Part 6
The Library. Hogwarts Castle.
While I was a big fan of books, I wouldn't be here in the library otherwise, I was glad to be away from The Oghma Infinium for a time, as while I was already learning a lot from that strange book, doing so was straining and after just one night of study, I felt the need to read something else.
That was because The Oghma Infinium did not impart knowledge upon a person the way a book normally did, nor did it simply increase your skills as it did in the game, with no effort required once you have acquired the Daedric artefact.
Instead, it granted you what you needed to quickly obtain certain skills, a mixture of practical experience and study. It did this by giving you the memories of both study and practice. Only they weren't my memories. This was freaky, to say the least.
So now I had a head full of memories of me learning magic in lessons that hadn't happened yet and from books that might not even exist. I didn't think the events I recalled ever would happen either because there was no reason for me to study as I could recall doing.
It was as if I was obtaining my skills from an alternate future or something along those lines. I might even be stealing them in some sense from a version of myself from an alternate timeline that would now never exist. Thinking like that hurt my head a bit.
If it weren't for the fact that I really wanted to learn magic I might have already decided to stop using The Oghma Infinium, and I would use it because I got the feeling that it would allow me to advance much more quickly than would otherwise be possible.
Regardless of how the book worked, it seemed wise to take a break, so after today's lectures, which were in potions and all about setting up the workspace and preparing to make a potion rather than brewing anything, and while this hadn't been very interesting it had been important information for Professor Slughorn to share with us.
I'd come to the library for some reading before dinner. I was curious about the differences between this world and the canon one so I was reading a book on modern events. I was trying to find out what happened around the time Voldemort went missing as that seemed to be when the changes to the timeline took place.
As I looked for the information I desired I found that I liked the Hogwarts library. The books had a nice smell, it was peaceful here, and since the wizards were advanced enough to have the printing press that meant the books weren't handwritten, making them easy to read.
It was easy to get lost in the stacks even though the library wasn't that large because there was so much here to read, and I found time passing very quickly as I read about somewhat recent events.
"Hi Darius," said a shy-sounding voice.
I looked up from my book to see Heather Potter, or Heath as she liked to be called, she was holding onto a book of her own, one that also covered modern history if the title was anything to go by. She was reading a book called: Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century.
"Hello Heath" I replied "Are you interested in history?".
In this universe there was no history course, it couldn't even be taken as an elective, instead, you had the four core subjects, Charms, Transfiguration, DADA, and Potions, with a wide selection of optional classes two of which you got to take. History of Magic wasn't one of them.
"I just wanted to find out more about what happened to my parents," she told me "My relatives never told me much and the professor who showed me around Diagon Alley didn't have a lot to say about them".
While reading I discovered quite a bit about the Potter family and their friends. None of it was good news.
"I was sorry to hear about what happened to them" I mentioned.
In this universe, Godric's Hollow had been attacked by Death Eaters just before the fighting stopped. James and Lily Potter along with Sirius Black all died during the fighting. Sirius Black was killed by Bellatrix Lestrange after he took down that evil witch's husband in the most permanent of ways.
The other Lestrange, Rabastan had been a pure-blood wizard, brother of Rodolphus, and brother-in-law of Bellatrix Lestrange, was also killed in the fighting, but it wasn't known by whom.
As for the other Death Eaters, those who survived the fight were caught at the scene by the Aurors before they could escape. The Death Eaters caught in Godric's Hollow included Barty Crouch Junior. Given what happened to his main timeline counterpart he might not be in Azkaban. It was something to keep in mind.
So far I'd found no mention of Snape. I didn't think he'd have joined in on an attack on Godric's Hollow and I'd heard no mention of him. Nor could I find Peter Pettigrew on my magical map and even if he could hide from the map the twins have that shouldn't work on mine.
Since Heather was not a candidate for the prophecy like Neville Longbottom of the main timeline had been, I wondered why the Death Eaters had gone to that village when Voldemort met his doom. Had they just been targeting members of the Order of the Phoenix?
Despite all my research so far there were still many unanswered questions about the changes in the timeline. I figured I'd find them out sooner or later and they weren't a high priority with me as I had other interests. Still, I couldn't help feeling curious.
Sirius Black was not Heather Potter's godfather in this timeline, instead, she had a godmother called Marlene McKinnon, however, McKinnon and her whole family were wiped out in 1981. If this was part of what Heather had recently discovered then it was no surprise she looked depressed.
"The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts," read out Heather Potter "You're not into dark magic are you?".
I could see why she might think that given the title, yet she had no reason to worry, I had no interest in becoming an edge lord dark wizard. Far too much drama and it never ended well for the dark wizard.
"It's just a book about history and politics," I told her "Dark Lords and their followers have had a lot of impact on the magical world, and this society has been shaped by them".
It wasn't just about Voldemort and his minions, the book went into great detail about Gellert Grindelwald. He made Voldemort look like a mere magical terrorist then a wizard version of Hitler. If he'd defeated Dumbledore during their famous duel I was sure that this world would be a very different place, both for the magical and the mundane.
"No wonder you're in Ravenclaw" Heather joked.
She looked around for a moment.
"Where's Luna?" she wondered.
That was a good question. The young witch had been at my side quite often and she seemed convinced that we were becoming friends. Since we were I didn't argue about it and it wasn't as if she bothered me.
"I'm not sure" I admitted "She has a habit of getting distracted. She might have gone looking for the magical creatures we will be learning to handle in class tomorrow".
That did sound like something Luna would like to do, and she might not have thought to invite me along, or maybe she had and I'd been too deep in thought to notice.
"I'm taking Care of Magical Creatures too," Heather said as she took a seat next to me
"What other elective did you pick?. I chose Divination because I hear it's an easy class and it sounds as if we'll have plenty of work to be getting on with our other classes".
Perhaps she was more like Harry Potter than it first might seem.
"Divination does sound like a good choice for balancing out the workload" I commented "It's why I went with Muggle Studies as my second elective".
Heather was a bit taken aback by my words.
"Hold on, Darius, Didn't you grow up in the muggle world like me?" she asked.
I did, just not the same one she had and while my childhood had overall been unpleasant I felt sure she'd had it a lot tougher than me.
"Being Muggleborn doesn't mean the college will give you an OWL in Muggle Studies" I pointed out "You still need to take the exam and the qualification is useful for a few positions at the Ministry".
Not that I had any desire to end up working at the Ministry, really I just wanted a class I breeze through so I'd have time to focus on whatever it was the Celestial Reliquary gifted to me in the future. Acting as if I was focused on a career that would involve interacting with muggles and navigating their world was just an excuse to take an easy class.
"I didn't think of it like that," Heather told me "I've not thought much about having any kind of career".
No doubt she'd had it drilled into her head by her relatives that she would never amount to anything. At least I'd only ever heard that from a few of my teachers when I'd been at school.
"It's worth thinking about," I said to her "Not that I want to work at a desk at the Ministry of Magic, but I might not have much of a choice".
While I had something of a backstory that didn't mean there was any documentation in the muggle world to prove I existed. I had no idea if I had any GCSEs and without any paperwork, I wouldn't be able to do stuff such as open up a bank account.
As such I was stuck in the Wizarding World as a second-class citizen at best, and that meant doing the work the upper classes wouldn't want to waste their time with, such as wiping the memories of muggles who have been exposed to magic and covering up any disasters caused by someone with magic messing about in the muggle world.
The fancy box, which had again popped up, might give me some better options in the future, or just give me some wealth so I didn't have to work, but until then I had to think about having a career and the Ministry was a big employer. My status as a Muggleborn would hold me back in many departments, but it might be an advantage in certain jobs.
Assuming by the time I left the college the Ministry wasn't under the control of the Death Eaters. If that happened then I'd better be prepared to leave the country. I was too practical of a person not to prepare for that to happen and since I was a Muggleborn the Death Eaters would come after me.
If those gems I'd found in the Room of Requirement turned out to be the real deal then I might have enough wealth to make it possible that I would never have to work. It depended on their value as well as the worth of what else I'd found in that wonderful room.
"I don't think a desk job would suit me" Heather commented.
While she was making an effort not to express it I could tell that she had something on her mind that she might want to discuss. Something that didn't involve careers.
"Is something bothering you?" I inquired.
She didn't answer right away. I could imagine her having trouble expressing herself given her upbringing. Although given her style of dress her relatives hadn't been totally successful in destroying her will. She was clearly expressing a desire for rebellion against something or someone, and they'd not been able to stop her from doing so.
"When we were in potions class earlier did you notice that Professor Slughorn kept paying me more attention than he should?" wondered Heather Potter.
I had as a matter of fact and it didn't surprise me at all. To my lack of surprise, he hadn't even acknowledged my existence and to be fair I was far more interested in finding out if Snape had left his Half-Blood Prince book here at the school than the professor.
"One of the older students warned me that Slughorn likes to collect talented students or ones with connections to famous people, but I'm no one special" she said.
Since she wasn't the Chosen One then the professor's interest would have to do with Lily Potter who had admired and he felt guilty over his part in aiding Tom Riddle in becoming Lord Voldemort.
"Perhaps he knew one or both of your parents" I hinted.
I couldn't just come out and tell the truth as I should have no way of knowing.
"If he likes to collect students for his slug club then maybe one of your parents was a member," I suggested "You should just ask him about it. He might want to talk to you about them".
Slughorn could be a good mentor for Heather Potter as while he seems like a bit of a parasite at times he is willing to help others, and if she's anything like her male counterpart she will need someone to spell things out for her once in a while.
"I guess I should ask him," said Heather.
Both of us stopped speaking for a little while as I couldn't think of anything else to say. It had been some time since I'd made small talk with anyone I didn't already know. Heather proved to be a true Gryffindor and decided not to simply walk away when things started to feel awkward.
"Can I sit with you at dinner?" she asked "I don't think we need to sit at our house tables for casual meals. I've seen other students sitting at different tables".
Likely it was only required at the special dinners like the start of term feast and Halloween.
"I should find Luna before dinner," I said "We can meet you in the Great Hall".
Was that a sour look upon her face for a moment or had I just imagined it? Did she not like Luna? No, only bad people could dislike Luna. Maybe she'd hoped to talk to me alone about something. It wouldn't be shocking to learn she was starved for attention.
"I'll put the books away" I offered.
That was just an excuse to give me a moment to check the scroll to see what the fancy box was offering me this time.
300 points
+200 points
500 points
Bank or Roll
I wrote to roll and felt glad that I kept a quill on me that seemed to have an endless amount of ink.
-50 points
450 points
Kingdom Hearts
You get a set of clothes straight out of the mind of Tetsuya Nomura, with all the zippers and bangles and odds and ends that entails. These clothes are somehow completely functional and don't get caught on things, despite their impractical visual appearance. They're also extremely comfortable and repair fast enough that you probably won't notice them being damaged in the first place.
Spoiler: something along these lines
Well, it wouldn't be the worst thing to have my own signature outfit. I might even be able to modify it a bit so it was more to my taste. However, since I'm not a tailor this would require me to seek out some help or to learn some difficult magic.
Something to think about later. For now, I wanted to check on Luna and then go have some dinner.
Part 7.
The Great Hall. Hogwarts Castle.
So far Heather Potter wasn't sure what to make of the magical world or Hogwarts College, it was too soon for her to tell if she was going to like spending the majority of the next five years in this college, but she was willing to stick around and find out.
So far, it was very different from her time in the muggle world as here everyone had so far been nice to her or had left her alone. In the muggle world, plenty of people had ignored so that wasn't an issue, rather it was the people who'd paid attention to her who had often been the issue.
Looking back she was glad that her uncle had never paid much notice of her as he had a temper and Dudley had become less of a pain once he went off to Smeltings and Heather went to the local high school. It meant Dudley wasn't at home aside from at the holidays and even then he was out a lot with his friends.
Her cousin staying out later and later while spending more time with his mates had been a blessing for Heather as it meant Dudley left her alone. He didn't even spend much time in Privet Drive and was supposed to be taking time to find himself before going to college.
Sadly for Heather the person who paid her attention the most had always been her aunt and while Petunia tried to do what she could do to make Heather feel worthless it had mostly stopped working once Heather had gotten old enough to figure out how to make her aunt back down.
Petunia had no means of making herself feel worthwhile, she was of spite and envy. She tried to project her own feelings of worthlessness onto her niece and there had been a time when that worked.
As she'd matured Heather had simply refused to go along with this and once she got to a certain age she did everything she could to turn people in the neighbourhood against her aunt. Petunia simply couldn't handle this and retreated more into her role as a housewife.
Not that she'd needed much help with ruining he social standing. Dressing her niece in clothes from a charity shop hadn't done Petunia any favours and Heather had learned to understand that she too could spread gossip. It had been easy to turn the ladies in Privet Drive against her aunt.
Even her current style of dress was at least partly about humiliating her aunt, and sure her uncle complained about her choice of fashion, among other many things, but he'd never done more than make a few comments as he seemed to believe that it wasn't his place to involve himself in his niece's upbringing. That was always his wife's business.
Despite that when it became known to Heather that the strange things that sometimes happened around her were due to her having magic both her aunt and uncle had disowned her on the spot.
If not for the fact that she was now homeless, she would have been very happy about the event. Heather was sure they would have chucked her out when she turned eighteen and a year didn't make that much difference.
At least the professor who had shown her around Diagon Alley had at least thought to tell Heather to rent a room at the Leaky Cauldron. If not for that Heather might have grabbed a sleeping bag and camped out at Kings Cross Station until the Hogwarts Express arrived.
Since Heather had long since given up on trusting anyone in authority, as they had never done anything for her, she hadn't known who to go to talk about Slughorn who was a bit of a creep in her view. None of her old teachers had ever paid her much attention.
She'd never really had friends to talk to about such things, Dudley made sure of that in Primary School and by the time she got to High School, she hadn't been sure how to make any. Which wasn't to say she hadn't tried it was just she had so little in common with other girls.
Later on, she'd found a place with other outcasts and she'd gotten along fairly well with them, but they'd been people to hang out with rather than anyone she could confide in. Still, it meant she wasn't totally lacking in social skills.
Then she'd left them to come to this big castle with the hopes that she'd finally find somewhere she belonged. Only time would tell if this worked out and she was going to make some effort this time to have some friends, maybe even a boyfriend.
With that in mind, she'd turned to Darius Olle, a nice-looking boy who had at least spoken to her on the train to school. It was a shame that they would have been Sorted into different houses and she had tried to follow him along with Luna into Ravenclaw, but the stupid hat had other plans.
Lucky for her Ravenclaws were drawn to knowledge, at least stereotypically so Heather had sought out the library and found Darius hidden within its stacks and with a collection of books that made it clear that he was a bit of a nerd. Not she minded as she'd used the libraries at her schools as a place to escape to.
He at least was willing to talk to her and that was nice, he was alone too, at least when that odd Luna Lovegood girl wasn't hanging around, and she found that she could talk to him even if he seemed lost in his own thoughts often.
Since she was the brave Gryffindor she'd decided to invite Darius to sit with her at dinner, if only because he didn't he'd ever pick up on any hints of interest more subtle than that, and to her disappointment he'd brought Luna Lovegood along.
She was a nice girl, but she was too bright and cheerful for Heather's taste and she seemed to get on well with Darius. They got to share a common room, and she wondered if Luna was interested in Darius. Did she have some competition?
"What is it that all boys want?" Luna asked.
Who starts a conversation like that?
Heather hardly even noticed her soup trying to go down the wrong pipe as the hippy girl asked her question. Was Lovegood trying to hint at something? Heather didn't know and she wondered where this conversation was going to go. Hopefully, it wouldn't be too embarrassing.
The Great Hall. Hogwarts Castle.
"What is it that all boys want?" Luna asked as we sat down with Heather Potter.
No one protested about us sitting at the wrong table, not that they'd had much of a chance to so far, and I got the feeling that if anyone did they would regret it as they could get drawn into whatever mad conversation Luna Lovegood was now starting.
Heather managed to choke on some soup, an impressive feat given that it was tomato soap and had no solid bits in it, and I couldn't help smiling at the hippy girl's inability to understand how certain topics of conversation could make people uncomfortable.
I found I rather enjoyed her ability to bulldoze through all the crap humans call social niceties so she could say what was on her and sometimes other people's minds. It was refreshing.
"That's one heck of a conversation starter" I commented.
Since it was clear that Luna wanted an answer I gave her one.
"Right now it's some dinner," I said "At least for this boy".
I began to help myself to some dinner and I soon had a very generous helping of shepherd's pie on my plate. While I was a fan of traditional British food I wondered how long it would be before I saw something more exotic on my dinner plate.
Anyone who knew me well would know that I was a big fan of Italian food and I wasn't sure how long I could last if I didn't get some decent pizza or to eat a nice pasta dish. Perhaps once I had some money I could sneak out and get some. I already had a way to get myself to London and if I didn't want to risk that there was always the Knight Bus.
"Yes, it's food," agreed Heather "All boys love food".
Luna looked more interested in digesting words than her dinner.
"So Mrs Weasly was worried that boys will want Ginny to cook for them?" questioned Luna "Why would she do that? She seems to enjoy cooking".
Now that there was some context to work with I figured I had some idea of what had the hippy confused.
"I think Mrs Weasly was concerned that certain boys might try to take advantage of her daughter, to trick her into having sex with them" I explained "Some guys will make promises to get a girl into bed and then once they get what they want they will abandon the girl. This tends to make the girl feel used".
Luna began to eat something as she did some more thinking. I was rather impressed by how much she could put away given her petite form.
"Yes, some people can be dishonest" she stated.
Goodness knows I was lying about a fair few things, I just wasn't doing so because I was a bad person it had more to do with not ending up in the Department of Mysteries or at the very least getting expelled from this college.
"Are you honest about your intentions?" questioned Heather "When it comes to girls I mean".
That seemed rather personal given that we'd only met a couple of days ago. Not that I was fit to criticize anyone else's social skills.
"I have no intention of getting into any term relationships at present" I stated.
Even before she spoke I got the sense that Luna approved of my words.
"Given that you've just entered a whole new world it would be foolish of you to attempt any sort of romance" she said "Although I don't see why having casual sex with someone would be a problem as long as everyone involved is honest about it".
Again poor Heather seemed to forget how to eat for a moment, and I figured that it would be best to change the subject before she started consuming anything more solid than soup. I was too old to be easily embarrassed and familiar enough with sex to care much if anyone started talking about it during dinner.
"So ladies, are you looking forward to starting your elective classes tomorrow?" I asked both of the girls.
Luna had chosen to take Divination and Care of Magical Creatures. She wasn't any kind of Seer as far as I knew she just had a different way of looking at the world than most people. However, I could easily picture her as a fortune teller, and it would not shock me to find out that she has a bit of talent for finding out the future.
"I'm looking forward to seeing what animals they have here," commented Luna "But I've heard that Mr Hagrid is not a good teacher".
It was possible for someone to be very knowledgeable in a subject yet be unsuited to teach it. Snape was a good example of this even if his reasons for being unsuited for teaching were different than Hagrids.
At least he wouldn't be exposing children to dangerous creatures. There was a difference between having 13 and 14-year-olds around Hippogriffs and having us handle the creatures. Then again should anyone be exposed to Blast-Ended Screwits or whatever it is those abominations in the Goblet of Fire were called?
"I like animals" mentioned Heather "But I've never had a pet so I don't know much about handling them".
I'd always been good with children and animals so I wasn't worried about my performance in class.
"Just speak softly to them and be careful where you step," I said.
If she was anything like her male counterpart then she didn't have much to worry about when it came to magical creatures. In fact, Harry Potter seemed to have some skill with magical creatures, I couldn't imagine many people ever went flying on the back of a dragon.
Should Heather Potter share that trait she should do very well in her Care of Magical Creatures studies.
"Darius, would you like to go for a walk after dinner?" invited Heather.
By now even I had picked up on the hint that she wanted to spend some time with me that didn't involve Luna and I could meet with the hippy girl in the common room later. I'd made it clear that I wasn't looking for a girlfriend right now, but if she wanted to spend time with me anyway I was fine with that, and seeing the grounds could be pleasant.
"Sure just let me grab my coat from up in the common room" I said as I got up from the table.
I grabbed an apple and made my way up to Ravenclaw Tower.
Along the way, I decided that this seemed like a good time to try out my new outfit and when I got changed I found to myself amazement that it resized and altered itself to better suit me.
The colours had altered themselves, adding some Ravenclaw blue to the mix, and the whole thing just looked as if it would better fit in with wizarding styles while still looking cool.
I also found the fancy box waiting for me along with the school. It looked as if I had the chance to claim yet another interesting object.
450 points
+200 points
650 points
I wrote to roll and read the writing that soon appeared on the scroll.
-100 points
550 points
Holy Water - DXD
A vial containing 250 ml of Holy Water. It is highly effective against evil and demonic entities and can be used to sanitize wounds made of demonic magic. Refills whenever emptied.
Unless the vampires of this world could be repelled by splashing holy water on them I didn't think I'd have much use for this stuff. I'd have to do some research, but that could wait as I had something else planned for this evening.
Part 8.
The Grounds. Hogwarts Castle.
My Muggle Studies class was nothing to write home about as the first lesson was all about covering what would be learning over the next five years and since it would all be stuff I already knew a great deal about I would be able to get away with putting minimal effort into the subject.
This would allow me to focus more on the stuff I cared about as planned, and to be fair there was a lot of magic to focus on even with the Daedric Artefact giving me access to knowledge that I didn't have to earn. I was quite eager to attend a full week's worth of lessons next week.
While I shouldn't mock the wand wavers for their ignorance of the commonly used tools of the mundane peoples, such as cars and kitchen appliances, as few muggles even knew magic existed, I couldn't help feeling amused by the silliness of it all.
To me, it made sense to study things like cars and phones in detail as they are important objects in the muggle world that a magical person might encounter if they needed to go cover up some accidental magic, but they also had entire sections devoted to things such as blenders, something that not every muggle household possessed.
Other sections seemed to make no sense when compared to the important stuff. Wizards who interacted with Muggles would need to know about Electricity, but why was there a section on rollerblades?
At least the course material was only about ten to twenty years out of date. I could tell this by the fact the section on phones showed designs for the machines that were out of date. I had not expected the material to be as up-to-date as it was. Clearly, the author of the textbook called Home Life and Social Habits of British Muggles had done their research.
Care of Magical Creatures was also meant to be an easy class that I wouldn't have to put too much into, but I had more enthusiasm for this course because magical creatures did interest me and it was nice to get out of the castle for some fresh air.
Sure I could just go walking around the grounds whenever I wanted to, or even fly around as some students did, but there was something pleasant about having an outdoor lesson, at least while the weather was still mild. No doubt I'd feel different once winter came.
As expected Professor Hagrid was the teacher who would be providing us with information about this subject over the next five years and supervising our interactions with magical creatures, assuming he managed to keep his job.
I hoped that he had something less dangerous than a hippogriff to show us. I would be smart enough to simply keep my different, but I couldn't say the same for everyone as teenage boys can be very reckless, even ones older than Draco Malfoy had been in the third book/movie.
Something that caught my attention was the sight of Neville Longbottom and Ron Weasley talking to the Care of Magical Creatures professor before the lesson began. I'd not see much of two young wizards who had missed the train somehow and the opening feast. I was curious as to why, but no one seemed to know anything, at least not in Ravenclaw.
In this timeline, Mrs Weasley did not publicly humiliate her son by yelling at him via a talking letter. Such a thing might seem amusing, but I would greatly loathe anyone who set out to humiliate me in front of my peers in such a way.
Perhaps Heather knew more about what was going on with those two and since we shared Care of Magical Creatures as a class I should have the chance to ask her. I found the punk witch with the Gryffindor first-years who had already made it down to the lesson.
"Good afternoon, Heather," I said.
The young witch smiled when she saw me.
"Hello, Heather" greeted Luna.
The punk girl frowned for a moment.
"You can call me Heath," she told us.
It wasn't the best of nicknames.
"What about Heddy or Hetty?" wondered Luna "Heath is more of a boy's name".
I didn't see why that mattered. So what if she was a bit of a Tomboy?
"Heddy and Hetty are both names for old ladies" Heather protested.
They did indeed sound like old lady names.
"You can call me Ginny and nothing else" insisted a red-headed girl who Heather was standing close to.
It looked as if the youngest Weasley made friends with Miss Potter which meant she would drawn into the rest of the pack in due time. Were all versions of Harry Potter doomed to be surrounded by redheads?
"Ginevra is a lovely name" pointed out Luna.
It was clear that Ginny did not agree with that, and I figured it was time to change the subject.
"Ginny, if you don't mind me asking, why wasn't your brother on the train?" I questioned.
She didn't seem to mind at all.
"They managed to be late for the train" she explained "And rather than wait for my parents to come back to Kings Cross they decided to take the Knight Bus to Hogsemede rather than wait, and then they spent the day in the village pratting about rather than send an owl to anyone. They both had a few too many in the Three Broomsticks and somehow got their hands on a bottle of Firewhisky, by the time my Mum caught up with them, they were in a lot of trouble. She made them go home to sleep it off".
So they hadn't taken the car and flown it to the castle. At least they hadn't been that stupid enough to fly a car to the school in full view of the mundanes. By the sounds of it, they'd just been late and taken a chance to have fun rather than run into any actual problems.
Not that this meant the diary and Dobby weren't involved in events. If Ginny had it she might not be affected for a while as she is seventeen rather than eleven and not so easily fooled. She might have even already reported the strange book to her head of house who would pass it on to Dumbledore.
I'd know the truth sooner or later if any threatening messages turned up on the walls. If someone did start attacking Muggleborns I'd be in danger and unlike the morons in the books/movies, I'd rather flee the school rather than risk running into Slytherin's monster.
"Gather round!" called out Hagrid.
We moved over to a collection of cages that were covered with a large sheet. I worried about what could be secured within those cages and if they could get out. Who knew what kind of abominations Hagrid could have under that sheet?
"We'll start with simple creatures for your first lesson," said the Professor.
Maybe we'd end up looking after flobbeworms or something small and mostly harmless.
"Ta-da," said the teacher as he pulled back the sheet.
To the surprise and delight of everyone, the cages contained a large number of Puffskeins.
Spoiler
They were small magical beasts that are covered in soft fur and are spherical. My impression upon seeing them in person was that they looked as if someone genius had taken a tribble from Star Trek and put an adorable face on them.
The sheer amount of cuteness displayed by each creature even had the boys soon treating them as if they were the most precious things ever.
"Yah puffskeins are scavengers," Hagrid told us "Eating anything from leftovers ter spiders an' moths, but they particularly liked ter use their long tongues ter eat wizards' bogeys while they sleep".
That put some of the girls off them, just not for long due to their sheer amount of cuteness.
"Puffskein are easy ter care fer, an' they are known ter let out a low humming sound when they are happy. Another interesting thing abou' 'em is tha' puffskein hair has magical properties, an' can used as a potion ingredient" said the Professor.
I noticed that Hagrid was reading something from a bit of paper. Had he made notes or had someone written him a lesson plan?
"They make fer great pets because yeh can feed 'em scraps an' they don' mind gettin' tossed 'bout" we were told.
Before long the teacher opened up a box that had been behind the cages that were already being opened by eager students.
"I've got some leftovers ter feed 'em. Jus be careful not ter make 'em sick by overfeeding 'em" warned the professor.
Since I was able to translate Hagrid's speech I understood that Puffskeins must be like dogs. If you kept feeding them they would keep eating even if it made them sick. Something I mentioned to Ginny, Luna, and Heather as we started to feed the little fluffballs of cuteness.
"Are you going to Hogsmeade this weekend?" asked Heather.
Unlike in the canon timeline, Hogwarts isn't a boarding school it's a college so every weekend we are free to leave and visit the village. Technically we could leave whenever we wanted as we weren't required to stay in the castle as it's not a prison, but it seemed to be agreed upon that the students only go to the village at the weekends.
While there were no enforced rules to keep unqualified wizards from going out and causing problems with their untrained magical abilities. I knew that the gates to the castle were closed at a certain time but since there were a few secret passages in and out of the school this hardly mattered to me.
"Yeah, I was planning on doing a bit of exploring" I mentioned.
I got that she was hinting at something.
"Would you like to go with me?" I asked.
Heather's checks turned an interesting shade of red as if she hadn't expected me to just come and ask her on a date. Ginny had to nudge the punk witch with her elbow before she would reply.
"Yes," she blurted out.
Somehow I didn't think Heather had dated before, and while I didn't wish to date properly a single date wouldn't be so bad as there was little point in me having a new life if I didn't go and live it. Sure learning magic was very important, but I shouldn't let it take up my whole life.
When the class came to an end everyone agreed that this had been an enjoyable afternoon, and while it was sad to be parted from the adorable balls of fuzziness we were consoled by the fact that next week we'd be trimming them to collect hairs to be used in potions.
Even Luna's rather random statement "They are known to sing on Boxing Day" was listened to due to our group's interest in the adorable little creatures.
The students went their separate ways as we would need to put our books away before dinner, and I found that I had quite the appetite these days so I was looking forward to the generous helpings served at dinner.
When I got to my room I noticed that the Celestial Reliquary was waiting for me. I got the impression that it was starting to appear less often and that it would keep doing so, as such I should not miss out on this chance to obtain another interesting item.
550 points
+200 points
750 points
I wrote to roll on the fancy scroll.
- 300 points
450 points
Kiss - Peter Pan
A "kiss" (really an acorn or thimble) that you can wear on a necklace around your neck. The kiss has the power to absorb the full power of a single projectile that strikes you with lethal force, thus preventing it from actually hitting you. You then fall to the ground unconscious, and people may think that they actually killed you until you wake up. Don't worry, the "kiss" isn't destroyed; however, it won't be able to block another projectile until 24 hours have passed.
Spoiler
I got the impression that the Kiss only kicks in if the projectile has a lethal amount of force behind it since it is meant to fool people into thinking they have successfully killed the wearer, and projectile is a broad term. Rockets and artillery shells are considered to be projectiles.
While I didn't think the term projectile meant spells, I still felt glad to have something that could stop a bullet or arrow from outright killing me. After all, there were Centuars with bows not far from here, which made it worth every one of the 300 points the little necklace cost.
Not to mention the non-magical people who could be armed with guns that I might encounter should I ever go out and explore this world. There were parts of this world where gun violence was always a problem and wars could pop up in places.
There were flaws in this defence, such as someone shooting me noticing that I wasn't dead when they checked the body, and then shooting me again to make sure I was dead, but fights can be chaotic things and people make mistakes so a knocked out me could be overlooked. A chance to survive an attack was better than simply dying.
I put the necklace on, making sure to hide it under my cool outfit and then I went to get some dinner.
Part 9.
Hogsmeade. Scotland.
Since it had been a while since I'd gone on a date I was unsure of what exactly I was supposed to do now that I had one, and it was only when Heather joined me in a carriage that went down to the village that I was glad I didn't try to dress fancy for the date as she decided to dress casually for our time together.
Thinking on it, I hadn't seen Heather Potter much outside of classes, and so until now, I hadn't realised that she wouldn't have much in the way of clothing due to the way her relatives treated her. As such I made a mental note not to comment on her style of dress.
If I'd had more than pocket change on me, which I only had because I'd been able to find quite a few sickles and knuts in the Room of Hidden Things when exploring the room for a while after dinner yesterday, I might have even offered to take Heather clothes shopping this afternoon.
Then again she had a pocket full of gold coins as such she could do her own shopping.
There was no need to subject myself to the torment that was going clothes shopping with a woman unless I had to.
Neither of us spoke much on the way down to the village in the carriage, I didn't know what to say and Heather wasn't exactly the most sociable of people either, so it was good that we arrived at the village before things got too awkward. At least I remembered to be a gentleman and help her get out of the carriage, not that she needed my help, but this seemed like the kind of place you should act old-fashioned while within.
"So where should we start?" I asked when looking around.
Hogsmeade Village, most often simply called Hogsmeade, was the only all-wizarding village in Britain. This meant that, unlike places such as Godric's Hollow and Ottery St Catchpole, there were no muggles at all in this area. As such there was no need to hide the existence of magic, and yet at first glance, you could be forgiven for thinking that this was just an old-fashioned village.
There was nothing here that screamed magic, it was rather dull in appearance even if there was something rather charming about its simplicity.
"I was hoping to look around the shops" said Heather "I want to see how it compares to Diagon Alley. I spent some time there over the summer".
No doubt she'd taken the first chance she could get away from the Durselys and her canon counterpart had stayed in the Leaky Cauldron when he was younger than Heather, so I doubted anyone would have protested her staying there.
There were quite a few businesses here in Hogmede such as a shop that sold and repaired instruments. I wasn't at all musical and Heather had no interest either yet I made a mental note to go inside one day to see if they brought second instruments since there were a few in The Room of Hidden Things.
Looking around we saw that there was a store that specialised in stuff for those with an interest in Herbology. Neither of us took that subject so we paid it no attention.
The same went for a hat-making shop which had some really silly-looking headwear in the front window. Who'd have thought there would be stranger hats around than the one worn by Neville's grandmother? That one had a stuffed vulture on it.
I was amused by a clothing shop that according to an advert in the front window sold socks that screamed when they got too stinky. I considered buying some for the novelty of it but given that the House Elves did our laundry up in the castle I doubted I'd ever get any use out of the feature.
We found a hairdressing salon where some students were getting their hair done. Even if there had been anything about my hair I wanted changed it was by appointment only. Besides, I figured that growing my hair made sense given my new style of dress.
The salon was across the street from Honeydukes, which was a sweetshop that I knew had a trap door in its basement that was part of a hidden passage that could allow someone to sneak in and out of the school.
During our wanderings, we found the Hog's Head Inn a dingy pub owned by Dumbledore's brother, Aberforth Dumbledore, had we gone side I was sure that we would have found it to be quite the contrast to the much cleaner and more welcoming Three Broomsticks., or rather we would when we got to that pub.
We would get to the pub sooner or later. For now, we weren't done wandering around and seeing the shops, such as J. Pippin's Potions, an apothecary established in 1753 according to the sign out front. That seemed very young compared to the Olivander store which claimed to have been in business for thousands of years.
What we didn't find was a suitable second-hand store for me to come back to later and sell stuff to. There was a books store called Tomes and Scrolls, but I didn't know if they would buy books from someone and I didn't want to bore Heather by going in there and finding out during this trip.
"I've heard of this place," said Heather while gesturing at an eyesore of a building.
She was pointing to Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop. Which was a popular place for couples to go to from little I knew.
Spoiler
"Let's take a look," she said.
With that, we moved closer to the nightmare.
"You want to go in there?" I asked.
It looked like the kind of place Madam Umbridge, a woman I might have already murdered if I had the means to do so without ending up in Azkaban, it was pink and girly just on the outside, and dreaded to think what it was like within.
"No it makes me want to barf too," said Heather "I just wanted to see if you'd freak out".
I let out a breath I hadn't even realised I'd be holding.
"Really, I want to check out that magical joke shop" said the punk witch "My Dad was supposed to love that sort of thing".
We headed over to Zonkos and began to look around. To me, it all seemed rather childish and while the Hiccough Sweets sounded rather harmless I did worry about the Frog Spawn Soap. Nor did I like the idea of nose-biting tea cups and dungbombs.
"If my Dad was into this stuff I wonder what my Mum saw in him?" pondered Heather "He must have been a big kid. I mean look at this, an Ever-Bashing Boomerang, when does something that flies around hitting you become fun?"
I gave the matter some thought.
"Wizards and witches often live to be over a hundred years old" I said to the punk girl "I suppose you don't need to grow up that fast when you can expect a century or more of life. Your mother was like us, a Muggleborn so she would have naturally been more mature than any magical people her age. I guess she just learned to put up with your father's antics and hoped he would grow out of them".
Heather seemed to ponder that and while the shop did have some younger children in it many of the customers were closer to our age. I wondered what they were interested in. Pranking a friend with a fake wand perhaps?
"Makes sense, I remember reading about how girls used to marry young when people were expected to die before they reached forty" she commented.
I wondered what Hogwarts starting at seventeen would have meant for Lily Evans and her friendship with Snape. Would they have gone to a high school together or been separated for a time before reuniting at Hogwarts? It was something interesting to think about for a little while.
"Fancy some lunch at the Three Broomsticks?" I offered.
She seemed to like that idea.
"Later I want to check out the Shrieking Shack. It's supposed to be the most haunted place in all of Britain" she said.
Which was completely untrue. The crappy old shack wasn't even haunted. It had been used to contain the werewolf Remus Lupin during the full moon while he was attending Hogwarts I wondered if he was still using it or just locking himself up somewhere else.
There were supposed to be werewolves in the Forbidden Forest, so another thing I wondered was if that was true or just one of those rumours you hear, I figured that it wouldn't be a smart idea to go find out as that was a good way to get bit or mauled to death.
I didn't mention any of that to Heather so as not to ruin her fun. Instead, we made our way over to the pub which much like in the books/movies, it is often frequented by students from Hogwarts. It was rather packed in fact since many students had decided to come here for a visit.
Once inside I could see drinks such as Butterbeer and Firewhisky being served as well as shots of gilly water, tankards of Mulled Mead, glasses of red currant rum, and even more drinks, many of which I intended to sample when given the chance.
I knew that The Three Broomsticks was owned and operated by Madam Rosmerta who was far too busy to see to us personally, but the pub had waitresses who I felt sure would get around to serving Heather and me before too long. Which was fine as we were in no rush. We had to find seats first and while the pub was crowded it seemed to be as big as it needed to be some sort of magic at play I figured.
"Darius, you order something for both of us, I'm just going to visit the lady's room," said my date.
Despite it being busy here I didn't have to wait for too long for someone to come along and take my order. I decided that we have good old British Fish and Chips along with what I hoped was some decent beer. The drinking age was 17 in the magical parts of this country so there was no issue with my order.
When I put down the menu, I saw that the fancy box had just appeared.
"I'm in the middle of a date" I whispered at the magical container "Can you wait for me in my room back at the castle".
It might seem silly to make such a request to an object, but for all I knew the Celestial Reliquary was fully self-aware and capable of independent action, or someone I could not see was moving it around. Regardless it didn't move and I got the feeling it wouldn't leave me alone so I opened the scroll.
"Fine" I muttered.
450 points
+200 points
650 points
Again I wrote to roll. I did consider banking, but I couldn't recall if the scroll had ever mentioned a point limit. Would I lose points if I saved up to say a thousand? Perhaps I would get a chance to find out.
- 50 points
600 points
Dungeon Compass - The Legend of Zelda
A bronze tool meant to help those navigate their surroundings, you could never go wrong with a compass in hand. It always points north, regardless of how much an environment should be screwing with it.
"You interrupted my date to give me a compass?" I asked.
Having a compass could come in handy if I did go backpacking over the summer as planned and it wasn't as if had cost me much in the way of points. In fact, 50 points was nothing compared to some of the prices I'd paid in points.
"Thank you" I whispered.
With that, the fancy box was gone again, and I was left to ponder about Heather, I wasn't sure if I should make some sort of move on her or not. Maybe the carriage ride back would be a good time to try. I really had gotten out of practice with this sort of thing.
Part 10.
Charms Classroom. Hogwarts Castle.
Filius Flitwick, the Charms Professor here at Hogwarts College of Witchcraft and Wizardry, very much enjoyed his job, and this was good because as a part goblin, he would have struggled to find work elsewhere in the magical world.
He was neither a true wizard nor a goblin in the eyes of either of his parent's people and it hadn't been until he'd entered Hogwarts as a student that he'd found his true home.
Even then he'd needed to become a duelling champion to earn enough respect and experience required to obtain a teaching position. Since he had he'd never regretted taking the job.
While there were many aspects of his job he liked there was something about the first charms class of those students who had just begun their education here at Hogwarts.
This was because for them magic was still a novelty, it had not yet become any sort of work, and the Muggle-borns most of all had a sense of wonder about magic, taking delight in even the most simple of spells.
This was why he liked that the first proper week of education for the new students began with a charms lesson. He'd always felt that his class was the subject that best displayed what learning magic would involve and thus it was best for the new students to start learning magic in his class, if that was possible.
Even the Purebloods who would have seen plenty of magic at home wouldn't have been able to cast spells themselves, as it was believed that casting spells before you reached a level of maturity at seventeen could damage your magical abilities, and even they took pride in doing some proper magic for the first time.
Flitwick liked to start with the simple Lumos spell, which did nothing more than light up the tip of a witch or wizard's wands, not only was it a useful spell to know, but it wasn't at all complex and didn't require much in the way of power. As such few students struggled with it for long.
For some being able to perform this simple bit of magic became something of a validation, confirming that they did indeed belong in the magical world, far more than any letter could do.
It was joyful to see those students who struggled finally get there and perform magic successfully. As a teacher, he couldn't help feeling a surge of pride when he was able to help a student who was having trouble casting spells.
Some students would have already tried this spell at home despite the rules or while preparing for his class, and if Flitwick suspected so he didn't say anything, and then there were the students who were just more advanced than their peers or more powerful.
There were always a few that caught his eye. The youngest Weasley had made it to Hogwarts, and Flitwick could only hope for Minervas's sake that she wasn't as much trouble as the twins or Ron Weasley who was turning out to be as much of a rule breaker even without a taste for pranks.
Heather Potter had his attention quite early on as not only had she gotten the hang of the Lumos spell quickly it was impossible to look at her and not see Lily Evans, who had been quite talented at charms and it was a pity she'd not been placed in Ravenclaw.
James Potter had always a dab hand as well with charms, but enough of a troublemaker to make Flitwick glad that he'd not been placed in Ravenclaw and thus not his problem.
Luna Lovegood was also someone he'd spent some time thinking about, her mother had been known to experiment with new charms and had a deadly mishap when Luna was quite young.
Such a shame as Pandora had been quite talented at charms. Her father might have devoted himself to the Quibbler, but he'd been a good student while in Ravenclaw. His curiosity had served him well when it came to studying.
One of the students he would also want to keep an eye on was Darius Olle, a Muggleborn with a very wizard-sounding name, suggesting that he might have a magical person or two in his family tree even if Flitwick couldn't recall that family name.
He certainly had a natural talent with charms, it was almost as if he'd instructed before coming here, but his school record showed he came from an orphanage so he couldn't have been tutored.
Perhaps the young wizard had just spent the last week studying for his classes. Hardly odd behaviour for a Ravenclaw, but the professor would keep an eye on this young man. It wouldn't do for him to study too much and get burned out.
"Now that you have all managed to light up your wands," said Flitwick once all of his new students had managed to get the spell working "You need to learn the counter-charm".
He waited until he was sure he had everyone's attention before carrying on with the planned lesson. This afternoon's lecture was a practical class and he enjoyed those more than having students go over the theory or talking about how the classes would process over the year as they covered the different spells they would learn from him.
Such lessons were important, but they simply couldn't compare to teaching his students the spells that they would demonstrate to him at the exams at the end of the year. It was almost nice to see how much his students had progressed over the school year.
"The counter spell to Lumos is called Nox, which extinguishes light from the end of the caster's wand. The incantation comes from the Latin word for 'night' or 'darkness'. The spell is useful to quickly become inconspicuous once more, after using Lumos to guide you, as the most common use of the Lumos spell is a way to light your path when you don't want to use a bright source of light. Not that I'm encouraging anyone to sneak around when they should be in bed".
He knew it would not matter if he did or did not encourage them as there would always be students who wanted to explore the castle at night and rules about such things had never been very well enforced since the students weren't considered to be children by the time they came to the castle.
"For every spell you intend to cast you must make use of the precise words and make the correct wand movements, and if necessary direct the magic toward the proper target" advised the professor "Concentrate, keep your mind focused on the correct thoughts, feelings and desires, and even then you may find you lack sufficient skill at first. You will all need to practice to perfect this spell".
For an experienced wizard such as himself, he hardly had to think about such things, but for novice spellcasters words and the wand movements were very important. Without proper focus, the spells would fail or worse have an undesirable result.
That was another reason he was glad he was here for these students as a master at charms could easily undo most mishaps in this subject. For those who needed more help than he could provide. That was what the Hospital Wing was for.
Charms Classroom. Hogwarts Castle.
As I attempted to snuff out the light I had created with my wand I found that I had little trouble as I could already remember doing this thanks to the knowledge imparted to me by the Oghma Infinium.
I could remember learning how to do this, I could also recall reading the theory in a book during a lesson much like this even though I didn't know which book it had been.
That was still so strange to me, to remember a class that hadn't happened yet, and since my memories didn't quite line up with what was happening here, I still got the impression that I'd gotten memories of lessons I could have attended in some alternate
timeline.
Weird as it was I was still going to read the Oghma Infinium because it was teaching me the basics of magic better than any book and I could tell that was ahead of where I should be.
I wondered what would have happened if I had chosen the path of Might or Stealth. Would I be obtaining the skills of an assassin or a warrior by gaining memories of killing people?
If so taking the Path of Magic had been very wise as this was all freaky enough without giving me any fuel for future nightmares.
Between the Oghma Infinium and my lessons, I was already starting to see why the wand movements don't seem to be compulsory for experienced magic users. Just as I knew that it was not necessary to speak the incantation aloud.
I already knew that the particular movements and the incantations are just a way to focus your mind on what you intend to do. Beginners in particular might need something to help their focus, including myself, but I knew I wouldn't always need them.
In some ways, it wasn't that different from when I'd learned other skills. I thought about when I learned to ride a bike, to begin with, I had to think about where to put my hands and feet, how to grip the handlebars and how to use the breaks.
After a while riding a bike was so natural to me that I didn't have to put thought into it at all and then one day I was able to simply hop on my bike without any thought to what I was doing.
"Nox" I muttered.
I couldn't do it non-verbally despite knowing that the words weren't so important, or maybe they were, words give meaning to our thoughts and help to understand the world around us just as our hands allow us to manipulate our surroundings.
The words matter because they can put us in the right frame of mind for casting a spell. Nox means darkness, the absence of light, just as Lumos makes me think of something lighting up to banish that darkness. This was something I pondered as lit up my wand and then got rid of the light.
Wands make a lot more sense when you recall that humans have always been tool users, it was how we went from simple ape-like creatures to the dominant species on this planet. Although there were other factors involved as well.
Although I think I would have preferred a good staff. Something I could whack people with if my magic failed for some reason. I might have read too much Terry Pratchett when I was younger.
"Keep going until you douse the light without much effort!" the professor called out.
I was about to keep practising this simple bit of charmwork when the Celestial Reliquary made an appearance just popping up on my desk. It was one thing for people to ignore its appearance during dinner or while I was in a pub full of people spending time with others, it was another for a classroom not to notice.
The fancy box must be hidden from everyone else. I'd heard about such things, such as the fanon Notice-Me-Not spell and Douglas Adam's work had the Somebody Else's Problem field, something like that must protect the container.
For some reason, I hadn't seen the fancy box since my date with Heather Potter, which seemed to have gone well and ended with a bit of kissing, and that had been two days ago. It was indeed starting to appear less often.
I unrolled the scroll and began to read.
600 points
+200 points
800 points
Bank or Roll.
At least I knew that the points limit was eight hundred or more. That was something to keep in mind and for now, I wanted to spend some points rather than horde them so I wrote to roll.
-600 points
200 points
The Staff of Magnus - Skyrim
Now this is really something, the Staff of Magnus is a mage's staff beyond all other magical implements. The staff itself is a relic from the creation of Mundus, left behind by its namesake, Magnus the god of Magic. As a literal divine artefact, its powers over the realm of magic are all but absolute.
The most basic and straightforward of the staff's abilities is the power to absorb magic, whether this is from incoming spells, your opponents, or some other source is irrelevant. Once someone's magic is completely gone the staff will move onto their lifeforce as a final finisher.
It can also shield you from magical attacks, restore your vitality, suppress magic, and for those so inclined serve as an excellent weapon for smacking your enemies with. These are merely a few examples of what it can do and hardly encompass everything a divine artefact of this level can really accomplish.
Within the world of Mundus, the real staff and your copy are capable of interacting with and controlling the Eye of Magnus, and as a boon, yours will retain the ability to interface with similarly grand magical artefacts and devices to do as you wish with them.
This version of the staff is also guaranteed to not abandon you like the normal one does if you get too powerful.
I felt a bit suspicious as I had just been thinking about having a magical staff, but why look a gift horse in the mouth? Besides some of the items given to me had very little value in terms of points when at other times I'd ended up losing a lot of points and this staff seemed to fit that pattern.
While I didn't take the staff out of the Celestial Reliquary, which again went unnoticed, I did spend the rest of the lesson thinking about what I could do with such a powerful relic.
I could easily strip cursed objects of their power making objects in the room of Hidden Things much less dangerous to sell and I could use that drained magical power for other purposes.
And that was just the tip of the iceberg, since the staff was a divine artefact it was on the same level as the Deathly Hallows or beyond them. If anyone knew I had such a powerful staff then wizards and witches would come seeking it.
I would have to use the staff very carefully and do so out of sight until the day came when I could defend myself, and even then I should never let anyone know the staff's full power.