Chapter 300: Side Story: An Unfortunate Series of Hogwarts Events -- Part 2
Author's Note:
I was having trouble writing the chapter tonight, came down with a bad case of writer's block. So I was just going to take a breather and tackle it tomorrow. So, here's a Side Story chapter to tie you guys over.
If you want to read 7 chapters ahead or support me, visit my p.a.t.r.e.o.n.c.om / astoryforone
****
After I settled down – somewhat. I started to realize that maybe this whole situation wasn't that bad. It's not like Gramps would keep me from seeing my girls for however long I was going to be here. He was an ass sometimes, but never cruel.
Maybe.
I take that last bit back, because he left me with my Storage Ring, But I can't access it.
Very frustrating.
One might ask, how is that possible, aren't I an accomplished Magus and or Magician with a plethora of knowledge and means at my disposal, well....that's a long story.
And by long story, I could summarize it as such – Due to my nature being forcibly shifted to that of my Eleven Year old self, everything else about me was thrown out of whack. Hell, pulling on a sufficient amount of Magical Energy is difficult for me right now.
It'll take time for me to work things out properly.
Very annoying.
Even more so that by my calculations, I would be back to normal – metaphysically speaking – about the time I would graduate if left well enough alone.
Of course, I'm never one to not poke at things I only have a vague understanding of. I'm sure I can fix myself way before then....probably.
Atleast, I couldn't make it worse.
But, silver linings, the Magic System here is actually kinda neat, I'll have fun playing around with it and seeing how to bend it over my knee like Artoria when she gets in a certain mood.
May as well make the best of the situation.
"So, Neville, tell me about yourself." I leaned back in my seat, admiring the scenery that passed by.
A little curious about this ball of anxiety that was sitting across from me. Maybe I could get some information from him too. While I wasn't actually jumping into his mess blind, the old man didn't really explain everything all that well before kicking me over here.
Quite literally in that regard.
"Oh.....um, I Like.....working in the garden back home...." He stumbled out a response, still seemingly nervous and shy.
Honestly, it's kind of cute. I wonder if I had any sons in the future, would they be like this?
"Garden, huh? Magical Plants or mundane – or both?" I questioned.
His eyes visibly lit up as I took in interest in a hobby he probably had. I wonder if he had many friends to talk about this stuff with.
"Oh, I like working with everything." A hint of a smile formed on his face. "We have a vegetable garden too, but we also grow a bunch of other stuff!"
"I love working with plants too." I nodded along. "I actually have a garden as well for both aspects too. Tomatoes is a big one, you can't beat a freshly grown tomato with anything store bought." Well, that might just be because we cheat in our 'garden', but still, better than anything you can buy at the market. "But also, it's amazing the variety and sheer utility that a single plant can provide when using for potions or combining with other substances to bring out a plethora of effects."
There's a reason that even Zelretch has his own 'garden', it's something I probably inherited that we both enjoy.
Seeing Neville perk up was nice, breaking the ice and all that.
"Wanna see a magic trick?" I grinned.
He blinked. "Uh, sure?" He looked interested at least.
I took out my wand from my sleeve, which is odd to think about even now. Why the people here all have to use wands to use magic, I still haven't figured out. It was going to be one of my goals when spending time here.
The Old man basically tossed me a wand and gave me a very abrupt explanation before disappearing. Granted, this was before he kicked me over so I had no idea what I was supposed to do with it. He also gave me a wand cleaning kit, which again, had no idea how I was supposed to use it.
And no, it wasn't as 'obvious' as you would think a 'wand cleaning kit' to work.
Oh, and going to Scáthach to ask her to 'help me polish my wand' didn't end in the way I thought it would.
In hindsight, it's a pretty obvious euphemism.
Granted, she did actually know more about such Mystic Codes and walked me through some things....after the misunderstand was settled.
Which took a few hours.
I waived my wand in the air, creating a small illusion in the form of Sir Wiggles as it ran around the cabin.
Neville's eyes sparkled happily, a look of giddiness on his face. Before he seemed to blink in realization. "D-did you use chantless magic!? My Gran says that's really hard and even 7th years have trouble doing it!"
"Oh, it's just a simple thing." I smiled evenly, being rather vague about it.
Was it really that strange?
Fucking Gramps, didn't tell me shit and I'm scrambling to figure everything out as I go along.
"Anyways, wanna see my familiar?"
"Your familiar?" He tilt his head in confusion.
Is that not the word they used here? I read the entire rule book for this Hogwarts, and it mentioned a 'Familiar' specifically in the text.
So my Ring wasn't.....working, but Gramps wasn't cruel. I still had my hat!
Which, according to the school rules, was within dress code, neat. He probably questioned why I had it, but I just smiled, reaching my hand inside, to pull out Sir Wiggles.
"Ta dah!" I declared holding him up. "This is Sir Wiggles. He has a much longer name, but it'll take forever to say it."
"A rabbit?" He looked amused. "But I thought you were only allowed a Toad, A cat, or an Owl?"
"Oh, you mean for the list of things we were supposed to bring? Well, that wasn't inclusive of familiars." I guess I was over thinking things, he's still a kid. "A familiar is a specially bonded animal, which Hogwarts gives special exemptions for if they're not inherently dangerous to the student body."
Like, you can't just bring in a Dragon that will randomly munch of any kids that pass by.
"Oh." He accepted my explanation easily. "Well, I got a toad, his name is Trevor..." He started patting around his pockets. "Um....I can't find him....." That look of sadness in his face.
"Don't worry, mate, I got you." I pat his shoulder sitting up. "Must have jumped away somewhere, thankfully, I learned a nifty new spell~" I unlatched the door to the compartment and held my wand out. Honestly, I would look for any excuse to try out some new magic, and I read this one spell in a book and wanted to play around with it. "Accio – Trevor the Toad." I intoned, actualizing the spell.
I felt my magical energy shift as it went off, flying down the train and latching onto my intended target, pulling it back to me.
I held my hand out as a Toad slammed right into it.
"Wicked." Neville's eyes brightened as I handed him his pet.
"Right!?" I shared his sentiment. If there was every anything to get my overly excited, it was magic and how awesome it can be.
"What spell was that?"
"It's called the summoning charm." I began to explain. And their classification methods are still strange to me, even after reading through a few books. "Does exactly as it says, summons the target you intend to, usually with a few extra words attached."
"I won't ever lose Trevor again if I can learn that." He muttered. "Is.....is it hard?"
I shrugged. "Who knows, might be easy for me, hard for another person. Regardless, if you want to learn, I would gladly help."
Neville was stuttering less and actually meeting my eyes now, good. "What else can it do?"
"Hmm, good question." I rubbed my chin. "It basically just summons things, but I wonder if it can be modified. Let's try something broad." I held my wand up. "Accio – Tree." I said with no clear intent, but I felt my magic burst out, latching onto a tree we just passed on the side. I looked out the window to see it get pulled out of the ground.
"Oh shit!" It came hurling at us before I cut the connection and it fell to the ground. "Let's try something more broad but less...destructive."
Actually, how would it do more if I sought out a concept? Like If I wished to call to me the most beautiful person on the train, would it pick someone based on my tastes, or was it objective? Would it take into account distance and choose someone slightly less optimal according to the parameters if they were closer? Did my magic energy provided determine how 'sentient' the spell acted in choosing?
So many question that needed answered!
Well, lets try one then.
"Accio –.....idiot?" I just blurted out the first thing that came to my mind.
What would the magic consider an idiot? Is it limited to humans? Can Neville's toad be an 'idiot' in this scenario!?
My question was answered very quickly
"OWWW!?" A surprised noise resounded within the train as many heads poked out of their compartments to see a Red-headed kid being pulled through the air as he desperately grabbed onto the door of his compartment.
"Uh....did you do that...?" Neville hesitantly asked, peeking out alongside me.
".....there is a slight possibility." Eventually, the red headed kid fell to the ground as the spell ran out of juice.
A couple of people came out of his compartment and helped him off the ground as everyone continued look at him in confusion with some hushed whispers.
".....Accio." I cast the spell again with the same parameters.
"WHAT!?" The same red headed kid squeaked out as he suddenly jolted. His friends grabbed onto him and tried to pull him back as the spell took hold.
"HELP ME, I DON'T KNOW WHAT'S HAPPENING!" He screamed out.
"Ron, hang one!" a Black haired kid shout with a flustered look as he desperately held onto his friend.
"S-should you stop the spell...?" Neville whispered.
"...This is important....for science."
"....what's science?"
I opened my mouth and closed it again, completely dumbfounded. "This is science – Accio."
"Waaaah!"
"Using spells on people?" Neville sounded confused.
"Sure, let's go with that." I cut the spell off and went back into the cabin and sat down. "Neville, it seems like I'm going to have a lot to teach you."
"Oh...okay."
"Don't worry, Neville, by the time we're done at school, I'll make sure you're up to standard." I nodded sagely to myself as the commotion died down outside.
There was a knock on the door as it slid open again. "Anything from the trolley, dearies?" A woman appeared, a cart full of all manner of snacks.
"Hmm, what's good, Neville?"
"Oh, well....I like the chocolate frogs...."
"Chocolate frogs?" I repeated. "That sounds fun, lets get 10." I reached into my hat, pulling out the form of currency here. Some manner of copper, silver, and gold coins which I forget the name for. I handed her a few of the golden ones and she gave me change, so I didn't question it. She handed back these strange little containers which I assume are the supposed frogs.
"So, how do you use these?" I asked as she left
"You've never had a chocolate frog before?" Neville blinked.
"Nope."
"Oh, well, like this." He began opening it and a literal frog made of chocolate jumped out. "Wait, quick, catch it!" He fumbled around before grabbing it with both hands. "That was close, I've lost a lot this way and Gran always gets after me when she finds them around the house." He smiled, popping it in his mouth without a second thought.
....I didn't know how to feel about this. But I usually try anything atleast once. I cracked one open and held it tight.
Huh.....it's magically animated, but completely chocolate.
Less gross.
With a shrug, I bit into it and felt it wiggle in my mouth.
.....eww.
But still tasty.
"Hey, what happens if you make it bigger?" I questioned.
"Oh, you're not supposed to –"
"Engorgio" The Enlarging charm, one of a few I've picked up already. I tapped my wand against a chocolate frog that quickly tore out of it's container.
It tripled in size, falling to the ground. It croaked once, before bolting towards the exit to the compartment.
Again, Neville and I peaked out our compartment as the Chocolate Frog started hopping down the aisle of the train.
"Should we do something?" Neville asked.
I held my wand out. "Engorgio."
It tripled in size again.
Now each leap made a large 'thumping' sound.
Funnily enough, that Red Haired Kid stuck his head out of his compartment right as the Chocolate Frog was jumping by and smacked right into him, knocking him over. It seemed to bounce right into their compartment as they began shouting.
"Neat." I smiled happily, waiving my wand and closing their compartment door. I would let them have fun with that one, my treat. "You were right, Neville. Chocolate frogs are good." I went to sit back down again.
"Was that the science thing you said before?"
I couldn't help but smile as I put a hand on his shoulder. "Now you're getting it!" I happily pat him.
Hmm, so many things to experiment with. My academic mind is reeling at all the possibilities. Though a random thought popped into my head. Could I fold the last spell spell into itself so it targeted my wand. And if so, what would happen to my wand!?
"...Engorgio."
My Wand began expanding at a fast rate. Two times, three times, four times its normal size until I realized what was happening. The Spell was synchronizing with the Wand, the Magical Energy Flow was causing a feedback loop and the spell was going continuously.
The Wand continued to enlarge until I wrapped my arms around it and forcibly shut the spell of.
"Whew, that could have been bad."
"Y-your w-wand." Neville pointed at it with a stutter.
"What about it?" I hefted it up with both arms. It was more like a cannon now.
....I don't think there are any rules against it?
"You're going to get in trouble."
"Nonsense." I grunted, setting it against the floor. "It's perfect just the way it is."
***
"First years, follow me this way!" A rather large man, or maybe even a Giant shouted for all of us to hear. I didn't even notice the older kids walking in a different direction as we got off our train.
"What's that over your shoulder!" A brunette with fuzzy hair exclaimed.
All attention that wasn't already directed at me turn my way.
"You never see a wand before?"
"B-but that's not a wand!"
"Pretty sure it is."
"But it's bigger than you are!"
"Yup, I'm just built differently."
"T-that makes no sense!"
"So it's true, Harry Potter has come to Hogwarts." A kid started parting the crowd, redistributing the apparent attention I had. He narrowed in on a familiar black haired kid with glasses who looked like he had some chocolate patches here or there.
And a familiar Red headed kid at his side.
I guess the novelty of my Wand wore off for them, whatever.
I looked at the little brat who was prancing around like a peacock. Slicked back blonde hair, two chubby kids at his sides looking like body guards.
But, everyone seemed to gasp when this 'Harry Potter' was mentioned.
Me thinks I'm out of the loops.
"Hey, Neville." I whispered at the boy who had been at my side. "Who's Harry Potter?"
"You don't know who Harry Potter is!?" Neville blurted out, rather loudly at that and once again everyone turned to look at us.
"....no."
"H-he defeated You-know-who." Neville whispered.
"Who?"
"You-Know-who." Neville said again.
"I don't know who."
"You-know-who." Neville tried once more.
"I have no idea who you're talking about.
"For Merlin's sake, he means the Dark Lord!" The blonde peacock finally shouted, seemingly staring at us.
"Oh." I nodded. "Who?"
"Are you an idiot?"
"Should I pull a random name out of my ass and ask you to recognize it and call you an idiot when you don't?" I rolled my eyes. "I'm obviously not from around here, you muppet."
"M-muppet?" The Blonde repeated. "How dare you! Do you have any idea who I am?"
"Who?" I quirked a smile.
"I'm Draco Malfoy!" He sneered. "Learn the name of your betters."
"When my supposed better presents themselves, I will learn their name." I said dryly.
"Hmph, I'm a purse blood of the Malfoy house." He turned his nose up. "The fact that you don't know anything, you're probably a Muggleborn."
"Muggleborn, what's that?"
"Just proves my point." The blonde looked rather proud of himself.
"It's a Witch or Wizard with parents who aren't magical." Neville whispered.
"Oh." I blinked. "No, only one of my....parents was how you say – magical?"
"Hmph, a half blood then." The Blonde grunted. "Probably no one important, I doubt I even know your name."
I just shrugged.
I felt like it would debase myself to get into an argument with an eleven year old who was strutting around like he was.
"Come along, first years." The Giant returned, holding a lantern that illuminated the area. "We're taking the boats up to the castle."
He turned around, seemingly for us to follow I guess.
We came up to the edge of the lake, a bunch of boats floating about. "Okay, kids, four to a boat only." He turned around, a rather warming smile on his face as he looked around. Though he jerked his head, landing on me. "Lad, what's wrong with your wand?"
"What?" I questioned.
"It's not supposed to be that big." He pointed out.
"Says who?" I countered.
And the big guy seemed to ponder that. "I guess I haven't heard anythin against it" He muttered. "Oh well, just be careful with it."
Wow, that was easy.
Neville followed me as we got in a boat, and that Black haired, Glasses kidd sort of followed along with his red haired friend.
"C-can we join you?" He hesitantly asked, looking a bit sheepish like Neville.
"Sure, the more the merrier." I smiled as we got onboard.
Road a train and now we were taking a row boat.
"Are we supposed to paddle?" The Red Haired kid muttered.
"Hmm, the boat is enchanted. Looks like it rows itself." I tapped the wood.
"How you know?"
I shrugged. "I picked up a few things over the years. How about some introductions?" I changed the subject.
"Oh, right. I'm....erm.... Harry Potter." The glasses kid answered.
"Ah, the one the blonde kid was strutting around about. You're famous or something I guess?" I asked.
"I.....just found out about it myself, I'm not too sure."
"He defeated the Dark Lord!" The Red Haired kid exclaimed. "He even has the scar to prove it!" He jabbed his finger towards Harry, right at the scar on his forehead that looked like a lightning bolt.
And he didn't even seem to notice how Harry shrunk himself back when he did it.
"Means absolutely nothing to me." I shrugged again. "Anyways, I'm Wilhelm Henry Schweinorg, and this is my newest friend..."I gestured towards Neville.
"H-hi I'm Neville Longbottom." He squeaked out.
"Ron Weasley." The Red Head smiled happily, clearly oblivious to everything else.
Oh well, not like I could hold it against him. He's Eleven, he doesn't have a lick of situational and social awareness yet.
"So....what's wrong with your wand?" Ron finally asked.
"Why do people keep thinking something's wrong?"
"Mate, it's as big as you are."
"Yeah, I did it intentionally!"
"He was casting spells in the cabin and his Wand got bigger." Neville barely held back a smile and a laugh.
Well, at least the others found amusement in it.
The Boat suddenly jerked as it began moving along with the others.
Magic is neat.
Back home, Magi would never waste Magic on something like this. Always fun to see how other cultures take to it.
"Hmph, look at this, taking your rightful place and letting your betters go first." The Black Peacock made his appearance once more as his boat went ahead of ours.
"Err, hate that pratt." Ron grumbled. "Think's he's so much better than everyone because he's rich. Bet he's going to be sorted into Slytherin, the slimey snake."
"I understand some of that." I hummed to myself, hefting my Wand down into aiming position. "Never got to try out my Wand after it got bigger."
"What are you doing?" Harry asked.
"Uh....more Science?" Neville asked, bracing himself.
"More Science." I nodded with a grin, pointing my Wand behind us. This was a spell I've wanted to test since reading about it a few hours ago. The implications were interesting and I was waiting for a chance to get to the bottom of it. "Aguamenti." I called out as a massive torrent of water burst out of my wand.
Our boat shot forward, slamming into the boat of the Blonde kid's knocking them overboard. I think I may have fucked up the magics on the boat itself, but whatever.
I was going to say something witty, but my words died in my mouth once a utterly massive tentacle broke through the surface of the lake as it moved towards the overboard kids.
Everyone started screaming and shuffling in their various boats.
"MERLINS BALLS!" Ron shouted.
"WHAT IS THAT!?" Harry shouted over the commotion.
"A KRAKEN!" I exclaimed with a wide grin. "I THOUGHT THIS WAS GOING TO BE A BORING FEW YEARS." I stood up in my seat, hefting my wand up. I've never killed a kraken before! As expected of a school the old man sent me to. I immediately jumped off the boat to combat the new foe. "HAVE AT YOU!" I shouted, diving into the water.
Truly, it would be an epic fight for the centuries.
And, maybe, save the kids while I'm at it.
But mostly I want to call myself – The Kraken Slayer!
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