Chapter 17: Ep. 17
And so, it was decided that Risa would live at my house for a while. I don't know if it's supposed to be this easy, but I am somehow happy she accepted. She ended up skipping her afternoon shift, so I used my Time-Turner to bring her back at the appropriate time. I waited for her while making some modifications to my store in Diagon Alley. I started repurposing it into a bookstore and shifted the production line in a sub-space. I can make bigger ones with Space Manipulation now, which is good news. In the end I made a cozy little bookstore with plenty of shelves and a large counter. I obviously already set some enchantments and wards to prevent theft, vandalism, and to protect the person behind the counter aka Risa and, in the future, me.
Since I had free time, I decided to get a couple of grimoires I wanted: Medea's Grimoire, mainly for her Age of Gods magecraft and Territory Creation from Fate, Avicebron's Grimoire, mainly for the golemancy, the Sisigou Grimoire, for the necromancy, Kirei Kotomine's Grimoire, mainly for Spiritual Healing, and finally Touko Aozaki's Grimoire, for the puppet-making skills. I have… WAY too many types of magic, but it's not like learning more will ever put me at a disadvantage.
Hm… Today is probably one of the days I enjoyed the most since reincarnating. I am in an extremely good mood, so much so that I started smiling while flipping through the pages of my new grimoires. I heard a *click* while reading, so I raised my head. I found an excited Skeeter looking at me. If she had a tail, she'd be wagging it.
"Master! With this photo I can surely get you another 'Most Charming Smile Award'!" She was just screaming 'Praise me! Praise me!'
"Good job, Rita. Make sure to write plenty of good things. I will give you a scoop: I am planning to make some books from Merlin's private collection public, for a price. Also, I am going to introduce some medicines to cure previously incurable diseases. You can start advertising now since they will be out before the end of Summer. The Goblins will be selling them, while I will open a bookstore."
"Master, what a wonderful idea! Nothing less from you! I will surely write a fantastic article! If the Ministry doesn't award you an 'Order of Merlin' for your previous inventions, I will make sure that they will award it for your new products!" Damn, she's overzealous. I waved her away and she skedaddled back to her office or whatever.
In the evening, Risa ended her shift and I apparated with her back at home. I will first introduce her to Mother, then take her to pack her stuff. I was barely fully materialized that I was tackled by a wild Mother.
"Where were you?!"
"Chill! I met Risa here and I lost track of time! Now unhand me: you're breaking my bones!" I could actually hear a few creaks, which didn't bode well for me. I had to push her a little, but I was freed. Mother glared at Risa and appraised her.
After a while she said: "I don't like it, but she's fine. I shall allow it."
"Yeah, great. Now, I thought that she could live here for a while. We are going to open a bookstore together and she's currently living in the Leaky Cauldron's rented rooms."
"Mm, it's fine." She then dragged Risa to the living room and started talking in a low voice. She actually casted a few spells to make sure that I couldn't eavesdrop. What I didn't know is that she was basically threatening Risa, saying that I barely even had five friends and that she would face punishment if she hurt my feelings. What the hell? I am perfectly capable of dealing with a rejection! I faced way too many in my previous life! Hm… Actually, a rejection might hurt me more than I expected right now… Good job, Mother!
Like so, a few weeks passed. Risa quit her job at Flourish and Blotts and we started planning what books to sell and the prices. We will start with Merlin's books, then release Le Fay's books, then the Pendragon's within the end of the next school year, then the rest during the next summer. I brought her to check the store and we made a few modifications to the overall design, to make it homier. We decided to name the store 'Lost Words', not exactly a wizard-y name, but it suited the type of books we would sell.
On my own, I released a few medicines for some pesky diseases, including lycanthropy. Those fucking flew out of the shelves and netted me a couple million Galleons, mainly due to the fact that St Mungo's signed a contract with me to get a steady supply of medicine after the first few successes.
By the end of Summer, I was awarded another 'Most Charming Smile Award', stealing it from someone else, probably that git Lockhart, an 'Order of Merlin, Third Class' for my laptops and phones, and an 'Order of Merlin, First Class'. Who would have known that 'inventing' a few medicines would grant me such an honor? Well, Rita Skeeter did, and she made sure that I had massive public support, so the Ministry had its hands tied: they either awarded me, or there would have been a revolt! I need to reward my personal scribe in the future. A permanent rejuvenating potion and beautifying potion supply should do.
On the training side of things, I flew through the Sisigou Grimoire and Kirei Kotomine's Grimoire, as they were the easiest out of all those I ever tried mastering, but the other three… They are hard. Probably harder than the others I mastered. Medea's not as much since my Space, Time, and Chaos Manipulation helps me with Territory Creation and Age of Gods magecraft is quite similar to my magic, but golemancy and puppetry is hard as fuck! At least I know what to concentrate on during this year. Now though, I realized that I need some sort of mental simulation and parallel processing trait. I need to think of some creatures with the appropriate traits.
Ah, me and Risa went on a couple of dates/dinners together and got to know each other better, though she sees me as a little brother due to my age… Curse you, my age! It's fine though, I can keep her alive for a long, long time with potions and I just need four more years to be an adult. By then, I believe that I will also experience my second maturation, if I have one. At that time, I'll show her the 'little brother', then we'll see if she ever thinks of me the same way again. Hehe, I can't wait!
Anyway, it's now once again time to head to Hogwarts, so I started packing my stuff in the suitcase, then wore my suit, hat, and got my cane. I headed to the living room to find Mother and Risa talking.
"Mother, Risa, I am going. I'll come back every once in a while through apparition, so you won't get too lonely. You sure you don't want to come?"
"No, I will stay with Risa dear here. Don't worry, we'll wait for you. I can also check that my future daughter-in-law doesn't cheat on you."
"Mother/Arastea!" me and Risa shouted at the same time. She was heavily blushing, while I was relatively normal.
"*Sigh* Look, I'm going, otherwise I'll end up needing a psychologist. See you in a few days."
"Bye, dear/Az!" Mother and Risa said at the same time. I apparated to Platform 9¾.
I found my friends already seated in a compartment. We greeted each other, I enlarged the space, we chatted about our vacations, I was teased regarding my several awards, complimented about my new medicines… You know, the usual stuff.
Then, the discussion shifted to the 'elephant in the room'.
"Hey, have you heard that Harry Potter will be coming to Hogwarts this year?" asked Katrina
"Wait, who is this Potter guy?" asked Natalie
"He would basically be magic Jesus. He, apparently, defeated the previous Dark Lord, who is basically magic Satan, while being a newborn baby. Effectively, he saved many, many Muggle-borns and mixed bloods." I explained very succinctly
"Wait, he defeated a Dark Lord, while being a newborn? Sorry to say this, Kat, but I smell bullshit." said Christian. I am sure that these two are getting together sooner or later.
"Yeah, I mean, he couldn't have possibly casted spells or attacked him physically, so I'm not sure how true this story is." added Camille
"Now that you mention it, the story does sound fishy…" admitted Katrina
"Well, we still have four years to discover the truth, so let's look forward to it. For one, there is a chance that the Dark Lord and Potter were a 'Duality', so the magic rebounded and Voldemort basically killed himself. That, or it was one of his parents who actually defeated the guy." I said. Hecate's grimoire had this concept, where magic itself ties two individuals. I know that Harry's mother casted that strange magic that was as bullshit as the bullshit-no-justu, but it's still an interesting alternative.
"How about we go and meet the guy?" proposed Christian. The girls readily accepted, so we exited our compartment, locked it, and started wandering to the first year area. Passing by the third year area, I greeted the Weasley twins, who were super excited for me because I got a 'freaking Order of Merlin, dude!' I will never fully understand wizards, even if I am one myself. Well, I never understood any sort of competition. I mean, the only thing you win is, in most cases, just a photo with a trophy that you will throw out within a decade, so basically nothing. Then again, I basically gained the equivalent of two Nobel Prizes, so I guess I am just too chill about it.
Back to meeting Potter! We walked towards the first year area under some curious gazes from the younger students.
"Hey, Az, Kat… Do you know what he looks like?" asked Silvia
"Nope, but I do know that he has a scar in the form of a lightning bolt, so he should be recognizable." I said, lying. It's actually 'tough' to lie constantly about stuff like this… Well, I can't just say 'Hey, you're part of an imaginary world!'
Anyway, in a couple of minutes, I saw the sweets lady floating a lot of candy in a compartment, so I found my target. I approached the door and decided to knock for appearance's sake.
"Yes?" I heard from inside. I opened the door and smiled at the two boys inside.
"Hello there, we just wanted to say hi to our resident hero. I'm Az, by the way."
"Christian." he said with a wave of his hand.
"Katrina, pleasure kiddo!" she said with a cute two-fingered salute.
"I am Silvia, nice to meet you!" she said like a proper lady. Such a cute kid.
"Camille." she said normally.
"And I would be Natalie." she said with disinterest. Well, we are a varied bunch.
The two boys were a little overwhelmed(?) with all the names. I swear I could see their eyes spinning in confusion.
"Mind if we sit down and chat a little?" I asked. Let's mess around with them.
"Oh, sure! But we might have to squeeze in…" said Harry
"Not a problem." I applied a few enchantments to enlarge the compartment, earning some admiring looks from both kids.
"So, we introduced ourselves, so could we get your names?"
"Oh, I am Harry Potter." he said, slightly… Fearful maybe?
"And I am Ron Weasley! How did you do that before?" the redhead said.
"Yes, I am familiar with you brothers, Fred and George. I just applied some extension enchantments to the compartment, so nothing too advanced. You should be able to do it by your seventh year." I said, keeping to myself the fact that they'd have to follow the N.E.W.T courses for Runes, Charms, and probably even Arithmancy to do the same things.
"Yeah, don't mind him: he's broken. He's been doing stuff like this since I met him." said Christian.
"I'll take it as a compliment. Anyway, how do you two feel about Hogwarts? Ready for the fight?" I said, hiding my smirk
"Fight?!" they both asked, scared as fuck
"Yes, for the sorting. Didn't your brothers tell you, Ron? You have to fight a creature and then get sorted into houses based on your fights. They change every year. Rumor has it that there was this one time when the Headmaster brought in a Dragon, but no student managed to beat it…"
"No way!" said Ron
"Yes way! But don't worry, Dumbledore is soft on students, so he'll probably limit the creatures to Trolls or something similar."
"I am so dead…" the redhead muttered while Harry was just confused. Silvia pinched my side.
"He's just joking. The Sorting is actually just putting a hat on your head, no fighting involved. Forgive him, he's a little mischievous." she said
"Mischievous? The King of Slytherin? He's evil incarnated! Look at his house! They haven't been picking on other people since the second semester of our first year!" noted Katrina
Ron had a look of disgust. "You are a snake?!"
"Rude. I had the option to either go into Hufflepuff or Slytherin, so I decided to domesticate the snakes. I don't particularly identify myself with any one house after all."
"What is Slytherin?" asked Harry. Oh, such an innocent little creature.
"There are four houses in Hogwarts. Slytherin, my house, is the house of cunning, mainly inhabited by snotty brats hailing from pure-blood families. Well, not anymore since I gained control: they're still pricks, but much more 'educated' than before. Then there's Ravenclaw, Nat's house. It's the house of the knowledge seekers and scholars, inhabited by anyone who wants to learn more. There's Hufflepuff, Silvia's, Camille's, and Kat's house. It's the house of the kindhearted and the ones who always stick together through all odds, inhabited by anyone who suits its founder's ideals. Finally there's Gryffindor, Christian's house. It's the house of the adventurous, courageous, and daring wizards. It's probably the house with the most Muggle-borns after Hufflepuff. There's also all of the Weasley family there." I explained.
At that time, a wild bush appeared! No, it's just Hermione.
"Has anyone seen a toad? A boy called Neville lost his."
"I didn't but we can easily fix that." I said and 'Accio'-ed Trevor the disappearing toad.
"Wow! What magic was that?!" the bush asked.
"Accio. You will learn it in your fourth or fifth year, I can't remember. How about you introduce yourself though?"
"Oh, I am Hermione Granger, a pleasure to meet you!"
"Good job. Now, since Harry here has bought a lot of candies, why don't you help him and Ron, the redhead, finish them? You can just return the toad when we arrive at Hogwarts. Won't take long anyway." I said, then stood up. I messed a little with the boy-who-lived and united the golden trio. Oh, how fun would it be to purposefully split them during my last year at Hogwarts? Ooh, I can't wait for the interesting stuff to happen!
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