The year is 1987, the year Harry Potter, The Boy Who Lived, became my disciple.
I asked Harry.
"If you become my disciple, you'll have to leave this place and travel with me. Are you okay with that?"
"Of course!"
Harry beamed, as if he had been waiting for nothing more than to escape this house.
"Alright. Then go grab whatever you need from the house and come right back."
"Um, I don't really have anything that's mine..."
Wow. I can't believe he doesn't have a single possession to take with him, even when leaving home. I couldn't help but be impressed by the Dursley family's conduct, which seemed to be from a century different from everyone else's.
Man, they're really something else.
My mood soured, and I asked Harry.
"Harry, is there anything you want to do to the Dursley family?"
"Pardon?"
"I can do whatever you want."
Revenge, indulgence, the choice is yours.
For the first time in his life, Harry was flustered by the power of choice in his own hands, but after a moment, he looked at me with clear eyes and said.
"...I don't want to do anything. Just please make sure those people don't cause any problems about me leaving."
"Even after they treated you so horribly?"
"But that doesn't mean I can become just like them, does it?"
I let out a soft laugh. The little guy was already establishing the moral lines he would live by.
Kids with that kind of solid core usually go on to do great things.
Having confirmed the extraordinary nature of the boy who would be my disciple, I said.
"Alright, that's a very good answer, Harry. However, we can't let it go that easily."
"Pardon?"
I grinned at the bewildered Harry.
"Listen well, Harry. Becoming the disciple of Aisen Knightly has a much greater meaning than you think. It means that anyone who dares to touch you will face my wrath."
I took out the Elder Wand and gave it a flick.
"Ah, Dad! My ears feel weird!"
"What did you say? Oh, good heavens!"
I could hear the cries of the Dursley family from a distance.
"What did you do?"
"Oh, just a simple spell to reveal a bit of their true nature."
I just gave them pig tails and pig ears.
Ah, right. This house is too good for them, too.
I waved my wand again, and with a soft whoosh, the nameplate on the front of the house changed.
[Number 4, Privet Drive, Harry Potter]
Of course, a nameplate like this could be replaced later, but would it really come off that easily?
It was a childish prank, but for that very reason, Harry loved it.
"Harry Potter may have forgiven them, but they still have to be punished for messing with a disciple of Aisen, right?"
At my cheerful laugh, an irrepressible smile spread across Harry's face.
"Alright, let's get going!"
"Yes!"
As he walked toward the car, Harry suddenly stopped and looked back.
Perhaps feeling a strange mix of emotions, he stared for a long moment before shouting.
"Uncle Vernon! Thank you for raising me all this time! I'll be leaving now!"
The reply was indistinct, but in any case, Harry got into the car with a look of relief.
"Master, I'm ready!"
"Good. Then before we leave, we should probably see our true forms, don't you think?"
"Our true forms?"
With a snap of my fingers, the Transfiguration spells concealing our true appearances were dispelled.
Deek changed from an old butler back into a house-elf, and I, from a young man, back to my original form as a boy.
Ardeura's magic had already worn off, so she was already in her phoenix form.
I could have maintained the Transfiguration indefinitely, but staying transformed for an excessively long period can easily lead to a confusion of identity.
Of course, since I was just transforming into myself, there would be no identity crisis, but the problem is that I'm a growing child. If I'm not careful, my body might forget its own age and not grow properly.
That's why I have to dispel the transformation every now and then.
Seeing my transformed appearance, Harry was speechless.
"Master, that form...?"
What is this? A hidden camera show? As if thinking something along those lines, Harry's eyes widened, and I said.
"This is my true form."
At that, Harry looked as if he'd been scammed and said with a wounded expression.
"You said you were the greatest wizard in the world! You were just a kid my age!"
I bonked Harry on the head with a twig (I couldn't use my precious Elder Wand, could I?) and said.
"You brat, where do you get off using banmal with your master? And you'll have a hard time finding a wizard greater than me, you know."
[T/N: Banmal (반말): Informal speech in Korean. It's used with people of the same age or younger, or those you are very close with. For a student to use it with their master is a sign of disrespect, which is why Aisen scolds him.]
Regardless, Harry, shocked by my true form, didn't seem to believe me.
Tsk, tsk, this won't do. Even Albus never treated me like this, but my very first disciple is this disrespectful. The old ways have truly fallen.
As I pondered ways to instill a sense of my masterly dignity in Harry, I stretched out comfortably in the back seat.
"Deek, let's just go to a nearby hotel for now. I need to rest today."
"Yes, Master! Deek thinks so too."
And just like that, about half a year passed.
Harry Potter woke up like any other morning.
The past six months had been an incredibly joyful time for Harry, day after day.
The other side of the world he never knew existed, the world of wizards—the more he learned about it, the more shocking truths he discovered.
My goodness, his parents were wizards too!
And they were skilled enough to cast an incredible ancient magic on him!
And there was an amazing school called Hogwarts?
Harry spent his days in a daze, overwhelmed by the new knowledge that poured in.
And at the same time, he began to feel, just a little, how great a wizard his master, Aisen Knightly, truly was.
Though it was still hard to believe that Aisen, who still looked to be his own age, was the greatest wizard in the world.
"Alright, Harry! It's time for another fun magic training session!"
At least, one thing that had become certain over the past six months of training was that, regardless of age, his respect for his master had been firmly established.
Aisen's training was extremely practical.
In other words, he was worked to the bone.
The brilliant magic Aisen displayed was more than enough to instill a renewed sense of respect in Harry.
Though his days were so exhausting that he would pass out the moment training was over half the time, Harry felt a sense of accomplishment he had never felt before.
Naturally, Harry's magical skills were also improving by leaps and bounds.
Most importantly, Harry was happy.
Deek was kind, Ardeura was cute, and his master was cool.
Just as his little master had promised, magic had brought him happiness.
That was why Harry couldn't help but feel anxious at the words Deek spoke while sitting at the breakfast table.
"Master, we have a small problem."
"What is it?"
"We've already spent half of the gold we had in Gringotts!"
Chir-r-r-up?
Even Ardeura seemed surprised, stopping mid-meal to turn her head and cry out.
The complicated conversation that followed was hard to understand, but one thing was clear even to the young Harry.
They were short on money.
And with a high probability, it was because of him.
From what Harry could see, Aisen was always bringing various tools from somewhere to teach him.
He must have run out of money buying all these tools!
The truth, of course, was that it was simply because Aisen, captivated by the Muggle world, had been spending money like water, but that's how it looked to Harry.
What if they abandoned him because they ran out of money? Of course, Aisen wasn't that kind of person, but Harry, who hadn't completely shaken off his memories of his time with the Dursleys, couldn't erase that anxiety.
Wasn't there something he could do to help? Just as Harry was pondering this, Aisen grinned with his usual 'mischievous' smile and said.
"Deek, how about we do some uijeokjil for the first time in a while?"
[T/N: uijeokjil (의적질): Righteous thievery. The term refers to the actions of a noble outlaw, like Robin Hood, who steals from the corrupt rich to give to the poor (or in this case, to fund their adventures).]
"Master, are you really going to do it?"
Seeing that smile, Harry felt a sense of relief.
Because when Aisen made that face, it usually meant a solution had been found.
And usually, a very fun solution.
After breakfast, as I was contemplating the 'Gringotts security consultation,' an owl flew to me.
Tap, tap.
Seeing the owl flapping its wings and tapping its beak against the window, I muttered in disbelief.
"...Seriously? This is a 60-story hotel."
And as is common with high-rise hotels, there was, of course, no window that an owl could enter through.
I had no choice but to use magic to temporarily remove the window to let the owl in.
After giving the hard-working owl a snack, I was finally able to open the letter it had brought.
Who in the world would send... ah.
It's Albus.
I grinned, delighted at the thought of my junior's anguish over Harry's disappearance, and quickly tore open the letter.
Who told you to make such arbitrary plans?
As expected, the contents of the letter were roughly what I had anticipated.
Was it you, Sir, who took Harry? Harry is a child who is the hope of the wizarding world. There is a reason why Harry must stay with the Dursleys.
What are you doing?
I chuckled and quickly scribbled a reply, tying it to the owl's leg.
[I took him, so what are you going to do about it? If you're that upset, why don't you come and meet us? Ah, by the way, you'll be able to see what I'm up to in the papers soon enough.]
After sending the owl back, I began to prepare to get my story in the papers.
"I hope my goblin friends at Gringotts like my present."
And in the corner of the newspaper I had circled, an article read as follows:
[The worst of the Death Eaters, Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange, imprisoned in Azkaban! Their vast fortune is known to remain intact...]