Chapter 33: School Starts
Returning home, the first thing Pro did was to dig out a metal lock box he had bought beforehand. Pro then stashed the wooden box inside the metal lock box and locked up the box before tossing the lock key into his inventory.
After stashing the metal box at the bottom of his school trunk and burying it underneath many layers, Pro finally relaxed, "That should do the trick for now. As I can't apparate over with the box, I just need to wait for the school year to start and hide the box inside the Room of Requirements. I just hope no one finds it."
Leaving his worries behind, Pro finally took a glance at the rewards for his quest completion. After the first step of finding Lucius Malfoy, the Dark Hands quest updated itself. The following steps were to discover Lucius's ploy and acquire the suspicious book.
Both of these were easily completed and Pro was granted a 500 magic XP reward. This timely reward finally brought his magic level up to level 30. The transfiguration snake summoning spell was unlocked along with the DADA tickling charm. The spell that Pro was the most excited about was the shrinking charm!
"With the shrinking charm, I should be able to start importing furnishing into my house. I'll test that later."
Turning his glance to his quest list, Pro noticed a new quest he received after acquiring Tom's Diary.
[Secrets of the Diary] A suspicious diary was discovered. Find out how to read the diary and get at least 3 secrets from it OR deliver it to the relevant authorities. Warning: Different choices can lead to different consequences.
"What? There's no choice to destroy the diary? Well ... not like I can destroy it anyways. I can't use Fiendfyre nor do I have a handy basilisk fang," Pro mumbled as he began to consider what choice he would make.
After moments of thoughts, Pro easily made his choice, "I may be a bit greedy for its secrets and it can probably help me level up my skills, but communicating with the diary is too dangerous. Who knows if the diary will be as weak as portrayed in the book. I don't want to end up under the imperius curse by accident. Guess I'm turning in the book to the headmaster. I bet he has a way to deal with it."
Having made his decision, Pro relaxed a bit and stepped out of his bedroom. It was time to test out his shrinking charm and furnishing import.
Heading downstairs, Pro found his mother changing little Sarah's diaper in the living room. Hurrying pass her, he entered the dining room and aimed his wand at a chair, "Reducio."
Pro then watched in amazement as the chair shrunk down to a size that could fit in his hands. With a smile, Pro picked up the chair and tried to store it into his inventory. Pro cheerfully watched as the small chair get successfully stored into his inventory.
With a small cheer, Pro shrunk two more chairs, stored them, and strolled out of the living room. To avoid his parents' suspicions over the missing chairs, Pro diligently reported to his mother, "Mother, I am going to use some of the dining chairs to practice my shrinking charm."
"Oh, as expected of my precious little genius. You are as smart as your mommy. You can already cast the shrinking charm at your age, that's wonderful! Mommy sometimes wonder why you are not in Ravenclaw ..." mommy Beatrice offered her praise as usual before continuing her non-stop rant.
After listening for a while, Pro could only helplessly interrupt, "Alright, mother. I'm going to go practice now."
"Oh, right. Go on, mommy will call you down for dinner later."
Heading back upstairs, Pro stepped into the house portal in his room. Strolling into the parlour, Pro removed the shabby wooden chairs and took out the fancy wooden dining chairs he borrowed from his parents' house.
When he moved the shrunken chair over a chair building spot, a prompt popped up which asked for his confirmation of importing the furniture. After confirming, Pro watched in amazement as the chair automatically returned to its full size and settled down on the floor of the parlour.
As expected, the chairs were installed properly. Like before, Pro can still move the installed chairs around in the parlour, but wasn't able to bring them out of it.
With this success, Pro began his attempt in bringing more furnishing into his player-owned house. However, to Pro's disappointment, the other furnishing, such as beds, wardrobes, and desks, couldn't be stored into his house. He could still take them out, and even cancel the shrinking charm on them, but they would still return to his inventory in shrunken form after he left the house. He also wasn't able to add extra chairs to his parlour because he was limited to the default three.
"It seems that I can only move furnishing into my house if there is a corresponding furniture spot for it. All these outside furnishing are also listed as level one. This means I can technically import any furniture, but I will need the corresponding rooms for it."
Albeit a bit limited, Pro was still satisfied. Whilst waiting for school to start, Pro continued his daily life of studying with the frantic Hermione, who was studying even more intensely because 'time is almost up'. Pro also redecorated his parlour with new curtains and a comfy rug he bought with British pounds. Now, his house was a bit more presentable than before.
Time passed and the beginning of September arrived as the summer heat dissipated. The second school year was about to begin, and Pro hoped he was prepared for what is to come.
"I guess I'll have to work hard to earn money to expand the house if I truly want a safe place that I can live in," Pro muttered as he took one last glance at his house portal before lugging his trunk downstairs.
Daddy Joseph who was waiting downstairs took the trunk from Pro and ruffled his hair as he asked, "Are you ready to go lil Pro?"
"Yes, father."
"My precious darling, Are you sure you got everything? Did you bring Nightwing?" mommy Beatrice asked as she scampered up to Pro and fixed his hair.
"Yes, Nightwing is in the car mother."
"Right. Mommy will go get little Sarah. Go wait in the car honey. We'll meet up with Hermione darling and the Grangers at King's Cross. You don't want to be late do you?" mommy Beatrice stated as she strolled into the living room to get Sarah.
The family buckled into their seats and the car drove off. It didn't take long to reach King's Cross. They arrived a bit earlier than the planned meet-up time. After a bit of waiting, the Grangers arrived.
The Smiths and the Grangers got along harmoniously as they chatted about topics ranging from baby Sarah to work life in the Muggle world. Standing next to Hermione, Pro listened in for a while before he turned to the quiet Hermione, "What's up? You're so quiet."
"Oh. I'm just reviewing the content in the second year books to prepare for the first day of class. After all, there isn't much time. I have to help Gryffindor earn some more points before we end up losing them," Hermione replied with her serious face.
"Well, don't get your hopes up," Pro mumbled as he recalled the two, unfortunate boys.
Hermione frowned and glared at Pro, "Do you know something again?"
"Maybe. I'm just guessing that we may lose points before class starts," Pro teased with a chuckle.
Hermione's eyes widened in shock as she exclaimed, "Stop! Stop! Stop! That isn't possible. Someone will have to be a true daft dimbo in order to lose house points before the school year starts. I can't believe that there are anyone like that in Gryffindor-"
Hermione fell silent for a moment as if she thought about certain someones, "No ... it couldn't be Harry right?"
Hermione's head swiveled around to look for Harry and didn't see him, "Did he already arrive? There isn't much time left. If he comes later, he won't even have the time to put his trunk into the carriage."
"Well, don't worry about it. We should get on the train," Pro replied with a smile.
Their parents helped them lug their luggage and put them onto their carriage. After bidding farewell to their parents with hugs, kisses and ruffled hair, the two entered their carriage. Glancing out the window, Pro was able to see his mother's watery eyes as she waved goodbye to him. Pro smiled as he watched the cute Sarah cheer his mother up not long later.
"Where's Harry? And Ron? It's almost time for the train to leave, and I don't see either of them," Hermione grumbled as she stared out the window with worried eyes.
Pro didn't say anything and only silently smiled as he swept the crowds with his eyes. After a while, he managed to spot the Weasleys crossing into the platform.
"Oh! There's the Weasleys! They're all here. I would believe Harry will be coming with them since he spent the summer with them," Hermione breathed a sigh of relief as she left the window and plopped down next to Pro, "Once Harry and Ron get here, I will make sure to warn them to not lose us house points."
Pro slyly grinned as he stared out at the platform. The Weasleys were already loading their trunks into the carriage, but Harry and Ron were nowhere in sight.
Glancing over at the silent Pro that had a suspicious smile, Hermione frowned before saying, "Pro, why are you smiling like that? Every time I see you doing that, something bad happens. Do you know something again?"
"Oh. You'll find out later. It'll be interesting," Pro chuckled as he looked away from the platform.
Hermione pouted as she mumbled, "Why are you always like that? Can't you just tell me?"
"Is it not more fun to figure it out yourself? I believe my Hermione is smart like that," Pro replied as he stroked Hermione's head.
After a couple moment of bliss, Pro felt the train shake a bit as it began to move. Glancing out the window, Pro waved goodbye to his parents as he watched mommy Beatrice sobbing once more. Hermione also hopped over to the window to wave goodbye to her parents.
The train left the station behind and the scenery outside began to fly by. Hermione plopped back down next to Pro as she took out a book to read. Pro joined her in silence as he tried his best to remember some of Lockhart's info that would help him answer the poor bloke's narcissistic test.
"How come Harry and Ron aren't here yet? Did they sit in another compartment? I thought we agreed to sit together," Hermione mumbled as she looked up from her book.
"Well, they may have missed the train," Pro calmly replied with a smirk.
"What?! Impossible. I saw the Weasleys enter the platform earlier," Hermione exclaimed in disbelief as she snapped her book shut and stared at Pro.
"Well, anything can happen right?"
"Anything can happen? I think not. If they really missed the train as you say, the Weasleys will probably find a way to send them to Hogwarts," Hermione comforted herself.
"They might be off on their own little adventure by now," Pro replied with a chuckle.
"Adventure? What adventure?" Hermione glared at Pro with sharp eyes, "Did you guess something again?"
"Well, remember that Harry told us that he was rescued from the Dursleys by the Weasley on a flying car?"
"Yes. Flying car? Wait ... stop! Stop! Stop! You aren't saying Harry and Ron actually-" Hermione stood up in shock.
"Yep, I bet they are probably flying to Hogwarts now," Pro laughed as he replied.
"That's totally barbaric! No. Even those two daft dimbos won't do something as dangerous as that. If they get caught, they will get a in a lot of trouble, or even worst, expelled!"
"Well, want to bet on it? If Harry and Ron really drove a flying car to Hogwarts, then, you give me a kiss?"
Hermione froze and a blush rose on her cute face. She looked away from Pro as she mumbled, "No. I believe Harry and Ron. They are our friends, we should believe that they won't be idiots like that."
"Well, I'll take it as you agree," Pro happily stated as he pulled Hermione into his embrace.
"Y-You, Pro, be serious!" Hermione exclaimed with a blush on her face as she lightly hit Pro's chest with her fist.
With a smile, Pro enjoyed his cuddle time with Hermione. The blushing Hermione eventually got used to it. Leaning her head on Pro's shoulder, she shifted herself into a comfortable position before taking out a book to continue her reading.
The compartment returned to its tranquility as the train chugged on. The setting sun illuminated the room for the last time before the darkness came to embrace the train as if to signify the darkness that would embrace the school in the coming school year.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone