Chapter 44: [1990 Pt.20]
Nathan walked down the stairs after his mother called him from his room where he had been sending undetectable and subtle impulses to Orys so that he could help Harry.
The artificial sentience already had a lot of information that Nathan had added to its memories. It would teach the boy about his history, magic and the paths he could take. Nathan had given the boy the tools to thrive and he considered his job mostly done in regards to Harry's self-development. He did not have either the political pull or social influence to get Potter away from the Dursley household so all he could do was to hope that Orys mitigated the damage and acted as the good mentor that Nathan had created it as.
Nathan cleared his head of the topic as he entered the living room where his parents and grandparents were chatting.
He could hear them talking about something in excited, cheerful voices. The conversation revolved around a trip to Kaliningrad or its more used name 'Königsberg'.
Kaliningrad or Königsberg was a hub for Eastern European wizards that Durmstrang took in. It was controlled directly by Tower Novgorod in which the Rus Minister of Magic resided.
Nathan took a seat on one of the couches, with a pleased groan after which he asked, "Why are we going to Kaliningrad?"
"Look who we have here," Nathan twitched at his mother's passive-aggressive tone but did not take the bait, making her say, "You open your presents and immediately retreat back into your room. It is Christmas dear, spend time away from your studies and ideas today at least."
Nathan responded to her statement with a guilty, sheepish smile and a rub on the back of his head. His mother rolled her eyes and said, "We were talking about the mirrors you wrote about. Do you have the time to get a prototype for the mirror?"
Nathan was taken by surprise since he had thought that his family couldn't actually sell something so 'muggle' to their pureblood clientele who would definitely find it as a reason to show the uppity Greys their place.
The pill that his new life could be just as frustrating as his previous one, despite this new world having magic was a hard one to swallow. He did not have the ability to do something without jeopardizing the safety of his family's finances so he wouldn't do it. Not yet anyway.
"I could get it done by the summer vacation. I scrapped the original idea of connecting two mirrors and decided to change the whole setup into multiple mirrors connecting to a single hub which controls the connection of the calls."
What Nathan conveniently omitted was the fact that anybody with direct access to the hub would be able to tap any of the calls on the device. A feature of his magitech that Nathan liked a lot. The plan he had created had been to create it and sell it to the purebloods somehow before exploiting it during the war. But in hindsight, Nathan realized that the idea was nearly impossible to execute. Not with the meagre resources and charisma of a twelve-year-old boy.
"You might want to get the whole project going," the smirk on his grandfather's face as he said this made Nathan very curious and he asked, "Have you decided to sell it at the shop? I don't think that is the right call to make grandfather. I mean initially, I would have agreed but your point about burning bridges is fairly logical. It will be a stupid gamble we would be making."
His grandfather gave him a proud smile seemingly happy with his worry about the move before he said, "We talked to some people. The Vinci Club to be more specific. They are willing to give us a chance if we can get a prototype ready. Your mother and father will be taking you to Königsberg for the meeting. The date is set for the thirteenth of July next year."
Nathan nodded at the piece of information before he groaned and said, "I will have to miss some of the summer camp." It wasn't a pleasant thought since the veil of mediocrity had been somewhat lifted by his actions during the gauntlet which would allow Nathan more levy with his repertoire during the duels.
His mother gave him a concerned look and Nathan gave her a weak smile and said, "They will probably let me leave as participation is mostly voluntary but being able to practice some of my stronger spells is nice."
She seemed placated by his reply before clapping her hands lightly and said, "That's good! Now can we start with tonight's dinner preparation? And dad can you set up the radio, there is going to be a Celestina Warbeck Christmas Special tonight."
Nathan's grandfather and father gave his mother a rueful look even as his grandmother gained a very interested look on her face.
Nathan shook his head with a genuine smile. Moments like this pulled him away from the stress that his preparation put on his young twelve-year-old body and made him really grateful for his family and their caring gestures.
[January, 1990.]
The Christmas holidays for Nathan remained mostly unremarkable after the conversation, unlike Harry Potter who was discovering many truths about himself. By spying on the boy's conversation with Orys, Nathan had learned that Orys had slowly and carefully helped the boy come to terms with his situation.
Orys released information that Nathan had given to him with patience. Things like how the wooden stick was a wand, the statue of secrecy, the social classes of the wizarding world, the various sentient races that exist and finally, Harry's own role and place within this whole new world.
Nathan was happy to see how Orys slowly helped Harry learn about magic and even acted as the emotional pillar that Harry needed. Some of the conversations about the abuse sometimes got really heartbreaking, even for someone like Nathan. The way the boy hiccuped as he begged the beating to stop on any perceived use of magic sometimes really made Nathan want to say fuck it and go to Privet Drive himself.
And Nathan knew that he wasn't unique in his reaction. If Orys hadn't been just a ring then, the Dursleys would have found out how his fictional namesake got the title of Stormbreaker.
'They will get the fruits of their Karma.'- He owed that much to the Potters, who in their love for their child had probably saved a massive number of lives. Nathan decided that the Dursleys would rue the day they had hit the boy even as he absentmindedly got off the Hogwarts Express.
Author Notes:
Hope you like the chapter.
If any of you are wondering why Nathan simply doesn't whisk away Harry from Privet Drive then the answer to that question is that he could but the chances of Nathan completely evading Dumbledore, the Ministry and the world at large are pretty low. Especially if he wants to raise Harry without locking him in a charmed house and throwing the key away.
Said task becomes even more difficult if you take into account the fact that Harry is a growing child who will need to attend Hogwarts to get an education where Dumbles or Snape could read his mind. And the worst-case scenario is Voldemort himself discovering Nathan's involvement in things thanks to his mind link.
What do you guys think about Nathan not personally intervening?
If you like the fic then support it on Pa-atreon. Find me there as /dukeofvirtue.
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