer's laboratory."
"Taking advantage of the fact that the Czech region didn't have an official Ministry of Magic and had weak oversight, he kept gathering children with magical talent under the name of a magic school."
"And then… conducted potion experiments on them."
"Harry, you were one of those children, weren't you?"
"Seeing you so healthy now truly makes me relieved."
"Your other companions all…"
Professor Liro sighed and didn't continue.
After long periods of potion experimentation, many of those boys and girls could hardly even be described as human just from their appearance.
But the girl Harry instead raised her head, eyes red, and said, "We're already very satisfied! Our lives in the Czech region weren't even human!"
"You saved us! Only after you brought us back to Beauxbatons did we finally feel what it was like to be human!"
"You're lying again," the boy said teasingly. "Don't you also like Professor Liro? Hoping to get closer to him? That means you're not satisfied at all!"
As soon as he said that, Harry's face became so hot it seemed like steam might rise from it. She flailed her arms trying to grab the boy's face, but he dodged her with a laugh.
Just as she was about to chase him again, she saw Professor Liro looking at her with a gentle smile.
"So that's how it is. You really are… quite cute.", Professor Liro spoke gently as he extended his hand.
Hearing this, Harry seemed as if all her strength had been drained. She stood frozen in place, blushing and lowering her head.
Moonlight shone on her, somehow giving her otherwise plain face a hint of charm.
Finally, Professor Liro's hand landed on her head, gently rubbing her hair.
That feeling made Harry clutch her robe tightly, her mind completely blank.
Not far away, the boy also showed a relieved expression.
He felt like he had helped her.
Even though Harry and Professor Liro could never be together, being able to have this kind of contact meant part of her wish had been fulfilled.
The boy felt very happy inside.
But soon, his brows slowly began to furrow.
Because he suddenly realized that Professor Liro seemed to be increasing the strength in his hand.
And Harry, whose hair was being rubbed, was slowly starting to show a painful expression.
"Hey, Professor Liro, don't be so rough. Please be gentle...", The boy's voice abruptly stopped.
Because accompanied by a dull bursting sound, Harry's head was completely crushed by Professor Liro's hand.