[ Location: 4 Privet Drive - Little Whinging, Surrey ][ Date: August 4th, 1992 - Night ]
The world materialized around me. Or rather, the air did.
We weren't on the ground. We were hovering twenty feet in the air, right outside a suburban house with bars on the window.
Below us, a turquoise Ford Anglia was revving its engine. Inside, Fred, George, and Ron were shouting.
Hanging out of the barred window was Harry Potter. And hanging onto Harry's ankle, purple-faced and screaming, was Vernon Dursley.
"PETUNIA! HE'S ESCAPING! HE'S GETTING AWAY!" Vernon roared, trying to yank Harry back into the prison cell of a bedroom.
"Let go of me!" Harry yelled, kicking.
"Vivan," Shikamaru said calmly, currently standing on thin air thanks to my reflexively activated Telekinesis to make an platform to stand in air. "Why are we floating outside a window and Is this a kidnapping?"
"Telekinesis and It's a rescue," I corrected. "And it looks like they need a hand."
'Telekinesis. Let's yeet a whale.'
[ Ability Active: Telekinesis. ]
I focused on Vernon's meaty hands.
'Release.'
I didn't hurt him (much). I just pried his fingers open with invisible force.
"GAH!" Vernon shouted as his grip failed. He tumbled backward into the room, landing in a heap of shrubbery... wait, no, he fell onto the bedroom floor.
Harry flew backward into the car, landing on Ron.
"Go! Go! Go!" Fred yelled from the driver's seat.
The car lurched away from the house.
"Wait for us!" I called out.
I dropped the telekinetic platform and floated us down onto the roof of the Ford Anglia.
THUMP.
"What was that?!" Ron screamed. "Dad's car!"
I leaned over the windshield, upside down, looking into the car.
"Uber for Frostwell?" I grinned.
Fred screamed. George swerved. "Bloody hell! Is that Vivan?"
"Open the sunroof!" I shouted over the wind.
They didn't have a sunroof. I sighed.
'Alohomora? No. Telekinesis.'
I popped the back door open mid-flight. Shikamaru and I scrambled inside.
It was tight. There were now six people (and an owl) in a car designed for four. I was squashed between Ron and Shikamaru. Harry was sitting on Fred's lap (figuratively, he was squeezed against the door). Hedwig was hooting indignantly in her cage.
"You guys!" Ron looked at us, eyes wide. "Where did you come from? And why haven't you answered a single letter all summer?!"
"Yeah," Harry added, looking hurt. "I wrote to you guys. I thought... I thought you ditched me."
"We didn't ditch you, Harry," I said, trying to pull my leg out from under Shikamaru's. "We've been... detained."
"Detained?" George asked from the front. "In Azkaban?"
"Worse," Shikamaru yawned. "The Orphanage."
"St. Jude's?" Ron asked.
"The Matron," Shikamaru said, his voice devoid of emotion (Oscar-worthy acting). "She hates owls. Thinks they're demonic messengers. She patrols the windows with a slingshot. It was a siege situation. We couldn't risk Hedwig or Errol getting sniped."
Ron looked horrified. "That's barbaric!"
"Muggles," Fred shook his head. "Mental."
"So you didn't ignore us?" Harry asked, hope returning to his eyes.
"Never," I promised. "We just didn't want you to receive a dead bird in the mail."
"Well, you're here now," George grinned, banking the car sharply. "Welcome aboard the Weasley Express. Next stop The Burrow."
"By the way, Ron," I poked him. "Nice pajamas. Do they come in men's sizes?"
Fred and George howled with laughter. Ron turned red. "They're hand-me-downs! And get your elbow out of my ribs!"
[ Location: The Burrow - Ottery St. Catchpole ][ Date: August 5th, 1992 - Early Morning ]
The sun was rising as we touched down in the yard. The Burrow looked like a house held together by magic and optimism. It was crooked, chaotic, and perfect.
"Home sweet home," Fred said, killing the engine.
"Now we just have to sneak in," George whispered. "Before Mum wakes up."
We crept toward the back door.
"Do you think she noticed?" Ron whispered.
The door swung open.
Molly Weasley stood there. She was wearing a flowered apron. She looked like a storm cloud in human form.
"WHERE. HAVE. YOU. BEEN?" she whispered.
The whisper was worse than a shout.
"Harry, Vivan, Shikamaru, how lovely to see you," she said sweetly, then turned back to her sons, her voice dropping an octave. "BEDS EMPTY! NO NOTE! CAR GONE! YOU COULD HAVE DIED! YOU COULD HAVE BEEN SEEN!"
"But Mum," Ron tried. "They were starving him! Bars on his window!"
"YOU BEST HOPE I DON'T PUT BARS ON YOUR WINDOW, RONALD WEASLEY!"
She poked him in the chest with every word.
I took a step back.
'Mrs. Weasley is definitely an S-Rank threat. Higher combat power than Esdeath when angry.'
She took a deep breath. "Well. I'm very glad you saved Harry. But it was wrong. Now go inside. All of you."
She looked at me and Shikamaru. "I suppose you two need a place to sleep?"
"If it's not too much trouble, Mrs. Weasley," I put on my best 'polite orphan' face. "We didn't mean to intrude, but—"
"Nonsense," she bustled us inside. "We'll make room. But for now, breakfast. You look famished."
She started frying sausages with a vengeance.
[ Location: The Burrow - Garden ][ Date: August 5th, 1992 ]
"De-gnoming," Ron explained, holding a small, potato-like creature that was screaming profanities. "You have to spin them to make them dizzy, then throw them over the fence."
He spun the gnome and tossed it. It landed ten feet away.
"Whatever," the gnome grumbled, standing up and walking back toward the hole.
"Stupid things," Ron sighed.
"This is inefficient," Shikamaru noted, sitting on a stump. "Why not just trap them?"
"Traps are mean," Hermione would say (if she were here).
"Watch and learn," I said.
I looked at the garden. There were about twenty gnomes popping up like whack-a-moles.
'Telekinesis: Mass Grip.'
[ Ability Active: Telekinesis (Multitasking). ]
I raised both hands.
Twenty gnomes suddenly floated into the air, kicking and swearing.
"Get off! Put me down! Gerroff!"
"Spin cycle," I muttered.
I rotated my finger. The gnomes spun in mid-air like a carousel from hell. Faster. Faster.
"And... release."
I flicked my hands toward the distant field.
Yeet.
Twenty gnomes soared over the hedge in a perfect arc, disappearing into the distance.
"Whoa," Fred said, leaning on his broom. "Can we keep him, Mum? He's better than a garden gnome catapult."
Arthur Weasley walked out the back door, holding a mug of tea. He was thin, balding, and looked very excited.
"Did I see... flying gnomes?" Arthur asked.
"Vivan did it," Ron said. "Without a wand."
Arthur looked at me, his eyes widening. "Without a wand? But you're... you're young! That's highly unstable magic!"
"I was born with it, Mr. Weasley," I said, wiping my hands.
"Fascinating!" Arthur beamed. "A natural mutation? Or perhaps a different magical lineage? Tell me, does it work on rubber ducks?"
"I... haven't tried," I admitted.
"We must test it!" Arthur declared. "Molly! We need a duck!"
Molly poked her head out the window. "Arthur! Leave the boy alone and come eat! And Vivan, thank you for the garden. It looks lovely."
I smiled. 'I'm in.'
[ Location: The Burrow - Ron's Room ][ Date: August 12th, 1992 ]
We were crammed into Ron's room (the attic). It smelled of spattergroit remedy and old wood.
Four owls swooped in through the open window.
Letters.
"Hogwarts lists!" Ron ripped his open. He groaned. "Lockhart. Why are all the books by Gilderoy Lockhart?"
I opened mine.
Break with a Banshee
Gadding with Ghouls
Holidays with Hags
Travels with Trolls
Vampires? I don't know her.
Magical Me
"This guy loves himself," Shikamaru noted, reading the list. "Is he a teacher or a narcissist?"
"Both," I said. "He's the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."
"Defense Against the Dark Arts?" Shikamaru scoffed. "More like Defense Against Bad luck Days. Look at this photo. He's winking."
"Mum loves him," Fred said, disgusted. "Think she wants his autograph?"
"She wants to marry him," George corrected.
"We have to go to Diagon Alley," Harry said. "When?"
"Wednesday," Mrs. Weasley yelled up the stairs. "And Vivan, harry, dear, don't forget to wash your neck!"
We spent the rest of the day in the orchard playing Quidditch. Well, they played.
I practiced.
I sat under an apple tree, away from the brooms.
'System. Status.'
[ User: Vivan Frostwell ][ Points: 2,352][ Telekinesis: Level 10 (MAX). ][ Magic : Level 2. ][ Metamorphmagus: Mastered. ][ Animagus: Phoenix (Unlocked). ][ New Purchase: Parseltongue (From Quest Start). ]
I focused on a garden snake slithering through the grass.
"Hello," I hissed.
The snake stopped. It looked at me.
"A speaker?" the snake hissed back. "Do you have mice? The tall red ones eat all the food."
"No mice," I hissed. "Just watching."
'It works. I can talk to snakes. This is going to be fun in the Dueling Club.'
I looked at my [ Inventory ].
Philosopher's Stone: Still there.
Phoenix Tears: 3 vials.
Guns (Glock 19): 1 (Bought for 10 points).
'I'm ready for the Basilisk,' I thought, watching Harry chase the Snitch. 'But first... I need to survive a book signing with the world's most annoying wizard.'
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