Year’s End Approaches

Taking a deep breath, Adam turned over the three Clow Cards in the middle. These three cards pointed to the specific details of the divination.

"Sand Card, Scale Card, Dark Card…"

Adam frowned at the three Clow Cards.

The Sand Card could be interpreted as Uther returning to Egypt, but what were the Scale Card and the Dark Card supposed to mean?

Things seemed to be drifting ever further toward the worst possible outcome…

Frowning, Adam turned over the final Clow Card—the divination target’s next destination:

"Maze Card?"

Looking at the five revealed Clow Cards before him, Adam fell into thought.

The last time he had used the Clow Cards for divination, Adam already had a certain understanding of Hogwarts and Dobby, so the interpretation had gone very smoothly. This time, however, he did not know enough about Egypt or Uther, and that made interpreting them difficult.

In the end, Adam decided—he would ask Uther directly.

After dinner, Adam called Uther aside to an empty corridor.

"Uther, are you planning to go somewhere like a maze?"

After thinking for a moment, Adam added:

"Not necessarily right away. Any time within the next few years counts."

Caught off guard by Adam’s question, Uther’s eyes were full of confusion. But after thinking it over, his expression suddenly shifted slightly, as though he had recalled something. He then looked at Adam in surprise.

"Why would you ask that?"

There had clearly been no one around when his father told him…

"Do you remember the divination I performed in the dormitory before?"

"…Are you a prophet?"

Uther was even more astonished.

The word prophet that slipped from Uther’s mouth was Ancient Egyptian. Adam had learned a little Ancient Egyptian from Nicolas Flamel’s notes, so he nodded without any difficulty communicating.

When Uther realized Adam understood that word, his expression became even stranger. Still, this was not the time to investigate when Adam had learned Ancient Egyptian.

"…Yes. During this holiday, I’ll be going to a place… something like a maze. Why?"

Seeing that Uther was unwilling to say more about the details, Adam did not press him. Instead, he told Uther the results of the divination, though not Adam’s own interpretation.

Perhaps it would be more straightforward to leave the task of interpreting the symbols behind the Clow Cards to Uther himself. Adam did not understand the matter well enough and might only mislead him.

"The card representing your future suggests disappearance. The others represent sand, scales, and darkness…"

Uther narrowed his eyes and sank into thought. After a long while, he looked up at Adam.

"Thank you. This divination has been very helpful."

"As long as it helped. It was just a spur-of-the-moment thing."

Adam shook his head and reached out to pat Uther’s shoulder.

"Be careful…"

At that, Adam thought for a moment.

"To be safe, you’d better prepare an escape route. A Portkey, for example."

"A Portkey… All right. I’ll remember that."

Uther nodded.

After that day, Adam never brought the matter up again. As time passed, the year-end exams quietly drew near…

"Oh my God, I think this year’s Defense Against the Dark Arts is the hardest I’ve ever had to study for."

Cedric let out a miserable groan, sprawled across the table. In all his years at Hogwarts, he had never spent so much time on Defense Against the Dark Arts.

It could not be helped. With his O.W.L.s happening this year, Cedric faced far more revision pressure than anyone else at the table. Four professors had taught the class and written the papers, which meant four entirely different sets of exam priorities—the kind with less than fifteen percent overlap.

"Look on the bright side. This has also been the highest-quality year of Defense Against the Dark Arts… Try the tai chi shaved ice."

Considering everyone’s recent situation, and the fact that he had no inspiration for new dishes at the moment, Adam served everyone a simple, refreshing iced dessert. It could count as an afternoon tea party.

Scooping up a spoonful from the middle of the black-and-white shaved ice and putting it into their mouths, they tasted the sweet, cooling blend of brown sugar shaved ice and milk-mint shaved ice. It instantly chased away the irritation brought by the hot weather and tedious revision.

After taking several mouthfuls and letting out a long breath, Cedric collapsed onto the sofa without a shred of dignity.

"Ahh—so good! I’m alive again!"

"This is condensed milk!"

After trying one of the white fish-eye pearls on the brown sugar shaved ice, Klon scooped up a black one as well. There was no need to guess what that was—it was a brown sugar boba pearl.

"Merlin bless us—next year’s Defense Against the Dark Arts professor has to at least last until the end of term, like poor Professor Quirrell."

Fred and George made awkward crosses over their chests.

Cedric’s current state sent a chill down the twins’ spines. If next year’s Defense Against the Dark Arts professor also dropped out halfway through, the two sprawled there would probably be them.

Everyone had been delighted to get rid of Lockhart, but when the year-end exams came around, they discovered that Lockhart had actually had his virtues. At the very least, an incompetent fool would not set overly difficult questions.

Even Adam could not help wondering whether he had acted too impulsively. Perhaps keeping the basilisk and Lockhart, then using the Creation Card to restrain them, would have been the better choice. After all, he vaguely remembered that there had not been any exams at all this year in the original timeline…

The past could not be reclaimed, but the future could be planned for in advance. Adam thought back—who was next year’s Defense Against the Dark Arts professor again?

Next year’s major event involved Dementors… Oh, right. The Defense Against the Dark Arts professor would be Professor Lupin. He was probably the only one in the original story to leave the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts professor voluntarily and with dignity.

Although everyone discovered that he was a werewolf, at least he had not lost any limbs when he left Hogwarts… Though he had still died at Hogwarts in the end. It was hard to say whether that had been a lingering effect of the curse.

Next year’s Dementors…

Adam furrowed his brow. He knew the Patronus Charm, so he was not afraid of Dementors. Still, it looked like he would need to prepare a large supply of chocolate next year. At the same time, he hoped senior Newt would not be affected too badly by the Dementors.

He remembered that senior Newt knew the Patronus Charm too, and had learned it long ago. His Patronus was even a kelpie.

The main problem was the Ministry of Magic. Even if Adam dragged Peter Pettigrew out ahead of time, the Ministry of Magic probably would not acknowledge it. Otherwise, the problems of third year would be easy enough to resolve.

"Adam, what’s wrong?"

Adam turned around to find Eugene looking at him with concern.

"Nothing. I just thought of something rather irritating…"

Some people were like a toad sitting on your foot—not dangerous, but disgusting.

"Huh? Adam gets irritated during revision month too?"

Klon wore the expression of someone who had just heard something utterly shocking.

"Obviously, Adam isn’t irritated over revision…"

Bernard spoke as he looked toward Adam. Adam responded with a smiling shake of his head to show that he was fine.

Seeing that, Bernard shrugged.

"All right. But if anything happens, make sure you tell us…"