Chapter 61: Grounded
Looking across the crowd I see Malfoy walk up to Harry with his father who is not far behind. I roll my eyes as I make my way through the crowd to make sure nothing happens. I'm sure Lucius wouldn't do anything in the open but I still don't want him to bully a child…
Ron was already heading that way so he made it there before Hermione or me. Once I get out of the crowd I grab Malfoy by the shoulder. "What was it you wanted cousin?"
As he hears my voice he shivers and pulls away looking at me. I look at Ron and see his face is beet red from embarrassment and my mood sours.
"What did you say Draco?" I look at him with angry eyes.
Ron puts down his books and is about to hit Malfoy but Harry and Hermione hold him back. I turn and smile at Ron "Allow me."
I whip back around and smack Draco with the back of my hand knocking him over. Lucius is behind him at this point and catches him with a hand tossing him behind him. "Pathetic" I hear him mutter.
"Soren!" I hear mister Weasley say over the crowd as he and the twins head our way.
Seeing Arthur walking up Lucius smirks "As expected the unrestrained child is friends with Arthur Weasley's children."
Arthur glares "Lucius. Displeasure to see you again."
Lucius smiles at his anger "All those raids recently. I hope you are getting paid enough for all that time."
He grabs a book out of Ginny's cauldron looking at one of the books I gave her this morning. "Obviously not… Dear me, what's the use of being a disgrace to the name of wizard if they don't even pay you well for it?" My eyes grow colder at him insulting the gift I gave Ginny.
"We have very different ideas of what disgraces the name of wizard, Malfoy." Arthur snarls his words.
He glances at me, Mr. and Mrs. Granger then looks back at Arthur "I see you still don't keep good company… Honestly, I hadn't thought it could fall low-" I snap. I kick his leg with all my strength causing him to fall to one knee eyes now at my height.
"Soren!" I hear Mrs. Weasley yell as she reaches for me, but she is too slow.
Lucius brings his arms up to defend himself but I throw an elbow at his jaw before he can, the hit causes him to fall to the ground hard. I quickly step closer and raise my leg about to stomp his head at full force. Before I can I get blinded by the flash of a camera and feel someone pick me up by the back of my shirt off of the annoying blonde racist.
I turn to see Hagrid holding me in the air like a kitten after almost ending a man. Lucius scurries up and gives the books back to Ginny avoiding my glare instead of looking at Arthur.
Hagrid glares at Malfoy as well until he is out of view then laughs while looking at me. "Great job Soren. But ye shoudn't be hittin like that even if they are rotten to the core." He says while putting me down.
Mrs. Weasley grabs me "Are you alright? Did you get hurt?"
I smile at her concern "I'm just fine Mrs. Weasley."
"Why did you do that? That was completely out of line. Well deserved, but out of line. No doubt you'll be in the daily prophet from that. Gosh what does Lockhart think of you now, he will be your teacher." She looks most concerned about the last sentence which makes me laugh.
Fred grabs my arm and whispers to me "I bet if we talk to the Daily Prophet guy we can get that in the front page of the paper."
I look up in a fake pondering position "I can see it now 'Head of Malfoy Family beat to Floor by Child' A bit wordy but I think it would work." Everyone laughs it off as a joke but George is already over talking to the Daily Prophet reporter gassing him up.
After everything calmed down Hagrid leaves and we go out to eat with the Granger family at the Leakey Cauldron. It is a nice meal considering the nice environment after that little hick-up in the trip. Once we get done eating I leave them to head home separate from everyone else, mainly because I have stuff I want to do before school starts.
Once I get away from the crowds I apparate away and appear in a wide-open field that seems to extend as far as the eye can see. The field is full of large rocks and beautiful flowers with no humans in any direction.
This is the Forest of Bowland. The place I have chosen as my secret base. I want to create a large base here and use charms to make sure no one ever knows it exists.
I chose the Forest of Bowland is because even if the areas are beautiful only a psychopath would actually hike through a giant field of rocks right? Mainly people only hike through the actual forest part of the areas which leaves miles and miles of uninhabited and untreated areas.
I walk until I find an opening in the field of rocks where I can build something without needing to restrict its size. I want to build a tower that pierces the sky without anyone knowing. I want it to build a tower that rivals Barad-Dur. Perhaps that sounds villain like but I really want a true 'mage tower' like a place to hide away from the people I don't like. AKA 90% of people.
I take my time and use the only ward that I have actually been able to learn so far. The anti-tracking wards, the sheer amount of time it took me to learn this one ward scares me about learning the rest.
After a few hours of putting up the wards, I decide that I need the spell that Sid used to conceal Azkaban. Mainly because I remember reading he used Ritual based magic to set up the wards. That hopefully means that I can then set up the wards without needing to be good at the magic.
I apparate to Azkaban again returning to that bottom floor well below the tower. Seeing the bed and desk along with the rows of bookshelves all completely clean sends a wave of nostalgia over me. It feels like a lifetime ago that I was last here, perhaps it was.
Shaking off my feelings I walk through the rows of books looking for the one labeled 'Wards'. It is easy to find since they are all arranged alphabetically, I also grab one labeled 'Protego Aima' I take it for later study. Opening the 'Warding Ritual's' book I find a few that interest me and write down the instructions to the ritual. After fully reading them over I start to think this won't be possible.
The powerful ward that Sid kept over this place that hid him from humanity for years requires blood sacrifices to maintain, at least one life every five years. That's one of the reasons it was the first to fall when he was running low on magical power.
As I am about to give up I remember something and look straight up. I have willing sacrifices at the ready. Shifting into my dementor form I fly through the floors into the guard's quarters. I grab the ledger that gives all the information on the prisoners. Seeing the crimes I decide that it will be fine to maintain my barrier since they are sentenced to life in Azkaban anyway.
Noting this for the future I go back down taking the things I need from Sid's lab and apparate back to the house. Any longer and Auntie would murder me for being late.
****
The next day I make sure to get a copy of the Daily Prophet to see if they actually wrote about me. As I'm walking downstairs to go get the paper I see Auntie standing there with her hands on her hips glaring at me.
I gulp as I see the paper in her hand. I give a wry smile "So… I see I made the paper."
Her glare narrows "Did you really beat up my brother-in-law?"
I rub the back of my head "I mean 'Beat up' is an exaggerated way to put it really. I just gave him a light kick and a light smack, then he kind of just fell over. Quite pathetic really."
"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING! YOU COULD HAVE GOTTEN HURT, OR WORSE, ARRESTED!" She yells almost throwing the paper at me.
"Well, he deserved it! He insulted Mr. Weasley and the Grangers right in front of me. I wasn't going to let him just talk like that." I say in my defense.
"They are adults! They can handle it, Soren, you don't have to do everything yourself. Other people are stronger than you think. Not to mention you broke the law." She says calming obviously ready to explode.
"They may be able to take it, but what about their kids? Ginny, Ron, Hermione. How do you think they felt having their parents insulted right in front of them, unable to even defend themselves." I say getting a little angry.
"YOU ARE A KID TOO SOREN! PLEASE STOP WORRYING ME LIKE THIS!" This is the first time I've ever heard Auntie yell so seriously.
Hearing her so earnestly angry makes my heart pang in pain. I put my head down I didn't even think about all the things I do could be worrying Auntie. The staying out late, the fighting a troll, the fighting a rogue wizard in the forbidden forest, and now fighting an old racist.
"I'm sorry Auntie Dromeda, I didn't even think about it. I've never had anyone who has worried about me before." My fists ball in anger at myself for making the person I care for most worry about me.
As I'm looking down I feel Auntie hug me and softly stroke my back. I hold back my tears as I embrace her. "I'm sorry Auntie."
She kisses the top of my head "I forgive you, Soren, I always will. But please. Be careful."
I nod as I hug her tighter.
I look up to see her smile at me "But you're still grounded until you go to school next week."
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