Ten minutes later, at Leonard's home.
"Grandfather, these are the… um… friends I met outside." Leonard stood in the doorway, introducing the family behind him to the expressionless Londo.
Londo was holding a frying pan, searing meat patties. He immediately let the pan go.
"They're all wizards," Leonard added.
Londo calmly picked the pan back up, turned around, set it down, shoved Leonard aside, and went out the door, pulling a small cart with him.
The Delacour family watched him leave, all of them a little awkward. Lehende cleared his throat.
"That was…?"
"Oh. My grandfather," Leonard said.
"Is he not happy to see us?"
"No," Leonard replied. "He just went to buy ingredients. Come in, sit wherever."
The Delacours entered the house and headed into the living room to sit down. Madame Delacour immediately began checking everyone for injuries, treating them one by one.
Just then, heavy thumping footsteps sounded from upstairs. They reached the landing, then started down the stairs.
A moment later, Claudia appeared at the top, wearing a pink cake-like dress, with a Chomping Cabbage perched right on her head.
"Leonard!"
Claudia launched herself at him and landed in his arms, rubbing her cheek against his affectionately.
The instant Fleur saw Claudia, she suddenly understood why Leonard had looked at her and found her lacking.
Even with a critical eye, Fleur had to admit it. This little girl, who clearly had a close relationship with Leonard, was so perfectly beautiful she barely felt real.
It was not an insult. Fleur simply could not find words for it. Claudia's features looked as if the Creator had used her as a template to sculpt the most flawless face possible.
Fleur, who had always taken pride in her own looks, felt a deep, crushing frustration. It was so complete she could not even summon the urge to compete.
A peacock might sneer at other birds, but in front of a phoenix, it could only feel small.
Madame Delacour noticed the change in her eldest daughter's expression while checking her over, but she did not comment. She only sighed and healed the scrape on Fleur's arm.
Gabrielle, on the other hand, had none of those complicated thoughts. She had always believed her sister was beautiful and had never compared appearances with anyone. She just thought this big sister was very pretty, and she seemed friendly, too.
As for Lehende Delacour…
He did not spare Claudia's face even a glance.
His attention locked instantly onto the Chomping Cabbage sitting on her head.
A Chomping Cabbage that had left the soil.
Good heavens. What kind of Herbology expert could raise something so terrifying?
Lehende immediately thought of Leonard. In his eyes, the boy was already extraordinary. At this point, almost anything connected to him felt plausible.
Had Leonard altered that Chomping Cabbage?
Lehende's heartfelt, almost hungry stare quickly drew Leonard's notice. Leonard glanced at Claudia in his arms, then at the Chomping Cabbage on her head, and understood at once.
It seemed he had accidentally exposed something he really should not have.
Leonard had been worried Claudia might run into danger on her way home alone, so he had planted a temporary Chomping Cabbage to escort her.
With Leonard's orders, plus Claudia's powerful natural affinity as a Unicorn, it was easy for her to keep the Chomping Cabbage under control, even doing things like letting it sit on her head as a decoration.
Claudia did not see anything strange about that, but Leonard did not want anyone else seeing this kind of Chomping Cabbage.
Aside from Claudia and Midgard, no one knew he had the ability to enhance plants, and he did not intend to let that change.
But Lehende had already seen it. Trying to hide it now would only make him more suspicious.
Leonard's brow tightened for a moment. Then, after a brief pause, it smoothed out.
He acted as if nothing was wrong, plucked the Chomping Cabbage off Claudia's head, and tossed it to the side.
Every plant was under his control. If he told it not to move, it would stay still even if someone stepped on it and crushed it.
The Chomping Cabbage rolled once on the floor, then lay there like a dead object, perfectly motionless.
So it was fake. And it was pretty convincing.
Lehende watched with some curiosity, but most of his attention drifted away. A realistic toy might be amusing, but it was not enough to truly hold the interest of a Herbology expert like him.
Claudia noticed Leonard's action immediately, and unease flickered across her face.
Sensitive as she was, she realized she might have caused him trouble.
Leonard smiled, rubbed her cheek gently to ease her worries, then led her over to sit opposite Lehende.
"Mr. Delacour," Leonard said. "At this point you understand the situation you're in, and you also understand I'm not an ordinary child. So I won't bother with polite nonsense. Let's speak openly."
His expression turned serious.
"I want to know about the organization that tried to kidnap you. How much do you know about them?"
Lehende paused, feeling awkward at being questioned so bluntly by someone who looked so young. But Leonard's attitude was clear, and Lehende forced down the discomfort.
"Honestly, I don't know much. Before today, I'd only heard of them."
"And what exactly did you hear?" Leonard asked, narrowing his eyes.
"To be frank, anyone with any standing in the wizarding world has heard of them. Their presence is everywhere, and yet they also seem completely detached."
Lehende continued, "They almost never interfere in wizarding affairs. Whether it was Grindelwald more than fifty years ago, or the Dark Lord more than ten years ago, they never involved themselves. Their only real contact with wizards is borrowing ancient collections from certain old wizarding families."
Leonard nodded.
That matched what he had pulled from Moen, too. Moen had described them as an "organization that pursues ancient knowledge," which sounded very similar to borrowing ancient collections.
"If that's the kind of organization they are," Leonard asked, "why would they kidnap you?"
"I'm not sure," Lehende said, shaking his head. "All I know is it seems connected to the Veela blood in me. That Third Senator, the one named Cappadocia, only said a few vague things to me. None of it made sense. He was rambling like a madman."
"The Third Senator… named Cappadocia," Leonard repeated, sitting up straighter. "What did he say?"
Something told Leonard that whatever Cappadocia had said to Lehende might be exactly the clue he needed.