Homecoming from Hogwarts

"Wake up, wake up——"

While in a coma, Jasna suddenly heard someone calling her. Her consciousness quickly left those bizarre images and floated towards the surface of the sea of ​​dreams.

"Um, what's wrong?"

The familiar dull voice allowed Jasna to identify who was calling her without opening her eyes. She reluctantly took out her right hand from the warm quilt and gently rubbed her sleepy eyes with the back of her hand.

"time to eat--"

Said old Enma, who was standing by the bed.

"Oh, are you going out?"

Jasna asked, yawning lazily.

Perhaps because she had been using magic frequently every day these days, she became increasingly lazy.

During the first few days of being trapped in this house, she felt restless and had no appetite.

But after a while, she began to enjoy the feeling of waking up slowly in a lazy mood.

After Jasna woke up, old Enma turned around and left the house and walked out the door.

Jasna was no longer surprised by this. Rather than saying that he was indifferent, it would be better to say that old Enma had lived alone for too long and had lost the ability to express his emotions.

Her vision regained clarity and Jasna looked at the square table beside the bed.

There were two empty wooden bowls on the square table. It seemed that old Enma had already had breakfast before waking her up.

This would never have happened in previous years.

In the past, no matter how soundly she slept, she would wake up immediately if there was any unusual sound around her.

If I allow myself to continue to sink like this, I will probably be caught by the Aurors soon after I return to the outside world.

Jasna twitched the corners of her mouth and laughed at herself in her heart.

"Ok?"

When her eyes turned to the foggy window, Jasna, who had just woken up, frowned slightly.

The days here in winter are very short and the sun is rarely seen, but these days, old Enma always goes out after seeing the faint light. It has never been like today, when the deep darkness outside the window woke her up.

After realizing that her sleepiness was not due to working all night but because she did not get enough rest, Jasna's eyes fixed.

When she regained consciousness, she soon realized something was wrong.

The house is too empty.

All the smoked fish and smoked venison hanging from the rafters were gone.

The neatly stacked firewood by the fireplace, the ropes, knives, and old hunting rifles hanging on the wall, and the large mattress that old Enma had been sewing these days, all disappeared.

Her expression was stunned for a moment, and then she realized something and her face changed slightly. She put on her cloak, got out of bed and walked towards the door.

At one glance, Jasna pursed her lips.

Old Enma was feeding a few strong-looking sled dogs in his work shed. Next to him was the sled that she and Old Enma had renovated together for many days and was now in brand new condition.

Compared with the previous one, the area of ​​this sled cargo hold is twice as large, and is divided into two floors.

The things that disappeared from the pine house have been classified and placed in the lower space, while the upper space is still empty.

A strong emotion welled up in my heart.

Now she knew what the big mattress that old Enma had been sewing using whole reindeer skins was for.

He made the mattress into a tent, propped it up with wooden planks, and fastened it to the sled, which he made into a carriage.
“Where do these sled dogs come from?”

Jasna asked softly, her lips moving, her voice very hoarse.

"In the village—"

Old Enma said in a low voice that now, he is occasionally willing to answer some "nonsense"

The.

“Will there be any danger on the road?”

I watched old Enma return to the house, empty the bedding from the bed where she had slept for the past few days bit by bit, and stuff it into the space on the upper level of the sled and then spread it out.

Jasna felt her heart gradually becoming empty. She asked numbly,
"I heard that we might encounter avalanches and wild beasts on the road."

Bang, bang, bang! After making the bed in the carriage, old Enma began to nail a frame in the space at the rear of the carriage. When he was done, he walked into the house, took out the stove, and fixed it in the frame.

“If the road is too dangerous”

Jasna lowered her head and spoke hesitantly, but old Enma seemed not to hear her. He walked into the house again, stepped on a bench to take down the oil lamp hanging on the beam, then walked out and hung it in the carriage.

"After you drop me off in town, can you come back alone?"

Jasna asked softly.

"fine--"

Old Enma began to put the reins on the sled dogs.

Jasna touched her messy hair which had been neglected for a few days and bit her lower lip.

"When we get to the town, you come with me to Berlin. I promised you that I would give you a large sum of money."

At the end of the conversation, Jasna shut her mouth.

Yes, she had promised that if old Enma was willing to help her deliver it to the town, she would give him a large sum of gold as a reward.

But what use is gold to old Enma?
He lived in this quiet village all his life, and gold was worth less to old Enma than a pile of firewood.

But, apart from gold, how could she repay him?

As if they knew that this would be a difficult journey, the sled dogs borrowed by old Enma looked at her with gloomy eyes, as if silently blaming her.

Jasna was speechless.

She walked back into the house dejectedly, sat at the square table, and started her last breakfast in this wooden house.

The steaming venison soup could not save her gradually cooling heart.

She wanted to escape from this cage-like mountain village and return to the outside world.

But why don’t I feel happy at all?

Yes. She is worried that after she gets out, she will find that her father is dead and the rest of her life will be spent in a long, aimless wandering?
It seems so.

A life without goals is empty and numb. In comparison, during the days in Azkaban, I was full of fighting spirit every day to fight against the mental cannibalism of the Dementors.

Old Enma had already made all the preparations. He brought a basin of water and placed it beside the fireplace, quietly watching Jasna who was eating breakfast with her head down.

He is like a piece of stone, always cold and never showing weakness, on the surface.
"I'm done eating--"

After finishing the unpalatable food in the wooden bowl carefully and earnestly, Jasna finally raised her head.

Old Enma nodded, picked up the basin of water on the ground and poured it into the hearth of the fireplace.

Stab it!

There was a fierce crackling sound, and then a large amount of thick smoke poured into the chimney.

Jasna stared at the fireplace in dismay. For the first time in these days, the fire in the hearth that had been roaring with flames had gone dim.

"Let's go--"

Old Enma said, he walked over, took Jasna's cane with one hand and held her arm with the other.

The tent made of various animal furs was airtight, and with the stove in the sleigh compartment, Jasna, wrapped in bedding, did not feel cold at all.

However, she didn't care about these. She sat in the carriage and stared blankly at the dim little house.

call!
The wind was blowing and the clouds were rolling. The starry sky showed its face for the first time in these days. However, the dim starlight made the starry sky look a little desolate.

Old Enma sat in the driving seat, had already taken out the reins, and was separated from her by a tent.

"Let's go--"

Jasna in the carriage had a blank expression.

Sassy -

The carriage shook a few times and began to slide towards the glacier.

Goodbye.

Looking at the snow house standing on the gentle slope, Jasna said in her heart. (End of this chapter)