[Albus Dumbledore]
Arriving in my office with the help of my now fully healed companion—Fawkes—I sank into my chair and finally allowed myself a long, weary breath.
Today's meetings had been profoundly taxing, but I believed I had handled everything I set out to do rather beautifully.
I had cowed the global powers by showing them a fraction of my strength, making them more cautious and less prone to reckless scheming for the foreseeable future.
I had announced my new level of power and proclaimed my place among the legends, which—combined with my already formidable reputation—would help cement my status as a near-mythical figure in the eyes of the common witches and wizards.
Most importantly, I had laid the foundation for the belief that a wizard could ascend through knowledge alone. That was a necessary first step to the widespread adoption of my new magic...
My new magic—The Archive—as people would come to know it, was a system inspired by its *Fairy Tail* counterpart, the Super Archive Magic. Not truly the same, of course, but then again, this was a different world, so allowances had to be made.
My plan for spreading the Archive across the globe served three simple purposes:
1. Data: The more widely it was used, the more magical data I could collect. A wider net catches more unique fish, and every spell, every insight, every perspective added to my repository of knowledge.
2. Democratization: To achieve my vision for a wizarding world where knowledge could not be hoarded by some fool whose ancestor accomplished a noteworthy feat a few centuries prior. This meant our world was about to witness the dawn of a new renaissance, an era of unprecedented collaboration and growth.
3. Unity: To give the global wizarding community access to a world-spanning network that would make communication instantaneous and foster a new level of international reliance, strengthening us against the extradimensional threats we now faced.
I couldn't have a divided wizarding world as it was now if I wanted to accomplish my mission. Sure, it might appear like the ICW had a handle on global unification, but they didn't. I was the current Supreme Mugwump, so I'd know.
The scattered little communities that didn't oblige by half of the ICW rules, the different governments full of corruption and power-grabbing scum… The different cults and Dark Lords scattered around the globe that kept most of the ICW's manpower working as Obliviators to clean up their messes…
'Yes, I think Plan Dark Lord is a must,' I thought, leaning back in my chair and listening to the bizarre sounds made by my trinkets… it was oddly soothing…
Plan Dark Lord was, in short, my design to unify all the undesirable elements in the wizarding world under one banner. What I would do with them after that was still undecided, but gathering them up was far better than letting them run amok individually…
'So, it looks like Grindelwald needs a comeback, huh?' I smirked to myself. His return would have so many pros for me and very few cons… especially since he would be bound to me this time.
"I can't be a bright lord without having a dark lord, can I, Fawkes?" I asked my phoenix companion, who let out a soothing cry.
"Still, I think it is time to be done with my side mission, don't you think?" I asked, but he just tilted his head in confusion.
Twirling my wand—even if I didn't really need to—I summoned an ethereal-looking phoenix, my Patronus. Once blue and white, it now had a subtle hint of gold outlining its form. I sent a message to McGonagall, relaxed, and opened my Archive, starting to browse through the newly collected data.
Gaining a new perspective on magic might not help one achieve a higher rank yet, but it sure as hell made casting and customizing spells a lot easier…
[Minerva McGonagall]
"….. and so, your assignment for today is to write a piece on your own understanding of Elemental Transfiguration. What is it? How do you cast it? What do you visualize? What other forms of elemental transfiguration are there? Should there be more? How do you think such spells might work? Etc…" she announced, looking at the faces of her seventh-year class.
Some looked confused by the change in the assignment's nature, some looked excited, while others were just bored…
'Albus was right,' she thought as she looked at them. 'They have gotten so used to the systematic order of studying magic that they've lost the spark and wonder they had when they were younger.'
"The students who hand in the top ten assignments will be rewarded by gaining access to the newest magic known to wizardkind: The Archive." A new light golden screen materialized in front of her. "This magic will be your ticket to securing your dream job after Hogwarts. It will cut your need for further study and apprenticeship by a huge margin…"
She couldn't complete her speech because one of the Ravenclaws raised her hand, making her sigh.
"Yes, Miss Hearts?"
"I'm sorry, Professor, it's just… I have never heard or read anything about a magic called The Archive."
"And that is why you need to let me finish speaking before raising your hand," she said, shaking her head. She continued, "The Archive is the Headmaster's new creation. A magic that is used to store, analyze, and speed up the information retention process, thus cutting down the tedious task of researching information through books."
"Here, you will find the notes of your fellow students if they choose to share them, professors' notes, insights, research topics, and even the Headmaster's notes on different subjects and branches of magic. You will gain access to knowledge so advanced that by the time you graduate, you will be more capable than those who spent years in apprenticeships."
Now she could see the fire lit within them…
As Dumbledore said, students needed something new—a path that gave them the idea that they, too, could be special.
A sudden feeling of warmth and happiness spread throughout the classroom as an ethereal phoenix Patronus came through the wall.
'Albus,' she thought as the spectral bird circled the room a few times before diving and heading straight to her, its beak close to her ear as she heard Albus's words…
"Minerva, dear, how's your day going? Mine was especially tiring, thanks for asking. Anyway, could you please see to it that Cassius White, the first-year Gryffindor, comes by my office soon?"
Her lips twitched a little. Couldn't he have sent his message through the Archive? He had done so yesterday when he sent her all his notes and insights into Transfiguration…
'Tiring?!' she thought in irritation. 'He was holding a press conference, getting his pictures taken and talking politics. Meanwhile, I have been here since morning trying to teach these…stupid… cats how to transfigure themselves into better cats without hurting themselves in the process…'
Ugh. She took a deep breath, reminding herself that Albus was doing this solely to get a rise out of her.
"Anyway, students, that is all for the day. I will see you in our next class," she informed them. As she pointed her wand towards the table, organizing the papers, she took them. "Now if you will excuse me, I have an errand to run."
She stepped out of the class and started heading towards her office first, to leave the papers, as well as to ask if anyone knew where Cassius was.
X_
**[Cassius White]**
Cassius found himself, once again, hearing about how amazing Dumbledore was—how powerful, or just how *hot* he was, according to most girls in the Gryffindor common room.
So he decided to actually get some studying done and head to the library instead of just sitting there.
'Hermione being there is just a bonus,' he thought with a smirk.
Still, he was having a bad feeling, a persistent sense of dread since yesterday. It felt like a hand was reaching for him, only to fail at the last second. He didn't know what it meant, but he was going to look for an explanation.
And so, he found himself sitting at a table in the library with a divination book titled 'Dreams and Feelings: A Beginner's Guide to Interpretation' by E.E. Widwitch.
He didn't find anything of real value inside the book, unless you considered the eye and mouth twitching that could be interpreted from a hundred different angles to be interesting….
"Mister White." He heard Professor McGonagall's voice and lifted his head from the book. "Yes, Professor?" he answered.
"Stand up, Mister White, and come with me, please. The Headmaster has requested your presence."
"Headmaster Dumbledore asked to see *me*?" He asked, shock and a little fear bleeding into his voice, making the professor raise an eyebrow at his exaggerated reaction.
She wouldn't understand. She wasn't one of the people who stayed up late discussing the possibility of Dumbledore being a Dark Wizard, or senile, or one of those old men with good intentions who managed to screw everything up.
"Of course, Professor…" he mumbled and nodded as he quickly got up and began walking beside her.
"Professor, do you know what Headmaster Dumbledore wants from me?" he tried to probe her for answers, but as always, she was tight-lipped.
Still, he didn't have much to fear. His mind was protected by the system, as the ROB had told him, so his secrets were safe.
'The protection is still working, right?' he thought, remembering that his system didn't actually work as intended in the first place. But now, he couldn't really test it, could he?
All he could do for now was hope and pray that it worked.
"Turkish delight," he heard Professor McGonagall say and looked up as the door to the Headmaster's office opened.
Had he been so deep in thought and inner panic that he hadn't paid attention to anything?
"Ah, Minerva, thank you for bringing Mr. Cassius here. That'll be all for now. I will send him back shortly," Dumbledore said as soon as they came into view.
He was doing something Cassius couldn't quite understand, waving his wand around what appeared to be a tree stump…
'Let's not think about it.'
He sat there for a few seconds, maybe minutes, watching Dumbledore transform the tree stump into what looked like a table, a very elegant-looking one. It had a polished, shiny surface with pulsating lines that seemed to glow more brightly the longer you looked at them.
"And done…" Dumbledore suddenly announced, making Cassius's heart skip a beat in fright.
"Ah, my apologies, my boy, did I scare you?" Dumbledore apologized as he turned to him. "What do you think of my new tea table?"
'That was a tea table?!' he screamed inside his head. 'What kind of maniac spends so much effort creating one when he could just transfigure it….'
"Ah, you don't seem to like it?" The subtle question in his tone suddenly alerted Cassius to school his expression.
"Ah, no, Professor. I just thought… you could have transfigured one easily…" he said, looking down at the ground.
'Let's make sure we don't look into his eyes,' he thought.
"Ah yes, youth and its proclivity to take everything for granted…Anyway, Mister Cassius, I have asked you here today to just confirm something. Could you touch this, please?" Dumbledore said as he presented him with a black-colored cube.
The system chimed inside his head, and he suddenly felt like that hand that had been trying to reach him had finally succeeded. And he now knew the meaning of that feeling he'd been having.
X_
[Albus Dumbledore]
Seeing the kid freeze in place, eyes widening, his face losing color by the second, I felt genuinely bad for him. But he needed to be scared. He needed to understand that some deals are not worth making.
His soul was starting to corrode, bit by bit, as the system he hosted lost its connection and primary function, thanks to its creator's demise.
Now all it did was squander its own energy in a futile effort to reconnect or find a new power source to latch onto. Each failure corrupted it further, and in turn, corrupted the host.
"Sigh, don't worry, nothing will happen to you," I sighed as I appeared in front of him, pressing the cube to his temple.
He instantly went limp, slumping down in his chair.
I began using my Bright Lord's essence to purify the corruption that had infested him, healing the damage as I went.
As my magic flowed into him, my perception shifted. The world dissolved around me, and I found myself standing inside what seemed to be a long, sterile hospital corridor.
"Huh, that's new," I said as I looked around curiously, finding the place quite depressing.
I started walking, heading towards the only room that had the light on. Soon, I arrived and went inside, finding who I assumed to be Cassius lying there in bed, tear stains on his face, a tube connected to his body.
I conjured a chair and sat down beside him. Hearing him sob made my heart ache a little, but there was nothing I could do to help him as he was.
It took some time, but he finally calmed down enough and opened his eyes.
"Have you finally calmed down, my boy?" I asked, my voice as gentle as I could make it.
His eyes widened before he started laughing and sobbing again, a reaction I did not quite expect.
"Shhh, it's okay." I said as I stroked his head a little, which seemed to help as he calmed down.
"Did I finally go crazy?" He asked.
"Why do you think so?"
"Well, I seem to have imagined a whole new life, with magic and wonder, but just as life seemed to be good, my mind said that's quite enough and then you come in, take my cheat, and I suddenly wake up inside this cursed place once again," he answered, his tone filled with depression and resignation.
"Ah, I can see why you'd think that, but I assure you, you did not dream. You are quite alive at the moment. Passed out in my office, actually," I chuckled a little as his head snapped back towards me, looking at my face with barely concealed hope.
"You see, my boy, life, as I have found it, rarely goes our way, and even when it does, that just means it's preparing something big enough to hit you with," I stated as I helped him from his bed.
"You see Cassius, your reincarnation was not part of some cosmic plan or anything of such grandeur. No, you were reincarnated thanks to the whims of a person drunk on his power, believing that he could do what he wants," I started explaining to him, making his eyes widen in surprise and a little fear.
"The being that I call (idiot A) did something that he shouldn't and pissed people off, which led to his death," I revealed as I started walking with him in tow. "Still, there was a piece of him attached to that small trinket you had which was corrupting you and messing with the world around you quite a bit."
I started cooking up some white, harmless lies mixed with some truths. "Making the magical education start at sixteen, genderbending Harry Potter, powering up Dumbledore, etc…"
"The world couldn't take more, especially not before the merger, so I had to intervene for a bit, possessing your esteemed headmaster for a little while to get that little trinket out of you while purifying the corruption on you and healing the damage."
"Does that mean you are not truly Dumbledore?" Cassius asked, eyeing me suspiciously.
"Hmm, The Dumbledore of your world is quite capable, and he will be much more capable in the future thanks to me possessing him, but he is not capable enough to take a system—the creation of a higher being—out of a reincarnator's soul," I said as I shook my head, making him nod thoughtfully.
"So what does that mean for me? Am I going to die again? Reincarnate? Or …or am I going back to my previous world?" The boy asked, the hope draining from his voice more and more with each question.
"Ah, no, no, no, you will continue to live your life as you want. Your gifts are with you. Plus, with me purging the corruption out of you and healing you, you will find yourself in a much more stable condition," I smiled as I answered.
"So I will continue to live, right?"
"Hahaha, yes, kid, you are alive right now; we are just having a conversation inside your soulscape…" I chuckled and explained.
"Why does my soulscape look like the terminal care corridor of a hospital?" he asked.
"That is for you to figure out. But before we leave, let me give you some advice, kid.
First, don't ever reveal the fact that you are reincarnated to anyone. Don't be cliché and go around saying 'I can't keep secrets from my girlfriend.' That's for weeps and virgins who haven't been in a relationship before.
Two, learn the mind arts, and strive to build a mindscape that feels like home to you. Try to make more happy memories as you live and reflect on your past and trauma. It will help you heal and reshape your soulscape into something more pleasant.
Three, when you wake up, Dumbledore won't notice anything wrong, so just thank him for his time and leave, saying that you will be coming back to meet him again in the near future. Okay?"
"Hmm, okay, but I do have some questions before we leave," Cassius said as he looked at me.
"Sure thing, kid. Hit me with it," I shrugged.
"Well, about the first thing, why do you not want me to say anything about reincarnation?"
"Well, because the word would get out, and after the world merger, beings of high power will be looking for the reason for the rather forceful world merger. A reincarnator from outside their reality is very suspicious. So it's for your own good, ultimately. If you think you can take on the world, then go ahead…" I shrugged my shoulders as I saw him tense a little before relaxing.
"Um, yeah, that would be bad…" he mumbled. "What about the second thing? The soulscape."
"Sigh, kid, a soulscape is a representation of the state of the soul. This here screams trauma, depression, and unresolved issues. Getting your head in order will help you in resolving these issues, thus changing the scenery around here, too."
"Uh, I guess I understand that…"
"You do, do you?" I shook my head in disapproval as he lowered his head. "Kid, I am not here to tell you how to live your life. I just didn't want you to waste away, so I gave you some advice. Anyway, like I said, don't say anything to Dumbledore that may alert him to something being amiss. Just say that you will visit him again if you have any more questions and leave, okay?"
"Yeah, okay." The kid said with a nod. "And uh, thank you for healing me and stuff. I already feel better."
"Eh, don't worry about it. It's my job anyway. Take care, kid, and be careful. This world is a lot more dangerous than the stories inside your head suggest," I nodded at him as the scenery around us began to shift.
I sat down by my new tea table and kept looking down at it, ignoring the kid who, just as predicted, started pinching himself.
"Uh, thank you again, Headmaster, for your time and understanding. I will be visiting you again soon if I need anything," I heard Cassius say, which was my cue…
"Of course, my boy. Don't worry about anything; I will be helping you investigate your heritage and connection to the Black family and get back to you about it soon," I said with a nice, calm smile as I saw his eyes widen once again before he collected himself, nodding and leaving quickly.
Seeing the kid leave, I sighed slowly as I leaned back and closed my eyes.
This was for the best. I gave him a reasonable explanation, cautioned him against treating the world like a story or a game, and installed enough fear into his soul that he wouldn't go around blabbing about reincarnation, the multiverse, and people being story characters.
The human psyche is not prepared to face such truths. Telling people such things leads to one of three things happening: conscious rejection of the fact, conscious and subconscious suppression of the information, or conscious ignorance and subconscious unraveling.
So with that done, let's send a message and see where that mutt, Sirius, is and why he hasn't visited me today despite the fact that I asked him to swing by this morning… but first, let me check my Archive real quick….
X_
[Cassius White]
Leaving the Headmaster's office, I quickly headed towards the nearest bathroom, which somehow ended up being the prefects' bathroom.
Shaking my head, I started looking for an abandoned classroom or something to get some privacy, and that's when I saw the troll's portrait and remembered that the Room of Requirement is a thing. It took me a minute, but I was finally inside, alone and with much-needed privacy.
"Ugh." My feet lost their strength as I suddenly found myself on the ground.
This had been the craziest thing he'd ever experienced, and he had met a ROB and reincarnated into a new world.
Who would have thought that ROBs could be killed? Isn't that like, impossible? But then again, the multiverse was infinite, he supposed.
Still, meeting an entity that took over Dumbledore just to take the system out of him was another crazy thing to add to the list.
He wasn't entirely convinced about the whole possession thing, but the being made a very compelling argument. Dumbledore, no matter how strong he is, can't take the system out of him. He would need to be a higher entity to do that.
That's like Weeb 101… and even if it *was* Dumbledore, he couldn't do anything about it anyway.
So with Dumbledore leaving the suspect list, that only led to one answer: the being did not lie to him and did, in fact, possess Dumbledore.
Now, was he sad that he lost his system? He'd be lying if he said no, but at the same time, he felt so relieved. He felt lighter; his head felt less cramped, and even his magic felt easier to call, as evidenced by his ever-changing hair color.
'I will have to actually learn how to control this condition without the system now, wouldn't I?' He thought with a grimace.
'Along with the mind arts, and other branches of magic,' a traitorous thought invaded his head…
He sighed as he dragged his recently calmed self into the bed, which, thanks to the Room of Requirement, was huge and comfy.
He pressed his head into the soft pillow as he went over what he needed to do starting tomorrow. He let out a strangled groan before going completely limp. Clearly, his body had finally had enough of him and decided to shut down for a little while.
**[Sirius Black]**
Sirius was lounging on his couch, reading a book. Yes, yes, haha, very funny, Sirius actually reads… ahem, anyway, he was reading a new Muggle story called 'The Eye of the World'.
He had developed this reading habit after Lily gave him 'The Lord of the Rings' back when she said that Dumbledore looked like Gandalf and they didn't know who Gandalf was.
He was glad to say they now knew who's Gandalf. It would be a lie to say this likeness did not play a part in the reason they liked the guy and followed him; there's also the fact that they didn't like the other guy and that they were young and hot-blooded back then.
'Speaking of Dumbledore, didn't Amelia tell me to meet him today?' He thought as he suddenly sprang up. "She did!!!"
"Kreacher!!! Why didn't you remind me to go to Hogwarts today???" He yelled as he started running towards his room.
"Filthy, rebellious, traitorous master did not ask Kreacher to remind him of such a thing…" Kreacher popped into his room, said his piece, and popped out.
'Ugh, I really should kill him and get a new elf,' he thought as he began to dress. 'It's just that he disdained the act of killing, and letting a house-elf of the Black family free was not a good idea…'
'Still, I might just get two or more new, younger ones and set them on him. That way, I will know if he's doing anything he shouldn't.'
Still, he liked Amelia just fine. She was the pure-blood mistress of the house who was trying to help the wayward master in ensuring the continuation of House Black by trying to have children, pure-blood children of House Black….
'Yeah, I'll let Amelia deal with him,' he thought as he headed towards the fireplace, took a handful of green-looking powder, got inside the fireplace, and threw the powder onto the ground as he announced, "Hogwarts' Headmaster's office!" and with a flash of green fire, he was gone.
He arrived with a light show of green fire and stepped out of the fireplace only to find Albus Dumbledore sitting there, his eyes focused on a golden screen floating in front of him…
Dumbledore didn't seem to care much or even notice his arrival, so he decided he might as well sit down and see how long it would take for him to be noticed.
A younger him might have tried to prank him, but a younger him could also take a beating better, so he would just sit down and ignore the itch…
"You have grown, Sirius," Dumbledore stated as he kept looking through that floating thing he had. "And you are late, too."
"Ahaha, well, I kind of overslept and then lost track of time reading," he laughed awkwardly.
"Oh, what were you reading?" Dumbledore asked.
"Oh, it's a Muggle book called 'The Eye of the World'," Sirius answered nonetheless.
"Ah, Robert Jordan's book. Nice story," the Headmaster commented, making Sirius's brain stop functioning for a few seconds.
"You read Muggle books?" he asked in a tone of shocked surprise.
"What do you think I do with my free time?" The rhetorical question was accompanied by a slight head shake.
"Anyway, I asked you to come for two things, and it's a good thing that you are late because now I can just be done with everything I have to do for the day…" Dumbledore said as he stood up and walked to his side.
He felt Albus's hand on his shoulder, accompanied by a warm, fuzzy, and bubbly feeling washing over him. He relaxed as he felt like years of burdens he didn't know he was carrying were washed away by the warm currents and waves….
"There, you were already half-way healed by the waves of healing that I released last week, but now I can say with absolute certainty you are at one hundred percent. So go home and make a baby…" Albus said as he came back out of his haze…
"Uh, umm, thank you, Professor," was all he could say… his voice wat too thick with emotions to allow him to say anything more…
"Ah, don't worry about it. And here, put this blood on your family tapestry to see if the child is one of yours and, if he is, whose…" Albus said as he handed him a small flask with a little blood inside it.
Sirius would have asked questions, but he was too emotional at this point, so he just nodded his head, went to the fireplace, and headed home…
He had things to prepare and a woman to pamper and, hopefully, impregnate ( breed) today.
…..
A/N: advanced chapters on my P@treon/ hunter20