London.
On a bustling city street, Allen sat reading the notebook given to him by the so-called "useless" wizard. Next to him on the bench sat Annie, clearly impatient, resting her face in one hand and fidgeting with Tibbers in the other.
At first, Allen had only picked up the notebook because his system had reacted faintly to it. He'd planned to skim it as light reading while waiting for Valor's reconnaissance report. But the more he read over the past few days, the more amazed he became at the author's talent for potion-making.
The wizard who had been written off as a failure seemed to have a natural gift in the field, perhaps even comparable to Snape's. Many of the potion formulas in the front pages had been subtly but cleverly altered in ways that reflected his own understanding and insight.
Still, that wasn't the most important discovery.
As Allen read on and grew familiar with the formulas, he came across a potion that was both brand-new and intimately familiar: the Wolfsbane Potion.
The notes describing the invention process were scrawled across pages filled with margin scribbles, almost every empty space was filled with the wizard's heartfelt thoughts about a certain werewolf girl named Nelly. If Allen hadn't been genuinely interested in the development process behind the potion, he would've felt suffocated by all the dogged romantic devotion.
In the original timeline, the Wolfsbane Potion played a vital role in the plot. Without it, Professor Lupin likely wouldn't have been able to maintain a stable job due to his condition.
But something didn't add up. If Allen remembered correctly, the potion's inventor was supposed to be the uncle of a Hogwarts student, not this wizard.
Wait, if Allen hadn't intervened at the werewolf camp back then, that entire tribe would have been wiped out. And naturally, that wizard would've died along with them… Meaning this notebook would've ended up lost or destroyed.
That explained why the system had reacted to it.
A sudden shove snapped Allen out of his thoughts. In front of him stood Annie, her face contorted in pain and frustration.
"Big Brother! My tooth really hurts!"
"I know," Allen said calmly, "That's why I brought you to see the dentist."
Yes, they were currently inside a dental clinic.
Fortunately, when the doctor heard the patient was a little girl, he kindly agreed to treat them that very evening, even offering to let his own daughter keep Annie company during the visit. Without that offer, Allen would've had to wait until Monday for an appointment, if no one else had booked ahead of them.
As for why Annie needed a dentist… Well, that was Allen's fault too.
When they first arrived in London, Allen had tried to calm Annie's complaints about not being allowed to explore the city with a giant pile of candy. His plan worked a little too well. Not only did the sweets placate her, but his favoritism meant she got more than the others combined.
Unfortunately, a girl may have a second stomach for desserts, but she only has one set of teeth.
After annihilating her haul in one sitting, Annie had more than done justice to the fate of those candies. Her punishment? A full-blown toothache.
While Allen was formidable in battle, easily at the level of a full-fledged wizard, he was completely hopeless when it came to domestic spells. More importantly, he had no relevant books to study from. So he had no choice but to turn to a Muggle dentist.
At the very least, Allen considered it a fitting punishment for the little brat. As he watched Annie's teary-eyed expression, he thought to himself, Serves her right for ignoring my warnings and devouring all that sugar in one night.
The dentist turned out to be a friendly man with brown hair. Upon realizing that only two children had shown up, he immediately launched into a tirade, blaming the children's parents for letting them eat too much sugar and for irresponsibly sending them alone.
"Oh, sir, I think there's been a misunderstanding," Allen cut in. "We're from an orphanage. This is my little sister."
The dentist froze mid-rant, his expression softening as he looked at the two siblings.
"Oh… I see. I apologize, kids. Please, have a seat in the side room over there."
He motioned to a cozy room at the back.
"Kathleen, could you come look after our young guests?" he called to his wife, a gentle-looking woman who soon appeared with a warm smile.
After a few whispered words between the couple, the woman's gaze grew even more tender. She guided Allen into their private lounge, the one they usually used for their own breaks.
There, Allen was served a plate of sugar-free cookies and a steaming cup of black tea.
But he found it hard to enjoy either.
Not because the food was bad, it was just that the woman was far too… enthusiastic.
It wasn't just the overwhelming warmth of her hospitality, Allen wasn't used to this kind of doting, almost motherly small talk. He hadn't experienced anything like it in years. Despite doing his best to act like a sweet, well-mannered child, he still couldn't properly answer all her questions about school life and summer holidays.
What was he supposed to say?
"Dear madam, I spend most of my days brawling with classmates, occasionally riding a flying broomstick, and transfiguring beetles into buttons?"
Or maybe: "Our Professors are pretty decent, except for the ghost teacher whose lectures are better than sleeping pills"?
Or: "Oh, I didn't do much over the break… just killed a few dozen vampires"?
••┈┈┈┈┈༓┈┈┈┈┈•••
Yeah, no.
So Allen improvised. He drew on his memories of schooling back in his old world, mixed in a few details he'd overheard from kids at the orphanage, and managed to cobble together a perfectly ordinary tale that avoided straying into the magical or bizarre.
Finally, just as he was running out of fake stories to tell, salvation arrived in the form of a shout from the dentist. His wife excused herself and hurried off, leaving Allen to breathe a silent sigh of relief.
He wiped at the imaginary sweat on his brow. That was somehow more exhausting than fighting a pack of vampires…
At that moment, a messy-haired little girl ran out of the back room, clutching a large book that looked almost bigger than she was. Shouting for her mother, she pointed frantically at the open pages, clearly stuck on something she couldn't solve.
Then she noticed Allen.
Without a shred of shyness, the girl marched right up to him, plopped the book on his lap, and asked:
"Hey, do you know how to solve this problem?"
Allen suddenly felt like he was the real patient here. Wait, isn't the one with the toothache supposed to be Annie? Why does it feel like I'm the one getting interrogated now? First came the life interview, now a pop quiz?
Still, the problem was right there in front of him. He couldn't very well act cool and just say he didn't know.
But the second he looked, he regretted it.
The question this girl was stuck on didn't just exceed her age level, it was practically college tier. If Allen hadn't gone through a grueling academic regime in his previous life, he might've been completely stumped and embarrassed.
Thirty minutes later, when the dentist's wife returned to the lounge, she found Allen patiently explaining the solution to a highly focused little girl.
"Hermione Granger! Don't you dare pester our guests with your endless questions!"
••┈┈┈┈┈༓┈┈┈┈┈•••
A/N: Hermione Granger in the house….
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