Standing on a street in London, Allen sighed deeply, full of mixed emotions. Beside him stood Annie, dressed in her wizarding robes.
During the celebrations, Annie had been staying in the staff lounge, but that was never meant to be a long-term solution. Just yesterday, Professor McGonagall had told him that, barring any issues, Annie would be officially accepted into Hogwarts the following year, a special arrangement she had secured from Dumbledore on Allen's behalf.
That alone was already a major reward for Allen's outstanding performance. Now came the real issue, what was Annie supposed to do until she was officially enrolled?
That question led Allen to reflect on something he used to wonder about back in his old life: why did anime protagonists always have a little sister, a house, and conveniently dead parents? Because let's face it, without a home, how are you supposed to raise a little sister?
Fortunately, even though Allen was from an orphanage, he had a good relationship with the director. Through those connections, he was able to sort out both Annie's lack of documentation and find a temporary place for her to stay.
Temporary being the key word, Allen felt guilty letting Annie use the orphanage's limited resources. It wasn't a place with much to spare.
Truthfully, if it weren't for the existence of his system, Allen had long been planning to secretly donate the money he earned through various means back to the orphanage. In fact, before he received his Hogwarts acceptance letter, Allen's goal was to save up enough to open a small shop, something that could support kids who had aged out of the orphanage, while giving him the freedom to sneak out at night and chase his dreams of being a hero.
Would've been perfect.
But the system changed everything.
Now that Voldemort's return was neither far nor near, Allen couldn't afford to take his foot off the gas. Until he had enough power stored up, he couldn't slow down, not even a little. Sure, he knew of faster ways to make money now, but he didn't dare use them.
Right now, he was already teetering on the edge of a moral grey area. One more step, and he wasn't sure he could trust himself not to be consumed by greed. And Allen had no intention of becoming the next Voldemort just to beat the current one.
Shaking his head, Allen forced those dangerous thoughts out of his mind. What am I even thinking about? Right now, the priority was getting Annie settled, and that would take money. He needed to cover her living expenses and leave her a bit of spending money too.
After all, he couldn't let her go broke all the time. Otherwise, what kind of "big brother" would he be?
That's when Allen came to a startling realization: on the surface, summoning Annie didn't cost him anything, but in reality? He might end up spending way more than he ever expected.
It was a trap. A total setup!
Still, looking at Annie's pouty face, Allen couldn't help but sigh. He split the cash in his pocket and handed half of it to her.
"Allen! Why can't I stay at that school with you?" Annie asked curiously as she accepted the money.
"Be good, Annie. I'll be back next summer, and then next year, we can go to Hogwarts together," Allen said, gently patting her head.
••┈┈┈┈┈༓┈┈┈┈┈•••
The conversation with the orphanage director went smoothly, especially after Allen promised to personally cover all of Annie's expenses. She was soon placed in a room right next to Allen's. Room shortages were rare in the orphanage, since kids were constantly being taken in and adopted.
With some persuasion, the director convinced Allen to stay the night and join the other kids for dinner. During the meal, he introduced Annie to everyone. Ruby thumped her chest and loudly promised Allen that she'd make sure no one bullied Annie.
Allen could only laugh at that. Ruby, you still don't know what "strength" really means.
But even as he smiled, Allen couldn't ignore a strange, subtle sense of distance that had crept in.
It was the same gap he had tried so hard to avoid before, back when he did everything he could to see himself as just another ordinary person, trying to protect that warm sense of family.
Yet even though his time at Hogwarts had been short, it had left a deep impression on him. There, his system wasn't just some mysterious power, it was pure magical talent. He could discuss spells and supernatural forces with others, cast magic beyond most people's imagination.
That life was intoxicating.
Allen had become fully immersed in the wizarding world, and naturally began to drift away from the Muggle one. Not because he wanted to, but because they no longer shared common ground.
But then came Ruby's cheerful "Boss Allen!" and the other kids' silly jokes. That was enough to pull him out of that creeping isolation.
Allen laughed and threw himself into the conversation with new energy. Forget Muggle or wizard, for now, I'm just Allen. And that's enough. If I'm happy, then who cares?
••┈┈┈┈┈༓┈┈┈┈┈•••
Later That Night – Allen's Room
Allen quietly climbed out of bed.
It had been a while since his last "hunt," and with a rare night off, he decided to stretch his legs and roam around the city.
He didn't even bring his wand.
Young wizards were strictly forbidden from using magic outside of school. At the start of term, a trace had been placed on every student's wand. Unlike Harry, Allen wasn't lucky enough to repeatedly escape punishment, so he wasn't about to take chances.
He didn't even plan to use magic tonight. Being a registered wizard meant any use of spells could easily be traced back to him. Before starting school, even Harry smashing a glass didn't cause trouble, but one little levitation spell from Dobby during summer break nearly got him expelled.
Tonight, though, Allen got lucky.
And by "lucky," we mean he ran into a group of high school punks with dyed hair.
"Well, what do we have here? A little brat wandering around alone in the middle of the night?" the leader sneered. Despite it being January in London, he wore nothing but a leather jacket covered in chains, not exactly concerned about catching a cold.
"Hey kid, my bros and I are kinda strapped for cash. How about a little donation, huh?"
Allen chuckled. Well, isn't that convenient? Because he was just about to say the same thing.
As the punk reached out to pat Allen down, assuming he'd be a passive pushover like most of their victims, Allen swiftly grabbed his wrist.
Before the guy even realized what was happening, Allen twisted his fingers into an arc, and down the punk went, collapsing to his knees with a howl of pain.
"Get him! Hit him, AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"
His order turned into a wail as Allen applied just the tiniest bit more pressure.
Still, the rest of the gang got the message and charged forward.
Five minutes later, Allen strolled away with a calm smile, and a disappointingly flat wallet.
"Damn... broke losers."
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