Chapter Forty: What’s Wrong with This Child!

After the agreement was signed, to prevent Louis from backing out, Oxylis snatched the parchment from his hands and burned it on the spot, ensuring that no one could cheat or break the spell later. Then, she turned to Louis with a beaming smile, thinking to herself—don’t blame me when I treat you like a eunuch!

Helen, too, looked at Louis with gloating anticipation, eager to see what would unfold.

Over the following days, Oxylis, ever the proud “lady,” indeed gave Louis and Helen a proper course on Apparition. Not only that, she adopted a strict attitude—if you can’t master it, Louis, I’ll make sure you regret it. She truly looked the part of a stern teacher, but she would constantly glare at Louis, deliberately pick on him, and seemed forever on the verge of using her wand as a pointer to swat him.

But this “socially inept bookworm” called her out on it directly: “Professor, are you still holding a grudge over that incident? Picking on me on purpose? That’s rather petty, don’t you think?”

If it were the thick-skinned Helen, she would have just chuckled at these words and continued making things difficult for Louis. But for Oxylis, it became a deep existential interrogation—her face flushed red in an instant.

With a fragile pride like that, and you keep plotting to make me a eunuch? Just wait until you’re the one in a maid’s outfit!

During the next seven days, Louis enjoyed himself thoroughly with the two of them. Every Apparition lesson, he would raise some “ridiculous” question.

“Professor, this morning while I was reading and eating a sandwich, something odd happened... can you guess what?” Louis would look at Oxylis and Helen with a mysterious air. “Before I knew it, the sandwich was gone! So, Professor, why do you think that happened?”

“Professor, today the cafeteria served beef for lunch! I rushed there just in time, the goblins behind me couldn’t catch up, and then, guess what happened on the stairs?” Louis, rubbing his newly repaired front teeth, dangled the answer before them. “I fell! So, Professor, why do you think that happened?”

Each of these bizarre, foolish questions was more outrageous than the last. At first, Oxylis kept a stern face, but eventually she couldn’t help herself—every time, she would have to turn away to hide her laughter or mutter, “Excuse me, I dropped my pen,” just to cover up her amusement.

Helen, for her part, was beside herself with laughter. Soon, she went further, recording every one of Louis’s antics in her magical notebook, turning them into stories for a bit of fun at his expense.

“Louis, someday I’ll write a whole book of jokes with you as the main character!” Helen declared, biting her pen and waggling her eyebrows.

“Helen, how can you write all of this down!” Oxylis scolded, confiscating the notebook to restore order in the classroom, and putting on her best responsible-teacher act, making Helen apologize to a disgruntled Louis.

But that night, after bathing and sprawling bored on her bed, Oxylis picked up the notebook—ostensibly to review Helen’s homework—and began reading through the entries.

At first, she laughed. But the more she read, the less she smiled.

She suddenly realized that Louis’s seemingly silly questions were growing stranger and more advanced. And some of them—one or two, at least—were things she herself had encountered!

She counted the days, sat up with a start, and rummaged through Louis’s recent assignments, carefully comparing them to the questions he’d asked.

A cold chill ran through her.

On the fifth day, Louis was still asking his ridiculous questions. But this time, Oxylis couldn’t laugh; after listening, she looked as if she’d seen a ghost.

On the sixth day, Helen couldn’t laugh either. Listening to those questions, her mouth hung open.

She realized she was starting to encounter the same problems herself.

She suspected Louis was progressing faster than she was!

Today was the tenth day since Oxylis had started tutoring, and the sixth day of the wager. Yesterday, she had told her sister to hurry up—she expected Helen wouldn’t be able to Apparate until tomorrow.

Tomorrow... wasn’t that just right?

Could Louis really be ahead of her?

What made Helen even more uneasy was her sister’s grave announcement that day.

“Louis,” Oxylis said solemnly, “Apparition is a very dangerous spell. You must not rush it or practice carelessly. I’ve been busy these past days, but in a couple of days, I’ll take you both to a professional site for practical training.”

“Oh, in a couple of days, sure—Professor, you won’t believe it. Last night, I dreamed I was sleeping on the office sofa! But when I woke up—guess what?” Louis dangled the answer before them.

The sisters widened their eyes, ears pricked, fists clenched in suspense.

“It turned out to be just a dream.”

Helen unclenched her fists, exhaled deeply, and wiped the sweat from her brow. Oxylis patted her chest and leaned back into the sofa.

That evening, Oxylis didn’t teach Apparition, only Transfiguration. She hinted at the joys of the Transfiguration spell, encouraging Louis and assuring him he was surely an Animagus.

“Louis, you can do it!” Oxylis declared, raising her fist in encouragement. Helen nodded vigorously beside her.

“Oh.” Louis nodded. “So why only Transfiguration today?”

Oxylis turned away to write on the blackboard.

“Professor, you won’t believe it—after I had that dream in the office last night, when I woke up this morning, guess what? I actually found myself lying on the living room sofa!” Louis began again.

Helen buried her head in her book, eyes wide as if she’d seen a ghost.

Oxylis didn’t answer a word and continued her lesson on Transfiguration.

Even when Louis got up, walked over, and pressed her with questions, Oxylis pretended not to hear.

“Helen, take note of this question for me...”

“Oh, okay.”

Seeing both sisters dodging and changing the subject, Louis leaned back on the sofa with a cheerful smile, playing with the crystal ball meant for recording the lessons, just as he had the previous days.

Unfortunately, this time, no one performed for the camera—both sisters avoided his gaze, deeply engrossed in their discussion of Transfiguration.

That night, Oxylis dreamed of Louis sleeping on the living room sofa. She woke in a cold sweat.

Sitting up and wiping her damp brow, she realized it was only a dream and breathed a huge sigh of relief. But she couldn’t sleep. Restless, she tossed and turned, haunted by the image—Louis seemed not to have a blanket!

And come to think of it, Louis hadn’t washed his feet that night! Helen had teased him for it—how could the boy go to bed without washing his feet? You needed hot water to do it properly for a good night’s sleep. At the very least, a hot towel!

“Wait, why am I so fixated on this?”

Oxylis stared blankly.

Suddenly sensing something was off, she tiptoed into the living room.

As she left her room, she saw the huge, beautiful moon outside the window shining its light into the dim living room, and a gentle breeze drifted in.

Louis’s bedroom door was closed, and there was no sign of him on the sofa.

So it was a dream, just a dream!

Oxylis let out a long sigh of relief, covertly wiping the cold sweat from her brow. She went to the living room and poured herself a glass of cold tea.

That rascal Louis is getting more and more unruly—after the wager time is up tomorrow night, I must give him a proper lesson and remind him who the teacher is!

Even after finishing her tea, Oxylis still felt unsettled. She set down her glass, glanced at the sofa almost against her will—and then her eyes widened in disbelief, nearly collapsing on the spot.

There, suddenly sprawled asleep on the sofa, was Louis!

Oxylis fled back to her room, shutting the door tightly behind her.

But before long, the door to her bedroom quietly opened again. A flustered, blushing figure crept into the living room, a beautiful, steaming towel in hand—clearly, she had heated water specially for the purpose!

Meanwhile, Helen’s door also cracked open, and an anxious face peeked out.

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