The school year this time ended without many problems for all the students, as Auden had already dealt with the Horcrux and Basilisk issues. The only complaint the students would have is the fact that the exams were not cancelled, unlike in canon. But thankfully, only Auden knew canon.
As he exited the train, he could see the result of his nationwide kidnapping of the elves. While most Muggle-born and half-blood parents of the wizards were all right, the purebloods seemed to lack the shine they usually had.
Even though there are spells that can clean clothes, they do not come close to how they look when cleaned by house-elves. The already depressive-looking purebloods, with their black robes, seemed even darker. But instead of the usual darkness of power and mysteriousness, they now seemed to emit a sort of fatigue and indiscipline. Most of them seemed to be in a hurry as well.
Auden used his hearing to find out the reason, and he almost laughed out loud.
The purebloods who had had problems due to the lack of house-elves were planning on asking their children about the house-elf situation at Hogwarts and whether it was possible for them to employ one of the elves under their control. Their last hope was in getting the house-elves under Hogwarts Castle, and they had never expected failure in this endeavor.
They were so used to the elves they had domesticated for centuries—the ones who never spoke back, even when given orders to kill themselves. They had no idea about the house-elves living in Hogwarts and how they react when a human tries to impose on them, especially now that Helga's spirit had returned to Hogwarts.
He just sighed and shook his head while saying goodbye to his friends.
Luna, surprisingly, invited him to visit her home during the summer break, and Auden accepted the invitation. He had been running around last year, planning and studying all the time. Plus, he had to go to a meeting right after coming home, and then he had to do even more work as time passed.
So taking a break at Luna's home seemed like a good idea.
As he waited, he saw Amelia Bones standing in a corner, greeting Susan Bones, her niece. Her entire family, except for the two of them, had passed away. She then turned toward him and signalled him to follow her.
Auden began walking after her, ignoring the people around him. He had a bit of a reputation as one of the smartest Ravenclaws in the first year, but anyone noticing that would appear only after at least the summer vacation. They already had a lot of problems; another first-year prodigy would not attract their attention.
After they reached a little distance, Amelia turned around. Susan was surprised, as her aunt had not mentioned meeting anyone beforehand. She was even more surprised to see the famous Ravenclaw genius coming right behind them.
"Please hold onto my wrist, Mr. Auden. We will have our discussions back at the Bones Manor," Amelia said as she took her wand out. Her hand was already holding Susan Bones, while Auden put his palm on her wrist.
The next moment, Auden felt the entire world darken and twist around. He had already shut down his hearing using a spell so that he would not get motion sickness due to his higher-level cognitive hearing. The first time he had heard the students clap their hands in the hall, he had searched the library for a spell he could use with chantless and wandless casting.
The moment he reached the manor, he deactivated his spell and brought his hearing back to normal.
"Susan, why don't you go freshen up? Mr. H and I will have a meeting during that time," Amelia kindly told her niece.
Susan had no idea what was happening, but she still listened to her aunt and went away. At the same time, she became curious about the relationship between her aunt and Auden.
In Amelia Bones's Home Office
"The plans are well underway; the industry is being run by people I trust. Plus, I made them sign contracts to ensure that the technology does not fall into the hands of others.
Plus, with my people in the patent office, I was able to get a patent in secret without anyone knowing about the technology.
Even I was surprised that no one patented the technology. Just like you said, they never even think about connecting the Muggle and magical communities," Amelia explained, recounting everything she had done with what Auden had given her the last time they met.
Auden read through the files while activating his system. His system filtered out all unnecessary words and presented the main points.
"Does the patent extend to other countries? If not, you need to get information about them and make sure that they don't start it either. If they mass-produce it there, all the plans we made to make Britain the forefront of this connection will fail," Auden said, to which Amelia nodded thoughtfully.
"I will contact my connections to get that done," Amelia immediately made plans while taking out another document.
"This is about your share of the profits in the business," Amelia said as she pushed the document toward him.
Auden was surprised.
"Why? I told you I don't want to be a part of it, right? I'd rather not do anything that puts me in the spotlight," Auden said, to which Amelia smiled.
"You know, when you speak like that, I am reminded that you are a kid who is not even a year old." Then her grin turned into a sigh. "That makes me glad because the rest of the time, the plans you make make you look like a megalomaniac planning to turn the world upside down."
Auden slightly frowned at that comment.
'Megalomaniac?' he wondered and marked it in his system to look at later.
"I'm going to tell you why you need this, Auden."
A/N — Hope you like it.