As, Alexis and the Weasley twins followed Scarlet back to the Red House. Percy didn’t join them, as he was buried in his studies, determio achieve top grades. Meanwhile, Ron and Harry were essentially held captive by Hermione, who had goo full study-mode mania. The bunny-toothed girl had a highly ambitious pn to push her two friends to ace their exams, which were still weeks away after Easter. The boys dared not defy the exam-obsessed mae, who turned into a fire-breathing dragon if she caught them sg off.

  “That Malfoy - I’ll make sure he doesn’t get the best score! Ron and Harry are definitely going to score higher than him!” Hermione decred in front of Scarlet, her fist ched with burning motivation. Behind her, Ron and Harry looked utterly exhausted.

  Alexis was amused by how the characters had ged, “Like, Draco doesn’t seem as bad as he was in the books or the movies, but he’s still, like, super annoying with bratty, nose-in-the-air attitude, especially to Harry and his friends...So, wait, this isn’t a fanfic that ships Harry and Draco? Oh, silly me, duh, Snape is way too hot. He’s gotta be the main character in this fanfic...But who’s he gonna be shipped with?”

  “...You’re still thinking about that?” Scarlet g Alexis, who was frowning, deep in thought.

  “Uh, yeah, obviously! I mean, Snape’s whole love life is, like, totally the main plht? Don’t you agree?” Alexis noticed Scarlet rolling her eyes.

  “I’ve told you, I don’t care who he’s in love with, as long as it doesn’t mess up my school life. One evil vilin is enough for me to worry about - I don’t o deal with anyone’s love story too.” Scarlet checked her schedule before bidding farewell to the protagonist trio and joining Fred and Gee, whrabbing their trunks at the entrance of the Great Hall.

  Without Christmas presents to carry, their luggage was much lighter pared to their st trip, and their outfits looked more like ordinary Muggle clothes.

  Scarlet was surprised. “When did you get those?”

  “Not long ago. Mum bought these clothes with dad, using our earnings,” Fred replied with a grin. “Apparently, we know more about Muggles than our parents do, so they finally took gestions.”

  “Unlike before, when Mum would just scold us for ‘messing around’,” Gee added with a shrug.

  “gratutions?” Scarlet raised an eyebrow, to which they immediately bowed and replied in unison, “Thank you, Midy.”

  The way they addressed Scarlet caught Alexis’s attention, but she chose to stay quiet about it. Instead, she started discussing their game development progress as they settled into their train partment. After all, Scarlet was their most important patron, willing to sponsor them before they had even made any solid progress.

  The twins were adamant about not w on games that seemed too simple.

  “Super Mario is great and all,” Gee said, “but we’re far more ied in that MOBA game you mentioned.”

  “D&D will e ter. The maps and story ons of attention, plus we’ve got to e up with a set of rules that fit the wizarding world better,” Fred expined. “The inal rules are cool, but they feel kind of off - we wizards are nothing like the wizards in the game.”

  “Okay, sounds like you guys know what you’re doing.” Scarlet nodded and jotted down their ideas.

  Alexis, however, stood her ground. “Like, I still think we shouldn’t start with a MOBA game. Something easier would be way better.”

  “Not Snake or Tetris!” The twins excimed in unison.

  Fred said, “Okay, they’re good games, I’m not saying they’re not. But we need something fabulous and visually stunning if we want to get our first big payday. The first game has to be shogly great.”

  “Snake aris just don’t cut it visually,” Gee added.

  “Okay, fine,” Alexis sighed. “How about we check out a game ter, then? Maybe we’ll find something that matches your vision.”

  “Game ter?” The twins looked fused, though Scarlet frowhoughtfully. “They’re easy to find in big cities in Japan, but I’m not sure about London. Do we even have a game shop nowadays?”

  Alexis shrugged. “There’s gotta be one somewhere. Don’t worry, I’ll drag these two around the city and we’ll find it.”

  “And if you ’t?”

  “I’ll...oh,” Alexis whispered quietly, so only Scarlet - sittio her – could hear, “I totally fot, we don’t have i here.”

  But then her face lit up with excitement as she turo Scarlet. “I’ll just beg our dearest sensei for help! You’re, like, super familiar with Japan, right? You’ve got to have a way to order stuff from there, yeah?”

  “...Shut up,” Scarlet rolled her eyes, but nodded, “Yeah, I . Just tell me what kind of materials you need, and I’ll see what I get for you.”

  Alexis shifted unfortably. “Holy, I should use some of my own mooo. It feels kinda wrong to make you cover everything. I don’t wanna, like, burden you.”

  Scarlet looked at her thoughtfully, “I don’t miher way. I keep funding the project, but if you cover your part, I’d happily step bad just stay on as a sultant or advisor. So, how’s your financial situation?”

  Alexis was silent for a moment, then admitted, “To be ho, I’m not sure. But I get, like, three thousand dolrs a month in my bank at, so I guess I’m fine?”

  Fred and Gee let out a low “whoa” in unison.

  “I don’t know what ‘dolrs’ are, but it sounds like a lot.”

  “Better than us. We didn’t start earning anything until our beloved Lady Scarlet helped us.”

  “...Shut up, Gee,” Scarlet muttered, trying to ignore how she was slowly getting used to them callihat. She refocused on Alexis. “Is that money from your parents?”

  “Probably my mother,” Alexis replied. “I have no idea who my father is. I’ve never seen any guy living with us, not even a single picture of her with another man. And I think she might’ve had me when she was, like, really young. She looks super young – like, no one would guess she had a fifteen-year-old daughter.”

  Scarlet frowned. “And yrandparents?”

  “Never heard of them. So I’m guessing my mother ran away from home or something,” Alexis shrugged. “The closest thing I have to a grandparent is her manager. He kinda took care of me whenever she was too busy, you know, flirting with hot guys...I mearied really hard to keep her life from getting, like, too messy, but it didn’t really work. If he wasn’t there to cover for her, I’m pretty sure her life wouldn’t be nearly as fortable as it is now.”

  “Do you think he’s into your mother?”

  “Definitely not. He’s, like, super in love with his wife and family. Carries their pictures around in his wallet,” Alexis recalled. “I’ve met them before, actually. One of his kids found me passed out on the floor and rushed me to the hospital. Puy probably got traumatized seeing that pool of blood ing from my head. He was, like, so gd when I got into Ilvermorny because it sounds like this responsible Catholic school, where the teachers watch the students all the time, and I won’t, like, die from some ridiculous act.”

  Gee frowned. “That doesn’t sound like a very good mother.”

  Alexis shrugged. “Yeah, totally agree. But what I do? She’s still my mother. Lucky for me, I’m old enough to hahings on my own now. Holy, I don’t even think she noticed that I transferred schools to the UK.”

  “So how did you get into Ilvermorny in the first pce? Didn’t someone have to sign you in?” Scarlet asked.

  “Michael signed me up - oh, that’s the manager I mentioned. But I didn’t tell him I’m a witch. Handled everything myself. He just assumed I was freaked out and found myself a good school to hide in,” Alexis expined with a wave of her hand, then quickly ged the topic. “Anyway, I don’t spend much, so I’ve got a det amount saved up. What do you think? Should I, like, i iock market?”

  Scarlet pondered for a moment before replying, “Well, if Michael’s reliable, you could allocate a portion for him to i iock market. Mention the panies you think worth it, just leave it to him and fet about it until you graduate. As for the rest, keep part of it as an emergency fund, just in case, and then you use whatever’s left. Oh, and don’t fet to save for school tuition and supplies.”

  Fred and Gee exged gnces and shrugged. “Looks like we’ve got a lot to learn about Muggles.”

  After another nine hours orain, they arrived at the King’s Cross Station. However, Kyle wasn’t there to greet them this time - he had returo Hong Kong for work. Instead, Meiko was waiting, bowing politely as she weled Scarlet, “Wele home, Midy.”

  Alexis blinked in surprise for a moment befring at Scarlet, “Ordinary wealthy household, huh?”

  “At least the staircases in my house don’t move, and we don’t have any talking statues or portraits,” Scarlet shrugged, ighe blonde girl’s sharp look.

  Fred and Gee were curious. “How did you figure out she’s not ordinary?”

  “We didn’t notiything the first time we met Meiko!” Gee added.

  “That just means your horizons aren’t broad enough. But, like, ’t bme you either.” Because the i wasn’t arou, Alexis mused to herself, then she replied to the twins as they followed Scarlet and Meiko toward the exit, “She’s wearing traditional shrine maiden clothes - white top with those red dress-pants things. And she’s got fingerless gloves. There’s definitely a reason for those super unrealistic gloves...Gosh, she looks exactly like some badass anime character!”

  Fred and Gee exge yet another shrug. Alexis had been ag weirder and weirder whenever she was around Scarlet, but as long as she wasn’t totally off the rails, they were fih it.

  “Geez. How could I fet that sensei is, like, totally Asian...” Alexis muttered under her breath, staring off bnkly. “eions of Asians always try to seem humble and low-key, evehey’re, like, total experts. I ’t believe I actually bought into her whole ‘I’m just average’ act. She’s obviously a big deal – a sensei for the protagonist or something. But who even is the protagonist in this fanfi? Is it, like, a BL L story? Snape and...who?”

  Notig Alexis increasingly erratic muttering, Fred and Gee exge worried gnces, but Meiko just grinned and said to Scarlet, “Midy, you have a very iing friend.”

  “...Just ignore her. She’s obsessed with crafting some kind of gamepy story,” Scarlet replied with a sigh, facepalming.

  “Gamepy? As in video game?” Meiko asked, her curiosity piqued.

  “Yeah. Their big project this holiday is focused on making a video game, so they o do some research. Got any suggestions?”

  “I do know a few pces where y and buy games.”

  “A game tre?”

  “Yes, something like that,” Meiko firmed with a nod.

  “Great, then I’ll leave them in your hands.”

  “My pleasure, midy,” Meiko said, smiling as she g the trio trailing behind, still deep in versation.

  Qiya