Chương 2: Chapter 2
"Damaged vocal cords?" Jamie read the parchment, pausing to think. "I might have just the thing to sort that out. Koby, can you pass me that vial with the red potion from the top shelf? Yes, that's the one."
Koby scuttled across the room to fetch the potion, and passed it to her. Next, she picked up a new sheet of parchment and proceeded to write down the instructions for the potion.
"Bring this letter to that guy. Once you've got your eyes on the money, give him the potion. It'll quickly fix up his vocal cords." Jamie handed the folded parchment over to Koby, then turned her attention back to the cauldron where her potion was simmering away.
"Yes, Mistress. Koby be leaving right now." The male house-elf bowed respectfully, pocketed the letter and the potion before disappearing with a soft pop.
On the top floor of a luxurious apartment building on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, Daniel sat on the couch, nervously biting his nails and tapping his feet.
"Yo, Daniel! What's happening, man? Why'd you decide to pull out so much money out of the blue?" A guy was having a hard time bringing in what looked like a pretty heavy suitcase into the room.
"Hey John, guess what? I've found a way to fix my voice! I'll be able to sing again!" Daniel's eyes sparkled with excitement as he shared the news with his brother.
John, out of breath, set the suitcase down and collapsed into a seat opposite Daniel. "You're really sure they didn't lie to you? That's almost half your money!"
Right as Daniel was about to speak, out of nowhere, a piece of parchment simply materialized on the coffee table, floating there quietly. This sudden sight made Daniel jump, and John was left standing there, mouth agape in sheer disbelief. "What's that? Some sort of magic?"
He stretched out his hand, moving it both over and under the parchment, just to confirm it wasn't just some simple magic trick.
Daniel's hands trembled slightly as he picked up the parchment. He took a careful look at the line of text and, after reading it silently multiple times, he turned to John and asked, "Hey, do you have a lighter?"
The puzzled John gave his lighter. "And the suitcase! Open it!" Daniel urged. John, still not understanding what was going on, had to comply with his brother's request. He lay the suitcase down and popped open the locks. Inside were stacks of hundred-dollar bills, all crisp and new.
With the lighter in hand, Daniel lit the corner of the parchment. The flames spread rapidly, and within seconds, the paper was reduced to ash.
"Is that all? Are we performing some kind of ritual?" John whispered. Just as Daniel was about to respond, a small vial filled with red liquid suddenly showed up on the coffee table. It was accompanied by a squeaky voice saying, "Go ahead and drink it!"
While John was looking for where the voice was coming from, Daniel had already snatched the vial, holding it as if it were a precious gem. Then, out of nowhere, the suitcase disappeared.
John looked shocked as he circled the spot where the suitcase had been just moments ago. "Daniel, are you really sure about this? What if there's poison in it?"
"I don't have any other choice, do I?" Daniel smiled wryly. "Either I drink this or watch everything we have slip away. And I've got this feeling that whoever set it up is trustworthy. No way they'd put in all this effort just to poison me."
With that, he uncorked the vial and downed its contents in one gulp. The liquid burned his throat as it went down, and left a very bad taste in his mouth.
"Ugh! It's like I chugged down a whole bottle of stinky socks! Hold on, wait a sec! I'm feeling something!" Daniel accidentally let go of the vial and placed his hand on his throat.
"Should I call 911?" John asked in worry.
Daniel ignored his brother and quickly made his way to the toilet, where he threw up into the sink. After rinsing his hands, mouth, and face, he realized that his throat wasn't hurting as badly as it had been before.
Back in the living room, Daniel helped himself to a glass of water. Then he began to sing, to test whether the potion was working or not. The soreness he usually felt in his throat seemed to have disappeared. Now, hitting high notes posed no problem at all.
John gaped at his brother, utterly amazed. "No way! Is this seriously happening? Did you actually heal your vocal cords? How on earth did you manage that? Make a deal with the devil or something?"
"Actually, it was an angel. Anyway, time to head to the studio. I've got a new song to work on." Daniel said with a grin.
* * *
"Koby got the money, Mistress!" Koby popped back up in front of Jamie, hauling a large suitcase.
Jamie glanced up from her cauldron and remarked, "Well, would you look at that? The customer actually followed through on their promise this time. I was half-expecting us to scare them into paying as usual. Think we've got enough to purchase a proper shop now?"
Koby counted on his fingers thoughtfully. "Koby thinks it's enough, but the location might not be ideal."
"Who cares about the location! We don't need those regular customers anyway! Let's go for it Koby! I'm tired of living in this tiny room." Jamie said.
"Don't worry Mistress, Koby will take care of it." The house-elf hurriedly left and Jamie returned to her nearly completed potion.
It only took Koby two days to finish all the paperwork. A touch of magic here and there, and Jamie could proudly call herself the owner of an old three-story building in Brooklyn. Standing in front of it, she began brainstorming how to arrange the space.
"Okay, so the ground floor is gonna be our store. We'll set up some counters and shelves there. On the next floor up, that's gonna be our living space. As for the top floor, let's just use it for storage for the time being. And down in the basement, that's gonna be where I work. Just make sure it's well-ventilated." Jamie explained while pointing out the different parts of the building.
Koby gave a nod, ready to start working, but then remembered something crucial. "What about the Ministry? Should we inform them?"
"No need to. Even if they discover us, we'll simply just run to Mexico! They won't be able to catch us there!" Jamie shrugged, looking completely unconcerned.
After that, Koby made a trip to the American equivalent of Diagon Alley to look for a contractor to help with the remodeling, which he eventually did. After outlining Jamie's requirements, the renovators quickly got to work, completing the job in just a day.
On the next day, Jamie went through the house. After confirming that everything met her expectations, she paid the renovators and saw them off. Just as she was preparing to move her things from her old place, she came across a visibly panicked Koby.
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