Part 21.
The Hogwarts Express. On Route to London.
"How long has it been since the three of us met on this train?" asked Heather Potter.
Again the young witch had backed off from me for a while after Slughorn's dinner party. Who could blame her given how much she had to think about, after I'd lectured her about my views on certain aspects of society?
Then she'd come back when she'd finally decided that she was coming to the Rookery with Luna and me. I was glad that she'd agreed, and not just because getting to spend a fortnight with two young witches would be even better than with one
It would also be nice to spend some time with Heather as she was rather cute and most of the time she was fun to hang around with. Other than that it wasn't as if I had a lot of friends so I should make an effort to spend time with them.
"About 14 weeks" I answered after doing the maths.
Three and half months didn't seem to be enough time to have learned all the magic I'd been able to, but I did have a magic book helping me and a teacher stuck in a soul gem who had nothing better to do. Plus I'd already gone to college so I knew how to handle the workload.
We now had two weeks off and I couldn't help thinking how different Heather's time at the school was when compared to that of her canon counterpart.
While many Hogwarts students go home for Christmas, Harry Potter spends his holidays at the castle. And who could blame him when instead he could have two weeks with Dursleys while being locked up in his room and barely being fed?
Heather was even worse off as in this timeline in some ways as her relatives had disowned her when she'd chosen to explore what it means to be a witch, so she didn't even have a home to go to outside of Hogwarts.
On the other hand, she doesn't have a Dark Lord gunning for her and unwanted fame to make her life more complex than it needs to be.
Since I was planning on buying a house, once my vault had a decent amount of gold in it, I might invite her to spend the Easter holidays at my place. It would be a nice gesture and while the castle is lovely you don't want to spend all your time there.
"Seems like a lot longer" commented Heather.
I had to agree as I looked at the young witch. She was still dressing the same, but she wasn't as pale or as skinny as when we'd first met. She'd not put on a lot of weight it was more like she had a bigger presence.
Luna had changed as well, she felt no need to put up he father's magazine as a sort of shield between us and herself. This let me know that she was more comfortable around the two of us than she had been when we'd first met. Although inviting us over to hers for the holidays and sex had also been a big clue.
"We started new lives and new became new people in some sense" I pointed out "That was bound to take some getting used to".
Heather sat across from me next to Luna as she had when we'd first met.
"That's true" she agreed "And there's still so much I have to see. I've never even been inside a magical home".
I imagined that seeing the Rookery would be an eye-opening experience for her even before anyone took their clothes off.
"Speaking of homes I'm going to buy a magical one" I mentioned to the girls "Nothing fancy. A nice little house somewhere out of the way. Somewhere peaceful".
The witches seemed interested in hearing more.
"There a few places in England that have magical families living near muggles but are out of the way" mentioned Luna "My home village is one of them, and the village of Tinworth is somewhere along the coast of Cornwall, that has quite a few magical families in the area as well. Then there is Godric's Hollow, where Heather is from".
The punk sat up straight upon hearing that.
"I am, where is this Hollow Place?" she asked.
She should know this. It was common knowledge where the Potters had lived before Voldemort killed most of them.
"Somewhere in the West Country" answered Luna.
I had an idea of something we could do for Heather to make her happier.
"We should take the Knight Bus and go for a look around Godric's Hollow," I suggested, "One of the properties for sale I should check out, is in that village we can give it a look, and see what became of Heather's family home".
I wondered if Bathilda Bagshot the author of A History of Magic still lived in that village.
"It's only a village so it should not take too long to explore it, and I'm fairly certain your parents are buried there" I shared "We should stop by and pay our respects".
Heather looked ready to jump out of her seat.
"We can take a bus there and try to find my parent's house," she said as she relaxed "My parents have graves, my aunt never told me".
Why would she think they didn't have a final resting place? Had she assumed they'd been cremated or something? I decided not to ask.
"That sounds like a pleasant day out" commented Luna.
Pleasant wouldn't be the right word.
"I'd like to go," said Heather "But I don't know how to get there".
That wouldn't be a problem.
"I know how to summon the Knight Bus," I said.
If Luna knew she chose not to mention it.
"Can we go tomorrow?" Heather asked.
I saw no reason why not and I found it odd that she was asking me rather than having us discuss it as a group.
"You don't need my permission for anything," I told her "Unless you want me to look after you like that?".
Heather sighed before answering my question. I could tell that she was about to tell me something important as she had a serious look on her face.
"I don't understand the magical world and my relatives didn't like me much so I never went with them on trips" she explained "I don't really know how people travel around and I know even less about how things work for witches and wizards".
It wasn't hard to see why she would struggle. Her relatives had let her down and it sounded as if her schooling in the Muggle world hadn't been very helpful. To be fair it was more the parent's job to prepare their children to be adults than the school system.
"I mean I know about buses, but is there a special wizard bus station like how we need to go to Kings Cross for this train? "Heather wondered "Do I need a magic ticket?".
Luna was kind, but she also found it hard to understand how other people think or feel, and this made her unsuitable to act as a guide. I would have to set up and help her.
Unlike her canon counterpart, her life isn't controlled by Dumbledore and the Ministry sure isn't going to give her any special treatment. She doesn't even have the Weasleys to help her out.
Even with that the Harry Potter of the main timeline still stumbled about and got lost at times. The poor boy managed to screw up using floo powder and nearly got run over by the Knight's Bus. All because no one bothered to sit down and explain these things to him, to demonstrate how to live as a wand waver.
Dumbledore should have done a better job as a mentor and perhaps would have if he'd ever had any intention of letting Harry Potter live long enough to live as a proper adult.
"I guess I'll have to take care of you then" I offered with a tone of teasing in my voice "But you'll have to be a good girl for me".
The punk girl blushed and while I'd sort of been joking it wouldn't be terrible if she gave me power over her.
"Are you going to call him Daddy?" Luna asked, "I call the man who looks after me Daddy, but he is my father so maybe it's not the same thing".
Poor Heather, who often had a smirk on her face, at this time didn't know where to hide her face. I couldn't help thinking she was looking adorable.
"Why do most people do that when I talk to them?" wondered an annoyed-looking Luna "They are either rude to me or they find it hard to have a conversation. I don't understand it. I am never mean to them and I don't treat people like they are stupid".
Finding it hard to understand what others are thinking or feeling, feeling anxious during social situations, finding it hard to make friends, coming off as blunt or rude without meaning to. I could be all those things at times, Luna had it in spades.
Unlike myself, Luna was not a hypocrite, as I could be, and she never sought to manipulate people and she didn't attempt to enforce her views on others. Which in my view made her a much better person than me. That was also a part of why I liked her so much.
"You have autism, Luna," I told her "I doubt anyone in the Wizarding World knows what that is, but they do in the muggle world. There is nothing wrong with you I promise. Your mind just works differently than other people's. I've seen it before, it doesn't bother me and people should accept you for who you are. If they don't then it is their loss".
Heather suddenly looked a bit guilty as Luna spent a few moments deep in thought.
"My Daddy's friends always told me I was special and that I saw the world differently than other people" she mentioned, "They don't have trouble talking to me. Do they have this autism too?".
It wouldn't be surprising.
"They could do" I said "Or they must just understand these things better than other people. Not everyone is scared of those who are different".
I rather liked Luna's bluntness.
"Hey I didn't think you were putting people off you on purpose," said Heather.
They were friends, and Heather was hardly normal either.
"Anyway, to answer your question, yes Heather can call me Daddy if she wishes, but I think she'd prefer to do it in private" I said.
Miss Potter decided not to reply to that. I didn't think she'd mind calling me Daddy.
"I don't think it helps when you mention magical creatures that no one believes in," said Heather.
She didn't do that nearly as much as the Luna in the books did and when she did I tended to zone out. Not that Luna ever minded when I did. Perhaps she simply hadn't noticed?
"To be fair muggle zoologists are still discovering new species," I told the girls "So there's no reason why at least some of the magical species in the Quibbler can't exist. The world is bigger than most people realise and no one knows all of its secrets".
Heather decided to talk about something else.
"So you told me you don't celebrate Christmas," she said to the hippy girl "You never told me why".
Given that her father was going away over the holidays he must not care much for the festivities. That seemed odd to me despite my lack of interest in celebrating the season.
"We haven't celebrated much of anything since my Mum died" Luna replied "But we can celebrate Christmas if you want to, Heather".
That sounded like a good idea to me.
"We can go to Diagon Alley and buy what we need" I suggested "I've never been a big fan of Christmas myself, I've always seen it as something more for kids, but if you want to make a fuss I don't mind".
Poor Heather wouldn't have gotten to celebrate Xmas at all if her relatives were anywhere near as bad as in the books/movies.
"Oh, can we?" she asked "It doesn't need to be a big deal, but I'd like to put up some decorations and have a tree, oh and presents".
Despite her uncertainty about many things, there was a certain level of determination within Heather, and she quickly put together a plan to get us to celebrate Christmas with her. It was an interesting contrast to how she'd seemed so lost and in need of help when we'd discussed going to Godric's Hollow.
As the girls discussed decorations and such I realised just how well these two were getting along. Ginny was Heather's best friend as far as I could tell, but she was closer to Luna than I'd thought. Which made sense given that she'd accepted the invite to the Rookery with all it entailed.
She was also quite brave to admit that she needed help in navigating her life. So people suffer in silence rather than just admit they don't know enough and need a bit of hand.
My attention was drawn once more to the Celestial Reliquary and once again its presence was ignored by everyone other than me. So I just go on with finding out what my new relic would be. Assuming that I had enough points.
500 points
+200 points
700 points
I wrote to roll and I was surprised to find that I had somehow failed the roll. By the looks of things, I might find out how high it was possible to save points. But for now, it was nothing to worry about.
Instead, I wondered if it was about time I told Luna and Heather about the Celestial Reliquary, and if it was even possible for them to know since no one seemed to notice the fancy box that kept popping up.
I'd already considered telling Luna anyway as if she did retain the information it wasn't as if anyone would believe her if she shared the knowledge.
Part 22.
The Rookery. Ottery St Catchpole.
"You should have warned me about that bloody evil machine," complained Heather Potter as the Knight Bus sped away leaving us somewhere in the county of Devon "It was like riding around in Christine's bigger and even more evil cousin".
Luna looked at her friend with a perplexed expression on her face as we began to walk down a peaceful country lane that would lead us to her home.
"Who is Christine?" she asked.
Heather didn't look as if she wanted to answer possibly due to a bit of dizziness. I didn't blame her as while the Knight Bus made it easy for us to get around the country it wasn't a pleasant travelling experience.
Sadly for us, teleportation was high-level magic, the kind you should only attempt after years of studying the mystical arts. Even then it could go wrong if you weren't careful.
"Christine is the name of a car that kills people, I think it was supposed to be possessed by a murderous spirit or something like that" I did my best to explain "Or maybe it was just cursed by dark magic. I can't remember".
Luna's eyes showed her alarm.
"Mr Weasley must have a had hard time dealing with that evil cursed car," she remarked.
We all knew that Arthur Weasley was head of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office so we understood that it was his job to deal with Muggle objects that had been cursed and used to harm mundane people in an act called Muggle-baiting.
However, if Christine existed in this dimension, and this was something I wouldn't rule out as there was magic all over the world which could come in different forms, then I imagined members of Magical Law Enforcement would be sent in to deal with it.
"It's just a story by Stephen King," Heather told Luna when she felt like talking again, "He made it up, it didn't really happen".
Miss Potter then changed the subject.
"The Weasley family live around here, don't they?" she asked.
Luna pointed off in what could be a random direction for all I knew.
"The Burrow is over there," said the hippy girl "Ginny used to visit me when we were both younger, but she doesn't come 'round any more".
It was sad when friendships came to an end, and I could detect the hint of sorrow in Luna's normally chipper voice when she spoke of how the two of them used to do things together.
I hoped that Heather would stick with Luna as a friend because Luna needed people in her life even if it might seem as if she was content when alone.
"Ginny told me I could pop over for a visit" mentioned Heather.
None of us spoke further for a little while as we were now looking at Luna's house as she guided us to it. The home looked like a huge rook as if had been taken from the chess set of giants and then modified to make it into a home.
Spoiler
"Now that's a wizard tower," I said.
Maybe I should forget about a house and try to buy or even build my own tower.
"It's like out of the story" commented Heather.
The front door led into the kitchen, which was a perfectly circular room, with the stove, sinks, and cupboards all curved to fit the walls. I'd not seen the Weasly home, not outside of the movies, but I was sure that if I had I would think of this house as more of a Burrow, as in the home of a Hobbit, despite it being a tower.
Everything in the kitchen had been painted in bright colours with images of flowers, insects, and birds, which had possibly all been painted by Luna, and were used to make the kitchen even more colourful.
I found the effect a little overwhelming visually and I made a mental note not to let Luna decorate my home when I found the time to buy one. I would vastly prefer a more sober colour scheme for my house.
While I was very fond of Luna, as she was my best friend even if we were very different people, and mostly because neither of us had anyone else, I found her sense of style to be a bit much for me. Each to their own.
On the first floor above the kitchen, there was another room, this one was smaller than the kitchen, more cluttered, and again entirely round, it was also more sedate in terms of colours which made it more relaxing to be in.
As far as I could tell this room served as both a living room and a workplace for Xenophilius as he worked on publishing the Quibbler, as well as any other projects he felt like working on.
From the ceiling hung small models of creatures that could flap their wings, or snap their jaws, I assumed they were models of magical creatures that may or may not exist.
While looking around this room I saw a stone bust of Rowena Ravenclaw. On the bust was a bizarre headdress. I wondered if I should give Luna's father the real Diadem of Ravenclaw and just tell him it was a replica he could put on display.
Luna's room was on the next floor above the living room; it had one window and a pale blue carpet. Her ceiling was painted to look like the night sky and the walls had magical creatures painted on them. None of the images moved, like wizarding pictures often do, but they were very well done.
Judging by the art on display as well as the easel and the paints she kept in her room, Luna was quite the artist, although I had already known this I wasn't surprised by the sight.
In my view, Luna was already a far more talented artist than people who were twice or even three times her age, and it was clear to me that she had been encouraged to express herself through her art.
The young witch had a small framed picture of herself and her mother hugging her by her bed, which I found rather sweet, and from the moving photo it was clear where Luna had gotten her looks from.
"This is where we'll be sleeping," Luna told us.
Heather seemed surprised to hear this.
"All three of us are going to be in one bed?" she asked.
The bed had been enlarged to fit more people. Hardly an impressive feat when you had magic.
"You could stay in the living room" offered Luna "There's a sofa bed down there, but will make it difficult for us to have sex".
Heather looked be to getting used to her friend's bluntness which was popping even more frequently when we were away from the castle.
"It will be like a sleepover, only with a boy" stated the hippy witch "I always felt bad for the boys who never get invited for sleepovers".
Heather looked thoughtful.
"If Darius sleeps in the middle then we can both cuddle him" she declared.
I got the sense that this had been of concern for her. Starved for affection as she must be I could understand why.
"And I can watch the two of you have sex" Luna stated "I'd like to see you two go first so I can see what it is like up close. Daddy's friends didn't mind explaining things to me, but they didn't feel comfortable having an underage person watching them and taking notes".
Once we'd put our stuff away, I decided that this was a good time as any to tell the two young women about the Celestial Reliquary. We headed down into the living room to find seats so I could show them the box while we were comfortable.
For now, I would not tell them about my past life, or about the knowledge of this world that I had gained from reading the books, that old life wasn't mine any more, it was starting to feel as if it had all happened to someone else, and it would only distract from what mattered.
Perhaps if Heather were the Chosen One things would be different and I would try to help her defeat Voldemort with my knowledge, but the whole Boy-Who-Lived deal was Neville Longbottom's burden to carry, and I could still help him from behind the scenes when I got around to it.
"It's important that you not tell anyone what I am about to tell you" I warned the witches "If it gets out I'll likely end up getting taken away by the Ministry".
Even if I didn't end up in the Department of Mysteries locked up in a cell only to be taken out to be studied along with my relics, there was no way the Ministry would allow me to keep my relics. They either want to lock them all up and me along with them or try to use them to give themselves more power.
"This is the Celestial Reliquary," I told the two most important ladies in my life.
I took the fancy box out of my expanded pouch, which I'd stuffed into when we'd been on the train, and I opened it up so they could both look inside.
"Every so often a special scroll will appear to help me keep track of the points I have and it will tell me when I can spend those points" I explained "If I have enough points for what it selects for me then I have the item. If I don't then it will save the points until next time".
Heather looked thoughtful upon hearing that.
"What do you get points for?" she asked.
I wasn't quite sure.
"They seem to be awarded when I'm doing things that are more interesting than say going to class and studying," I told her "Like when we went to the edge of the Forbidden Forest".
I took things out of the box and let the two girls examine them. They were both wise enough not to do stupid things like waving the sword around.
Neither of them touched the Staff of Magnus either once I explained it was like my wand. Even Heather knew that you don't mess with a wizard's wand, or staff in this case, as such items are very personal.
"So you've got this magic box that gives you cool stuff," Heather summarised.
That was the long and the short of it.
"You can understand why I kept this to myself," I said "Even if no one tried to take the box from me it would draw a lot of attention and people would try to steal the relics and they could be used to hurt people even if the people taking them didn't mean to harm anyone".
There were people out there looking for the Deathly Hallows and who would kill for them. They'd surely do the same for some of my relics.
"What this?" Luna asked.
Her eyes had been drawn to the Gale Boomerang, an item I'd not bothered with since I did not need such a tool.
"It's a Boomerang inhabited by a wind spirit," I told her.
Luna picked it up and then it looked as if she listening to something that only she could hear. If a fairy from Hyrule would talk to one of us it would be the hippy witch.
"She says that she wants to go outside and fly," the young witch let me know "Can I take her out for some exercise?".
Luna was welcome to keep the relic if she wished and I informed her as much. It was quite suitable for her as Ravenclaw was the Hogwarts House associated with the element of air. Plus the Boomerang was a non-lethal weapon and Luna was not one for violence.
"Come on let's go flying!" she called out.
With that, the blonde-haired girl went racing out the kitchen door.
"She's never boring" I commented.
Heather looked a little offended.
"Why does she get one of your magical items and I don't" she said with a cute huff.
I decided to give her my Moogle Badge as it only offered a little to the wearer. Besides, my magical rings did more for me than the badge in terms of protection and boosting magical power.
Heather couldn't help smirking as she placed the badge on her jacket before she leaned over to give me a quick kiss.
"Just be careful with it" I warned her "Once I give away a relic it won't be repaired or replaced by the
Celestial Reliquary".
At least I thought that was the rule I couldn't fully recall what I'd been told 12 weeks ago.
"What's stopping us from giving you back anything we break so it becomes yours again? That way it can be fixed and then regifted to us" Heather pointed out.
I'd not considered doing that.
"No idea" I admitted "But I'd rather not break a relic
just to find out if we can exploit a loophole".
This was when the scroll appeared and I called Luna back into the house so that I could show her how I acquired new relics. I doubted she'd stick around after as she wanted to play with her new friend.
700 points
+300 points
1000 points
I wrote to roll as everyone looked at the scroll
1000 points
-50 points
950 points
I had no idea why I sometimes got more than 200 hundred points. It would have been nice to be given an instruction manual or something like it to help me make sense of all of this.
Sneakoscope - Harry Potter
Alerts you to untrustworthy people with a loud whistling noise.
"I already have one of those" I pointed out.
I'd gotten one from the Room of Requirement.
Rerolling
I hadn't known it would do that.
1000 points
-200 points
800 points
Resurrection Book - Diablo
This ancient leather-bound tome teaches a spell to resurrect anyone no matter how long they've been dead, unlike the more common spell which only brings back the recently dead. This book is consumed once used.
Both Heather and Luna are bright young women so it didn't take long for them to figure out what this book could do. I figured that I would have to handle this situation very carefully.
"You can bring back my Mom," stated Luna.
"Or one of my parents," said Heather.
Right away I knew this book was going to cause problems, and would drastically change what we would be doing over the holidays.
"This isn't fair" commented Heather "Tell it to give you more than one copy of the spell".
I saw no reason not to try and I wrote down that I wanted to buy more than one copy, but nothing happened
"Hold on," said a happy-sounding Luna Lovegood, "The book says it teaches you a spell and then the book is consumed. That means Darius will be able to cast the spell more than once and maybe even teach it to others even with the book gone".
I checked the scroll again and found she was right.
"The book must vanish once someone has learned the spell" I concluded "That would explain why such a powerful item is worth only 200 points, the person getting the book actually does the work the book just gives instructions and it's a complex looking spell it could take me a while to learn to cast it".
My mind was racing.
"As much as I would like Mum back right now it would be best to study the spell to make sure it is used right, and I'd rather not have Daddy find Mum alive when he gets home, it would be a big shock".
Heather looked confused.
"Wouldn't he be happy?" she asked.
Once the shock wore off I was sure he would be.
"Daddy isn't very good with secrets," said Luna.
The man writes about conspiracy theories for a living. He sees himself as someone who uncovers the truth so it made sense that he might let something slip even if it didn't mean to.
"It's not as simple as you might be thinking," I told Heather "If I were to bring your parents back and people found out that I can bring back their loved ones I'd be hounded for the rest of my life".
And it would be something else the Ministry would want to take control of me for so that they could decide who got to come back from the dead.
"Nearly everyone in the magical world has lost people due to Voldemort or Grindelwald, and those are just the people who died unnatural deaths" I pointed out
"What about everyone who died of illness or old age?".
Luna was showing that she could think logically.
"If someone who died of old age came back to life then they would die again before long," she pointed out "Is Darius just supposed to keep bringing people back?. Will it even work more than once?".
That wasn't the only issue.
"Then there's the concern that the Death Eaters might try to Darius or someone he cares about to make him bring back You-Know-Who," said Luna.
Another reason to keep this quiet.
"And that's assuming anyone dead even wants to come back," I said, "What if they are happy in heaven or wherever it is people go? Would they kill themselves, or wait to go back?".
Heather gave this some thought.
"Okay so we only bring back the people who died before their time" she declared "I'm sure my parents would want to be with me if they could".
That was also problematic, but we could discuss the morality of deciding who got a second chance at life at another time.
"Then we'll have to buy me a house because we'll need somewhere to keep the people I bring back to life. They'll need time to readjust and we'll need to set up anyone I do bring back with new identities," I reasoned "Perhaps we can use the fidelius charm to hide their true identities and let them pretend to be your cousins from overseas or something like that. They won't look old enough to be your parents because they won't have aged".
There was no way someone like Remus Lupin would be fooled into not recognising the Potters by some fake ID and cosmetic changes.
"This is going to take some planning" stated Heather.
At least we had time.
"If we can only bring back one person it should be my Mum, and it is me acting selfish" Luna insisted "My Mum used to work on experimental charms and she knew a lot about spell creation. She might be able to help us recreate the spell if for some reason it only works once".
That made a lot of sense and Heather nodded her agreement, understanding the logic even if she had trouble verbally agreeing to risk not being able to bring either her mother or father.
"And I'm going to have to learn about Necromancy" I mused.
This was when something else in my fancy box spoke.
"I can help you with that" offered Varen.
Great, now I needed to introduce the girls to the dark wizard who had trapped his soul in a star-shaped gem. That would take some explaining.
"I'm going to start dinner" decided Luna "We can talk some more later. Heather would you like to help me?".
That seemed like a good idea and I should start looking into that spell now while there was no one around to see what I was getting up to who shouldn't be. Heather decided to aid Luna rather than ask me any further questions, but I knew she was too curious to wait for long, she would soon want to talk to me about Varen.
Part 23.
The Rookery. Ottery St Catchpole.
Rather than cook a full meal, Luna and Heather had put together some cold cuts of meat, some cheese, and fruit, which was served with some bread for us to nibble on.
Our hostess opened up a bottle of wine before sitting down to eat. We let the wine breathe a little before drinking it since none of us were savages. Not that I thought it made any difference as all wine tasted the same to me.
"I didn't feel up to cooking tonight" stated the hippy witch as we picked at the food on offer "It's been a long day and I was hoping we could all relax for a while before we go to bed".
This was fine with me. It wasn't as if I'd come here to eat.
"My aunt always made me cook for her family," said Heather "I've never enjoyed it. I'm glad we don't have to make our own meals at the castle".
I wondered what would happen to her aunt should I be successful in bringing back Lily Potter from the afterlife. Mrs Potter might go and murder her sister, which would be a big deal if I didn't know how to bring people back from the dead by then.
"I had to learn to cook once it was just me Daddy," said Luna "He's not the best in the kitchen, he often forgets to eat if you don't remind him".
It must have been tough on Luna to have to step up and start taking care of herself at such a young age.
"My aunt can cook she just got me to do even when I was little" complained Heather "The closest my uncle gets to cooking is using the phone to order a takeaway, and none of them ever did any cleaning up if they could get me to do it".
She had to stop to explain to Luna the idea of using something like the floo network to call up someone who would do the cooking for you and deliver the food to your house for a fee.
"Heather, do you want revenge on your relatives?" questioned Luna "If you do I will help you, even though I'm not a believer in violence".
Despite her phrasing that was a rather sweet offer of support and I imagined if they did partner up to get revenge then Luna would encourage Heather to do so in ways that didn't cause physical harm at least.
"Sometimes I think about doing something to them, like cursing them, but that would just make me the evil witch they think I am" she pointed out.
I could see the sense in her words.
"Some people think the best revenge is to live well" I commented "By the sounds of things your relatives tried to stop you from becoming a witch so you should become the best witch you can".
Heather smiled at me as if encouraged by my words.
"That makes sense, but I feel petty enough to get some revenge in person," she said "But I would just get into trouble with the Ministry if I cursed them".
I gave it some thought.
"You know if your relatives claimed child support for you and you're not living there any more you could inform someone, or I could phone the police, tell them I'm a friend of yours and that I haven't seen you for weeks" I offered "If you're reported missing the police would go and check only to find you're aren't there. It's not as if your aunt can tell them you went to a magic school".
Heather considered this.
"I don't know, Darius, can't they just say I left?" she wondered "I'm seventeen, not seven. They won't care, it's not like anyone ever showed any interest when I was younger. I turned a teacher's hair blue once and no one even questioned it".
I wondered if someone had done something to Heather to make muggles ignore her and stay away from her so that people wouldn't pay any attention to any accidental magic she did as a child.
"It wouldn't take much effort for me to file a report," I told her "Give it some thought".
Luna who didn't know about the Muggle World decided to focus on rolling up a splif rather than chat about revenge any further, this was not something I'd seen anyone do for quite some time.
"Where did you get weed from?" asked Heather.
Luna looked at her friend as if that was a silly question.
"My drum circle" she answered, "Cannabis is legal here in the Wizarding World, or rather there aren't any laws against it, but has been forbidden at Hogwarts since the 1970s for some reason. I don't agree with this because I'm sure Professor Sprout grows some in her special greenhouse for the staff".
Herbology was an elective in this timeline, which I didn't take so I had no idea what went on inside the greenhouses. Not that I cared about this all much else as I showed that I was no stranger to weed even if it had been a while since I smoked the stuff.
"I do know a few nasty curses that this Ministry of yours might not be able to track the source of" offered Varen whose container was out of the box "Failing that, there is nothing like sending a few undead after someone to get your message across".
Both of the witches looked at me and a little sheepishly I moved the Star so that everyone could see it.
"Greetings," said the spirit "I am the Necromancer Malyn Varen".
Neither Luna nor Heather looked alarmed upon hearing this even if they both looked a little concerned.
"Darius, why do you have a necromancer inside a big crystal?" asked Heather.
I sighed.
"One of the relics I was given is a gem that can hold souls" I answered "For some reason, the Celestial Reliquary gave me a version of the gem that contains the soul of Malyn Varen, a dark wizard from another world. He used to be crazy, but the Celestial Reliquary did something to straighten him out, and he has offered to teach me some of the magic he knows because he is bored".
Luna took all of that in stride.
"Nice to meet you, Mr Varen," she greeted.
Heather was less cool about it, but she didn't freak out or demand I get rid of the crystal.
"I hope he isn't teaching you any dark magic," she said.
Not yet at least. So far it was all theory. There are quite a lot of ways to direct the energy that is magic that you need to know before you start blasting people with lightning.
"I can help you to learn how to summon spirits of the dead which will you need to learn if you are going to even attempt bringing the dead to life" Varen told us.
That was something to think about later so I shut the box. Putting away the Diablo book which could have so easily torn my group apart. Instead, we now had a common purpose that I figured would make us a good team.
"We can talk to him later," I said.
Soon the three of us started to talk about things that didn't matter and to enjoy our dinner. Then before long, I was making out with Heather, it just sort of happened.
She was pressing herself into me and I was trying to get at her firm young boobs, and this didn't prove easy to do as she was trying to stick her tongue inside me as she pushed her body into mine.
I noticed how the other witch in the room was watching us and that she'd moved a hand inside the pair of shorts she'd changed into at some point during the evening.
"Oh good I was hoping you two would relax" commented Luna "I hope you don't mind me watching, it is arousing".
At this point, Heather had stopped caring. She was undoing my jeans, I was wearing causal muggle clothing, and she freed my cock from his confines. The sight of it seemed to transfix for a few moments.
As she messed with my belt, I noticed, and not for the first time, that she'd filled out a bit. All that Hogwarts food had done her good were as Luna seemed unchanged.
"He's rather big, isn't he" commented the blonde-haired witch.
Heather giggled before saying anything.
"A bit, but he'll feel so good inside you once you get used to the Pussy-Destroyer".
Oh, so that nickname wasn't going away anytime soon. At least the gossip at the college quickly changed and I no longer got odd looks from my peers. The Hogwarts rumour mill was always looking for more gossip to spread about.
"Don't worry, Luna, I'll be here for you," the punk witch promised the hippy one "And it's not as painful as you might be thinking".
It didn't take a genius to figure out what they were talking about.
"Okay, then," she said softly.
Heather got up and gestured for me to lie down on the pillows that had my way onto the floor and I ended up with my upper body slightly inclined. I took my trousers off as the girls also exposed their lower halves.
"Hey Luna, do you wax or shave?" asked Heather.
The punk witch didn't seem at all embarrassed to talk so frankly. She must be quite relaxed.
"I never really grew much hair on my body so I just got rid of it all with a special creme" Luna answered "It feels quite nice when there's a cool breeze and..."
She suddenly trailed off and then moved over to the side of the room giving me a view of her pale little butt as she bent over to mess with what looked to be a grammerphone.
"I want some nice music on" she explained.
Despite the petite blond intending to watch before trying it for herself Heather encouraged Luna to come over and straddle my hips. Luna inched forward until my cock rubbed against her already wet slit. The girl's body was eager even if she might be feeling nervous.
She leaned forward to kiss me while keeping the palms of her hands on my chest as she began to move her hips. Her warm little pussy got even wetter as she began to grind against me.
"This…this is…oh, Merlin," Luna muttered.
We were both rather enjoying the feeling even if I wasn't expressive about it. I then watched as the young woman's expression changed.
"Are you okay?" wondered Heather.
Since I'd never seen the hippy witch look so uncertain about something I wasn't sure if I should try to encourage her or just let her back off if she wanted to.
"I admit I am rather nervous about actually having sex, but I'm sure I'll be more confident after some practice," said Luna.
Seeing her nervous was a new experience. The young witch normally just things in stride unless they bothered her and it was rare that anything upset her.
"Your vagina must have an expansion charm inside it to have fitted Dariu's penis inside" commented Luna.
I guess the girth must be a little intimidating when you are a woman with such a small body.
"Do you want me to go on top?" I asked.
Perhaps that would make this easier for her.
"I think that would be for the best," said Luna.
We swapped positions and she seemed more relaxed now that I would be the one to do the work. I could well imagine that it would be easier to lie back and let it happen than to move to impale yourself on a cock. Not that I could imagine it properly.
"Darius, would you please claim my virginity" Luna invited.
Trust her to make popping her cherry into a polite request and I didn't decline the offer. I slowly pushed my cock inside her and ripped her maidenhead as I became the first man to get his dick into her little cunt.
"Ouch!" Luna called out.
I stopped to give her a moment or two to get used to having me inside her. She took the chance to get a tighter grip on me.
"It doesn't keep hurting, it will start to feel good" Heather assured her friend "Just keep going".
The other witch was simply watching us, as if ready to offer advice or a helping hand, she'd certainly gotten more relaxed about this situation.
As for me, I slowly pulled out of Luna's tight pussy, before pushing back in. I adopted a slow pace at first, letting her body get used to the new sensations of getting fucked.
Luna had stopped speaking, she was only able to make some soft moans which might be expressions of pain, pleasure or both. I rather enjoyed the lewd little noises.
Once I was able to start picking up the pace a little, every thrust inside her tight pussy felt as if it was causing her inner walls to clamp around my dick. It was boarding on painful as her cunt tried to milk me of my baby-making stuff.
"Oh, it is starting to feel good!" Luna
She wasn't wrong. She was more relaxed now and her pussy was accepting my cock so I got to go a little faster, to enjoy the pleasant friction of her little fuckhole.
"See I told you it would get better," I heard Heather say.
I turned my head for a moment to see that the green-eyed witch was watching the show intently while keeping one of her own hands busy. She was fingering her needy twat as she watched me fuck her friend. It didn't take much to bring out Heather's wild side.
"Darius, would you cum inside me" requested Luna "I'd like to find out what it feels like".
That was going to happen anyway. I slowed down to watch Heather for a few moments, and rather than sound jealous or get annoyed by my distraction, Luna spoke softly to get my attention focused back on her.
I began to move again, thrusting into Luna, an action that resulted in her making a cute little eep noise, as I filled her pussy with my cock.
It didn't take me long to finish as I really wanted to cum inside her, and when I got her insides all sticky Luna made some more fun little noises.
"Oh, that cleared out the Wrackspurts!" Luna called out.
I managed to get off Luna and I watched as Heather helpfully cleaned up the mess with a wave of her wand.
"So Luna, how was it?" asked the witch.
Unlike me, Heather was able to sit up and she smirked as she looked down at us.
"Darius has a very nice penis" Luna replied.
No one said or spoke for a while until the blonde suddenly decided to get up.
"I need to take a bath" she declared "Would you like to join me, Heather, the tub is big enough for two girls and we should get ready for bed. I'm still hoping to watch Darius have sex with you tonight. Do you think he will be ready later?".
The punk witch decided that she would go to the bathroom with Luna and discuss my performance as if I wasn't still in the house.
"I'm sure he'll be up for it" Heather joked.
I was left to find that the fancy scroll was back for the third time today. The Celestial Reliquary hadn't been this active since I'd first entered the Wizarding World and I didn't have much trouble figuring out why.
Whoever was behind all of this was most certainly encouraging me to do more than casually interact with the people in my new life. That or they were just perverts.
800 points
+ 200 points
1000 points
I wrote to Roll and hoped for something impressive as I still had a lot of points.
100o points
-400 points
600 points
Bustling City - Elder Scrolls
Why would you be limited to a single home, when you could own an entire city? You may take any city, from Windlem to Mournhold to the Imperial City to Falinesti that you can bring into the world or keep as a pocket dimension.
It will have access to everything you'd expect from your average city, like shops and inns, all of which will find their stocks replenishing weekly. You will also see a sizable and steady stream of money going directly towards your coffers. All of the citizens within will see you as their ruler and will act as followers.
Aside from the Black Ark, I'd never gotten anything like this and it took me a while to begin to wrap my head around what I could get from this roll.
So I got to fuck Luna Lovegood and I gained my own city to rule over on the same night? No mere man should ever have this kind of luck.
I couldn't think straight about what was being offered to me by the Celestial Reliquary as I could hear the girls laughing in the bathroom and I badly wanted to go see if they wouldn't mind me watching them bathe.
Since I could not decide yet I decided not to fill out the scroll. If for some reason the Celestial Reliquary took that as a rejection of the roll I didn't even care if it refunded my points or not.
This just wasn't something I could decide without giving it some thought. I would need to sleep on and make a list of the Elder Scrolls cities I knew before deciding which one would be of the most use to me.
That would wait until tomorrow. Tonight I wanted to pay attention to the two lovely witches who were currently all naked and wet.
Part 24.
St Jerome's Graveyard. Godric's Hollow.
As soon as they entered the graveyard where Darius had told her she could find her parents' final resting place Heather couldn't help scanning every single stone as she looked for her family name, and to her surprise she found the name in quite a few places. More than one generation of Potters had been laid to rest here.
Heather had politely refused Luna's offer to join them on this trip as while the blonde-haired girl always meant well she wasn't the best a picking up the little hints people give when it wasn't time to make comments. She felt sure Luna would have said something to make Heather feel a bit awkward as part of an effort to lift her spirits.
The punk girl couldn't help thinking of some of the things she'd gotten up to just last night and those weren't the sort of things you wanted to be thinking about when visiting the graves of your parents. Heather had never imagined she'd be willing to try such things and she'd had no idea she would enjoy them.
More than this the young witch felt like this was something best not done with an audience, yet at the same time she had not wanted to come here alone. She was too nervous to travel as a group and a bit too spooked not to have someone with her. It was a very strange feeling.
At least Darius knew when to keep his mouth shut and could be trusted not to make any well-meaning comments at the wrong time. He was certainly not the most sociable of people, many Ravenclaws weren't, however, he was much more skilled at reading people than Luna.
"None of these belongs to my Mum and Dad" she commented.
These were the graves of many former residents of the village, both Muggles and Wizardkind if Heather was any judge, including members of such prominent families as the Peverells, the Potters, and the Dumbledores.
"Ignotus Peverell" Darius read out.
She wondered what his interest in the man was so she asked.
"He's supposed to be an ancestor of yours and one of the three brothers in the tale of the Deathly Hallows" said her sort of boyfriend "I'll tell you about it later. This isn't the time or the place for bedtime stories".
Heather could think of much better things to do than hearing stories when she was in bed with the young wizard and the idea of that made her feel warm despite it being a chilly afternoon here in Godric's Hollow. She swore that she never used to be so dirty-minded, he and Luna must have corrupted her somehow, or rather she'd let herself be corrupted.
Heather focused on the here and now, as she had graves to find.
"Darius, have you ever heard of an Ariana Dumbledore?" questioned Heather.
As it turned out he had.
"She's the sister of Albus and Aberforth Dumbledore" he answered.
Of course, she knew of Albus Dumbledore, who in the magical world hadn't, but she'd never heard of an Aberforth Dumbledore so she decided to ask about him.
"He runs the Hogshead in Hogsmeade," he told her.
She'd never been in there. It was supposed to be something of a dingy place from what she heard.
"The two brothers had a falling out over her death," Darius said.
If he knew more about that he didn't share it and Heather didn't wish to inquire as it wasn't her business. Besides, she'd come here to learn more about her family, not that of the Headmaster.
"I found them" she whispered.
The graves of her parents were next to someone called Sirius Black, who had no relatives buried here as far as Heather could see, he must have been close to her parents, but she couldn't recall if anyone had ever mentioned him to her. Perhaps the loss was just too painful to go into detail about.
She didn't dwell on that for long despite her curiosity because her eyes soon became transfixed on the final resting place of her parents. It was made from white marble, the headstone had been engraved with Lily and James' dates of birth and death, and there was a message inscribed upon the stone.
"The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death."
"What does that mean?" Heather wondered.
Darius nearly always had an answer. His intelligence was one of the things that she admired about the wizard.
"All I can tell you is that it's a bible quote," he said.
Heather had little experience with any matters of faith her relatives had been part of the Church of England if anyone ever asked, despite they were not religious at all since they only went to Church if someone was getting married, there was a funeral or someone's baby was getting Christened. Heather had never been taken to any of those events.
While she was in thought about matters of faith and death, Darius attempted to use a spell called Orchideous to conjure up some flowers, only it didn't go so well since conjuration was advanced magic. He might be doing a lot better in class than her but he was no Merlin.
She was grateful for the effort even if it just resulted in a few little flowers and for the arm, he placed around her as she stared down at where her parents had been buried. He didn't speak for a while and she was grateful for that as there was nothing she wanted to hear.
"Someone's coming" he whispered.
She turned to see an old woman who Heather thought to be an elderly Muggle at first until the woman took out a wand and successfully performed the spell Darius had been trying to cast.
"Did you know the Potters?" she asked.
Heather didn't look at the woman much as she was still staring at the grave.
"Not well," Darius answered for the two of them, "We just came here to pay our respects".
The old woman smiled slightly.
"I knew Lily Potter, she was a bright young witch," said the elderly "Lily was a great loss for our little community and little Heather".
She couldn't help looking at the woman then. Wondering if this witch somehow knew her.
"Bless my soul, it's you" said the old woman "Goodness me I haven't seen you since you were a baby, but I've never forgotten those eyes".
Heather couldn't help smiling.
"I know I have my mother's eyes," she said.
The woman smiled upon hearing that.
"You know that last time I saw you'd just started walking and you were terrorising that poor cat" informed the woman.
She stopped then.
"Where are my manners" she suddenly said "I'm Bathilda Bagshot".
The name meant something to her and she only had to look at Darius who picked up on the fact that she wanted to know more.
"Heather this is Professor Bathilda Bagshot, famed magical historian and the author of A History of Magic, which was on our reading list for school".
No one took History of Magic at the college but there had been a book on the list for the subject meant for self-study and to help her to become familiar with the Wizarding World. Heather felt fairly certain she'd only skimmed a little of it before coming to the college.
"And ten other books that even I can't remember all the titles of," said Mrs Bagshot "Lily Potter and I had many talks about history, the Potters are just one of the magical families with a history stretching back far into the past of this village".
Heather felt her level of curiosity increase even further. Plenty of people had stuff to say about her parents, but they went into much detail. Now she knew that her mother had enjoyed discussing history.
"Would the two of you care a cup of tea?" wondered Bagshot "Lily used to invite me over for tea quite often. I'd like to have her daughter over".
Heather wasn't going to refuse the offer to learn about what her life had been like in Godric's Hollow or more about her mother. So soon they were moving through the small village.
Spoiler
Once they had entered her home, she and Darius took a seat at the old witch's kitchen table as she insisted on making tea for them without any aid. As she worked Professor Bagshot chatted about one of the teatimes she'd had with her mother.
"It wasn't much of a birthday party I'm sorry to say because by then you'd gone into hiding as had the Longbottoms," the professor said as she served some biscuits from a plate "I remember it well, Sirius Black got you a little toy broomstick, and James thought you were a natural-born Quidditch player. Do you either of you play?".
Heather shook her head.
"They don't yet first years try out for the team," she said.
Perhaps she should try out for the team if it would have meant so much to her father.
"I've never been a fan of heights," said Darius.
Before the subject could be changed Heather asked a question.
"Professor, you mentioned the McKinnons is that the family of Marlene McKinnon?" she wondered.
Mrs Bagshot sat down and looked as if she'd suddenly been burned with a great weight.
"Yes, your godmother, Marlene McKinnon, I was there when you were Christened over at St Jerome's Church right here in the Hollow," said the witch "Witches and wizards don't normally do such things but your mother wanted to do things her way. You needed a godparent, and James wanted Sirus if you were a boy, but you were born a girl as I'm sure you've noticed so you had Marlene as a godparent. Then the Death Eaters killed the entire family because they refused to bend their knees to You-Know-Who".
Nothing was said for a while and the two women sat in silence. Meanwhile, Darius admired some of the photos, many of which didn't move so they were either Muggle-made or they'd never had whatever spell it was that animated pictures placed upon them. Given the ages of some of the pictures, the magic may have worn off. Heather didn't know if such things could happen.
"That is my great-nephew Gellert and the other is Albus Dumbledore when they were both seventeen" her sort of boyfriend was informed, "As brothers, they were, until they had a falling out".
Despite having seen the grave it was only sinking in now that the Headmaster had once lived in this very village. She'd always got the impression that the Headmaster lived at the school like the other teachers all year round, or did they have homes somewhere?
"Gellert Grindlewald?" he asked.
That was a name Heather had read about. He was the Dark Lord mentioned on Dumbledore's chocolate frog card.
"He wasn't always a Dark Lord," the old witch said in an almost panicking tone of voice "Please don't judge me for the family connection".
Heather didn't know what to say so it was good that Darius did.
"There's no need to worry, Madam, it's not like you supported him when he was trying to take over and you couldn't have known what he would do" Darius assured the old witch "I already knew you were related. I looked into Grindelwald and I know that he spent a summer here a very long time ago".
No doubt he'd read all of History of Magic. Heather had been discouraged from excelling at her schooling and had always preferred the kind of books that had stories you could escape into when she'd been living with her relatives.
"He was looking into the Hallows when he met Dumbledore" their hostess shared "The Deathly Hallows that is. Not that I believe in them, but Gellert loved the stories".
Heather couldn't help wondering if Voldemort had never been just some boy like Grindelwald or if he had been born evil. She suspected the latter.
"I hear they didn't part ways as friends," said Darius.
Bagshot poured the tea before carrying on with the conversation.
"No one ever believes me when I tell them it was Albus who set Gellert on his path," said the old witch with a great deal of sadness in her voice "I know that he was looking into things best let alone before he was expelled from school, Drumstrang that is, not Hogwarts, but it wasn't until he met Albus that he got it into his head to try to rule the world. Silly boy".
Could the Headmaster have once been a bad guy? Heather found it hard to believe, but it wasn't as if she'd ever even spoken to Albus Dumbledore.
"Truth be told I've never really trusted Dumbledore" informed the magical historian "Most people think I'm batty for doing so, but I've read the letters he exchanged with Gellert. So many of the ideas Gellert got into his head came from Dumbledore. He talked about conquering the muggles for their own good".
Heather was shocked to hear this as everyone always spoke respectfully about the Headmater even when they thought he was crazy. Bagshot might be crazy but she didn't seem insane.
"I don't either" admitted Darius "He wears too many hats".
The old witch looked confused for a moment.
"It's a Muggle expression, it means he's trying to fill more roles at once than is realistically possible. He holds three positions that should be held by three different people. How can he be a good Headmaster at Hogwarts if he's running part of the government and heading up the ICW?".
Bagshot looked as if she agreed.
"Exactly and he got all that because he locked up Gellert," stated Bagshot "I know that Gellert should be punished for what he did, but I will never believe that he would have gone so far without Albus giving him all those ideas".
The witch seemed more animated now.
"I'd show the letters, but I packed them up for when I move," said the Professor.
Since she was feeling rather uncomfortable about where this conversation had gone Heather decided to change the subject.
"So you're moving" she said "Can I ask why?".
Bagshot sipped her cooling tea before replying.
"I can't manage the stairs anymore and it's getting too hard to keep the house in any sort of order," she said "I'm moving into a smaller place closer to some family of mine".
Darius caught on to what this meant.
"I was told about a house for sale here," he told their hostess "I'm interested in buying. I came into an inheritance and I've been saving up to purchase a house. Lucky for me property prices are low in the magical world".
Bagshot seemed pleased by this.
"I hope you both stay here," she said, "It seems right to have a Potter in the Hollow".
Something crossed Heather's mind.
"What happened to the place my parents lived in?" she asked "Was it destroyed".
Bagshot seemed a little surprised to be asked this.
"Oh no it's just down the road." she said "I'll show it too after your tea. I think the Ministry took possession of the place when you became a ward of the state or something like that. I did ask about you, but we're not related so the Ministry wouldn't tell me anything".
Heather had always wondered why no one who knew her parents had ever asked about her, and she'd even dreamed of some unknown relative coming to take her away from her aunt, who had refused to discuss her family. Now it seemed as if someone had cared enough to try to find out.
"There was some talk about setting a memorial after the fighting stopped" mentioned their hostess "But that fell through and I suppose the Ministry still own the house".
Darius sighed, and Heather got the impression that he was about to have to do something unpleasant.
"I guess we need to visit the Ministry soon" he complained.
It couldn't be as bad as his tone of voice suggested. Could it?
Part 25
Ministry of Magic. Whitehall.
"That's how you enter the Ministry of Magic?" Heather Potter asked.
She was looking at the red telephone box and no doubt feeling as unimpressed as I felt by the sight before us.
"Worst fictional phonebox ever" I muttered.
It was certainly no TARDIS or even that payphone Bill and Ted use in their adventures.
Spoiler
"Yes, you go in, type out magic on the keypad, then it takes you down into the Ministry of Magic, and never will ever find a greater hive of scum and villainy" I warned.
Heather gave me a confused look upon hearing that last part.
"Are you quoting someone?" she asked.
Indeed I had been.
"Remind me to make you sit through Star Wars: A New Hope and maybe the others," I requested "You will understand so much more about aspects of my personality if you ever watch the Star Wars movies".
I'd heard that wand magic and technology don't mix well but since the Ministry of Magic was right here in London and it wasn't screwing with all the technology here, I figured that this was a load of rubbish.
It might even be something unique to Hogwarts which was much older than the Ministry and the magic involved in the creation of the college had been the work of the celebrated Founders, and as such, could be quite different from what was being used to keep the Ministry running.
Heather and I squeezed into the phone box, making me glad that she was such a skinny little thing despite having filled out a bit during her time at Hogwarts. I dialled, the number and a voice asked me who I was as well as for my purpose here.
"Darius Olle and Heather Potter, we are here about a housing issue," I said.
Two badges were spat out of the phone. Mine read Darius Olle - Homeless Vagabond as did Heather's just with her name in place of mine.
"Well they aren't wrong," I muttered.
Heather frowned.
"I'm only homeless because they stole my house" she complained.
She was cute when she got all huffy, but there was little time for me to think about such things as the phone booth took us underground. Soon we arrived in the Atrium, which was a large area that served as the primary point of entry and exit for those who worked there or were just visiting.
Spoiler
I saw the statue of Magical Brethren which showed a witch and wizard being stared up by a group of magical beings as if the non-humans were in awe of the wand wavers. Aside from the House Elf none of the magical beings would look at a witch or a wizard that way. Given the way they were treated who could blame them?
Here in the Atrium of the British Ministry of Magic, there was a security desk that was manned by a bored-looking wizard. At this desk sat the Wand Weigher, a device that examined the characteristics of a visitor's wand, as we discovered. All visitors had to present themselves and their wands at this desk upon entry to the Ministry for some reason.
Heather and I handed over our wands so they would be weighed and then we were given a piece of paper which told us our wands had been weighed. I wondered what the point of all of that was. I decided not to ask as Heather was already on the move.
Despite how dull of this was I felt a little nervous. I was not a part of this world and I knew that governments don't like it when things that weren't their control were allowed to move about freely. Granted the staff at the college hadn't noticed how odd I was, but I couldn't be sure I was protected from the government types.
They had an entire department here dedicated to solving magical mysteries or at the very least containing them and now I was in the same building as them.
"There doesn't seem to be any department that deals with inheritance, housing or anything like social services who might know something about orphans are supposed to find out if their parents have a will" I pointed out.
How could they have a department for dealing with Household pests but not one to help people who had issues with claiming their homes? I was so glad I'd be able to find a wizarding estate agent.
"I think we should go here?" said Heather.
She was pointing at something on a display.
"Level 2 - Department of Magical Law Enforcement" I read out "Why them?".
Heather pointed at one of the subdivisions.
"Administrative Registration Department" I said, "Responsible for the registration of the wizarding population".
It didn't take long for it to make sense to me.
"If anyone has anything like a copy of a birth certificate for you then it would be them" I mused "And you might need to prove who you are to claim the property".
Even if they didn't they might know someone who did.
"Oh, I was thinking that they would have a record of deaths so some idea of what is done with people's stuff when they die," said Heather "You know likes wills. They might even keep copies".
It made about as much sense as everything else around. Good lord, I hated dealing with the government as nothing is ever simple and it always takes up too much time due to needless regulations.
"If there was a big fight maybe they seized the house because it was a crime scene" mused Heather "So that would be law enforcement too".
I agreed with her.
"Give the witch her due she thought this through" I teased "Are you sure you weren't put in the wrong house at school?".
She jabbed me with her elbow before we headed for the lift that would take us down to Level 2, as it was all in reverse with one being as far from the ground floor as you get. We ended up crammed into a lift. We were greeted by a red-headed man whom I knew at once as he looked exactly as he did in the movies just with less hair.
"Aren't you two rather young to be working at the Ministry?" he asked.
As if the visitor's badges didn't give us away and I didn't help with his identity.
"Heather this is Ginny's father, Mr Arthur Weasley, Head of the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Department. Which is part of Magical Enforcement" I introduced "Mr Weasley this is Heather Potter and I am Darius Olle, we are trying to find out who has ownership of the Potter home in Godric's Hollow".
The man's eyes lit up with recognition.
"Oh your Ginny's friends," he said "She wrote home about you two. She's been playing matchmaker for her friends as I understand it and decided you two would make a nice couple. My wife can be like that too".
I'd suspected that Ginny would be doing something to keep other girls from getting close to Neville Longbottom. I vaguely recalled that Molly Weasley had tried to get one of her sons and Tonks together only she had her heart set on Remus Lupin.
"While I didn't know the Potters myself, I do know that anything to do with Death Eaters is handled by the Aurors, so you might want to talk to them about what happened in Godric's Hollow" Mr Weasley advised.
I knew that the Auror Office was tasked with investigating crimes related to the practice of the Dark Arts, and with the capture of Dark wizards. Less important criminal matters were handled by more regular law enforcement.
"Follow me you too and I'll take you to someone I know can help?" he offered.
A helpful government employee in the Ministry of Magic? Will wonders never cease?
"Thank you, Mr Weasley," said Heather.
We found ourselves in an open cubicle, by the looks of it each Auror was assigned a space to work in. The cubicles were decorated with pictures of known Dark wizards, maps, clippings from the Daily Prophet, and other odds and ends. There were even a few posters offering rewards for the capture of certain people like this was the Wild West rather than London.
"Mr Olle, Miss Potter this is Kingsley Shacklebolt" introduced Mr Weasley "I know him to be a fine auror he'll be able to help you".
"Shacklebolt these are Darius Olle and Heather Potter," he told the auror "They need to talk to someone about what happened to the Potter's house in Godric's Hallow after Halloween in 1981".
No one needed to ask about the importance
"Please sit down" invited the wizard.
We did so and the Auror got straight to the heart of the matter.
"First of all Miss Potter are you fine with me sharing the details of this cause with Mr Olle?" he asked.
She assured the man that she was.
"On Halloween of 1981, You-Know-Who was vanquished by Neville Longbottom, and around that time Godric's Hollow was attacked by Barty Crouch Junior, Rodolphus Lestrange, Rabastan Lestrange, Bellatrix Lestrange née Black and Peter Pettigrew, who were had thought was on our side".
I had wondered what happened to Wormtail during that time, but information was hard to come by and I didn't want to be seen prying into the events. Plus, with everything else going on in my life, it hadn't seemed that important.
"Your parents along with Sirius Black were killed in Godric's Hollow during the attack. An attack we don't know the full reasoning behind" said Shacklebolt "We were able to capture the Death Eaters who survived the attack, aside from Pettigrew as those not killed were badly injured".
Heather was holding up remarkably well given all she must be feeling right now. I was left wondering where Pettigrew went because I was sure he wasn't at Hogwarts.
"You were made a ward of the state and the house was part of investigations at the time, but the actual investigation never took place since the surviving Death Eaters confessed to their crimes" we were told "So far as I know the house is still in the care of the Ministry. I should be able to get the house returned to you once the paperwork is processed".
This seemed a little too simple.
"What about a will do my parents have one?" Heather asked, "Did my parents have a solicitor?"
The Auror shrugged.
"Here in the Wizarding World we don't have solicitors" we were told.
That was clear by the fact that the Headmaster of Hogwarts hadn't been buried in lawsuits.
"The executor of the will has the responsibility of ensuring the will is carried out. It is even possible that your parents kept separate wills," said the Auror "Any gold and other valuables will be held in trust by Gringotts, you likely only have access to a trust vault until the end of your schooling".
At least she had her money.
"I only found out about that over the summer" mentioned Heather "I've been living in the muggle world".
The Auror nodded as if this made sense and I imagined that Heather wasn't the only magical child to be sent to the Muggle world due to Voldemort.
"Since you rejoined the magical world has any property of your parents been given to you by anyone?" Shacklebolt asked.
Heather perked up after hearing that.
"Yes a special cloak of my fathers was given to me over the summer" she informed the Auror"It's very valuable, but the card that came with it wasn't signed, it just said that the cloak had been borrowed".
Kingsley Shacklebolt considered this.
"That person might not have been the executor and if you've been in the muggle world for a while then the executor might not have known how to find you" the Auror offered "I suggest questioning any friends of your parents to see if they know".
I could think of a few people. Remus Lupin, or some other member of the Order of the Phoenix.
"The Ministry only gets involved with these matters if they suspect someone might be trying to transfer dark artefacts to someone so we won't have a record of who the executor is. Property is normally passed down in families".
Who would have thought the Ministry wouldn't stick its nose into everyone's business in matters of inheritance like everything else?
"Give me a few moments I need the file for the Potters so I can start on getting your house cleared from investigation" said the Auror.
As soon as he was gone the Celestial Reliquary appeared and I couldn't imagine a worse place for it to appear. I knew had to deal with it as quickly as possible in case anyone noticed it.
"Couldn't you have waited until we got back to Luna's?" I questioned.
Since there was no reply I just got in with it.
600 points
+400 points
1000 points
Wait why do I get four hundred points this time? Had I missed something? No matter it was time to roll.
-200 points
800 points
Minor Magical Supply World - N/A
This item gives you access to a magical world. One that has developed sapients, albeit stuck in the middle ages, and thus you will have to compete for resources, even if the plane itself is infinite in size. A magical gateway to a suitable world or plane will appear in your home or pocket dimension, giving you access to this dimension.
I hadn't even started to deal with my last role beyond choosing what I wanted, and now I had a gateway to some magical world to look into. What happened to the days when all I had to worry about was getting a sword I didn't know how to use and books with dangerous magical knowledge?
Yeah, that one was going in a pocket dimension as I had no home and if it popped up at Luna's place or the castle then it would not remain secret for long. Knowing Luna as I did she'd end up in Narina or wherever before we could make it back to The Rookery.
I wrote down the instructions and found a key in the box that could stay in there for now while I wrestled the case into my expanded pouch. We managed to do so just before Shacklebot returned.
"Miss Potter, once I've started the process of having your home returned to you, it should take about three months to sort out the paperwork" she was told "Do you have somewhere to stay in the meantime?".
Lucky for her she did.
"I'm staying with a friend for the holidays and I'll be at Hogwarts until July" she explained.
That seemed to be it then. Someone in the government knew how to do their job even if wasn't their job, and the sooner we were out of here the better in my view. Alas, we couldn't leave until Heather had filled out her share of the paperwork.