"Dumbledore mentioned to me that mankind battles beings called abyssal creatures, are they so terrifying?"

"The pope is the strongest human being of his respective generation, and, yet, there are no records of any who have died of old age or disease. Except for one, all without exception have fallen under the clutches of the abyssal creatures."

"Hearing that makes me fear the human world and the crazy things they will do in order to ensure victory, to be honest, I hope the wizards never go to those extremes, where we leave it to our children to have to fight our battles."

"I doubt it; magical power is cumulative, unlike aura, which is innate, so it would be rather stupid to send a child wizard to fight."

"You're right." She smiled wistfully, only to wipe away her smile a few seconds later, raising her hand and asking the waiter to bring her a cup of tea and an iced latte.

John froze at Professor McGonagall's request, and his astonishment was even greater when he saw his favorite flavor turned into ice cream.

"When we first met, I noticed that you only drank coffee with milk, and in your trash, the most there was, were boxes of coffee and milk," she said after noticing his suspicious expression.

"You went through my garbage?"

"If you don't want stray cats making a mess, you need to cover it properly."

"Thank you."

"You look like you love it, but you should limit your consumption a bit." She said after watching John quickly finish his ice cream, then call the waiter over and order a huge jar to go.

"It's not for me."

"Oh, and who's it for?" she asked curiously.

"For someone very important in my life, in fact, it was because of her that I became addicted to lattes," she said with a warm smile.

John's smile stunned Professor McGonagall, who couldn't help but remember the conversation she had with Miss Riddle moments before she arrived at John's house.

"Wow, to smile like that, she must be very important to you."

"She is, Luna is a very important person to me."

Professor McGonagall felt herself falling over from shock.

Arranged marriages were not that uncommon in the magical world, as many pureblood and half-blood families practiced them, so she didn't feel it strange that Karenina and John were engaged.

But seeing the fellow who proposed the engagement, speaking well of another girl, bothered her quite a bit, and more so when she remembered how well Miss Riddle took care of her, and the questions and concerns Miss Riddle expressed at John's entrance into the magical world.

"Is her name Luna? Nice name," she said coolly.

"Yes, Luna Lovegood is quite a lovely girl, and the person I hold most dear in this world," he said with a look full of affection.

"Young Carter, excuse my asking, but, you hate wizards, don't you?"

"Yes and no," he said after a pause, "my grandfather's bastard, well, all my hatred of magic and wizards originates from him, plus my father's cowardice in not trying to prevent certain things that happened. "He paused again as he ate some ice cream. "But I was only five at the time, and my savior, ironically, was a wizard, so while I have a certain hatred of magic and quite a few prejudices about you," he paused again, "no, now I should say we, it's mostly, borne out of life's inexperience."

"I thought your parents were members of the Quelrathar."

"No, just my mother; she was a saint of the DiviSture."

"The DiviSture, I see," she murmured sadly as she looked at John with pity.

"They didn't kill my mother, although, well, I would have preferred she had fallen into their hands, and not, well, that bastard's hands," John said with an uncomfortable tone.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to," she said with a twinge of guilt.

"I'm almost over it; it's just a matter of time," he said with an uncomfortable expression. "Everything in this world, every trauma, everything has to be overcome, not just, well, my mother's death, but also my hatred for magic and wizards." He added it with a nervous wave of his hand.

"I'm glad to hear that, Mr. Carter. I hope your stay at Hogwarts will allow you to eliminate the hatred and prejudice in your heart."

"I hope so too; I mean, I'll be spending seven years studying there; at the very least I should have a few friends, right?"

"You might also fall in love and find a girlfriend," she joked.

"Girlfriend? Don't make me laugh, if there's one thing I'm sure of, it's that I would never, ever date a witch, with all due respect."

"And if you ever did?"

"I'm more likely to eat this table than have a witch for a girlfriend."

"Interesting; for some strange reason, I feel like I'll see that scene many times."

"It will never happen."

"I think it will."

Under John's astonished gaze, Professor McGonagall spoke to the waiter, ordering him a dozen tables in the same style as the ones the store had.

"By the way, I'm glad to see that your reaction to the magical world is calmer than I expected, your tutor told me that if you made a fuss, she had every right to restrain you," she said with an embarrassed expression.

John was petrified to hear her.

"I'm sorry, I guess I didn't hear right. As part of the Quelrathar and a member of the hunters, I am a legally adult; I don't have guardians.

"If you do, she's your fiancée, isn't she?"

John felt short of breath and that at any moment he would pass out from shock.

"John, are you all right?" asked Harry, who had just arrived and had noticed the miserable state this one was in.

"It's nothing, just the excitement of knowing even at Hogwarts he won't be able to escape his fiancée's watchful eye," said Professor McGonagall with a touch of mock gloating.

"John, you have a fiancée, congratulations!" said Harry in complete excitement.

Harry's actions earned him curious looks from the entire group.

John, after calming down a bit and noticing that the intentions behind Harry's words were genuine, reinforced the idea that Harry knew his true identity.

At that moment, he felt a look full of hostility heading his way, smiling disdainfully, he looked in the direction of the hostile person, drawing a blank when he saw that it was the hooded girl.

But it wasn't her who surprised him, but the characteristic dangerous gleam in her eyes, a gleam he was used to seeing in Karenina whenever Karenina heard of her new friendships.

Swallowing saliva, he said a silent prayer for Harry's future, hoping that his tragic life would be a little less tragic.