Chapter XXV: I even met happy gipsies
The Augur always gazes at his own reflection.
He does not know how to live in this illusion.
He observes the future, is thoughtful of his past,
But in the present moment, he can never grasp.
Patient, the Augur, the Seer, is waiting for signs.
From his kind, he knows how to read their lines.
So usually, for the blood of his blood, he resigns.
Note to the Gifts #3 of the Slytherin Codex
"But let go of me, you crooked old man! You filthy blood!"
"But what is that? Chavo brought you some chavi?! No! Get out! Out!" The old man growled as he pulled Bellatrix out of the trailer.
"What are you doing here?" Eddy exploded. "You are completely crazy!"
The young girl quickly escaped from the old man's grip. She kicked him violently in the shin, and as Berry collapsed, the brunette rushed towards the figure of her little sister.
"Cissy ? Did you hide in my bag? You followed me? You're completely crazy!"
"You've been planning something for weeks. I saw you cast an extensibility spell on the bag and lie to Rodolphus. I slipped in!" exclaimed the little blonde.
Then, when her eyes had adjusted to the darkness, she looked in horror at the place where she was. His eyes rested on Eddy and on Berry, who stood up abruptly.
"GET OUT! All three! Out!"
He tried to grab Bellatrix by the arm at the same time as Eddy, but they were quick enough to extricate themselves from the small cabin of the caravan and jump out, carrying a terrified Cissy.
"Mr. Berry! They're not with me! I didn't know they were hiding here! Mandi lab! I promise!" the teen said as he landed heavily on the grass.
Berry let out a slew of curses while Bellatix shielded her sister with her body, her wand outstretched in front of her. Eddy noticed that she didn't dare to cast a spell. She had slipped into the trailer while Berry was with the Scamanders and did not want to be found by the Ministry by casting a spell.
"What did you come here to do?" the teenager finally hissed. "Answer me!"
In the middle of the night and in the English countryside, his cry echoed for a long time. There was not a single sound around them; the night was exceptionally calm. Berry had said that a storm was brewing, but this calm did not bode well.
"Don't talk to me in that tone! As if I were going to answer you, Obscurial!"
"She wants to find Andromeda," Narcissa whispered behind her sister.
"Cissy!" the brunette screamed in the dark.
"I was right; that's what you were preparing," chirped the outraged little girl. "You slipped into a stranger's caravan with the Obscurial to leave Selsey! I am coming with you! I want to see Andy!"
"Out of the question! You are too young!"
"No way you're staying!"
Eddy turned his head so abruptly that his neck cracked, and he winced. Behind them, indifferent to their argument, Berry had gotten back into his caravan, and Kushti and Mullo were already dragging him behind them painfully. Berry was leaving without him, leaving him behind.
"Hey! Wait!" the teenager shouted as he started chasing the caravan. "Wait!"
"A storm is coming; I don't want to stay under the trees when it comes," the old man growled.
"You're not going to leave us here, you dirty muggle!" Bellatrix hissed as she ran after them. "I didn't stay in your hovel for hours to get stuck here. I'm the one who told you where to find Lee's house!"
"What?" cried the teenager.
Narcissa was running on her little legs after her sister, and the sight of the three of them chasing her was amusing enough that Berry slowed down a little with a chuckle.
"So what? You showed me Chavo's house, but you ran away from home with your sister. I don't want to get in trouble."
"And we won't! You are going north! Our big sister is hiding out there in the Birmingham area. That's all you need to know. You said you were going there with Lee next; I took a chance!"
Eddy realised that she had questioned Berry before giving him directions to the cottage on the way to Selsey.
"Did Riddle send you?" he hissed, grabbing her roughly by the wrists. "Answer!"
"No! Our parents are away, and I want to find Andy to make her pay! Don't touch me, you dirty scumbag!"
She was about to give him a resounding slap, but the teenager was quicker to avoid her. He returned the blow, and Bellatrix knocked him to the ground by kneeing him in the stomach. The blow was so violent that he fell to the ground, gasping in pain. Narcissa pulled her sister back.
"Stop it! How do you expect them to let us go up if we attack them?"
"You shouldn't even be here!"
"As if I were going to leave you with us," Eddy growled, getting up and grimacing in pain.
"Give me a good reason to keep you here." Berry hissed. "Get into even more trouble than I am now?"
"I'm going to pay! blew Narcissa. "I have enough to pay!"
The blonde lifted her hair to show two small diamonds in her ears. She delicately removed them and, with her small hand, held them out to Berry's large grip.
"No Cissy!" Bellatrix yelled. "It's our mother's gift!"
"I'm willing to give them to you if you take us north, sir," Narcissa said with a small voice and big, sad eyes. "This is all we have left of our late mother-"
"But your mother is not dead," said the teenager, who had seen her at the Derby with Mr. Black.
Narcissa turned a purple colour in the dark, and Berry shone his flashlight on her crestfallen face. Bellatrix growled and bared her teeth.
"Couldn't you keep quiet?"
However, a rumble was heard above them, and a violent wind rose, casting the tops of the trees into darkness. In barely two seconds, everything went wrong, and a torrential rain fell on the woods. They were literally soaked, and Berry swore. More rumblings were heard, and lightning tore the sky.
"You want to stay the gadji? You'll have to work! At the first problem, I'll kick you out!"
Bellatrix smiled victoriously as Narcissa stuffed her earrings into the pocket of her summer dress. Berry was completely unaware of the danger he was allowing to board in his caravan, or was he more concerned about the caravan sinking into the mud and his mares panicking in the storm? The heavy wheels were stuck underwater.
"If the three of you want the chance to go som'where you've got to help me. Kanna! NOW!
Bellatrix and Narcissa paled after Eddy and complied as the sound of thunder grew louder around them.
.
.
They had spent the night crossing the countryside on dirt roads, pushing the caravan, and clearing the wheels with straw or wild grass. It hadn't been convincing, and they were exhausted and covered with mud when they arrived in a small town at the first light of dawn. At least, the glimmers were visible under the thick coat of black clouds, which obstructed the sky as much as the pouring rain. Berry established their camp on the outskirts of this grey industrial town before leaving them. He had told them not to move.
Eddy was so exhausted that he couldn't have gone far. Like Bellatrix and Narcissa, after fighting all night without magic to help them, they were soaked and cold in addition to being crippled with stiffness.
"What an idea to travel like that," Bellatrix hissed, trembling with the cold.
"What an idea to intrude too!" replied the teenager. "What exactly were you planning to do? We were going to notice you eventually."
"I would have made the old nomad obey me and you too. In the end, that's kind of what happened," Bellatrix mocked as she drained her hair.
"Thanks to me!" shouted little Narcissa near the entrance to the caravan.
"Your parents are probably already looking for you; I already have enough problems as it is!" Eddy grumbled. "I saw what your father was capable of, and I know very well who he works for!"
Eddy remembered very well what he had witnessed on the beach at Selsey the previous summer; thus, Mr. Black's violence and the humiliation of the Black sisters were still fresh in his mind. Bellatrix's face took on an imperious and hostile look.
"Do you want us to talk about your father? Everyone saw him as a boggart and attacked you with his muggle machine!"
"Mine is dead; the problem is solved!"
"And mine loses nothing by waiting. I'm still a minor; I still have the Trace ... but as soon as I no longer have it..."
Bellatrix's eyes glowed, and she looked very greedy. This seemed to worry Narcissa, who didn't know how to react.
"You want to hurt Andy," said the blonde. "All the more reason for me to be here!"
"You don't have to get involved. I'm the eldest since she abandoned us for her Mudblood; I'm the one who decides!"
"How do you know if it wasn't Riddle who sent you!? You appear to be going exactly in the same direction as me? What do you know? What did Berry tell you?"
"I think that Riddle doesn't need me to watch you, not with your collar anyway, from what I saw at the Derby. I just know you're looking for your family, but anyone who's read Skeeter's Hogwarts Illustrated knows that, Lee."
She looked satisfied, and she had a point.
"So, now I'm stuck in a muggle caravan, soaked and covered in mud, in a vile town, with my sister, an Obscurial and an obscure mudblood. No, I didn't deserve this."
"Please, no one is holding you back," the teenager hissed. "This will save us from hearing you complain."
Narcissa gave a little snicker, which upset Bellatrix, and it at least had the merit of calming her down. Eddy was able to breathe and try to rest, but it was without counting on his stomach that rumbled, which was soon joined by that of Narcissa and Bellatrix.
The brunette plunged her hand into her enormous bag and rummaged for a long time before finding a Honeydukes cereal bar, which she handed to her younger sister. Eddy took out his own chocolate bar; biting into it did him good, and after a few bites, he felt better. As the rain continued to pour outside, Bellatrix grew impatient.
"Are we going to drown here for much longer? What is the old muggle doing?"
"Technically, he's a squib, and you're starting to complain again. He said to wait. Besides, how do you know where your sister is?"
"I asked Rosier to steal the investigation into Andy's disappearance from his father's office during the Easter holidays. Ted Tonks reportedly has a great aunt living near Birmingham, and I know Andromeda loves that city. We buried a great-grandparent there a few years ago. I'm sure she's there."
"You are basing yourselves on twisted deductions."
"And you? How are you sure your family will be there?"
Once again, Bellatrix had a point. They could very well have left the city and gone anywhere in the country. How do you find nomads who left on the slightest impulse? However, he remained suspicious of the two Black girls. He shrugged his shoulders and pointedly turned his back on them before closing his eyes.
When he opened them again, he didn't know how much time had passed; it was still raining, but the drops had become less dense. The Black sisters were no longer in the caravan, and when Eddy came out, he saw that they were alongside Mr. Berry, sheltered under a tree in front of a stove. Berry was back and looked even more tired and sick.
"Asutti Chavo, kushti sovapen?" (Did you sleep, boy? Did you have sweet dreams?)
"Na." (No)
The two Black girls exchanged suspicious glances with each other, as they couldn't understand a single word of their conversation. Bellatrix bared her teeth as she gulped down her toast. Berry had heated some beans in their box on the embers. He handed him a small aluminium bowl filled with flageolets, which Eddy took gratefully.
"Pazzer la?" (Do you trust her?) asked the old rom, casting a quick glance at Bellatrix.
"Jin?" (Who knows?) replied the boy.
"You were talking about a man," Berry continued in Romani. "A man who is watching you would have sent them. Are you in danger?"
"Si o baffadi mush." (He's a dangerous person.)
"What are you talking about like that?" Bellatrix hissed at the end of her nerves. "When will we arrive in Birmingham?"
"You ask too many questions, little girl," the old Romani hissed. "Eat!"
"I will never touch something you made you filthy bastard-
Narcissa stopped her sister's insult in mid-air by collecting the bowl handed out by Berry. Bellatrix looked as horrified as if she had been hit. With the mud covering her face and her brown curls soaked, Bellatrix looked very unnoble and, above all, ridiculous.
"Thanks. How do you say thank you in your language?" Narcissa asked shyly.
"Paks."
After that, Berry got up heavily, left with his head bowed into the caravan, and slammed the door. No doubt, he was going to rest before sending them back on the road. The old man was not happy to have the presence of the two young girls with him, but Eddy was actually not angry about it. Their sudden arrival and Bellatrix's screams had made him forget his worries. He had not once thought about Tina and Newt since yesterday. Somehow, that relieved him a little.
"When did he come back?" asked the teenager.
"Two hours ago. You and Cissy were sleeping," Bellatrix blurted. "He wouldn't tell me where he had been. What were you telling each other in your language?"
"It's strange, you know," said Narcissa after chewing her last mouthful. "You sound like a different person when you speak gipsy."
"Uh …thanks?"
"How many days are we traveling?" Bellatrix reattacked. "How do you know this man?"
Eddy narrowed his eyes. She kept asking him questions and was quite insistent. The teenager had spent little time with the girl over the past year, but enough to know that it was almost her most pleasant character trait. He preferred it to his beating anyway.
"We are three or four days away from traveling. It will depend on the weather and the routes we take. Some Muggle roads are impassable with a caravan and horses; they are too fast."
"Damn muggles," she hissed, looking at the grey and damaged city, which took on an almost ghostly appearance in the drizzle.
Small muggle figures were bustling under umbrellas and moving between the buildings in the distance at full speed. On a distant main road, a contingent of small cars could be seen entering the town through a sodden tunnel. We could indeed say that this city was not the most beautiful representation of the Muggle world.
"Why didn't your guardians have you apparated directly to Birmingham? I mean, they let you go with this guy, so why not send you straight there?"
"Things happened like that," replied Eddy modestly. "And Berry would never have allowed us to use magic. He really doesn't like it. Not even strangers and wizards."
"Yet gipsies have often travelled with wizards," Bellatrix whispered.
This surprised the teenager. He had noticed that English wizards were quite neutral regarding his origins, his Obscurial status being much more suspect.
"What do you mean?"
"It's not officially written, of course, but it's a recurrence of the Pureblood family tree. When sorcerers needed to disappear and cross countries at the end of the Middle Ages, they went to see the gipsies. Some people escaped witch hunts like that. The Potters, for example, hid among the gipsies potters, hence their name. In the 16th century, Lucius' ancestor, Lucius Malfoy I, tried to bewitch the Queen of the Muggles. He had his fingers badly bitten; his mansion was burned by the army, and he had no choice but to hide among them to reach Scotland."
Bellatrix had a passion for History, so details like this didn't escape her. Eddy had never read these facts or heard Binns talk about them in class.
"Lucius never told me about it," Narcissa breathed, stunned.
"You'll tell him then," chuckled the brunette. "But in any case, every pureblood wizard must have at least one gipsy wizard in his family tree. It's even certain, so it doesn't make sense that your old gipsy doesn't like magic."
Eddy's features tightened as he thought that Berry had his reasons for not liking magic and wizards. However, he had welcomed all three of them despite their condition. His aversion was perhaps more of a precaution than real hatred. The teenager got up heavily, finding himself very weak. He turned off the stove, startling Bellatrix, and collected the bowls to wash them the Muggle way.
"Help would not be refused. Berry said you had to work. That's what work is. It's helping."
As much as Narcissa immediately got up to clean up with him and put their meagre cutlery under the drizzle to rinse them, Bellatrix did not move, arms crossed.
"He'll be fine," Narcissa whispered. "She reacts like this because she is afraid."
"I heard you, Cissy!"
They left a few hours later. The rain had stopped, and the sun timidly peeked through a kind of opaque mist in the sky. It was hot and muggy; the storm had not lowered the temperature, quite the contrary. Berry had let them know that they would set up camp soon as the mares would not be able to keep up the distance in this heat.
Eddy wasn't complaining; he was suffocating a little while walking behind Bellatrix between the bushes on the path. The smaller Narcissa was in the trailer with Berry and held the reins of the two horses with a small smile. They sometimes picked up things on the way, slowing down their journey much to Bellatrix's chagrin.
Bellatrix walked without really unclenching her teeth. She kept casting worried glances behind her, as if she feared that a wizard would show up with his wand outside.
"What are you going to do when you find your sister, Gadji?" Berry asked Bellatrix after a moment.
"What about minding your own business?"
"I welcomed you and your sister because we are on the same path, so we might as well take advantage of the trip to chat, right?" replied the old man.
Narcissa looked very uncomfortable and gave Bellatrix an almost pleading look.
"I'm going to kill Andromeda; that's it. Are you happy? She followed that disgusting muggle, and she will pay for it! It will be between her and me."
While Narcissa and Eddy were horrified, Berry was overcome with laughter, which gradually turned into a fit of thunderous coughing. Bellatrix looked outraged; she quickly took out her wand, preparing to hex him.
"Are you kidding me? How dare you?!"
"You won't be able to use your wand; otherwise, your wizard friends will find you, so what are you going to do, little chivvia (witch)?"
From Bellatrix's expression, Eddy knew she had no idea. This increased Berry's hilarity and even made the teenager laugh. This was without counting on Bellatrix, who, upset, turned around and violently slapped Eddy. To this, his body responded, and Bellatrix was literally lifted into the air by the young man's magic. Narcissa shouted like her eldest, and the two mares whinnied loudly as they jolted along the path. Bellatrix, six metres above the ground, let out a high-pitched chuckle, seeming to find the situation more amusing than frightening. She tried to swim in the void towards him. Eddy, completely panicked, tried to bring her down while calming himself. Bellatrix bounced in the air several times before landing abruptly on the path behind the caravan that Berry was trying to stop.
"Oh, it was so good!"
"Bella, are you okay?" screamed Narcissa at the end of the road. "Apologise for what you did! By Merlin, Lee, are you okay?"
A little stunned, the teenager nodded and cast a dirty look at Bellatrix, who was coming towards him with an ecstatic look.
"Aren't you well, little Gadji? Berry yelled. "What did you do?"
"I could have killed you!"
"Like you killed your cat and attacked Rita? Let's see, I have more reserves than them!"
"Shut up! Eddy hissed, unable to stop himself from throwing himself at the young girl.
She seemed to be waiting for that and dodged the blow he gave her before grabbing his arm to pull him back.
"Stop! Bellatrix, apologise!" blew Narcissa, jumping out of the caravan.
Berry jumped heavily to the ground; he pushed Bellatrix roughly to the point that she wobbled and fell on her behind. He then took Narcissa and Eddy's arms and threw them into the trailer before climbing in as well. From there, he made his old mare gallop in fourth gear, leaving Bellatrix on the side of the path. She howled like a furious cat as she chased after them.
"Are you going to leave her behind?" exclaimed Narcissa, who had reached a level of exasperation where she did not know if this was something she wanted or not.
"We can't gallop around indefinitely in threes with the caravan, and then there's you and her things; she's going to follow us. I let her calm down."
Berry wasn't wrong, so the turn of the situation made them laugh more than anything else as Bellatrix chased them down the muddy path. She collapsed, catching her shoe on a rock on the path, and addressed them with a slew of insults. The caravan slowed as they turned off the dirt road. They were not far from a wide field, and a solitary chapel was the only human presence on the horizon. A car sometimes passed in the distance like a little insect glowing in the setting sun. Berry told them they would spend the night there and asked them to come down and guide the horses up a small hill.
There was a small stream below that had been swollen by the rains, and in the heat, its water was most tempting, but first we had to set up camp. Bellatrix finally arrived while Berry was making a fire, protected from the wind by his caravan. She was sweating, even more covered in mud, and her hair was nothing more than a bird's nest full of leaves. At their hostile face, she had a sulky but slightly contrite pout.
"Sorry," she simpered. "I'll do it again."
Berry rolled his eyes to the sky and, with a wave of his hand, sent them to look elsewhere. Narcissa grabbed her sister's hand to pull her towards the stream to wash herself. As Eddy was about to follow them to do the same, Berry called out to him:
"You're not going to go wash with the raclis (girls). Pench, chav'." (Think, boy)
With a blush on his cheeks, he thought that no, that was not an option. Berry encouraged him to sit next to him by tapping the mound of wild grass where he stood in front of the fire. The teenager complied, while Berry poked the embers to precariously install his pot.
"You look kino" (tired).
"Lesti dui" (you too).
"You exploded again," he growled. "We almost had an accident. I don't want this anymore."
Eddy thought that Bellatrix had been looking for him, but he didn't want to embarrass the old man further. After what happened last summer, after his Christmas defection, he still came back for him. Berry was a precious friend; even if the term seemed strange, his loyalty made him say that he could trust him.
"You killed your cat and attacked a girl? he asked after a bout of wet coughing.
"No! This is the man who forced me to put on this collar and is chasing me. He hurt them, and I couldn't do anything," the still-angry teenager whispered.
They remained silent for a moment while they heard the two sisters playing in the water below.
"A hounded rom is never free," Berry murmured after a few moments. "You're running way too fast; that's why they want to tie you up."
He poured the contents of a can into the pot, then took out a small, crumpled folder from his old, threadbare jacket.
"Can you do me a favour, Chav?"
"Yes?"
"They gave me this this morning at the dispensary. Can you read to me what is written?" The old man asked as he opened the file, which appeared to be a medical file. "I don't know how to read."
"But how did you send me letters?"
"By paying for 'drink, a beer for someone Gadjo to write, and another beer for another Gadjo so that he can read it and I can be sure of what the other one has written. The letter is pricey," he said gruffly.
The teenager awkwardly grabbed the medical file. He did not understand anything about what was written, and neither did the old gipsy, seeing his confused look. One word, however, caught his attention, and he read the following:.
"Progressive lung cancer, terminal stage. At this stage, no treatment is possible. The estimated life expectancy is three months."
The teenager couldn't believe his ears and suddenly raised his face towards Berry, who didn't look surprised.
"That's more or less what I already knew," said the old man. "They gave me my file so that I could get 'other opinions', as they say. The question is settled."
Berry snatched the file from Eddy's hands abruptly and took out an x-ray of his lungs, which he looked at thoughtfully.
"You are going to die," whispered the devastated teenager.
"Like everyone else," he replied. "I'm in more of a hurry than the others for once, Chavo. It's not serious."
In the light of the flames, the old man's lung radio glowed slightly in its corners. An ember clung to one end and began to rapidly set the x-ray ablaze. Berry abruptly turned it off by tapping it with his hand and looking intrigued.
Bellatrix and Narcissa just then returned from their swim, clean and soaking wet. Berry put the file in his pocket, leaving the radio within reach.
"Rak dubba stor tui, chavo (keep that to yourself). Now go wash up; we're going to eat."
Berry had spoken in a dry tone, admitting no dispute, so the teenager complied, a little panting. Berry was going to die soon, and that brought him back to a much more dull reality about himself. He did not have much time left, too.
He took off his shoes and entered the water fully dressed. It did him a lot of good after an afternoon of walking covered in mud under the misty sun. He splashed his head to remove the dirt and sweat. The Obscurus continued to grow within him, and he would eventually die. Unless he listened to Riddle, at what cost and what damage?
He came out of the water quickly, as if he had been electrocuted, and retrieved his shoes. There was no longer any point in ruminating. Today, despite the obstacles, he was back on the roads. He was no longer free, but for the moment, he was on the move. Maybe he would find his people again.
Bellatrix gave him her usual imperious look when he joined them. Narcissa nudged her sister so that the brunette finally took some sweets from her enormous bag and placed the bag in front of her near the fire.
"We can share... If we can have peas, you will have dessert."
"You're kindlier now, racli," the old man chuckled. "Your little run did you good, it seems. I was going to feed you. Eat."
The bowl of peas and bacon convinced the young woman, who gratefully helped herself to her first real meal of the day. By dividing it into four, it was very little, and the treats from the Blacks were not to be refused. Berry didn't take the wizarding sweets. He looked curiously at his radio, seeming to find the image of his bones on the piece of plastic quite fascinating. Eddy saw him light a cigarette.
"Hey!" seemed to notice Narcissa. "You used magic earlier. Why weren't we spotted by the Trace and the Ministry?"
"I don't have the Trace," replied Eddy. "Like all Obscurials ...that's why the Ministry never finds us in time. My guardian thinks that by hiding our magic, we blur all the magic around us, making the Trace ineffective."
"Like a sort of force field," understood Bellatrix, whose eyes were glowing. "That's why we weren't spotted either. Does that mean you can use magic whenever you want outside of Hogwarts?"
"Technically, yes," replied Eddy, growing more and more uncomfortable and seeing Berry's face twitch. "But I won't use it. My magic is bad enough as it is."
"But why? If I help you, we can make the caravan ten times lighter. I can even try to do it if you confuse everything."
"No," replied the roma. "No magic. You wizards think yourselves so invincible with your damn magic that you don't even try to see the world. You want to be everywhere at once, all the time. My caravan, my rules, no magic."
"Of course," Bellatrix whispered, as if she hadn't thought a word of it. What is that thing you're holding, sir?" She then chirped, pretending to be a little girl.
"An image of me, apparently, Gadji.
Berry placed his radiography on the grass. He pulled out a few strands of hair, dipped them in his flask of water, and began to press the glowing end of his cigarette against the plastic of the x-ray. It immediately ignited, and Berry used the moisture in his lock of hair to guide the conflagration and make a drawing on the radio. Narcissa leaned in with a very intrigued look. After a while, Berry cut out a drawing of a flower from the plastic and handed it to Narcissa. The small, roughly cut flower was made on one edge of the ribs, drawing strange white patterns on the black of the plastic.
"Paks," murmured the little blonde, touched by this strange present.
Berry rubbed her head, and Narcissa was completely dishevelled and a little dizzy from this proof of affection, judging by the look on his face. Berry returned to his work on his radiography layer with his cigarette and his lock of hair. Even Bellatrix took an interest in his slow, careful work, guiding the heat onto this little piece of plastic. Berry cut out what looked like a wheel from the white of his radio and carefully detached it. It was a small wheel the size of his palm, slightly silvery and very fragile, that Berry handed to Eddy. Moved by this gift, the teenager did not have the words to respond, but he exchanged a long look with the old man, who seemed troubled.
"Don't be in any more of a hurry than I am, Chavo. Take your time. You will find them."
Berry then smeared differently on the radio, applying water first to dampen the corners. Eddy carefully put the small, fragile wheel in the pocket of his jacket, which he attached to his waist. Berry roughly cut out a small snake for Bellatrix:
"For the worst viper I have met so far, Vassavi chib (1) (snake tongue). We take our time to do things because it keeps our hands busy, and our minds are free to dream. Wizards are the opposite; you occupy your mind, not your hands. We leave before the sun tomorrow."
Bellatrix picked up the tense little snake with a truly contrite pout this time. She inspected him with the air of wanting to say something, but Berry got up, returned to his trailer, and slammed the door. No doubt, now knowing his state of health, he had a terrible need of rest.
"He's really weird, but less horrible than I thought," Bellatrix whispered after a moment.
Night had fallen, and Bellatrix got up to open her huge bag and dove almost entirely into it. She took out a shabby tent canvas, from which she began to wrestle with the stakes and pegs. If Eddy made a move to help her, she gave him such a fierce look that he preferred to stay put and let her manage. Narcissa came to help him, and the two of them set up the tent after several furious grunts.
"Are you going to sleep in the caravan, then?" asked the blonde.
"I'm not sleeping with Berry. When he's inside, I sleep outside."
The young girl nodded and returned to the tent, wishing them a good night.
Bellatrix did not pretend to follow her. She sat down heavily next to Eddy, who was washing the dishes in the basin.
"With a wand, it would be faster," she pointed out precisely.
"If it's to tell me that I'm not a real wizard, we'll come back," the teenager hissed, threatening her with his soaked rag. Are you really going to kill your sister?"
"I'll let you know if Cissy follows me or not. And you? What will you do when you find your family? They abandoned you too, right?"
"I don't know. They didn't abandon me; it's more complicated than that."
However, perhaps his aunt Zelda's words had hidden his destiny. What would he do when he met her?
"I will ask for answers," the teenager finally said as he finished rinsing the last bowl.
"Me too," Bellatrix whispered, adding a whisper. "I need to see what Andy goes through to see if it's worth it."
"What worth?" Eddie asked.
"To live by my own rules," she replied in a burning voice, poking the hot embers with the end of a stick with her engagement ring on her hand, the ruby of which shone.
Eddy thought that the young witch had been engaged against her will to Lestrange at the start of the school year, and he had even seen her cry in the common room when no one was there. No, he did not envy Bellatrix's situation either.
"You don't like Rodolphus."
"No, he's an idiot. But he's pure-blooded, so that's all that matters, I guess... But if we're talking logically, the children he'll give me will potentially be as stupid as him. Then it doesn't make sense," Bellatrix said angrily, stamping her heels on the ground furiously. "If we select the blood, it's not for muggle embarrassment, but am I going to have to mix my blood with that moron? It's stupid; it doesn't make sense!"
For the first time, Bellatrix seemed helpless and lost. She stumbled against this cognitive dissonance with anger, and her face was twisted into a curious grimace.
"That's why I left. That, and because I know they covered up what Rosier did to Medusa. Rodolphus and his brother told me. These idiots found this funny. I could no longer see these two trolls. I hope Rosier is gobbled by worms now."
"You know about Medusa?" the teenager said.
"Yes, and I didn't see anything. It's like I let it happen," Bellatrix whispered painfully. "I'm sure Med got her revenge, but she's always been so cold since that."
Eddy nodded, thinking how sad and apathetic his comrade had seemed to him from the little he had seen of her. Ever since Eddy met the Gorgon Sisters and Salazar, he felt like he had ruined their lives. Maybe he brought bad luck, as Zelda said?
Bellatrix finished poking the embers and looked at the little melted plastic snake Berry had given her before looking up at him:
"What are you thinking, Lee?"
"Do you think I'm bad luck? That I do evil around me?"
Somehow, the judgement of this violent girl was important at this moment because she would answer frankly:
"You don't seem to want it, but you might find some pleasure in it," Bellatrix purred. "It blows my mind. Hurting others lets off steam. This is what the Master offers us."
"The master?"
Bellatrix's eyes flashed as she glanced at the tent where her sister was sleeping.
"Professor Riddle doesn't know I'm here with you. Nobody knows; I'm really looking for Andromeda. We must correct the useless, or the execrable," hissed the young witch, repeating these words with reverence.
Eddy remembered very well these words that the professor had said to him. Bellatrix was one of his youngest followers, but perhaps the most fervent in the way she spoke in an almost caressing way about her "master." Eddy found the scene very disturbing.
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Because of your power, imagine the muggles you could massacre. No one would resist you. You would be respected and feared among us wizards. You would be important for the little time you have left! You could do something big and crazy! But you prefer to waste your time on the roads looking for chimaeras with an old man.
"I'm not going to attack muggles; they haven't done anything to me, after all! I don't want to do any harm! Each time, I didn't really have a choice."
"We all have a choice," Bellatrix hissed. "Riddle wants you in his army, so why refuse? You could be with Salazar and Medusa; everything would be simpler."
"You know what? We're going to stop this conversation. I'm tired."
The teenager collected his bag in front of a victorious Bellatrix and went to lie down next to the two mares who were grazing peacefully in the field.
Muggle farmers coming to work in the field adjacent to their camp awakened them just a few hours later. Obviously, they had no right to camp here, and even before the sun rose, they had no choice but to flee at full speed under the cries of the peasants. Bellatrix wand raised ended up throwing a stone in the direction of an old muggle who was raising his pitchfork against her. She then left without asking for her rest. They walked part of the day, alternating in the caravan and stopping during the hottest hours.
Eddy had not spoken to Bellatrix since their conversation by the fire and did not want to give her the satisfaction of seeing him troubled, so he often scouted the road to check that the path was passable. It isolated him and left him thinking.
They reached Birmingham two days later, with the sun high in the sky and the city visible in the distance.
"We're going to have to stop there. I'm not going back into the city with the caravan, Chavo," Berry whispered in a tired voice.
Eddy realised that he might not be able to drive him around town. If he only had a few months to live, he needed to rest.
"I have kopra (copper) for sale in the north, Chavo. The Lees are said to have a camp nearby. We can search there."
"I follow you. And where are you two going?" the teenager asked suspiciously.
"Tonks' relative's house is in Handsworth," Bellatrix began.
But she had no idea where to go, and it showed. She looked hesitant against the tall silhouettes of the buildings.
"You know which way to go, don't you? Narcissa asked almost desperately.
"Handsworth is in the northwest," grunted the old man. "I can sell my copper there; I have a dealer."
Eddy decided that it was best to accompany Bellatrix and Narcissa to ensure that he would be alone afterwards. He had no confidence in the young witch after what she had confided to him and wanted to see her as far away from his family as possible.
"Rak les arri," murmured the teenager. (Keep them away)
Berry understood his hesitation and nodded. He took the road again on a secondary road to take them towards the north of the city, where thick mists were escaping. It was hot. Narcissa had finished the water bottle a long time ago, and they were thirsty. Berry's two grey, skeletal mares were weak and tired. Berry stopped them there with a wet cough that lasted a long time.
No, Berry was in no condition to make the journey on foot.
"I'm going to sell your copper, Mr. Berry," the teenager murmured in Romani. I take them, and then I come back. Already, I'm going to buy you some water. I'm coming."
The teenager had seen a small general food store that bordered the outskirts of the town adjoining Birmingham. He jumped out of the caravan while Berry protested and went to buy bottles and food with the last muggle money he had in his pocket.
"Thank you," Berry whispered. "Don't worry about the koppa. Lel the gadji akai." (Take them)
Bellatrix and Narcissa grabbed the bottles gratefully. After several days of travel, the teenager couldn't say if he felt closer to them, but in any case, he appreciated them a little more. And the worry visible on the little blonde's face told her that Bellatrix might well break down when she found Andromeda.
Bellatrix was in a hurry to leave, so after feeding herself, she jumped on her damaged shoes from days of walking. Narcissa immediately followed her, giving Eddy a pleading look.
"I'll be back, Mr. Berry."
"Are you going to follow us now?" Bellatrix cursed.
"We might as well avoid a cataclysm," replied the mocking boy, to whom Bellatrix made an angry gesture before getting ahead of him.
In truth, after Bellatrix's revelations, he was curious to see what she was going to do when she found her eldest. So they went into the neighbourhood of Handsworth. Bellatrix and Narcissa looked downright terrified and glanced at the muggles near them. Besides the silhouettes of the Muggle farmers who had woken them up, the two young girls had never seen one so close.
"The Tonks are here?" Narcissa asked in a small, quivering voice. "Bella, promise me you won't hurt him."
"That will depend on her," Bellatrix hissed. "I won't attack her, that's all."
"You have to find a place where there is traffic."
Eddy visualised a bell tower and thought that many people were often present around churches; this was an opportunity to seize if they wanted to question as many muggles as possible. He headed there, and the two girls followed him along the streets made up of small, two-story, dark brick houses. Bellatrix barely held back a terrified gasp when a muggle on a motorcycle drove off near her, and the teen laughed at her.
They arrived at the main square of this town, where a small market was held in front of a church offset by a park. Market gardeners and a fish merchant were selling nearby, and a crowd was milling around. Narcissa was the bravest of the two sisters to go to a muggle to ask if she knew the Tonks family.
"If our mother was able to see us, she would have locked us under the stairs," said Bellatrix, who was mortified before putting aside her reluctance and disgust to go talk to a muggle.
The scene was so funny that Eddy looked at them for a moment before joining them.
"Tonks, a tall, dumb guy, about six feet tall, accompanied by a noble girl too good for him—doesn't that mean anything to you?" Bellatrix almost got angry. "It's a clear description, though!"
"In another tone, young lady," said a man who must have been a local notable before turning on his heel. "Go to the police!"
"Who is this, Polaice?" asked Narcissa, confused. "Where does she live?"
The man scolded them, convinced that they were making fun of him, and made his way through the crowd.
"He meant going to the police; they're the muggle aurors. But they won't be able to help us, since Andromeda is a witch and an adult," said Eddy.
"Don't yell at people; how do you want them to respond?" said Cissy to her sister.
"I speak to them in the tone I want for these disgusting and idiotic muggles," Bellatrix hissed, leaving them there to disappear behind a stall.
Narcissa sighed before going to ask a market gardener for directions and returning contrite to Eddy.
"Sorry about Bella. I know she's unbearable when she's like that."
"She's like that all the time," the teenager grumbled after questioning a woman in the crowd without result.
"Not always, no. She used to be funnier, but since Andy left, it's not really the same."
The little girl closed in on herself, and Eddy thought that Narcissa, at her young age, was surprisingly courageous regarding everything she had experienced. Bellatrix's cry was heard behind them, alerting passers-by.
"But let go of me, old lady!"
"You don't want to know your future, my darling? I see lots of things in you; come, come."
"Leave me alone!"
When Eddy got close enough, he froze at the vision before him. Bellatrix faced an old Romani woman in dark clothing; she had a scarf on her head, complicated and greyish braids, and a face that Eddy recognised without difficulty. The Romani woman froze when she saw him.
"Danny?"
"Aunt Zelda…"
.
.
To say that he had prepared for this was obvious, but to say that he had expected it to happen this way was clearly false. He wasn't prepared. His aunt remained speechless in front of him, looking like she had seen a ghost. She suddenly let out a piercing scream as a flash of understanding flashed in her dark eyes.
"Oh chavo!"
His aunt threw herself into his arms with a powerful cry, hugging him tightly. In a second, Eddy, in contact with his arms, had the impression of finding a part of himself. It was an indistinct mixture of sounds, voices, smells, and moments that had long been locked away in his memory.
"You came home, Chav'. My boy," his aunt sighed, hugging him so tightly that he had trouble breathing as other nomads emerged from the outskirts of the square. "You're here."
She moved away from him and inspected his face from every angle as two men approached them. They were brown and sinister. In the middle of the town, their assembly stood out among the muggles.
"Mirro Palleska! (My nephew) He is my brother's son. He came back!"
The others nodded in one movement before joining the general joy around Eddy. Bellatrix and Narcissa were behind, watching the crowd of people form around the teen. He didn't recognise any face other than Zelda's; some seemed like a pale version of the image of his memories. It was a weird feeling, as everyone was trying to talk to him at the same time, congratulating him in every way.
"You found them," Cissy said in a small, emotional voice.
"Did you bring back some raclis, Chavo?" asked his aunt. "Come, come! Avella! Let's not stay here. Edward's friends are our friends."
A big, huge man literally took him on the shoulder under the snickers of others and the curious eyes of the surrounding muggles. One of them put his hand on Bellatrix's shoulder and led her after him with Narcissa, who was jumping around the Romanis with a playful air.
"We're not going to impose ourselves," said the brunette, hesitant and worried.
"You don't impose on yourself, Chavi; come, come!" said one of the gipsies in his deep voice.
Eddy on the roma's shoulder turned around to see that Zelda had stopped smiling and was looking at him with her deep black eyes.
.
.
The camp was located to the north in the poorest surroundings of the town, not far from a small stream. Hidden in the middle of the hills, there were five small caravans, around ten horses, and an even smaller handful of people who raised their heads as they approached. One of the Romanis was gone to look for Berry and should not be long. Zelda had introduced them to Bellatrix and Narcissa. According to Zelda, there were three women and one man in addition to the two others who accompanied them, but none were her relatives. Besides a distant relationship with a cousin, Ximena, that Zelda introduced to him, they had just chosen to walk together for the moment.
"My sons are in town working," Zelda confided to him. "They are working on the Bull Ring projects; they are sedentary now."
She didn't seem to approve of this lifestyle, but she didn't comment much since she found him. After the warmth of this embrace came a certain uneasiness that was unable to fill the surrounding clan, who celebrated his arrival with joy even if they did not know him.
Eddy passed from hand to hand, received hugs and pats on the back, and had dozens of small cakes or dried fruits to feed him. Two men had started playing the violin. Eddy remembered the name of one of them, Pachko, and he started a tune and urged them to dance.
"Come on, Bella! Andy can wait!" begged Narcissa, pulling her eldest's arm.
Bellatrix looked at the dancing Romani with envy and cast a suspicious look at Eddy, who was not participating in the general joy. She eventually joined her sister in dancing as the sun set. Berry's caravan then arrived with the old man and the gipsy on board. The old man insisted on being seated aside, judging by his gesticulations as they approached.
"Chavo jalpollal," her aunt whispered to Berry. "Paks. Paks." (The boy is back; thank you, thank you.)
She kissed his hands several times, and the uncomfortable old man pulled away. The big white dog from the camp tried to lick his leg, and there too, Berry pulled away, offering him caresses. The old Roma exchanged a long look with Eddy, who joined him.
"You found them, Chavo. You started lacho drom, the right road."
"Paks," murmured the grateful teenager as he rewarded the playful dog with a caress in turn. "Thank you for everything. Don't you want to join us?"
"No. Not tonight, Chav," the gruff old man replied before closing the door.
Eddy was about to knock and reason with Berry, but Bellatrix pulled his arm so violently to pull him towards the bonfire that he felt his shoulder blade crack.
"It's for you that they're celebrating, let me tell you!"
"Ouch! We would party anyway," he retorted as Bellatrix tried to make him dance.
But it was clear that he didn't feel very comfortable and was a little awkward like that, and Bellatrix chuckled mockingly. He was thin and tired, making his movements seem a little too ethereal.
"So you don't know how to dance, Lee? Be careful; I might tell some people at Hogwarts."
"I have much more incriminating things about you, covered in mud," Eddy retorted evenly. "We'll see who loses the most."
He freed himself from the grip while Narcissa sat down by the fire where Ximena was singing. Bellatrix then joined her younger sister with a vexed shrug, moving away from Eddy, who was moving aside to sit on a grassy embankment a little further away. He had arrived there. He had found Zelda and a small part of her origins. However, his aunt remained distant from him. She also did not participate in the joy and was in front of her caravan. When their eyes met, she gestured with her hand for him to come. She was troubled; he somehow knew why, and he did so.
"We need to talk, Chavo."
She climbed up the small edge of her caravan and lit the kerosene lamp. The interior was so familiar to Eddy that he shivered. Nothing had changed despite the years, and he smelled the scent of a lady's mantle as he remembered. He then remembered the prediction his classmates had made for him during divination class.
"I ... I was told that I would take a trip with two girls. I didn't believe it, but it turned out to be true," the teenager finally murmured as Zelda sat down on a small chintz stool.
"It was indeed a possibility. Seeing the future is a complex thing, Chavo. One of the gadjis is your fiancée?"
"No!" cried the mortified teenager. "Bellatrix and Narcissa followed me, that's all!"
His aunt gave a slightly sinister chuckle, but Eddy understood that she was making fun of him. She stopped, then looked at him worriedly.
"Bishano _ jessa." (You forgot us.)
"Kekkana bishano toti." (I will never forget you), said the teenager. "I hadn't forgotten you; I buried the memories inside me. I remembered you the moment I saw you, Bibi." (auntie)
"I thought I saw Danny," she whispered in a low voice. "You are like his twin... You know what he was; did you remember?"
"Yes. In part."
"There was a fire burning in him, as there is a fire burning in you."
"I know what you said to my mother. Do you know where she is? Is she alive?"
"Maeve nash avri. (Maeve left). Before heading back towards her, will you let me speak? I know you didn't find what you were looking for here; you're going to leave, Chav."
"Have you seen him in the future?" he asked in a cold voice.
"Seeing the future means nothing. Future or destiny, what we are able to perceive is only a possibility. A path to take on hundreds of paths. What will be the safest or wisest path? The future does not exist without these choices. I only read the future to Gadje; I stopped doing it for the sake of my blood. Since you."
For the first time, behind his aunt's disorder, Eddy detected a pain lurking for a long time in her twisted features. She looked older than her years.
"There were a lot of bad omens around you when you were born, and Danny only made them stronger. You were born on December 24, the night of Moldivus. A child born on a day when we celebrate without being celebrated carries within him a lot of torment. During this night, the demons seek to reach us to swallow us up, and perhaps Daniel was touched by one of them. You're a wizard, a bit like me, Chavo, aren't you? I felt it quickly. Your father had Gifts too; that's what destroyed him."
"How so?" Eddy said. "Was he a wizard?"
He had until then thought that his father was a muggle; otherwise, why would he have rejected his powers so violently?
"He only had one gift. He was a medium, Chavo. A bridge between dead and alive, to help others endure their journey. He never accepted this bridge; he preferred to flee it. Like all the souls he had to accompany. A soul that does not want to move forward is unnatural; so is its journey. I saw a lot of things in my brothers, for what it brought."
"I have uncles."
"In addition to your father, you had Arthur and Dinhan. They, too, are dead. You probably have a few cousins in the south; we don't speak to each other anymore."
Eddy suddenly realised that everyone in his family had left or moved away from Zelda. She found herself alone after all these years, in the middle of this distant family.
"We cannot escape our gift, just as we cannot escape our destiny, Chavo. From the moment we take one path, it leads to others, which gradually divert us from the initial plan in our heads. Your father drowned in alcohol, and your uncles were worried. It's our curse as Romanis; once we take a road, we continue on that path because we are stubborn like mules."
Zelda looked hesitant, trying to see in his eyes if he understood what she was getting at.
"You know, Chavo, we have been walking for a thousand years, bringing our talents, our gifts, and our joy along our path. We adopted abandoned children, witches or not, and anyone who didn't see how to move forward. This thing within us keeps us moving. It is said that we keep walking so that the earth can keep turning. I do not believe it anymore. When you move forward on an island, you always end up going in circles. If our journey brings us back to the same point, we must understand why. I wanted to stop standing there and watch them go around in circles. I wanted to help my little brothers. I saw a lot of things in your father and uncles, Chavo. I saw the harm he did to you, but he no longer listened to me. Daniel had lost his way for too long. We left so that he could understand his error. It didn't work. Maeve left to find me, and when we got to the trailer, it was on fire, and you seemed to have died with it."
"Did you know that wasn't the case?"
"Yes. I let Maeve believe you were dead. It was easier for her."
"For what? Why did you let her go? Why didn't you try to find me? I've been looking for you for years!"
"I saw that you would come back; it was this possibility that I was clinging to, but Maeve would not have understood it. It's not a romni; she didn't understand that world."
"Shom poshrats?" (Am I of mixed blood?)
"Avva. (Yes) Maeve didn't like this life; it was for you that she stayed. Without you, she could leave."
His aunt's declarations had the effect of a hammer blow to him. Eddy felt like his world was falling apart once again. Zelda placed a hand on his to bring him out of his dark thoughts.
"If she had stayed, you wouldn't have survived. No one would have survived; you had to leave. It was this possibility that I saw in the future and that you had to get away from. Today, you are here, despite the fire that consumes you. You were adopted by wand wizards, weren't you?"
"Avva. They took care of me," Eddy murmured, thinking that he had brought nothing but trouble to his guardians. But it was you I needed... You clung to superstitions, and I wasted years of my life! I needed Mirro kinshna, Bibi (mine, aunt)."
"My actions caused you as much harm as Danny's beating, Chav. Maybe this was the best path for you."
"What do you know about it, huh?"
"Our blood travelled with sorcerers for centuries; they are our forgotten brothers because as soon as they created a government for themselves, they no longer needed us. We shared our knowledge, our magic, and our superstitions with them. Where does magic begin and where does superstition end? This question then caused a lot of harm to us, Roma. Today, you have met with our late brothers and our blood. You know that this border is murky, Eddy. I can't undo what has been done. I thought about it every day, you know. What my words did to you. I have been travelling the world for almost half a century. I crossed the sea to the continent once, and I saw the evil and the good in our people as well as in the gadje. I even met happy gipsies, and I wanted something like that to happen to you. Whatever it takes. If your life must be shorter than others, it must be beautiful."
Zelda did not apologise, nor did she seem saddened by the fate her words had caused him. Maybe she was right, or maybe she was wrong, but Eddy didn't want to let anything appear in front of his aunt that made him suspicious. He got up, panting a little, with tingling sensations in his legs.
"Are you happy, Chavo?"
"Tell me about my mother, and I'll go, Bibi. That's what you want, right?"
"No, I don't want you to leave. But I know you will go away. Your mother's name is Maeve Burgess. She was an orphan. She lost her parents during the war, and she gave up everything for your father when she got pregnant. When you disappeared, she lived with me for a few months before leaving for Paris. I haven't heard from her for over five years."
His mother was in Paris. If Eddy had had a portkey or a thestral, he would have left right away, this very minute, to reach the continent. He thought back to his decision to stay in Britain when Tina suggested he go to France. If he had listened to her, he would be in France, in the same country as his mother!
"Komma tot," his aunt murmured as he took the door to the caravan. (I love you.)
"Jannav." (I know)
This proof of love seemed so inappropriate to him at the time that he went outside, where Bellatrix and Narcissa were facing the fire in front of Ximena, who was humming a melancholic refrain. Her distant cousin was around thirty years old and had two gold teeth that gleamed in the light of the flames as she sang improvisingly to the notes of the violin.
Bellatrix glanced at him suspiciously as he sat on the grass, while Narcissa was passionate about singing. Ximena's voice reminded him of something distant and sad, which, after his painful conversation with his aunt, stirred his guts.
"What is she singing?" Narcissa asked in a very small voice, afraid of disturbing Ximena's low song. "It's so sad."
"This is the story of a roma with a distant heart."
He tried to concentrate on the words Ximena was saying as she finished her chorus and started her verse again. From there, he tried to translate them in a low voice for the two witches.
"A long time ago, a Roma, in order to no longer suffer, decided to remove his heart from his chest and lock it in a box.
"He hung this box on the back of a horse and threw it around the earth.
"The years passed and the Roma became rich and powerful, but he was not happy. He wanted to do like all the other Roma his age and find a wife, a beautiful Romni princess with dark eyes.
"He found one on his way; she was the most beautiful and the most courted of the romnis, but for her he felt nothing. To seduce her, he offered her twelve white mares, but the romni could not see them; he promised her an abundance, but she could not taste it; then he sang her love songs, but the romni did not arrive to hear them.
"The gipsy's words came out of his mouth without passing through his heart. The romni would only want him when she could finally hear him. The rom set out in search of his heart and travelled the world in search of the horse that possessed his heart.
"He circled the earth a thousand times without finding the guardian of his heart. He travelled around the world a thousand times without managing to find happiness. It is said that he is still chasing him at this time."
Ximena finished with the chorus:
"Why sing heartlessly?
And why move forward?
How far do you want to go?
If you're so afraid of your rage?"
"You liked it?" asked Ximena, a little moved. "My mother and my mother's mother sang this song after funerals. It's a song to empty the heart."
"It sounds like the story of the hairy-hearted wizard. It's a tale," murmured Narcissa, won over by the young woman's voice. It was very pretty, Paks."
Ximena smiled more at the blonde, then got up, leaving the three teenagers huddled in front of the flames to return to her trailer with her husband, Pachko.
"Kushti rati! (Good night) she called out to them as a greeting.
They remained silent for a moment, enjoying the gentleness of the night. Eddy would have liked Berry to join them to share this tranquilly, but he had not left his caravan. The teenager wondered if he should go see him, at least to offer him something to eat.
"Maybe Beedle the Bard took inspiration from a gipsy tale for this story, or maybe it was the other way around," Bellatrix muttered after a moment. "Who knows? And are you happy, Lee?"
His situation had been in a complete slump for many years, yet, as strange as it may seem, with his evil necklace and in the company of young girls, the answer was positive.
"In a way, this night, I'm happy."
.
.
.
Vassavi chib: rather, it refers to a person with a sharp tongue; I chose to translate it as snake tongue to coincide with the gift received by Bellatrix.
I Even Met Happy Gipsies is a Yugoslav film by Serbian director Aleksandar Petrovic released in 1967. It is the first film listed in which the protagonists speak Romani. He was nominated the same year at the Cannes Film Festival for the Palme d'Or. The main music of the film Djelem Djelem (I moved forward, I moved forward) was subsequently adopted as the anthem of the Romani community at the first International Roma Congress in London in 1971. This anthem is also known as Opre Roma nowadays (Get up, Rom).