Scarlet woke up at her usual time and headed for her m training. After a few minutes of warming up, a stranger entered, clearly her.

  He was tall and muscur, with scars scattered across his body. Wearing a bck si and trousers, his bald head and the untidily trimmed facial hair gave him a dangerous look, especially with the scar that almost blinded his left eye.

  “Hello, Mr. Hawk.” Scarlet said politely, “Pleasure to finally meet you.”

  “Same here,” he said, approag and shaking her hand, “Kyle’s been goin’ on and on about how he’s got the best daughter in the world, and that his little girl could even take me down.”

  “He’s exaggerating,” Scarlet grinned, “I might catch you off guard with a surprise attack, but if you knew what I was capable of, I wouldn’t stand a ce. There’s no way I’d win in a straight fight.”

  Hawk raised his eyebrows, amused. “Girl, you sure you know what you’re sayin’?”

  “Well, it depends on how much you know about me.” Scarlet stepped back, raising her fists, giving him a clear challenge.

  Hawk caught her i and took a few steps back as well, raising his own fists, “Something magical, like that stuff we saw in Japan?”

  “Yep.” Scarlet nodded, “ I spar with you? I’m not great at close bat without a on, and the only person I’ve ever fought is my dad.”

  “Fair enough,” Hawk shrugged, and nudging his forward. “Bring it on.”

  Scarlet nodded, bent her knees, and lu the experienced merary. Her agility gave her an edge, allowio dodge his heavy punches with smooth, graceful movements. She was like a butterfly, weaving around his attacks with ease – skills honed from her stant practice of the Salmon Leap, a teique once used by the legendary Celtic hero Cú n. But while her dodging was impressive, her punches barely made a dent in Hawk’s thick muscle. Hitting him felt more like striking a brick wall.

  They went several rounds, with Scarlet’s punches doing little damage, and Hawk’s attacks always narrowly missing her.

  Suddenly, he called out, “Alright, girl, grab your o’s see what you’ve really got.”

  “You sure?”

  “Quit talkin’ and start swingin’!”

  Scarlet bit her lip and summoned a spear into her hand.

  It wasn’t the Gáe Scáil gifted to her by the Queen, but a replica ade by her dad, fed from steel to mimic the great on in every aspect - including its weight – except for the magical entments. The true Gáe Scáil cursed its victims with every strike, just as it had doo Quirrell, and Scarlet certainly didn’t want that happening to Hawk.

  Hawk’s eyes lit up when he saear materialize from thin air. His focus sharpened as he dodged each thrust she u him. In stark trast to her earlier performance, her skill with the spear was formidable, every strike dangerously precise. Even when he grabbed a bde hanging from the training room wall to defend himself, he found himself outmatched by the small girl, whose height barely reached his chest.

  After several intense rounds, they stopped by mutual agreement, and Hawk let out a deep, r ugh. “No wonder Kyle talks you up so much. Girl, you’re something else! Just gotta work on building some muscle.”

  “Well, I’m an underage girl. My body’s naturally not as strong as an adult.” Scarlet stepped bad tinued her spear art training. “I’ll start w on my strength when I hit fifteen or sixteen. Not expeg too much, just enough to buy me time to summon my spear.”

  “Sounds like a solid pn,” Hawk said, nodding approvingly. “You kly what you’re doing – don't see that kind of clear headedness in most folks.”

  “And I’m thankful for that.” she replied, keeping her breath steady as she swung the spear with practiced grace. “How’s Mr. Lupin?”

  “Better.” Hawk shrugged, “Right now, you’re probably the only hope he’s got left. The Japasushi couldn’t do anything for his dition. Their only advice was for him to accept who he is. He’s really not a fan of that idea.”

  “Well, maybe if he embraced it, he’d be more scious during the ge. That’s how they hahese things,” Scarlet responded, “So, he prefers being drugged over accepting his identity?”

  “Yep. But that’s ly a good call either.” Hawk watched her smooth movements, “The drugs numb his senses, mess with his mind, aually, if he keeps it up, they’re gonna fry his nerves.”

  “I’m not sure how much I help him,” Scarlet admitted. “He’s basically beiically altered into something else, irely human anymore. But there’s research at my school that suggests it's more like a poison. There might be an antidote potion we could brew.”

  Hawk gave a grunt, knowing full well that finding an antidote would likely cost a fortune. Medical research was always a money sink, and unless Lupin proved himself to be worth the iment, the Hong-Tachibana family wasn’t going to throw their money into a bottomless pit with no guaranteed return. They’d already done plenty – using their es in Japan to get Lupin into the Jutsushi Academy, a hidden school that had even surprised him, despite his prior experie a magical school...Wait...

  “I assume the private school you’re attending now is...magical?” Hawk asked.

  Scarlet paused mid-movement and turo him. “I thought you khat ever siold my dad I could research werewolves through letters.”

  “Yeah, I guess it just didn’t really clitil now.” Hawk scratched his head, “Let me guess...Hogwarts?”

  “How did you know?” Scarlet raised an eyebrow.

  He shrugged. “Lupiio once when he was kinda out of it. ly sober after waking up from some ahetic procedure. Said he graduated from there.”

  “My senior, what a surprise,” Scarlet mused, then frowned. “It sounds like he’s been through a lot, and it’s not going to ge if he stays a werewolf.”

  “Yeah, we ’t keep him drugged forever,” Hawk agreed.

  Scarlet wiped the sweat from her forehead and ed up her training, “I’ll see what I do for him...Did he try out the magic circle I left in the basement?”

  “Worked like a charm,” Hawk said with a smirk, “We only half-drugged him because we uimated how tough a werewolf is, just gave him dosses for a regur adult male. He woke up not long after the transformation and tried to break out. But ohat magic circle kicked in, it was like he io the floor, like a sandwich getting fttened...What exactly does that thing do?”

  “It multiplies normal gravity by twenty times,” Scarlet expined. “Guess I should’ve goh water pressure at depth of a few hundred feet instead if I really wao lock him down.”

  “Yic...It’s kinda practical, you know?” Hawk said, hesitating. “Not as, uh, whimsical as what Lupin’s shown me.”

  “Personal taste. I’m not into all that fanciful stuff,” Scarlet replied as she led the way out of the training room. “Will I be able to see him today?”

  “Maybe tonight. But I leave him be and hang out with you guys...I heard you've got guests from your school?”

  “Yeah, some sates who know almost nothing about the normal, non-magical world,” Scarlet said, eyeing him thoughtfully. “Mind being their guide? They probably have a ton of questions after the film st night, but I’m not sure I’ve got the time to ahem all.”

  “Sure thing, leave it to me.”

  Hawk and Scarlet parted ways at the training room. After a quick shower, she headed to the dining room to join her dad, Percy, and Hawk for breakfast. The experienced merary was deep in versation with Percy, expining something about aeropnes.

  “Good m, Percy. Did you sleep well?” Scarlet asked as she sat down, and a maid quickly served her breakfast.

  “Yes, thanks for asking.” Percy replied.

  “Where are the others? Still asleep?”

  “Probably. There were too excited after the film and stayed up te. I doubt they’ll be up before lunch,” Percy said with a slight roll of his eyes, clearly unimpressed by his brothers’ behaviour. Scarlet chuckled.

  Scarlet gestured to Hawk. “I take it Mr. Hawk has introduced himself? He’ll be yuide if I’m tied up with other things.”

  Percy looked at her, curious. “What could you be busy with? I mean...is it alright if I stay around and observe?”

  Scarlet blinked. “Of course, but...may I ask why?”

  “I...” Percy began slowly, “I think I could learn something from you. Something I wouldn’t find in any of the books at Ho--our school.”

  “Sure, why not.” Scarlet said with a smile. “William, you pass him my schedule? That way, he’ll have an idea of what I’ll be up to.”

  William ehe room with a stack of dots, handing the schedule to Percy after pg the rest in front of Scarlet. She tinued with her tonese gee as she picked up one of the dots and started reviewing it.

  Perced down at the schedule but quickly realised he couldn’t fully uand what was written. Scarlet was already absorbed in her work with her manager, while Mr. Hong politely excused himself from the table, giving Scarlet a quick hug before heading to his study. Only Hawk, whom Percy had just met, seemed to still be enjoying his breakfast.

  Hawk notig Percy’s fusion, took the schedule from him and raised his eyebrows as he sed through it.

  “Well, I don’t get all the terms either, but I make a guess,” Hawk said, pointing to a se that had puzzled. “This one here looks like it’s about some pstic deposition research...Wait, you don’t knostic is?” Hawk paused, then added with a grin, “Well, lemme expin...”

  Qiya