“Finally we meet again!”
Ramiro still gave Scott a bear hug very enthusiastically.
“How are you?”
“Long time no see.” Scott also smiled and asked, “How is everyone?”
“Everyone is nice, and of course everyone misses you.”
Ramiro patted Scott on the back and led him toward the parking lot.
“Is the magical world too insular? I don’t think it’s good that I can’t keep in touch with my family.”
Scott didn’t say that he didn’t contact his family for safety reasons. He just said: “It doesn’t matter, I will graduate in two years.”
“What about after graduation?” Ramiro asked curiously, “Will you live in the world of ordinary people?”
Scott thought for a while and could only answer, “We don’t know yet. It will depend on the situation in the magic world.”
In fact, he knew that given his situation, he would definitely enter a dangerous period after graduating from Hogwarts. In order not to hurt his family, he probably still had to stay away from everyone.
But he doesn’t want to talk about it just yet.
After the two got in the car, Ramiro curiously asked a lot of questions while driving.
He is still very interested in Scott’s study and life at the magic school.
Scott cooperated and said some fun and interesting things.
Ramiro listened with interest.
When the two drove back to their villa in Salamanca, Scott’s family was already waiting outside.
Including his parents, uncles and aunts, cousins, everyone came.
After Scott got out of the car, Amelia was the first to rush up and hug him tightly.
“Oh my dear son.”
She kissed Scott hard on the face.
“I miss you so much!”
“Mother.”
Scott was a little embarrassed, but mostly happy.
He also reached out and hugged Amelia, “I miss you too, Mom.”
“Oh, you’ve grown a little taller, baby.”
Amelia looked up at Scott, as if she couldn’t get enough of him.
“Of course, I’m almost 16,” Scott said with a smile.
Emilia nodded repeatedly, “Of course, honey, I’m ready. We will celebrate your birthday together next month.”
She then let go of Scott and led him towards the others.
Scott quickly greeted other relatives, “Long time no see, Dad, Uncle Caleb, Aunt Flora, Cousin Ramos, Cousin Adelina…”
Everyone smiled at him, even the unsmiling Uncle Caleb, whose expression softened a bit at this moment.
Aunt Flora was still so enthusiastic. She held Scott’s hand and asked him many questions with concern.
Scott answered patiently.
Of course, it seems that aunt still doesn’t know Scott’s identity as a wizard, and she has been complaining that Emilia and Michael don’t help Scott transfer to Madrid.
After a while, Aunt Flora let go of Scott’s innocent parents and took Amelia and cousin Adelina to prepare dinner together.
Scott chatted with others for a while, and the five children from his cousin’s family quickly gathered around him curiously and asked him some questions about Britain.
Perhaps because they knew that the Hill family moved to Spain from England, these little guys were very curious about Britain.
Scott patiently played with the five little guys and answered their endless questions.
It wasn’t until dinner started that Scott breathed a sigh of relief.
Ramiro also said, “You are amazing. I can’t stay with these little guys for so long, otherwise I will go crazy.”
“So they don’t like you very much.” Adelina rolled her eyes gracefully.
After dinner, the relatives said goodbye and left, and finally only Scott and his family of three were left at home.
Amelia took Scott to chat again. She seemed to want Scott to tell her everything about his life at school.
Michael sat and listened to the conversation between mother and son.
But Scott always adheres to the principle of reporting good things and not bad things, and he never talks about it in depth. It seems that he is just an ordinary little wizard.
Emilia kept smiling and listening to him, but she shed tears while listening.
“I’ve always been worried about you, my son.” She choked and said, “I’m always worried that you will be bullied by those people, that you will be hurt, that something bad will happen to you…”
Scott quickly comforted her.
“You underestimate your son too much, mother. In Hogwarts, except for the professors, no student can beat me.”
He said this deliberately in a comforting tone.
“Of course, I can’t fight either. The professors at Hogwarts are all great wizards, and it’s not too late for me to learn from them.”
Amelia felt a little better now.
Although Michael, who was sitting next to him, remained silent, Scott knew after meeting his eyes that his father was not as easy to fool as his mother.
Sure enough, that night, Michael knocked on Scott’s room door again after Amelia fell asleep.
“Is Mom already asleep? I knew you would come.” Scott, who was wearing pajamas, did not sleep. “I have been waiting for you, Dad.”
Michael nodded, and the father and son walked to the large balcony outside Scott’s room and sat on wicker chairs to chat.
“It seems you have been through a lot again, my son.” Michael lit a cigarette and smoked.
Scott asked curiously, “How did you tell?”
“Of course I can see it.” Michael said, “As an antique dealer who was born as a smuggler, I have seen all kinds of people. Besides, you are my son.”
“I think you should not talk about your identity as a smuggler in a proud tone.” Scott joked.
Michael laughed, “This is the past of our Trollope family, son, you can’t escape it.”
“I didn’t escape it.” Scott said helplessly.
“Okay, tell me, what happened.” Michael reached out and ruffled Scott’s hair, “You can hide it from Millie, but you have to tell your father the truth. Only by knowing everything can I be prepared.”
Scott certainly understood this truth, and he was not prepared to hide it from Michael.
Although Michael did not understand magic, as he said himself, he had seen many people and dealt with many monsters and demons. In some things, he was much more experienced than Scott.
“Let’s start with what happened last summer.” Michael added.
Scott had no objection.
He told his experience in the past year in detail, without missing even one thing.
Michael listened patiently, and from time to time pointed out some parts that Scott did not do well.
In this way, they chatted all night, and Scott’s rich experience was not finished until before dawn.
“Oh, my dear son, your experience is a little beyond my expectations.”
Michael looked at Scott with a complicated look in his eyes and a complicated tone of voice.
“I have to say that you are like the protagonist of a Hollywood fantasy adventure movie. All kinds of troubles always come to you automatically, and even involve illusory ancient legends.”
Scott shrugged his shoulders, “Sometimes when I think about it, I feel a little unreal.”
“Fortunately, you were not defeated by those troubles.” Michael rubbed Scott’s hair again, “nor did you back down because of the terrible dangers you might face in the future.”
Scott felt that his little curly hair must have been rubbed into a chicken coop.
But who made him do it? His father did it.
So he could only lie flat and let Michael do it.
“I know that escaping from cowardice is useless.” He said, “Only by facing the trouble directly can the trouble be solved.”
Michael took back his hand on Scott’s head and lit another cigarette.
He was silent for a long time before speaking again, “But as a parent, I can’t watch you face those alone.”
Scott turned his head and looked at him.
At this time, Michael’s expression was hidden in the hazy smoke.
Scott hesitated to speak.
“I know what you want to say, my son.”
Michael also turned to look at Scott.
“Although Millie and I are your parents, we are just ordinary people. Ordinary people cannot participate in the affairs of those wizards. You think I just need to protect myself and Millie, right?”
Hearing him say this, Scott could only remain silent.
Michael didn’t say anything else, he stood up directly.
“Have a good rest, your father needs some time to think, we will talk later.”
He patted Scott’s head again, turned around and walked out of his room.
Scott looked at his back as he left, watched him close the door of the room, and did not move for a long time.
After a long time, he exhaled a long breath, stretched out his hands and rubbed his face.
Hearing Michael’s tone of forbearance and sadness, he was also a little sad.
But some things are like this, he can’t let his parents become wizards, nor can he let them participate in his adventure.
Although they have always been the closest family, and they have the most sincere love and care for each other, when Scott walked into the bizarre magic world alone, their worlds only overlapped a little.
Scott believed that Michael also understood this truth.
His father was also a cautious man, and he was not worried that he would do something impulsive.
Michael must also know that rashly intervening in Scott’s affairs would not help him, but would drag him down.
Although this is cruel for a father who wants to protect his son, this is the fact.
Scott calmed down, then left the balcony, climbed to the window and fell asleep.
“Scott, my dear son…”
I don’t know how long it took, Scott heard Emilia’s voice in his sleep, and at the same time, a hand grabbed his ear.
Scott, who had not yet woken up, barely opened his eyes and saw Emilia standing in front of his bed.
“Good morning, Mom.” He said vaguely, “I want to sleep a little longer.”
“It’s noon now, my son!”
Emilia pulled his ear relentlessly.
“And you haven’t explained to me what happened on the balcony. Did my good son learn to smoke? I counted and smoked a whole pack of cigarettes in one night?”
“That was Daddy’s.” Scott broke free from her hand and hid in the quilt.
“Your dad said he never came to your room!”
Amelia lifted Scott’s quilt, bent down and smelled him.
“Honey, your pajamas smell like cigarettes!”
As she said that, she slapped Scott’s butt hard again.
Scott finally opened his eyes completely.
He looked at Emilia’s angry expression and finally realized that he had been tricked by Michael.
In order to prevent Emilia from finding out about the long conversation between the father and son last night, he could only plead guilty, “I won’t dare to do it again, Mom.”
“You’d better not dare to do it again.” Emilia reached out and pinched Scott’s face again, “I don’t want you to learn from Mike. You know, your father was a high school dropout when he was your age!”
“I won’t smoke anymore.” Scott promised again and again.
Emilia reluctantly let him go.
“Where’s Mike?” Scott asked.
“He went out early in the morning.” Emilia replied, “Oh, we haven’t told you yet. The family opened another store, not far from here on the street.”
Scott sat up slowly.
“Take a shower and solve your lunch by yourself.” She directed Scott to act, “I’m going to help you wash your pajamas and sheets, and of course, clean the balcony. You stinky boy, the room is full of stinky cigarettes!”
Looking at the disgusted expression on Emilia’s face, Scott felt a little depressed.
Yesterday, his son was still a sweetheart, but after just one night, he has become a disgusting brat. This treatment has dropped too quickly.
But he still obediently took a shower, changed clothes, and went downstairs to fry steak himself.
After lunch, Scott called Roger.
Mainly to care about Milton who went abroad alone.
“Milton is gone.” Roger said on the phone, “This morning, I sent him to the airport and taught him to fly alone.”
“Is he okay?” Scott was actually a little worried, “I always feel that we will see a British boy crying alone on the streets of Vienna in the newspapers or news.”
Hearing him say this, Roger was also a little worried.
“You make sense, I feel the same way now, and I have a picture in my mind.”
But the two could not do anything, they could only wish Milton all the best.
After hanging up the phone, Scott followed Emilia’s instructions and came to the outside of his own store.
It was still an antique shop called [Trollope], located on a street that was not busy and a little narrow.
Scott pushed the door open and walked in. The brass bell on the door jingled.
The decoration inside the store looked very similar to his own store in the small town of Hastings, England, and the goods looked similar.
The old phonograph was playing a vinyl record from decades ago, and Michael, who was well-dressed, was sitting behind the old counter drinking coffee.
He looked quite energetic and did not look sleep-deprived after staying up late.
“You’re here.”
He looked up at Scott.
“Dad, will there be business here?”
Scott looked around and felt that this store was opened by Michael for fun.
Michael laughed.
“Come here, Scott.”
He waved to Scott.
