Prologue

Spinnel Sun, Suppie as he was referred as by everyone but Yue, peeked out of Eriol's coat pocket. They were the only two on the street, but Suppie remained guarded.

"Don't let anyone see you go in," he warned Eriol.

Eriol gently pushed him back down into his coat pocket. "It will be fine, I look old enough," Eriol reassured him.

With some effort, Eriol pulled open the heavy door to the Leaky Cauldron.

As he assumed, no one batted an eye at his entrance. Eriol had been careful, no one still believed that Clow Reed had been reincarnated.

He found a secluded booth in the back of the pub and killed time by observing other people coming in and out.

Suppie re-submerged from his coat pocket.

"You don't find this suspicious?" Suppie whispered, "We have never heard of this man before, and he isn't in any of your memories. How can we trust him?"

Suppie had a point. One week ago, a mysterious man, the apparent headmaster of a school he had never heard of, had contacted him, claiming that he knew Clow Reed.

"This could be a trap," Suppie baited. As Eriol's guardian, Suppie prioritized his well-being over anything else.

There was a low chance that this was not a trap; Clow Reed had died over a century ago, how could this person still be alive?

Eriol tapped his fingers on the thickly waxed table. This was probably a bad idea, but he was willing to take the risk.

"We will cross that bridge when we get there," Eriol replied undauntedly. He was willing to risk it, he had more to lose if he passed by this potentially valuable information.

"You could really be in danger," Suppie protested.

"Spinnel Sun," Eriol warned.

Suppie backed down. "I don't want this to be a repeat of the last time," he whined.

Eriol's mouth soured with a previous memory of a certain group of magicians. "Neither do I, but we cannot afford to reject rare opportunities like this."

The bell tied to the door chimed, signaling the entrance of another customer.

The minuscule hairs on Eriol's body rose, in reaction to the emerging aura. He looked across the pub, making eye-contact with an old man.

The elderly man stood out for many reasons. Was it his long, silver beard that hung above his stomach? Or was it the medieval style robe he was wearing, that even in the grand metropolis of London, was an uncommon sight. Eriol couldn't decide, but there was something more than his outdated attire that captured his attention.

For as long as Eriol could remember, he had always been the most powerful person in the room. Aside from his budding successor Sakura, and her loyal partner Syaoran, he hadn't met anyone with even half of his strength.

The old man walking towards him, however, was oozing power from every open pore in his body.

Eriol wasn't the only one in awe, every unoccupied eye was fixated on him.

Without a doubt, Eriol was sure that his man was Albus Dumbledore, the alleged man who knew Clow Reed.

At a glance, Albus Dumbledore was certain that he had found the right man, who turned out to be a lot younger than he had imagined.

He gave the boy a nod of acknowledgment and made his way towards him, giving quick but cordial greetings to everyone he passed.

Eriol subconsciously sat a little straighter, and Suppie hid once more in his coat pocket.

A few years prior to this moment, Albus Dumbledore had caught onto a buried rumor that Clow Reed had been reincarnated. The gossip had arisen about half a decade earlier, but the excitement didn't last as the reincarnation remained to be unverified by any credible source.

By chance on one of his various expeditions to the Muggle world, he was overtaken by an energy that could not belong to anyone other than Clow Reed. His time-sensitive task did not allow him to derive from his plans, but as soon as he was finished, he began to search.

It hadn't been easy to locate him, but it didn't take much to convince him to meet.

From across the pub, Eriol seemed like he might be in his early twenties, but as Dumbledore approached it was apparent that he was no older than sixteen.

Dumbledore wondered how he had seen him so differently. Are my eyes beginning to deteriorate?

Eriol stood up to greet him.

With only a name, Dumbledore didn't have a conclusive idea of what Reed's reincarnation would look like.

"Albus Dumbledore?"

"Yes," Dumbledore confirmed, "You must be Eriol Hiirigizawa?"

Eriol extended his right hand.

Dumbledore was quick to accept the outstretched hand.

"Please, take a seat," Eriol insisted, sitting back down.

Dumbledore slid into the booth and tried to make himself comfortable on the hard wooden benches. He waved over a young waiter and ordered a late lunch.

Eriol too could eat, but he had lost his appetite. As a usually confident individual, his nerves were not often tested; but as he felt the lingering stare of the old man, he was self-admittedly intimidated.

Eriol didn't like this role reversal. He had always been the person that brought discomfort to others.

"Are you really the reincarnation of Clow Reed?" Dumbledore asked, pushing the conversation ball forward.

"I am," Eriol replied.

There was another pause.

"Did you really know Clow Reed?" Eriol asked skeptically.

Dumbledore gave a slight tilt of his head. Of course, he didn't know him personally, but he could honestly say that he had two notable encounters with the greatest magician to have ever lived.

"Would you tell me more about your connection with him?" Eriol prodded. Now that he had met Dumbledore in person, from his estimated age and power, it was becoming more likely that he had been telling the truth.

"My first encounter with Clow Reed was when I was a student," Dumbledore began.

Eriol leaned across the table and unconsciously, Suppie began to rise from his coat pocket, both too invested in his every word to mind their actions.

Dumbledore tried to continue normally, but the flying, toy-shaped creature was too distracting.

"What is that?"

"This is my guardian," Eriol explained, sitting himself back up. He wanted to leave it at that, but by the expression on Dumbledore's face, it was clear that he wouldn't go on without further explanation.

Dumbledore noticed the subtle, but impatient expression Eriol gave and was reminded that he was still dealing with an adolescent no older than Harry.

"As I was saying, I was a student, a Prefect at the time. I routinely performed nightly rounds around the castle, making sure that the other students were not out of their dormitories. One night, near the end of my shift, as I was coming to the end of a loop around the 7th floor, I watched a man walk out of a room I had not known existed. Alarmed, I called him out. As I got closer, I noticed that he was holding on to blue and red gems. Convinced that they were the property of the school, I raised my wand, ready to apprehend the theft. Clow Reed tried to explain himself, but I was already so sure that he was a theft, that I refused to hear him out. The headmaster appeared before the situation could further escalate and reassured me that Clow Reed meant no harm. I was then ushered off to bed."

Eriol stared at him, waiting for him to continue.

"That is all," Dumbledore said with a slight chuckle.

Eriol couldn't hide his disappointment.

The waiter came over with a large silver platter, filled with a variety of meat, a large slab of cheese and a chunk of bread.

Dumbledore dug into the food, while Eriol internally debated leaving.

"I have not been able to eat a proper meal in days," Dumbledore apologized.

Eriol became aware that his sunken-in checks were caused by age.

Dumbledore delicately whipped his face with a napkin.

"No, I was too curious to figure out who this mysterious man was. I trailed behind them and did my best to make out their conversation. The headmaster called me out after Reed left, and after making me swear confidentiality, told me who he really was. He said that Clow Reed was the world's most powerful and oldest magician. When I asked him why I had not heard of him before, he explained that he kept below the radar; even seemingly disappearing from this world for extended periods of time."

"Do you know why he was at...?"

"Hogwarts? Well, the room he had come out of, I learned, was the Room of Requirements. This room can provide a variety of services and is only available to those who need it. It is a multi-purpose room, with the ability to provide what the seeker is most in need of. The most frequent use is a vault of sorts. Many students throughout the years have stored items that they do not wish to be found," Dumbledore explained.

"You mentioned gems, did you notice anything else?"

Dumbledore tried to replay the memory in his mind. There was something else, yes there something that he was forgetting.

"Ah!" Dumbledore exclaimed pointing at Suppie.

"Yes?" Suppie squeaked. Dumbledore was taken back by the fact that he could speak.

"I thought I had imagined a yellow creature in his pocket…now that I think of it, it kind of looks like him."

"Keroberos," Eriol and Suppie said at the same time.

"A what?"

"It is nothing important," Eriol evaded the question, "was there anything else?"

"Not that I can remember. I had only one other encounter with him. I had recently graduated Hogwarts and after a series of events-," his face darkened, "I decided to explore life outside of the Wizarding world. In a rural town in Eastern Europe, the country's name I no longer remember, I met with him for a second time. I did not recognize him at first, it had only been a couple of years, but his appearance had changed quite drastically. I must have left an impression on him, for he recognized me before I could make out who he was. He treated me to an extravagant dinner. We made vague, small talk. At the time, I was working out a few personal things, so the conversation did not go deep. You are going to ask what he said about himself, and if anything was unusual?" Dumbledore guessed.

Eriol nodded.

"He did not say much about himself, but near the end of his last drink, he said that he was trying to put an end to some unfinished business."

"What was this unfinished business?" Suppie asked.

"The conversation ended soon after that. He finished up his drink and excused himself. I never saw or heard from him again. A couple of years later, news spread that he had passed away."

Eriol's cell phone buzzed, making them both jump. Eriol quickly silenced the phone.

"You need to leave?"

Eriol nodded reluctantly. "I am afraid so."

Dumbledore hadn't minded sharing his own personal experience with the boy, but he was disappointed that he had learnt nothing new himself.

"If you have any other questions, feel free to send me a letter," Dumbledore offered, "maybe sometime in the future we can meet again."

"I will take you up on that," Eriol accepted. "Thank you for telling me your story."

"It was my pleasure," Dumbledore said with a smile, as Eriol rose from his chair.

Suppie slipped into Eriol's coat pocket and they hastily left the Leaky Cauldron.

Eriol thoughts crashed together. There something contradicting in what he had been just told and the timeline of Reed's life that he thought he knew.

One thing was becoming clear as he walked down the vacant London street, Reed's legacy did not end with the cards.