Alexis was stunned as she stepped out of the car, eyes widening at the sight of the Red House.

  She gred at Scarlet, grittieeth, “You...you Ciel Phantomhive!”

  “...What?” Scarlet looked at her, clearly puzzled.

  With a dramatic groan, Alexis facepalmed. “Tell me you don’t have a devil for a butler.”

  “Of course not,” Scarlet replied, studying Alexis’s expression. “Are you sure you don’t need me to call you a doctor, dear?”

  “Nope, I’m good.” Alexis took a deep breath, gng around. “Holy, I wouldn’t even be surprised if you told me you were some a princess guarding a magical stone for, like, turies, just waiting for ‘the chosen one’.”

  Meiko grinned. “Sounds like a legend from the hidden realm - a princess from the Green Hill.”

  Alexis’s eyes widened in arm. “Why does that sound like some kinda Xianxia webnovel? Are the people on the Green Hill fox fairies? I mean, like, yao guai - the kind that turn into sexy women?”

  “Probably because they’re Taoist priests who fly around on swords,” Scarlet answered offhandedly.

  “WHAT?!” Alexis’s jaw dropped as she raced after Scarlet into the house.

  Trailing behind, Meiko – who’d handed off the car to a waiting servant – looked curiously at the Weasley twins. “Is this how midy behaves with friends at school?”

  “Nope, just with her,” Fred replied with a bemused smile.

  Gee added, “They seemed to have this way of...well, uanding each other--”

  “--with terms that ght over our heads. We thought it was all Muggle stuff, but apparently--”

  “--it’s something only they get, seeing as you’re asking too,” they finished, rubbing their s in unison, and chorused, “Iing...”

  Suddenly, they heard Alexis yell from inside, “Damn you, Batman!”

  And Scarlet’s exasperated voice followed, “Language!”

  The twins g Meiko. “Think we could watch that Batman film?” Fred asked. “Might help us uand.”

  Meiko nodded. “I’ve got most of the movie cassettes out on the market, so it should be iheater room.”

  “Brilliant.”

  Whehree of them ehe living room, Alexis, who’d been noticeably off-kilter since arriving at the Red House, was now bowing deeply to Scarlet, as Japanese as she could. “I sincerely apologize for my choice of nguage, sensei. From this moment on, I swear to watch my tongue so I don’t embarrass you, keep your face proud.”

  “...I appreciate that you’ll watch yuage, but it’s not for my sake,” Scarlet replied with a sigh, facepalming. “Also, why oh would you think I care about the face thing?”

  “Um...I just thought it’s a ese thing? You’re a ese, right?”

  “I’m British,” Scarlet answered – then muttered under her breath, “though Asian in my past life...just adopted by a mixed ese-Japanese dad now.”

  “...How many titles are you stag onto yourself? You’re practically invincible at this rate!”

  “Well, enjoy figuring it all out.” Scarlet waved her off, giving Meiko a nod. “Meiko, I’ll leave them in your care. I’ll have a light dinner a some rest – tomorrow's going to be a long day. Show them around, will you?”

  “Certainly, midy.”

  And that was the st time Alexis and the Weasley twins saw Scarlet in the living room for the entire holiday - until the day before they were due to return to Hogwarts.

  Scarlet had been going out early each m aurni night. By the day before their departure, she finally appeared, greeting them with a tired yet satisfied smile.

  “You’ve been busy the whole holiday,” Alexis said with a note of . “Are you going to be busy again today? ’t you at least take a day to rest? It’s a long trip baorrow.”

  “I suppose I’ll sleep through most of the jourhis time.” Scarlet waved off Alexis’s , “No worries, everything’s settled now. I’ll be staying indoors today.”

  “Good.” Alexis settled beside her. “So, what’ve you been w on? Care to share?”

  Scarlet didn’t reply, instead she looked around and asked, “Where are the other two?”

  “They were up until five in the m - safe to say, they’re still asleep.”

  “You didn’t stay up with them?”

  “Regur ten o’cloe, thank you.” Alexis rolled her eyes. “They got all excited over some new idea and stayed up discussing it all night. I couldn’t keep up ao bed. Eko told me when he saw them stumbling off to bed just as he started his m rounds; I ran into him i while refilling my water bottle.”

  Eko was one of the household servants in charge of the gardens and orchard.

  “Sounds like I expect your proposal on the game soon?”

  “Yeah, uhey brainstormed another ridiculous idea while I was sleeping.” Alexis facepalmed. “I hought two so-called ‘geniuses’ could e up with so many stupid ideas, thinking they’d be brilliant.”

  “Those ideas might just be good ones,” Scarlet said, taking a sip of tea. “They’re pranksters, after all. A bit of nonsense make a great prank.”

  “...Kay. Ba the box for me,” Alexis groaned, rubbing her fa frustration. Still, she felt oddly secure – more so than ever. Having an ex-caster and a “Batman-ish” mentor like Scarlet to rely on gave her a strange sense of fort. In fact, she realised she almost ehe frustration she felt around her; it was certainly better than the initial thrill of meeting Snape and Cedric, her favourite characters iory.

  “I’m w on a soul rehabilitation ritual,” Scarlet said suddenly.

  Alexis blinked, caught off guard, but soon realised that Scarlet was answering her question, “...What’s that?”

  “I assume you know about Neville’s parents?”

  “Yes, of course – the otacked by Voldemort’s followers. They’re in St. Mungo’s permaly, aren’t they...Wait.” Alexis’s eyes widened. “Are you saying...you’re trying to heal them?”

  Scarlet nodded, “ly healing, but it’s something close. As the follower of the Queen, I don’t have the ability to directly heal. But I’ve learned enough about runes from her to bihat with my own knowledge from my previous life. I’ve designed a ritual that should, in theory, help. It’ll take a few months before we’ll know if they show any improvements...but I’ve done my best.”

  “Meaning it takes a few phases, and you’ve just finished setting up phase one, now you’re moving on to phase two for observations, which will probably take months?” Alexis said after processing Scarlet’s words, and Scarlet nodded in response.

  Alexis was too stuo respond, finally grasping what stepping “out of the box” really meant. It wasn’t just about stopping the vilin without aig, or outsmarting the characters with extra knowledge or fht; it was about ging the very foundatiohor had id for this world, by utilising the experience from both worlds.

  “Alexis?” Scarlet’s voice pulled her back to present, and she realised Scarlet was watg her with a look of . “Did you remember something important that you’ve fotten?”

  “No,” Alexis replied, hesitating. “I just...thought, maybe we could create a terspell for the Killing Curse?”

  Scarlet rested her on her palm, sidering. “You’ll have to expin this Killing curse to me. I should remind you, I only have a vague memory of this story. I watched the first two films many, many years ago, though occasionally bumped into some memes when scrolling through the i, but beyond that, my knowledge is limited; I had more things worth my back then, as you may have guessed, and this series of stories didn’t inspire me mu being creative in enting. Now, sometimes my assistants in Hogwarts assume I know the basics of the wizarding world, so they leave out things they sider ‘on sense’.”

  Alexis immediately reised this as her moment to fill in the gaps. She had, after all, once fallen deep into the world of Harry Potter fanfi. With accurate information, Scarlet would tackle any challehere – though Alexis khat Scarlet, or Akahime-sensei, would excel regardless.

  She unched into an expnation, c everything she knew about the Killing curse, along with the other two Unfivable Curses.

  Scarlet listened, pting each detail as she absorbed the information. After a thoughtful pause, she ented, “I could likely ter the Imperius Curse. In fact, Taoist priests would be ideal for this – thousands of years of mental discipline have prepared them to resist halluations, be mentally stable, and avoid being trolled by the inner demons they face as they level up their own skills. Perhaps I could even acquire items with ter-Fashu from them.”

  “As for the Cruciatus and Killing Curses...” Scarlet frowned, deep in thought. “They’re entirely different from any spells I know. They sound more like...cepts.”

  Alexis tilted her head, puzzled, “I don’t quite uand...”

  “To be ho, her do I.” Scarlet rubbed her temples. “Philosophy isn’t my strong suit. But let’s take the Killing Curse, for example. It kills, but no one ualy why or how it kills – it simply does. It’s as if, ohe curse hits someo bypasses all the typical processes of death, like choking, drowning, or a heart attack, and immediately causes death. But it doesn’t work on lifeless objects because, of course, they ’t be killed.”

  “It’s somewhat like...let’s say I i an item, a key to ‘open’ things. This key could theoretically open anything, though it’s mostly used on doors because it’s a key. However, if the user treats a healing wound or scar as a kind of ‘door’, they could, in fact, use the key to reopen it - because the key carries the cept of ‘opening’. Does that make sense?”

  Alexis thought about it and then her eyes lit up. “Oh, ceptual magic! I think I’ve heard of that...maybe from D&D? Or an a sounds cool, so probably anime.”

  “So...could we use aype of ceptual magic to ter it?” Alexis verying to follow Scarlet’s line of thinking.

  Scarlet pondered for a moment, “I’d like to test the Killing Curse.”

  “What?”

  “To see what it siders as a ‘living being’.” Scarlet expined calmly, “I mean, teically, even germs are living beings.”

  “...Huh?”

  “An ant is a living being as well,” Scarlet tinued casually. “So, if I use transfiguration to jure a ade from an ant and wear it, when the Killing Curse hits me with while I’m wearing that cloak...who does it kill? Me, or the ant?”

  “...Um, good question.” Alexis blinked in shock. “I’ve...hought of anything that plex.”

  “Worth experimenting, isn’t it?” Scarlet took another sip of her tea. “And if a mb dies from the Killing Curse, would it be safe for us to e it? I might use animals for the experiments; better not waste anything.”

  “...Why does this sound like a method for a humane sughterhouse?” Alexis muttered, trying to process Scarlet’s unusual ideas. “Instah to minimize suffering and maintai quality - the cruelty-free groups might actually endorse it and shut their mouth.”

  “Iing thought, but sadly, it’s illegal in the wizarding world,” Scarlet shrugged. “Now, who should I pitch this to? I doubt Professor Dumbledore would support my experiment, though Professor Snape might.”

  “...Or you could try a Japanese shrine. Preferably the one Meiko-san’s from – no one in the UK would notice, and you’d avoid all the legal plications here.”

  Scarlet smiled at her, pleased. “Now that’s a step out of the box.”

  “...Thanks?” Alexis scratched her head. “’t your pendant, like, hahe Killing curse? It totally save us from a lethal blht?”

  “A ‘lethal blow’, meaning it absorb the impact of any car crash ger stabbing, I doubt it could withstand a ceptual magic shot,” Scarlet shrugged.

  Alexis sighed, “So, back to the healing ritual. You’ve been busy all this time w to heal Neville’s parents?”

  “Yes, starting with them.” Scarlet nodded. “If it goes well, the director of St. Mungo’s may apply it to other patients, and I might even earn a bit of extra pocket money.”

  Okay, never uimate a humble Asian, Alexis thought to herself.

  Qiya