Why does she call you Master?
Her innocence was juxtaposed by the tension in the air. Just then, a powerful presence made him stiffen; a chill ran down his spine as he felt the unmistakable glare of someone's intense, watchful eyes.
Next to him, Nagini seemed equally startled by the sight of the silver-haired girl, her expression dazed as she muttered, "What's going on?"
Blake himself felt the confusion settling in. 'Who am I? Where am I? What am I doing?' he thought to himself, the classic series of questions ringing in his mind.
Quickly, he pieced together what must have happened. 'If this little girl is Gabrielle,' he reasoned, 'then why did the Poké Ball accept her?'
Blake tried to calm himself, taking stock of the bizarre events that had just unfolded. The girl he was holding was Gabrielle, Fleur's little sister. He remembered the Poké Ball he had thrown earlier, the one that had rolled off near the dumpsters where Gabrielle had been hiding from the two thugs he had defeated.
He hadn't detected her there with Legilimency since he was focused solely on his opponents. However, something even stranger must have occurred when that empty Poké Ball ended up beside her.
The Poké Ball wasn't meant to capture humans, yet Gabrielle was no ordinary girl. Like her sister, Fleur, she was part of Veela. Veelas appeared like human women, but they were magical creatures, and Blake suspected that this nature may have led the Poké Ball to react to Gabrielle's presence.
It must have mistaken her for a magical creature, and though her Veela heritage was only one-quarter, it might've been just enough for the Poké Ball to sense her and activate.
"Unbelievable… is it due to my taming ability?" Blake thought to himself, realization dawning on him.
That would explain why Gabrielle was so attached to him, seeing him now as her closest bond and addressing him as "Master."
The thought was a bit overwhelming, and Blake felt a pang of guilt; he had created the Poké Balls for magical creatures, but he had never thought one would end up affecting a person, especially a child. The idea of using Poké Balls on humans was unsettling and not something he had ever intended.
As he grappled with this new understanding, he whispered softly into Gabrielle's ear, "Don't call me 'Master,' all right? Just call me 'Brother.'"
Gabrielle looked at him with a mix of curiosity and happiness. "Okay, Master!" she replied cheerfully. Blake cringed slightly. This would be hard to explain to her older sister, especially given the glare directed at him.
With a nervous smile, he turned to face Fleur, who looked about thirteen or fourteen years old. She shared the same long silver hair as Gabrielle, her beauty striking and even more graceful than her sister's. She had a dignified presence, yet her eyes were piercing, studying him with suspicion and concern.
'She's even more beautiful than Cassandra,' Blake thought briefly, but his admiration was quickly interrupted by Fleur's challenging voice.
"Who are you, and why is my sister calling you 'Master'?" Fleur asked him in rapid French.
Blake felt sweat forming on his brow. "Uh, could you speak slower?" he replied with an awkward smile, pretending that his French wasn't fluent enough to understand her. His mind was racing, trying to come up with a suitable explanation.
Switching to English, Fleur asked with an air of suspicion, "Why does Gabrielle call you 'Master,' and what is your relationship with her?"
Blake activated his Legilimency, quickly catching glimpses of her thoughts: 'Gabrielle has never been this close to anyone but me. Could this boy be dangerous? Is he trying to trick her? Or could that woman beside him have cast some spell on her?' Fleur's suspicion deepened as she noticed Nagini holding her wand, eyes narrowing.
"Well, we're just travellers from England," Blake said as smoothly as possible. "We came across Gabrielle while she was alone and crying. We decided to keep her company until we could find her family or someone to take her back home. I was even thinking of taking her to the Muggle police if we couldn't find her relatives."
Fleur's expression softened a little, though there was still scepticism in her gaze. "Then why does she call you 'Master'?" she pressed, though the edge in her voice had dulled slightly. Blake tried to keep his composure, even as he silently panicked. How could he possibly explain this?
He opted for the simplest answer: "I don't know," he said with a shrug. "We only met today, and Gabrielle has just been really close to me for some reason." He quickly added,
"I've tried correcting her, but she just keeps calling me that. It's honestly just as confusing to me as it is to you."
Meanwhile, Blake's hand remained tightly clasped around the Poké Ball behind his back, his last resort if things got out of hand. He hoped Fleur would believe him, especially with Gabrielle's own attachment serving as evidence that nothing untoward had happened. In a way, it was her sister calling him "Master" of her own volition, after all. His explanation seemed to satisfy Fleur temporarily, though she still looked at him with a mix of distrust and curiosity.
Fleur turned to Gabrielle and said, "Come, Gabrielle, let's go." Gabrielle, however, hesitated, shooting her sister a defiant look before burying her face in Blake's shoulder. Fleur's surprise and frustration were clear as she realized her once-obedient little sister was now rebelling.
"Gabrielle!" Fleur said, more sternly, pulling her sister by the arm. Reluctantly, Gabrielle let go, pouting as she moved towards Fleur, turning back frequently to look at Blake.
Fleur gave him one last resentful glance, as if blaming him for Gabrielle's attachment, and sighed deeply. It seemed like every look she gave him only brought more tension to the situation.
A moment later, a chime sounded in Blake's mind, notifying him of a treasure chest reward.
[Ding! Jealousy detected!]
[Ding! Congratulations to the host for getting a golden treasure chest!]
Blake blinked in surprise, almost laughing at the irony. He hadn't gained any reward from the thugs he'd taken down earlier, but somehow, interacting with Gabrielle's sister had earned him a treasure.
Gabrielle looked over her shoulder at Blake one last time, eyes pleading. "Brother, will you come to our house?" she asked, her small voice laced with genuine hope.
Blake shook his head gently. "I'm afraid we have other things to do, little one," he replied. He was in a hurry to meet Nicolas Flamel, after all. Plus, he could only imagine how awkward things might become if her family saw Gabrielle acting this way around him. Her father, especially, might be less than pleased.
As he watched Gabrielle walk away with her sister, Blake felt a strange pang of regret, as though he were losing something precious.
"In the future, listen to your sister and don't go wandering off alone," he advised with a warm smile. Gabrielle nodded, reluctantly accepting her sister's pull as they moved away.
"By the way, my name is Fleur Delacour," Fleur said, her tone more composed, though she still regarded him with a mix of suspicion and intrigue.
"What is yours?"
"Blake Green," he replied politely. "And this is my friend, Nagini."
Fleur repeated their names to herself before finally turning away. Yet, even as she walked off with Gabrielle, she felt an odd sense of familiarity toward Blake, something inexplicable. 'Why do I feel drawn to him, almost like a strange sense of trust?' she wondered as they exited the alley. Her thoughts lingered on Blake's amiable presence, even as she and Gabrielle rounded the corner and vanished from view.
As the sisters disappeared, Nagini looked at Blake with bewilderment. "So, Blake," she began, "what exactly just happened here? Why was that little girl calling you 'Master,' and what did the Poké Ball have to do with it?"
Blake scratched his head, an exasperated smile tugging at his lips. "Nagini, that's… a very long story." He sighed, already feeling the weight of what lay ahead.
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