บท 197: Chapter 196 "The Face of The Cards"

Observing the radiant glow at the tip of Cassandra's wand, Mr. Burke cast a nostalgic look at his storefront before closing his eyes in despair. Yet, the incantation that echoed in the room wasn't the deadly Avada Kedavra, but rather, "Obliviate!"

After casting the Memory Modification Spell, Cassandra proceeded to grab a pen and paper from the Borgin and Burkes store, scribbled a few random words, and then exited the establishment without glancing back.

As Cassandra strolled out of Mr. Burke's store and made her way beyond Diagon Alley, an unmistakable voice reverberated behind her, "You're more compassionate than you let on, Cassandra. Not quite as ruthless as anticipated."

Pausing at the sound of the voice, Cassandra turned around to find her father, Thomas Vole, waiting on the opposite side of Borgin and Burkes.

They walked side by side, and Thomas remarked, "What you did today doesn't quite align with the typical Alliance's style."

Halting her steps, Cassandra replied, "I'm not part of the Alliance. What defines their style?"

Thomas seemed taken aback by Cassandra's response and admitted, "Oh, I didn't anticipate that. I assumed you had already joined the Alliance!"

Despite Thomas undertaking various tasks at Cassandra's behest, she never disclosed the specific details to her father.

Consequently, Thomas Levo remained under the impression that Cassandra was serving the Alliances.

Unperturbed by her father's surprise and skepticism, Cassandra addressed him directly, stating, "I acknowledge that the Alliances once basked in the glory of Grindelwald. There was an era in the wizarding world that belonged to them. However, my vision extends beyond the past glory of the Alliances. In this era, it's about Wentworth Grindelwald!"

Thomas chose silence in response to Cassandra's proclamation. He silently accompanied her back to the Leaky Cauldron, observing his daughter as she walked into the fireplace within the establishment.

After Thomas and Cassandra departed, Mr. Burke in his store regained consciousness. Scratching his head in confusion, he muttered, "Strange, I feel like I forgot something."

Despite contemplating for a while, Mr. Burke failed to recall anything. Dismissing the matter, he refocused on his tasks and proceeded with his packing.

Out of the blue, Mr. Burke caught sight of his counter with a piece of paper. Intrigued, he picked it up and read the message inscribed on it, "I appreciate your talent, Mr. Burke. Please keep this store open! When I entered, I saw that you seemed to be asleep, so I picked up a few items from your store. I have already put the reward in the drawer in the back room. Please check it."

Although Mr. Burke found the message perplexing, he ventured to the back room and opened the drawer. To his delight, a bunch of radiant golden Galleons met his eyes!

Sighing in amazement, Mr. Burke mused, "Is there such a valuable thing in my store?" Driven by curiosity, he combed through his shop but found nothing amiss.

Filled with doubts, Mr. Burke returned to the back room, reopened the drawer, and unearthed a notebook from beneath the pile of shimmering Galleons.

It turned out to be Mr. Burke's diary. Although not consistently updated, he used his spare moments to document noteworthy occurrences. Convinced that the events of today were truly remarkable, Mr. Burke felt compelled to record them for posterity.

However, when Mr. Burke opened the notebook and perused a few pages, his confusion deepened, and he murmured, "Strange, when did I write the last few pages? Why do I have no recollection at all?" Puzzled by this, Mr. Burke found himself unable to move for a long time.

Without her knowing, Cassandra had altered a precious memory inside Mr. Burke's head that would cost him quite some time to recollect as he jogged down to the memory lane.

The once precious diary of his is now quite a stranger to him, which leads to the question of whether he remembers about his own newborn child or not...

As Mr. Burke delved into his store's mysterious diary, Cassandra had returned to Hogwarts. Upon her return, Cassandra sought out Green and Cedric, presenting them with the deck of playing cards Mr. Burkes had crafted.

Cassandra handed the king of spades and the king of clubs to Green and Cedric respectively, and began to explain, "This deck, named Celestial Constellations, was created by someone I specifically hired. Its main functions are..."

During Cassandra's narration, Green and Cedric found themselves opening their mouths simultaneously in amazement.

After Cassandra finished explaining, Green couldn't help but raise the exquisite king of spades above his head, gazing at it in the sunlight, and muttered, "This deck of cards is beautiful, but is it really as magical as you said? Huh..."

Speaking of this, Green suddenly paused, then narrowed his eyes, carefully observed the back of the card in his hand, and said with some uncertainty, "Look, the starry sky map on the back of this deck seems to be moving!"

Hearing Green's words, Cedric and Cassandra simultaneously examined the cards in their hands. After careful observation, the three concluded that the starry sky map on the back of the deck was indeed slowly moving.

Due to the gradual pace, Cassandra hadn't noticed it initially.

When the three made this discovery, Green looked at the stack of playing cards in Cassandra's hand and said with excitement, "This is... so cool! Cassandra, isn't it a bit too wasteful to just hold or store such a cool card in your hand? Let's play a round or two with this deck. Come on!"

Upon hearing Green's suggestion, Cedric expressed eagerness to try, showing a keen interest in the idea. "What a great idea, Senior!" Turning his head to Cassandra, Cedric continued, "That's right, Cassandra! It would be such a waste to not play with this deck, right?"

However, Cassandra sneered and said, "A game or two? Yeah, sure! This deck, called Celestial Constellations, is worth a total of 1,500 Galleons, and each card is worth more than 200 Galleons. If you break one, then pay me one. What do you think about that? Sure, let's play some games if you can afford to replace it."

Upon hearing Cassandra's words, the card that Green clenched in his hand, the K of Spades, slowly lets loose. Then, as if afraid that he was holding it too tightly, he carefully put the K of Spades back in his pocket. After a long sigh of relief, he said, "Our Secret Hallow finally has a face!"

Cedric, standing on the side, swiftly put away the plum blossom K in his hand and echoed, "Yes, let's talk about the model of the card first. This card is too expensive for mere cards! Tell us more about it, Cassandra!"

With a proud expression brimming from her face, Cassandra is ready to give both Cedric and Green an explanation about what led her to make such a deck!