“…… There used to be a strange old man living here, who was a herbalist, but he didn't seem to be very well-known - at least I had never heard his name anywhere else. ”

"He never married a wife or had children in his life, and he dedicated his life to the poisonous tentacles, huh...... In the end, he also died under the spikes and venom of the poisonous tentacles. ”

On the banks of the Hudson River sat an old house that Muggles couldn't see.

Sisters Olivia and Abigail had appeared in the vicinity with Sirius apparitions the night before, and had come to the clean, but empty house.

The scenery here is wonderful, with grass and the scent of earth, and you can see the sparkling river not far away. Except for the fact that the wind is a little stronger on this small slope, there is really nothing bad about it.

And behind this old house, there is also a small garden fenced by the original owner with a wooden fence, but it has been untended all year round, and it has been filled with weeds.

"Well, in the garden at the back—" said Olivia, sitting by the window of her room, enjoying the rising sun, "and it used to be full of poisonous tentacles, and no one dared to go in!" ”

“…… Is it? ”

Sirius was half-lying on the bed, leaning against the pillow and squinting slightly to avoid the slightly harsh sunlight outside the window.

"Yes!" Olivia sat down in her chair and swayed her body, "I was still studying at Ilvermorny at the time, and I hadn't learned about poison tentacles yet!" For this, I went to the library to look up a lot of materials...... It turns out that the leaves of the poisonous tentacles are precious! Each slice is worth 35 Dargot! ”

"Oh, that's expensive." Sirius replied casually.

35 cauldron in the North American wizarding world is equivalent to 10 gold gallons in the British wizarding world - that's quite expensive, but Sirius isn't very interested in the topic of poisonous tentacles at the moment.

Midnight passed, and it was already dawn, but his physical condition did not improve at all. Although he overused the spell during his escape, and had suffered an attack from the black mist, it would not have become what he was now.

Olivia had already fed him potions, and most of his injuries were gradually improving, but he still couldn't cast half of the spell—the ability to make a feather float was gone.

The thought of having something urgent to do, he could barely hide the anxiety in his heart.

Early this morning, in fact, not long ago, Sirius asked Abigail to send him a letter.

It was actually a very kind and good girl, and although she said unforgiving things last night, she still helped him take out his robe later.

But unfortunately, before the robe could be of real use, it ran into the enemy.

“…… It's good to be able to escape. ”

Thinking of this, Sirius couldn't help but shake his head.

At that time, when he himself was hunted down, he deeply realized the power of that strange black mist, and he was once forced to only apparilate for a short distance, and could not concentrate on manifesting farther away.

It's fast, it's resistant to spells, and it's surprisingly destructive. It's the kind of incomprehensible thing that one or two wizards alone can't deal with—not even the Aurors of the Ministry of Magic.

So when Abigail went upstairs to inform them of the presence of an enemy, he immediately told them to cast a long-range apparition to escape.

It seems that he made the right choice. At least he didn't let the two girls get hurt, and that's the best proof of that.

“…… The poisonous tentacles are very aggressive, and they are their seeds, and if they are left untouched, they will rattle on their own! ”

Olivia was still talking about the poisonous tentacles, as if she wouldn't get bored of singing a one-man show.

"Oh, really?" Sirius forced himself to wait patiently.

To be honest, this was the first time he felt that his strength was really a little insufficient. In the past, even if he faced several Death Eaters, he was able to keep the strength to evacuate at all times, and he was far from being as embarrassed as this time.

"Later, whenever I was on vacation, I would often come here with Abby for a few days......"

Olivia leaned against the window, soaking up the warm sunlight and whispering something about what was not there. Looking at her pure smile, Sirius's boredom seemed to calm down a little.

……

On the other side, Abigail has returned to Jackson Square, where she is now filling out a delivery slip at the Owl Post Office.

Yes, the North American wizarding world also uses owls to send letters, and it has always been that way ever since.

In fact, she shouldn't have done the delivery of the letter today, because she had already been seen by a "bad guy" last night.

But if this matter is handed over to her sister, it will be the biggest disaster - no one knows Olivia's unreliability better than her sister!

So, although she still had uneasiness in her heart, since she herself accepted the commission to deliver the letter, she had to do it for someone else.

Judging by last night's situation, that man shouldn't be a bad guy.

“…… But I still have to go back as soon as possible! Abigail muttered softly as he filled out the list.

This is a matter of course, she is not only worried that she will meet the bad guy last night, but she is also worried about the situation where her sister and the man are alone.

But when he thought about it, the tip of the pen in Abigail's hand suddenly slowed down.

"No, or ...... Actually, I shouldn't worry about them? She tilted her head and thought.

Speaking of which, there is a lot of age difference between Abigail and her sister! Now, Olivia is also a big man, and it is long overdue to find a man to marry and have a few children or something.

It's not that her sister is not liked, in fact, there has always been no shortage of suitors around Olivia. But with her character, in the end, none of them succeeded in catching up with her.

After a long time, those men have long given up and started their own families, and Olivia has finally become one of the brightest leftover women in the American wizarding world.

"That man's troubles aside, at least it looks good...... Abigail thought with her chin propped up, "yes...... No, no, the premise is already out! ”

At the counter of the post office, the clerk who received the mail looked at Abigail with a blank expression, and the postmark stamp in his hand was dripping with ink.

"Ahh Right away! ”

After filling out the mailing slip in a hurry, she checked it again and hurriedly handed it to the counter staff. I saw that the other party did not hesitate to stamp the postmark, and then threw it into the letter basket behind him, which was considered to be temporarily processed.

After handing over the letter to the post office, Abigail walked briskly out of the post office lobby. She stood on the steps of the hall door and hesitated, finally giving up on the plan to go home and take a look.

Anyway, I have to postpone my business trip, so leave my luggage at home for the time being! She was about to phantom out of here, but suddenly there was a chill behind her, and then she realized that she couldn't move.

"I'm sorry, this beautiful young lady...... Please come with me! ”

A rather gentle-sounding voice sounded behind her, and then her mind went blank, and an unparalleled sense of happiness rose in her heart.

"Follow me."

It was the same voice again, but this time it sounded in her heart. The voice seemed to have some irresistible magic that made her want to comply.

No, or rather, she didn't want to resist at all. Because she felt that she was happiest only if she obeyed that order.

Immediately, Abigail turned around and followed behind a young wizard in elaborate wizard robes, and slowly left in a certain direction.

The young wizard was naturally Maka, and when he left Jackson Square last night to follow Joshua, he didn't take back all the eight-eyed spiders that had been scattered to search for him. When he returned early this morning with the group of children, he received a good news from a certain little guy who was quite accidental.

In the post office, a witch with Sirius on her body appears.

According to Maca's understanding of spider creatures, whether it is the magical biological world or the ordinary biological world, the spiders' sense of smell is definitely not keen. This harvest can only be said to be a coincidence.

And just now, when Maca saw this little girl directly, he finally confirmed that there was nothing wrong with this coincidence.

He only saw one of the two wizards last night, and as a result, he ran away for her, who would have thought that she would dare to show her face here today?

Maca, who has always had doubts about such things as "luck", really wants to say lucky this time.

He took Abigail, who had been spelled by his Imperius curse, and walked down the street towards the West End. As the number of pedestrians around them gradually decreased, it was not long before they came to the front of the inconspicuous shack.

This is the place that Joshua proposed to temporarily house the children. After all, there are those precious eight-eyed giant spiders of Maca patrolling and monitoring around Jackson Square now, and the level of security is naturally higher than that of other places.

"Squeak-"

Maca pushed open the door and walked into the shack, where more than a dozen children were sitting or lying in a small space, making it look a little crowded.

He walked inside the door, then stepped out of the way. Behind him, Abigail looked in a trance, and saw her take a few steps forward with straight eyes, and then stood in the doorway.

Maca waved her hand casually, and the door of the shack creaked shut again.

"You're all hungry, aren't you? Eat something first—"

He took out his staff and pointed lightly at the round table in the middle, on which a large bread basket appeared out of thin air, filled with all kinds of freshly baked bread.

And beside the basket, several pots were steaming hot, and a wonderful milky aroma wafted from the spouts of the pots, filling the whole house.