So Lady Yelena just wanted to give Ian some advice.
"Don't worry, I've got plenty of money! All my classmates at school are good people—they absolutely love buying my crafts. I've made a fortune, batch after batch!"
As Ian spoke, he pulled out a wad of pounds he'd prepared in advance. To make it look more convincing, he made sure they were all small denominations and not too crisp, just a little worn.
However.
This still raised Lady Yelena's suspicions.
"How come I never knew you could make crafts?" She eyed the little rascal in front of her with suspicion and didn't reach out for the money Ian was holding up.
"I only learned after I got to school—turns out I've got a knack for it." Ian forced himself to look sincere, without a hint of guilt in his voice.
"That's true. Those fancy schools always teach students all sorts of bizarre skills." Lady Yelena seemed convinced, but still refused to take Ian's pounds.
"Keep it for yourself. You'll have a lot of things to spend money on in the future."
Lady Yelena patted Ian comfortingly on the back of his head.
She walked on ahead with Ian.
On the street, sunlight reflected off puddles like little mirrors inlaid in the stone road, illuminating a city that—even after a rain-soaked cleansing—still bore a fair share of dust.
"What's for dinner tonight?"
Ian quickly changed the subject.
"Of course, your favorite—carrot and cabbage stew with meat."
Lady Yelena replied with a jovial laugh.
The sunset spilled like molten gold down the winding path.
The silhouettes of Professor Yelena and Ian stretched long in the afterglow, the little guy walking the familiar streets feeling a sense of peace and calm he'd never felt before.
It was as if the anxiety of not being able to enter the Misty Illusion Realm for months had finally eased.
Home always has this kind of magical power.
It soothes any wanderer's heart, smoothing over all the negativity inside each one returning.
"The kids have been talking about you nonstop," Lady Yelena insisted on helping Ian with his luggage—she picked the biggest one, hoping to look after him just a bit more, and maybe stubbornly refusing to admit she was getting old.
Compared to when he was little, Ian could see more and more lines on Professor Yelena's face, her once beautiful golden hair now cut short, sharp and silvery-gray.
Years of toil and burden had made this woman—barely in her early fifties—appear so much older, especially her hands, which were as wrinkled as an old, gnarled tree.
"I dream about them all the time," Ian said, trailing behind Lady Yelena as he pulled along the smallest-looking case—actually the heaviest and, frankly, the most dangerous.
The orphanage director seemed even thinner and older than before he'd gone off to Hogwarts. As a devout nun raised by a church family, she'd devoted her entire life to one group of orphans after another—but not even her God had granted her a reprieve from the years passing over her.
"Ever since you left for school, I haven't had your help—the mischievous ones have driven me mad more than once. Without your discipline, those little troublemakers were raising chaos every single day."
"But I managed to find a family for every last one. The naughtier kids tend to get adopted more easily—families always like the lively ones. I think it has a lot to do with that book you left them." Lady Yelena recounted the everyday goings-on, casting a quick glance that made Ian lower his head sheepishly.
Before he left the orphanage for Hogwarts, he had, in fact, given the little ones a copy of the "Parent Selection Guide." It detailed how to spot a loving family and how to win over grownups—his whole aim, of course, was to help his younger "siblings" find a good home.
It was tough to see any future if you stayed at the orphanage. Being adopted by a good family was usually the best outcome for most kids—adoptive couples qualified for adoption were almost always middle class.
"It's mostly luck on their part, nothing to do with me…" Ian tried to make excuses, but Lady Yelena clearly didn't buy it.
"Whatever you say, that book really did help those kids out. It at least taught them how to get along with adults. Honestly, I think you're the cleverest one in the whole house."
Lady Yelena ruffled Ian's hair, heading with him toward the orphanage. She didn't own a car; the old sedan she used to fetch Ian had been loaned by their kindhearted old neighbor.
Ian was always half-convinced the neighbor had a crush on Professor Yelena, but he'd never caught them at anything, so he'd never gotten the chance to play matchmaker for that possible late-blooming romance.
Despite nuns typically devoting their lives to God, Lady Yelena's faith had faded considerably after witnessing so much suffering in the world.
If it wasn't for the church funds keeping things running, Ian figured Lady Yelena would have "left the order" ages ago. She'd always been a practical woman at heart.
"Cleverest kid… I've heard you say the same about Catherine and Mia—oh, and Daniel. The time he gathered maggots from the toilet to give everyone a taste of meat, you praised him too. Yet privately, you rushed me to toss them all into the mud in the backyard."