Chapter 141: The Nervous Miss Valedictorian

After saying farewell to Professor Kettleburn, Xiwen headed toward the lawn at the center of the castle’s classroom wing.

Speaking of the new term, he had only exchanged a hurried greeting with Miranda on the train and had not yet had the chance to ask how the royalties for The Book of Spells were doing, or how she had been lately. After thinking it over, Xiwen realized that he still had not borrowed the notes for the academic year, so he decided to seek her out and make a little conversation.

He entered the covered walkways of the classroom wing through a small gate on the northwest side of the castle. Beyond the tall stone pillars lining the corridor, he could see that even on the weekend, many Ravenclaw students were still studying on the lawn, working with admirable diligence.

Miranda was there as well. She was lazily leaning against a stone pillar in the distance, wholly absorbed in a finely bound book.

It seemed that The Book of Spells, which had already become a bestseller in Britain, had provided her with ample royalties. Miranda’s life was no longer as financially strained as she had once described it to Xiwen. She now had enough money to dress herself properly.

Today she wore the delicate metal spectacles Xiwen had given her at Christmas. Her pale-gray hair fell diagonally over her shoulders, and while she read intently, she occasionally reached up with her left hand to idly toy with the ends of the strands scattered across her chest.

She was dressed in a brand-new school robe over a white blouse. Her blue-striped tie and the deep-blue collar of her uniform complemented her warm blue eyes.

She also wore a blue plaid skirt in the Scottish style, leaving her two pale calves pressed neatly together. The new robe had been left unbuttoned, hanging loosely on either side of her legs. In her leaning position, it nearly brushed the tender green grass.

Miranda remained completely unaware of this, focused only on the book in her hands.

Xiwen circled halfway around the covered walkway and leaned against the left side of the pillar where Miranda stood. Turning his head, he glanced at the book she was reading.

“Advanced Spellcasting? Is that Professor Hicks’s book?” he asked curiously after seeing the title at the top of the page.

Miranda tilted her head slightly and cast him a sideways glance.

“Is Eulalie Hicks a professor? From the way you said that, you sound as though you know the author.”

“She’s the Charms professor at Ilvermorny,” Xiwen said with a smile. “You didn’t know? Professor Hicks visited Hogwarts once last term. She was in the Great Hall at the time.”

“Really?”

Miranda finally lost her composure. She turned sharply toward Xiwen.

“I’ve wanted to meet her for ages! Why didn’t you come and call me when she was here?”

“The problem is, I didn’t know you were reading her book,” Xiwen said innocently, spreading his hands.

“Oh, right. I only started reading it near the end of the summer.” Miranda sounded rather dejected. “What a pity. If I could have had a proper conversation with her, I might have been able to write a second edition of The Book of Spells.”

At the mention of a second edition, Xiwen immediately perked up.

“Which publisher will you release the second edition of The Book of Spells through?”

“What publisher could possibly offer better terms than your family’s?” Miranda rolled her eyes. “During the summer, a great many bookstores and publishers sent me letters asking about it. I looked through the shares they offered their authors, and the person at your family’s publishing house who decided on my percentage must have been an idiot. Otherwise, how could I have received so much?”

“Who are you calling an idiot?” A dark line appeared across Xiwen’s face as he protested indignantly. “You’re not complaining about getting a generous share, are you?”

“I knew it was you!” Miranda laughed brightly as she looked at him.

“The share you gave me completely eased my family’s financial difficulties. I can study without a care now, and that’s all thanks to your help. I’m truly grateful to you.”

“Hey, don’t put it that way!” Xiwen waved his hand. “It’s just business. We both got what we wanted.”

Miranda looked at the stubborn Xiwen and smiled even more brightly.

“So how could I possibly go with another publisher?”

Only then was Xiwen satisfied. He nodded and said, “In that case, I actually have a way to contact Professor Hicks.”

“Really?” Miranda said, clearly unconvinced. “The author is in America, you know. Letters sent by owl can hardly make it that far.”

“Of course I’m not talking about something as primitive as an owl!” Xiwen stood up and took a mirror framed with phoenix ornaments from his watch-space.

He operated the mirror, and the surface seemed to turn a page. Nicolas Flamel’s face then appeared within it.

“Hello, Xiwen,” Flamel said with a genial smile. “Why not simply come over as usual? Why are you using the two-way mirror?”

“Good morning, Mr. Flamel!” Xiwen greeted him before asking, “I’d like to bring a friend over. Would that be all right?”

“Then hurry up and bring her along. We were just complaining about how quiet it is here!” Madame Flamel squeezed her face into the mirror and spoke warmly to Xiwen and Miranda.

“All right. We’ll be there right away!” Xiwen nodded emphatically and put the two-way mirror away.

Then, as though he had just thought of something, he turned to Miranda.

“By the way, don’t you have anything else to do today?”

Miranda was rubbing her spectacles in disbelief. She nodded rather blankly and asked in a trembling voice, “Was that… Nicolas Flamel?”

“Who else could it have been?” Xiwen said with a soft laugh. “Come on. We need to find somewhere quiet so we can travel to the Flamels’ home.”

Xiwen then led the still-dazed Miranda toward the entrance courtyard and down the staircase leading to the castle dungeons.

It was no longer particularly early, and Slytherin students occasionally passed through the spiral staircase. When they saw Xiwen leading along a witch in a blue-collared robe, they all wore strange expressions.

Miranda felt somewhat uncomfortable. She secretly tapped herself with her wand, turning every trace of blue on her clothes green. Only then did she quietly breathe a sigh of relief.

Xiwen found her self-deception rather amusing and was just about to tease her when he suddenly remembered what it had been like when he had secretly gone to the Ravenclaw Tower.

Had he not done much the same thing? At the time, he had removed his school robe and tie, entering the tower only after changing into a plain white shirt.

Xiwen silently abandoned the thought of making fun of Miranda.

Once she had changed into green, Miranda no longer attracted the attention of the passing Slytherin students, and the two of them reached the dungeon room belonging to the ghost Xiwen without incident.

“Are you ready?” Xiwen asked after closing the door.

“Wait a moment.”

Miranda stopped him. Looking somewhat nervous, she used a Summoning Charm to conjure a mirror.

She carefully adjusted her hairstyle in it, changed her clothes back to Ravenclaw blue, and then turned to Xiwen.

“Do I look all right now?”

“You already look beautiful, Miss Top Student!” Xiwen said, both amused and helpless. “Flamel is very friendly. You don’t need to be so nervous.”

Only then did Miranda relax. She nodded solemnly at Xiwen.

A golden ring of light then illuminated the room.

…

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