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HP: Magic of the End
Book&Literature
80 Chapters
1.7M Views
Author: Simple_Russian_Boi
4.17
(32 ratings)
Synopsis
Danil met an early end. Death at fourteen from heatstroke is not the best
thing that could happen to him, but someone intervened. Someone
powerfull, someone dark. The Wanderer found a huge potential for magic
in his soul, and like an interested child sent him to the world with magic
– just to see what would happen – but not before tweaking with his body
a little.
Now? Now, Dan needs to hide in the world of Harry Potter, where most
of the Light wants to see him dead, and Dark wants to get him into their
ranks.
-=-=-=-=-=-
Updates every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 16:00 GMT.
-=-=-=-=-=-
Another Harry Potter reincarnation fanfic, but this time the main
character became an Enderman from Minecraft – thanks, Wanderer.
I've seen a couple of fanfics where the main character has the power of
an Enderman or the main character is an Enderman, but they are all
either abandoned or poorly written. (At least the ones I could find.) So, I
decided to write my own fanfic in the world of Harry Potter.
-=-=-=-=-=-
The cover is AI generated.
HP universe doesn't belong to me.
Minecraft isn't mine.
Nothing is mine, except for the original characters and ideas.
Restricted
Character chapter - may update
later
-=-=-=-=-=-
Danil Grigorievich Khromov – The Last Farlander
Date of birth: 18.09.1978
Hogwarts House: to be determined.
A teenager, originally from Moscow, who was unlucky enough to be on
the path of a strange creature who called himself The Wanderer.
Dying from heat stroke, his soul was sent to another world, in a body that
did not belong to him. Now in the body of a creature that resembles an
Enderman from Minecraft a bit too much, Danil studies magic at
Hogwarts, hoping to find a purpose in his life again.
-=-=-=-=-=-
Katya Grigorievna Khromova – Little Manipulator
Date of birth: ??.??.????
The younger sister of Danil Khromov. A smart, studious, manipulative
girl who hides her nature behind ostentatious kindness and happiness.
Loyal only to herself and to her remaining family, blood is thicker than
water after all.
-=-=-=-=-=-
Luna Pandora Lovegood – Moonbean
Date of birth: 13.02.1982
Hogwarts House: Ravenclaw
A bright girl who believes in many things and doubts even more. Became
a friend of Danil after he helped her get rid of her bullies.
The only daughter of the House of Lovegood, her mother died during an
incident with the creation of a new spell. Her father, Xenophilius
Lovegood, is the owner of the newspaper by the name of Quibbler.
-=-=-=-=-=-
Harry James Potter – The-Boy-Who-Lived.
Date of birth: 31.07.1980
Hogwarts House: Gryffindor.
The One who survived an unforgivable curse from the most feared Dark
Lord. He was raised by his godmother, Bellatrix Black, who took great
care for the boy.
-=-=-=-=-=-
Hermione Jean Granger – The Smartest Witch of Her Age.
Date of birth: 19.09.1979
Hogwarts House: Gryffindor.
Arguably, the smartest student who has visited the corridors of Hogwarts
in the last hundred years. Unfortunately, her genius in training, could not
give her stable friendships at an early age, which is why she holds on to
her relationship with Ron and Harry with such zeal.
Brave, smart and stubborn.
-=-=-=-=-=-
Ronald Billius Weasley – The Sixth Son
Date of birth: 01.03.1980
Hogwarts House: Gryffindor.
The sixth son of the Weasley family, he is a strategic genius, although
lacking in other areas of education. His family has huge expectations of
the boy and he is not sure how he will be able to reach them.
-=-=-=-=-=-
Infodump Chapter
-=-=-=-=-=-
Farlanders
Some call them Enderman, others call them The Purple Death, Fallen
Drow or just Monsters. But the only true name for the race is Farlanders.
An ancient race shrouded in mystery and violence. People say they were
cursed for their arrogance by a wrathful God, but some believe that they
destroyed themselves in search of the secrets of magic.
The distinctive features of the race are black, thick skin, tall stature and
complete lack of ability to communicate with other races. Monstrous
appearance aside, Farlanders have long, thin legs and hands with claws
on each finger. Each of them has bright purple eyes, but one should be
careful not to look into them, because only one look can cost you a life.
-=-=-=-=-=-
Wix – people blessed with magic have many names, but in Britain most
prefer to be called a wizard or a witch.
Every wixen is a human, but not every human is a wixen.
You can't become a wix or earn the title with hard work, people are born
with magic in their blood. Capable of changing reality itself with a wave
of a wand, they hid from the gaze of normal people, keeping their
community hidden from undesireble eyes. The Statute of Secrecy is not
something a wix would want to break.
-=-=-=-=-=-
The Wanderer.
A strange entity that calls itself The Wanderer. It behaves akin to a child
with a power that should've never fallen into his hands. If he wants to do
something, he does it, regardless of the consequenses. It's hard to say how
much power he really has.
By his wishes Dan was sent to the world of Harry Potter in a new body.
-=-=-=-=-=-
Chapter 1: The End –
"Hello world." – speech in English.
'Hello world.' – thoughts.
[Hello world.] – writing.
"{Hello world.}" – speech in another language.
-=-=-=-=-=-
The sun shone from the sky on the streets of Moscow, heating the asphalt
almost to the boiling point. People walked lazily in the shade of houses
and trees, cars flashed along the roads, stray animals tried to get into the
basements of houses to find at least some cold air. It was the hottest day
of the year and everyone could feel it.
It was on this day that a brother and sister couple went to the park next
to their house for a walk. The girl dragged the guy by the hand so that he
walked faster, but he barely moved his legs.
"{Come on! You can't spend the whole summer staring at the monitor,}"
the girl giggled.
The boy rubbed his eyes, trying in vain to get rid of the black circles
around them, and sighed heavily. "{Some of us have to work, Kat.}"
Katya turned, opening her mouth to protest, but he beat her to it. "{And I
won't let you work until you finish school, runt.}"
"{Hypocrite,}" she huffed.
These two are Katya and Danil Khromov, a sister and brother who lost
their parents at a young age. After their death, the children were looked
after by their grandfather, a strict but kind man under thick skin. Kurt
took care of an eight-year-old boy and a six-year-old girl as well as his
old age would allow. But three years ago, he lost his leg in an accident
and since then his health has gone downhill.
Dan was only eleven years old at the time and he saw the truth in their
situation. They were in a tight place. If their grandfather dies, what will
happen to them? Will they be sent to an orphanage? Will they get lost in
a sea of paperwork? Can they be left to deal with themselves?
An uncertain future made Dan think and mature much earlier than
everyone else. He wondered for a long time what exactly he could do to
help and settled on getting money to the house. There was a little
problem, because who in their right mind would hire a child? Excluding
the illegal parts of the world and the good Samaritans.
After a few weeks of thinking, he turned to the one thing in the world
that had the most answers to his questions: the internet. It had mixed
results, but he found something that could give him a steady income so
they at least had some money. Digital art.
It was a difficult thing to learn, but his options were this or becoming a
drug runner. Well, or a programmer, but he decided that learning
programming languages is better left for later. Over the course of
three years, he learned to juggle his studies, painting – where he
discovered an amazing talent within himself, both in physical painting
and online – with a nearly non-existent personal life and trying to keep
his body in shape. In some things he was more successful than in others.
Now Dan was fourteen, and Katya was twelve. Dan has become quite
good at art and has recently started selling his works. Small influencers
who wanted fanart, random people who found his page and asked him to
draw something, his clientele was small, but the money started coming
in.
Katya didn't do anything so grand, but she chose to start seriously
studying marketing and psychology. She was so good that she earned the
title of "little manipulator" from Dan. To be precise, he started calling her
that after she broke the nose of one of her classmates and HE got
suspended after that. Of course, it only worked because the asshole was…
well, an asshole to everyone around him and didn't have many friends in
class, but it still counted.
"{Why today? TV couldn't wait until tomorrow?}" Dan asked, wiping
sweat from his face. "{I swear this heat will kill me.}"
"{We're going to the edge of the forest that I found a couple of days ago.
You need to get out of the house more, or you'll start looking like a
vampire.}" She replied with confidence, but Dan just chuckled.
"{More than I am now?}"
To tell the truth, Dan wasn't the palest person in the world, but it was
pretty close. Days spent in the dark of a room in front of a computer did
not help his life. Combined with his ice-blue eyes and black hair, he
actually looked like a vampire.
"{Yes. Now stop dragging your feet and walk like a man.}"
Rolling his eyes, Dan took her advice – more like an order – and now
they just walked hand in hand.
"{How's school been for you?}" Dan asked, looking at the trees around.
He never got to draw them just right.
"{Meh, 's alright. Some dude smashed the bathroom on the third floor,
did you hear? Painted fake blood on the walls too."}
"{Yeah, it was Marat. Yulievna checked the cameras.}"
The siblings continued to chat about various things going on in their
lives. But Katya felt that something was wrong with her brother. He
staggered more and more with each step, his pupils were much larger
than they should have been under the sun. Dan was breathing heavily
and sweating like a pig.
"{Danil? You need to get into the shade. Now.}"
He didn't even protest and let her lead him into the shadows. Not that he
could, his head was killing him.
"{I think I have a heatstroke.}" Dan said with difficulty.
Katya put him under the shade of a tree and took the phone out of her
pocket. "{Well done Sherlock, you figured out what was wrong with you.
Why didn't you say something sooner?}"
"{Everything was alright.}"
Katya was saying something about an ambulance, but Dan couldn't listen
to her. His thoughts tangled with each other, intertwined in a strange
web of colors and sentences. For some reason, his thoughts always
returned to the trees, which was one thing right in front of his eyes, so he
closed him. Usually drawing leaves was not so easy for Dan, but now
everything seemed so right.
A fast stoke of a brush, starting firm but going lighter. All the leaves that
he painted were not natural. Too thick, too long, too big or too small.
Leaves were the easiest part of a tree to draw, trees were very simple, to
tell the truth, Bob Ross proved it with no problem. But with the detailed
drawings, everything was different.
"{Son? Hey? Can you tell me your full name?}" An unfamiliar male voice
asked him.
"{Danil Grigorievich Khromov,}" he said.
"{Do you know where you live?}"
Dan chuckled. Of course, he knew where he lived.
"{Why do you need to know? Mom said not to give my address to
strangers.}" He slurred out.
Strong arms lifted him up and placed him on the stretcher, but that didn't
matter right now. Where does he live? For some reason, his memory
refused to work with him. Dan was sure he knew where he lived, who
doesn't know where they live? Little children, he'd imagine.
"{Do you know who you're studying to be?}" Another question was
heard.
"{Huh? No, I'm still in school, it's too early for me to choose a
spealizion,}" he stopped, that word didn't sound right. "{Specalizion.
Secialization. How do people pronounce this word?}"
No one answered him.
The world became blurry over time. Dan sometimes saw his sister's face,
the faces of unfamiliar masked nurses, the ceiling of an uncomfortable
ambulance, sometimes he saw something... different. Strange. Unnatural.
A creature made of pure blackness hovered only at the edges of his
vision. It didn't do anything, was just… watching.
"{I think I'm hallucinating.}" Dan said and in the next moment the world
lost colors.
He was confused. Everything around was black or shades of gray, sounds
disappeared and time seemed to stop. Dan couldn't move, he couldn't
breathe, he couldn't hear his own heartbeat, but he was still alright.
The world just refused to move.
"You can see me." The faint voice felt like it was scratching at his
eardrums was coming from above.
The black creature creeped towards him, crawling across the ceiling. The
movements were not quite correct, reminding Dan about his leaves.
Something that the artist couldn't draw correctly and just left the work as
it is.
"You're weird," the creature continued. "Many people with a will stronger
than yours trembled before me. Soldiers, poets, rulers and even gods
knelt before me. The madmen gained enough sanity to fear me, the sane
ones lost their minds from fear. You are not afraid of me." It didn't speak
the language Dan knew, but the teen could still understand it.
Dan wanted to answer, but his mouth refused to move. 'What should I be
afraid of?' he thought.
The creature craned its neck, most likely to get a better look at Dan, but
it didn't have eyes. "Death at my hands. Unexplainable things going on
around you. Even my appearance is enough to frighten mortals."
If Dan could move, he would nod. 'It's logical. People are afraid of death,
whoever they are, but that's just not for me. I realized long ago that my
time is not infinite and that sooner or later I will die and only memories
will remain behind me. Right now, I can die and I don't feel fear, only
regret that I'll leave my family.' The fog in his mind dissipated a little, but
didn't completely leave him. 'I've never been afraid of the unknown, if I
don't know something, it just means that I just have to learn or remain
ignorant forever.'
The creature made a sound, like an echo of a scratched vinyl recording.
"And my looks?"
'I drew worse.' The thought flashed through his head before he could stop
it.
"Not only are you weird, you're also funny." An emotionless voice
sounded and a long silence reigned in the ambulance.
'What are you?' Dan thought after a while. It was strange to think that
time had passed when the world didn't move.
"I don't know," the creature replied. "I have been around for a long time,
but no one can tell what I am, who I am. Most call me The Wanderer."
The black body fell off the top of the car and landed on Dan's left. "I look
at things. At people and their lives. Change a couple of things sometimes.
Always the curious kid, they say."
'Sounds interesting, are you looking at my life?'
The Wanderer raised a clawed hand, brushing a few stray hairs from
Dan's face. "No. You're just a lucky find. Few mortals can see me, let
alone understand me." It stopped, thinking about something. "Do you
want to live?"
'Yes.' Dan answered right away. 'I can't leave Katya and Kurt alone.'
It made that strange sound again. "Interesting, but impossible. Your
lifestyle isn't the healthiest, the heat didn't help it. Death is now just a
matter of seconds or hours for you. Your heart is ready to fail at any
moment. You won't get a replacement."
The Wanderer's words were brutally honest, cold and completely devoted
of empathy. Dan was grateful for that, too many people in his life were
trying to sugar-coat things.
'Can't you let me live?'
"I can. I just don't want to."
Dan's thoughts flashed through a couple of not quite censorship words
addressed to the Wanderer. "If you can save my life, why not?! You can
make the gods 'kneel,' so why the hell can't you save me?!" Dan stopped
abruptly, the sound of his voice resounding in the complete silence of the
world. His heart was beating again and his lungs took in air, but his head
was melting.
The Wanderer didn't even twitch from his unexpected movements, only
leaned even closer. "Even more interesting. Your brain is ready to
explode, like it's the price you paid for being able to move in this space.
Your life is so ordinary it's ridiculous, but you're capable of breaking into
my realm, if not unharmed. So much talent in a world without anything
supernatural. It's so… boring."
Dan was breathing heavily, not even feeling the pain that was trying to
take over his body. He just felt under incredible pressure. "You're a cruel
bastard, you know that?" He muttered, looking for his sister. Tears
streamed down the girl's cheeks and she clutched the phone in her hands
– most likely she was talking to Kurt.
"That's what they called me too, yes." The Wanderer nodded. "But no one
can call a child's interest cruel. After all, that's who I am, at least in the
words of others. I think you'll do better in the world with magic."
The nurses took out cold packs of the boxes and placed them around his
body. His clothes were either taken off or torn to make it easier for him
to breathe. "Why do I feel better and worse at the same time?"
"Ah. It's because your previous traumas affect your physical body, not
your astral projection." The Wanderer answered.
Astral projection was a rather strange use of magic. The soul left the body
to explore the non-material world, leaving the body almost defenseless.
Despite this, many have used astral projection for a variety of different
reasons.
Dan blinked, raising his hand in front of his face. He wasn't too surprised
when he found it translucent. "A world without the supernatural, where
can I do something like that? Where you can do something like that?"
The Wanderer's clawed arms again reached out to Dan's face, but it
stopped himself a couple of centimeters from the target.
"I never said that what you're doing now is impossible to do."
Dan pushed himself up on his elbows and sat up on the bed, leaving his
body behind. "Why are you here, other than because I'm interesting?
What are you looking for here?"
The Wanderer crouched in front of Dan, and he only now noticed how
tall this creature was. "I think you'll do better in the world with magic," it
said again. "Maybe with a few changes it would be even better."
Taking a deep breath, Dan decided to try his luck. "Will you tell me what
these changes are?"
"No."
Dan didn't blink, trying to find any hint of emotion in the Wanderer's
pose. If what the creature was saying was true, he had no choice in the
matter. "Can I leave a message for my family before you send me to a
new world?"
Dan's soul was torn at the knowledge that he would leave his family
behind. That he would just die from something as stupid as heatstroke.
That he would hurt his sister again, even if it wasn't his fault. He just
knew that Katya would blame herself for his death – or disappearance, he
did not know what would happen in this world.
The Wanderer shook his head. "No, you won't need it. I will create an
exact copy of you and leave it in this world. He will survive this heat
stroke and live a happy life, forgetting about meeting me."
It already sounded much better than a simple death, but Dan had a
question.
"... Why can't you send my copy to the new world? Just leave me here,"
he pleaded, but was denied.
"No. The talent of the soul is not something that can be simply copied."
The Wanderer's claws dug into Dan's chest and a black hand squeezed his
heart. He gaped at how his astral projection began to acquire the same
black color as the Wanderer. "I will watch over you, mortal."
And like that, the world started moving again. This time without one
Danil Grigorievich Khromov. His place taken by another.
The final thoughts of the original were that The Wanderer hadn't asked a
single question, but had come to the conclusion that it didn't need to. It
already knew all the answers.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Simple_Russian_Boi
Oi.
I finally worked up the courage to write a somewhat SI character in
the world of Harry Potter. How many such fanfics even exist in the
world? To be honest, I'm scared to even think about it.
In any case, I need your Stones. I need to eat something, after all.
And no, I won't stop making jokes about eating stones.
Chapter 2: – The Beginning
In a forest somewhere in Scotland, something truly extraordinary was
happening. Dan fell to the floor, his back hitting the cold ground. His
lungs greedily sucked in short bursts of air, trying to pump more oxygen
into his blood. He was still in pain, his head throbbing with every beat of
his heart, his muscles coiling like snakes under his skin.
His eyes were wide open, darting from side to side, taking in new
information. Trees with thick trunks towered around him, blocking
almost all the light from the sun, orange leaves covered the ground like a
blanket, but they did nothing to soften his fall. Dan rolled over on his
side with difficulty, noticing that there were no bushes on the ground,
which didn't surprise him, with such lighting it would be difficult for
anything to grow.
Dan looked down at his body and his breath hitched. His clothes were
still torn and pulled to the sides, showing the world once pale, smooth
skin, now looking more like Wanderer's.
Slowly getting to his feet, Dan leaned against the tree to keep himself
from falling over. He was taller than before, but he wasn't sure by how
much, there wasn't anything around that he could compare himself to.
His clawed hands now dropped almost to the floor, barely touching the
ground, and his legs flexed with suspicious ease. His skin was stretched
over his ribs, showing every bone in his body. He was still slightly
hunched over in pain, so it wasn't even his full height, but judging by
how far the ground was from his view, he was very tall.
"{The Wanderer made me look like him?}" Dan wanted to say, but only
warping sounds escaped his throat. Unlike the Wanderer's voice, his
sounded more like rewinding a cassette.
Standing between dozens and hundreds of trees, Dan slowly caught his
breath. He heard birds chirping, insects fluttering, leaves rustling. The
forest lived its own life and Dan was an outcast here.
'Wait... I don't give a shit about that. Just go with the flow, don't worry
about anything too much. If you can't change something – adapt,' he told
himself and took a deep breath.
"{Gods, help me,}" he vwhooped.
He didn't sit still for long and began to explore the forest around him,
drawing a mental map of this place at the same time. But it quickly
became clear that his clothes were too small to walk comfortably in. He
took off his shorts and T-shirt, remaining completely naked and breathed
a sigh of relief when he saw his genitals where they should be. After
thinking for a moment, he tore the shirt on one side and wrapped it
around his waist like a loincloth. His shorts may be needed for something
later, so he hung them on his shoulder. All he had were clothes on his
back, the rest of his personal belongings were left in the ambulance, so
he would preserve whatever he had.
Dan walked in a random direction, looking around and scratching at
some trees, leaving marks, trying not to get lost even more. His claws
were surprisingly sturdy. Each tree in the forest was similar to another,
differing from each other in almost nothing, so he made his own
differences.
Along the way, he noticed a couple of things. The first thing that caught
his eye was that purple particles were flying around his body under the
sunlight. In the shadows, he was almost invisible, but if even a ray of
light fell on him, purple lights began to fly around.
He was ready to bet money on something that had already seen it
somewhere.
The second was the animals in the forest. He expected to see wolves,
foxes and snakes. He did not expect to see traces of unshod hooves.
'Cows? Not in the forest without grass, most likely this is the path that
wild horses often take. It would be helpful to know what time period I'm
in.'
Dan lifted his gaze from the ground and went to another tree to make
another mark, but as soon as he approached it, a strange green mantis-
like insect fell on his hand and bit his palm. Well, it tried to bite him, but
it's teeth couldn't puncture Dan's skin.
"{And what are you?}" He raised his hand to his face and took a closer
look at the "praying mantis."
The little dude looked like a combination of a young Groot and an
ordinary praying mantis. It was a strange creature, moving on three small
legs and having huge fingers on its hands. On a tiny head with small
black eyes, a formation resembling two leaves flaunts. "{I'll leave your
tree alone if you stop biting me.}"
The guy stopped trying to take a bite out of Dan and looked into his eyes.
For some reason, this annoyed the not-quite-human a lot, but he chose to
ignore the feeling. The mantis stood up on its three legs and nodded
slowly. This surprised Dan, even he couldn't understand his speech, but
somehow this mantis was able to understand and respond to his words,
even if in its own way.
"{I suppose you can't tell me where we are?}" Dan asked, getting a
negative shake of mantis' head. "{That's bad. You live here then?}" A nod.
"{Any humans around here?}"
The mantis paused to consider his question, but finally nodded. It looked
around and pointed to the side where the sun shone brighter.
Dan made an inhuman sound again. "{Do you want to come with me, or
should I put you back on the tree?}"
Instead of answering, the mantis pointed to his shoulder – where his
shorts were – and Dan placed it there. Now that he had a guide, Dan felt
a little better. He wasn't sure if this creature was magical or simply
highly intelligent, but decided not to worry about it right now.
They continued walking in silence, slowly approaching civilization and
Dan didn't know what to think.
He only hoped he didn't get shot in the face. Or worse.
The mantis was squeaking something in his ear – or in the place where
people usually have ears – pointing to the trees around and Dan nodded
intelligently, as if he understood what it was talking about. Gradually,
different trees began to appear in their path. Instead of tall sequoias, oaks
and willows have begun to replace them, making the forest seem much
denser.
Although the sun used to shine brightly, it was already getting dark,
letting Dan know exactly where the west was. The little mantis led him
towards the northwest.
Dry leaves crunched under his feet with every step. Dan didn't bother to
cover his tracks, he didn't think that the animals would hunt him and as
far as he could tell, there were no humans in this part of the forest.
Gradually, the sun went completely below the horizon and Mantis – Dan
decided that since the dude clearly didn't have a name, he would just call
him Mantis – hid in his shorts pocket to sleep. Dan felt stronger than
ever, as if the moon itself gave him the energy to move. Even the
darkness dispersed before his eyes, making the world as bright as it was
in daylight.
But in the end, Dan stopped. Without Mantis, he couldn't know if he was
taking the right path, and the idea of continuing into the night wasn't
the wisest. 'Now to find a place to sleep. The crown of one of the trees
should be high enough that wolves or foxes couldn't get me, and all the
birds will simply be scared away by my appearance. With my claws, it
will be easy for me to climb a tree.'
As soon as the thought flashed through his mind, Dan immediately found
himself on one of the thickest branches of the nearest tree, purple sparks
pouring from his body. He blinked a couple of times, trying to figure out
what had happened when it dawned on him that he had just teleported
with just a thought.
Dan sat down, leaning against the thick tree trunk and closed his eyes,
leaving his legs hanging down. 'Well, that's good to know. Apparently,
The Wanderer made me into a knock-off Enderman.' Dan thought about it
and left the panic to his future self.
-=-=-=-=-=-
At Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry – located somewhere in
the mountains of Scotland – Headmaster Albus Too-Many-Names
Dumbledore looked at the Book of Acceptance in confusion. It was an
artifact that wrote the names and dates of birth of all the potential
British-born students at the school, and now the book was doing
something strange.
Dumbledore was an old man over one hundred and fifty years old. He
was tall, with long gray hair and a beard down to the bottom of his belly.
Many will say that he was the most senile old man they have ever seen,
especially after considering his fashion choices. Bright yellow robes with
lemon embroidery on the sleeves, a blue pointing hat and half-moon
glasses on his once-broken nose.
The parchment sheets turned so quickly that they almost merged into one
image, sometimes flickering with colors that were inaccessible to the
human eye. Finally, the book opened to one particular page and the quill
rose from the table. It dipped a couple of times in the ink and began to
write between the names of the students.
[Danil Grigorievich Khromov – 18.09.1979] cursive letters filled the
yellowish paper and Dumbledore frowned.
The Book of Acceptance was not supposed to work this way, that much
was obvious. 'Fidelius charm to hide the student's identity? It's like what
a paranoid parent who fled the Soviet Union would do.' Many people did
something like that, the Magical Soviet Union was not the best place to
live. Dumbledore scratched his long beard as he thought about the new
incident. "But then the quill would write his name, it would just become
invisible to the eye," he muttered.
One of the many strange devices on his shelves clicked, announcing that
someone was standing at the door to his office. A look at these shelves
gave him an idea of who exactly was standing there. Severus Snape,
not Dumbledore's rare visitor, but not on the first day of school.
"Come in, Severus," he said calmly, already trying to guess what had
caused the Potions master to come so early. Maybe someone from the
fourth years melted another cauldron? No, it must be something more
serious.
A middle-aged man with greasy black hair and a hocked nose entered the
office, his robes were exclusively black, and his skin was pale as a sheet.
Severus wasn't the kind of person who cared about his public image, at
least not at first glance.
"Headmaster," he started. "My students reported that Hagrid's third year
class had a... unfortunate incident."
'Ah, so that's why he's here.' Dumbledore nodded. "Yes, I already heard
the report from Poppy, young Malfoy got scratched, didn't he?"
Severus looked like he wanted to roll his eyes. "I wouldn't call a
Hippogriff's attack a scratch, but yes, I'm here because of it. What will be
done with the beast now?"
Dumbledore sighed heavily and sat down in his chair, but still kept his
back straight, manners a man's face, after all.
"The school will take no action against an animal that doesn't know
better. Buckbeak will continue to live under Hagrid's care."
Severus furrowed his brows as he looked at the Book of Acceptance,
which was still open to the page with the new student's name on it.
"Maybe I'll accept that explanation, but Lucius will definitely demand the
head of his son's assaultiant." Severus read the words on the paper and
frowned even more. "Khromov? We don't have a student by that name
and from what I can see, he's not dead and doesn't attend other schools."
When a potential student dies, the quill strikes their name from the
register, forever remaining a memory of the child's death. If the student
chooses to study at another school, the name of the school will be written
next to the name. When expelled, the child's name simply disappeared
from the book, as if it wasn't even worthy to be written inside.
But there were no marks next to Khromov's name, Dumbledore wasn't
sure exactly how something like that was possible, but he had a couple of
ideas.
"No, we don't." Headmaster easily agreed. "I dare say I've never even
heard of a magical family with that last name. Though it's not surprising
given our new student's Russian roots."
Severus raised an eyebrow questioningly. "Are you going to offer him a
place at Hogwarts? Wouldn't it make more sense to find him and send
him back to Sov– Russia?" He quickly corrected himself.
Not even two years have passed since the announcement of the demise of
the Soviet Union, but most people have already got used to the new
world, which could not be said about the Wizards. The wizarding
community in Britain was much more backward compared to others, so
Dumbledore wouldn't be surprised if people continued to believe that
Russia was still under the control of the Communist Party.
"If Mr. Khromov wants, we will provide him with a way to return home.
But if he chooses to stay here, then I think the Ministry will let him."
Dumbledore spoke with confidence, knowing full well that the Ministry
wouldn't have much choice if he used all his positions.
Magical Russia was far from the best place right now, especially for
children, and Albus had no intention of sending the child to certain
death.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Simple_Russian_Boi
I don't know if I ever said that, but I love the beginning of different
stories. The first time someone sees magic, unknown creatures, or even
new worlds. I always liked how the characters discovered something
new for themselves.
On another, completely unrelated note, I know full well that Dan
doesn't react like a normal person. He simply accepts everything that
happens around him as a fact and moves on. Don't worry, the
emotional breakdown will be later.
Chapter 3: Southeast of
Acromantula's Nest
Dan woke up not from the blaring alarm clock, as usual, nor from his
sister shouting "get your ass out of bed!" and not even from a ray of sun
that fell into his eye.
He woke up as his face hit the ground hard.
Moaning in pain, Dan got to his hands and knees and rubbed where his
nose used to be, only to encounter two breath holes. He was in great
confusion for the first couple of minutes, but then the memories began to
come back to him.
"{Ah, so it wasn't a dream,}" he muttered and sat up, looking at the
branch he had fallen from. The tree he had teleported to last night was
quite tall, with branches only beginning near the top half of the trunk. If
an ordinary person fell from such a height, they would die on the spot, or
at least break a couple of bones. Dan only had a small bruise on his brow.
Mantis climbed out of his shorts – which miraculously didn't fall off his
shoulders – and squeaked something in his ear, but Dan just waved him
off. "{I'm fine, Mantis. You alright?}" Mantis squeaked and climbed on
Dan's head.
He scrambled to its feet and looked around. "{Where to now?}" Mantis
tapped his front foot on his head and Dan walked forward, sometimes
teleporting to feel the limits of his abilities.
Dan tied his shorts around his neck to keep them from falling off and
began to move.
Their hike was monotonous and quiet, filled with landscapes of identical
trees and small hills. Dan didn't like this forest, although it felt magical,
everything around seemed unnatural. Even the few animals he only
glimpsed looked like copies of each other, which is to be expected now
that he thinks about it.
The foxes stopped for a second, seeing his form and continued to run
about their business. The birds followed him, looking at him with
interest, though that might be because of Mantis. Other small animals
also followed him, as if he were a druid raising an army, but one irritated
sound in their direction, and the animals scattered away in fear.
His druid abilities aside, it wasn't all that bad. Mantis continued to
squeak from time to time, as if talking about this or that part of the
forest, and after a while, Dan even began to understand him somewhat.
Mantis didn't speak in words or sentences; he communicated through
emotions. Fear next to the birds and other hunters of this forest,
happiness next to the nests of small insects, uncertainty when a lot of
animals began to follow Dan.
He just tossed his new understanding of animals into the list of strange
things that happened in his life over the past day.
But after a while, the forest actually began to change. Cobwebs on the
trees, silhouettes of huge spiders hiding in the shadows, even the ground
here smelled of hostility.
"{Are you sure there's no other way around?}" Mantis jumped on his
shoulder and pointed to the left, emitting a squeak full of fear, but when
he turned to the right, his squeak was unsure, as if there could be
anything even worse than giant webs.
"{Fuck me I guess…}" Dan muttered and teleported forward.
Mantis crawled into the pocket of his shorts, leaving Dan to his own
thoughts and allowing him to focus on his surroundings. That's why he
had time to react when a huge spider the size of a car fell on him from a
tree. Dan immediately teleported to the side and instinctively fell to all
fours.
The spider hissed, raising its front paws and preparing to attack when it
made a fatal mistake. He looked into Dan's eyes.
A scorching hot fury boiled in his chest. 'How dare this lower being look
into my eyes?!'
With a cry full of rage, Dan rushed forward at the spider, which, not
expecting aggression from its prey, barely managed to jump to the side.
Dan's claws landed on the spider's leg, tearing it away from the arachnid's
body, but he didn't stop there. Teleporting behind the spider, dan placed
both of his hands on the monster's body with a satisfying crunch, and it
curled up on the ground, dead.
Dan just stood there, panting, still swimming in his rage. Even after the
death of the spider, he still felt disgust for this creature.
Clicking and hissing resounded throughout the forest and something
inside Dan growled, demanding the death of everyone who gets in his
way.
He didn't mind. He didn't mind at all.
-=-=-=-=-=-
Minerva McGonagall looked at the acceptance letter in her hands in
confusion for several reasons. For starters, acceptance letters were sent
automatically, the owls already knew where to get letters from and
where to send them. The second problem was that they didn't send the
letters so late, the school year had already begun, what's the point of
sending the letter now? The third was the date of birth of their potential
student, if what was written on the parchment is true, then Khromov
must be in the third year of his magical training, but he wasn't.
"Albus, what am I looking at?" She asked, trying to keep her face in a
stern look.
"A letter to a student, of course." Dumbledore replied smiling through his
beard, but seeing his Deputy Headmistress look unappreciatively, he
sighed heavily and motioned for her to sit down at the table. "I
discovered a strange situation with the Book of Acceptance. Yesterday
afternoon, a new name was written in the book, right above the name of
Hermione Granger."
Minerva nodded, Miss Granger was one of her favorite students, so she
knew when her birthday was. "But how is this possible?"
Dumbledore took an old book out of his desk drawer and placed it in
front of Minerva. "I think the answer lies somewhere here, in the work of
a Polish magician with no name. He invented interesting enough charms
to hide something or someone from the eyes of others." He opened the
book to a bookmarked page and showed it to Minerva.
[The Celare charm - usually used to hide the date of occurrence of an
event.]
Minerva blinked. "You think someone hid his date of birth? Why?"
"Not just his date of birth, then the Book of Acceptance would only have
written his name on the blank page, it wouldn't have been the first time."
Dumbledore shook his head. "Someone completely concealed his date of
birth, full name and even his place of birth. Everything is in this book."
The old tome was full of bookmarks of different colors and Minerva was
sure that she would find proof of his words.
"But I didn't answer the question why? And unfortunately, I don't know
the answer to this question. Maybe his parents tried to hide from the
persecutors from the former USSR for political reasons, maybe his life
was in danger because of the Dark Wizards, it won't be the first time such
a thing has happened."
Both teachers knew what he was talking about. Harry Potter, the Boy-
Who-Lived, hunted by one of the most terrifying wizards of the century
from birth. Even now, Voldemort's followers wanted to lay their hands on
young Harry. The name Sirius Black came to mind.
"And you want to send him a letter now? Albus, I'm not sure that's a good
idea. If this child was hidden from the world, there was a reason. The boy
may believe that any contact with the world is an attempt to find him
and do something terrible." Minerva said.
Dumbledore shook his head. "It was my first idea, yes. But then I read the
address where the letter should be delivered."
Minerva's eyes dropped back to the letter and she mentally slapped
herself for her impatience. But as soon as the words on the parchment
registered, fear settled in her stomach.
[To: Danil Grigorievich Khromov.
Southeast of Acromantula's Nest,
Forbidden Forest of Hogwarts,
Scotland.]
"Albus, the forest is full of Dementors, if Khromov hasn't met one yet, it'll
be a miracle! I don't even want to think about what he's doing next to
this– the Nest!" Minerva's facade cracked. "Why haven't we gone looking
for the child yet if we know where he is?!"
Minerva paused to take a breath, but Dumbledore began to speak again.
"I already sent Severus, Remus, and Rubeus to bring the child to safety.
You don't have to worry so much, Minerva." He calmed the woman,
trying to show her his point of view.
Rubeus Hagrid was a friend of Aragog and can negotiate with the spiders
if need be. The half-giant's blood increased his resistance to spells and
made his skin much thicker than that of an ordinary person.
Remus Lupin, as a werewolf, had a perfect sense of smell and could find a
child by scent that didn't belong in the forest, and was able to produce a
Corporeal Patronus to ward off Dementors.
And Severus Snape knew enough dark magic to protect a child from the
dangers of the forest, not to mention that Severus also knew his way
around the Patronus.
It was a solid team that should easily get the kid out of the woods if they
didn't have any unexpected obstacles.
-=-=-=-=-=-
The three previously mentioned wizards walked through the forest in
complete silence, except for the crunch of leaves under their feet. The
cold from the presence of the Dementors was long gone, remaining closer
to the school. Hagrid was sure that the spiders would not touch the child,
Aragog promised that his family would not hunt Hogwarts students.
Remus and Severus weren't so sure.
Severus knew that Khromov was not yet a student at Hogwarts, so he was
not protected by this "agreement."
Remus just knew the forest was called Forbidden for a reason. The
chances that they would find the corpse of a child, rather than a potential
student, was high.
"We're getting close," Hagrid said, clutching the crossbow in his huge
hands, pointing to the cobwebs all around. "Aragog's territory begins
here."
"Great. Knowing that there is an Acromantula colony in the forest next to
a school is quite helpful." Snape sneered. "Just what else lives in this
forest?" His wand was tightly clenched in his right hand, the pale skin in
stark contrast to the dark wood of the wand.
"Oh, quiet down. The children of Aragog might think we've come here to
fight." Hagrid whispered.
But the further they went into their territory, the stranger things got. The
places where Acromantula used to sit to guard their territory were empty,
small spiders ran away at one loud sound. The colony was seemingly
empty.
"Is this normal?" Remus asked.
Hagrid frowned, also noticing the oddity in their situation. "No, they only
act like this when there's a war or they find new pray…"
The three men looked at each other and, with silent curses on their lips,
ran towards the center of the colony.
"I said we should have gotten rid of the spiders a long time ago!" Snape
swore and for once, Hagrid didn't find the strength to protect the
blameless, innocent creatures.
Finally reaching their goal, the teachers were greeted by a bloody scene.
The corpses of spiders, large and small, lay on the ground. Severed limbs,
crushed bodies, the colony was dead, their nest now a grave. Hagrid
nearly dropped his crossbow, tears in his eyes.
"Aragog?" He called his friend, but received no answer. "Aragog!" Hagrid
called again.
"Hagrid? Friend, is that you?" An old voice sounded from the woods a
little further on.
Hagrid dropped the crossbow and it hung on his belt; the giant ran to the
place where the sound came from. Remus and Severus ran after the giant,
but their legs were much shorter than his, so they had to catch up with
him.
Hagrid stood opposite Aragog, who was surrounded by his children and
the children of his children. From the huge colony of Acromantula, only a
dozen representatives remained.
"What happened here?" Remus asked as he stopped next to Hagrid.
The spider twitched, unfamiliar with the voice of the new man in his
land, but answered the question. "A monster has… massacred my family."
Once a mighty king of his nest, now just a shell of himself. Aragog spoke
with difficulty, his vocal cords were not designed for human speech, his
old age did not help matters.
"He came from the Southeast, a monster… blacker than the night, purple
eyes in his scull… my children say." The teachers' nervousness grew with
every word he said. The School had enough problems, they weren't ready
for another one. "Ripped and rattled my land… killed my kind… Hatred
in his cries… malice in his attacks…. My son led him away from… the
center of the nest… never came back."
Hagrid wept for the dead spiders and lost lives, but Remus and Severus
were able to breathe a sigh of relief. Huge venomous spiders shouldn't
have been so close to the school, they could agree on that. 'But what
could kill hundreds of Acromantulas?' There was a thought in their
minds.
"I'll hope that this monster meets Black. It's even better if they take each
other out of this world." Severus muttered.
"None of your children saw a person here? A human child, to be exact."
Remus asked, trying to get back to their original mission.
Aragog clicked. "A human child? No… no, the last children we saw…
came last year… Asked about the dread creature they did."
Hagrid stopped crying and quickly turned white, as if he understood
what the arachnid was talking about. Remus, on the other hand, smelled
an unfamiliar smell, which was hiding behind the stench of blood and
entrails. There was something human in this smell, but at the same time
something animal. It was similar to the smell of an Animagus, but all
animagi smelled more like humans, even in their animal forms. Human
smell is not easy to get rid of. Of course, if someone stays in the other
form long enough, they will start to smell like an animal, but the human
smell lingered.
This smell was different. It was as if someone had mixed the smell of a
human and an unknown magical creature that traveled through the forest
for a few days. But he was human enough for Remus to follow him. If
Khromov was around, there was a good chance that it was his scent.
"Gentlemen, although this event is also important, I think I can smell Mr.
Khromov." Remus said, nodding to the side.
Hagrid quickly said goodbye to Aragog, leaving a promise to visit him
later, and the three professors continued their search for the child with
one last warning from the arachnid.
"If you meet this monster… Don't look him in the eyes." He hissed and
crawled into the cover of his webs, knowing he would be the hardest to
reach there.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Simple_Russian_Boi
Ooh, what is it? Dan almost completely wipes out a colony of
overgrown spiders and finds the cons of his new race? Yes, yes he is.
Meanwhile, the Hogwarts professors are already hunting him down.
Let's hope that their meeting will not be very bloody :)
Gimme Stones.
Chapter 4: Meeting Wizards
The monster tore through the webs and broke branches in his path,
smashing his way through small trees with barely a thought in his mind.
The corpses of huge spiders remained behind him, with broken heads,
severed limbs and slit bellies. Clear, yellowish blood covered Dan's claws
and legs. His mouth didn't close anymore, emitting purple sparkling
smoke.
He ran on all fours like a beast, rapidly teleporting from place to place,
killing every spider he met, even if they didn't look him in the eye. The
last spider was leading him somewhere, Dan was sure of it, but
destroying a colony of huge creatures was tiring and he just wanted to
stop, but couldn't.
In his blind fury, he didn't notice the narrow river and hit it with his
clawed hand. A low cry of pain escaped his throat and he pulled his hand
out of the water as quickly as he could. The boy-turned-Enderman glared
at his burnt hand, the pain so intense it was as if he had been doused
with acid. But then he caught a reflection of himself in the river,
forgetting all about the last spider.
He finally stopped his rage, just staring at his reflection in the slow river
in silent horror, adrenaline leaving his bloodstream.
Black skin covered his face and skull, the same color as his entire body;
deep-set purple eyes that glowed softly in the shadows of the forest. A
wide, toothy mouth extending from ear to ear, but he had no ears. Dan
didn't recognize his own reflection, and that wasn't surprising. It was not
his body.
His face and chest were covered with scratches, but no blood flowed from
them, his skin was too thick to be pierced by such weak creatures. The
bruises on his body weren't visible, but he definitely felt them, small
bumps on his body full of pain.
'What happened? Why did– I was so angry... Damn it, an I actually an
Enderman?!'
The realization last night wasn't as impactful as the one that happened
right now. Dan had a bad habit of pushing bad thoughts into the
background of his mind to deal with them later, but he couldn't do it
again. Not when the problem was right in front of his eyes. Not when he
was the problem.
Mantis climbed out of the pocket of his shorts and climbed onto his
shoulder, also staring at the reflection in the water. Dan's little friend
sensed that he wasn't in the best place right now and patted his cheek,
giving him his support.
Dan took a deep breath and gently stroked Mantis' head. "{Thanks buddy,
I needed that.}" He rose to his feet, shaking the blood from his limbs. "{I
think we both need to rest right now.}" Dan said and collapsed under a
nearby tree.
There were no caves around to hide in, or trees with spreading branches
to hide in. There were only conifers in this part of the forest, on the
branches of which each needle pricked annoyingly into his skin. Even
now the floor was strewn with a mixture of maple leaves – where did
they come from anyway? – and coniferous needles. But beggars can't be
choosers, can they?
Dan looked down at his still slightly bloody hands and frowned. The very
idea that a couple of hours ago he had simply destroyed a couple of
hundred giant spiders seemed unrealistic. What world did The Wanderer
send him to? Was this one of the worlds Dan knew? Why is he– well, The
Wanderer has already answered the question "why" in a way. He was
curious and he did what he did.
Mantis jumped off his shoulder and climbed a tree, food promising to
return in a couple of minutes. The little guy gotta eat, after all. Speaking
of food...
Dan's stomach growled, reminding him of his existence. He frowned,
looking down at himself. Knowing that he had a stomach was useful –
Dan doubted he had all the human internal organs – but now he'll have
to find food in this forest.
With the help of teleportation, even the worst hunter will be able to
catch prey, but in order to catch something, the hunter must find this
something first.
Tired, hungry and irritated, Dan sat alone under a tree, listening to the
sounds of the forest around him. Waiting for the return of Mantis. He
cleared a small part of the ground in front of him and began to draw his
old self next to his new face. The ground was hard and not at all suitable
for drawing, but Dan didn't care.
Looking at the finished pictures, Dan couldn't help but frown even more.
His body and face were completely changed, twisted into a parody of a
person. He had nothing left that connected him with his past, except for
clothes, and they wouldn't last long.
It was one of the first life lessons Dan learned.
Leaves crunched behind him, alerting him to someone approaching.
Someone big. Someone heavy.
Nothing lasts. Especially peace.
Teleporting onto a tree branch, Dan landed next to Mantis, startling him.
But as soon as the insect realized who appeared next to him, he
immediately calmed down and climbed along his leg up and onto his
shoulder.
A huge man with thick hair and a beard stepped out to the place where
Dan had just disappeared from. He was twice the height of the average
man and three times as thick.
"I swear I saw something here," he muttered and stopped under the tree,
right next to Dan's drawing.
"Hagrid, did you find something?" A voice sounded from the depths of
the forest and two more men approached the tree.
Dan just stared at them without even blinking. He knew these people, at
least two of them.
'Rubeus Hagrid and Severus Snape. The third one is Peter? No, Peter is a
traitor, the teacher was Remus Lupine? Lupon?' He thought, trying to
hide in the shadows. 'If it's not a crazy coincidence, then I'm in the
Wizarding World of Harry Potter.'
Many people, upon learning that they were reborn in the world of magic
and wizards, would've been happy, orgasmic, even. The mere thought
that they are capable of using magic will occupy most of their minds for
a long time. Unfortunately, Dan had a couple of problems with this
world.
For starters, he wasn't human anymore. Magical creatures, even
intelligent ones, were dirt underfoot in the eyes of many wizards.
Goblins, Vella, Centaurs and many other races were treated as beasts by
British Ministry law. Some more than others.
The only ones who were considered even lower than Magical beings were
the Muggle-borns. According to many wizards, the creatures at least
belonged to the magical world, Muggle-borns had no power here.
And Dan was technically a Muggle-born Being. His position was so shitty
that it was hard to imagine– no, not hard to imagine, but rather hard to
believe.
But this information was not the first thing that flashed through his mind
as soon as he realized what world he was in. It was something else.
'I know jack shit about Harry Potter.'
And wasn't that the sad truth? Dan has never been a Harry Potter fan. Of
course, he knew about its existence, knew the faces of many actors and
even remembered a couple of quotes and strange facts that no one needs.
He's just never been a fan of the series and now it's come to bite him in
the ass.
"There must have been someone here," Hagrid said, knocking Dan out of
his depressing thoughts. "The tracks have often disappeared, like he's
been jumping long distances, but they just end here."
Snape looked around in annoyance, trying to hide his shiver from the
Dementors' cold. He found it odd that they still hadn't encountered a
single Dementor in the forest, and that worried him. "Dumbledore needed
to call the Aurors... Lupin, now would be a good time to do your part."
Remus took a deep breath and jerked away from the tree in surprise. He
lifted his head up and met Dan's gaze.
This was the first mistake.
'This thing looks like a Dementor without a cloak.' Remus thought.
Rage began to boil in Dan's body again, and he sat down on a branch,
preparing to attack.
Hagrid and Snape followed his line of sight and also saw the "monster"
that Aragog was describing.
This was the second mistake.
"... I'm looking into his eyes." Lupin muttered as he slowly raised his
wand and moved away from the tree, Hagrid and Snape following him.
"You, idiot!" Snape hissed as his wand followed Dan. "That was the only
useful advice from the spider and you ignored it?!"
"Quiet, both of you!" Hagrid bellowed. "I've never seen anything like it,
but he doesn't look too aggressive... More curious."
Remus and Snape looked at Hagrid in shock, as if they couldn't believe
what he was saying.
This was the third and final mistake.
Dan didn't make a sound, he just pushed off the branch towards Remus,
claws outstretched, aimed at his neck.
Several things happened at the same time: Snape sent a bone-breaker
curse at the creature, Hagrid shoved Remus aside and got in the
creature's way, and Mantis held on to Dan's shoulder like his life
depended on it.
The bone-breaker was supposed to hit the monster's collarbone, but it
vanished into thin air, leaving behind a cluster of purple sparks. In the
next second, he fell on the shocked Hagrid from behind, trying to dig his
claws into his back. The giant grunted in pain and swung his arm wide,
knocking Dan to the ground.
"Hagrid!" Remus yelled as he sent a silent stunner at the monster. Snape
joined in the attack, sending a blood-boiling curse at Dan's blind spot.
He teleported again, dodging the spells and appearing over Remus. Dan
dug his claws into his shoulder and felt a morbid sense of satisfaction as
the man screamed in pain. The monster was so engrossed in Remus'
screams that he didn't even notice when Hagrid came up behind him and
wrapped both arms around him until he was airborne.
"Calm down, boy, we're not here to hurt you!" Hagrid spoke up, trying to
calm Dan down, and Dan actually stopped for a second, no longer
twitching against the giant's grip.
"We're very much here for that!" Snape muttered, not taking his wand off
the monster.
''Deep breaths, Dan. You can't lose your mind now. These are people, just
as intelligent as you are. Not these lowly creatures that looked down
upon you. Calm down, be quiet.' Dan convinced himself.
He let out a breath full of purple smoke and patted Hagrid's arms lightly,
telling the giant to let him go.
"You calmed down?" Hagrid asked and when Dan nodded, he released
him to the ground.
Now that Dan was standing at full height and wasn't blinded by a veil of
rage, Enderman suddenly realized that he was the same height as a giant.
Sure, he was much thinner than the bearded man, but that didn't make
him any less terrifying.
The atmosphere was tense. Remus had already stopped the bleeding in
his shoulder, but even now Dan could tell that the wound would leave a
scar. Hagrid dusted himself and Dan off while saying something about
changing clothes later, and Snape watched Dan cautiously.
Dan, in turn, tried to look above the heads of wizards around. He didn't
want to fight them again.
"{Sorry-}" Dan spoke, but hearing inhuman sounds from his own throat,
he abruptly stopped. He clawed his neck in annoyance, drawing Snape's
attention to the clothes on his body.
"Where did you find this?" The Potions Master asked suspiciously and
Dan couldn't blame him. He looked like the kind of guy who killed
people to steal their clothes.
'I remember he was a real bastard in the movies and books. Why is he
like this, again?' Dan thought for a moment and pointed to his throat,
giving a hint that he couldn't speak.
"Severus, I don't think he's capable of human speech." Remus was a little
pale, but still on his feet, holding a flask of some kind of potion, which he
finished in one gulp. "Koff- obviously he understands us, but he can't
answer." He added.
Hagrid scratched his beard in thought. "Can you write?"
"{Yes.}" Dan nodded and felt Mantis climb onto his shoulder to look
around, only to be met with Hagrid's face.
Hagrid and Mantis stared at each other in surprise for a couple of
seconds, until the little guy jumped back into Dan's shorts pocket with a
squeak.
"Where did– no, it doesn't matter now." Hagrid shook his head. "Do you
have a name?" He asked instead.
Dan nodded again and walked over to his drawing on the ground. He
removed the leaves that hid him from view during the battle and wrote
his full name on top.
[Danil Grigorievich Khromov.]
The three wizards looked at his work and when they realized what
exactly they were seeing, only one thought flashed through their heads.
'Fuck.'
Chapter 5: Hoggy Warty Hogwarts
The three wizards led the "monster" out of the forest, taking time to get
around the spider nest. Dan was grateful for that; he wasn't sure he could
stop himself from continuing the genocide on the arachnid race.
Dan didn't really like spiders, even before his transformation. The fact
that they looked at him with EIGHT eyes wasn't helping, Enderman's
instincts told him that this was comparable to a deadly sin and that all
sentient beings who looked into his eyes should die.
He wasn't sure why they should die, but they should.
Shaking his head to get rid of useless thoughts, Dan focused on the
current conversation. Remus started asking him "yes or no" questions to
get more information about his situation. At first there were trivial
questions: confirming his name, gender, whether he lived in the Soviet
Union before he found his way here – Dan was in great confusion before
he remembered that it was the nineties. And now the conversation was
starting to get more interesting.
"I'm sorry to ask such a personal question, but have you always looked
like this?" Remus asked gently.
"{No}" Dan shook his head, causing the werewolf to frown. Even with the
drawing the Enderman had made on the ground, there was hope that Dan
was just a scary-looking creature that had become attached to a human.
There was a good chance that, with teleportation abilities, the creature
had brought the boy with it, but that was not the case.
"Do you know why you look like this?"
Dan narrowed his eyes, unsure of his answer. Technically, he knew what
had happened, but he wasn't sure of the process and how could he even
explain that some random deity decided to play with his life? He ended
up raising his hand – hell, he had long arms – and shaking it in an
unsteady motion.
"Huh," Remus let out a surprised sigh. "So, you have an idea why you
look like this, but you're not sure?"
"{Yes.}" He nodded again.
Remus looked at him with interest. "I think I'm beginning to understand
the basics of your language. That sound you make when you agree is
constant." He noticed. "Stop nodding, I'll try to understand you without
moving."
Dan smiled in a way that looked terrifying on his face. He liked this guy.
"Ahem, let's continue." Remus smiled back. "Do you know that you are a
wizard?"
Dan stumbled over a snag that got in the way, but managed to keep his
balance. He thought that his new appearance and abilities were the end
of his changes, but apparently, he was wrong. "{No.}" He answered
honestly.
It complicates things, but at the same time explains something. His
appearance may well be a result of accidental magic. No one wanted to
think that he looked like this because of some dark ritual.
Remus nodded, deciding to ask about it later when they had a better way
to talk than simple questions.
"Well, I think that was one of the worst ways to learn something new
about yourself." Remus chuckled and made a face as his wound flared up
in pain. Dan looked at him with regret, he felt like a real bastard for what
he did to the man. And for what? Because Remus looked into his eyes.
"I'm fine, fine." Remus waved it off. "You have a great pair of claws, I'll
tell you. I don't remember when someone else could scratch me so hard."
Dan knew the man was trying to laugh it off, but it didn't help at all. "{I
can't decide if you're a joker by nature or just an idiot?}" He muttered.
"I think you said something rude."
Dan stayed silent, grinning to himself.
He felt that all three men reacted differently to his presence. Remus was
a negotiator, smart enough to make contact even with a taciturn creature
that only vaguely resembled a human. Hagrid was a guide and was
incredibly interested in the "creature" part of Dan's life. Snape was the
warden, ready to attack at the first sign of aggression.
Dan couldn't help but notice that this team was the perfect balance to
make him feel both friendly and distrustful. If he really is a wizard and
he was invited to study at Hogwarts, then he has already seen both the
carrot and the stick. He wasn't sure if it was an accident or not.
"Say, do you know what kind of creature you've become now? I've never
seen anything like it." Hagrid interrupted Remus' next question.
It wasn't the best question, if only because Dan still hadn't fully accepted
the fact that he wasn't human anymore. The question hurt, but Hagrid
didn't want to upset Dan, he was just far too curious for his own good.
"{Yes.}" Dan replied and the giant seemed to glow with happiness.
Dan took another step and shuddered, feeling like he had walked through
an invisible wall of warm liquid, only without any real water to make
him wet. And he was grateful for it, the water was like acid to his new
body.
"{What the fuck was that?}" He asked, turning to Remus.
"Ah, you must have felt the castle's wards. It's a magical defense system
that surrounds the school like a dome, keeping intruders out. Since you're
our potential student, the wards let you through."
The firs around were slowly replaced by oaks, maples and other
deciduous representatives of the forest. The dark, suffocating atmosphere
that was in the depths of the forest slowly vanished, leaving behind only
a slight sense of danger. A group of four were already approaching the
outskirts of the forest and it was showing.
'Like a dome? So I can just walk under it if I want to go in unnoticed?
That's stupid.' Dan thought and nodded his thanks.
"Seeing your situation, I think it's best if you wait for the Headmaster and
Deputy Headmistress at Professor Hagrid's hut." Snape spoke to Dan for
the first time. "We can only hope that what made you this way can be
fixed."
Dan just nodded. He couldn't understand what Snape thought of him. On
the one hand, Katya always said that Snape was the most hateful people
in the world. The man who abused his bully's son because he couldn't let
go of a lost love. But the Snape Dan saw in front of him was indifferent to
him, preferring to think of the monster as just another unpleasant task
that would cease to be his responsibility soon enough.
Dan preferred that attitude over the hate Snape gave Harry.
The line of trees finally broke and they went out to clearing around the
castle. Dan's breath was stolen by the sight before his eyes.
On the hill, above the trees all around, was an old gothic castle. Dozens
of stone towers rose to the sky, but four of them were much higher than
the rest. Some of the towers were turned at impossible angles, supported
only by what Dan assumed was magic. Even from afar one could see the
huge patterned stained-glass windows that served as windows in this
castle.
"Unforgettable view, huh?" Hagrid said to himself. "I would've been
happier if you were among the first years that went on boats, but there's
nothing we can do about it now."
Pulling himself together, Dan took several long steps to catch up with the
men who managed to go ahead while he was staring at the castle. On a
hill not far from the castle stood a small hut, surrounded by a field full of
huge gourds. A little further on there were animal pens, but now they
were empty.
Hagrid opened the door to his house and waved for the guests to come
inside. The furniture inside was just right for a giant man and Dan, but
for everyone else it was huge. The house had a pleasant antique feel
inside, with animal skins scattered across the floor instead of carpets and
a burning fire in the fireplace. It was the hunter's house, there was no
doubt about it.
"–here you should subtract the length of the wand, not divide by it,
Harry. We went through this last year; how could you forget that?" The
girl's voice came from inside the hut, causing everyone but Hagrid to
freeze.
"I don't know about you, but we don't have it all in our heads all summer.
How do you even remember all this?" A second voice answered and Dan
finally understood what was going on.
"Because I take my studies seriously, unlike you, Ron."
There were students in Hagrid's hut and neither Remus nor Snape knew
about it. The werewolf cast something on the door without a word and
closed it.
"Hagrid," he said softly. "What are three students doing in your house?
Pretty close to the curfew already, they shouldn't be here."
Hagrid looked at his colleague in surprise. "I couldn't leave Fang alone so
I asked Harry, Ron and Hermione to follow him while we were in the
woods."
Snape's face turned into something ugly. "Why did you ever thought it
would be a good idea?" He sneered.
Their assignment was to go to the Forbidden Forest, one of the most
dangerous and most fertile places in the world, to pick up a potential
student from there. There was a big chance Dan could be injured, near
death or even already dead, so the three of them could have witnessed
his demise. That's not even counting that Black was out and about,
snooping around Hogsmeade.
Hagrid at least had the decency to look ashamed. "I was hoping we'd be
back before nightfall. Aragog and his family could've helped with the
search."
Everyone looked at him with wide eyes, not understanding how he could
believe that man-eating spiders would help find a child.
The door to the hut suddenly opened with a loud creak and a girl with
brown curly hair was now standing on the threshold.
She blinked in confusion at the sight of the three Professors together,
especially with Snape. "Erm... Good evening, Professors," she said
uncertainly.
Snape quickly glanced at the spot where Dan should have been and was
surprised to see that there were only purple sparks in his place.
'Apparently this 'Dan' has more brains than I thought.'
"Good evening, Hermione. You and your friends can go back to your
common rooms." Remus said smoothly.
Hermione nodded and after a while the three of them left for the castle,
not noticing the tall black figure looming at the edge of the forest.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Simple_Russian_Boi
And here is the first look at our Golden Trio. I'll tell you in advance,
Dan will try to avoid them for as long as possible, but who knows how
successful he will be?
I know. I'll not gonna tell ya.
Chapter 6: Headmaster
Bumblebee and Professor The
Brave
Dan sat at the table in Hagrid's hut, looking apprehensively at the tea the
giant had placed in front of him. He didn't know if only water was hurtful
to him, or if tea would burn his throat too, but he wasn't about to check.
Remus, along with Hagrid, told him about the wizarding world and
Hogwarts, the school where he was supposed to study from the age of
eleven. Wizards here hid from ordinary people, hiding their existence for
the sake of safety. Dan felt that this was an extremely stripped-down
history of this world, but he hoped he could learn more in the future.
"Right, headmaster Dumbledore and professor McGonagall will be here
any minute, but in the meantime, I have a couple more questions." Remus
said as he sat across from Dan. Hagrid chose to take his chair on the left
side of the boy in the monster's body, while Snape chose to stand back
from their conversation.
Dan waved his hand, giving his silent consent to further interrogation.
"Great," the werewolf smiled. "Your apparition ability, could you do it
before you transformed into this form?" Seeing how Dan tilted his head in
confusion, he clarified. "Teleportation would be the Muggle term."
"{No.}" If Dan had the ability to teleport, God only knows how he would
use it. Most likely, he would have stolen enough money to be enough for
the next thirty generations of Khromovs.
"Strange…" Remus muttered, "Did something unusual happened before
your transformation?" He tried hard not to say anything about mortal
danger, but he hoped Dan could read between the lines.
"{Yes.}" The werewolf sighed heavily, heard his answer, and a potential
picture of events was already beginning to emerge in his head.
Danil, a young boy, lived his whole life without having the slightest idea
about the gift inside him, without knowing about magic. Instead of
receiving a legitimate magical education, he continued his life with no
interest in the oddities going on around him. Having no control, one day
when Danil was in danger, his magic broke out of his body, looking for
ways to save the boy and turned him into this.
How long did he spend in the forest? How long has he been traveling
alone…?
How long has he felt like a monster?
Dan, not knowing what Remus was thinking, was poking his finger into a
large mug of tea with interest. He didn't feel like a human, right, but he
didn't feel like a monster either. A bastard who wanted to kill a man just
for looking him in the eye? Yes. A terrible monster that scares naughty
children? Not at all.
Poking a mug full of tea was a dangerous game. At any moment, it could
fall on his feet and cause incredible pain, but Dan didn't stop. He was
bored.
"What about family?" Remus continued. "Parents, siblings, grandparents?"
Now Dan stopped. He tried not to think about his family, comforting
himself with the fact that he didn't die in the previous world. Yes,
another soul had taken his place, but it was still him. It was fine, other
him couldn't mess up things too much.
Right?
So, he replied, "{No. They're gone and the path back is closed.}"
Remus nodded in understanding, as if sensing his loss. He decided not to
ask about family ties anymore. Luckily, he didn't have to.
There was a knock on the door of the hut and two new faces entered. The
first man in the most disgusting robes the world has ever seen. Dan
already adored them. He was a tall, thin, very old man with silver hair
and a beard - both so long that he could well have plugged them in his
belt - on his wrinkled face were half-moon glasses, behind which sparkled
bright blue eyes. But even despite his ridiculous appearance, which was
more suitable for someone from a lunatic asylum, the old man felt
dangerous.
Dan immediately guessed it was Dumbledore. A man with more titles
than he needed.
Behind him came a tall, rather stern-looking woman with black hair
gathered in a strict bun and wearing square, thin-rimmed glasses. There
were a few wrinkles on her face, but Dan couldn't imagine that these
wrinkles appeared from bright smiles, more from the stern and frown
faces that she made when she reprimanded the students for yet another
prank.
Minerva McGonagall was her name. A woman who is ready to rip and
tear for her students, if not for the rules of the school and the laws of the
Ministry.
"Gentlemen, I take it that young Khromov's return from the forest was
successful?" Dumbledore asked with a smile, but froze when he saw Dan
sitting at the table. "A-Arwen?" He asked and stepped back; his smile
replaced by an expression of pure shock.
Minerva picked up the old man so that he wouldn't fall and also looked in
Dan's direction. She quickly turned white, but did not take out the wand,
seeing that all her colleagues were unharmed.
"{Who the fuck is Arwen?}" Dan asked in confusion, looking at the old
man on the verge of a heart attack.
Dumbledore pulled himself together and shook his head. "I'm sorry about
that, I confused you with someone else." Deciding that his strange
reaction should be quickly forgotten, Dumbledore turned the
conversation in another direction. "Danil Khromov, I presume?"
Dan tilted his head. "{You know the language I speak when I don't even
know its name.}" He remarked. "{But yes, it is my name.}"
The headmaster looked at Dan sadly, apparently not even noticing that
Minerva was trying to burn a hole in the back of his head. "Albus, what
are you talking about?" She hissed.
"Well, this is our potential student." Dumbledore replied, pointing at Dan
with his hand. Minerva just stared at him, silently telling to elaborate. "I
think it will be helpful to hear what our professors have to say. After all,
answering the same questions can be quite tiring, I know that very well."
The teachers spent the next half hour in quiet conversations – so quiet
that Dan couldn't hear them – and the very subject of their conversation
silently watched Mantis walk around the wooden table and look at the
scenery of the house.
To be honest, Dan didn't expect to find civilization so quickly, or even be
a guest in some sort of house. He was already mentally prepared to
survive in the forest for as long as it took, but in the end, civilization
found him first.
The knowledge that he was no longer just an Enderman, but also a
wizard, hung heavily on his mind. Why did The Wanderer send him to
the Magic World? What was wrong with other worlds full of magic?
There must be a reason, something Dan couldn't see yet, something that
slipped through his fingers like sand, leaving only specks of information
on his skin.
Maybe The Wanderer just wanted to make his life harder? It was one of
many worlds that Dan knew only minimal information about. Moreover,
with such an appearance as he has now, it will be impossible to live in
peace here. Someone will always see him as a threat to those around him.
'Dumbledore knows something,' thought Dan. 'Who could he confuse me
with? The name Arwen is rare enough that I can probably find
information about them. Or I wouldn't be able to find anything. Ask
Dumbledore directly?' He looked towards the assembly of professors and
frowned. 'I doubt it will work, but it's an option. I'll start with the old
man, and then I'll find out where the library is.'
"I see." Finally, Dumbledore said and turned back to Dan. "What exactly
happened to young Khromov remains to be seen, but first I want to test
one theory. May I try an Animagus reversal spell on you?"
Minerva, seeing Dan's uncertainty, began to explain. "In order to
understand what the headmaster is talking about; you need to know who
the Animagi are. They are wizards who have excelled in the art of
transfiguration and were able to achieve transformation into their inner
animal. We suspect that this may be the case with you, and that you are
currently in unfinished transformation. The spell Albus wants to cast,
should return you to human form, if successful." Nodding his thanks to
Minerva, Dan decided it was worth a try.
Dan got up from the table, almost hitting the ceiling with his head, and
readied himself. He didn't want to instinctively teleport out of the spell's
path like he had during the short fight before. "{Come on old man, but if
I die, I'll haunt your wrinkled ass until the end of time.}"
"Ah, what I wouldn't give to be so young and brave again." Dumbledore
chuckled back and a blue flare of light left his wand, hitting Dan the next
moment.
Everyone looked at his condition with strained interest, but seeing that
there was no change, the professors sighed heavily. How much easier it
would be if Dan was an Animagus.
"Well, that was unpleasant- oh." Dan spoke and English came out of his
mouth. His voice still sounded wrong, like he was trying to whisper
loudly into a microphone with a strange filter. He grabbed his throat and
continued to speak. "Testing? English works. {Testing?} Russian works.
{Testing?} That too." He muttered.
Dumbledore and Hagrid beamed with interest. "How peculiar, my spell
has technically returned you to your base form, but nothing has changed
other than your vocal cords. Mr. Khromov, you are a very intriguing
person."
Dan put his hands on the table, "Well, thanks. But what does that even
mean? Am I an Animagus or not?"
Dumbledore glanced at Minerva as he weighed his answer. "From the
results of the spell, yes, but something is preventing the spell from
working successfully." Dan looked down at his claws, unsure what to
make of it. "Don't worry, we'll try to find a solution to your problem. But
now we need to discuss what you will do next."
Dan tilted his head in confusion, but quickly understood the problem.
With his appearance, it will be very, very difficult to learn along with the
rest of the students. "What are my options?" He asked.
Dumbledore thought about it, but while he was thinking, Minerva beat
him to it. "I would suggest self-study with occasional advice from
professors," she said. "Of course, we can offer you first or third year
course, but in both cases, you'll have to hide behind either an invisibility
spell or a heavy veil of charms that will make you look even remotely…
human."
Again, the woman didn't want to hurt Dan with her words, but the
additional reminder of his situation was unpleasant.
"We can always send Mr. Khromov back to Russia." Snape added. "If he
wants it, of course."
"Fuck no!" Dan responded quickly, causing the professors to look at him
strangely. "Do you even know what's going on in Russia right now? After
the fall of the USSR, every politician with half a brain wants to tear off
his part of the country. Hell, even right now there is a wave of shit going
on in Moscow! I- what date is today?" Dan asked sharply.
Hagrid blinked a couple of times. "Err, the second of September."
"Yeah, no, I don't want to fall into the path of another revolution. Yeltsin
and his team of idiots will storm the White House any day now." He
muttered, turning over historical dates in his head. "I still don't count the
magical part of things, which I don't know anything about at all. I'm sure
there were magicians in the KGB and that the remnants of those fucking
beasts will prey on spies. I'm not going to go to my death." He said
firmly, glaring in Snape's direction.
"Language, Mr. Khromov." Minerva spoke automatically, but understood
his point. "So, you will stay in this country, but this does not solve the
issue of your education." She spoke.
Dan was silent. Before him was a very important decision that would
form his future.
He can choose to stay in England and study at Hogwarts. But war was
already visible on the horizon, which would begin next year.
Dan remembered something about other schools in France and Bulgaria-
no, not Bulgaria, somewhere else. It was a good choice, but it contained a
lot of uncertainty.
'What about other schools?' Dan thought, 'There's also the issue of money.
I can always make investments based on my knowledge of the future, but
this is a different world, things can go differently. I still have my
knowledge of drawing and programming, but these hands will be difficult
to work with.'
Dan took a deep breath. 'What should I do?'
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Simple_Russian_Boi
Bumblebee and the Cat are here.
Chapter 7: Setteling in
A/N: for those who are worried that I will give Dan a human form.
I didn't make the main character look like a monster just to return him to
human form in the first ten chapters. The return of his "humanity" is
Dan's goal in at least this volume, if not in the entire novel. This will not
be an easy task that will require not only knowledge, but also the help of
some people. I think you can name a couple yourself.
Moreover, his soul has already changed too much to be considered
human, so even his base form will not be human. His race is Endermen/
[Redacted].
So no Simple human bois for you. Not now, not ever :)
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
"For now, I'll stay here and self-study." Dan decided in the end. "I think
there will be a spare room in this castle to hide my existence from the
students. May I know what classes I need to attend? Or, I guess, study."
Dumbledore nodded. "Yes, you may, but I think it's best to continue this
conversation in my office, we've taken enough time from the professors."
After short goodbyes and good night wishes, Dan remained in the
company of Dumbledore and Minerva, who took him to the castle.
The closer Dan got to the imposing structure, the more he felt like the
magic of the castle was filling his veins with its essence. He could safely
say that he had never felt better.
Minerva cast an invisibility spell on him – which he was going to learn as
soon as he could – and the three of them walked through the main gate
and into the intertwining stone corridors of the magical castle. Dan
openly stared around, watching the moving portraits of wizards, witches,
knights and other people that adorned the walls of the passageways. The
moving stairs made him stop in shock, and he silently decided that he
would teleport to different floors when needed.
There were a lot of interesting little things in the castle and completely
unexpected things that no one in their right mind would think of bringing
into their home, let alone a school full of children. After all, who puts
medieval weapons on display where kids can get them? Dan will be very
surprised if no one has cut off a limb or two by accident.
The soft light from the torches illuminated their path all the way to
Dumbledore's office. Where the old man gave him a list of required books
for the first three years of study. Minerva said that the next morning,
they would go to Diagon Alley, where Dan, in a heavy disguise, could
buy all the necessary things for the school – fortunately, the Hogwarts
fund for poor students had enough money inside.
Of all the things he needed to buy, Dan protested the robes the most, at
least because no one should see him, especially since the student's robe
would look strange on the monster's body and give others a clue about
his situation. Luckily, Minerva agreed to visit the shop of a Muggle-born
witch who sold Muggle clothing made from magical fabrics.
In addition to clothing, he would need a cauldron, a set of crystal phials,
another set of brass scales, a telescope, textbooks on Astronomy, Charms,
Defense Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, History of Magic, Potions, and
Transfiguration, which were mandatory courses. For electives, Study of
Ancient Runes, Arithmancy and, strangely enough, Divination seemed
like the best choice for him, but he would look at the professors first
before choosing a subject.
Dan was told that he was allowed to bring his own pet, but he decided
that Mantis was enough. The little guy sat on his shoulder to look
around, gradually losing his shyness. But the main question of this
conversation remained in the wand.
"Uh-huh. Say it again, why can't I buy a wand from Ollivander?" Dan
asked, staring into Dumbledore's eyes.
The Headmaster sighed heavily and began to explain a second time. "The
Ministry of Magic takes the sale and purchase of wands very seriously.
Each underage wizard's wand is overlaid with what we call The Trace,
which shows where and when the student has used magic. If you buy a
wand from Ollivander's shop, you will definitely get a quality product,
but along with that, you'll get the Ministry's attention." The way
Dumbledore said 'Ministry' made Dan feel dirty. It was as if the word
itself was a curse. "I'm afraid if the Department of Creature Relations
finds out about your existence, they'll hunt you down even though your
intelligence and base is quite human. So we'll have to find another way to
get a wand for you."
They only finished talking when the clock struck midnight and Minerva
decided to show Dan to a room where he would stay for the time being.
Descending the revolving stairs in the Director's Tower, they arrived at
the fourth floor. Minerva led him through secret passages, taking short
cuts here and there, and ended up in the North passage far left from the
library. At least that's what Minerva said.
McGonagall and Dan stopped in front of a portrait of a frowning middle-
aged man. He sat at the table and read a particularly long sheet of
parchment, but it was impossible to make out exactly what was written
there. Professor turned to look at Dan, avoiding his eyes.
"Behind the Briton Graham painting is your room. Usually, it's reserved
for the young Lords of their Houses, who had to take on the burden of
running the family before they left Hogwarts, but we don't have those
right now." She explained. "Mr. Graham, if you please?"
Graham's portrait muttered something to itself and laid the parchment on
the table. He looked at Minerva and then at Dan, not even surprised by
his appearance – the Professor removed his invisibility when they
reached the portrait. "What do I see? I don't think this apprentice is
suitable for the position of a Lord. The clothes don't fit." Dan chuckled at
these absurd words. There were many things about his appearance that
didn't suit a Lord. "But it's not my place to meddle in the affairs of the
living. Password?"
"You can choose," McGonagall added to Dan. "Just please try to avoid
especially... Strong expressions."
Dan nodded and thought for a second. With a shrug, Endermen's tongue
came out of his mouth again, "{The living shall envy the dead.}"
The man nodded and the portrait he was painted on swung open,
allowing Dan to look inside. The room wasn't all that impressive, it
lacked a personal touch, leaving the decor almost non-existent.
Behind the portrait was a short corridor that opened into a fairly large
room that could only be called an office. An empty bookshelf, a heavy
looking dark oak table, a chair and a terry rug on the floor. Lilac color.
"Your private chambers and showers are on the left side of the room. I'd
say it's against the rules for you to let other students sleep in here, but..."
She pointedly remained silent, still unable to decide exactly how to deal
with Dan.
"I'm well aware about my own situation, Professor McGonagall." Dan
chuckled. "I doubt my Hogwarts training will be filled with new
friendships."
Bending down to go through the low pass, Dan took a step forward but
stopped when he heard Minerva's voice again. "For all it's worth, Mr.
Khromov, I hope your time here will be the start of something good."
She didn't want to say she was sorry for everything life had thrown at
Dan. During a long conversation in Dumbledore's Office, she realized that
Dan was not the kind of person who wanted pity. He accepted his
situation and had already started looking for a solution to the problems.
Dan didn't want to hear an apology; he was more practical than that.
"... Thank you, Professor," he said softly and for the first time Minerva
heard a truly human voice from Dan.
The portrait swinged closed behind the black figure of the Enderman and
Minerva could only sympathize with her new student.
"Black, Dementors, and now this..." She turned and walked back to her
sleeping chambers. "At least this year promises to be very interesting."
-=-=-=-=-=-
A visit to Diagon Alley took up the smaller part of the next day.
Dumbledore, as the only one of the Professors who had no classes,
disguised himself with Dan in order to draw as little attention as possible
from random wizards. It's not that Dan himself doesn't attract attention
with his enormous height. Now he looked like an unusually tall man with
dark skin and sunglasses to reduce the chance of eye contact.
He'll have to find something else to hide his eyes.
Because they had visited the clothing store first, Dan was now the proud
owner of black slacks, comfy sneakers, a gray sweater with too long
sleeves for his "camouflage" uniform, and an assortment of underwear.
He was sure that he would look like an idiot when the spells hiding his
appearance were lifted.
Purchasing books and other items –and some disgusting-looking potion
ingredients – was fast enough, as was finding the right clothes for Dan.
Given that he didn't even have a chance to visit Ollivander, they didn't
waste a second choosing a wand.
"So how do we solve the wand problem, old man?" Dan asked, avoiding
Dumbledore's name.
"Well, there are several options." Dumbledore replied with a smile. "We
can find you one of the wands that were lost by their owners during
Hogwarts. I remember the house elves talking about a special room
where they put away all lost or no longer needed things." For some
reason, the Headmaster seemed uncomfortable talking about house elves
in Dan's presence, but Dan didn't know why. "But this will only serve as a
temporary replacement at best. For a permanent wand, we'll likely have
to turn to personal wand-crafters."
Dan listened as Dumbledore told various facts about the creation of half-
ear wands, thinking about his position. Last night was hard for him. He
teleported from his room deep into the forest, where the tantrum finally
hit him like a wagon. Suffice to say, a new clearing and several fallen
trees have appeared in the Forbidden Forest. He thought he scared the
sleeping wolf that was nearby, but Dan was too blinded by his emotions
to care.
"- usually, the wood of an old tree grown in a place filled with magic, and
part of an animal: a phoenix feather, dragon heartstring and the like are
used for wands. Although I remember one rather interesting wand made
from dragon bone." Dumbledore droned on, "I still don't know how
Grigorevich did it, but he was always known for his experiments."
Dan blinked and looked up at Dumbledore. "Bone? I was expecting
something like a tooth, at least losing one wouldn't hurt a living thing
that much."
Especially since the dragon's tooth will be easier to get than the dragon's
bone.
"You're certainly right about that, but the most appropriate wand
materials aren't always the most obvious." He said.
Shrugging, Dan continued to follow Dumbledore to the last store for the
day, though the place they were walking to could hardly be called a
store.
As the old man said, the best chance to get a wand would be to turn to
personal wand-crafters. And they were heading to one such institution.
The store owner was indebted to Dumbledore for something – something
that Dan chose not to ask about – and the Headmaster decided to use this
debt to get Dan his first wand.
'Dumbledore is spending too much time and money on me.' Dan noticed.
'Have I caught his interest, or is he just trying to deprive the Dark Side of
another recruit? It's not that I want to join these psychopaths...'
But no matter how much Dan looked at Dumbledor's back, he couldn't
understand his true intentions. 'Time will tell.'
In the meantime, he had a chance to get his first wand, which could very
well be a success. Maybe. Most likely. Probably.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Simple_Russian_Boi
Will our boi get his wand in the next chapter? Why does Dumbledore
so hell-bent on helping Dan? Why do I write this?
Find out the answers in the next chapters!
Now I'm off to sleep, it's 4 in the morning.
Chapter 8: Not a chapter –
scribblehub
Well, now I will post not only on webnovel, but also on scribblehub. My
name and the titles of my stories will remain unchanged, so pretty soon
all my work will be available for PC users again.
Since text can be edited in scribblehub, this will take some time. So wait,
dear ones.
My slightly older novels will also appear on scribblehub, but I will upload
them gradually, together there are more than 300,000 words and I am
already dreading all the things that I will need to edit and correct. I'll
post the links to my novels later.
Chapter 9: Not a chapter – link
https://www.scribblehub.com/profile/98407/simple_russian_boi/
Chapter 10: If the wand won't
choose the wizard...
Webnovel is still a huge rat cage, so I'll keep posting on scribble hub as
well.
I think that if they pull something like this again, then I will stop posting
here. Granted, the change for PC users doesn't concern me much because
I usually write and read everything from my phone, but God knows if
they're willing to screw up their site this much, I wouldn't be surprised if
they screw up the app as well.
-=-=-=-=-=-
The bell rang over the heads of Dumbledore and Dan, both men not even
paying attention to the melody. The older preferred to find the store
owner as quickly as possible, while the younger stared around with
interest. This was becoming a recurring affair for the young demi-
human… Enderman… hybrid… creature…
'Mhm… I need to get information about my race out of the bearded one.
I'll give myself a bloody migraine otherwise.'
Dan was sure that Dumbledore knew a lot more about his appearance
than he let on. He knew the language of the Enderman, what they looked
like, and even knew an Enderman named Arwen. At least that's what Dan
thought.
The store was filled with samples of wood, around which were piles of
sawdust of various colors. All sorts of pieces of animals lay here and
there, as if thrown on the floor when they were no longer needed. Teeth,
bones, tufts of hair, vials of viscous liquids… still beating hearts,
twitching muscles.
The store looked like the basement of a mad genius who was trying to
create his own Pinocchio from wood and animal bits. The woodworking
tools were stuck in a table that stood against the far wall, and directly to
its left was a door, which was slightly ajar.
"Who's there?! We're closed today, go to hell!" An irritated voice came
from deep within the store.
"I'm sorry, Burke, but that I cannot do. My student is in a dire need of a
wand." Dan blinked, trying to remember where he'd heard that last name
before.
There was a bang and a loud crunch of wood behind the door, followed
immediately by the wizard's curses. The door swung open, hitting the
wall, scratching it where the metal handle had made contact with the
wooden wall. An unkempt-looking woman with straw-blond hair stood in
the doorway holding a broken piece of wood in her hand. A very sharp
piece of wood, I dare add.
"Jennifer, is your father in the shop?" Dumbledore asked, trying not to
look at the weapon in the woman's hands.
"Albus," she greeted as if looking straight through his spells. "Father went
to Turkey to gather more material, so he can't help you right now."
Jennifer answered briefly and threw the piece of wood on the table. The
girl was dressed in a jumpsuit – stained with a mixture of sawdust in
front – under which she wore a plain gray shirt.
"Well, maybe it's for the best." Dumbledore mused. "Could you craft a
wand for this young man?" He asked, pointing at Dan.
The woman only glanced at Dan and shook her head. "No, I still haven't
finished my training under my father. Everything I can create now can't
be called a full-fledged wand, only a prototype."
Dumbledore let out a quiet "Ah," in understanding. Wand-crafting was
one of the hardest arts in the wizarding world, so he was little surprised
to hear that Jennifer still hadn't gotten her Mastery in the subject.
"What about your father? When does he return to England?" Dumbledore
tried again.
But Jennifer just shook her head. "He won't be back until January. I'm
sorry, Albus, but you'll have to look for someone else."
Dan thoughtfully hummed, looking at the chaos going on in the store. He
was a little disappointed that they had come here for nothing, but
decided to ask something anyway. "Is there any way to determine the
best combination of materials for a given wizard's wand?"
If Dan can't get a wand today, at least he'll learn something new.
"Oh, that's the easiest thing. The best wand for any wizard or witch is one
made from the bone of their forearm and left eyeball." Jennifer answered
easily and picked up the file from the table. Every wand-crafter knew
this, even wand-makers knew this little "secret".
"Sorry, what?" Dan said in shock.
"You heard that right," she turned to the table and took a new blank from
a pile of pieces of wood. "Bone from a forearm instead of wood, and a
crushed eyeball for a core."
Dan stared at her like she was crazy. Who in their right mind would rip
out their body parts to create a wand? Although, given that there are
potions in this world that allow you to grow new bones in the place of
the disappeared ones... Maybe it wasn't so crazy after all.
"Then why don't I see every wizard and witch with wands like that?" Dan
continued his question.
"Oh, my naive friend, getting the ingredients for a wand isn't the hardest
part of making one." Jennifer said with a laugh. "To create this particular
type of wand, you will have to start and finish the whole process
yourself. No magic, no third-party intervention. But the most important
thing in creating such a wand is that it be your first in everything.
"The first magical artifact created with your flesh and bone, the first
focus with which you will find a real bond with… The first attempt to
create such a wand." She looked at Dan, who was hunched over to keep
from banging his head against the ceiling. "When creating any wand,
everything must be perfect, because even the slightest mistake can lead
to its destruction. You shouldn't forget that you have only twenty-four
hours to create this wand, after you have obtained the ingredients for it,
otherwise they just rot."
Dan nodded slowly, not understanding why the crazy woman was telling
him all this. He wasn't going to tear himself apart to create a wand, damn
it!
"So not only do I have to pull out my own bones and eyes, but right after
that, I'll have to start making a wand. With only one working hand and
eye. Sounds terrible." Dan commented.
But Jessica only laughed in response. "Oh, that's not all! You can't even
use potions to numb the pain. That's why even masters like Ollivander
and my father didn't even try to create wands like that. I'm sure someone
besides them tried, but seeing that other than Albus and Voldemort
haven't been very strong wizards lately, I highly doubt it." She finished
and returned to her work.
Jennifer spoke with such confidence that Dan thought she spoke from
experience. Not that he was going to ask about this sophisticated method
of torture anything else.
Dumbledore just stood there, scratching his beard in thought. It wasn't
the first time he'd heard of this method of making a wand, but after his
first wand contacted him. He suspected that only the most insane and
secret families prepared their children for this event. But now in front of
him was perhaps one of the few people who wasn't a child and could
theoretically create such a wand.
Of course, that didn't mean that Dumbledore would force Dan to do it.
No one should go through such torture.
"I think it's time for us to go," Dumbledore decided. "The wand is an
important part of any wizard, but we'll have to find it somewhere else."
-=-=-=-=-=-
They didn't, in fact, find it somewhere else, even in darker stores. Each
stick just exploded in his hands. The shopkeepers weren't very happy
with this reaction, but explained that his magic was too strong and
aggressive for traditional wands and that he would most likely have to
find something else to cast his magic with.
"What now?" Dan asked Dumbledore.
"Well, now I need to figure out how to explain your appearance to the
rest of the professors at the school. Unfortunately, not all of them will be
happy about your late arrival." He said disappointed. "We rarely accept
students this late, many will be unhappy about it. Although given our
situation, I think everyone will have other problems on their mind."
Dumbledore was a beacon of honesty right now and Dan didn't like that
at all.
"Really? What's going on right now that the professors won't pay much
attention to my appearance?" Dan asked with interest.
And Dumbledore started talking about everything that was going on at
the school, from Sirius Black's escape from Azkaban to the Dementors on
school grounds.
Sirius Black was considered almost the right hand of Voldemort, who was
thrown into the worst cell in prison for his crimes. The murder of twelve
Muggles and Peter Pettigrew, breaking the stature of secrecy, being a part
of a terrorist organization and being a reason that Lord Potter and his
wife are dead. The last one wasn't a real charge, but people generally
believed that he was the one to blame.
With the Dementors it was much easier, they were wardens in the prison
where Black escaped from. These were creatures that fed on the positive
emotions and souls of people. Terrible, twisted creatures sent to hunt
down Black.
"And what idiot decided to send soul-sucking Demons to a school full of
practically defenseless children?" Dan asked and raised an imaginary
eyebrow. Lately, he's been annoyed that he has a face that can only scare
people.
"The Minister of Magic decided this was the fastest way to catch the
criminal." Dumbledore replied, ignoring the ridiculously accurate
description of Cornelius Fudge.
"Huh." Dan tapped his long finger against his chin. "If I find a way to kill
these creatures, will anyone try to stop me from doing the deed?" He
asked more to himself than to Dumbledore.
"Unfortunately, the Dementors are the property of the Ministry, so you'll
be charged a hefty vandalism bill," the old man answered anyway, more
amused than frightened by the teenager's words. "But many will even
thank you for ridding the world of these creatures. They took too many
innocent lives in the past."
Dan looked at Dumbledore with an unreadable look for a couple of
minutes. This was a man who had seen two wars in his long life and had
long been preparing for a third. He may not show it, but killing all the
Dementors will help a lot if Voldemort returns. The main thing is to
know how many there are in the whole world, the rest is a matter of
technique.
"Do you want to swap war stories when you have time?" Dan finally
asked. "I remember enough about the collapse of the USSR to scrape
together a couple of funny ones." Of course, these will not be his personal
stories, but those that he heard from his grandfather and parents, but
who can say that he is lying?
Dumbledore nearly tripped on the asphalt in shock, but eventually pulled
himself together faster than anyone could see. "I don't think war stories
are the right topic to talk about with teenagers."
Especially the Second World War. Dumbledore had no funny or pleasant
memories of that at all.
"Why not? I think it's a great way to look at things from a different
perspective. Usually, young minds are much more creative than old
ones." Dan shrugged. "I'll hear how an experienced wizard fights, and you
will hear how the flexible and creative mind of a child works." This is
how Dan traded stories with his grandfather. Kurt told him about difficult
situations in great detail, and Dan figured out how to get out of them
with minimal losses. "And you still need to introduce me to the other
Professors, when is the best time to do so, if not over a pint?"
Dumbledore chuckled into his beard. "Young man, don't tell me that you
want to get my professors drunk to get dirt on them."
'That wasn't my first thought, but it's a good idea.'
"Of course not!" Dan responded quickly. "Compromising evidence is
useless if I don't know what kind of person I'm dealing with. So, I want to
get to know my professors better and get the best rumors and blackmail
on them."
Both men laughed softly to themselves as they continued to walk through
the crowds of Diagon Alley. They both knew how important it can be to
have dirt on the right person, especially in turbulent times like this. No
one even noticed when they disappeared with the quiet click of
Apparition.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Simple_Russian_Boi
Webnovel is still a huge rat cage, so I'll keep posting on scribble hub
here as well.
Chapter 11: The hole in the Hall
Upon returning to his room, Dan put on his new… ahem, school uniform
and decided to seriously think about his life. He had black slacks on his
feet, but he chose not to wear boots, his claws on his feet would have
torn them apart. He wore a beige sweater with very long sleeves, which
still couldn't completely cover his arms. But the most important addition,
in Dan's opinion, was a pair of purple steampunk-looking goggles that
eliminated even the slightest chance that anyone could look into his eyes
directly. Mantis had found shelter on the back of his collar, where he
now slept quietly.
Passing his hand over the bookshelf with his new textbooks, Dan silently
read their titles, still not understanding what he needed to do – what he
wanted to do. No, he wasn't thinking about something small like which
book he should start studying, his thoughts were much more grandiose.
'I think you'll do better in the world with magic.' The Wanderer said a
few days ago.
It was said with such certainty that even Dan believed it. And why would
The Wanderer lie about his possible affiliation to magic? But questions
were still swirling in Dan's head.
"{How can I be better? Why do I need to be better?}" Dan asked himself.
Sitting down on the bed, he dragged his clawed hand across his face in
frustration. Dumbledore escorted Dan to his room and left as soon as the
opportunity presented itself, the teenager didn't even have time to ask
anything. Now he was completely alone with his thoughts again.
"{Magic-shmagik…}" Looking down at his black, thin hands, he couldn't
help but let out a low curse. If he looked like a human, then he would at
least have the ability to slip under most people's radar and learn the
secrets of magic in peace, alone. Like he already studied programming
and drawing. But now…
"{Now what? Learn some magic and hide for the rest of my life?}" The
very thought was repulsing to him. "{No. No, no, no. I will walk under
the sun without fear of death. No need to hide, no need to run. The only
barrier between me and the world is fear.}"
Clasping his hands, a fire of determination lit up in his eyes. Before
changing his life, he needed to know what he was capable of. Teleporting
out of his room, Dan found himself on the outskirts of the Forbidden
Forest. He didn't know how far his teleportation abilities went, but he
wasn't going to test it without proper support from wizards and healers.
"{Magic is part of every Endermen.}" He said to himself as he approached
the tree with the thick trunk. "{Magic is a part of me.}" Dan put his hands
on the tree and stopped. He didn't know exactly how to do what was in
his mind, but that wouldn't stop him from trying. Taking a deep breath,
he concentrated and the space in his arms collapsed.
Dan looked at the small cube in his hands with a terrifying smile. The
tree was left hanging in the air, its trunk parted with perfect cuts, and the
top part floating in the air. He put the block of wood back in place and
nodded as he saw the shape of the tree recover and become whole again,
just a lot squarer in the middle.
'It works. Do Endermen have an inventory or the ability to craft
everything like in the game?' He thoughtfully took the log back into his
hands and began to stare at it without even blinking.
"{Now, how do I do this?}" Dan asked himself, but got no answer.
He circled the log in his hands, mentally calling up an inventory or
something, but nothing appeared. Tilting his head to the side, Dan tried
to tear the log apart, and to his surprise, he succeeded. It split into four
equal pieces and fell to the ground without spinning.
"{Huh,}" he sighed. The fact that the blocks didn't float a couple of
centimeters above the ground was… unexpected. Given that right in front
of him, a tree hung in the air.
Picking up the planks one by one, Dan looked at them like they were the
rarest material in the world. Deciding to continue with the next step, he
put them together and was disappointed when he saw that they didn't
change.
"{That complicates things.}" He looked around and his eyes fell on the
castle where he would most likely spend the next few years of his life.
And wasn't that a terrifying thought? "{Hmm, does that work with
walls?}"
It did.
-=-=-=-=-=-
The Forbidden Forest was stranger than usual.
Not many people could remember every tree that grew in the forest, and
even fewer people could say at least something about the bushes around.
So even if someone noticed the disappearance of a pair of trees, they
didn't attach any importance to this.
What people have definitely noticed is a two-meter square hole in the
higher half of the Great Hall's wall. Students from all the houses stopped
at the doors to stare in confusion at the perfect square hole to the left of
the passage. Moreover, the missing pieces of the wall were nowhere to be
seen, as if the stone had decided to open itself. It was in this state that
Harry and Ron found the wall when they came down for breakfast in the
morning.
Professors McGonagall and Flitwick stood next to the hole and quietly
discussed something, sometimes casting spells unknown to the students
on the hole.
"Who would do such a thing? The walls of the Great Hall are warded, I
don't remember the last time someone could scratch even one brick!"
Flitwick said to McGonagall, staring at the hole as if spellbound. If it was
one of his ravens, he would immediately reward them with a hundred
points for such precise work! Right after he gives them detention.
"Looks like a very strange prank," McGonagall replied, "but without any
joke in the end. As if the mere existence of the hole is enough for a
laugh," she muttered. "Most likely it wasn't the Weasleys."
Harry and Ron looked at each other and quickly walked to their usual
seats, Hermione was already sitting at the table, a book on Astronomy in
her hands. The girl looked tired, with small black circles under her eyes
and even more unruly hair than usual.
"Hermione, do you know what happened?" Harry asked, nodding towards
the new passage.
The girl glanced at the hole without much interest and shrugged her
shoulders. "I have no idea. Lavender says the ghosts got tired of walking
through the walls and asked the Castle to open another passage," she
rolled her eyes with a quiet huff. The very idea that the ghosts had made
a hole in the wall was silly to her.
Harry looked at the hole, unsure what to think of it. Of all the strange
things he had seen in the castle, this one was… not the strangest, to be
honest, but one of the most useless. Somewhere at the level of false doors
that hid smooth walls behind them.
Suddenly, like the devil in a snuffbox, Ron's brothers fell onto the bench
on either side of Hermione. They were twins: Fred and George, two
people who were considered the most successful pranksters in the castle
today.
"Miss Granger, we are disappointed in your distrust of your fellow
students!" The first brother said. "But we perfectly understand your
position." The second continued. "To be honest, we are even disappointed
in what is happening." "Such great opportunities and terrible execution."
The brothers sighed in perfect sync. ""What a disappointment!""
"Someone found a way to break down the walls at Hogwarts and all they
did was open a hole in the Great Hall!" "Why, I would tear down the wall
between the boy's and girl's showers!" Presumably Fred declared, waving
his arms so wide that Hermione had to dodge them.
Their strange match of verbal ping-pong came to an abrupt halt as
Professor Lupin passed behind them. "I hope you don't try to repeat what
someone has already done before you. It would be very unoriginal."
This caused all five of them to stop and just stare at the back of the
departing Professor in disbelief.
"Did he just… admitted that someone at Hogwarts already managed to
bring the wall down?" Ron asked in shock and received nods from his
brothers.
"Now I'm really wondering how it happened." Fred said. "Agreed, oh,
brother of mine. I wouldn't mind knowing how they did it." ""For research
reasons, naturally."" They said together.
She slammed her book shut and hit Fred on the shoulder with it and then
George – who, unfortunately, dodged. "You both are pigs." She hissed and
stormed out of the Hall; her book clutched in her hands.
Ron shook his head, annoyed at his brothers. "Now she'll be irritated all
day, thanks guys."
Harry just sighed heavily and put himself a couple of fried bacon on his
plate, thoughts of the strange appearance of a hole left his head by the
end of breakfast.
Hermione had been acting weird the last week and was more tired than
usual, so she would be irritated today anyway. But the idea that the wall
between the showers could disappear was actually interesting.
'Hermione in the shower…' Shaking his head vigorously to clear the
sudden thought, Harry shoved a piece of bacon into his mouth. 'Nope.
Not now.'
The Professors never found out who exactly left a huge hole in the wall.
If one old Headmaster had a suspicion, then he didn't share it.
-=-=-=-=-=-
Dan – the cause of the confusion of several hundred students and dozens
of Professors – was sitting on the roof of the Astronomy Tower and
turning over new facts about his powers in his head. For starters, he
could pick up any "block" that caught his eye. Wood, leaves, earth, stone,
brick, tile, glass and more. He couldn't lift the water, whether it was
because it hurt him or because it was liquid, Dan didn't know.
When he took parts from – for example – trees that were as straight as
poles, they simply split in two. The upper part freezing in the air,
denying at least two laws of physics.
With his first teleportation ability, he could be a perfect one-person
moving company. Not that he was going to waste his time on such
nonsense.
Unfortunately, he didn't have an inventory or the ability to craft new
things in a blink of an eye, which was a disappointment, but Dan decided
to enjoy whatever reality-breaking abilities he had.
But the last ability he noticed was the ability to exhale a cloud of
sparkling purple smoke. It didn't hurt Dan in any way, but the grass
around where he sat died as soon as the smoke touched it. He was unable
to speak any language other than the Endermen after he used this ability.
Dan assumed that he was subconsciously reshaping his throat like
Dumbledore's spell had done.
This was not one of the Endermen's abilities in the original game. The
Ender Dragon breathed death magic, but Dan doubted a regular
Enderman would have the same ability.
In the end, Dan had a short mental list of his abilities: teleportation,
death breathing (presumably), silk hands, and magic. See the weirdness
in the last point? Could magic be considered part of his abilities, or were
his abilities part of his magic? Dan only miraculously remembered that
dragon breath was called death magic, did that mean he had actually
been using magic all along?
'Well, that sounds logical. But I used them all without a wand…' Dan
raised his hand in front of his face and wiggled his index finger.
"Lumos," he said and narrowed his eyes when nothing happened. Dan felt
something move in his body towards his hand, but stopped right at the
tip of his finger, not finding enough strength to get out.
"{Lumos.}" Now, his voice sounded like an order and magic rushed down
his arm like lightning. Dan didn't know if this was the result of his intent
or the use of the Endermen's language, but something had happened.
Above the tip of his finger, a very small light began to float, so small that
it would be impossible to see it in a well-lit room.
'That, I can work with.'
Dan didn't sleep again that night, only turning on and off the ball of light
on his finger. It was white, looking more like a flashlight bulb than
sunlight, but Dan didn't complain. He couldn't get his magic to cast other
spells, but even so, he was content with his progress.
Today, for the first time, he consciously cast wandless magic.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Simple_Russian_Boi
How do you like his "discovery" of wandless magic? I think it makes
sense for him to be capable of weak spells without a wand, given that
his race is much more deeply connected to magic than pathetic
humans.
He will be able to use all spells up to the third year and a few selective
spells from the fourth.
Chapter 12: There won't be blood-
shed
"There will be blood-shed! The man in the mirror nods his head." Dan
sang quietly as he walked through the empty halls of Hogwarts.
The body of an Endermen was confusing. Dan figured that out pretty
quickly and a week of calm under the protection of the castle confirmed
it.
He didn't need to sleep as much as normal people and felt much more
energetic at night. Although Dan still felt hunger, thirst was something he
forgot about on the third day in this world. Which was convenient,
because he wouldn't have to drink something that could very well burn
him from the inside. He didn't need to go to the toilet or bathe because
his skin didn't sweat and seemed to repel dirt, earth and even dust. He
still cast a cleansing charm on himself every morning, just to at least feel
cleaner.
Dan progressed quite fast in his studies of magic, theory and spells
themselves came to him quickly, as if he had already done all this before.
The feeling of déjà vu never left him while reading books or practicing
spells, remaining in his mind every time he learned something new in
magic. The first-year spells didn't take too long to learn. These were the
basics of the basics, spells designed to teach children to control the flow
of their magic. Of course, there were a couple of useful spells, Dan even
reworked the Lumos spell into four spheres that flew around his body,
but these were still far too easy. To tell the truth, theory took up most of
his time because he couldn't read and understand the seven major books
in one week. Not counting the additional ones, of course.
In part, this could be attributed to his past life, where he read about
various spells and their effects, but it did not explain the cases when he
stumbled upon another completely untouched section of magic. Druid
magic, for example. But all this has nothing to do with what Dan was
doing now.
Under the soft light of the moon, the only Enderman in Britain wandered
the corridors of the ancient Swedish castle, trying to escape from the
oppressive atmosphere of his room. It was too empty, like a roadside
hotel room that you had moved into just to sleep and would be on the
road the next day. Dan didn't have many personal items, and even those
were already in their closets or drawers. There were no new things in the
room since his last shopping trip, simply because Dan didn't even try to
add anything new.
Of course, if we don't count the oddly shaped scratches that appeared on
the walls after every time Dan actually slept.
As he walked across the castle's cold stone floor, Dan couldn't help but
notice how much the atmosphere around him had changed. If during the
day everything around breathed happiness and excitement, then at night
even the walls glistened with unsolved mysteries. Approaching the
moving stairs, Dan stopped. He heard the quiet voices of teenagers from
somewhere below, but couldn't make out the words. Someone, like him,
was wandering tonight.
'Hmm... Time to turn back, then,' he turned toward another corridor, but
stopped when something reached his ears.
"–throw her in a closet. Let's see how Loony likes to lay naked there all
night." The girl's voice was filled with dark anticipation.
Dan glanced down the stairs, but could only see the top halves of three
female students, two of whom were dragging a struggling fourth.
"Imagine what will happen when the door opens in the morning and
everyone sees this freak!" The second girl almost shouted in glee, only for
the others to start shushing her.
Anyone who sees these three will immediately understand that most
likely they are not friends of the blonde.
Seeing such a situation, some would rush to save the girl without even
thinking about the consequences of their actions. These people would
confidently go to the girls and try to do something to prevent the brutal
bullying and come out victorious in the situation by getting at least one
friendship out of it.
Others would have helped the girl when everyone had left by opening the
door and providing comfort to the victim. Maybe even promising to pour
hell on offenders at the right time.
Dan wasn't that kind of person.
He wasn't going to play the hero when he wasn't. He usually didn't care
about people he didn't know: homeless people, dogs on the street, old
geezers who needed to cross the road; he ignored them all. If his family
or one of his friends needs help, he will definitely help in any way he
can. But going out of your way just to help someone you don't know? No
thanks. Especially when there is an alternative that will bring more
results.
One of the girls pushed the platinum blonde into the closet and Dan
frowned.
"Well, that's not nice," he muttered and disappeared.
-=-=-=-=-=-
With Loony already in the broom closet, her eyes wide with fear, and her
wand in Marietta's hands, all Sabrina had to do was jinx her clothes off
and hit the door with a couple of locking charms.
Why did three exemplary Ravenclaw students decide to go for such a
mockery? No one but them could know.
"Sweet dreams, Loony," Sabrina sneered. She really didn't like people like
Lovegood. Just by their presence, people like her brought shame to the
name of Ravenclaw! Not to mention her stupid newspaper, which is
published by her equally stupid father! "Depone!" A bright flash of light
blue left her wand, but to the great surprise of all four girls, it simply
shattered on an invisible barrier in front of the door.
The girls quickly looked around and in shock noticed the deadly calm
head of their house, who was standing near the stairs, his wand pointed
towards the barrier. He stood in his blue pajamas, fluffy bunny slippers
on his feet, but even so, his gaze made the girls tremble.
"Miss Gibson, what do you think you are doing?" The usual jovial notes in
his voice disappeared, their place was replaced by steel.
"Professor!" She exclaimed, quickly trying to come up with some
explanation that wouldn't lead to her being expelled. "It's not what you
think! Loony–" That was a mistake.
"Her name is Luna Lovegood, if you want to pronounce it correctly,"
Flitwick interrupted her. "But please, do go on, I want to hear what
explanation you can give me. If I'm not mistaken, you wanted to use a de-
clothing jinx on Miss Lovegood while her wand was in Miss Edgecombe's
hands." Marietta quickly tried to hide Luna's wand behind her back, but
her hand stopped at the professor's words. He was looking at his students
with disappointment. "Well?"
Sabrina lowered her head to hide her anger. Flitwick should have been in
his office! Today was a Wednesday, and every Wednesday he evaluates
his students' homework, what is he doing here?! It doesn't make any
sense!
But alas, everything was quite simple. Dan teleported to Flitwick's office,
quickly explained what was happening to him, and teleported him
around the corner. It didn't even take a minute.
Dan met all the teaching staff at the school a couple of days ago and
received a warm welcome, although Professor Sprout was concerned for
the safety of the rest of the students, given his... Ahem... Dark nature. He
heard Professor Trelawney whispering about Obscurus and decided to try
and find books with the word when he could.
"As I thought." With a wave of the wand, the barrier disappeared and all
the students' wands flew into his hands. Filius went to the door and
looked at Luna, who just stared at him with wide eyes. "Can you stand,
Miss Lovegood? You can be sure you're safe with me."
She nodded and pointed to her throat, making Filius not frown. "A
silencing spell too?" He muttered and waved his wand again.
Flitwick was disappointed in his students right now. Not only did they
want to embarrass their housemate in front of the whole school, but they
also used Charms to do it! The subject he taught! But that was just salt in
the wound, the main problem was still their unforgivable behavior. Even
the Marauders never stooped so low!
"Thank you, Professor..." Luna said while rubbing her throat.
"You're quite welcome. Well, now I'll ask everyone to follow me to the
Headmaster's office." He cut off all protests with one glare and motioned
for the three girls to go ahead, Luna walking beside him.
Flitwick just couldn't believe the behavior of his students. How dare they
bully a second year like that? What gave them the idea that they would
go unpunished?! He wasn't going to sleep until he got all the answers.
Unseen by everyone thanks to Flitwick's spell, Dan walked a little behind,
looking at the silver-haired girl in front of him with interest. If anyone
could mistake her wide gaze for fear or shock, then Dan saw something
else. Acceptance.
Artists were the kind of people who always saw more than others, like
detectives who noticed a drop of blood where an ordinary person saw a
mere stain. Luna accepted her own housemates' decision to shove her
into a close completely naked as easily as she accepted her unexpected
rescue. She tried to break free and fight to somehow save herself, but
seeing that she had no other choice, she accepted her position.
Against her were three students, they were older, physically bigger and
more magically educated, her chances were minimal.
It was jarring to see that in the eyes of a little girl who wasn't even tall
enough to reach his waist. Humans weren't creatures that simply
accepted the shit that was thrown in their direction, they fought even
when there was no chance of winning at all, just to fight, to say that they
did all they could. But Luna... Luna understood that fighting would lead
to nothing. Resistance was futile, especially when she was already in the
closet, wand pointed at her face. She was smart enough to plan her
actions after the girls left her unsightly, even then she had several plans
to escape as soon as they left.
The secret door to her left was one of those plans. The ax lying in the
corner of the room was another.
But Professor Flitwick showed up faster than anyone expected. Luna
didn't calculate his appearance in her plans, but she was pleasantly
surprised. Walking naked through the corridors of an ancient castle is
only fun when you do it of your own free will.
Dan was staring at Luna Lovegood's back and couldn't shake off the
feeling that he wasn't watching her, but quite the opposite. The girl was
smart, smart enough to probably understand that Flitwick's appearance
was anything but accidental. And that raised more questions about how
he knew about this act of bullying.
Although on the other hand, who will ask about what the Professor does
in his free time?
Dan shrugged to himself. 'Oh, well. Not that it's my concern.'
It very much fucking was.
Luna glanced over her shoulder and looked straight at Dan. Their eyes
locked, but his goggles prevented any rage, the little girl smiled in his
direction and mouthed: 'Thank you, Umgubular Slashkilter.'
She turned around and continued walking as if nothing had happened.
Dan blinked and disappeared, teleporting to his room. He just stared at
the wall in front of him, not thinking about anything.
Well, that wasn't quite true, he was thinking about Luna and how the hell
a twelve-year-old girl could see through the invisibility that the Charms
Master had placed on him. How long had she known of his presence?
What could she possibly see? Falling onto the bed, he covered his face
with his hands, swearing at himself. Flitwick and Dumbledore will want
to hear his side of the story.
When his brain restarted, Dan could only ask one question in the empty
room.
"What the hell is an Umgubular Slashkilter?"
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Simple_Russian_Boi
For your information, Luna claimed that Fuge once had an Umgubular
Slashkilter. There was no real info on the creature in the HP wiki, so
now Dan's nickname is Umgubular Slashkilter.
Chapter 13: The case of one
strange moon and two curious
weasels
Dan didn't sleep at all after that, dragging out the memories of the brief
interaction with Luna in front of his mind instead. The girl obviously
knew he was there – even though he was invisible – but didn't react to
him with fear or even a shred of apprehension. Whether she could see
him in full, or simply knew of his presence, he couldn't say. But she still
smiled at him, so that was a good thing. Maybe.
How she was able to do this was unknown and Dan did not really like it
when there were unknowns around. He had already fallen into a world
about which he knew nothing at all, so the uncertainty was enough for
him for two lives and even more.
After a while, the memories of the girl turned into a more incredible
direction and he almost began to believe that she knew about him all
along, but Dan stopped himself in time. The thought was delusional, even
apart from the fact that Luna was only twelve years old. If she knew that
someone was nearby, she would try to break free more or make loud
noises somehow, not succumb to the bullies.
As the sun rose on the horizon and even Mantis lifted his green tree-ass
to eat... whatever he eats. Dan chose his next moves coldly and
methodically. He chose to put a huge metaphorical dick on the
information leak and continue living the way he lived the past week.
Hidden from the world, completely alone – except for the company of
Mantis and his new teachers.
He nodded to himself and sat down at a table that was perfect for his
height. He still had unread books on potions and, oddly enough, math
and physics. It turns out that Hogwarts provided Muggle courses for
anyone who wanted to take the time to learn. True, the school only
provided textbooks and tested students at the end of the year to check
their knowledge, nothing more, but it was still better than nothing. Dan
only found out after asking Pomona about it.
Madam Pince – the librarian of Hogwarts – duplicated modern textbooks
from the best schools and universities, and then simply added them to
the dark corner of the library. They were usually used for Muggle Studies
so that pureblood wizards and witches would have at least a vague idea
of the world outside of magic. Not that they listened, of course.
Breakfast, lunch and dinner were delivered to him by invisible house
elves, a race that worked for wizards for magic. The elves couldn't
produce their own magic for some reason, so they had to take it from
somewhere else, otherwise they would face a slow and painful death.
How exactly the race that was majestically called Elves ended up in the
thrall of wizards, Dan didn't know. It was disgusting on many levels, but
even realizing this, no one was in a hurry to change their position. What
would be the point? Elves liked to work, and wizards liked getting "free"
labor. So the cycle continued.
And again, it wasn't his problem.
As soon as the thought flashed through Dan's head, he froze, waiting for
something to suddenly appear that would make this his problem.
Fortunately, nothing happened and he was left to his own devices by the
universe.
After meeting Luna, Dan suddenly realized how bright the light of his
clothes was sticking out in the darkness of the corridors. So, he threw off
his beige sweater and pulled on a black T-shirt – a copy of the one in
which he arrived in this world. It clung to his body like a glove, almost
merging with the color of his skin. The pants were dark enough not to
change, so Dan decided not to do anything about them for now.
"Why would anyone need a forgetfulness potion? Is it some sort of PTSD
suppressor?" He muttered and continued to read, but there were no
application examples in the book, just a description of how the potion
should work.
Making a note to learn about the various non-obvious uses for potions,
Dan continued reading, only getting distracted when Mantis pointed at
something in the window. Below, students of all shapes and sizes walked
around Hogwarts, and sometimes Hagrid walked near the forest.
Dan quickly became friends with Hagrid, partly because the giant man
was interested in what Enderman was and partly because they were both
interested in magical animals. The professor said he had third-year
students tend to Flobberworms — or whatever those pathetic worms
were called – but Dan suggested to take enough interesting and safe
creatures to study in class. It wasn't hard to get some Fairies and
Puffskeins for the students, after all.
Closing the book sharply and placing it on the table, Dan got up from his
chair and started wandering around his room/apartment. His mind
started to wander again; it wasn't good. For the past couple of days, he
simply couldn't stay still and knew very well the reason why. Even as an
introvert, Dan often interacted with all sorts of different people on the
Internet, whether they were his friends or customers. Now without any
access to that, his main contact with the world and other people was cut
off. And not that he could walk up to a random student and start a
conversation. 'Oh, hello, I'm the school's secret monster that all the
teachers hide! I'm even worse than the creatures from the Forbidden
Forest, you see! Would you like to talk about the secrets of the universe
and the possibility of deeper plans existing?' Not gonna work.
"Fuck me," he groaned, "even a pen-pal would've been nice."
Fortunately – or unfortunately – for Dan, just at that moment there was a
knock on his door. He stopped his whining and looked towards the door
and then out the window. "It's still dark outside… Hm," walking closer to
the door, he stopped and listened. With only an enchanted piece of
canvas separating you from the hallway, hearing what's going on outside
is pretty easy.
"– didn't know this room could be opened." Someone whispered.
'Male voice, young. A student and most likely not alone. What are they
doing here?' Dan thought.
"Me too! One day, it just appeared on the map with a password in a
strange language," the voice answered… to itself?
'Is he insane?' Dan stared at the back of the painting without even
blinking.
"Oh, my less than handsome brother, can you think of the possibilities? If
it's as good as I think it is, we might've found ourselves a new lab!"
Dan finally blinked. That there were a couple of brothers outside the door
was much more likely than a madman roaming the corridors of
Hogwarts. 'Like that would ever happen.' He didn't think that insane
underage magicians were allowed to study alongside normal wizards. 'A
normal wizard. Sounds a bit wrong.'
At least in Dan's eyes it seemed logical. He was new here; he could be
forgiven for his silly thoughts.
"Maybe we should look at the map again?" Brother number two
suggested. "Even if it's in an ancient language, we can try to understand
it. How hard can that be?"
What the brothers didn't know was that the password was spoken in a
language that required perfectly clear intonation in order to pronounce
the words. When your language only has five consonants – six on a good
day – intonation and even speed of pronunciation is extremely important.
Endermen's language was brutally unfriendly towards newcomers.
"Won't hurt to try." Brother number one spoke and Dan heard the rustle
of parchment. The rustling of a fairly large piece of parchment.
Dan leaned against the wall and put his hand on the handle that was
located on the inside of the picture frame. He had a bad feeling about
this. These two brothers didn't come here by accident, they came here
with a purpose in mind, and apparently, they didn't intend to leave
without success. It was bad, but not fatal. Why, Dan knew a great
candidate who could help him right now!
'Hm, this time I can't bother Flitwick, his hands were already full with his
students. Maybe Filch? Pomona? No, showing up in the room of a woman
you barely know at night is not very polite,' Dan thought.
"Gred…? Do you see the same thing as I do?" Brother two asked.
"Indeed, Forge, you are defenetly not blind. There's someone behind the
door– hey, isn't that Bulgarian? Is there any students from Bulgaria in
Hogwarts?" Gred asked.
Dan was confused, he had no idea what they were talking about. Usually,
students from Bulgaria went to study at Durmstrang or other schools
closer to home, but as far as Dan knew, there were no Bulgarians at
Hogwarts. 'Wait– oh, for fucks sake.'
"No… It's Russian? I don't know Russian." The brothers were silent for a
couple of minutes. "Hey Gred, you know what I just thought?"
"What?"
"He's… Just standing there. Not moving. Right behind the door." 'Forge'
said slowly, choosing each word carefully.
Dan gripped the doorknob tighter, ready to rip the painting out if need
be. Graham might never forgive him for being such a bastard towards his
portrait, but Dan didn't consider the opinions of dead people he didn't
know personally important. He's only been here for a little over a week,
but Luna and those two idiots noticed his existence!
"Can he hear us?!" 'Gred' hissed and Dan heard the parchment rustle
again. "Let's get out of here, if he calls the teachers, we'll be in big
trouble."
'Shit.' Dan couldn't just let them go. Of course, he could wait until
morning and tell the Professors that he was compromised not only by
Luna Lovegood, but also by two brothers whose real names he doesn't
even know. Dan had no idea who they would start telling about his
existence in the secret room at the school, and he wasn't about to take
the risk. It was easier to deal with the problem right now.
"{Oh, you ain't leavin'.}" He muttered and yanked the door open,
teleporting behind the brothers at the same time.
Sir Graham was eerily silent, as if the rough swing was nothing to him.
Dan didn't know if people on paintings could feel the tapestry move, so
he pushed the thought for later review. The two boys, about fifteen years
old, stood stock-still, just staring at the now-open door in shock. In the
darkness of the corridor, it was difficult to see their appearance, but their
fiery red hair and identical appearance was clear evidence that they were
twins. Dan didn't have much time to look at the two teenagers, so he had
to work fast.
He pushed them roughly through his door and stepped inside, slamming
the portrait behind him. The twins reacted quickly as well, pulling out
their wands and turning towards Dan, only to freeze in horror.
"W-what are you?" The one who Dan assumed was 'Forge' asked, gripping
his wand hard, ready to defend or attack at moment's notice.
Dan would've raised an eyebrow if he still had any. They were brothers
from Gryffindor, which didn't really surprise him, what did though, was
the clearly fake fear in their eyes. They believed that they could leave
unharmed, which was right, but highly illogical on their part.
"{First, one Ravenclaw, then two Gryffindors, what's next? Three
Hufflepuffs and four Slytherins? I've had enough fun for the night,}" he
muttered. "Alright, gents, what, in the name of sanity, are you two doing
here?"
The twins shared a look and with perfect sync started casting spells.
Dan just wanted the day to end already.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
A/N: Holy smokes, comrades. Feel free to skip this note, because it's just
a rant.
I think many people know what is happening here lately and I will not
talk about it much. But in short, the Government decided that they need
more cannon foddl– I mean soldiers and began the fucking roll-call.
I will not talk about people I know who were taken away, I will just say
that the situation in the country is shite. Not only because of the war.
Luckily, I'm still a student and that my heart hasn't fully repaired itself,
so the army won't put their fingers on my throat just yet.
For the last couple of weeks, I've been busy retaking and trying to get a
note – a fucking note – that, yes, I'm a student, no, I'm physically not
capeble to join the army, and so on. Also, I still have to formally request
a consultation with the cardiology research center at the local clinic, just
to make all records of my myocarditis official, (our free healthcare is a
fucking nighmare of never-ending queues and crazy/rude/half-dead
people, so when you can, you'll choose to pay to your Doctors, believe
me) and for this, I first need to make an appointment with a Участковым
Врачом – how tf do people call their Doctors in other countries? I'm too
lazy to look it up – in order to get a referral to a Cardiologist, who will
write out another referral for a consultation in the reaserch center, so
they could add their previous results to my card and... fuken hell, I'm
tired.
By the way, about my fanfiction in the Winx universe. This is one of two
fanfictions for which I have at least a semblance of an idea of what to
do with the story. I even made a normal size event/plot board for it. I
won't show it, there are a lot of spoilers on it. Still trying to write the
chapter about Bloom, Stella and Nick arriving in Alfea. To Alfea? Dunno.
In any case, I will release chapters as fast as I can. No schedule,
promising something I know perfectly well I can't deliver is pretty stupid.
Most likely I will release chapters at four in the morning again. Sleep is
for the weak.
Stay safe, comrades.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Simple_Russian_Boi
Dan: "I just want to sleep."
Luna: "Hi, random-scary-creature!"
Weasley Twins: "Ohh! There's some old, but new super-secret ner room
in the castle! Let's check it out!"
Dan: "... I don't want sleep, I want answers!"
Chapter 14: Headmaster saves the
day! Well not really and it's still
night, but who cares
One Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore had a very long month.
First, he learns that his school will have Dementors instead of Aurors
guards – "It's much cheaper and more efficient, Albus, can't you see that?"
Fudge said, the bastard – trying to find Sirius Black, the man who
betrayed the Potters and was one of the main causes of their death. Then,
he admits, in a much smaller incident, young Malfoy was attacked by one
of the Hippogriffs in response to some rather… impolite comment. The
arrival of young Khromov was another incident that opened up too many
old scars on Albus's soul and filled him with a dozen unanswered
questions. How can an ordinary boy with repressed magic change his
race to a completely different one, especially one that no one should
know about?
Reports of stray zombies in South China, skeletons in Central Mexico, and
strange green spider-legged creatures that blew up their victims along
with themselves in Yakutia didn't fill him with confidence. No sir.
If these were times of war, he could at least partly believe that the
appearance of so many undead creatures at the same time was an
attempt to destabilize the magical community, but right now the world
was more or less calm. Except for the appearance of another self-named
Dark Lord in Spain, who has already been disposed of. For a relatively
tame Spain magical community, they sure had a lot of Dark Lords
wannabes. For a moment, the strange appearance of undead went
unanswered.
Albus had a headache, and yet he still hasn't thought about all the petty
conflicts that took place in the school itself on a daily basis. He knew the
Professors were getting tired of taking points and passing off detentions
for clearly racist behavior, – even if it was based on blood – but there
was nothing he could do about it. Every time a lesson about tolerance
finally got through to any of the kids, their family or friends ran them
into the value of blood purity again. It was a debilitating cycle of
unfounded – political, in other words – hatred that even Dumbledore
could not break.
One could call the pureblood movement racist, but the racism towards
purity on one's blood was almost as baseless as normal racism. Well,
regular racism, it wasn't normal by any means. Who seriously believed
that so-called pure-blooded wizards hated Muggle-borns for stealing their
magic?
Unfortunately, Dumbledore knew the answer to that question. Not only
the wizards of the Light side believed this, but many wizards of the Dark
side also did.
Repeat the lie so often that it becomes the new truth.
If one decides to dig deeper, the first mention of pure blood appeared in
the legends of Salazar Slytherin, where the founder of Hogwarts praised
those with magical up ring and slings mud at Muggle-borns. Few people
chose to look into the situation even more deeply, preferring to see
Salazar as the Dark Lord without even trying to find out how and why
the man thought the way that he did.
The blood purists believed in their agenda. That people who weren't born
of third-generation magical marriage didn't deserve their magic. That the
world would be a better place if all half-bloods, mudbloods and muggles
were either dead or slaves under the feet of pureblood families.
It was surprisingly funny, in some dark, twisted way, especially
considering that only twenty-eight families were considered true
purebloods, most of which were on the verge of extinction. And because
of what? Because of – Dumbledore winced – inbreeding and the last two
wars.
Dumbledore didn't often think about the longstanding problems of the
magical community in Britain, or even the world. They settled so deeply
in society that it was already impossible to destroy them, to change
something. Maybe this would be possible if the powerful of the world of
politics were organized and started counter-propaganda, but the Dark
Families would never allow this.
"Maybe you were right about something, Gellert," the old man muttered.
"We need to change."
Albus leaned back in his chair and grabbed a lemon sherbet from the
table. He always found the name of these sweets a bit humorous, at least
because they never once resembled real sherbet. But as soon as the candy
was near his mouth, something on the shelf to the left of the wizard
began to click menacingly.
Albus stopped, looked at the mechanical bird on the shelf of his
bookcase, looked at the candy again, and slowly put it back into the glass
bowl. "Well, it looks like young Khromov has some guests over. Maybe I
should check on how things are going." He said to himself, still looking at
the candy. "Oh, well, why not."
With a sour candy in his mouth, Albus started down the stairs to fourth
floor. The intruders in Dan's room were the perfect opportunity to make
friends! Especially if they were the ones that Albus was thinking of.
"Friendship, such a wonderful thing," he chuckled.
-=-=-=-=-=-
Two teenagers and one monster were sitting opposite each other, talking
about the history of magical Britain. Dan tried to jog his memory to see if
something had changed in the timeline.
"... So, this Voldemort attacked the Potter family, killed Lily and James
Potter, tried to kill Harry, but died like a bitch." Dan said and the twins
nodded in response. It was handy, listening to the history of the world
from someone who had lived it, even if the twins were still children at
the time. "Ha… That's weird. And what happened next?" He asked.
Fred – Forge's real name – scratched his chin in thought. "Actually,
nothing special, at least not on the scale of the war. All the Death Eaters
were caught and sent to Azkaban. Of course, some more important were
able to buy their freedom by claiming to be under the influence of the
Imperius, but I don't believe this crap. For now, Pureblood families still
sit in the high positions of the Wizingamoth, and the half-bloods and the
muggle-borns are either leaving Britain or looking for work on the non-
magical side."
George nodded in confirmation. "Life is quieter now than it was during
the war, but not as good as it could have been. Although politicians are
still trying to push laws in favor of the purebloods, Dumbledore and his
allies keep them on a tight leash. Ms. Black is especially brutal in dealing
with opposition." He laughed.
Dan frowned, which was a quite difficult task, considering his facial
structure. "Who?"
"Bellatrix Black, Harry's adopted mother." Fred said. "She's in the gray
faction, taking the seats of the Potters and the Blacks."
"Ha!" George grinned. "I still remember the time she sent Harry a howler
about how proud she was that he was in Gryffindor, not like the rest of
her family. The poor boy was so red I was afraid he would explode."
Dan was no longer listening to George's story; he was stuck too deep in
his head. 'Bellatrix isn't in Azkaban? Wasn't she the crazy bitch that
tortured Longass's – Longbottom's? – parents? Fuck, where am I?' He
blinked a couple of times, not that the twins could see through his
goggles.
"And Sirius Black? I've heard a lot about him, but I don't know why the
Ministry is looking for him." Dan asked, fishing for more information. He
thought Sirius was falsely accused, like in the original, but if Bella was
free…
"Ah, that one…" George muttered, "he doesn't have a family name, he's
just Sirius. A traitor to the Potters, who pretended to be their friend for
years. He confessed to being part of the Death Eaters under Visetarium."
Fred nodded and continued instead of his brother. "He killed Peter
Pettigrew in front of fifty witnesses to break the enchantments on the
Potter house. No one suspected he was a traitor until that moment."
Dan massaged his temples, trying endlessly to ward off the migraine that
was threatening to overtake his leathery ass. 'This… changes things. So,
even my minimal knowledge of the canon will be practically useless. Is
Voldemort even still alive? Maybe he died on the sly, while no one saw
and disappeared from people's lives?' He chuckled. 'Nah, my luck isn't
that high. If I'm lucky, I'll be able to escape Britain before the war starts,
if not, I'll have to personally break the bald bastard's neck.' Dan
shuddered and rubbed his arms, trying to drive away the terrible
thought. "{Let's hope it doesn't come to that.}"
"Dan, you're speaking Russian, it's quite rude to those who don't know
your language." A new old voice sounded in the room and the twins
turned towards Dumbledore without making a sound. "Good night, Mr.
and Mr. Weasley. A good night to keep each other's secrets, right?" He
asked, offering them a silent deal. They wouldn't tell anything about Dan
and Dumbledore would forget he saw them tonight. The twins nodded
quickly and the old man smiled even wider "I think it's time for you to
return to the common rooms."
Fred grinned. "Which ones, sir? The closest is Hufflepuff. Of course, I
don't mind talking to a couple– Ay!" He exclaimed, feeling George's
elbow digging in his ribs. "That's right, sir! We'll do it right now, sir!"
George grabbed his twin by the shoulders and dragged him out of the
room, avoiding the gaze of interested portraits.
"Interesting family, Weasley, every child I've seen in this Castle becomes
someone special. Made new friends, Dan?" Dumbledore asked as he sat
down on the conjured chair.
Dan scratched his cheek with his claws and looked away. "Da…?"
-=-=-=-=-=-
"I'll break your fucking neck if you don't shut up!" Dan yelled as he held
both twins by their robes.
"Fuck you!" The two shouted back and continued to try to break free from
his stranglehold.
At the moment when two spells flew towards Dan, he teleported behind
the twins and grabbed the wands from their hands. He tossed them onto
the table, where Mantis quickly picked them up and dragged them aside.
The red-haired guys tried to run past him to get to their wands, but they
couldn't dodge his long arms. He held them above the ground like
naughty kittens and shook them to finally calm them down. Obviously,
they didn't like that.
"What the hell are you even doing in my room?!" He asked, lifting Gred
and Forge higher so they were level with his eyes. Fortunately, his
goggles were in place.
"We don't need your room! We were just looking for some free space!"
Forge said as he tried to kick Dan in the ribs. His legs were too short to
reach the target, sadly.
"Then look in the far west wing, after the Perfect's chambers! There's
literally no one there! Even the fucking rats don't go in that wing because
it's empty! Six hundred students for a huge castle and two idiots can't
find one free room?" Dan asked himself more than the twins.
"Hey!" Apparently, he didn't speak quietly enough.
"Both of you. Shut up." Dan brought the brothers uncomfortably close to
his face and ignored their kicks to his torso. He didn't feel it anyway. "I
can teleport you to the bottom of the Black Lake where no one will ever
find you, so be good boys and shut your mouths," he growled.
They fell silent and looked at each other again, Dan thought it was some
special way of magical communication, but he could not be sure. His vast
ignorance of the magical world had affected the quality of his threats
terribly, he imagined. But oddly enough, Gred and Forge became silent
and stopped moving, so Dan slowly set them down on the floor. He
walked over to the table and picked up the book he had been reading
earlier, watching the twins out of the corner of his eye. Wizards and
witches, he learned, were practically defenseless without their wands, so
the twins were harmless in his eyes.
"Good," he said. "Now we will wait for one of the professors to come, I'm
sure one of them put wards on the entrance to this room." The twins
quickly turned white at his words.
"Erm, Mr. Monster Man, can't you let us go?" "Yes, preferably right now."
"Conversations with professors after curfew is bad for our health, you
see." The twins spoke in a strange way that reminded Dan more of a ping
pong match. "A terrible fate will befall those who meet the professor so
late at night, many believe." Grеd– Forge? Dan had lost who was who
again, so he returned to the number system.
"No. Especially since the wards have already recorded your magical
signatures, so finding you will be a breeze." Dan glanced towards the
portrait door and frowned. "What have you done to Sir Graham? The
man should have woken up long ago."
"We charmed him! Stopped the portrait's magic." The first spoke quickly.
"That's right, nothing bad for Graham. He'll be up in the morning and
won't even remember anything!" The second one continued.
"So, you just put him into a deep sleep…?" Dan asked and the twins
nodded. "Why not charm yourself so that the portraits ignore your
presence? Then you don't even have to hide from them and no one will
notice that the portraits have suddenly begun to fall asleep."
The twins looked at each other with wide eyes. "Brilliant!" "Fabulous!"
"Marvelous!" "Bravo, sir Mr. Monster Man!" "You've just solved one of our
problems!"
Each of the twins extended their hand forward in greeting. "Fred and
George Weasley, the best Pranksters at Hogwarts! At your service!" They
said together, but Dan just gave them a glare.
"You know my hands are a little busy, right?"
The twins looked down at their robes where Dan grabbed them and
looked up at the monster's face again. "We don't see a problem!"
Dan could only groan in annoyance.
-=-=-=-=-=-
"Something like that." Dan said and Dumbledore nodded.
"Well, that's good, everyone needs loyal friends." Dumbledore got up from
his seat and walked to the door, his eyes scanning the scratches on the
walls. "I'll only ask for one favor." He turned and looked into Dan's
goggles. "Don't abuse your ability to teleport in Hogwarts. Minerva is still
quite upset about that wall between the locker rooms."
Dan looked at Dumbledore's retreating back in confusion, not fully
understanding why he was asking him to do this. But suddenly he
realized just who knew about his existence. And they saw him teleport.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Simple_Russian_Boi
Still trying to pass my exams. The fact that I have a full-time job for
the next two weeks doesn't help.
Chapter 15: Not a serious
conversation
I'm gonna fix one little thing about the story. Dan is already fourteen at
the beginning of the school year, so he should be in his fourth year, his
birthday date hasn't changed.
It doesn't change a lot of things in my plans, but it's frustrating to see
your own mistakes. I wrote this note at the beginning of the chapter so
that no one will later ask in the comments why Flitwick says that Dan
should be in the fourth year of study.
-=-=-=-=-=-
Dan was sitting in Dumbledore's office in a chair that was too low for his
legs. His knees were level with his chest, so he began to levitate the chair
with his magic to get at least a little comfort. The round office was still
full of funny sounds that followed their own musical notation. Dan wasn't
sure, but he assumed that these sounds were somehow alerting
Dumbledore of what was happening to the wards of the castle. Or in the
castle.
Just as Dan thought, the old man called him out after what happened
with Luna and the Weasley twins. What exactly the conversation would
be about, Dan had no idea. Moreover, the old man wasn't in his office,
and a rather large phoenix took his place behind the desk. Fawkes was
his name, Dan remembered.
"So… You come here often?" He asked the bird.
Fawkes didn't even blink and let out a couple of soft chirps. He sounded
too kind and calm for such a huge bird. Dan's only experience was with
the Macaw and to be honest, that bird was a fucking asshole.
"I understand, I wouldn't sit in one place either if I was under the
circumstances. Unfortunately, I need to study magic right now, because
without it, I would be like without hands."
Fawkes tilted his head and chirped again.
"You think? Wouldn't it be more logical to first learn everything that
ordinary wizards know, and only then research what kind of magic this
body gave me?"
Fawkes didn't answer and just stared at Dan. Mantis climbed onto the
teenage monster's shoulder and waved amiably at the phoenix, to which
he received a silent nod. Dan looked between them and noticed that they
were both staring at him now.
"What? I may have a lot of free time, but my head is already melting just
from fourth-year Charms books. I can't practice Transfiguration without
Minerva's supervision, Herbology is not my cup of tea, Astronomy is
outdated, and making potions without experience or supervision is
suicidal. How can I, along with that, also explore something completely
unknown?"
The Phoenix spread its wings and swung its head around, pointing out
hundreds of small enchanted items and dozens of major items. He sharply
returned his gaze to Dan and disapprovingly thrilled.
"Do you think Albus can help me? The man holds two– three seats in the
state and runs the school at the same time," he held up his hand to stop
Fawkes from interrupting. "And even if he had time, he wouldn't be able
to help me with Transfiguration, without a wand it simply doesn't work.
This section of magic was developed after the popularization of wands. I
cannot cast with my hands something that was created for wand casting."
"Indeed!" Flitwick said as he walked into Dumbledore's office, the old
man himself followed right behind him. "There's been a lot of debate
about whether it's possible to cast Transfiguration spells completely
wandless, but in the end it all comes down to one thing, Transfiguration
requires a precise tool, a wand, or a foci of any kind." Filius stopped next
to Dan and looked at the levitating chair with interest. "I have to say, I
have never seen a fourth-year student capable of wandless magic. If you
were sorted, I would've given you points!"
Dan nodded, remembering the reason why the professors decided not to
distribute it. At the end of each year, a list of the best students of the year
from all Houses was automatically put on public display. Of course, given
that Dan was very far behind in his magical schooling, would put him at
the bottom of the list, but the mere appearance of an unfamiliar name on
the list would be considered suspicious to a lot of people.
"Thank you, Professor Flitwick," Dan replied with a smile. As strong as his
desire to call the half-goblin by his first name might be, that would
simply be disrespectful. "I suspect I've been called in to report on the
Lovegood situation?"
Dumbledore sank into his chair at the table, and Flitwick remained
standing next to Dan, the little white-haired half-goblin still watching
with interest the effect of the levitation spell on the chair. "Oh, you have
nothing to worry about, my boy, don't be so stiff. Ms. Lovegood is safe
and away from her… detractors." Flitwick shook his head in
disappointment. "Due to an unusually large animosity towards Ms.
Lovegood, it has been decided to move her to a room separate from the
dorms, at least for a while."
Dan frowned. "Damn, that bad? How did things got so far?"
"It was a huge oversight on our part. A student at our school couldn't feel
safe even in her own room." Dumbledore said, his face pensive. "Filius
and I have decided to raise this issue at an emergency meeting of
professors later this month." He didn't say that this meeting would
include a discussion of additional protection for the school from Sirius
Black.
"And Lovegood?" Dan brought the discussion back to the original path.
"Her roommates were major bullies, so we can't let her stay there
unsupervised." Flitwick said and finally stopped staring at the chair. "We
could have moved it a year earlier or later, even in the later years, but
unfortunately with our investigation–" He sighed heavily and rubbed his
long nose. "She won't feel accepted there, let's just say. Merlin knows how
Miss Lovegood will feel if we move her from one aggressive environment
to another."
"The insulation isn't much better." Dan grumbled.
Contrary to Dan's expectations, the professors smiled and Dumbledore
pulled out a neatly folded piece of parchment of his lemon robes –
literally, the thing was strewn with embroidered drawings of lemons –
and handed it to the boy. Dan took it in confusion and blinked a couple
of times, seeing the inscription [To: Umgubular Slashkilter].
He carefully unfolded the parchment and began to read.
[Hello, Umgubular Slashkilter!
I'm not sure when this letter will reach you, because the owls refuse to
carry my messages to you, so I rely on the not very verified service of
Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore. Owls always deliver their
packages to their recipients, but I'm not sure about the Headmaster, it's
not his job after all. Unfortunately, there are no couriers at Hogwarts,
which I consider a huge oversight.
I am writing to you to thank you for intervening in yet another very rude
prank that my Housemates have decided to play on me. So please accept
my thanks. I'll share some pudding with you the next time we meet!
With thanks.
Luna Pandora Lovegood.
P.S. I had to keep the letter short, Headmaster Dumbledore is a busy man
and cannot wait at my door for long. I think he scares my dorm mates,
but again, I'm not sure why.
P.P.S. Will you agree to an interview sometime in the future? My daddy
will definitely want to hear how you escaped Minister Fudge's control.]
The professors patiently waited for him to finish reading and when Dan
silently placed him on the table, they waited again for him to speak.
"... Read this and tell me what exactly is wrong with the contents of the
letter." He spoke.
Flitwick raised an eyebrow, but did as the not-quite-student asked him to.
When he had finished, the half-goblin frowned and handed the letter to
Dumbledore, who also soon copied the Head of House's frown.
"She considers the school's lack of couriers a huge oversight, not our
failure to notice bullying in the student ranks. She didn't expect
punishment for her bullies– she doesn't know why her bullies would be
scared after– after that. Miss Lovegood probably doesn't even consider
this as a problem to solve…" Flitwick took a deep breath and slowly let it
out. "Who else at school thinks we can't be relied upon as an authority
figure? Just what else are we missing out on?"
Dan didn't know the answer to that question, but he could make a guess
based on those little bits of the original story from the books he'd heard
from Katya. Snape himself was a huge problem, the curse on DADA
teaching position was the second biggest problem – it literally killed
some professors in the past. But the problem that urgently needed to be
addressed was the lack of staff in the school. The entire Hogwarts staff
numbered a little less than twenty people – not counting elves and
ghosts. So few people simply couldn't effectively control a castle full of
hyperactive teenagers.
"May I propose something?" Dan asked and Dumbledore nodded. "You
need more staff to keep an eye on the students. Living portraits, ghosts
and elves can only watch and report emergencies to professors, leaving
them to deal with any mess. With more people with the power to put
students in their place, it will be easier to prevent something," he pointed
to the piece of parchment, that was still in Headmaster's hands, "like
that." Dan took the letter back – still amazed at how long his arms were
now – and tucked it into his pants pocket.
The Headmaster sighed as he popped the lemon sherbet in a bowl on his
desk into his mouth. "We've already tried to hire more professors and
caretakers in the past. The Board of Goveners rejected our ideas, saying
we don't have the budget for such things. The Ministry sponsors quite a
large part of Hogwarts, even if we're partially autonomous, we can't do
anything so important without their consultation through the same
Board."
It wasn't until Dumbledore had finished speaking that he realized that the
person he was talking to was not his old friend Arwen, but a teenager just
like his students. He usually didn't give so many details and surprised
himself just how open he was with young Khromov.
Dan, meanwhile, was thinking rather hard on the current issue. The
solution teased him as it appeared in the back of his mind, but he
couldn't grasp the thought that had already slipped away. Scratching his
chin, he stood up from the chair and it slowly sank to the ground with a
soft thud. Dan began pacing back and forth across the office until his eyes
fell on the Sorting Hat and the idea shot back into his mind like a bullet.
The Sorting Hat was old and battered, with centuries of dust stuck to the
brown leather. It was strange to see an ancient artifact in such a bad
state, but even the strongest of magics could be destroyed by time.
"Sorting Hat, are you up for a little talk?"
The hat twitched, and the outlines of eyes and a wide mouth slowly
formed on it. "Ehuh…? Is it time for the Sorting Ceremony already? You
woke me up much earlier than usual."
The Hat's voice sounded as old as Hogwarts, with an accent Dan couldn't
quite place. "No, now I woke you up for a couple of little questions, if you
don't mind."
"Ho ho, I already got someone like you a year ago. Do you want to know
which House you would go to, if you were given the opportunity?"
Dan stopped, but then shook his head, it wasn't as important as his other
questions. "Maybe later. Do you know if the Founders made any
agreements with the state of their time? Wizard's Council, I believe."
The hat thought for a moment, but then shook from side to side. "I was
created after the construction of Hogwarts was completed. Before that, I
was just Godric's hat and had no self-awareness. All transactions and
agreements were already completed by the time I was… born, for the
lack of a better term." The Hat froze for another moment and opened its
mouth again. "Although all records of the agreements were kept in Lady
Rowena's library, perhaps you'll find what you're looking for there."
Dan nodded and turned around, only to meet two extremely surprised old
professors.
In their memory, the Hat didn't often talk about the time of the Founders,
even with past Headmasters of Hogwarts. Even about trivial things.
Hearing it so freely give answers to a simple student who was turned
down by Sorting was simply shocking.
Dumbledore cleared his throat, collecting his thoughts. "Well, we'll
probably need to find Rowena's library in the near future, but for now we
need to talk about something else." The old wizard lost the sparkle in his
eyes and Dan felt a change in the atmosphere. Now both Professors have
become serious. "We should discuss how you could have solved that little
problem with the Weasley twins better."
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Simple_Russian_Boi
If I could write my groan letter by letter in text, I would.
Hello again, comrades. IRL stuff took up a lot of my time. The fact that
one of the buttons on my keyboard decided to die (the "g" button, now
I'm poking directly at the membrane to write) is just a nasty bonus.
At least I celebrated my birthday last month. I wanted to complain
that it went… not so well, but why should you read my whining?
Okay, we're done with the chapter, I wish you all a good week, in the
meantime, I'll try not to die.
Chapter 16: The problems with
violence
"First, let me ask you a couple of questions," Dumbledore said, stroking
his beard. "Today, this is the second time you've been involved in an, let
us say, incident. Tell me, Dan, what led you to decide to grab the
Weasleys and lock them up with you?"
Dan thought about it, turning the question over in his head. "They saw
my name, Albus. They knew that there was someone new at Hogwarts,
even if they weren't sure who it was – they don't know Russian, lucky me.
But I don't need rumors about my own existence, two information leaks
during one day is enough. So I dragged them into my room, knowing that
there was probably some kind of alarm ward on the door. Someone
would come sooner or later, and that someone was you."
Although Dan was confident in his words, he was beginning to see
mistakes in his actions. With every second, he had a new idea about how
he could deal with the twins. 'Hindsight 20/20.'
Dumbledore nodded. "Interesting, but why didn't you call one of the
professors to help you? A little earlier, you alerted Filius about a similar
problem, which prevented you from doing the same now?"
"Filius was already busy with problems with the clean-up," the half-goblin
grimaced, but said nothing in denial, "I have no idea where Snape's,
Filch's, or the rest of the professors' offices are, Minerva gets tired enough
dealing with the problems of the head of the House and Deputy
Headmistress. Pomona is usually asleep by the time the sun sets. And
you, Albus… I think I've already said the reasons why I don't want to take
your time."
Albus mumbled thoughtfully in response. On the one hand, Dan's words
were logical and made sense. No one could expect a student in his
position to know the castle, or trust in teachers already, for that matter.
Some of the professors were still frightened and upset by his appearance
– Argus, Bathsheda and Sybill were not particularly fond of the new
student.
But on the other hand, he still had people who supported him. Pomona
and Hagrid both adored the monstrous boy, even if he didn't know it–
didn't believe it.
'Well, Dan is right on one occasion, breaking into Minerva's room at night
is not the brightest idea.' Dumbledore thought. 'All the same, he shouldn't
solve problems with violence, it's always better to choose a creative
solution.'
The old man folded his hands in front of him and looked towards the
Sorting Hat, an idea popped into his mind.
"Let me tell you something about your new friends," he began. "The
Weasley twins are the most inventive pranksters in the school for the last
ten years. Everyone knows that where there is chaos, there are red-haired
twins, but no one can prove their direct communion with a prank until
they themselves want to be caught. Smart lads, they would make good
additions to Ravenclaw or even Slytherin."
Unbeknownst to everyone, the Hat nodded in agreement.
"I'll be honest, we're lucky they went to Gryffindor, I'm afraid to imagine
how incredible Hogwarts would be if they were more secretive."
Dumbledore smiled, thinking of something else. "Ah, but I digress. Tell
me, what did you think of the Weasley brothers when you first saw
them?"
Dan answered almost immediately. "Secretive, overconfident,
inseparable, paranoid. Pretty smart, like you said, but their world view is
too narrow. Sure, they have creative ideas, but some of them are far too
flat."
"While tough, it's true. Now, tell me, what do you think they would have
done once they got out of your room if I hadn't intervened?"
And wasn't that the real question? Dan had no idea what the twins would
do with the information about his existence. There were an infinite
number of options, but now that he had learned the twins a little closer,
this list only increased.
About three times.
Maybe four...
"... not enough information." Dan finally said it. "I don't know them well
enough to predict their actions. But I think that if I was a danger in their
eyes, they would've told one of the professors about my skinny hide.
They don't look like people who'd run to the Ministry, so it's out. Maybe
they'd try to make my life very hard. I can continue with this, or you can
finally make your point."
Albus laughed, he was not often spoken to without a healthy portion of
empty speeches and sucking up. He could count the people who were so
blunt in his presence on Kettleburn's fingers – the man had one hand with
only three fingers left – so the list was short.
"Sometimes, a boring talk is necessary, my b– Dan," the skin on
Dumbledore's knuckles turned white for a moment. "The twin Weasleys
would've gained a silver of your trust, forced you to lower your defenses,
and they'd ran as fast as they could at the first opportunity. After that, as
they knew your location, they'd have filled out a counterattack plan as
retaliation. So, you weren't so far off on your hunch about pranks."
After this golden piece of information from Dumbledore, Dan discussed a
couple more important things with the professors, namely his schooling.
Starting Monday next week, Flitwick will teach him the first two years of
Charms. No matter how good Dan was with wandless magic – especially
with charms – he still needed theory and direction from the professors.
After that, on Tuesday, his schooling will be handled by Remus, with
Defense Against the Dark Arts. Not that Dan needed any help in this
direction. He was 40 percent sure that he himself was considered a Dark
Creature. Who would know better how to fight against the darkness if not
a a creature of the dark?
Astronomy will be on Wednesday, along with Herbology. Aurora Sinistra
and Pomona Sprout decided to take up his schooling at the same day.
Moreover, it is in these days that Pomona needed the most help.
Moreover, on Wednesday he will have more chances to find and pet a
toad.
Snape agreed to teach him potions on Thursday. Only the professor
himself knew what he could do in one fucking week with such a huge
information block as potions, but according to Flitwick, Snape smiled
when he talked about the future lesson.
Dan felt that he would be in a lot of pain during the lessons.
And on Friday, Minerva would attemt to find the solution to his problem
with Transfiguration. Of course, the easy answer would be to find a
Wand for Dan to use, but considering his record with wands... Well, for
now, they needed a different solution.
There was only one subject that Dan would have to deal with himself –
the History of Magic. Here he had no protests, just hearing Binns' name
almost put him to sleep.
They were all able to leave the Headmaster's office only after three hours,
completely forgetting about the offer of the Hat.
-=-=-=-=-=-
Luna was sitting at the Gryffindor's table next to Ginny, listening to
Finnigan's story about how he spent the summer. The silver-haired girl
looked around with interest, sometimes stopping her gaze on one or
another student, but eventually moving on.
"Luna, are you okay?" Ginny asked, fishing her friend out of her thoughts.
"I like to think I'm fine. I'm just thinking now, so you don't have to
worry." Luna smiled dreamily and returned to her food with a sigh. Her
beans were slowly but surely taking the shape of Buckingham Palace, she
couldn't stop now.
Ginny bit her lower lip in worry and glanced at Ravenclaw's desk. More
than ten people from the house of Smart didn't bother to come to
breakfast, which would not be so unusual if it were not for the fact that
absolutely everyone came to breakfast to receive morning mail. She
wasn't comforted by the fact that many of the disappeared students were
familiar to her as Luna's bullies.
"Is it me, or does Ravenclaw's desk look a little empty?" Harry, who was
sitting on the opposite side of the table, asked quietly, but many people
heard him anyway.
"Yes, you're right." Hermione frowned. "Too many people have
disappeared for this to be a coincidence. Dumbledore is not at the
teachers table either…"
"Huh, wonderin' wa' goin' o'?"
"Sweet Merlin, Ron, chew the food first, please."
Luna blinked and looked at the "golden trio" of friends opposite her.
Harry asked something, didn't he?
"Oh, the missing students? They were scared last night when they met
Umgubular Slashkilter. Flitwick said he'd take care of them, so you don't
have to worry." She said and went back to her food.
Harry, Hermione, Ron and Ginny gave her strange looks, but only the
boy-who-lived dared to ask the second question.
"Luna, do you know something?"
Harry had known Luna Lovegood for a long time, his foster mother
decided that it would be useful for him to know "some children of pure-
blooded families. Oh, don't look at me like that, young man, I just want
you to meet some friends before school."
Of course, Bellatrix wanted something more than ordinary friends for her
son, but no one had the balls to call her out.
"I know a lot of things, Harry Potter. It was an interesting example of the
interaction of humans and representatives of another intelligent
humanoid race. I've never been a participant in such an event before, to
be honest. I want to write about this to daddy, but the Umgubular
Slashkilter has not yet agreed to an interview, and without this the article
will be dull and boring."
Harry blinked a couple of times, ridding his mind of the web of delirium
that Luna had thrown at him. He realized that he had not asked the
question he was interested in, so he did not receive an answer.
"Luna, what happened?" He asked and that made Luna talk.
As it turned out, last night Luna's roommates decided to bully the silver-
haired girl and shove her into the broom cupboard completely naked.
Fortunately, nothing happened, because Professor Flitwick managed to
intervene and stop the girls before they could do anything. But Luna
claimed that one of her imaginary creatures also helped her. How exactly
it helped, Harry didn't know, but he was interested.
Luna had a habit of replacing real things with made-up ones, take at least
the Nargles who stole her clothes. It was obvious that the thieves were
not Nargles at all.
Most likely, Slashkilter didn't even exist and Flitwick was in the right
place at the right time. But…
"And what does he look like?" "We have to thank the Savior of the Moon!"
Fred and George said.
Hermione, who usually spoke just how delusional Luna's fictional
creatures were, just sat there with a frown on her face. She didn't like
that Luna believed in such nonsense, but she didn't like the way others
treated her friend more.
Luckily, she has the perfect device to get a little revenge and have an
alibi along with it. Besides, it might relieve some of the stress.
"Well, he was the same height as Hagrid, dressed entirely in black and
with strange glasses on his head. Slashkilters have very strange taste in
clothes, but I would like to know where he got such glasses. They would
be suitable for my next– ah!" She covered her mouth with a pale palm. "I
almost gave away the secret of the next product before its release."
Fred and George looked at each other and were quiet during the rest of
the break. Silently discussing the character of their new friend.
No one paid any attention to it. No one except one Luna Lovegood.
In the end, Harry forgot about this imaginary creature, but decided to
find out the names of all those who were absent from breakfast today and
why. Purely out of interest…
The culprit of the next conspiracy theory in Quibbler, at this time was
building a huge stone phallos right in front of the abandoned toilet on
the second floor. He resisted the urge long enough.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Simple_Russian_Boi
Dan begins to test his building abilities, among other things. Next
chapter we finally get a peek at what the hell is happening with the
walls in Dan's room.
And no, no one has any idea about who might be carving strange
letters into the stone. Absolutely no one. So hush.
Ah, and gimme your stones. That's important.
Chapter 17: Someone said Luna?
A/N: I decided not to include the classes that Dan attended and how
exactly he was taught in this chapter. Most likely they will appear in
flashbacks where they will be needed later. I doubt people have come
here to read about how I explain the workings of Magic in this world, so
I'll give the basic facts, but I won't go into too much.
Also, I have a question for everyone, who is still reading this? I haven't
updated the fanfic in about… Two months? What made you stay? Maybe
someone just left this story in their library out of laziness, I definitely do
exactly that with most of my fics and novels. Well, and in the hope that
the authors I read will continue their stories, but this happens much less
often.
-=-=-=-=-=-
Dan was a fast learner, that could be said with certainty the moment he
takes on something new.
Take, for example, magic. From day one, Dan immersed himself in
learning new spells, taking a break only when it was necessary or when
his head was already boiling with new information.
This helped him learn a handful of spells, but did nothing to help him
understand the finer parts of the magical arts. What he did was similar to
how new drivers were taught how to drive. Of course, he knew how to
drive the car – use magic, in his case – but he didn't understand exactly
how it worked. So Dan could be called a novice driver with natural
talent, but he wasn't a mechanic, at least for now.
This is what Professor Flitwick decided to fix in the first lesson with Dan.
The teenager was sitting in the corner of the classroom under an
invisibility spell and listening to lectures for the first courses who had
Charms that day. As it turned out, the kids were studying exactly how to
perform wand gestures, which ones are used most often and for what.
It was a useless lesson for Dan, for obvious reasons, and he had already
seen how many adult wizards and witches used magic simply by pointing
a wand somewhere. But then what was the point of teaching children to
say spells out loud if in the end they would still learn silent casting?
It looks like he has even more questions for professors later.
Watching Remus teach DADA was a strange experience, and Dan wasn't
sure why. His sister often said that the werewolf was one of the best
teachers in Potter's time and it was obvious why. Remus kept the
students' attention on himself even during lengthy lectures, mixing them
with small parts of practice.
Explanations and in-depth lectures on the structure of magic helped Dan
understand it a little better... Oh, who was he kidding, magic still didn't
make any sense to him, at least the sense he was used to.
Magic operated on its own level of laws, obeying only certain laws of
physics and reality. Although, maybe it obeyed the laws of physics, but
not in the way that was expected. Well, it could be said that magic had
clearly written rules and regulations, as well as unwritten rules.
By the time he was learning Astronomy and Herbology, Dan began to
notice... patterns. How some Magical disciplines were related to others,
how this or that spell could be found in the books of Transfiguration and
Charms. Astronomy, for example, was closely related to the nature of
Rituals and Potions. Herbology was useful for Potion Masters and
Mediwizards. There were hundreds and thousands of such examples.
And yes, Dan found a toad that day. He wished it a good Wednesday and
continued his day.
The lesson with Snape was good, but creepy. The man received an almost
endless supply of new ingredients for experimental potions in the person
of Dan: claws, dead skin... blood, teeth. Of course, Dan took a Magical
Oath from the bastard – with Flitwick as a witness – that the greasy one
would not use some bad juju on his blood and would honestly pay for the
ingredients. Dan wasn't going to give away parts of himself for free,
especially to a man like Snape.
It was safe to say that he didn't like the man, but he would be the first to
admit that Snape was a master of his craft. Dan could learn a lot just by
looking at how the man worked. Snape had neither the desire nor the
patience to explain the subtle art of Potions to a class full of children, but
he was calmer in one-on-one sessions. So, Dan started reading more and
more books after each class.
Oddly enough, this led to an unusual friendship with Madame Pince, the
Hogwarts Bible Librarian. The woman just wanted peace and quiet for
herself and her books, to which Dan could relate, so she sometimes
helped the boy with his endless search for knowledge.
The Transfiguration lesson went pretty much as expected. Tons of heavy
and dry information that every wizard needed was hammered into his
head almost by spells. Minerva was especially strict with him, knowing
that if he wanted to succeed in wandless Transfiguration – which in
principle should be impossible – then he would need all the knowledge
he could get. Excluding any related to wands, of course.
He couldn't– and probably wouldn't be able to use one ever. So very
reluctantly, she decided to exclude the material related to the wands
from the series "need to know immediately."
The first week of the new training passed quickly for Dan. He wouldn't
say that his knowledge was improving with huge leaps and bounds, but
he was slowly getting better. During this time, he did not meet a single
Weasley, nor Luna, nor the girls who attacked her. He also didn't notice
any members of the "Golden Trio."
To be honest, he didn't expect anything else. Hogwarts was a big castle;
you won't meet the most famous characters every day. But the fact that
Dan didn't see any of his acquaintances or people of interest was strange.
In any case, he didn't have time to think long about the chances that such
a thing would happen, he had too much on his plate for that. He even
had a list of projects somewhere in his room.
Find a way to get or create a foci for himself.
Shake information about his new race out of Dumbledore.
Find out in which niches of magic his new race was best.
Get financial independence and get the fuck out of England before
Voldemort's resurrection. Well, or kill the ugly, if there is an opportunity.
Katya said something about the soul anchors in his past life...
Finally, find a way to turn back into a human.
For now, he had enough projects. Yes, they were all long-term, especially
his return to the original race, but short-term business was rarely his
priority. When you have to think about the future from an early age, you
quickly learn the benefits of the long game.
So here he was, sitting in a corner of the library under heavy wards in
the company of Mantis, who was looking with interest at a book with
moving pictures. Honestly, Mantis behaved more like a child than an
animal.
Dan collected all the books about magic focusing that were only in the
library and books about various methods of using magic. The most
prominent in this regard were Native Americans, Africans, Indians and
Norwegians for some reason.
Each race had its own way of using magic and just reading one volume
took Dan more than twelve hours. Although it was useful, he didn't want
to repeat such a feat anytime soon.
But returning to the facts about foci: the most effective for ordinary
people and many humanoid magical creatures were wands. Simply
because they offered a good balance, both in everyday life and in combat.
The second most popular tools were rings, they had more flexibility, but
less accuracy and range compared to wands. Some used magic tattoos for
casting, but the ink quickly heated up when using magic and poisoned
the wearer over time. Amulets, bracelets, clothes, various accessories,
even furniture, people used everything in search of the best method of
using magic.
And, of course, there were staffs on that list. Few people could use the
staffs these days – Alastor Moody being one of them – and even then,
these people simply inserted their wands into hidden slots inside the
staffs. The last person to use a real Staff was some skinny Italian Wizard
who lived two hundred years ago, whose name was erased from all
records.
Anyway, right now Dan was confused. How could he find so many books
about the theory of using different foci, but not a single book about
creating one? One more question to the professors later.
"Oh, hello there, Umgubular Slashkilter, what are you doing in the
library?"
Dan blinked and looked up from the book to look at the speaker. Luna
Lovegood was standing in front of him, holding a book with a strange
creature painted on the cover. Dan hadn't gotten around to reading books
about magical creatures yet, but he knew that he couldn't even imagine...
whatever the thing on the cover was.
And that came from a man who was drawing commissions for furries.
The second thing that registered in his brain was that Luna was talking to
him. The girl was standing next to his desk and definitely crossed the
wards line to go inside.
"... I'm looking for information about a magic focus suitable for me, the
last wand I tried just exploded in my hands, you see." Dan replied.
Luna opened her book and immediately started writing in it, so Dan
quickly realized that it was her personal journal, not a library book.
"It's interesting, I didn't think I'd ever heard of exploding wands. Could
this have anything to do with Pigattius Explosius? I'll have to ask Daddy."
"And what are you doing here, Luna Lovegood?" Dan asked back, making
Luna blink.
"Oh, I came because something didn't want me to find this place. I don't
know why, to be honest," she looked Dan up and down, and then her
gaze fell on Mantis, who was looking at the girl with interest in return.
Luna let out a soft, delighted gasp and immediately sat down at a chair
closer to the little guy.
But she didn't touch him and turned to Dan, putting the book and pen on
the table.
"You haven't answered my letter. I thought you decided to ignore me."
Luna said in such a tone that Dan immediately felt like the most terrible
creature in the universe. And she didn't even try to make him feel bad!
She really thought that he just straight up decided to ignore her! Dan
could see it on her face plain as day.
"I'm sorry, I've been terribly busy this week, the new class schedule takes
up almost all of my time." Dan shook his head. "Oh, I completely forgot,
my name is Danil Khromov, and he-" Dan pointed to his friend, who was
gently tugging at the sleeves of Luna's sweater, looking at the material
with interest. "-is Mantis."
Luna hummed in response, still not moving her hand, she was letting
Mantis get used to her presence.
"I didn't know that your race had Ukrainian names. Is it true that you
were locked in Minister Fudge's dungeons until recently?" The girl
suddenly asked.
"... No? I've never even seen the man in my life."
"Hmm. Maybe it was another Umgubular Slashkilter..."
"Are we talking about the same race? I just have no idea what Umgubular
Slashkilter is." Dan confessed.
Luna just stared at Dan for a couple of minutes without saying anything.
It seemed to him that she wasn't even blinking, but maybe she was just
blinking at the same moment that he was blinking.
"It's possible that we just have different names for the same race." Luna
considered. "Umgubular Slashkilters are a relatively new race of magical
creatures that live to steal the kilts of unsuspecting people in the night.
They feed on the irritation and shame of their victims. Of course, when
kilts didn't exist yet, they stole robes, skirts and other wardrobe items
directly from people, but kilts have always been their main goal since
their appearance. Hence their name."
Her short description of the race was completely delusional and unreal,
but it was a magical world, everything was possible here.
"Erm... Yes, I'm definitely not Umgubular Slashkilter, I've never done
these things. Moreover, I eat ordinary food, just like any human or
creature, for that matter."
Something flashed in Luna's eyes. "Never? Maybe you just don't know
that you can get energy from people's feelings? You should try that at
least once in your life."
"I'm not going to steal skirts from random girls, but thanks for the idea
anyway. If I find someone who deserves me to slash their kilt, I will." Dan
nodded to himself.
Luna looked disappointed, like a hamster who didn't get the evening
treats, but a sharp glint quickly appeared in her eyes, which Dan had
seen only once or twice in the past. He couldn't exactly tell where he saw
it before.
"You still haven't answered my question about the interview. Daddy says
that not responding to letters is very rude. Unless you are dead, of course,
then it's understandable."
Dan nodded in agreement and thought for a moment.
"Do you want to write a reply letter to you together?"
Luna frowned at first, but then she smiled broadly, not showing her teeth
in a smile. "I've never written a letter to myself! Is it a thing that friends
do with each other often?"
"I don't think so, but I don't have many friends. I can't call myself an
expert on such matters." He noticed how Luna's gaze softened in
understanding. She didn't have any friends either, not that there were
other people she could write letters to anyway. Well, except for her
father. "But you didn't even write a letter to yourself in the future to read
it in ten years? Their expectations and desires, such things."
"Oh, I'm a pretty sociable girl in the future. She loves letters, but they
have long gone out of fashion, especially with the advent of more
convenient means of communication. I wanted to wait a bit before I
started writing something."
Dan might not understand how magic or the mind of the girl sitting in
front of him worked, but he knew one thing for sure. A letter to Luna
Lovegood from Danil Khromov and Luna Lovegood will be phenomenal.
After all, she was his first real human friend in this life. And Dan was
willing to do a lot for his friends.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Simple_Russian_Boi
I'm posting this only now because BING BONG, fuch your life.
Or, well, my life, but who cares? The new chapter is here!
Chapter 18: The unknown race.
Dan's brain was boiling after he returned to his room. Together with
Luna, they wrote a reply letter and sent it with the school owl, who just
looked at the two idiots and shrugged her wings in a human-like gesture:
I get paid for this, so I'll do it. Their conversation was mostly small talk,
but then Dan made a mistake. He asked about the animal on the cover of
Luna's diary.
Crumple Horned Snorkack. Such an innocent – albeit strange –name, hid
a real monster underneath. This creature, according to Luna, had perfect
stealth and was never captured on camera, even with its spiral horn and
purple skin. They were experts at hiding their presence, and they were so
good that many simply didn't believe in their existence.
But what could be scary about such a silly creature?
Well, apparently, it was of a carnivorous nature. They use their stealth
and their horn to attack unsuspecting victims, after which the crumple
horned snorkack will follow their victims while they bleed. A wound
inflicted by such a horn will close only by a miracle.
Imagine that. You're walking through a mountain forest on a bright
morning, no matter why or where, and then suddenly there's a hole in
your side that definitely shouldn't be there. Five minutes have later the
snorkack has earned itself a warm meal. These little assholes were
responsible for most of the disappearances in the mountains, if Luna was
telling the truth.
The Blibbering Humdinger, on the other hand, was one of the stupidest
creatures, and even on the verge of extinction. It was a bird that could fly
without even having proportional wings.
As Dan understood, they flew with the help of magic. And they turned
out to be on the verge of extinction, because their bones make the best
bases for broomsticks. For hundreds of years, they used their flight
abilities to avoid encounters with predators and human hunters, and over
time they forgot about the threats. Any creature could approach the
Blibbering Humdinger and kill it on the spot, because they wouldn't even
try to escape. The last twenty of these birds were carefully guarded in a
reserve somewhere in New Zealand.
Dan was ninety percent sure they were Dodo birds.
The impromptu lecture that Luna gave to her only student took four
hours – not counting breaks – and for some reason included conspiracy
theories. They were the cause of Dan's headache.
'Why would Fudge kill goblins and bake pies out of them? How would a
gum disease Bring down the building of Ministry of Magic? Why is this
theory called Rotfang at all?!' He blinked. 'Oh, because gum disease rots
teeth. I can't decide if that's clever or not.'
But for today he was convinced that Luna was his friend. It was nice.
Stretching in his bed, Dan thought about his next steps. He already had a
list of things to do, but now he decided to do the simplest and most
important thing on this list. Shake the information from Dumbledore, the
old man probably knows a lot more than he needs anyway.
"Mantis, do you want to go with me to passively aggressively interrogate
an old man?" Dan asked his little green friend, but he just shook his head
and with difficulty turned the page of the book with moving pictures.
Leaving his room, Dan went to Dumbledore's office, walking soundlessly
across the halls. There was still plenty of time before the curfew, which
meant that Dumbledore was still awake. The portraits on the walls were
still talking with each other, a ghost or two flew past his eyes, Dan even
noticed a couple of students who were doing something in this part of the
castle. It reminded him that he was far from alone in this castle and each
of the people were doing something important.
Well, he could suspect what a couple of giggling teenagers were doing in
the broom closet was not that important, but he thought it was better not
to know.
He was very lucky that the invisibility spell was from the Charms
subsection, and not transfiguration. It was far from the easiest to study
and required much more control than Dan had, but a couple of weeks of
constant practice allowed him to remain unnoticed before the eyes of
students.
Reaching the gargoyle in front of the stairs to the Headmaster's office,
Dan stopped. He was 80 percent sure it was just an animated statue, but
in the world of magic, you could never be sure.
"I need to talk to Dumbledore," he said simply, and the gargoyle stepped
aside to let him in. "Thanks pal."
Luckily, Dumbledore was alone in his office, working on a ton of
paperwork. Dan was able to see scrolls from Wizingamot, messages from
worried parents and something written in Greek before the old wizard
paid attention to him.
"Ah, young Khromov, it's nice to see you in the light of day. Of course, it
would be better if you were a little less transparent." A spark of fun was
visible in the old man's eyes.
Dan lifted the invisibility spell and winced at the feeling of returning
warmth. The spell refracted the light around his body in such a way that
no one could see the him, but still allowed small particles of light to get
into his eyes, which was an obvious tell. Dan read the memoirs of people
who taught themselves to look for such refractions of light and it was
surprisingly easy, because most often there were two of them, floating in
the air like a pair of fireflies.
"Good afternoon to you too, Albus. Unfortunately, today I didn't come for
a simple conversation."
Dumbledore didn't lose his smile, but his eyes dimmed a little. "Yes, I
expected this day to come, but I thought it would be much closer to the
end of the year. You know, very often my students start asking really
important questions right then. Although I can't imagine a reason why."
"Their loss," Dan shrugged. "I wanted to learn more about my race, if
that's possible. You mentioned an Arwen when you first saw me, I think,
is he... relevant to the story?"
This time Dumbledore lost his smile and only sighed heavily. He looked
at the shelf with a hundred magical and not so trinkets, pulling a
completely transparent crystal ball to himself with a wave of his hand.
"To be honest, I don't know much myself, just what an old friend told me.
Arwen was one of the damned, just like you." Dumbledore began and Dan
didn't even dare to think of interrupting him. "He was an interesting
person during his lifetime, but he was already quite old when I met him.
"For starters, your race is now called Enderman. Quite simple, I admit,
but there is a great significance behind this simple name. The ones that
brought an end to many things. You see, you– they haven't always been
like this; twisted and bloodthirsty creatures who will stop at nothing just
to catch up with their prey. No. You were something more, much more.
"Advanced magic that even Merlin himself will envy, a society without
plague and conflicts, beauty and longevity. They had everything.
Researchers, healers, military, kings and acolytes. But as you can see,
now almost everything is lost, perhaps even forever." Dumbledore said
sadly, placing the ball on a small red pillow in front of him.
"Arwen did not like to talk about his origin, only once he stumbled, he
admitted that he missed his ears and nose," he chuckled sadly, "but I am
ready to assume that your race suffered the same fate as the house elves.
"Not many people know this, but house elves are descended from forest
elves. A much higher race than themselves. Every house elf and their
descendants are cursed exiles, doomed to serve wizarding families as
punishment. Of course, I believe that the sins of the fathers should not
fall on the shoulders of their descendants, but who am I to judge the
forest elves?
"The only thing I can assume is that the Endermen are damned
descendants, but of a different race. Maybe dark elves – or Drow, as they
are also called – who were cursed for one reason or another. Although
even I strongly doubt it, because the Drow were exterminated hundreds
of years ago by a wizard of incredible power. Ah, but I'm getting off
topic.
"Arwen told me a lot of stories about his life, but only a few were about
his origin. Maybe they will help you in the search for the return of the
human form, maybe not. Do you have any interest in listening to them?"
Dan agreed almost immediately.
-=-=-=-=-=-
Harry, for the first time in a long time, wasn't happy with his time at
Hogwarts. Dementors may not have sucked all the life out of the old
castle, but they definitely made things much more depressing. It was this
depressing atmosphere that made Harry pay more attention. Unlike other
people, he became as sharp as a knife when his thoughts were colored in
dark tones.
He began to notice how the twins were preparing pranks in various
popular places of the school, how Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil
retired for a long time and returned with tousled hair and red faces. A
secret note passed there, a flickering shadow here, small things, big
things, little could escape Potter's gaze.
Especially when Harry managed to stop thinking about Hermione, he still
couldn't get rid of trying to imagine her in the shower.
Therefore, Harry did not immediately notice that all the professors began
to behave strangely, especially considering that most of these oddities
could be related to the escape of Sirius Black. How Aunt Bella hadn't
kicked him out of the family yet was a mystery.
"Harry, mate? Why are you looking at Flitwick like he stole your sweet
roll?" Ron asked quietly as Flitwick turned to the blackboard to write
something on it.
"... Watch him carefully." Harry replied without removing his suspicious
gaze from the old half-goblin.
Flitwick turned and his eyes swept the room, freezing for an extra
moment on the desk, where there was definitely no one. Harry checked it
out. But the professor did not linger for a long time and continued to
speak the lecture in the same clear voice as usual.
"Did you see that?" Harry whispered, this time drawing Ron and
Hermione's attention. "What is he looking at?"
Hermione glanced at Flitwick's line of sight, but finding nothing,
frowned. "I don't know. Maybe there is something enchanted there that
the professor wants to use for demonstration?"
"No," Harry shook his head, "it's something else. He always calls things to
himself when he needs something during class. Flitwick has been doing
this for the second day in a row and it's starting to worry me."
"You can ask him yourself after class." Ron suggested. "It's not like
Flitwick has ever hidden anything from us. I think he will answer."
Harry doubted his words very much, especially considering the first-year
fiasco with the Philosopher's Stone.
"Professor Flitwick." Hermione quietly corrected them both, but the
professor heard her anyway.
"Yes, Miss Granger?"
Hermione blushed and pursed her lips, which made her look very much
like McGonagall - a blushing McGonagall. The resemblance was uncanny.
"Ah- can you give an example of using a spell beyond the obvious?"
Flitwick thought for a moment. "Well, Carpe Retractum is a pretty simple
seize and pull charm, so its application is simple. You can use this spell to
pull something towards you, or to pull yourself towards something. If you
are creative with its use..."
The professor raised his wand into the air and shot a line of red magic
into the air, which at the same moment stuck to the ceiling. Waving his
wand a couple more times, he made a glowing hammock right under the
ceiling of the hall, which remained hanging there. The hammock was still
connected by a thin thread to the professor's wand, but it was almost
invisible.
"As you can see, this spell behaves the same as an ordinary rope. It came
out a little high, of course, but I think it's quite creative."
Harry could have sworn he heard a chuckle from where Flitwick was
looking, but there was still nothing there. Gradually, his thoughts
returned to the lesson, but he did not forget the strange behavior of the
professor.
'Apparently there's something else going on at school that no one knows
about. Again. I hope it won't be my problem this time.'
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Simple_Russian_Boi
Ah, yes. The new chapter is here, and not even months late!
Chapter 19: Side Chapter: Sirius
Orion Black lll
A/N: A short chapter, because you don't deserve to wait while I decide
exactly how to write the next arch. Because judging by my notes, I am
very much at risk of losing some readers in about five chapters. And no,
I'm not going to give Dan a human form, that's not the thing you should
be worried about.
Completely-unrelated-to-the-message-from-above question (seriously). Do
you want to read flashback chapters about the life of a human Dan? It
will be mostly his daily life with Katya and their grandfather. And maybe
some nightmares about his parents.
Anyway, enjoy the chapter!
-=-=-=-=-=-
A worn man in his forties was walking through the woods towards the
center of London. His gray eyes darted from side to side, following the
slightest movement on the horizon. Dried mud and blood clung to his
body from all sides, forming a thin layer of filth on his skin. But he didn't
care about such petty things. He was a man on a mission, distractions
were unacceptable.
The dark mark on his arm was so weak that he could barely feel the
connection with his master, but he was sure that the master was still
alive. A cold gust of wind made Sirius wrap himself even more tightly in
prison robes. Thirteen years in Azkaban didn't make his life any better,
but he kept going forward with a crazy smile on his face.
"Master..." he croaked, "I will find you and you will bring peace back to
these lands."
He remembered the day of his initiation as if it was yesterday. At that
time, he was stupid and young, believing in the sweet words of the Light
about forgiveness and kindness. That what Lord Voldemort was doing
was disgusting and wrong.
Young and confident Sirius Black. He believed that at the end of the war,
everything would fall into place again. That no one will have to die
anymore. How naive he was then.
Lord Voldemort opened his eyes to the truth of this world. The magic of
Britain was gradually dying. More and more Squibs appeared on Ostrava,
old and strong families died like flies, and mudbloods and half-breeds
took their place. The Dark Lord knew that at this rate the old magic
would die, giving way to something new and uncontrollable. And
everything new and great brought with it one unchanging consequence –
war.
With the death of the Old Magic, Muggles will be able to see the Magical
World. Wards will fall in England, revealing the existence of Wizards to
the whole world and then questions will begin.
It was enough just to let the Muggles know that there is a caste of people
in the world who can control reality and everything will go wrong.
He was glad that only a few Wizards knew about Nukes.
His Lord had found a solution. The takeover of Magical England was only
the first step, Ordinary Magic would follow, and only then the whole
world. A war to end all wars, the Lord said.
A pop sounded behind him and Sirius immediately turned into his
Animagus form, running away.
A couple of months ago, he was able to escape from Azkaban. For many
years, he gave in to his madness, laughing in the faces of dementors and
shouting curses at the prison guards. But lately, he's started to feel... not
better, but it's like he's been given a new direction in life.
Something came alive inside him, giving him strength. For several weeks
Sirius puzzled over what it could be. Dementors no longer seem so
terrible, and life wasn't so disgusting.
Only when Fudge threw a newspaper into his cell – to mock him or
something like that, who can understand an idiot? – he noticed a very old
rat in the hands of the youngest Weasley son. The rat reminded him of
Peter and his thoughts slowly began to fall into place. Peter. A rat loyal
to the Light Side who tried to kill him for betraying the Potters. He was
the one who told Sirius that the Dark Lord was dead.
Sirius saw the signs. The Dark Mark was faded on his arm, as well as on
the ones on the arms of his comrades, but he refused to believe that
Voldemort died so simply, without a fight and without an explosion,
because if his Master did die, then he would definitely take half of the
continent with him.
And then it dawned on Sirius, right in the cell of Azkaban, sitting over
the dirty and crumpled newspaper by the name of The Daily Prophet. The
Dark Lord is not dead. And he's gaining strength. A glance at the Dark
Mark confirmed this.
Therefore, Sirius began to prepare an escape plan. He knew that the
whole Auror Department would chase him and even possibly send
Dementors, so he needed to throw everyone off his trail. So, he started
"muttering in his sleep" about the Potter brat at Hogwarts.
No matter what anyone said about Sirius Black, he was smart, loyal to his
master and only a little crazy. Just enough to qualify for the name Black.
Fudge was such a big idiot that he wouldn't even think about Sirius going
in a completely different direction.
'A stick. That was a stick.' Sirius thought, looking around. How rusty was
he that he confused the sound of a broken branch with the sound of an
Apparatus? 'I need to get closer to the road. A couple of dead Muggles
and I'll have new clothes.' The Grimm's snout twisted in disgust. 'Muggle
clothes! Maybe it's better to stay as a dog...'
A couple of days later, local newspapers wrote about the loss of two
campers after the attack of wolves. No one has ever found their bodies,
just a couple of completely clean bones. But it was understandable.
Grimms need to eat, too, after all.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Simple_Russian_Boi
Sometimes, I think about cheese.
Chapter 20: Harry Potter and The
Last Farlander
Hogwarts had a completely different atmosphere at night. If in the light
of the sun the castle seemed magnificent, full of mysteries, fun
adventures and life, then at night it became a hotbed of panic, tension
and fear. One has to spend the night trying to hide from Filch to feel the
horror.
The fireplaces had not been roaring with fire for a long time, but only
warmed with the warmth of dim corners, the torches on the walls
dimmed, casting long shadows around themselves. Apart from the
moving portraits, the castle seemed almost dead. Well, at least the ghosts
definitely added a sense of dread to the castle.
That's why the sight of one Harry Potter was so unusual in the middle of
the night. He stayed close to the walls, not really looking anywhere and
only occasionally listening to the sounds around.
Tonight, he was awakened by another nightmare. Usually, he didn't
dream anything, or at least he didn't remember anything from his
dreams. This time was one of the few exceptions.
Harry dreamed of dark and gloomy forests full of prey, hissing snakes
and screams of pain. He couldn't remember or even understand most of
his dream, but he definitely didn't want to stay in the common room after
that. Even the threat of getting caught by Filch or – who was on duty
today? – Sprout, wasn't enough to stop him. The common room seemed
too small, almost suffocating. The corridors were no better, but the
choice between being inside empty corridors or outside with lots of
Dementors, was obvious.
Taking a deep breath, Harry shook his head, shaking off the remnants of
sleep. He didn't come here to brood; he could do that in the relative
safety of his room. Apparently, the aura of the Dementors affected him
more than he expected.
Thoughts of these terrible creatures made him think of Sirius Black. Aunt
Bella didn't say much about her cousin, only that he had always been the
black sheep of the family. The Blacks were proud by blood, almost from
birth, and only the craziest – or weakest – obeyed any Master, whether it
was a Dark Lord or a Light Lord.
So, when did Valburga Black – Sirius's Mother – found out about his oath
of obedience to Dumbledore, especially after the rest of his idiotic antics?
Well, he wasn't kicked out of the family, but the family tapestry in the
house on Grimmold got another burned patch. And when his betrayal
and fall to the Dark Side became known?
Blood was spilled, accusations were thrown in all directions, and the
family cracked. Some decided to join Sirius, and some remained loyal to
the House of Black. Bella never forgave her mother for selling Narcissa to
the Malfoys. Druella Black was the first victim of the War among the
family.
Arcturus was too dead to banish Sirius from the family, so Regulus –
Sirius' younger brother and the chosen heir of the Black family – could
only forbid him to enter any Black property. The Wards were cool like
that. And after the death of Regulus at the hands of Voldemort, the
family had only Harry as a possible patriarchal heir.
'I just need to survive until twenty-one to take the mantle of Lord Black. I
don't know how Bella can juggle House business and Head Hunting.'
Harry decided to do something nice for his aunt after returning from
Hogwarts. She was the one who shouldered the most of the responsibility
in the family, because there was no one else who could.
Out of the English branch of the Black family, only a few people
remained. The eternally single Bellatrix; Andromeda and her daughter
Nymphadora; Narcissa and her offspring Draco; Harry and Sirius. That
was it. It was possible to try to find the descendants of the Squib Blacks,
but it was a lost cause. Even if there are any left, Harry didn't think they
would like to return to their roots.
Harry stopped abruptly, noticing something wrong in the air. His nostrils
were almost burned by the sudden stench of burnt ozone, which made
the hairs on his body stand straight. Electricity almost danced in the air,
clicks and zaps going all around. Harry had never seen anything like this
in his life.
Abruptly snatching his wand out of his sleeve, Harry began to turn his
head in search of the source of such a huge and aggressive wave of
magic. Footsteps were heard in the direction of the stairs to the fourth
floor, it was one pair of legs.
Another sound cut through the air, so strange and alien that Harry
couldn't compare it to anything.
"̴̡͇̤̔̒͊̽̉̈́̓S̴͍͚̓͗͛͋ͅť̸̛͓͓̥̥̣̟̾͝r̵̮͖̙͊e̷͓͎̥͖̠̮͑́͂͛̍͌͝
̵̩̯̫̲̝͍̙̑͌̂̔̾̚̚G̸̯͙̯̗̻͎̀͗̌r̵̲̠͚̞̻͖̹̉̐́a̷͙͗͂c̷͙͉̅̒̑̄͒͝
̴̢̯̖̫̖͓̩̈̈́R̶͖̒̉͋̃̾̑ḙ̸̜̦͒̊́͊̕͜g̸̓̽̀̎̈́̕ͅe̴̢̟͗̈́̇͆̾̈́̈́n̷̍
̶̟̣̻̇̓͑R̶̟̻̖̰͖̿́̇̆̂̕ḙ̶̃ś̸̛̫̯̩̱̥̆̃̈́̒͛i̷͔̥͐ş̸̼̘͖̬́̈́̄̕
The boy didn't care so much what those sounds meant; the threat didn't
go away. Harry didn't have time to take a step as the wrongness in the air
suddenly increased and disappeared in a second, as if it had never
existed. The footsteps on the fourth floor also stopped, leaving behind
only heavy breathing.
"Oh. That's not good." Harry heard Professor Sprout's voice from above.
"What did he do this time...? Dumbledore didn't say something like this
could happen."
Her voice was agitated, bordering on panic and for a moment, Harry
didn't know what to do. On the one hand, this is another dangerous
situation that he could get involved in in the future and it was better to
know at least something in advance. On the other hand, he really didn't
want to know any more of the school's terrifying secrets. What he did
knew, was enough for now.
And so, Harry, for the first time in a long while, did what he considered
to be the smart thing. He turned around and walked briskly back to the
Gryffindor Tower. Tonight, was just a small warning for him and nothing
more.
The same couldn't be said about the culprit of the incident. For him,
tonight was the culmination of two weeks of work and the reaping of
results, even if he didn't know that he was doing something at all.
---
Magic runes were an interesting thing. They made it possible for wizards
to attach a magical effect to any object or place on a permanent basis or
at least for a long time. Yes, this was done mainly by professionals in
their field, especially when it came to something serious, but this did not
stop the newcomers overflowing with enthusiasm and arrogance.
Dan wasn't adept in Rune magic. He couldn't even be called interested
right now; he was too busy studying the basics of magic to understand
the material of the third year. Yes, he wanted to start studying runes
later, after creating a suitable foundation of knowledge, but apparently
the universe decided to speed up this process.
... Well, or the Traveler. One of the two.
"Albus, I have no idea what these Runes mean." Bathsheda Babbling,
professor of Ancient Runes, confessed. She knew a lot and undoubtedly
deserved her post as a teacher at Hogwarts, but that didn't mean she
knew absolutely everything about Runes. "The main point is protection
and recovery, it's obvious, but it's hard to say what kind of protection and
how this recovery goes. Merlin's Beard, I'm sure whoever did this didn't
even use anchor crystals! The magic just concentrates from the
surroundings."
Dumbledore examined the runes on the walls of Dan's room with interest.
He had never had to work with Farlander's Wards before, simply because
they all stopped working overtime. His old friend wasn't interested in
wards enough to sit down for their training seriously or teach others.
Now he had a someone capable of creating Farlander's Wards, but who
had no idea how he did it. Dumbledore believed that the situation could
have been worse.
"Are they safe?" The old wizard asked first.
"Yes... At least I don't see any signs of malicious magic. The most that
these Wards will do is stop the intrusion into the room from the outside.
But I don't like how the appearance of these Wards can affect the Wards
of Hogwarts." Batsheda declared, throwing Dan a displeased look. He
didn't understand how his skinny ass was to blame for this, but so far, he
decided to keep silent, least he draws the woman's wrath upon himself.
"It is most unusual." Dumbledore began, "I could've never imagined that
something like this was possible without a wardstone. Arwen theorized
about such a possibility, but he wasn't versed nether in Runes, nor in
Wards."
"Can it wait until morning?" Dan asked curiously. "You people have
things to do in the morning, why are you both still here?"
For Dan, tonight was not the most pleasant. Waking up exhausted in the
middle of the room was already enough for confusion, the fact that
glowing symbols appeared on the walls was a little worse. But the
realization that all this time he got up at night and carved runes on the
walls like a mad lunatic... It scared him.
If he did something like that just by walking in his sleep, what else could
he do? What should he expect from himself? Gods know that he didn't
want to wake up one day in the middle of the Great Hall with someone's
torn robe in his hands.
.. Maybe Luna was right, maybe he really was an Umgubular Slashkilter
and didn't know it himself.
"Mr. Chromov, we put the safety of Hogwarts and its students first."
Babbling frowned disapprovingly. "Whatever incredible thing you've done
to your room, if it interferes with the castle's defenses, we'll have to
remove it."
Dumbledore, who was almost lost in his own thoughts again, shook his
head. "No, the boy is right, Batsheda. It's long past our bedtime, Pomona
had the right idea. Why would we worry about something that we can't
even fix at the moment?" The old man turned to Dan, sending him a
small nod. "Good dreams to you. And Batsheda, I advise you to rest, your
classes start early tomorrow."
Dan was hoping for a dramatic departure from the Headmaster, but the
man just turned around and headed back to his rooms. Dan and Batsheda
followed suit, even if the rune teacher sent dirty looks in the direction of
the monster boy.
Suffice to say, neither Harry nor Dan were able to catch much sleep that
night.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Simple_Russian_Boi
I'll let you in on a little secret. I was going to update a week ago, but
then my stupid ass remembered that I had two non-closed practices
that ended last year. I spent this week searching for documents and
hunting for signatures of officials. I love bureaucracy.
In any case, this chapter is written and there are already a thousand
words in the next chapter. I will post a new chapter by the end of the
weekend - Moscow time. So it will most likely be Monday for you.
Love ya all, enjoy how the pLoT tHiCeNs.
Chapter 21: Books and Cats
The morning after the incident with Wards, Dan was asked to leave the
room early in the morning while Batsheda and Albus poked around at his
creation. He could understand their point of view, but the fact that they
were investigating his Wards without him was wrong in his eyes. Of
course, he had no experience in these things, but he was the only one
who could read the ever-changing Farlanders language.
Albus knew a thing or two about Farlanders, but a librarian he was not.
Speaking of librarians, right now Dan was spending his time with the
pleasant company of Luna and Mantis, reading books in the library.
Books always seemed like an outdated way of storing and sharing
information for him. A heavy leather rectangle with several hundred thin
pages – all of which can very easily be ruined – wasn't his idea for the
best thing in the world. That's why he started working with computers
and other technology early in his life.
It was strange to look back, remember smartphones that held an
abundance of information a click away, and then abruptly return to old,
heavy books and parchment. It was jarring as hell.
Of course, that didn't stop Dan from studying or enjoying a good book
once in a while.
Unfortunately, this wasn't once in a while.
"I don't understand." Dan muttered, looking at the ancient letters on a
parchment, that Dumbledore had gave him after their conversation in the
morning. It was a copy of Arwen's Will, which no one had been able to
decipher. The language was unfamiliar even to the old experts and was
very… fluid, in a weird way. It wasn't the usual Farlander's language that
Dan could instinctively understand, it was something else, more of a code
than a language. "Is this word translates differently in different contexts?
What for? I understand that there is such a thing in many languages,
but…"
Luna patted him gently on the shoulder. "There, there. You'll get used to
it soon," the girl leaned over his shoulder and began to look at the letters.
Some were looking like lines, some were dots, and some looked more like
faces than letters. "I didn't think you knew the language of the
Catacombs."
Dan blinked, which was hardly noticeable through his glasses, and turned
to face the girl. "I know what? It looks like rapidly changing English to
me."
For Dan, the words on paper weren't nonsense, they were just a string of
nouns that moved and changed into their own synonyms. Sometimes they
were even slang words that the boy had never read in his short life.
For Luna, this text was very still. Which was strange, because usually for
her, all the words in the books looked almost alive, telling the stories
about the author too. But apparently not now.
She had no idea what exactly it meant, but she knew that these symbols
were often found in the Catacombs.
"The language of the Catacombs that lie deep under the school." Luna
said, sighing dreamily. "In my first year, Ginny Weasley was controlled
by the evil diary. One day, near the end of the year, she stunned me and
took me to the Chamber of Secrets. I remember something punched a
hole in the wall, opening a passage to the Catacombs. I still visit them
sometimes when the Nargles are getting too mischievous. It's moist and
cold there, but the feeling of adventure is definitely worth it!"
Dan hummed thoughtfully, tapping his claws on the table. Luna has
obviously found a safe enough way to descend into the Catacombs. God
knew exactly what was there, but it couldn't be that bad if even a second-
year student could come in and out of there unscathed. The fact that
there was something hidden under the school didn't surprise him for even
a bit. He was more surprised that Luna was the one who found these
passages. He thought that Potter and his company would get into trouble
up to their ears with these Catacombs or something like that.
"Let's put a pin on that for later," Dan suggested softly. "These Catacombs
don't sound like a friendly place."
"Of course, it's not friendly, silly. How can a place be friendly?"
Luna's quiet giggle sounded in the barrier, but was abruptly interrupted
by a cat's meow. Two pairs of eyes turned to the source of the sound and
froze on the shape of a rather large and fluffy cat with a flattened face. It
seemed that when it was still a kitten, it crashed into a wall one too
many times. The orange cat looked at the two in response and loudly
meowed a second time, demanding even more attention.
"Crookshanks?" Luna asked, lifting the cat onto her lap. "What are you
doing here, catling friend?"
Crookshanks turned his head, looking around with visible interest and
curled up in a ball, purring softly on the girl's legs. Luna only tilted her
head slightly, in a silent question that only the universe heard, and
nodded to herself.
"You should become invisible, Danil Khromov. I don't think you're ready
to make another friend just yet."
If Dan had eyebrows, he would have frowned, but he didn't, so the boy
just cast an invisibility spell on himself and got up from the chair so that
no one would sit on him. He learned not to sit in chairs while invisible
after the first time when some fat kid from Slytherin almost plopped
down on his lap. No one wants to have their legs broken because some
kid decided to change his regular seat.
'Do I still have my old injuries?' Dan suddenly thought, but did not have
time to delve deeper. The reason for Luna's warning appeared like a wild
pokemon.
The girl with wild fluffy hair and tanned skin, turned the corner with a
quick step and breathed a sigh of relief as soon as she saw the cat in
Luna's hands. Normally, Wards would have taken her gaze away from
this section of the library, but the girl had a goal and these Wards were
far from Fidelius.
"Oh, thank Merlin…" Hermione – and that was definitely Hermione
Granger – breathed. "Hello, Luna. Crookshanks, didn't I tell you not to
run around the library so much?"
Luna hummed to herself. "He was most likely attracted here by the smell
of novelty. Kneazles were always famous for leading their Masters to
something new and exciting."
Hermione looked a little lost, but the relief that came with finding a cat
overcame her distrust of little Ravenclaw ideas. Usually, Hermione didn't
believe almost anything that Luna took to be a fact, and only on very rare
occasions could she listen to a girl.
"Oh, erm… I didn't know that." Hermione noticed books and copies of the
text presumably from the Catacombs on the table. "What is it? I've never
seen these books before."
Luna lifted Crookshanks from her lap and placed the huge one around
her neck. He didn't even stop purring, just shoving his flattened face into
the girl's cheek. "Just a little research for a friend, he's an Umgubular
Slashkilter, you know? I try to prove it to him, but he refuses to rip off
innocent girls' robes in the night to test my theory."
"That's… great, I guess?" Hermione muttered. "Wouldn't it be easier to try
yourself– you know what, never mind." She stopped herself abruptly, not
wanting to give the blonde any more chaotic ideas. Her life was
complicated enough right now, not worth adding Luna to it.
The blonde only blinked slowly, and then sighed sharply in eureka's
moment.
"Of course! Why didn't I think of this before?! Hermione, thank you so
much! Crookshanks, your presence was nice, but it's time for you to
return to your mistress."
The cat yawned loudly, but jumped off her shoulders, causing the girl to
sway from the strength of his legs. Crookshanks looked at Hermione and
jumped into her arms. All she could do was mutter her thanks and leave
the library, too tired to ask more about Luna's project. Moreover, she
wasn't sure she could stop herself from calling her research stupid.
Dan stared at the receding figure of Hermione for a long time. She looked
terrible, her hair was tangled in several places, bags under her eyes could
make her look like a panda, and her robes were not ironed. Dan didn't
know what Hermione usually looked like, but what he did know was that
no self-respecting woman would allow herself to look so tired in public.
Especially not a woman like Hermione.
"She looks tired," he commented, removing his invisibility with a wave of
his hand.
"I think she's tired after all the jumping." Luna answered and returned to
her notes. "How do you feel about ripping off my robes?"
"No."
"Oh, poo."
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Simple_Russian_Boi
A short one today. I hope you all had a nice Monday. And I hope that
you brought me some Stones.
Chapter 22: Questions and
Malfoys
Getting to his feet, Dan sighed heavily and cast an invisibility spell on
himself with a wave of his hand. Luna left the library a couple of hours
ago to make it to the classes before the bell. The monster boy was left
alone, exploring the secrets of magic, especially Curses, Rituals and
Transfiguration. For him, these three branches of magic were the best bet
on returning to human form.
'This body could easily have been cursed by the Wanderer. So, to return
to my normal appearance, I will either have to sacrifice a baby or find a
way to transfigure myself back.' Dan's back cracked pleasantly, causing
another idea to pop into his head. 'If I'm not a human, but something else
entirely, can my Animagus form be human? Something worse than a
human? Can a Wizard have a female Animagus form? Is it possible to get
someone pregnant while transformed? And who has enough balls to ask
McGonagall all this?'
Rituals were his best bet on returning to human form and for a good
reason. The magic of Rituals, as well as the Ritualists themselves, were
highly valuable and highly dangerous, both for themselves and for
everyone around them. This branch was based on the sacrificial part of
magic, where Ritualists invoked the older laws of Magic in order to
achieve something.
There was no information about Rituals at Hogwarts at all. Well, that
wasn't exactly true: there was no useful information about Rituals. Of
course, there were books that talked about the theory behind what
Rituals are and how such magic works, but if you want to see an
instruction manual or something similar? You'll have to look for a Master
Ritualist. And considering that in Britain, Rituals have been recognized as
illegal, then you will have to look outside the ICW countries.
Also, Dan's gaze was caught by Alchemy, which was considered a
permanent and stronger version of Potion Making. Dan had no idea how
good he could be at Alchemy, but he wasn't going to back down without
even trying.
Letting out a sigh – along with a couple of purple sparks from his mouth
– Dan took all his things, put the Mantis in his pocket so that the little
guy was also invisible, and went to the exit of the library. Only before he
could exit his section, he stumbled upon a problematic situation. Two
teenagers – Slytherins, judging by the color of their robes – were blocking
his way to the exit.
A white-haired boy who looked somewhat like a ferret, was standing near
a bookshelf and leafing through a thick book. The girl next to him was
black-haired and looked more like a pug. A cute one, yes, but still a pug.
After looking at the guy for a couple more seconds, Dan finally decided
that it was Malfoy Jr. and his girlfriend. He didn't even try to remember
her name; it was too much trouble.
"– Black was sighted on the way to Romania? What's the point of fleeing
Britain if all of the ICW and even Muggles are looking for him?" The girl
was whispering loudly, before taking a breath to calm herself. "Do you
think the Ministry will remove the Dementors from Hogwarts now?"
The boy only grunted something incomprehensible in response, but that
didn't stop the girl. She sighed, trying to lean on the thin arm of the guy,
looking for at least some emotional support from him.
"I hope so. These things are... wrong. How could your father agree to
their presence? Isn't he one of the members of the School Board?"
The ferret's face twitched in annoyance, but he restrained himself from
an instant response.
"... Not anymore, thanks to Potter."
"Oh, Draco!"
Dan was sure that next she would offer the blond to comfort him, so the
monster-boy turned around and went to look for another way out. The
last thing he needed was to overhear more of their flirting.
Although rather, it was more like a case of one-side puppy love. Just by
watching these two for a couple of minutes, Dan was able to understand
that Draco wasn't interested. But even despite the drama, he was able to
learn something useful today.
The possibility that the Dementors would be removed from Hogwarts was
good, Dan thought that they'll be gone within a week. Now that it was
known that Black was heading far away from Scotland; keeping
Azkaban's guards here was just stupid.
Dodging a younger looking boy with a camera on the way out of the
library, Dan walked towards the Transfiguration classroom, he had a lot
of questions, and Minerva had all the answer.
Well, most of them.
"Never in my long life have I heard about the existence of anything along
the lines of a human Animagus form, nor can I say a lot about the ability
of magical creatures to transform permanently into a human. Of course,
illusions and temporary Transfigurations are present as a defense against
hostile being – one just has to look at Changelings to see an example –
but to have a permanent human form and have enough intelligence to
live among our kind as one of us... Well, I think you'll be the first of your
race, Mr. Khromov." Minerva said, looking sternly at Dan.
"As for the question of the gender of a Wix and the gender of their form,
it is quite delicate. We can say with certainty that there were Animagi
whose forms did not correspond to their primary sex, but few people talk
about it. And no, Mr. Khromov, I do not know if it is possible to get
pregnant during coitus in animal form. Frankly, I do not want to know."
Dan nodded wisely, completely ignoring the disappointment in Minerva's
voice. Even if this information was useless, he still learned something
new today.
"Let's go back a bit," Dan suggested, "you said that a human-human
Animagi do not exist. Animals to human transformations are never fare
well, and making a fresh body out of random materials isn't going to
work…" He hummed in though. "Right, where can I read research on
Human Transfiguration from all sorts of stuff?"
He got a harsh glare in response, along with a permission slip to access
the Forbidden Section in the library. All in all, it was worth it.
---
A family of three lived in a grandiose castle, the beauty of which was
only a couple of steps away from Hogwarts itself. Father, mother and son,
all bore the surname Malfoy, two did it with pride and one out of a sense
of duty. If someone found out about this, they immediately assumed that
Narcissa Malfoy, in the maiden name of Black, was the odd one out, but
this was not the case.
Lucius Malfoy was a tall, statuesque man with almost silver hair and pale
skin. He was the successor of the Pureblooded Malfoy family and wore
his name with pride, but it was not always so. He didn't like to be
reminded about the early years of his life, only sometimes seeing them in
nightmares.
But now, sitting at a table made of dark wood, Lucius pondered and
planned the future of his family, sometimes glancing at his forearm,
where the black mark of the Dark Lord Voldemort was burned forever. It
was getting darker. The change in color was almost unnoticeable, but the
evidence was there. Voldemort was gaining his strength back, preparing
for his inevitable return.
Fortunately, his return wasn't Lucius' problem today.
Last year was a failure for him: the Muggle protection act, advanced by
Weasley, was accepted by the Wizingamot, and with it five years of work
flew right into the bin.
"And the hypocrite had a garage full of enchanted muggle trash." Lucius
snorted and looked down at the parchment that lay on the table. Now
was not the time to think about the past.
Walden Macnair recently sent him some very interesting news. Colonies
of Acromantula began to grow at an alarming rate, zombies and skeletons
popped out of pyramids and long-abandoned tombs to walk into the
light. Neutral creatures began to attack wizards at the first opportunity,
and already aggressive ones went feral.
The Werewolves and Vampires began to feel a little stronger. Yes, the
changes were almost imperceptible, but no one could deny that they
existed.
Dark creatures were acting strange and it was happening all over the
world.
He had not yet considered the appearance of strange monstrous plants
that could walk and explode next to unassuming wizards. Even the
madman Lovegood would not dare to write about such a creature.
Also, he couldn't even deny the possibility of other new creatures
appearing.
The reason for the strange behavior of the Dark Creatures and the
appearance of completely new ones was not clear, but most likely it was
a sign. If Lucius had been naiver, he would have thought that this was a
sign of his Master's return, but it was something else. Something bigger.
'It can be quite profitable. It's worth sending a couple of people to collect
spider carcasses and their silk. It's hard to get anything useful from
zombies and skeletons, but if they all go to the surface, it means they left
their guard posts empty. I'm far from the first to realize this, but I'll send
a couple of professionals to follow the results of the researchers. If we're
lucky, we'll be able to take a couple of tombs for ourselves. Macnair
would want a cut for his troubles, of course.'
Lucius wasn't stupid, he couldn't allow himself to think that he was the
first to get his hands on this information. He was only one of the first and
that was enough.
The less-than-legal informants worked faster than the same reporters and
usually knew much more than the idiots from the newspapers. That's why
the Dark Side had so much money in circulation. They were among the
first to receive real news.
If only ordinary people knew everything that a Pureblood Lord knows…
Well, the world would look much more chaotic and violent than it was
now.
Pretty soon, he finished with the Lord's work and was finally able to
leave his gloomy office, leaving all unpleasant thoughts in the same
place. After all, work and personal life should not overlap often.
But one treacherous thought refused to leave his mind. It stuck to his
skull like a jellyfish, twisting tentacles around his head and burning,
constantly reminding him of its existence.
'These monsters didn't come into the light for no reason. Something
forced them out... Or someone.'
Lucius didn't sleep that night.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Simple_Russian_Boi
Sorry, I've been busy studying and fixing IRL problems lately. I would
complain to you about how much I hate bureaucracy, but I think that
everyone hates it and that my complaints will be akin to a cry into the
abyss. Also, I already complained about that a couple of chapters
before.
Anyway, enjoy the chapter! Pretty soon I will have more free time, so
there will be more updates. I hope…
Chapter 23: NOT A CHAPTER - I'm
alive
You may have a question "Boi, why don't you write anything? Did your
dick fell off?"
My answer is no, I'm good. You can blame my absence on two very fun
factors.
1. The Legend of Zelda Tears of The Kingdom came out.
2. I am writing my thesis/diploma work?/final exam work?? I don't know
how you western folk call this thing and if you even have that. Baisicly,
I'm making a huge project to prove that I wasn't fucking around for four
years at college. (I was)
Anyway, I'm making a chapter right now, because the timing allows me
to catch a breather, if all goes well, I'll post it on monday evening.
Well, Moskow monday.
As a side note: if you meet me irl, please give me a reason to live.
All hell should end towards the end of June. Then I'll need to dodge the
army for a bit. Or not. We'll see how it goes.
Fof funzies, you can ask me anything in the comments, I'll try my best to
answer. I doubt that you have any questions, but still.
Chapter 24: The days before
Halloween
Dan would admit, of the seven deadly sins, pride wasn't even in his top
five ones. His personal pride died a fiery death with the first order from a
random Furry enthusiast and the subsequent exchange of art and money.
People with pride high on their priority list didn't do the things he did.
So, with his pride and morality were quietly crying in the corner of his
mind, Dan had no problems with answering uncomfortable questions, or
doing questionable things. Such was the life of a family guy, he was
ready to look over a lot and ignore a lot, but even he had limits.
"Why?" He asked, trying to understand what his friend was thinking. It
was either pure curiosity, or some higher level of thinking that even the
gods could understand.
"Accurate information is valuable at any time." Luna nodded to herself,
holding a very long piece of parchment and a pen for writing, "how can I
write a scientific paper if I don't have all the facts?"
Yes, Luna decided to make Dan the subject of her future research paper
for the College of Magizoologists – or whatever they are called, Dan
wasn't actually sure. He wasn't strongly opposed, especially considering
that his race most likely needs to be listed in the red book. The chance
that he was the last representative of the Farlanders/Enderman was
pretty high, after all.
'Does the Wizarding Government run repopulation programs for magical
creatures?' Dan wondered, 'Will they arrange such a program for me?' He
pushed those thoughts away as soon as they entered his head.
"Because it's private, Luna." Dan patiently replied, "You wouldn't go up to
a centaur and ask him to take measurements of his genitals."
"Of course not, that would be awfully rude!" Luna said, dumbfounded.
"But I'm only interested in anatomy. Even if you look like a humanoid, it
doesn't mean that you have the same body structure. Changelings, for
example, have a cloaca-"
"I get the idea," he interrupted the beginning of another lecture, "in that
case, I'm ready to assure you, everything down there is quite humanoid."
"Hmm…" the girl mumbled, scribbling something on the paper.
Dan sighed heavily and leaned back in his chair in the abandoned
classroom. It was one of the few places in the school where there was
virtually no foot traffic. The boy's thoughts turned to the past weeks he
had spent in the castle. To be honest, the quiet time was good for Dan.
The closer the end of October was, the more confident he felt in his new
position.
With his knowledge of magic accumulating day by day, and his
understanding of mystical power deepening by the minute, Dan felt like
he could ace the exams set for the first two years of classes. That set him
just below the third years knowledge-wise and in the middle of the pack
of the fourth years spell-wise.
Filius and Minerva were almost godlike conduct in his quest for
information. Dan didn't understand why the two of them were still
working at the school and not at some magical university. For school
teachers, they were disgustingly overqualified.
Considering that he didn't do anything else other than study, his progress
was immense.
Of course, Pomona and Snape also helped, but the first taught mostly
how not to kill yourself with magical plants; and the second talked about
how to cook these plants along with body parts of strange creatures to
make simple potions. Dan had little interest in both subjects. It didn't
help that Snape was a terrible teacher.
"What are you going to do for Halloween?" Luna suddenly asked, looking
up at Dan.
The monster boy continued to stare at the ceiling, swaying in his chair.
"Nothing interesting, maybe I'll go to the kitchens later in the day, order
a personal feast from the elves, place a couple of carved pumpkins
somewhere strange to scare people. Why the question?"
The girl copied Dan and also leaned back in her chair, crossing her legs
and swaying in place, her dirty blonde hair fell over her shoulders. The
monster boy couldn't stop thinking how adorable she was, like a cat on a
valerian. Cute and a little confused about everything around, but still
glad to be here.
"I don't really like Halloween. It means something different to a lot of
people now." Luna said, quietly. "To the old families, it is a day of the
dead, when you could feel the veil between life and death fall just a little
more than usual. It is the day to maybe send a message to the other side,
to pay respect, to be sure that you would be heard. For others, it's the day
the Dark Lord died…"
Dan blinked, hearing a note of sadness in the girl's voice for the first time
since their first meeting. He remembered one thing he had been told in
the past. Luna's mother died while she was still very young, leaving her
alone with her father. For her, as for many other people, what Halloween
has become now, just wasn't right. Even the name has changed from
what it used to be.
"Will you tell me more?" He asked, sitting at the table like a polite
individual again. The girl smiled in response and began to talk.
-=-=-=-=-=-
Dan didn't fully understand why Luna liked the Forbidden Forest. Yes, it
was a natural environment for many magical creatures, but that didn't
override the fact that spiders the size of minivans and a bunch of other
unpleasant and extremely dangerous creatures lived in the forest too.
That's not to mention that the Dementors left the forest only a week ago.
The cold atmosphere of autumn and depression never completely left the
school.
Luna led Dan to the edge of the forest, where the Thestrals heard spent
their time. He preferred not to ask where she got the bucket of fresh meat
from, and she preferred not to tell.
"Good boy." Dan said while stroking one dragon-like horse on the neck.
The beast was brave enough to approach him, so the monster boy
decided to reward him with a little bit of affection. And meat. That too.
"You know, you two are alike." Luna noticed.
"Black, skinny and scary as death?" Dan said back, only to wince the next
moment. "Sounds very racist."
The girl just shook her head. "Only a few can see you, and many probably
won't understand you even if they see you." She swayed in place and
smiled in his direction. "And yes, maybe you can be called scary, but
someone who looks only at appearances is doomed to be miserable."
"... Well said." Dan nodded back as he continued petting the horse in
front of him. They were indeed very similar, except that Dan could
hardly be called like a dragon. Only his teeth were sharp and powerful
enough to approach at least part of the quality of a dragon's teeth.
Suddenly, something crunched in the denser part of the forest, causing
the Thestrals to jump and stumble back at the sound. Dan turned sharply
towards the sound, pushing Luna behind him. Dozens and hundreds of
eyes stared at him from the darkness of the trees, the spiders made
clicking squeaks as they slowly circled their prey.
"Killer of our blood…" One of them hissed, striding into the light of the
setting sun. "Enemy of our blood…" This Acromantula was much larger
than any Dan had seen before. The monster was almost five meters wide
and two meters tall, with eight hairy legs ending like razors. "For our
blood, we shall take yours."
Dan managed to count ten spiders on the ground, but he had no idea how
many were in the trees. Spiders were secretive in their own right, not to
mention huge ones with human intelligence.
"Luna, run back to the castle – ride if any of the Thestrals are still
around." Dan whispered in the direction of the girl, already preparing to
take off his goggles. He didn't hear any protests, only her quick footsteps
sounded behind him, leading in the same direction the Thestrals had fled.
Luna couldn't help him right now. Maybe she could hold off one, two
spiders at most, but she would be more of a hindrance than a helping
hand. So, she chose to run and call for help.
"I will give you one chance to go back to your territory. Only death
awaits you here, if not at my hands, then at the hands of the professors of
this school."
"Dead blood demands payment man-flesh." The Acromantula replied.
Dan twitched, slowly coming to realize just how fucked up he was. The
first time he went crazy in the Acromantula colony, he didn't even have
time to think about his actions. Yes, a hundred huge spiders died at his
hands, but they were just spiders, even if they were big. He had no idea
that they had intelligence, that they could speak and understand human
speech.
Now everything was different, he was ambushed, he had no surprise
advantage. Dan knew perfectly well what kind of creatures they were and
what the strong alphas of the colony could do with a Wizard. The spider
in front of him was definitely an alpha, and he brought the strongest of
the colony with him.
Even so, he made the decision to remove his defenses and look his
enemies in the eye. He refused to hesitate when his life was on the line,
but he didn't think he could do it without a little push.
"I'll take that as a no." Dan muttered and plucked the goggles from his
face. His gaze locked with the lower being's, causing his face to contort in
hatred. But this time he was ready.
Direct eye contact with those bastards felt wrong even now. These
creatures haven't earned the right to look at a higher being and continue
to live without paying for their sin. His mind felt blank, only one word
was being repeated over and over, like a broken record.
"Disgusting."
Dan didn't hold back and rushed forward, ready to collect payment from
the lower beings.
As he expected, two spiders immediately blocked his path to the alpha,
they were smaller than a car, but much faster than the leader's bulky
body would allow.
The spiders' legs whistled through the air, hungry for blood, but they
never reached Dan's body. He ducked under their sweeps, kicking off the
ground and piercing the head of the first spider with one well-placed
blow. The second was not awarded such a quick death, his body was torn
by a precise cutting spell.
Something sharp hit Dan from behind, slicing apart his clothes and skin.
He immediately teleported to the side, ripping off one of the dead spider's
legs and banishing it into a third that crept up behind him.
Now five spiders surrounded him, but the alpha did not move, watching
Dan's movements. It teleported from place to place, throwing sharp
things at the spiders, tearing their bodies apart with difficulty. He missed
punches here and there, his skin filling with thin lines that oozed fresh
black blood.
The Acromantulas knew that the weaker members of their colony could
only scratch the enemy of their blood. Now they could wound him. Hurt
him. Drain him minute by minute, so that the alpha could kill the enemy
when he was ready. And he would be ready.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Simple_Russian_Boi
It was supposed to be a silly little chapter with Luna getting Dan in
trouble, and she still does… somewhat. How in the seven hells it
ended up in the serious zone?
Chapter 25: The Spiders
A/N: I hate that I can't make the text here bold or italic. Webnowel's text
redactor sucks massive ass.
-=-=-=-=-=-
Dan ducked under another sharp spider leg and sent a purple lightning
spell in his direction with a wave of his hand. The spider flew away from
the force of the impact, making a screeching sound like the creaking of
rusty door hinges.
The longer the battle went on, the more damage both sides received. But
if Dan teleported out from under the blows so quickly that they could
only inflict superficial damage on him, then the giant spiders suffered
much greater losses. The corpses of seven arachnids were already lying
on the ground, curled into a ball of limbs.
Tearing off a particularly long and sharp leg from a dead spider, Dan
staggered, his vision blurred.
"The fu–" He wasn't given time to even finished cursing. The leader of the
pack pounced on him as soon as Dan stumbled, and knocked the boy to
the ground, piercing him in the ribs with his fangs.
With a cry of rage, Dan stuck his makeshift weapon into the spider's belly
and teleported at the bastard's back, trying to stick his claws into the
Alpha's head. But his hands never reached the target, as another spider
jumped away from the tree and hit Dan in the back, knocking him off the
leader and sending him straight to the ground.
Dan felt like death was leaning in, every breath was a dose of pure pain
into his system, but it only added fury to his thoughts. 'How dare these
subhuman creatures bring me to such a state?! ME!'
Two spiders immediately attacked his fallen form, but Dan disappeared
even before they could touch him. The arachnids already saw what their
opponent could do and immediately began to look around, but suddenly
their heads just slipped off their bodies. Only the faint silhouette of a
monster hung over their corpses.
Now, fighting an invisible opponent, the Arachnids' chances looked worse
and worse.
"Hiding is… useless… We can see you…" The alpha spider managed to
hiss–
–right before half of his body exploded into a bloody mist, purple sparks
raining down on his corpse.
The remaining six spiders froze for a moment, only to scream something
that Dan couldn't understand right now. The invisible monster boy felt
his arms weaken with every passing second, but refused to back down.
Fortunately, he didn't have to.
"Glacius." A familiar cold voice said with confidence and the three spiders
were quickly covered in ice. The remaining three turned into cubes of
wood silently, and promptly fell soullessly to the ground.
Dan sucked in air greedily, like a drowning man. Feeling that the danger
had passed, he let go of the invisibility and finally allowed himself to fall
to his knees.
"Foolish boy!" Snape hissed – his voice unnaturally resembled the voice of
a spider – approaching the exhausted teen, actively trying to avoid his
eyes. A wave of the wand and the goggles were back on Dan's eyes.
"What moronic idea made you stay here instead of grabbing Lovegood
and apparating back to the castle?!"
Dan, as expected, didn't care much about the man's words. Right now, he
was trying not to lose consciousness, using the remaining adrenaline in
his brain to avoid falling into the hands of Morpheus. The venom in his
veins slowly paralyzed his body and he didn't want to know what would
happen if it also affected his heart.
Minerva also approached the boy, still looking around for danger. "For
Merlin's sake, help the boy first before you lecture him! He's obviously
poisoned!"
"Without a doubt…" Snape muttered and began to move his wand over
Dan's wounds, which were still oozing black blood. "Nella coda sta il
veleno."
As soon as he finished speaking the spell, Dan's wounds began to ooze
with translucent spider venom, as if it was being pushed out by an
invisible force. Minerva made a sound of displeasure in the back of her
throat, but let Snape work. She would have asked why the man didn't
just give Dan a flushing potion, but…
~ Flashback ~ Hogwarts' bi-weekly Staff meeting ~ Two weeks earlier ~
Sitting at the same table, Hogwarts professors usually did two things:
they ate in the Great Hall or discussed what was happening in the Castle.
Whether it's Weasley pranks, student performance, or the mysterious
disappearance of part of the castle walls.
Today, the main topic for discussion was a recently arrived student of
their institution - Danil Khromov. Dumbledore wanted to keep the
information about the monster boy closer to his chest, but he knew he
couldn't keep secrets. Not now. Not about him.
"Potions for humans won't work on him. But somehow, I think Khromov
already knows that." Snape said.
This was a problem that didn't appear often among wizards. Of course,
there were allergies and immunity to some ingredients, but nothing of
this magnitude.
"But why? Isn't he a human? He's just cursed." Batsheda asked, her eyes
wide with surprise.
Snape sneered in response. "No, he's not human. Even if he were human,
the boy can't touch water. Almost all potions require water." Only some
medicinal pastes and powders eventually got rid of water as an
ingredient, but he wasn't going to explain that. "Our potions will work
just as well on him as on, say, a house elf, goblin or centaur. His
physiology and magic are so different from ours, that most potions won't
affect him, or just make things worse."
Pomfrey nodded in agreement, her face dark with displeasure. "The same
can be said about more directed healing spells. I can heal everyday
injuries, but what if it's something more serious? This is already beyond
my competence."
The professors fell silent for a minute, most digesting the new
information. Dumbledore expected something like this, in the past,
questions about treatment were not raised in conversations with Arwen,
but when a child of an almost extinct race turned up at his school… Well,
it made him start thinking about trivial things.
"And what kind of treatment choice does he have then?" Dumbledore
asked eventually.
"... Spells and potions that work on Muggles should work on him as well."
Pomfrey suggested. "Or general aid spells."
"There are still many options, but none will be as comfortable as our
usual methods of treatment."
It was easy to say that the day when Dan gets into the Medical Wing will
be very unpleasant for the boy.
~ Flashback end ~
After the last drop of poison left Dan's body, Snape forcibly closed his
wounds. "Levicorpus," he cast a spell and the boy's body rose into the air.
Dan himself lost consciousness somewhere in the middle of the process.
Blood loss and fatigue after the battle finally caught up with him.
Minerva immediately conjured a white sheet and covered his body with
it, not letting anyone see his form. And she did it very timely, because
just at that moment the Professors heard the footsteps of several people
at once.
For some reason, both Professors were not surprised when they saw a trio
of very familiar Gryffindors. Minerva swore softly in Scottish, another
couple of seconds and she would have made Dan invisible.
"Professor McGonagall?! What happened here?" Harry asked, looking at
the battlefield in shock, he couldn't describe it otherwise. Ron, who was
behind him, was green in the face and pretty quickly stopped looking at
the giant spiders.
"Merlin's beard, it's somehow worse than if they were alive," Ron
muttered to himself.
The scenery really wasn't the best. Two dozen spider corpses lay on the
edge of the forest, many of them were torn apart or simply crushed to
death. Harry didn't know much about spiders, but could swear that they
shouldn't have that much blood. The earth was burned in some places,
and small craters were left on the trees.
"What happened here," Snape said, "is none of your business, Mr. Potter.
Miss Granger, please take your friends away from here before Mr.
Weasley shows us what he had for breakfast."
Minerva, meanwhile, touched the sheet with her wand and it disappeared
from the trio's gaze.
"Is that-" Hermione swallowed nervously. "Professor McGonagall, is that a
student?"
The Transfiguration Master's face was as if carved from stone. She
couldn't tell them the truth, but she wasn't going to lie to them.
"That," Snape answered again, "like I said, it's none of your business."
He walked towards the castle at a brisk pace, feeling Dan's body flying
behind him. Minerva pursed her lips into a thin line and turned back to
the battlefield. "I ask the three of you to return to the castle, we don't
know if there are any more Acromantulas within the premises of the
school."
If it had been possible, Ron would have turned even greener. Seeing that
it was actually better for them to be away from the Forbidden Forest
right now, Harry reluctantly turned around and dragged the two friends
with him, away from whatever that was.
"H-Harry, did you notice it?" Hermione muttered, holding his robe sleeve.
Harry wasn't used to seeing Hermione so disoriented and frightened. No,
it wasn't fear, more nervousness. It was noticeable that she was worried
about the possible student whose state was hidden from their eyes. The
thought that one of their peers might be hurt – or worse, dead – was not
a pleasant one.
"Yes." He muttered in response. It was hard not to notice the thin black
hand that stuck out from under the sheet of fabric. "Like someone
plunged into a barrel of tar."
"Or burnt…" She added. "If it's a student, they won't show up for class.
Maybe we can learn more from Madam Pomfrey?"
Ron finally caught his breath and spoke with an abnormally serious tone.
"I vote to stay out of this issue, it's better to face a naked Dementor than
this."
Harry and Hermione nodded reluctantly in agreement, the last thing they
wanted was to be in the same place as what had done all the damage.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Simple_Russian_Boi
I'm not sure if I'm happy with the second half of this chapter, but I
think it's quite in the spirit of the golden trio. Even if they weren't the
source of the problems, they were close enough to see the
consequences.
And if you wonder: wouldn't it be better to have this chapter happen
at Halloween? It's tradition, after all, to have something bad happen
on Halloween.
Imma say no.
Halloween will be even worse. At least for Harry.
Chapter 26: “Sleeping beauty”
Luna was sitting in the medical wing, wrapped in a blanket like a
butterfly in a cocoon. The girl was on a chair next to Dan, whose bed was
covered with curtains so that he could not be seen.
To be honest, Luna sometimes wondered what would happen if someone
saw him. Of course, everything depends on the person who will reveal
the secret of his existence, but it was difficult to imagine a face in which
there would be no fear.
But she couldn't stop thinking… what if? What if someone would have
seen his nature right away? Just maybe, someone would notice that there
was a kind boy under the monster's skin? Luna could confirm that he was
kind, she didn't like being friends with evil people. They could then see
that Dan is a person who would protect his friends above all else.
There was not a scratch on her skin, her body was free from any wounds.
Luna was so emotionally tired after everything that had happened that
she would have been an ideal victim for the Nargles if not for her
protection. But now she was more interested in protection from spiders.
Previously, she liked spiders, these cute and fluffy creatures with eight
legs were great companions, and even better dancers. They were as
incredible as all the other in her eyes. Now? Not so much.
Perhaps her discontent was limited to intelligent man-eating spiders, she
still wasn't sure. Maybe she didn't like human-eating beings? Or she just
didn't like those who wanted to kill her friend... 'Yes,' she decided, 'that
sounds right.'
"Miss Lovegood?"
Luna raised her face and met Madam Pomfrey's gaze. The woman was
holding a mug of hot tea, which the girl accepted without protest. It was
a good cup o' tea. It helped her pass the time while she waited for her
friend to wake up.
"Mr. Khromov is fine, now he just needs a rest. The venom was removed
from his bloodstream, and his wounds were healed. Considering that this
is only the second time he has come here, this is quite a good result." The
healer said, without mentioning that the full list of his wounds took up
an entire scroll of parchment. The fact that his bones didn't break under
the blows of the spiders, was either an incredible stroke of luck or a
feature of his race.
Luna knew how lucky Dan was, but she would have preferred that he did
not get into the Medical Wing at all. She must have made a face, because
Pomfrey patted her on the shoulder.
"You can stay here for a while longer, but do go to your room before
curfew. As soon as he wakes up, you will be the first to know-"
Suddenly, Dan sat up straight, stiff as a metal pole, and immediately
disappeared, leaving behind only a rain of purple sparks.
Madam Pomfrey and Luna both stared at the empty bed with wide eyes,
not trusting their senses. One moment Dan was sleeping peacefully, his
chest rising and falling in rhythm with his breathing, and the next he was
already gone. It all happened so fast, it was hard to process.
"... Did he wake up?" Luna asked, tilting her head towards the Healer.
The answer to her had very naughty words that she definitely wouldn't
repeat until adulthood.
-=-=-=-=-=-
Dan – his body anyway – teleported straight to his room and immediately
fell on the bed. The air became electrified and magic began to flow into
the monster boy's body like a river, tightening his wounds and speeding
up his recovery. The enchantments on the walls worked exactly as they
were supposed to.
They forced his body to absorb magic and work one hundred percent,
healing wounds and strengthening his bones, muscles and skin. Every
hour, he was getting stronger, even if by one thousandth of a percent.
Batsheda was right in her theory that the Wards he weaved into the room
were defense-oriented. What she didn't know was that this was just the
first layer of many.
After all, everything could have been much better if Dan had the right
materials.
Endermen, like many other species – even those of a magical variety –
worried at first about their place of residence. Well, first there was food
and security, but the house was also important. "Everything is according
to the Maslow pyramid," as some would people say.
Dan had no idea how he had constructed these enchantments. He could
only assume that he was walking in his sleep and without even knowing
it, he was drawing random runes on the walls.
That was partly true.
{"Weak."} The rasp of the cursed tongue sounded from Dan's throat. His
body was exhausted and right now whatever was keeping him conscious
was doing it on pure willpower.
Mantis, finally hearing his friend's voice, woke up and turned around on
a small branch of the bonsai tree. He looked at Dan, who was getting out
of bed with an incredible effort, but just shrugged and continued to look
at him without leaving his place under the sunlight. His friend was weird,
he was used to it.
By the standards of his race, Dan was… practically useless in battle. He
wasn't good enough at using his abilities to be called even a beginner. All
he had were instincts and rage that helped him fight. Among the
monstrous hauntings of Endermen, he couldn't be considered a warrior.
Dan couldn't even be considered cannon fodder.
The Enderman stood up and leaned against the nearest wall, his violet
eyes boring into the faintly glowing carved runes. Slowly, he turned his
head to the stacks of books that were lying all over the room. {"But
clever…"}
But what he could be considered, is a researcher. Wiz magic was not
something that ordinary Endermen could use. Although it would be more
correct to call him a new class or sorts. The way he used his magic was
interesting, if a little pathetic.
Without proper training, he will never be able to discover his full
potential.
Satisfied with his findings, Enderman laid back on the bed. His clawed
fingers wrapped around his left wrist. {"A weapon won't be enough."}
Finally, Dan's body closed its eyes and went into the world of dreams
once more.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Simple_Russian_Boi
It's on the short side and I probably could've merged this chapter and
the previous one, but who cares, right? Not like I'm going to post an
edited version somewhere else.
Or maybe… I have an AO-3 account. I could post my edited chapters
there. The question is, is it worth it?
What do you people think? Should I edit my stuff and post it in AO-3?
Maybe just edit my chapters here? I've got options.
Chapter 27: Side Chapter: The
start of yearly trouble
Health issues in the magical world were solved in a different way than in
the Muggle world. If normal people visited the hospital for almost every
minor illness or injury; then wizards could perfectly cope with such
problems themselves by drinking a suitable potion. All that was required
for this was sufficient knowledge of the subject.
That is why self-medication was so common in magical Britain. After all,
why go to the hospital or apothecary if you can do everything yourself in
a couple of hours of work?
As a result, this led to the fact that people only went to a Healer only if
the problem was serious.
So, when Madam Pomfrey saw three Gryffindors on the threshold of her
medical wing, her already stressful day became even worse.
"Oh, for Merlin's sake, tell me that Mister Potter is all right," she said
sternly, walking towards them at a brisk pace.
Ron snickered for a moment, but quickly fell silent when Hermione
nudged him in the side with her elbow.
"No, ma'am, I'm fine." Harry hastened to assure her, his eyes scanning the
room. "We just wanted to know if everything was okay with that student
who… erm…" He stopped, unable to find the right words.
"Who got into the incident at the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest."
Hermione added.
Incident was the right word, Harry thought. The whole lesson of the
History of Magic, he could not sit still and waited for the call to finally
make sure of the fate of the student. If it was a student. The chances that
one of the teachers was caught in a fight with Acromantulas wasn't zero.
Madam Pomfrey frowned, looking at the three of them with a displeased
look. "And let me ask you, what were you doing on the outskirts of the
Forbidden Forest?" She stopped for a moment, thinking about something
and eventually just shook her head. "No, I don't want to know. In any
case, it shouldn't worry you, no one was badly hurt."
Harry didn't believe her words. He had spent enough time in the
company of the woman to know how tired she looked, and now she
looked tired.
Rumpled uniform, stains of – something on her right sleeve, strands of
hair out of place… Pomfrey was the kind of woman who didn't like to
show her more disorganized side, because who would trust a healer who
couldn't even keep track of themselves? For her to be looking like this,
she must've been working and working hard.
"Who got hurt anyway?" Ron asked eventually.
"We just want to know if they're okay." Hermione quickly added, seeing
how Madam Pomfrey was frowning more and more.
The girl knew that doctors couldn't just talk about the condition of their
patients if random people asked about them – only their family and no
one else had access to such information. She suspected that on the
magical side of things, everything was quite similar.
Sighing heavily, the Healer turned around and went to the closed off bed,
saying "Wait here and don't touch anything," to the students. A cup of tea
was levitating right behind her, like a duckling following a mother duck.
As soon as she disappeared behind the safety of the curtains, Hermione
took a long look around the entire hospital wing. The only occupied bed
was the one where Madam Pomfrey had gone. It was strange in itself,
usually at least one unfortunate student lay in the open.
"Don't you think that the professors are acting weird?" She asked, talking
more to herself than to her friends. "If no one was badly hurt, then what
was Professor Snape hiding from us? What could possibly have worried
the Acromantulas so much, that they went outside their colony?"
"I hope it was something unpleasant." Ron muttered, "Those things
shouldn't be near the school at all."
Harry agreed, he had no idea why Dumbledore still hadn't gotten rid of
the large parasites, especially considering that they didn't even boring
any benefits to the school. He would understand if their colony stood on
the castle's defense, but they were just an unnecessary danger to
everyone around.
'I'd have to tell Bella about them, right?' He thought with a sigh.
After a couple of minutes, Madame Pomfrey opened the curtains around
the bed, the woman looked extremely upset and annoyed. Harry had only
seen her like this once, when he tried to the medical wing – well, more
like he tried to sneak out – without a final examination. To put it mildly,
the Healer was not happy with his attempt.
"Come on in, I think she'll be happy to see her friends." She said and
quickly disappeared behind the door of her office.
The trio of friends exchanged glances and by tacit agreement it was
decided that Hermione would come in first. But the girl definitely did not
expect to see the one who was sitting inside.
"Luna? What are you– are you all right?"
The blonde took a sip from her mug of tea and nodded slowly. "Hello,
Hermione Granger, Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley." She said with a
small smile. "I'm a little sad, but there's nothing wrong with my physical
health."
Hermione sat down next to Luna; confusion clear on her face. In their
haste to solve a new mystery, they didn't even think that someone from
their acquaintances could have been hurt. This was the second time in a
year that Luna got into trouble, so the three Gryffindors started to worry.
"What happened?"
Luna opened her mouth to reply, but froze for a moment. Her face
scrunched up in concentration and the blonde took a tactical sip of tea to
fill the silence.
"I don't think I can tell you anything." She eventually said.
"What? Why not?" Ron asked, his eyes wide with shock.
Luna knew that Dan's very existence was a secret, but that wasn't the
reason she refused to say a word. She pouted and put her already empty
mug on the bedside table. "The Umgubular Slashkilter doesn't know you,
and I don't want to talk about my friends behind their backs, it's not nice.
Especially after what they did for me."
"That's…" Even Hermione was at a loss for words. She would never have
thought that loyalty to friends could be… not bad, but annoying?
They ended up talking to Luna for a few more minutes, after which
Madame Pomfrey kicked them out of her medical wing, leaving
Ravenclaw to rest for the evening, leaving the Golden Trio with even
more questions than they had before.
Suddenly, Hermione stopped, her hand reaching for her chest.
"Go ahead without me, I need to use the facilities," she turned around and
walked towards the lavatory.
Harry and Ron could only shrug their shoulders, they weren't going to
follow their friend everywhere.
Hermione, meanwhile, went to a hidden corner of the school and took
out one very interesting artifact: the Time Turner. "Four hours will be
enough…" she muttered as she twirled the artifact in her hands.
The Dark Forest met everyone in the same way: with an atmosphere of
danger and mystery, for Hermione it was the same. She wasn't sure
exactly when the Acromantula attack had begun, but she knew that it
was almost impossible to hide from them. Their sight and sensitivity to
vibrations made them very good hunters. Hermione's only option to find
out what happened in the forest was to watch from afar.
Even knowing that she would probably be fine, given the strange
workings of the Time Turner, Hermione preferred not to take any
chances. The girl went to the place of the future battle to look around.
She was upset that she didn't know any eavesdropping spells, they would
be dead useful now.
Right now, she could hear some strange noises around, as if someone was
walking several horses somewhere on the edges of the forest. But
considering that there was no one around, she dropped these sounds on
something that was just in the woods.
Satisfied with her preparation, she moved far enough away and hid under
the roots of a particularly large tree. A small confounds charm around the
tree served as her last line of defense. Now she could only wait.
And half an hour later, she got what she came for.
What she saw was not normal. Even in the world of magic, it was rare to
see such a thing. Hermione had never read about a creature that
apparated around in battle as often as... this one. She had never seen so
much cruelty and rage in one body.
Negative emotions were splashing out of the creature with such force that
it could be felt in the atmosphere. Usually, strong magic smelled like
electrified ozone, the magic of this creature smelled like boiling blood
and adrenaline.
Hermione left the forest two shades paler than before. If it was the
Umgubular Slashkilter Luna was talking about, she understood why the
blonde didn't want to talk about it. It wasn't an Acromantula attack, it
was a massacre that the arachnids definitely didn't plan.
Body parts, blood, and entrails were flying all over the battlefield.
Hermione had a hard time keeping lunch in her stomach, the smell was
nauseating. Why did she come here again? For her curiosity? To find out
what the Professors were hiding from them? Why, oh why couldn't she
just let it go?!
A part of her mind was treacherously whispering to her, "but now you
know."
For once in her life, she didn't want to know.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Simple_Russian_Boi
Not much plot in this one, but it's an important chapter. More and
more people are discovering Dan's secret. Secrets don't last long,
especially in a place like Hogwarts.
And by the way, you didn't expect the secret of his existence to live
long, did you? Because everything is falling apart.
Chapter 28: Dreams and
Advancements
A/N: gimme your power stones, I need to eat. Stones are an important
part of my diet.
-=-=-=-=-=-
Do you remember that our brains never truly stop working, even during
sleep? The human brain is an incredibly complex biological structure that
even in the modern world there was no one who could say with certainty
exactly how it works. So, to the question "what happens if we add magic
to the mix?" no one could answer for sure.
What happens when wixen go to sleep? Dan had no idea, but he doubted
they found themselves sitting in the topmost cabin in a Ferris wheel.
The strange thing was that his body became human again, but even so,
his form underwent changes. His weak human skin was now full of black
patches. It looked as if black waves were starting in his heart and trying
to cover his entire body, like some kind of cannibalistic alien moss.
Dan lifted his shirt to get a better look at the black spots and was almost
surprised when he saw that the veins under them were gently pulsating.
If someone had told him that some kind of unholy infection was now
flowing through his blood, then he would have believed it without any
problems.
He ran his hand over the skin and winced when his palm hit the black
spots. If his human skin felt cold to touch, then Enderman's skin was
worse. The problem wasn't that it didn't seem real or was stretched too
far, no. It felt like-
{"It's not your skin."} An old and withered voice finished his thought.
Dan abruptly raised his head and froze in place, his body locking up in
shock.
Sitting in the next seat was a tall monster, its body was twisted to fit into
the cabin. Long black limbs, purple eyes and a mouth long enough to
stretch across its the entire jaw. The torn robe covered its body and sank
to the floor, hiding the scars behind it, but for Dan this part meant little.
All he could think about was the cruel God who had returned to tear his
soul apart. Was he not interesting enough to continue his existence?
But this doubt lasted only a moment. It was undoubtedly an Enderman
and an old one, if the gray parts of the skin on his body meant the same
as the gray hair of people.
{"This is the skin of my people, but not your, not yet."} He continued,
looking at Dan from head to toe, his face full of dissatisfaction. {"You
don't deserve to wear this curse, just like you don't deserve to be part of
our race."}
Dan blinked, only now registering what the old man was saying.
{"But I have to say, for a pathetic human, you pretend to be one of us
well enough. Maybe with my help, you can become the key to our
freedom; that, at least, deserves attention."} The Enderman's hand shot
out faster than the eye could see and he grabbed Dan's face without even
getting up from his seat. {"That doesn't mean you'll get it."}
Dan screamed in pain and grabbed the old man's wrist, trying to hit him
with a lightning bolt, but his magic didn't respond to his call.
{"What you will get, is a list of instructions that you will have to follow if
you want to get at least a chance to fight it in the future."}
The Enderman's hand didn't even twitch, but Dan still felt as a stream of
information started pouring into his mind. His mouth opened in a
soundless scream; his hands fell limp to his sides. But even when new
neural connections were being forcibly created in his brain, he heard the
old man's voice loud and clear.
{"To fulfill them or not, in the end, it is your choice. But know this:
sooner or later, the Corrupt one shall try to overtake you. And then you
will wish to be stronger, but it will be far too late."} Dan felt his head
being released and fell into the seat, barely feeling his body. New
concepts and words were jumping around in his mind, trying to find a
place for themselves.
{"We will meet again, human, and then you'll say your piece."}
Saying the last words, the Enderman disappeared, leaving Dan alone.
Who could only breathe heavily and try to pull himself together.
After a while, the Ferris wheel finished its turn, stopping Dan's cab at the
bottom so he could get out. The boy could see nothing but the endless
gray floor around the attraction, so he was in no hurry to get up. When
else will he have a chance to rest?
"Huff… Huff… Haa… Next time we meet… I'm kicking him in the balls."
-=-=-=-=-=-
Considering everything that had happened over the past day, Dan woke
up feeling surprisingly good. His room was filled with sunlight and soft
humming.
He didn't need to open his eyes to see who was in his room. Luna may
not know how to pronounce the password to enter his room, but she
knew how to convince Sir Graham to let her inside.
"Morning." Dan muttered and her humming stopped.
"You're awake!" Luna exclaimed and rushed to hug her friend.
"Miss Lovegood! His body may be in good condition, but that doesn't
mean he's not hurting!" Madam Pomfrey's voice finally made Dan open
his eyes and look around.
There were three people in his room: Luna, Madam Pomfrey, and
Flitwick. And the last two looked extremely disappointed. Dan assumed
that the short professor was the only one who could monitor him. His
schedule for today must be pretty free.
"Erm… In my defense, if I had teleported away with Luna, the spiders
would've most likely attacked other students."
Judging by Flitwick's blank stare, his attempt at persuasion was
unsuccessful.
While the professor was expressing his dissatisfaction with Dan's
condition, the boy got lost in his thoughts and started looking at the list
that the old Enderman had left in his head.
'Stone Age, Suit Up, Enchanter… Are these Minecraft Advancements?' He
blinked, mentally categorizing them in different parts.
'We Need To Go Deeper? The End…?'
Seeing the familiar words, Dan decided to postpone the list for later. He
didn't want to know how many things from Minecraft were in this world.
'Wanderer, if you have also stuffed content from mods here, I will commit
war crimes,' he sent a prayer to the God and finally started listening to
Flitwick.
"–the colony will either be relocated or destroyed." Dan blinked again,
this time in surprise.
"Relocated? What for? What good can Acromantulas bring to any
ecosystem?"
The Moon gave him the answer to this. "They're scavengers, Dan, forest
cleaners. They very rarely attack people and stay inside their territories
more, especially if they are not provoked. Naturally, it would be best if
they were moved, but…" She stopped, her face set in a frown.
Dan didn't say anything, he didn't like spiders either, especially these
ones. But knowing Luna, she was most likely torn between pity for the
spiders and a desire to get them as far away as possible.
"That said, the Acromantulas carcasses that you… killed in the attack,
legally belong to you, Mr. Khromov. The school has taken responsibility
for harvesting and preserving their bodies, but so far nothing has been
done with them."
One name immediately popped up in Dan's head: Local Brewery.
"I might have an idea…"
-=-=-=-=-=-
After about a couple of long conversations with Luna, Pomfrey and
Flitwick – where they scolded him on his life choices – Dan began to
understand something about the world of magic. If at first it seemed to
him that he had fallen into a fairy tale (the fact that he already knew
about this world from his sister's rants didn't matter), now he knew for
sure that he wasn't.
The worlds of fairy tales were filled with fantastic events, divine conduct
and metaphors for sex and death. Or just death, if you read the books of
the Brothers Grimm.
If he was in a fairy tale, he wouldn't have been caught building a giant
cock out of stone.
"Mr. Khromov..." Minerva said disappointedly, taking a deep breath to
calm her nerves. "Why?"
To be honest, this stone penis made from the wall in the Main Hall has
been standing in the corridor for about a month. The fact that it was
found just now was a mathematical wonder.
Or was it another one? Dan wasn't sure.
"... It's hard to explain," he admitted. "Consider this one of my things in
the bucket list."
"The bucket list." Minerva repeated slowly.
"It's a list of things that a person wants to do before death- well, before
dying." Dan clarified, slipping into his native language for a moment.
"I'm familiar with the concept," she interrupted, "obviously, you will put
the pieces of the wall back in place as soon as curfew begins. But first tell
me, how did you do it?"
Even if his actions and – ahem – art were considered very crude, his
actions were still amazing. No one before could just take and move a part
of the castle wall to another place. Wards were supposed to prevent this
and more. To change something in this castle, you needed direct access to
its protections and a huge amount of knowledge at the very least.
"I did that." Dan turned and brought his hands to the top of the sculpture,
only to have a part of it abruptly collapse into itself, forming a stone cube
floating between his hands. "I can say for sure; this isn't something that
just anyone can do."
He glanced at Minerva, but staggered when he saw her unimpressed
stare.
"Mr. Khromov, explain as simply as possible what is going on with the
stone in your hands?"
Dan blinked, returning his gaze to the cube floating between his palms.
"It shrunk? Changed its shape? I suspect the weight is still the same,
considering..." Dan stopped and slowly sighed. "I'm doing wandless
Transfiguration, aren't I?"
Minerva nodded. "Or at least something similar to Transfiguration.
Changing the size of matter fits the description of this branch of magic,
but we cannot say for sure that what you are doing is Transfiguration.
We will need more time and tests to determine this. Follow me, we will
count this as your detention for that…" She glanced at the now chub.
"Thing."
He'll need to come back later, that's for sure. He probably had enough
time, considering that it took the professors ten days just to find the cock.
"Funny thing, actually, I'm not sure if I built this one."
Minerva's head whipped in his direction with such speed that he was
afraid she would break her neck.
"There's another one?!"
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Simple_Russian_Boi
To be honest, I have no idea how this happens. I thought agnst would
last at least another chapter, but I was bitten by the silly goose. If you
want to blame someone, blame him!
Chapter 29: Entering the
Catacombs
A/N: You know, looking at the last chapters I got to thinking: this shit
aint it, something's missing.
What is the best thing about Minecraft? What about Harry Potter? I think
this is an exploration of an unfamiliar world. Well, or new adventures
inside a familiar one.
Now in this novel there are only a few adventures and a bunch of
montages of magic research and empty fluff. I don't really like it, so I'm
going to turn it more towards what made Minecraft such a great game for
me and many others.
So, the next chapters will focus on exploration: how exactly will the
Minecraft world work with magic? I've already shown parts of it, but I'm
really going to focus on that now.
Dan already got familiar with the Wizarding world, time to work on the
Minecraft one.
-=-=-=-=-=-
"Albus, did you know that there is a whole labyrinth of catacombs under
your school?" Dan asked, lying on one of the cabinets in the old
Headmaster's office. It was surprisingly comfortable there.
"I am aware," he replied without looking up from his book on
Transfiguration. "And how did you come to know about its existence?"
Dan rolled onto his side and looked down at Albus. The old wizard said
nothing about his antics in the Dark Forest, knowing that his non-existent
ears were already ringing from the security lectures.
"Heard about it from a friend of a friend. I want to visit this attraction of
unprecedented happiness, maybe spend a couple of days there."
Albus looked up from the old book and turned to Dan. His blue sparkling
eyes rested on the boy's face and looked for something - maybe doubt or
fear. But Dan even before his transformation had an impressive poker
face, now it was even better.
"Do you think that's reasonable? Putting aside the fact that you were
injured and was recovering until recently. Why would you go to a place
like this with minimal knowledge of magic? I know for a fact that your
herbology leaves much to be desired."
Unfortunately, Albus was right. Now, Dan's knowledge was full of holes,
even those subjects in which he was the best, didn't reach the level of a
graduate. And as strange as the comment about herbology sounded,
everyone knew that there were enough plants in the wizarding world that
could kill a wizard if he wasn't careful.
Actually, almost every plant in Hogwarts could kill if you weren't
careful… Even the giant pumpkins.
So letting a young wizard go to the catacombs, where there was a lot of
danger even for an experienced person, was irresponsible.
"Maybe not very reasonable, but only for ordinary wix. With my powers,
I should be fine." Seeing the old man's unblinking gaze on him, Dan
folded. "And I can teleport to the Medical Wing at the first sign of danger
to my life."
Albus looked at Dan for a long time, weighing his options. Could he let
one of his students go, knowing that they would be in danger?
…
He sighed heavily and rubbed his face with his hands - when did he get
so many wrinkles? The man got up from his chair and went to one of the
high cabinets where important scrolls lay, and with a steady hand took
out one of them.
"This is a map of the first levels of the Catacombs, they are isolated from
the lower levels and relatively safe. The only way to get below is by
opening the door, the key to which you will find inside the scroll." Albus
said as he placed the map on the table. "But Danil, I have to say this:
even if your zeal to explore and create feels unquenchable, you need to
know when to take a break."
Dan was already on the ground, straight as a soldier. He was pleased to
know that there were people in this world who were worried about him,
but ordinary worry would not stop him from new things in life.
"Thank you. Truly." He muttered and reached for the scroll.
"Oh, and another thing," Dan's hand froze as his eyes lifted to look at
Albus. "You will have to notify the professors of your absence and the
reasons. We can't leave them in the dark, can we?"
The monster boy almost swore right on the spot. He didn't want to tell
either Minerva or Snape that he was going to miss class! This was
suicide!
Hanging his head and muttering obscene words under his breath, Dan
took the scroll and put it in the huge pockets of his robe. The boy turned
and began to leave the office, casting the familiar invisibility spell on
himself.
"I wish you good luck on your expedition." Dumbledore muttered with a
smile.
Dan and Luna were standing in front of a collection of washbowls. The
toilet on the second floor of Hogwarts was known to many and not for
good reasons. The main source of infamy was the ghost of the Moaning
Myrtle – Myrtle Warren, as she was known in the world of living – who
died in the one of the cubicles about fifty years ago.
Fortunately, she was in another part of the castle right now, doing other
things. Girls from older years shared gossip with her in exchange for
services that only ghosts could provide. Myrtle would spy on their
allegedly cheating boyfriends and report back about what she found. It
was a surprisingly efficient system.
It was an ordinary toilet room, – well, a magical one – with all the things
that could be expected from such a place. The only thing that seemed
strange to Dan was the almost imperceptible snake clippings on the sinks
in the middle of the room. Although no one used the place, it was still in
fairly good condition. How Filch could keep the whole castle clean,
without magic, no one had the slightest idea. And only a dozen people
knew that House Elves were actually cleaning everywhere.
"And this is a way into the Catacombs?" Dan asked with disbelief. He was
certainly new to this wonderful world of magic, but he was sure that no
one reasonable would hide a secret passage in the toilet.
"Of course not," Luna shook her head, "this is a secret passage to the
Chamber of Secrets, where lays a path that leads to the Catacombs.
However, I can't open the first pass, it's not within my capabilities," she
reached into her bag and a second later pulled out a small blue crystal
ball with golden runes on it, "But Harry Potter can, it's within his
capabilities."
The runes on the ball lit up one by one, like a tree on Christmas, emitting
a soft white light. A strange hissing filled the room and the sink began to
move, shifting to the side like an ancient turtle. A tunnel opened up in
front of the two students, leading down into the darkness. Luna twisted
the ball in her hands and it emitted a hiss of a different tone, forcing the
steps to appear in the tunnel.
"Was that Parseltongue?" Dan asked and the girl nodded. It was well-
known that the boy had the gift, but no one was sure where he got it
from. "Cool."
"The path leads straight down, but then aligns parallel to the ground. All
the doors straight ahead are open, so everything should be fine." Luna
put the ball in her pocket and quickly hugged Dan. "I have classes
waiting for me, Danil Khromov, but I wish you good luck!"
And with these words, the girl turned around and skipped out of the
lavatory. Mantis peeked out of her hair and waved goodbye to his partner
– the Bowtruckle didn't like being underground one bit, so he chose to
stay with Luna.
Dan sighed heavily and started down the stairs. The decision to explore
the Catacombs on weekdays, when all the students were in class, was
quite simple. This way he had less chance of bumping into someone in
the corridors while he was walking towards his goal. But it cost him his
guide.
According to her, the Catacombs were a huge labyrinth, even worse than
Hogwarts itself. Of course, Dan had a rough map of the place with him
and he could always teleport to the surface instantly, but he didn't want
to waste time in vain. Especially considering Dumbledore asked him to
find out what was going on in there.
Dan didn't mind, if the Catacombs were safe enough for Luna, then they
were definitely safe for him.
Moreover, he spent enough time behind the ancient texts and the
encoded message form Arwen. His mind just couldn't take in more
information, even if Dan tried to force himself.
So he decided to conduct a small expedition and maybe draw a couple of
sketches while he was underground. Night vision was definitely useful in
dark corridors, and even in ancient Catacombs, the lower levels of which
have not been stepped by a human foot for hundreds - maybe even
thousands of years? Here, night vision was indispensable.
Why the Catacombs were built under the school, no one knew, but Luna
suspected that it was part of a Goblin plot to conquer all of Britain.
Considering that Luna also believed that the Minister personally made
pies out of Goblins, Dan wasn't sure about the accuracy of the hypothesis.
With the blonde, it was never clear whether her words were a metaphor.
With these thoughts, Dan reached the end of the stairs and went out into
the more open part of the Chamber of Secrets. Although the floor was
strewn with animal bones – he hoped they were animal bones - he
couldn't deny that the room was grand for a simple connecting corridor.
Complex engravings of snakes on the walls gradually turned into full
marble statues. Beneath the layer of bones and dirt, there was a floor of
strangely familiar deep dark stone, and the ceiling was high enough to fit
Hagrid's house inside three times.
"If this is just the entrance, then how huge is the room itself?"
As it turned out, the Chamber of Secrets itself was even bigger than the
Grand Hall.
In the middle of the room was a lonely stone road over stagnant water,
half of which had gone through a hole in the wall. Lord knows that Dan
couldn't have done much if the floor was still wet. Even now, his skin
tingled unpleasantly, as if a hundred needles were poking him from all
sides.
The grandiose statues of snakes and the face of an old man were repeated
in the designs of the room. Oddly enough, the central part was the largest
statue of Salazar Slytherin's face with an open mouth.
And although the hall looked grandiose, age and abandonment got to it.
The once impressive passage now looked like a creepy murder hole.
A small wooden bridge led to the hole in the wall, which looked like it
was made of rotten plank of wood. Dan didn't use it; he adjusted the
bottomless backpack on his back – courtesy of Filius Flitwick and
Minerva McGonagall – and immediately teleported to the entrance so as
not to even come close to the water.
Unfortunately, Dan didn't have a chance to notice one small detail when
his silhouette disappeared into the shadows of the Catacombs. In his
absence, the statues' eyes lit up for a moment, activating the castle's
ancient defenses against intruders.
His way down had just begun, but the way up was already cut off.
Chapter 30: The Catacombs I
The first floors of the Catacombs, as Dumbledore had said, were safe and
somewhat empty. Long rounded stone passages overgrown with moss and
strange glowing plants stretched in all directions, leading into the
unknown.
Well, or they would have led into the unknown if Dan didn't have a map.
There were small paths in the middle of the aisles where water should
have flowed, but now these paths were almost empty, the water had long
gone to the lower levels. Of course, this meant that the smell inside left
much to be desired. But this emptiness meant that Dan had the perfect
space to experiment. The first thing he did was to take out a very
interesting item from his backpack.
The Crafting Table.
The Crafting Table was the heart and soul of every Minecraft player, like
a knife for a chef. Without a Crafting Table, life becomes very difficult,
not to mention anything about progress.
It was a sturdy wooden cube with a leather top and tools hanging off the
hooks on the sides. For Dan, it was his workstation for everything in the
world, from making cakes to building mythical artifacts. One could even
argue that the Crafting Table itself was an artifact; only aimed at creating
other magic items.
Dan's backpack had all the things a researcher might need: wooden logs,
a bunch of leather and iron provided by Hagrid, and enough food for a
week, just to be on the safe side. Of course, there were some other useful
things inside too.
He already knew how he could make wood planks and sticks; he didn't
even need anything to do it. The next target was an iron pickaxe. Two
sticks with three bars of iron ended up on the table; the objects
themselves didn't turn into anything, they lay lifelessly, didn't even
twitch. Dan couldn't say he didn't expect this.
"And how does this work?" The monster boy muttered as he placed his
hands on the table.
There was a sudden pulling feeling in his hands, like someone was
sucking the energy out of his veins; and right in front of his eyes, the
sticks and metal turned into a pickaxe, taking some of his magic as
payment.
Dan frowned. The theory that even the Crafting Table was an artifact had
been confirmed, but that gave him a new problem. Could anyone else
besides him create things?
"I'll check with Luna later."
Taking the pick in his hand, he swung it from side to side, testing its
weight. He doubted he would find diamonds or anything better – magic
metals were hard to come by when you didn't have a lot of money – so it
was his main tool for a long time.
The pick was followed by two more tools: an axe and a shovel. Dan had
no idea how to handle a one-handed sword, so the axe was much more
useful to him. In order to strike with an axe , one didn't need to have
much skill, at least not on the same level one needed to use a sword.
What Dan could use was a spear and a crossbow… His grandfather had
strange priorities in teaching.
The next item on the list was the not-quite-obligatory armor, but he
wasn't going to waste iron on it. He didn't want to lose even a fraction of
his mobility, so Dan settled on leather armor. Combined with his thick
skin, this would still be the equivalent of iron armor anyway.
The leather chestplate was actually more like a thick sleeveless vest; the
pants were still pants, but the boots became sandals that Dan couldn't
tear apart with claws on his toes. Dan wasted no time and quickly put on
his new protection, then pulled his long coat over the top so that there
was less chance of him getting wet.
Oddly enough, every piece of armor fit him like a glove, and he was
especially surprised by the leather sandals. Unfortunately, he didn't have
enough leather for a helmet, but he considered even that to be a good
result.
After finishing with the preparations, Dan put everything he didn't need
back into his backpack, leaving only the axe in his hands and the pickaxe
on his side.
A/N: [There was supposed to be a drawing of Dan in his new armor. But
why is there nothing here? Because even when I found a free AI Art
generator that would work in Russia, I couldn't figure out not only how
to generate an image, but also how to post one here. Today is a truly sad
day, comrades.]
"My ancestors are smiling at me…" Dan said with a smile and walked
confidently towards the place where the stairs should be.
It was his first time in a place like this, so the descent today promised to
be short-lived. It was the last weekend before Halloween, and with his
promise to spend the holiday with Luna, Dan decided to set aside enough
time for himself to read about the rituals that took place that day.
The girl had already told him that on this day the veil between the world
of the living and the dead was getting thinner and this made Dan think…
What if it's not just one veil? Would he be able to send a message to his
old world…?
"Stop. Put aside the agnst, you'll suffer later," he said to himself, "now is
not the time for that."
It was difficult to keep his mind empty of unnecessary thoughts,
especially when all the paths around him looked the same. His mind
simply had nothing to cling to.
That was, until he started to hear some strange sounds. It sounded like
someone dropped a wet ball of water in the mud over and over again.
Dan stopped, looking in the direction from which the sound came. His
eyes could see quite well in the dark, but feeling that there was someone
else nearby, he decided to add light to this place.
"Lumos Solem." He intoned, raising his palm to the ceiling.
A miniature sun gathered on his arm and flew up, filling the tunnel with
light. And when Dan finally saw the source of the sounds, he didn't know
whether to laugh or cry.
His pass was blocked by a Green cube slime and it slowly but surely
jumped in his direction. With his height of three and a half meters, Dan
didn't think that the slime was that big. Of course, it was exactly up to
the moment when he realized that this cube of death was two meters in
size from all sides.
"... how the hell are you here?"
Dan shifted the axe handle in his palm and prepared to chop away. It was
a great chance to understand just how durable slimes were in this new
Magical world. His body disappeared in a flash of purple sparks and
immediately appeared behind slime's back, his hand was already
lowering the axe on the creature's body.
The axe sliced through the soft flesh of the cube, but it didn't even let out
a peep in pain. The creature's eyes moved through his body, disappearing
from Slime's "face" and appearing on his "back" where Dan was standing.
The second blow followed immediately after the first, while the sluggish
slime was trying to figure out what was going on. The cube jumped at
Dan, hoping to crush him with its weight, but he teleported to the side,
chopping the creature for the third and last time.
The slime shuddered and its body fell apart into three pieces. Only they
weren't pieces of slime, they were slimes themselves. One of them
immediately jumped on Dan, but got curb stomped right between the
eyes. The second and third were blown apart with a wave of the hand
and a bellow of "Confringo!" into little parts.
Dan looked down at the little slimes, with such a size, they even looked
cute, but he knew that these assholes were ready to devour him at the
first opportunity.
"Gentlemen." He raised the axe. "You're fucked."
A minute later, Dan was twelve pieces of slime ball richer – he's never
been so grateful to mankind for the invention of paper bags – and
continued on his way. There are already a couple of barely noticeable
scratches on his axe, evidence of his first kill.
Dan felt like a real Brit right now. He came to a foreign land and began
to take everything that his soul desires, without even thinking about the
consequences. 'The only thing left for me to do is exhibit my trophies in
some museum, maybe someone will even give me British citizenship for
this.'
His descent continued on without much change. He slowly walked along
the stone path, sometimes meeting more slimes and replenishing his
supply of resources. Stone blocks and cobblestone, for example, were the
newest residents of his bottomless backpack.
Some of the slimes were neutral, they just jumped past him and
continued on their way. But these were mostly small ones, they knew
very well that they couldn't harm someone who was seven times larger
than them.
The only thing that knocked Dan out of his routine was a huge hole in
the middle of one of the tunnels filled with slimes of various sizes. This
scene was somewhat reminiscent of a teenager a can of worms, in which
they threw a pile of salt. Each of them writhed in annoyance, trying to
get out of the hole.
'And Luna walked around here completely alone, without protection?
Although for some reason I'm sure she's made friends with all the slimes.'
Shaking his head, Dan eventually reached the fifth floor. At the end of
the corridor stood a tall double door covered in layers of magical
protection, huge metal bolts, and a hundred-or-so small hooks. It had no
handles, levers, buttons, or even a hint of how an ordinary person should
open it. This door seems to have been made for giants.
Standing in front of the imposing structure, Dan stood to his full height
and looked at the patterns on the metal. He already had the key to this
place, but he just couldn't believe what it was.
"Ha… Say friend and enter, ey?" Dan took a quick breath. He didn't have
any friends on the other side of the gate. "Mellon."
-=-=-=-=-=-
Far behind Dan, still near the hole in the wall that led to the catacombs,
something unusual happened. A small green slime with black dot-like
eyes appeared on a rotten wooden bridge. It was no bigger than a house
cat and probably couldn't hurt anyone even if it wanted to.
And it certainly did not want to harm anyone! The little slime believed
that any problem can be solved without violence! It even had a dream: to
become the first diplomat of its race! After all, development is extremely
difficult in isolation; working together is much easier than trying to solve
all the problems yourself. And even if people don't listen to him the first
time, he can just try again!
This little creature happily jumped forward into the Chamber of Secrets,
its body shaking from every landing. In a couple of minutes, it was
already able to cross the bridge and reached flat ground with the last
jump.
This was it. It was a small jump for a slime, but a giant leap for all the
slimekind!
As soon as its body hit the sone, the slime paused, as if expecting
something to go wrong… But nothing happened. So it made another
jump forward–
–only to have its life cut short by a bolt of protective lightning.
The humm of electricity continued for a couple more seconds, but
eventually subsided, leaving an illusion of calm behind. Salazar Slyzarin's
defenses didn't care about the little slimes' dreams.
-=-=-=-=-=-
A/N: Comrades, your simple Russian boi needs some constructive
criticism. I don't know if it's customary to do this, but I want to ask you
to write a review for this novel, I'm interested in reading about how
people see my work.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Simple_Russian_Boi
Hola
Chapter 31: The Catacombs II
Descending the dark stairs that lied not that far past the gate, Dan
strained his ears, listening to the slightest movement in the corridors.
Strangely familiar glowing mushrooms grew on the walls, providing soft
lighting. Of course, it was useless for people with dark vision. Or for
those who had a miniature sun on a magical leash above them.
It was strange to look at the world when it was plunged into darkness.
Dan had tested his eyesight before, he was just as useless in the pitch
darkness as anybody else. But if there was even the slightest sliver of
light somewhere, then he could see so much more, except that everything
was more or less gray.
The ax in his hand gleamed in the light of the sun spell, making Dan
frown. He didn't like that anyone could see his weapon in the dark, better
to make the opponents blind to his attacks.
"{Obscurare}," the boy muttered and watched with satisfaction as the
surface of the metal darkened.
The stairs ended up into a curve, forcing Dan to peek around the corner.
His dark skin and armor allowed him to blend into his surroundings
almost perfectly.
The overgrown and old walls of the catacombs surrounded him from all
sides, casting a wave of claustrophobia over his mind. Recently, the
monster boy has been feeling uncomfortable in tight spaces, most likely
the consequences of turning into a new race, because before he could
easily spend about three hours in the trunk of a car and not even blink.
Now even the narrow corridors made him feel nervous.
The only way was forward, so he went ahead. But after the first two
turns, Dan understood why he needed the map earlier.
"{I should draw a map of this place…}" he muttered to himself.
Dumbledore did not go further than the main gate, preferring to leave it
closed and enchanted with shut. The map of these places simply didn't
exist.
Although someone may have come down here before, unless they never
came out. Evidence of this was dried – most likely human – skeletons
lying against the wall in one of the dead ends.
Dan shuddered, looking in their direction and decided that it was a dead
end anyway, that he didn't need to go to the withered bones.
Unfortunately, that didn't mean the skeletons wouldn't go to him.
As soon as Dan stepped through some imaginary barrier, the three
skeletons came to life, their bones knocking against each other, held
together only by magic. There was no light in their eye sockets, but even
without life, they were rushing forward.
The first thought in the monster boy's mind was: 'Fuck! They're alive!'
The second thought was: 'I'll need a crossbow. Gotta talk with Hagrid, he
helped me with the crafting table, maybe he can help me with a
crossbow too.'
The corridor was long enough for Dan to prepare for a counterattack. The
skeletons pushed each other aside, each trying to get to him first, their
cracked fingers reaching for his head, wanting to grab, rip and kill.
These undead didn't even have a shred of humanity, they were just
animated bones controlled by old magic.
Once they were only within arm's reach, Dan teleported behind them and
drove his ax into the skull of the closest one from behind with one blow.
The metal screeched into the bone, cutting it like a hot knife through
butter. The blow was so strong that the bastard's jaw split open and flew
to the ground. Skeleton's body almost immediately fell apart, the magic
holding it together lost, but Dan's ax was now stuck in his skull.
The remaining two abruptly turned back, hearing the death of their
comrade. The undead had only a moment to understand what had
happened and they were not happy. The one on the right clawed towards
Dan's face, so the boy raised his axe, blocking the skeleton's blow with his
weapons' handle. Bone collided with wood, but neither broke. White
fingers immediately wrapped around the handle, holding the weapon in
place.
The second skeleton didn't wait long and clawed Dan in the stomach, but
his sharp fingers were stopped by the hard skin of the armor.
Kicking the first skeleton in the ribs, Dan pulled the ax out of its death
grip. A wide swing and the head of the second skeleton shattered against
the skull stuck to the blade. The body could still move for a moment, it
tried to do something, anything, but crumbled in pieces before falling to
the ground.
The first skeleton hit the wall and fell backwards, its bones crunching
from the impact, but it seemed to refuse to give up, immediately trying to
get back on its feet.
Dan was faster, kneeling his skull and crushing it into dust against the
wall.
His heart was pounding faster than usual, pumping adrenaline through
his veins. But even so, it was pounding much slower than it should have
– another feature of his new body.
Taking a deep breath through his nose, Dan lowered the ax, looking
down at the scattered bones on the floor. The worst that he got in that
exchange was a hit on his stomach. This time he was lucky, the skeletons
were only a few and had no weapons, but this was definitely an
exception.
The way they attacked in somewhat complex patterns – one aimed at the
head while the second hit the body – spoke of the makings of
Intelligence, or maybe even coordination, this was a problem.
If the monsters could think and coordinate their actions together, it didn't
mean anything good for Dan. Fighting mindless skeletons was much
easier than fighting the same skeletons that could use tactics.
His hand gripped the ax handle so tightly that his veins bulged through
his skin.
'It used to be people, intelligent people with dreams and goals. So
why…?' Dan crouched, picking up one of the bones. 'I should be feeling…
something. Why don't I care?'
Scientists of his time noticed that only two species experienced sadness at
the sight of their dead brethren: humans and elephants. Dan was human,
thought like a human, and still considered himself human. The gap
between his current emotions and thoughts about how things should be
left him confused.
'... Later.'
Collecting the bones to bury them later, Dan put them in his backpack
and continued through the catacombs. Oddly enough, he found the stairs
down close enough to the entrance, just two turns down the hallway.
It was a good idea to explore the floors monotonously, leaving only
corpses behind to secure the area. Taking out a couple of blocks of
cobblestone, he quickly blocked the way down so that nothing would
come out of it and stab him in the back.
Thinking for a moment, Dan took a few wooden sticks and stared at them
for a full minute. Wondering if he should spend the charcoal he took
from his fireplace on torches.
'Does light affect the spawn rate of the mobs in this world? Does such a
concept even exist here? They can't appear out of thin air, like they did in
the game, can they?' He frowned and put the sticks back. 'Lightning up
the place would be useless.'
That done, he turned back to the tunnel, along which he reached the
stairs down and went in the opposite direction. The huge downside of the
catacombs being a maze, Dan thought, that he would need to backtrack a
lot.
On his way, he only met a couple of medium-sized slimes that wandered
through the corridors. They didn't pose any danger to him, but Dan got
rid of them anyway. Slimes were not so much dangerous as they were
annoying, especially for those who knew how to fight them.
Crushing another one under the soles of his leather boots, Dan stopped
again, struck by another thought, but this time only for a moment.
'Do I get exp from them? Do I even need exp?' Frowning in annoyance, he
wiped his shoe on the floor and stepped over a puddle of slime. "{Why
couldn't the Wanderer put a manual or two in my hands? Oh, right, it
won't be interesting that way! That guy is not God, he's a mayonnaise
slap.}"
As soon as this thought sounded in his mind, a large rock immediately
fell from the ceiling and landed on Dan's head with a dull thud.
"{Ow! What the dick? That didn't count as a projectile?}" Dan furiously
rubbed the place of impact, but abruptly froze, his hand trembled. "{Son
of a bitch, you're still listening to me,}" he muttered. "{I thought your
skinny ass would get tired of looking at me in a couple of days, but you
are still here? Apparently, your existence is actually boring as fuck.}"
Another rock fell off the ceiling, but this time Dan was able to slide to the
side, avoiding the hit. "{I would continue to curse your name and soul,
but I have more important things to do.}"
Clutching the axe with both hands, Dan hoped that he would get another
mob next so that he could vent his anger on something. The very
knowledge that someone was constantly watching him was disgusting for
a teenager, but the fact that the Wanderer could influence the world
around him made him think.
'How much can this bastard interfere in this world?' Dan clenched his
teeth to keep from screaming in frustration. 'Don't antagonize the gods, it
will be worse for you,' he said to himself and took a step forward, only to
have something crunch under his foot.
Abruptly lowering his gaze down, Dan lifted his leg and almost vomited
right there. His anger is forgotten for the moment.
There was only one thing in the world that Dan hated more than
anything. Just one living thing that made his stomach do somersaults and
his mind fill with horror and disgust. He didn't even consider this thing to
be the creation of God, but of Satan, who sent them on Earth to torture
innocent souls.
Wat is that thing?
Cockroaches.
Seeing the corpse of a cockroach under his foot, Dan immediately
realized he was not alone. Where there was one cockroach, there were
always ten more.
"{Incendio!}" He immediately shouted, throwing his arm forward.
A wave of fire immediately passed through the tunnel, raising the
temperature around by several degrees and destroying everything in its
path. Small squeaks and sounds of bursting exoskeletons sounded behind
the bright fire, making Dan breathe a sigh of relief.
Feeling his magic reserves slowly draining away to keep the fire going,
Dan stopped the spell and looked at the result of his work. Small, charred
cockroach corpses lay on the ground, making the catacombs smell even
worse than before.
Usually, Incendio was used to conjure a jet of flames that could be used
to set things alight. What Dan did shouldn't be possible, at least not
without heavily modifying the core of the spell. Although someone could
argue that emotions and strong will affect the spells of strong wix more
than others.
"{Ventus.}" The second spell sounded and a breath of wind carried all the
corpses to the corner of the passage, where he would not have to look at
them.
Dan sincerely hoped that he would never see another arthropod bastard
in his life, but he knew it was an empty hope.
Suddenly, he felt like something ran down his ankle, so he did what any
reasonable person would do.
"{INCENDIO!}"
[There's a map in here, but… well, it's a spoiler. Look at your peril.]
Chapter 32: The Catacombs III
A/N: Sorry for the late post, internet was spotty today. If someone saw
the message about the text: it was a lie, I fucked up and I still hate
webnovel a little.
-=-=-=-=-=-
The tunnels went into the depths of the catacombs in a zigzag, leaving a
bunch of blind spots. The luminous mushrooms that used to be on the
walls began to appear less and less, their place was taken by luminous
blue crystals, around which not even a hint of vines grew, as if
deliberately avoiding them.
Letting go of his concentration on the sun spell, Dan watched as the
corridor plunged into shadow. Allowing his eyes to switch to "night
vision," the teen continued on his way.
"Looks useful," he muttered, looking at the crystals on the walls.
Stopping at a fork in the tunnel, Dan thought for a moment, wondering
where to turn, but he wasn't given time to make a decision. A wave of
dizziness hit him at the same moment when the light from the crystals
became hundreds of times brighter and then, his vision exploded.
Have you ever felt that everything around you is getting too much? The
smells of rotten flesh and rusty metal, the light of a thousand suns
emanating from the walls, dozens of small rustles and footsteps of
unknown creatures rattled in Dan's skull in a terrible cacaphony of
sounds and pictures. He staggered and grabbed the wall to keep himself
on his feet.
'What the fuck?' the thought flashed through his mind, but sensory
overload was only the first of his problems.
TSSSSSSSSS
A loud, angry hiss came from the left, causing Dan's heart to skip a beat.
In reality, this hissing was no louder than a whisper, but, for him, it was
louder than howling in the center of a hurricane. As soon as he noticed
something green in the corner of his vision, he teleported back into the
tunnel.
And he did it just in time.
The explosion thundered, enveloping Dan in a wave of light, heat and
sound that made him scream in pain and fall to the ground, his hands
covering his ears.
Millions of bugs crawled under his skin, turning around, wanting to get
out. His eardrums – if they hadn't already exploded – were aching like
death, and his eyes were threatening to melt in their orbits. The only
smell that remained in the air was the smell of burnt gunpowder and wet
metal.
Dan didn't know how long he lay on the ground, hissing in pain and
tossing in discomfort. Something wet was flowing from his nose, he
guessed without any problems that it was blood.
After a while, when his own body stopped feeling like a ball of pain, Dan
ventured to open his eyes. The light from the crystals on the walls
became dim again, almost imperceptible. He no longer heard the bugs
crawling on the walls, his senses returned to normal.
Slowly sitting up, leaning on the wall so as not to fall again, Dan looked
towards the place where he had been standing quite recently, a lump in
his throat. The passage was wrecked, there was a crater in place of a
smooth stone and strict corners.
Dan immediately turned to the side and threw up.
The human brain was a strange thing. Enderman's brain was even worse.
Dan felt – he knew – that Acromantulas were beneath him. These
pathetic critters didn't even deserve to be in his presence, so very the idea
that they could've killed him? That one of his race could have died from
some kind of spider? It was absurd. Subconsciously, he was confident of
his survival, even if he didn't know it.
So, he stayed and fought them. A huge part of his subconscious wanted to
prove his superiority to the bastards.
But what about creepers? These creatures were just plants, at least
physically. They didn't have self-awareness, names, or even deep
thoughts. They were just animals. Even the Endermen weren't crazy
enough to consider some dangerous plants beneath them. So the thought
of danger wasn't absurd either.
The thought of death has never been as clear as it is now. Dan has
already died once; he was intimately familiar with the sensations when
your body simply refuses to continue working. But now he was alive and
he refused to continue lying in self-pity.
"Suka..." he muttered as he wiped the vomit and blood from his face. "Son
of a dead whore. What the fuck just happened?!"
Yanking himself up from the ground, Dan went to the crater and looked
at the ceiling, the only untouched part of the tunnel. Carved into the
stone on the roof, there were magical runes written in familiar ever-
changing language.
[Feelings To Strengthen] [Overload Of The Living] [Hypnosis Of
Sensations]
'Is this a magic trap? What kind of crazy bastard uses something like
that?! This shit alone can drive a person crazy!'
Spitting on the ground, Dan stared at the trap for a couple more seconds,
but in the end, he built a ladder to it and took the block of stone along
with the runes.
"... It might come in handy, I'm not a hypocrite," he mumbled to himself
as he tucked the trap inside his backpack.
Looking at the passage from where the monster appeared, Dan decided
not to go there, at least for a while. He was a little sorry that the bastard
had exploded before he could get a good look at him. It would be useful
to know exactly what they look like for the future.
Blocking the path on the left with several blocks, Dan turned around and
just wanted to go further, but stopped. His head was still throbbing with
mild pain, his leather armor was scratched and a little dented.
'I'll only check the first floor today,' he thought and continued walking.
A few turns later, Dan came across the first door on the floor. Well,
rather like the remains of the door, the wood was broken and rotten,
allowing him to see fairly large room through it.
Ducking to get through the frame, Dan looked around. The room was
filled with old pipes, each second of which had a vent for regulating the
flow. But judging by the fact that there was no sound of water moving
through the pipes, Dan assumed that they were dry. In the middle was a
round stone table, on which a book had once stood a long time ago.
Unfortunately, now this book has long since turned into a paper pulp.
The second door to the dungeon was surprisingly intact. Dan turned the
handle, but the door wouldn't budge. Raising an eyebrow, Dan waved his
hand and muttered "{alohomora,}" and the lock on the door opened.
As soon as the door opened, four pairs of eyes immediately turned in
Dan's direction. Four huge slimes were standing in the room.
"Fuck that." Quickly hanging the axe on his side and throwing his arms
up, Dan took a short breath and intoned:
"Duro!"
Two of the slimes immediately began to turn to stone, their gelatinous
bodies losing color, becoming gray and hard. The third managed to make
only one jump in his direction before the same fate overtook it.
"Huh. I didn't know it would work… It's better than setting them on fire, I
don't know, maybe they explode too."
Usually, the charm turned only non-living things into stone. Or at least it
couldn't be used on wix, their bodies just rejected the spell. The same
could not be said about the Slimes.
Unfortunately, this meant that all the loot he could have collected from
them was lost. It didn't bother him so much; he was already tired of
fighting with endless slimes. Quickly looking around, Dan marked this
room in his head as empty – except for the new statues of slimes – and
went to the second door.
Another corridor met him outside the door, but this one was a little
shorter than the previous ones. Dan wasn't even surprised when he saw a
pit with spikes in the middle of the way. It wasn't even covered with a
thin layer of earth or stone, so that an ignorant person would fall down
and die. Just a spike pit.
An ordinary person could jump over a pit of this size, but it was quite
easy for Dan to step over it.
The rest of the way was quite empty, except for one corner. There, stood
a chest, which Dan couldn't open or move by any means. It felt like
someone had enchanted it with antimagic. The only other thing that
seemed unusual to Dan was the red color of the keyhole.
"It looks like a headache and a half to break this open. I swear, if the key
is inside some whackass puzzle room…" He muttered as he walked away
from the chest.
After a while, he stopped at another door. This one was different from
the others, causing any viewer to feel awe. Tall stone doors with gold
cutouts around the hinges towered even over Dan.
This room was definitely holding something grand.
"Or it's the Boss room." Dan said to himself and picked up the axe again.
Slowly opening the gate, like a character from Dark Souls, Dan could
only watch as bright magic crystals lit up on the walls of the room in
turn. In the middle of the room stood a grand stone throne, on which sat
a dusty black skeleton in full iron plate armor, a long claymore in his
hands.
The armor looked old and a little worn, rust starting to claim it already.
But the most important thing was the bright red key that hung around its
neck.
The skeleton twitched as Dan stepped into the room, rising from his
throne and taking a long sword in both hands. Dust rained down from his
body, falling to the floor and creating a strange halo around the undead.
Before he could take a step, Dan launched an attack.
"{Everte Statum.}" Dan sent a spell at the skeleton, which only twitched,
but continued to walk forward. "Figures."
Seeing that he only had time left for one more attempt, Dan pointed his
finger at the uncovered face of the skeleton "{Magicae Iaculat.}"
An arrow of mana flew off his finger and sped towards the skeleton, only
to be repelled by a swing of the sword. His opponent pirouetted and
slashed into Dan with a quick movement. Dan stepped aside, feeling off-
balance, hearing the whistle of the blade inches away from his body.
The side of the skeleton turned out to be open and Dan jumped at the
opportunity, hitting the gap in the armor with an axe, but his blade didn't
reach the target, colliding with the claymore of the withered skeleton. A
push, and Dan stumbled, almost falling to the ground. The skeleton
immediately cut the teenager's chest.
Knowing that an attack would follow immediately, Dan teleported to the
other side of the room, avoiding a brutal wound. The blade sliced
through his armor, but didn't reach the flesh.
The skeleton wasn't even surprised by his disappearance, it immediately
turned around and walked towards him again.
"{Incendio.}" The ball of fire was repelled by the sword just like the last
spell, the burning blade illuminated the skeleton's empty eye holes.
Taking the initiative, Dan hit the skeleton's head with an axe, but the
skeleton parried his attack to the side, hitting the teenager's jaw with an
elbow. The blow was so strong that he sent Dan to the ground for the
second time.
"{Incendio!}" The spell was cast again, but this time the skeleton's skull
lit up in a bright flash of fire.
Thinking quickly, Dan pointed his hand at the skeleton and spoke his last
spell.
"{Oxygenium!}"
It wasn't really a traditional spell; it was the first Latin word that came
into his head that was strongly associated with oxygenation. Dan wanted
to quickly increase the oxygen levels around the fire so that the skull of
the skeleton would burn more.
And burn it did.
Bright, blinding white fire engulfed the head of the skeleton. His rusty
claymore fell from his hands, clinking on the ground. Now the iron-
armored corpse was crumbling to the floor, its magic broken in death.
Panting, Dan rubbed the growing bruise on his jaw. He pulled himself to
his feet and trudged toward the mountain of bones and armor, muttering
"{frigus,}" to cool the remains.
The monster boy flipped over the heavy armor, rummaging through the
bones for the key. But when he found it, all he could do was swear.
The key was melted.
[Map – here
e – the skeletons (dead)
a – cockroach cluster (burnt)
i – magic trap of hypnosis. Overloads the victim's sences (stolen)
m – a creeper (blew up at i)
n – the good ol' spike trap (still here)
c – a magically closed chest with a red keyhole
Room 1 – a room full of pipes and slimes (now dead)
Room 2 – used to serve as a center for regulating the flow of water, now
all the equipment is broken and all the pipes are dry (empty)
Room 3 – a storage room with an armored withered skeleton inside (an
absolute unit)
Chapter 33: Professors' Meeting
Walking out of the catacombs felt like you were finally out of a twelve-
hour shift as a miner. Considering that Dan was a bit of a miner himself –
if you count how many pieces of stone he carried away from there – the
comparison was quite appropriate.
Taking the bones of the withered skeleton along with his armor, he left
the first floor with a light heart, reminding himself to draw a map of the
place later.
Dan was disappointed that his way of getting rid of the undead had cost
him a withered skeleton skull, but the deed was already done. And he
was not going to spawn The Wither any time soon. He couldn't do that
for the sake of one advancement.
Just thinking about the things, he would have to do to fulfill some of
them made his head hurt.
'They don't even make a jingle when I finish one, what's the point of
doing them?' He complained in his own head, but he quickly sobered up
when he remembered the old Enderman's words. 'Right. So I won't get
killed by The Corrupted One.' He had a couple ideas of what, or who, The
Corrupted One could be, none of which he liked.
But now was not the time to think about it. Dan chose to leave the
catacombs on his feet instead of teleporting. That almost non-existent
pride that still lived in his soul demanded proof that he hadn't run away
like a coward.
So, he did just that, coming out of the dark dungeon and locking every
door behind him so that nothing terrible could get out.
Crawling out of the hole in the wall, for a second Dan thought the eyes of
the statues in the Chamber of Secrets were burning, but as soon as he
blinked, the mirage was gone. Without giving it much attention, he
walked across the rotten bridge, but he had to stop when he saw
something unexpected on the floor.
A small puddle of slime spread across the floor, right at the end of the
bridge, as if a slime had died right there. But that didn't stop Dan, he was
stopped by a long trail of slime that led to the water left in the room.
"Some slime came out of the catacombs? I'll have to remember to close
the doors behind me on a regular basis, otherwise I won't live for long."
Retracting this piece of information to the back of his mind, Dan became
invisible and teleported to a deserted corner of the medical wing that
Madame Pomfrey had set under a notice-me-not charm specifically for his
unannounced visits.
Sitting down on the chair that was conveniently hidden here, Dan finally
relaxed and dropped his backpack on the ground. The semi-molten red
key was in his hands, purple eyes staring at the piece of metal, trying to
resolve yet another dilemma.
A repair spell could help him here, but only if the key was not of a
magical nature in itself. Then a common spell will do more harm than
good. Magic items could only be repaired by master craftsmen, in this
case, only a magical blacksmith would be able to help him out.
Frowning a little, Dan twisted his wrist and muttered "tempus" softly,
causing translucent numbers to appear on the back of his hand, showing
him the exact GMT time. According to his spell, it took him five hours to
reach the end of the first floor and climb back up. The result was not the
worst, especially considering that two hours were spent only on the
descent and ascent.
"Mr. Khromov? Why didn't you say you were here?" Madam Pomfrey's
stern voice sounded nearby.
Dan looked up from his "watch" and smiled at the woman, which likely
looked least unpleasant on his face.
"Good evening, Madam Pomfrey. I'm only here to check, no major
injuries this time. Just a bruise or two on my ribs."
The healer nodded and began to run her wand over his body, muttering
incantations under her breath. "Good. If only more people were as
conscious about their health as you are, I'd have a lot less work to do."
"Probably," he allowed.
Dan didn't say that he only came here because he knew he would be in
trouble if he chose to skip this visit. Well, also because his chest hurt like
hell, but that was irrelevant.
As a result, Dan was given some anti-swelling paste – on a dry basis –
mixed with painkillers, into his hands and then sent to rest in a hospital
bed. Apparently, the Healer still didn't trust him not to overexert himself.
Dan didn't mind, he was tired from today.
After several close calls with death in just a few hours, he didn't dare
even think about serious matters. Instead, his thoughts returned to an
interesting question he asked himself after first using the Crafting Table.
'I think Luna will be happy if she manages to make new artifacts with her
own hands.'
So, after all his bruises were covered with ointment, he lay down on the
bed and fell asleep as soon as his head touched the pillow.
-=-=-=-=-=-
Madam Pomfrey sent a paper airplane with a short message to her
colleagues, her face a frown. You had to look at the only occupied bed in
the medical wing to understand the source of her excitement.
With Danil arriving at Hogwarts, all teachers found themselves with more
work and problems. Transfer students always brought with them a pinch
of chaos, what can be said about special cases like Danil? The last time
she had this much work was when Lupin was still a student.
But Pomfrey wouldn't be a healer if she was afraid of problems. She
preferred to solve them. With Danil being such a… special student. His
problem was not so easy to solve.
A boy who was cursed to look like a monster for the rest of his life. It
wasn't like lycanthropy – it wasn't a disease at all – that brought suffering
only for one week every month, it was more akin to vampirism. One
misstep and the teenager's life took a turn for the worse.
Pomfrey couldn't imagine how terrible it was for his mind. Such changes
didn't pass without a trace, becoming only worse with time.
That is why she reached out to the Heads of Houses for help. Each of
them was a master in his field and had vast experience in a variety of
things.
Minerva, as an expert in human and living matter transfiguration and
Filius, as an expert in the theory of magic, worked together with Severus
to narrow the circle of curses that could transform a person in this way.
Bathsheda sometimes offered her advice on runes and some… darker
rituals to Severus.
And Pomona offered her help if anyone saw that the pressure was
starting to get to the young Khromov.
Of all the professors in the castle, Pomona was probably the most
knowledgeable in muggle psyk- psychology. The head of Hufflepuff
began to study the new science in order to better understand her
students, and pretty soon it became her new passion.
When the curfew began, Pomfrey closed the medical wing for a moment
and headed to the staff meeting room, knowing that all four Heads of
Houses were already waiting for her there. She always came last.
Entering the office, she took her seat and looked around at the colleagues
who were present today.
Severus and Minerva sat opposite each other, Pomona on the left side of
the Head of Gryffendor, and Flitwick on the right of the Head of
Slytherin, leaving her a place right between the four, as their unoffitial –
how muggles called them, again? Program leads? Something similar,
anyway.
"Thank you for making the time for this meeting again." She said,
knowing just how buisy everyone were. Especially before the first holiday
in the new academic year.
"We've already talked about this, Poppy, the health of the students is our
worry too." Filius smiled, sitting on a high chair, his eyes flickered
towards Severus for a moment in accusation.
Poppy couldn't help but look at the man with displeasure, too. From the
first day, he made it quite clear to everyone that he didn't care about
Danil and his survival. The only reason he was helping with their
research at all was Dumbledore's orders.
Of course, he didn't say anything directly, but his attitude was enough to
understand his position. Who uses their own students as a source of
potion ingredients?!
"You said you had news, Poppy." Minerva reminded her, preferring not to
sit in uncomfortable silence any more than necessary.
Sighing heavily, Poppy nodded. "Some bad ones, I'm afraid. Mr. Khromov
came to the medical wing a few hours ago, giving me the opportunity to
conduct another scan of his magic... It has changed again."
The uncomfortable silence returned with a vengeance; the weight of the
words fell on the shoulders of the professors.
"Did you let the boy know about this?" Pomona asked softly, her face full
of regret.
"Not yet. But I'll have to tell him soon. Every day he becomes more of a
creature, losing whatever wix blood he has. His magic changes to fit his
new body." Taking another deep breath, she continued. "If everything
continues as it is, then in three years he will fully transform into a
creature – physically and magically. I can only guess the consequences of
such a thing, but I would say it wouldn't be that different from a
Maledictus."
Maledictus. The closest curse that fit Dan's situation.
It was a curse on the family blood that was passed down from mother to
daughter. It slowly turned the women into animals, depriving them of
even a shard of their sanity.
But here was the problem. Dan was already stuck in a body that wasn't
his, but he still retained his consciousness. Will this continue or will he
slowly go insane? No one knew that.
"Maledictius would be a blessing for the boy. Losing his mind..." Severus
said, his tone as if he was talking about the weather. "Although, I don't
think much would've changed."
"Severus." Minerva interrupted him, her lips pursed and her gaze set in a
glare. "Do you need to insult all your students?"
"Only those who deserve it." He sneered.
"Please, there's no need to argue about this right now." Pomona
interrupted their conversation. "We'd better discuss the current findings
in his case now."
"Then I'll start." Flitwick cleared his throat and levitated a huge scroll
onto the table.
Poppy took out her own scroll and enchanted a quill to take notes for
her. Tonight was going to be a long evening.
-=-=-=-=-=-
Somewhere deep under Hogwarts, in a tunnel full of water and mud,
floated a tiny green slime with black dot eyes. Its mind was in disarray,
full of confusion and broken memories. Didn't it jump to the surface
level? Why was it here?
Spinning on the spot, the slime looked around, trying to find a place for
itself to rest. It didn't want to drift in the water even longer than it had
already done, precious time was lost! During this lost time, it could have
already made contact with humans!
Pushing his clumsy body in a random direction with difficulty, the slime
continued on its way. Its dream still unbroken and alive, just like it was!
But after a while, the slime stopped, what was in front of him was hard
to ignore. A huge snake, hundreds, if not thousands of times larger than
the biggest of the slimes, was lying at the bottom of the underwater cave
with a huge hole in its head. It was obvious that the snake had died
relatively recently – or was wery vell preserved – but for the slime, the
time wasn't so important.
What was more important was that it had found a new suit! In the body
of a snake, it will be much easier to get to the surface than now!
With another happy hop in the water, the slime swam to big Mr. Big
Snake, not even noticing that an ominous atmosphere was flowing
around the corpse.
A/N: [No, little slime, don't go near the basilisk! It's a bad idea! Oh no…
he can't hear us, he has no ears!]
-=-=-=-=-=-
A/N: [Why are so many important people at Hogwarts looking for a
solution to Dan's problem? Well, you'll have to wait to find out with Dan,
but I think you can guess a couple of reasons yourself.
The main one is that his situation is unique, which means it has not been
reaserched or known well. They are in the first stages of research, where
they hope to find a ready-made fix. When they realize that the problem
will have to be solved in a different way, their confidence and zeal to
help will wither like the plants in your room.
Seriously, go water your plans.]
Spoiler: [The next part is actually a spoiler, not as serious as it could be,
just a discussion of future plans for the novel, but still a spoiler. Read at
your own risk. If you're talking about any of the spoilery stuff in the
comments, please, remember to put it in another spoiler.
I plan to finish the third year of Hogwarts by the fiftieth or sixtieth
chapter. With Black's place as the central antagonist in this installment
gone, there isn't much left to do. Mostly because I don't have the desire to
pull a mini-boss out of my ass and spin the story around it.
I planned to make this year as an introduction, to show you to the base
rules of the new world, and with the end of the previous chapter, I
achieved it. Of course, we have not seen all the secrets of the world, but
enough for now.
Instead of introducing new concepts and rules, the next chapters will
focus more on how the Gryffindor trio try to solve the next mystery. Only
this time they could've just asked Luna about it. But they didn't.
So: a lot of character development with a sprinkle of world-building. Stay
tuned!]
Chapter 34: The Halloween Event
of 1993 I
"Did you get permission to leave Hogwarts this weekend?" Dan asked
Luna.
The monster boy and the girl were sitting in their corner of the library
again, Mantis was back on his friend's shoulders and refused to leave.
Somehow, the green guy knew that Dan had suffered in his absence.
Dan chucked it to magic stuff.
When he returned from the Catacombs, Luna tried to find out all the
details about the "Secret Labyrinth inside the Chamber of Secrets" first
thing. Dan was only too happy to answer all her questions.
During an impromptu interview, he managed to draw a rough map of the
dungeon. Dan wasn't sure about the proportions of the corridors, but it
was enough for his purposes.
"When does your father pick us up from the entrance?" Dan asked Luna
as he put his scrolls into his trusty bottomless backpack.
"Daddy will come in an hour and apparate us home. He was very excited
to hear that you're coming along." The girl said with a smile. "I think it's
good that he wants to meet you, we don't get guests very often."
Dan nodded, leaning back in his chair and sighing heavily. He had been
feeling a little tired lately, especially after returning from the catacombs.
"Danil Khromov? Did you know that bottomless bags are illegal?" Luna
suddenly asked, looking at his backpack.
"They are?" Dan said, bewildered. But suddenly he understood why both
professors looked like they had swallowed flies when they gave him this
artifact.
"Well, not as illegal as highly regulated." The girl clarified, also putting
her things in her bag. "Daddy used to say that it's always worth hiding
important things better so that even you can't find them at first."
Shrugging, Dan reminded himself not to talk about the illegal shit in his
possession. Considering that technically he was an illegal immigrant
himself and he hadn't even seen the representatives of the magic law, it
was quite simple.
Together – Dan under an invisibility spell and Luna in the open – they
slowly walked towards the gates of Hogwarts, talking quietly among
themselves. Although rather only Luna was telling about all the things
she had at home, and the monster boy was listening, putting his hand on
her shoulder to let her know that he was still around.
The students who passed by looked at them with confused eyes, but
when they saw that it was Luna talking to herself, they quickly lost
interest. Loony was just talking to herself, what else could you expect
from her?
Stepping outside just in time, they saw Professor Flitwick talking to a tall
man with white-and-silver hair that hung down to his shoulders. His
robes were even brighter than Dumbledore's morning robes, and they
were already a bright purple.
"Daddy!" Luna screamed and ran to her father, jumping into his arms, the
man caught his daughter laughing and twirled her around him.
"Hello, little moonbean, how are you?"
While Luna was talking quickly about all sorts of things, Flitwick
muttered something and his wand glowed for a moment. His eyes
immediately found Dan and the professor nodded slightly in his
direction.
"Professor, thanks for keeping me company." Xenophilius told Flitwick.
"We'll be leaving now, but where… Ah, where is the Umgubular
Slashkilter?" He asked, looking around.
Dan, without hesitation, took a step forward and just as he was about to
put his hand on the wizard's shoulder, Xeno's eyes snapped in his
direction.
"Oh, you're already here! Right, right, then we won't even have to wait. I
hope everyone's ready?"
Flitwick looked doubtfully at Xeno, but decided to speak up anyway.
"I've already made sure your daughter has met with you, so yes, my
presence is not required here!" He said with his usual cheer. "But
Professor Dumbledore asked you to be reminded that the very existence
of your daughter's friend must remain a secret. At least for the time
being, until we find an acceptable solution to his situation."
Xeno went a little cross-eyed in confusion, but then a light bulb seemed
to go on above him.
"Oh, of course! I don't want to make a sensation so early, especially in
this time of the month. We're not Greedygrogs, after all!"
Grabbing his daughter's hand and grabbing Dan's elbow – somehow –
Xeno paused for a moment. "You'll want to hold your breath for the first
time."
The moment and all three disappeared in a swirl of color and magic.
Danil Khromov and Luna Lovegood left Hogwarts for Halloween. The last
thought in Dan's head was: 'What are Greedygrogs?'
-=-=-=-=-=-
Harry had noticed something odd about Hermione lately. From the day
they saw those spiders, she looked even more stressed than before. At the
beginning of the year, she was just constantly irritated, but now she
looked just awful.
Her face was pale, huge bags under her eyes and twitching at the
slightest unexpected sound or touch. Hermione acted like a paranoid war
veteran who had just left the battlefield.
Even her roommates noticed her behavior and approached Harry with
their concerns. Hell, even Ron noticed that something was wrong!
At first, he decided to wait a couple of days, Hermione was an
independent girl and could solve her problems herself. But after a week
with no improvement, Harry began to doubt her ability to solve this
particular problem. Whatever it was.
Finally, on the day of Halloween, Harry decided to do something.
As they were walking to the Great Hall to attend the Halloween feast,
Harry stopped her.
"Hermione, can we talk?" He asked.
"... Sure?" She answered uncertainly.
When they were in the abandoned classroom, away from prying eyes and
ears, Harry paused for a moment, not sure where to start.
From birth, he was rather isolated from his peers for the most part,
because all traditional Pureblood families traditionally only revealed
their heirs to the world when they reached their seventh year of life.
And Aunt Bella was nothing if not a pureblooded traditionalist. Harry
was sure that if his mother had not expressed her desire to show her
world both the wizarding world and the Muggle world in her will, Bella
would have raised him exclusively as the heir of the Black family.
But even if he saw more of the world than the usual wix out there, that
didn't mean he was good at confronting his own friends, especially about
their own problems.
"Hermione, are you okay? I– we're worried about you; can you tell me
what's going on? Whatever it is, we can help you." He winced at how
generic that sounded.
The girl didn't answer for a long time, just staring at Harry for a few
minutes. He gave her time to collect her thoughts, at least he thought she
needed some time.
Hermione, meanwhile, was trying to decide if she should lie again, but
that thought died the moment she saw Harry's eyes. What was the point
of lying if they already knew something was wrong?
Her travel with the time-turner could be hidden by the reflection of
questions and gaslighting, but now? When her knowledge hung on her
like a stone and dragged her under… She would be stupid if she thought
she could hide the stress on her face.
"No," she eventually said, frustrated by no measure, "I'm not okay, I've
been waiting for weeks for one of the professors to take me aside and
expel me from Hogwarts for what I saw! Or worse, it will find me and
tear me apart!"
Just in the last two days, Professor McGonagall and Professor Bubbling
asked her to stay after class and each time her heart stopped in horror.
But her worry turned out to be for naught, because every time they only
advised her to visit the medical wing because she looked under the
weather.
"I do not know what to do, this-this thing doesn't appear in any book!"
She threw up her hands to the air. "It used magic and single-handedly
killed two dozen Acromantulas! Harry, it could apparate within Hogwarts
grounds– it apparated within Hogwarts' Wards! It should be impossible!"
Harry, seeing that his friend was beginning to panic, slowly put his arm
around her shoulders, trying to calm her down.
"I searched the entire library, even the restricted section, but there was
nothing anywhere! I even ordered books from France, but even they were
useless! And I don't know what to do, I don't even know what it is! How
can I fight it, if I have no idea what it is?"
Harry began to form a picture of what had happened in his head.
Hermione was somehow able to find out what killed those Acromantulas
and was horrified by what she saw. But how did she know? Harry
thought it was all over when they arrived. So, unless she time-traveled, it
would be impossible for her to know what happened, and no one should
be stupid enough to give a thirteen-year-old a time-traveling device,
right?
Looking at the girl in his arms, he decided that it was no longer so
important.
"Hermione, calm down, what did you see?" Harry squeezed her shoulder,
trying to stop her flow of words.
The girl sighed sharply and stopped, this time actually collecting her
thoughts.
"... The first time I saw it was at the beginning of the year, when Hagrid
asked me to look after Fang, do you remember?" Harry nodded in
response. "Then I thought I thought someone was behind the trees, but
after what I saw that day…"
Hermione squeezed Harry back.
"It was tall, maybe even taller than Hagrid. And thin as a skeleton. Jet-
black skin and arms far too long for it to be a human. It could use magic
without a wand, Harry." She whispered. "Not like normal creatures that
use passive magic. It used spells."
This made Harry stop. A being that could use magic without a wand?
This was a huge problem, especially so if it was hostile.
"But the Professors got it handled, right? You could've asked them." He
pointed out and Hermione let out a bitter laugh.
"After how they ignored us in the first year? After the useless fraud in
second year tried to wipe your mind? Harry, if I tried to talk to the
Professors, they would've made things worse."
It made Harry see just how deep the rabbit hole was. If Hermione said
that the professors would make things worse, then she really was not in
her mind.
"And you still didn't tell us anything…?" He asked, feeling a little hurt.
"I thought I could handle it myself." Hermione mumbled back and their
conversation stilled for a while. Each of them had information to digest,
more Harry than Hermione. The girl needed some time to calm down.
But after a while, she spoke again.
"It was with Luna, talking to her like a friend t least that's what it looked
like. I think they were feeding thestrals in the forbidden forest."
"Wha–" His question was interrupted by the sound of an explosion and
high-pitched screams of horror. The floor shook as if from an earthquake
and age-old dust fell from the ceiling.
Both of them jerked away from each other, wands already in their hands,
their eyes back at the door. Their emotional moment is forgotten and
gone.
"Let's go!" Harry quickly made up his mind and ran, opening the door
with a wave of his wand and a bark of: "Aberto!"
"Harry, wait!" Hermione tried to stop him, but the Boy-who-lived was
already in the hallway looking for trouble.
The Halloween has already begun.
-=-=-=-=-=-
Dan, meanwhile, sat at the table with Xenophilius and listened to the
man talking for an hour.
"–the Aurors are part of the Rotfang Conspiracy, many of them are
working from within the ministry to bring down our state using a
combination of Dark Magic and the gum disease. As a newcomer to our
world, you just need to know that. Oh, but I didn't explain what is the
gum disease is–"
The worst thing about the verbal vomit that Xenophilius Lovegood
uttered was, that after a while, it began to make sense.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Simple_Russian_Boi
Is that a Power Stone I see in your hand? Gimme!
Chapter 35: The Halloween Event
of 1993 II
A/N: I think I've finally worked out a schedule for myself. You can expect
a new chapter for this novel every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at
19:00, Moscow time. Or as I like to call it, the usual time.
-=-=-=-=-=-
The two Gryffindors ran forward, closer to the sounds of destruction and
screams. Harry's legs carried him forward faster with each step, helping
the adrenaline to rush through his body faster. He knew that with every
second they lost, they risked more losses. Time was of the essence in
situations like this, something he'd learned a long time ago from Bella.
But when they found the source of the commotion, Harry was ready to
scream.
The doors to the girls' lavatory on the second floor seemed to have been
blown up from the inside, the floor and walls were scratched as if
someone huge was dragging a dozen anvils behind their back on a rope.
"No, no, no, no, no-" he muttered under his breath, wishing with all his
heart that his hunch was wrong.
Stopping in the doorway for a moment, one look at the ruined entrance
to the Chamber of Secrets dashed all his hopes.
"Bollocks!" He cursed and ran on, Hermione hot on his heels.
The screams and the sounds of spells were getting closer, but not louder
than the blood that pounded in his ears. The old walls of the school
swept by, lit torches no more than a smear on his vision.
Jumping out of another corridor, Harry finally saw what was the source
of such horror and froze in place. On the constantly moving stairs,
occupying two flights of stairs at once, there was a huge basilisk. The
terrible smell of rotten flesh and stagnant water wafted through the
school.
The basilisk has changed a lot since the last time Harry saw it. The
snake's flesh was rotten in several places, the scales that once were a
deep dark green, were dull and dead. The creature's eyes were still
destroyed, gaping holes were in their place, infested with something alive
and moving. But the biggest piece of evidence that this basilisk was the
one Harry had killed was the hole in the snake's skull.
"Oh Merlin." Hermione muttered, holding back the urge to vomit.
Harry, seeing that several students were dangerously close to the
Basilisk's head, nearly exploded on the spot in frustration. The creature
hung with its snout to the first floor, "looking" towards the path that led
to the Great Hall. Even after lost it's eyes, died, and rotted over the past
few months, this creature was still able to understand where large
numbers of people were. How? Harry had no idea.
"What are you doing?! Run, it can't see you!" He yelled as he fired a
concussive blast at the serpent's head.
The students immediately scrambled away, most likely to call for help.
The serpent winced from the explosion, its body writhing unnaturally in
place, turning upwards where the impact had come from. There was a
feeling that its body was controlled by a puppeteer with Parkinson's
disease, the basilisk moved so clumsily and twitchy.
The creature turned up and emitted a strange hiss in the direction of the
two Gryffindors. Its mouth was still full of sharp fangs, but there was a
hole in one place. There used to be another fang, which now lay as a
trophy in Harry's room. Proof that he had already killed the beast once.
"Do you have a plan?" Hermione asked hurriedly, aiming her wand at the
beast's head and trembling with fear.
'And Harry killed it with just a sword?! How is he still alive?!' She was
mentally screaming, making a note to hug the boy who had done so
much for their School.
"Distract this cunt until the professors arrive." Harry muttered back and
fired another spell at the serpent, but it swerved sharply to the side,
hitting the railing with it's body.
Spell after spell fell on the dead basilisk's body, causing it to turn around
to deal with its pesky problems.
The driver of the corpse, meanwhile, still hasn't fully figured out how to
control the overgrown snake. The little slime melted half of its already
small body and took control of the miraculously surviving brain and
nervous system of the Slytherin monster.
It hoped to get to the people as quickly as possible, and what better way
than to grab a ride with a huge snake? It would also be much faster! Of
course, its vision was severely limited by what was visible from the
wound in the basilisk's skull, but it managed.
Seeing people for the first time, the slime was happy! His first step was
complete, he had found a point of contact with the human race! Now all
he had to do was start a dialogue!
Only, the little people started screaming and running away from him,
shooting strange lightning at its… err… suit from their sticks. It couldn't
understand their words or why they were screaming. Was it that scary?
He was just a friendly little slime!
But suddenly, one of the little people shot something sick at the dead
basilisk's head, causing the little slime's body to shake with vibrations. It
felt terrible! How could this little human immediately attack the first
thing he met? Aren't humans supposed to be polite? The other humans
only lit up his suit, not dealing any damage to himself. But this one...
So, the slime of course decided to protect itself from the evil little
human! Straining the muscles in the body of the snake, the tail of the
corpse quickly began to fall on the two humans on the second floor.
But suddenly, the stairs began to move. The one on which the basilisk's
muzzle lay rose sharply to the third floor, blocking the path to the Great
Hall for the creature.
Shaking unhappily from side to side, the slime finally realized one truth.
These two humans were not going to let him go so easily. So he had no
other options. The little slime, with his small slimy heart heavy, was
forced to choose violence.
Unfolding the basilisk's body, the little slime sent signals to all remaining
muscles to move.
"Run!" Harry yelled, now fully convinced that he had attracted the
attention of the undead.
Hermione ran first, casting spells behind her as soon as Harry caught up
with her running pace. Luckily for them, the undead basilisk was much
slower than the living one, especially now.
Every time they turned back, they were sure that they would have
nightmares about this scene. The half-rotted body of the basilisk that
followed them didn't stop at any obstacle. There wasn't much that third-
year students could do, especially in a situation like this.
"Throw concussion spells at his head!" Because that seemed to be the only
thing that worked on the bastard.
Leading a snake through the labyrinths of Hogwarts, a company of two
teenagers and one half-rotted basilisk frightened the ghosts and portraits
on the walls. Harry mentally counted down the seconds in his head,
waiting for reinforcements to arrive.
"At the first sign of trouble, either the ghosts or the portraits alert the
nearest professor about it. If you're going to cause trouble, know that
once you're spotted, you'll have about seven minutes to get out of there."
Bella once said. "If I hear that you've been caught after all I've taught
you, I'll be greatly disappointed." She often added.
'Four minutes now.' Harry thought, 'we can hold out for four minutes
against a corpse, as long as the cavalry arrives, we'll be fine.'
It turned out to be more difficult than he expected. Hermione wasn't used
to running that long at full speed, so after a couple of minutes she slowed
down and began to pant. Thinking quickly, he glanced at the nearest
door and forced it open with a wave of his wand. And once they were
fast, he pushed Hermione inside, jumping right after her.
The basilisk crashed into the passageway; its head too big to squeeze
through. Harry and Hermione fell backwards from the force of the blow,
crawling backwards so that it couldn't reach them. Grunting in
displeasure, the basilisk hit the stone passage a couple more times, trying
to squeeze through.
Finally, it stopped, lowering its head so that the wound in its skull
seemed to be looking at the two Gryffindors. Harry could have sworn
something was watching him from inside.
"Metallum vincula!" An old, strong voice sounded from the hallway,
causing a dozen metal chains to burst from the floor. The cavalry arrived
earlier than expected.
Although Harry couldn't see Dumbledore, he could imagine his figure.
The old man must have looked at the basilisk with disappointment as he
raised his wand and prepared to cast another spell.
"... Decapitatio."
There was a whistle of something flying through the air, that stopped just
as he head the sounds of flesh ripping apart and the serpent's head slowly
slid away from its own body.
Hermione chose this moment to pass out. All the accumulated stress and
fatigue finally washed over her like a wave. Luckily, Harry reacted in
time and caught her before his head was spinning from the abrupt ending
of the chase.
He didn't even notice when the old man was next to him, shaking his
shoulder.
"Are you quite all right, my boy?" Dumbledore asked calmly, blocking the
terrible scene behind him with his bright robes.
"Yes, sir." Harry answered almost automatically.
"That's good. Now, I think you and Miss Granger could do with a visit to
the medical wing. And later on, I'd like to hear what happened here." He
muttered and waved his wand again, making Harry fall asleep. The boy
didn't need to be conscious to visit the medical wing.
Putting his hands on the shoulders of his students, Dumbledore apparated
to the medical wing, knowing that Pomona would arrive at the scene in a
couple of minutes. He believed that a woman could easily keep order in
his absence.
Unfortunately, his haste made it impossible for him to find the true
reason for the "resurrection" of the Slytherin monster.
As the wizards went about their business, the little slime climbed out of
its suit in confusion. It wasn't sure what had just happened. Why did it
even go after those two people? Why did it want to hurt them?! This
went against all its principles! Violence is never an option!
The dark influence of the basilisk was rapidly disappearing from little
slime's mind. The magic that had driven Hogwarts' last line of defense
insane, couldn't break the will of the pure slime heart, but it could wound
it.
Full of regret and shame, the little slime jumped towards the crack in the
wall, hiding from the world for a while.
It needed to think somewhere where no one would disturb it. So the little
slime began to look for such a place, slowly hopping its way to the sixth
floor, where behind the picture of a strange sir was an empty room with
a bunch of things that the slime haven't seen in his life.
Here he decided to stop for a while. He felt very good inside, as if his
body was being gently massaged and filled with magic at the same time.
It was a pleasant feeling.
And this is how the little slime became a squatter in the room of one
Danil Khromov.
-=-=-=-=-=-
A/N: Unfortunately, I couldn't add Ron to this scene. I wanted to show
how different he is in my novel, but my rationality said: he is already in
the Great Hall, who will let him out? So no red boy for you, suckers.
Chapter 36: The Rookery I
Anyone in the village of Ottery St Catch Pole could say with certainty:
the Lovegood family house looked as strange as its inhabitants were.
It was a huge stone cylinder made of black brick and twisted into the
design of a giant rook chess piece. Small windows littered the walls of the
house, as if in completely random places. It was hard to tell if this was
really the case, or if the windows were simply magnified magically from
the inside.
Standing on a small hill, like a miniature castle, Lovegood house had a
small current at the base, which was only good for the garden that
surrounded the Rookery.
Dan, after a couple of hours of talking with the Lovegoods, found out that
this house was built by Xenophilius' grandfather about two hundred years
ago. Apparently, the man took the words "My house is my fortress" too
much to heart.
To be honest, Dan learned a lot after a long conversation with Xeno. It
was clear that the man didn't have enough screws in his head, or there
were a couple of extra ones.
The monster boy made sure of this himself, after one afternoon tea
session with the man.
"The goblins didn't just go underground after being defeated by wizards.
They were given a choice, of course, but no one remembers the other
options anymore. For wizards, goblins are now where they should always
be: under their feet." Xeno tapped his bare foot on the soft carpet a
couple of times. "Maybe you've already noticed, but our kind don't like
being below someone else. It's just unthinkable for them. Why, I once–"
The fact that at the Rookery you had to take off your shoes at the
entrance inspired Dan with nostalgia. He knew perfectly well that in
many households' people walked with shoes on – at least on the first floor
– but in Russia it was pure madness.
Only two kinds of people could walk around the Russian apartment in
shoes: a doctor who came to pull you out of an alcoholic coma or a
suicidal guest.
"Daddy." Luna said just one word and Xeno blinked, as if coming out of a
trance.
"Ah, thank you, dear," he shook his head, "but the goblins have chosen
that they will go underground. For mining and craftsmanship is
something that has been in their blood for millennia. At least according
to them."
With a wave of his wand, Xeno summoned to himself a fairly large map,
on the left side of which were the British Isles, and on the right was its
underground parts.
It even seemed to Dan that the ink was rising from the paper, hanging in
the air and forming a pseudo-hologram in the air.
"This is a map that my daughter and I have collected over the past couple
of years. Every tunnel and cave that stretches under the earth's crust all
over the island, connecting, intertwining and forming a complex maze
underground. And most of it is goblin territory; their home, a place for
life and death.
"My theory is that immediately after the last lost rebellion, the goblins
crafted a new plan. Having lived underground for a long time, they know
its secrets, for them it is an ideal battlefield. So, they left the surface,
presenting themselves as bankers for any wix who is willing to part with
some of their gold–"
"Daddy." Luna said again, chewing on a chocolate chip cookie and
looking at her father with wide eyes.
"Thanks, sweetie." Xeno shook his head again. "Their plan is simple to the
point of banality. What would it cost them to dig tunnels under every
important building in magical Britain? The Ministry, the Auror Academy,
St Mongo's, the Plantations of Ingredients for Potions – there are few
important places in our country.
"And once they finish building these tunnels, they will only have to
release the Blue Bile-Eaters into the water sources nearby to poison all
the wix and seize control of Magical Britain."
When Xeno finished his monologue, Dan almost fell off his chair. How
could this guy build such a logical-sounding theory and end it on Blue
Bile-Eaters?! Why not assume that goblins will just blow up the whole
infrastructure of magical Britain?!
"Ah, right, I've prepared something for your arrival." Xeno exclaimed,
quickly getting up from his seat. "Luna told me a lot about her new friend
from Russia and I couldn't resist, I just had to try to make something
Russian! Wait a moment, please."
The man disappeared at the other end of the kitchen and started rattling
dishes.
"Oh…" Luna sighed softly, her already wide eyes became even wider.
"Did Daddy cook something? I hope he wasn't distracted by Wrackspurts
this time…"
Dan didn't have time to ask her what she meant because Xeno came out
of the kitchen. He definitely cooked something, but it wasn't food.
Levitating a small wooden barrel with a tap in the lid in front of him,
Xeno answered the unasked question with a smile.
"This is my first barrel of Mead. I made wine before, but this is one of the
few times I got to work with honey."
Putting the barrel on the table, small mugs of mead quickly appeared
next to everyone. An interesting fact about wizards: their tolerance for
alcohol was much higher than that of ordinary people. So as long as
alcohol was not of a magical nature, even children could drink it and not
suffer any consequences.
Dan looked at the mug and without thinking quickly dipped the little
finger of his left hand into the drink, fully expecting pain, but nothing
happened. There was one oddity he noticed with the water. Only some
water brought him pain, as if someone cursed only the rain and running
water. Of course, the full list of liquids that could harm him was far from
short, but even so, he had things he could occasionally drink.
Apparently, mead was one of them.
"Thank you, Mr. Lovegood." Dan said and tasted a bit, marveling at the
rather pleasant taste. He didn't even really taste the alcohol in the drink.
"Call me Xeno, it'll be easier that way." The man sat back in his seat.
"Since we're already talking, can I ask you a couple of questions?" He
asked, pulling out a long scroll and a writing quill.
If before, anyone had even the slightest doubt that Xeno was Luna's
father, then it would fall away as soon as they saw his gaze at that
moment. Dan had never seen a father and daughter so interested in the
same cause.
So Dan had to answer a series of new questions. Interestingly, Xeno didn't
repeat any of the questions that Luna had asked before. Most likely she
had already told her father everything she knew about… ahem… the
biology of Endermen.
"Running water hurts you, is that right?" Xeno muttered, looking at the
already half-empty mug of mead. "But clearly, not all water, else your
blood would kill you from the inside. I heard about a similar curse years
ago. Hate from the cradle of the world, they called it."
Considering that water was usually called the cradle of the world, the
name was fitting. But…
"It sounds silly." Luna was the first to express her opinion.
"It does sound silly, but it's real. It makes all the running water like acid
for the damned. Maybe I can find a book describing the curse later..."
Xeno muttered. "But you're saying that your entire race suffers from this
curse, not just you?"
"I haven't seen anyone of my own race yet, but I suspect so." Dan replied.
"Huh." The man rubbed his chin. "That sounds unpleasant."
The conversations continued well into the evening, moving from
conspiracy theories – which sounded more real with every second – to
stories from the lives of Xeno and Luna.
Dan found out that when Luna was only 5 years old, she and a girl
named Ginny stole her brothers' brooms and flew through the window of
the Weasley house. Worse was the fact that both girls were only in
pajamas at the time.
In response, the Lovegoods heard little Dan decide it would be a good
idea to cut himself a piece of cake. Which he did, putting the cut piece on
a plate, he calmly took the remaining cake and dipped, leaving one small
slice behind.
Halloween – which the Celts and Druids called Samhain; a name Xeno
used – was already tomorrow. So closer to midnight, everyone decided to
go to bed.
The guest room Dan was put in for a while was rather small and a bit
empty, but he didn't complain. His thoughts were occupied with other
things.
'... I won't sleep tonight, huh?' He sighed heavily as he tossed and turned
in bed. 'Fucking conspiracy theorists and their theories. How can I sleep
now, knowing that the sirens are transporting cocaine by underwater
routes?!'
His mental self-reproach was interrupted by a soft knock on the door, and
Dan was only too glad to open the door. Anything to get out of your own
head.
He wasn't surprised at all when he spotted Luna on the threshold of his
room. The girl was dressed in warm blue pajamas with fluffy bunny
slippers on her feet. Dan could only think of one word at the sight of her:
cute.
"Hello again, Luna Lovegood," he said with a smile.
"And hello to you, Danil Khromov. Would you like to come and paint
with me?" The girl pulled out a fabric bag from behind her back, a few
well-used brushes could be seen inside.
"Why, yes, I would like it very much."
The moon led him out of the house to a nearby hill, on which stood only
a lone tree. There were already two easels standing there, as if the girl
knew in advance that he would agree. Dan wasn't opposed to such a
prediction.
The cold autumn night was not the best time to paint, but the full moon
and cloudless sky made for a beautiful moment.
"Do we need a table?" Dan asked when they were both at their easels.
Luna only hummed in agreement.
The girl put the bag on the ground, taking out everything she needed
from there. Dan, without thinking twice, took a block of earth from the
side and placed it next to the easels to serve as a makeshift table.
"What kept you from sleeping?" He asked the next question.
"I can never sleep before Halloween," Luna murmured in response,
holding a small brush in her hand, "mommy used to tell me about our
ancestors and their lives on this day. Now she is with them. Maybe she
even met Grandma again on the other side." The girl stopped for a
moment. "Though she said Grandma definitely didn't make it to the other
side. Still not sure why."
Dan nodded, preferring not to think about it. Knowing that the concept of
souls was very real, he was terrified to imagine what might have the
power to keep a soul from crossing to "the other side".
Now was not the time to think about stressful things. Also taking a brush
in his hands, Dan raised his gaze to the moon and sighed. How long ago
did he have a moment to just stop and paint? Not because he needed it,
or because there was money on the line. When was the last time he
painted for himself?
Pushing those thoughts aside as well, Dan decided to choose not to worry
about it. But there was still something he had to do.
"Luna?"
"Yes?"
"Thank you."
The girl blinked a couple of times in confusion, but only smiled back.
"You're welcome."
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Simple_Russian_Boi
Feed me stones!11!!1!
Feels like this chapter is all over the place, but I like it.
The next chapter will give us a first look at ritual magic in this world,
even if the ritual is just to send messages to souls on the other side,
wherever that is.
Chapter 37: Halloween Rituals
Every Halloween night there comes a strange time for the living world.
The moment when the world of dead and living come a little closer,
allowing a few determined ones to pass through to the other side.
Therefore, it was on this day that so many rites and rituals were
performed.
People lit huge bonfires in the middle of their villages, dressed up in
scary costumes and put carved pumpkins around. The decorations in the
small trees have always been made by hand. They used every little thing
on this day that was passed down through generations, proven rituals
that will help descendants, and won't leave them without protection.
In magical villages, these rituals were rarely performed, but the
Lovegoods followed every old tradition. Therefore, their house was
protected from dark spirits and magic, at least according to them.
Now that the festivals and celebrations are over, people have gone home,
allowing the night to come forth, shrouding the village in darkness. The
night was illuminated only by the lights of candles standing on the
windows of houses, and the moon, which pushed back the darkness with
its brilliant light for late travelers.
Before his unexpected death, Dan had little faith in the afterlife. But now,
knowing for sure that something was waiting for everyone behind the
veil of death, he couldn't stop being nervous. Now he has a rare
opportunity – the opportunity to send a message to his parents, and
maybe even to his sister and grandfather, if there is at least one point of
contact with his old world.
"Talking to the departed is always an unusual experience." Luna said.
"They don't appear as ghosts or specters, incapable of human speech. But
they can talk. Their answers are quiet, hidden in the whisper of the wind
and the rustle of leaves. Sometimes they respond, and sometimes they
prefer to remain silent. Just listening." The girl said when they were
walking into the forest near the village.
"The spirits of the dead are sensitive to emotions." Xeno continued. "Fear
and anger upset them more than you can imagine, I advise you to release
your thoughts and be calm. Less chance of attracting others…"
"Others?" Dan asked in alarm.
"Nothing to worry about." He spoke quickly. "Further our roads diverge,
further to the north you will see a perfect circle of trees, look closely at
their bark, I believe you can recognize a rune if you see one, yes? Of
course, they are quite far away, but magic requires it. There you can start
the ritual." The man looked Dan up and down and his gaze fell on the
monster boy's goggles. "But you'd better take off your glasses for a while.
It will be easier to see the invisible without them."
With these words, the three went their separate ways, each Ritual was a
very private thing, even illegal ones, but the ritual of contact with the
dead? There was nothing more personal than these conversations. Dan
could only compare it to talking at the grave of a deceased relative,
hoping that they would hear you. Only in this case, one can feel whether
they hear you or not.
Stepping forward with measured steps, Dan fiddled with his glasses,
slowly lowering the band onto his neck. Of course, the enchantments on
the goggles allowed him to see through them as if they didn't exist, but it
was more pleasant to see with his own eyes without fear of falling into a
rage. The cold air of the October night prickled his skin, making him
walk faster, but he didn't resist.
Several small animals followed him again, examining the newcomer with
interest. Squirrels, mice, rabbits, and even a few owls could sense
something familiar about him. Dan didn't have the heart to drive them
away this time.
Finally stopping at the edge of a small opening, he looked around. The
trees here were exactly as Xeno had described them.
Seven firs stood opposite each other, spreading their branches apart, as if
they were trying to capture the space between them in a perfect circle. If
one would lay down on the ground and look at the sky from this place,
they would swear from top to bottom that the trees were cut.
These trees were closely connected with the foresight of the distant
future and the afterlife, Dan remembered this clearly. It was from fir that
most of the coffins were made only two hundred years ago.
Running his fingertips over the bark of a nearby tree, Dan shuddered. As
soon as his skin grazed the tree, he immediately felt as if a lightning bolt
of unfamiliar energy struck his body. It was something other than magic,
something older, wilder.
Believing that this was the right place, the monster boy entered the circle
and began to draw on the ground, starting from the East Tree itself. His
sharp fingers moved traced a path into the earth, leaving straight lines
leading to all seven trees and ending again in the East.
The East was the beginning of beginnings, symbolizing light, the source
of life. It was like a lamp for moths. The seven-pointed star attracted
wandering souls closer to this place, when the spiritual nature of the
spruce sent this "signal" to exactly those whom Dan wanted to hear.
Sitting in the center of the ritual circle, the monster boy turned his gaze
to the West and took a deep breath. Just sitting still and feeling the
energy pulse under his feet.
He felt the earth breathe with him.
"... mom, dad, can you hear me?" He muttered, listening to his
surroundings closely.
The wind picked up for a moment, sending the leaves flying in a short
flight. Dan admitted that he stared at the leaves for a couple of moments,
not fully believing what was happening.
"I'll take that as a yes." He smiled sadly, rubbing his eyes. He lost the
ability to cry after being reborn, but that didn't stop him from feeling like
he would burst into tears right on the spot. "I am in a very strange place
right now. Some crazy god sent me to another world after I almost died."
This day felt like a lifetime ago, in every way. Dan hoped he never had to
see The Wanderer ever again. He could live peacefully without cosmic
horror in his life.
"At first, I didn't even know what to do. I didn't even have a clue why I
was looking for people at that moment, with my new appearance, I
would have been killed at the spot. Luckily, a few wizards found me."
Dan talked about his stay over the past couple of months. His highs and
lows, his strange friendships with Hogwarts students, and his recent trip
to the dungeon.
He talked about how magic was slowly becoming a part of his daily life.
He spoke of how new knowledge made him think bigger, dream bigger,
and believe more. "Although the latter is Luna's fault, I confess."
The wind rose and died around his figure as he spoke, whistling happily
when Dan talked about Luna and howling in rage when he got to the
spider parts of the story.
But in the end, Dan stopped. The forest became silent again.
A long gust of wind dragged some leaves across the floor as if asking a
question.
"... I still don't know what to do. First this god stuffed me into this
damned body, then I start to sleepwalk and draw fucking magical runes,
and just recently some old Enderman came to me in a dream and stuffed
a ton information in my skull!"
Dan clenched his hands into fists, tearing at the seams of his robes, but
quickly forced himself to calm down. "My anger gets out of hand too
often. Recently I started thinking of some creatures as inferior to me.
That's not right."
He was brought up better than that. Sure, he wasn't the politest person
on planet Earth, but to ooze so much hatred for an entire race of sentient
beings? It wasn't normal.
"Everything is happening too fast. I haven't had time to figure out magic
yet, but I already have so many heights that I'm going crazy. Oh, right,
there's also some being called The Corrupted One that'll come to eat my
soul soon! As if I don't have enough problems already!"
Dan forced himself to calm down again, feeling the beginning of an angry
tirade in his throat. It was exactly what Xeno had advised against. He
didn't want to be angry during the only hour he could communicate with
his parents.
"I don't feel like I'm in control of my life anymore." He muttered, looking
down at his hands. "What can I do against some secret fuckin' demon lord
who is going after me? I'm not even the main character of this world,
Potter has to kill the big bad evil guy. I was literally picked up like a toy
and thrown here. No prep time, no wishes, no nothing…"
And again, he felt like he was about to cry.
A warm breeze brushed across his cheek like and Dan almost leaned into
the ghostly touch. But as much as he wished for the impossible, it was
only a wind without a physical form.
"I know I need to stay strong, but I don't have a reason to be strong
anymore. Katya and Kurt are gone, and I just want to-" He stopped,
collecting his thoughts again. "I miss them… I miss you all so much…" he
quietly confessed.
The wind didn't answer him. The Witching Hour has already passed.
Dan didn't know how long he sat on the cold ground, sobbing without
tears and mourning the loss of his last family. Maybe next time he would
talk to his parents on a more cheerful note, but that day was not today.
The boy felt something small land on his bony shoulder and softly hoot
into his ear. He opened his eyes and met the eyes of the smartest looking
owl he had ever seen in his life.
The bird butted him softly on the forehead and hooted again, as if telling
him it was time to leave. Dan didn't mind, it was certainly past his usual
walking hours.
Looking around, he was shocked to see the absurdly large number of
animals surrounding the circle of trees. What surprised him even more
was that only the owl had crossed the imaginary barrier around the trees.
He didn't know if it was politeness or their animal instinct for self-
preservation.
Seeing all the animals watching him expectantly, Dan stroked the owl's
chest for a job well done, got to his feet and started walking back
towards the Rookery.
"Feeling like a Disney princess…" He glanced at the animals around him.
"Luna would be happy to see you all."
And she was.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Simple_Russian_Boi
Gimme Stones!
Chapter 38: Welcome back
Returning to Hogwarts in the early morning, Dan didn't expect much.
Maybe a word from Flitwick about missing out on a delightful holiday-
themed charm or news about the twins' next prank. Hell, he even
expected them to come back and the castle would simply disappear from
its place, leaving only a crater or two behind.
He never expected to see a disheveled Hagrid with a loaded crossbow at
the ready. A man the size of a mountain stood at the gates of Hogwarts
and turned his head around, looking for even the slightest sign of danger.
Standing next to the groundskeeper was a woman Dan didn't know,
wearing red robes and spouting bright pink hair. From afar, it was
difficult for him to see any details about a stranger and he preferred to
stay as far away as possible.
The biggest reason for this was the woman's job. Even Muggleborn first
years in the wizarding world knew that magical cops wore red uniforms.
Objectively, it was a bad idea to try to approach a cop if you looked like
Dan. He doubted that the sudden appearance of a huge monster out of
thin air would benefit the health of anyone present.
"Ah, here they are." Hagrid said, slinging his crossbow on his back and
opening the gates to the school. "Welcome back, Miss Lovegood!"
The woman looked at Xeno and Luna, looking away from her
conversation with the groudskeeper. The Lovegoods went ahead, and Dan
stood still, frowning at her. She remained at her post and carefully
examined the perimeter, watching every slightest movement.
A sudden wave of paranoia swept through his mind, what are the Aurors
doing at Hogwarts? Could someone have leaked information about his
existence to the Ministry? Dan didn't know the answers to these questions
and refused to take risks.
So he began to move with careful steps footprint with Xeno, stepping
only where his foot was.
"Good afternoon, Professor Hagrid, Miss…?" He nodded at the pink-
haired woman in silent question.
"Tonks, just Tonks." She replied with a bubbly smile. "Nice to meet you."
"It is, Miss Tonks. My name is Xenophilius Lovegood and this is my
daughter Luna."
"May I inquire what happened at the school that might have attracted the
attention of the Ministry? Is this something to do with the increased
activity of Pigius Explosies and other dangerous creatures?" Xeno asked,
already taking out a scroll of parchment and a quill, not even hiding his
own interest as a reporter. Luna only nodded her approval as she
watched her father's actions.
"Just some usual Halloween business," Hagrid muttered, knowing that
Luna would still hear the story from her fellow students and eventually
pass it on to her father. "Some fella decided to take up necromancy!" He
spat out the word in disgust. "Made the poor thing's body crawl like a
puppet even after death! Terrible thing, necromancy, I tell you. Forced it
to some masters' bidding. Dumbledore stopped the poor thing, thank
Merlin."
"I don't know about poor thing, big guy." Tonks patted Hagrid on the
back, or as high on the giant's body as her hand could reach. "The beast
was over sixty feet long and could kill as many as ten thousand people
with a single drop of poison. As much as I love animals, I'm glad this one
is now dead."
Dan was glad too. He wouldn't want to meet that thing, whatever it was.
But for some reason it's description sounded familiar for him.
"S'pose that's true, part of life and all," the giant muttered, "now it can
rest in peace."
Dan didn't think that was what Tonks meant, but he couldn't and didn't
want to tell Hagrid that. Knowing his love for everything terribly
dangerous and dangerously terrible, it wasn't surprising that the man was
upset when he heard about the death of some monster.
"Necromancy? On a beast of this size, too? What kind of animal has been
the victim of such dark magic?" Xeno asked as he wrote down all the
facts on parchment.
"They say it was the Slytherin monster itself, a huge basilisk." Hagrid
responded, making Xeno put a thick blot on the parchment.
"A basilisk, truly?" The man breathed.
Dan stopped listening after that, believing that Luna would repeat the
most important things for him later. She was wonderful like that.
'I should tell her that more often,' he thought.
"– if the minister had sent the Aurors after the news about Black, Potter
and Grainger wouldn't have had to lure the monster away from the Main
Hall." Tonks said, scratching the bridge of her nose. Now that Dan was
closer, he could see what the woman looked like.
She was young, maybe in her early twenties. Her pink hair shimmered
strangely in the light, as if changing shades at the will of its owner.
Brown, narrow eyes sat at an equal distance from the cute button nose
with on the heart-shaped face.
Even with her not-so-tall stature, Tonks looked good. She was obviously
an attractive woman, not of the level to call her a supermodel, but still
pretty. Only the longer Dan looked at her, the more something seemed...
off.
She had two legs, two arms, a head, a torso, Tonks was definitely human.
But something in the back of Dan's head confirmed to him that this was
not entirely true. Something felt familiar when he looked at Tonks.
Deciding to think about it later, Dan carefully stood behind Xeno, looking
to the side so that his barely visible eyes would not be visible when the
sun was rising. The invisibility spell wasn't perfect after all.
"– we won't keep you any longer, although classes have been canceled
today, you still need to tell Flitwick or McGonagall about your arrival.
Good luck, squirt." Tonks gave Luna a friendly pat on the head – Dan
understood perfectly why she did it, Luna was too cute not to pat –
causing the girl to tilt her head in confusion.
"But I'm not a squirt anymore? Once upon a time, maybe I was, but then I
got into mom and grew into a person."
Tonks and Hagrid looked at the little witch with strange expressions on
their faces, as if they were forced to swallow something sour. Dan
covered his mouth with his palm, trying to keep the laughter in himself
so as not to betray his existence.
"Thank you for your answers, Miss Tonks, Professor Hagrid." Xeno
nodded, not paying much attention to his daughter's words. After all, it
was true. "Have a good learning experience, Moonbean, write to me more
often, okay?"
The girl nodded with a bright smile and with the last hug from her
father, she skipped to the entrance to the castle, humming something to
herself. Dan immediately followed, noting with the same smile that her
tracks were just at the right distance so that he could comfortably walk
on them.
'I'm really not grateful enough for her friendship.' Dan thought, shaking
his head.
This waif of a girl had already done so much for him that Dan felt he
could never repay the same.
A/N: [Sorry for the small chapter, I've been working on the weekend and
had no strenght left to write something.
Also, I was thinking about pairings in my story lately.
With my hints, it becomes obvious that Harry and Hermione will become
a couple later down the line. But what about Dan? Who's he gonna end
up with?
To be honest, I have few options: Luna and Tonks come to mind as
candidates. But so far, very few others.
Luna is a candidate, because she's Luna. Need I say more?
With Tonks, everything is a little more complicated. The reasons why she
could be a good match for Dan, right now I can't list (it's two in the
morning, why the fuck am I still awake?), but I'm sure someone smarter
than me will be able to write it in the comments.
Predicting some of your replies, Fleur is a no-go for Dan, that's for sure.
He doesn't like French people. It's a part of being Russian: to hate the
French. And German. And Polish. And American. And- you get the idea.
We Russians don't like a lot of people.
Anyway, is romance worth thinking about in advance at all, or is it better
to continue writing as I always do? No plan, no idea what happens next,
head = empty.
[/author]
Chapter 39: Small Talk With
Flitwick and Harry's thoughts
Three people were sitting in a comfortable office full of books, scrolls and
interesting trinkets. There were cups full of tea in front of Flitwick and
Luna, and Danil preferred to drink from a flask full of mead provided by
Xeno. Of course, he preferred not to tell Flitwick what was inside the
flask, and Flitwick didn't ask.
There was a reason why Flitwick, not McGonagall, was Danil's favorite
teacher. The old half-goblin was smart, optimistic, cunning, and could
break a meter-long cube of steel with one spell. But even so, he still took
joy in teaching the little wix, sincerely content with every little bit of
their progress.
That's why he took up teaching Dan with such zeal, giving him every
little bit of magical knowledge he knew, and Dan wasn't opposed to learn
more about magic.
The fact that sometimes Flitwick spoke to him as an equal, and not as one
talks to a teenage student, was only a plus. Although considering that
Dan didn't look, think, or sound like a teenager, it was understandable
why Flitwick sometimes forgot himself.
Who in their right mind would think of a three-meter monster with a low
voice and a Russian accent as an innocent teenager?
In any case, Flitwick never tried to sweeten the facts, no matter how
terrible they were. So when Danil and Luna came to the Head of
Ravenclaw to hear the whole story, he told them the truth.
"... And no one knows who controlled the beast? I thought that the
master of the resurrected target should be nearby to give it commands?"
Danil asked in shock.
Flitwick only looked at his student with disapproval.
"Although your choice of additional literature leaves much to be desired,
you are right." Dan did not even try to justify himself. The book about
necromancers wasn't even in the forbidden section! His hands were clean!
"Most necromancers, flesh workers and dark healers," the half-goblin
shuddered in disgust, it was clear that he didn't like any of these wixen
much, "they should be nearby to control the undead, but this case is quite
different.
"In order to revive the body of a magical beast of this size, you need not
only a huge magical power, but also experience working with the
undead. No random wix without previous years of practice would be able
to revive a basilisk in question, especially one so old. But strong and
experienced dark wizards have their own secrets and ways to control the
undead from afar."
Luna, who was sitting on Danil's lap for some ungodly reason, nodded
wisely in agreement with her professor.
"This is not to mention the fact that no one in our school is being
followed by Meticulous Deetains, they usually follow necromancers," the
girl said quite seriously.
Dan combed through his knowledge of animals he heard about from Luna
and found nothing, so he decided to ask her later.
"What exactly did Potter think of when he was getting the Serpent's
attention?" Dan asked, frowning slightly. "If I were in his place, I would
be in a stupor for a good bit."
And it was true. The dead serpent was blind as a mole, its eyes were
destroyed by Dumbledore's phoenix while still alive. The lack of eyes
meant one thing – Dan couldn't drive himself into a blind rage. He
couldn't block his fear and nervousness with an all-consuming hatred for
all living things, which meant that he would subconsciously hold back,
even against the undead.
That was a part of the reason he decided to get rid of the skeletons in the
catacombs faster in the future, those bastards didn't have eyes to look at
him.
When he tried to put himself in Potter's place, he couldn't even imagine
how he would have fought the huge snake. His only thought was to
teleport to the head of the beast and stick his arm into the brain of the
bustard up to the elbow. And he didn't know if it would kill an undead of
the same size as that basilisk.
"Then it's good you weren't." Flitwick sighed heavily, losing his usual
smile.
"My boy, maybe it's not very professional of me to say this, but you
shouldn't try to solve every problem yourself. You already did one good
thing just by saying a few words once," he glanced at Luna, who seemed
to have lost interest in their conversation and looked at the enchanted
the figure of some kind of lizard that was crawling up and down the wall
of one of the cabinets. "I believe you can do even more if you can trust
others."
Dan just nodded, poking Luna in the side to let her know they were done
here.
He didn't know if he could follow Flitwick's advice. And although he had
already seen once how the Hogwarts professors were stopped by the
mockery of Luna, he still believed that this was not enough for his
confidence. Years of living in Russia instilled in him a rather powerful
distrust of figures of power.
Did you see your classmates fighting to death in the toilet? Shut your
mouth and leave so you don't get punished along with them.
Found a fresh corpse in a dark alley? Not your problem, better not even
call the police or they'll put a crime on your ass.
Distrust of people was instilled in him from birth.
So yeah, he didn't know if he could get over himself and tell the problem
to someone with more power than himself often.
Dan didn't know a single person who woke up one day and decided to
ask for help.
As the students left his office – Luna sitting on Dan's shoulders – Flitwick
sighed again and leaned back in his chair. Maybe he was only telling the
truth, but that didn't mean he was telling the whole truth.
And the truth was that there was not a trace of magic on the body of the
basilisk. Judging by the scans, it was just an old corpse.
Nobody knew how this could be possible. If the corpse was not controlled
by magic, then how?
He didn't have the slightest idea.
-=-=-=-=-=-
When Harry woke up, he was still in the medical wing, on a familiar bed
with a sign with his name on it. For a couple of minutes, he just sat in
confusion, trying to figure out exactly how he got here. His fatigue is still
not completely gone.
"Ah, right, the basilisk. Again." He muttered to himself as he scratched
the scar from the giant snake's fang.
Who could have guessed that his former enemy would come back from
the dead to try to kill him again? Definitely not Harry – and no, he didn't
count Voldemort, technically the nooseless one never died.
'Voldemort… The first two years at school, he was behind both incidents.
He wanted to steal the stone in the first year and awakened the basilisk
in the second. He wouldn't try a third time, would he?' Harry chuckled.
'Of course, he would.'
It could very well be true. Harry wouldn't be surprised if the Dark Lord
was a master of non-magic, it would be awesome for such a sick bastard
to be a necromancer to all the other horror that he committed.
Suddenly, Harry felt a shudder passing through his body, as if someone
had danced a macarena on his grave. He was very familiar with this
feeling, having experienced it before.
It could only mean one thing.
'Aunt Bella has received the latest news. And not from me. Again.' The
boy trembled, already knowing that he was in trouble. 'Damn you, Albus!'
Knowing that even after hearing about his condition, she wouldn't be
able to show up soon, Harry wrapped himself in a blanket and just stared
at the ceiling. He wasn't ready to talk to the disappointed Bella again, the
last time wasn't even half a year ago!
Trying not to think about the very near future, Harry began to think
about something else to distract himself.
'Hermione! She lost consciousness, is she alright?' He hurriedly got up
from his bed, almost falling face first into the ground, tangled in the
blanket and jumped to his feet.
Unfortunately, Madam Pomfrey chose that moment to walk past his
bunk. The woman jumped in surprise, dropping some potion from her
hands. Harry was acting more on instinct when his hand whipped
forward and caught the glass vile before it could break.
"Mr. Potter!" Harry winced. "Don't scare me like that, young man! But
thank you for catching the potion."
He muttered something apologetic as he handed the flask back.
"I guess you're worried about Miss Grager, right?" Harry nodded. "Well,
she hasn't woken up yet, so you'll have to wait. The girl was exhausted
both physically and magically." Madam Pomfrey complained
disapprovingly. "You and Mr. Weasley should talk to her, maybe at least
you can convince her to rest."
Madam Pomfrey walked over to the bed where Hermione was lying and
put the potion on the bedside table. "Now sit on the chair, I'll look at you
again." He abliged.
Sitting down on a chair and letting Madame work her magic, he glanced
at Hermione. Seeing his best friend unconscious again, Harry couldn't
help but frown. Now he understood how she felt after each of his
Quidditch games.
Sighing heavily, the boy sat down next to her bed and nodded in
gratitude towards the healer. Hermione looked pale; her tan had almost
disappeared after her trip to France. The thin blanket of the medical wing
rose and fell with her breathing, again making Harry remember that his
friend is, in fact, a girl.
Covering his face with his hands, he let out a tired sigh. He definitely
didn't like how this Halloween went.
Actually, he didn't like any how any Halloween in his life went, every
time something bad happened either to him or to his loved ones. But this
one might take the second place of the worst Halloween ever.
First, he finally decides to talk to his friend about her obvious stress,
which is why he then finds out about the existence of some huge monster
that can use wixen magic without a wand and teleport on Hogwarts'
grounds. If that wasn't enough problems, then the higher powers sicced a
resurrected basilisk on the school!
A thought suddenly struck Harry: what if this strange monster was the
master of the basilisk? Then Luna was in danger!
Forcibly trampling the impulsive thought into the dark corners of his
mind, Harry took a deep breath. This theory didn't make sense. If this
monster wanted to kill one of the students, he would have done it a long
time ago. It was enough for the bastard to teleport into the any room of
any House under the cover of night and silently do the job.
Moreover, he was friends with Luna, and Luna wouldn't be friends with
an evil person.
Removing him from the list of suspects, the boy sighed again. It still left
Harry with a problem. Who was the master of the Basilisk? He won't be
able to sleep until that sick bastard is caught.
-=-=-=-=-=-
Meanwhile, one little slime was sitting in the middle of the room on the
softest carpet in the world and meditating with his eyes closed. The
longer he stayed in this room, the better he felt. He was already harder,
better, faster, stronger! Even his mind got better!
At this rate, his latest failure will be forgotten in a couple of days! He will
become the best diplomat slime in the world!
-=-=-=-=-=-
Surely it was some feral Dark wix.
The only thing that could make this day worse for Harry is if Sirius No-
Name would show up at Hogwarts and piss in his morning tea. Although
considering that the criminal had already been seen in Romania, he
didn't think that he would have time to come and spoil his tea.
As soon as this thought flashed through his mind, the doors to the
medical wing opened and the Regent of House Black went inside, her
face set in a stern frown.
Bellatrix Black was a fairly short but very menacing woman with jet
black hair and purple eyes. The beauty of this woman could only be
matched by her madness, and many were sure that the witch was one
crazy bitch. Not that anyone had the balls to say that to her face. As the
Regent of the Black family, she could easily crush everyone both
politically and magically.
And this woman was unhappy with Harry's behavior.
Bella's gaze fell on her adopted son and she quickly walked over to him,
without a word taking the boy into a short hug. Taking Harry by the
shoulders, she quickly looked him up and down and nodded in
satisfaction.
"Still the same basilisk?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes, only this time a little dead." Harry confessed.
Bella just hummed thoughtfully in response.
"... You will show me the memory of the battle later, and we will go over
your mistakes carefully." Harry groaned, but didn't protest. "Now tell me
why your friend looks like death walked over."
She jerked her head at Hermione, causing Harry to wrinkle his nose in
displeasure. He knew very well that Aunt Bella didn't approve of his
friendship with Hermione, and indeed with any Muggle-borns. He
sometimes thought that if Hermione hadn't been first on their academic
list, Bella would have told him long ago to cut off all ties to the ballast.
But now was not the time to deal with his family problems.
Now Harry had the perfect chance to tell Bella everything from the
Acromantula attack to the existence of that strange monster. He had a
chance to ask for help from someone stronger than him in every way…
"... Nothing special, it's just that Hermione spent too much time studying
and not enough sleeping. The stress has gotten to her. I'll try to get her to
rest more."
Was it any wonder he didn't take it?
"Oh, and how are you going to do it? Are you going to check if she went
to bed?" Bella smirked. "Maybe you should share a bed with her so she
doesn't get up in the middle of the night."
"Bella!" Harry groaned again.
Maybe he should have told her about that monster. Then he wouldn't
have to listen to her teasing.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Simple_Russian_Boi
Comrades, I apologize for not posting the chapter on Wednesday. Life
got in the way and now my back, legs and arms hurt. That's not even
counting the sunburn on my shoulders.
I was lucky that I did not die like Danil did. I doubt some space god
would save my skinny ass.
Chapter 40: Passing Time
A/N: [Finally! I figured out how to do the thing! Now I can generate art
for my shitty fanfic.
[Danil Khromov – Pic here]
That's how I imagine Danil looking in his armor. Of course, it's AI
generated, I don't know a thing about how to art. Can fanfics be called an
art form? Meh, who cares.
And below is Luna!
[Luna Lovegood – Pic here]
She's holding the little Slime!]
-=-=-=-=-=-
After Halloween, Dan's days surprisingly fell into a routine. He expected
a lot from a world full of magic, gods and secrets, but certainly not
routine. But life was a cold bitch, and reality was even worse.
For the monster boy, a typical day went like this: get out of bed; attend
professors' classes and read books; spend time with Luna or occasionally
help the Weasley twins with the escape route. Usually, by being an
escape route.
His lessons went surprisingly smoothly. After McGonagall realized exactly
how he could use his unique transfiguration method, the old woman
made it her goal to drive into him all the magical security measures that
ever existed. Although considering that his transfiguration magic was
very different from that of wizards, he didn't know how much it would
help.
But what his transmigration knowledge did help with, is his
understanding of the inner workings of the crafting table. The artifact
operated quite simply: it allowed the user to create a permanent
transfiguration of anything, as long as there were enough necessary
materials on its surface and the user had an idea of what he wanted to
create.
Dan got his chanse to thank Hagrid for his help in creating the crafting
table, the giant now had a new stylish coat.
Flitwick, seeing his stalled progress with stronger spells, focused more on
expanding Dan's arsenal. If one of these spells was used to prevent
pregnancy, no one needed to know.
Every day he learned more and more useful little spells that made life
better. After all, what does a person do when they cannot continue to
increase strength? They go into polishing their technique.
He brought the spells he had already studied to perfection. Some of them
– the ones he used more often – he could already cast without a single
word. Of course, hand movements were necessary to direct spells, but
over time, Dan planned to get rid of them as well.
How cool will it be to cast with just the power of the mind?!
Flitwick theorized that Dan's inability to cast stronger and more
magically draining spells was due to his young age. After all, the boy was
only fifteen years old! And his race could get in the way of magic casting,
Flitwick knew this like no one else, after all, there was a reason why he
became a Charms Master.
Also, Flitwick advised Dan to find books about Occlumency in his free
time. So far, his searches have given him nothing, but he hoped to
stumble upon at least a mention of this branch of magic in one of the
books of the Hogwarts library. At the moment, all he knew about
Occlumency was that it could help with organizing his thoughts, so it
wasn't high on his priority list.
Snape… Snape was becoming a worse teacher every day. Dan, although
he had nothing personal against the man, was at the end of his rope,
trying not to respond to the taunts of the greasy fucker. Snape's method
of teaching was quite simple: give Dan a potion recipe and make him
cook in a couple of minutes.
There was a feeling that after the first month of teaching, Snape expected
Dan to suddenly show some hidden years of skill. And when he, of
course, couldn't provide, endless tirades and questions of the Russian
teenager's intelligence began.
Dan has already found a good place for a grave in the Forbidden Forest.
Snape ruined his own reputation in the eyes of the boy that much.
Unfortunately, right now he didn't have any blaze rods or a potion station
to start cooking something from Minecraft. For now, he had to be content
with what Snape was teaching him.
Classes with Pomona after a while became something calming for Dan.
He could get lost in methodical work and not think about much. At the
same time, he could perform several Advancements related to
agriculture. God only knew why that old Enderman had put those few in
his head.
In his spare time, he returned to the library to deepen his knowledge, or
descended to the first levels of the Catacombs. He didn't consider himself
skilled enough to dive lower.
Speaking of the Catacombs, Dan was able to learn about the nature of the
red key from Flitwick: it turned out that he was magical in nature, at
least partially. So the half-goblin wrote to one of his old friends and
promised to return a repaired key in a couple of weeks.
But even with all of Dan's routine, strange events continued to haunt him.
Standing in a room full of books, scattered clothes, and scrolls of
parchment, Dan and Luna looked at each other. The girl was holding a
small green slime cube in her hands. He, in turn, only looked with
interest at the Enderman.
Mantis stood on Dan's shoulder and looked back at his new potential
friend – who somehow managed to hide from everyone for two whole
days.
"I'd like to say I'm not surprised, but that would be a lie." Dan muttered.
"When I said that you can make a friend out of any animal, it was a joke."
Luna just tilted her head in confusion. "When did you say that?"
The little green cube of slime sat in the girl's hands, not even looking out
of place, as if it was supposed to be there. Although this was most likely
because the young Ravenclaw had already taught almost the entire
Hogwarts to ignore the oddities around her.
"It doesn't matter." Dan waved his hand. "Where did you even get the
little guy?"
The girl pointed her finger under Dan's bed, causing him to sigh in
exhaustion.
What were the chances that the slime balls that were in his backpack
merged together and gained self-awareness while he wasn't looking? Dan
had no idea if that was possible, but he had no desire to test his luck.
"Right." He sighed heavily. "And what did you decide to name it?"
The girl held the slime up in front of her like a proud parent showing her
child to the world. To Dan, this was somewhat reminiscent of the scene
after the birth of Simba, when that baboon raised the lion cub to the sky
and hundreds of animals rejoiced at his birth.
"His name is Billy no bones!"
Billy nodded, pleased with his new name. Dan looked at the slime with
interest, seeing that he seemed to be much smarter than usual.
That could either be a problem, or an opportunity. Dan definitely did not
want the appearance of hundreds of intelligent slimes on the planet,
humanity would simply be doomed.
"Why?"
"Because Billy wants to be a diplomat, and in politics you have to be
slippery. And who could be more slippery than a boneless slime?"
Dan didn't even blink when Billy nodded again. Wisdom poured out of
the little slime in waves. It felt like this guy had lived for hundreds of
years on the peak of some Mountain, cultivating his wisdom.
-=-=-=-=-=-
So, a new friend appeared in the life of Dan and Luna – a master
cultivator diplomat by the name of Billy no bones.
Billy was one of those companions that you could pick up at any moment
and start stroking, he would not even protest, as long as he was not
forced to get into the water. The little one was chill like that.
Routine helped Dan to spend time productively. With each week, he
became more confident in using both magic and weapons.
With the handling of the ax, it was Flitwick, who helped him. Dan of
course knew that he was a duelist in his youth, but he had no idea how
good the half-goblin was with a battle ax in his hands. The man only
continued to reinforce the title of the best teacher in the mind of the boy.
But because of the size difference between Dan and Flitwick, he just
couldn't teach the boy everything he knew. Even the difference in arm
length was critical for a weapon master, not to mention height.
Luna laughed more than once when she saw the little professor teaching
the art of the blade to a student three times his own size. For the first
time in a long time, Dan felt like he was taking control of his life.
Magic filled his life with hope, giving him constancy in his changed
circumstances. The axe, which had now become a permanent addition on
his belt, was a source of confidence. No matter how new to these things
Dan was, he still considered them positive.
He wasn't even upset that his new birthday passed him unnoticed. After
all, it was hard to keep the changed dates in mind after being thrown
into another universe.
Luna, on the other hand, was upset. But the girl gust said that he would
get his celebration along with hers. He didn't know what to think about
that.
Unfortunately, after a while, Dan began to feel… more looks at himself. It
wasn't something obvious, no one was pointing fingers at him or
screaming in horror, no. He just had a inkling that more people knew
about his existence than there should be. Someone knew and kept
looking for him.
Only Luna knew about his new conundrum, but she just gave him a sly
smile and told him not to worry. That before the new year it will pass.
Dan believed her. If everything is resolved in the next couple of weeks,
he'll be better for it. It didn't mean he liked it.
December crept up almost imperceptibly. The snow that had long
covered the ground around Hogwarts severely restricted Dan's
movement. Of course, he could dress warmly and go outside, but snow
inevitably got under his clothes and melted right on his skin.
It was unpleasant even before water became acid for him, and now? Now
he preferred to sit in a random secluded corner of the school and draw
views from the window under invisibility – bless Luna for a free set of
brushes and paints.
His newfound free time allowed Dan to start working on a gift for the girl
earlier than he had planned.
Life was good.
-=-=-=-=-=-
A/N: [The next chapter will be about how the golden trio tried to solve
the mystery of the "unknown monster" that haunts Hogwarts. Fortunately
for everyone, I plan to dial up the comedy aspect to the maximum, so
wait for Wednesday!]
Chapter 41: The Golden Trio Rolls
an Investigation Check
A/N: [It is Wenesday, ma dudes!]
Hogwarts was a wonderful place, full of magic and magical events. The
old castle walls stretched for hundreds of meters on each floor. No matter
what anyone said, it was a problem.
In such a huge place, it was almost impossible to find someone.
Harry, Ron and Hermione couldn't find a moment to talk to Luna alone
for a long time. The fact that their schedules differed from each other did
not help them. The fact that she was a year younger than they were and
went to a different House made it even harder to find her.
Sitting in the Main Hall at breakfast, Hermione noticed that today Padma
and Parvati were eating at the same table, the Ravenclaw girl came to
visit her sister and exchange some gossip.
Until now, it had been strange for her to see the twins in different houses,
because the other pairs of twins stayed together when she looked at the
Weasleys and Carrow.
"Hi Padma, have you seen Luna anywhere? We haven't seen her in a
while."
Padma exchanged glances with Parvati, shrugging her shoulders. "I have
no idea. After what happened to the second years, Luna has become
much less likely to appear in the tower. I don't even know if she stays
there to sleep anymore."
By the time she finished speaking, Ron and Harry had noticed their
interaction.
"What do you mean, she doesn't sleep in the tower? It's her House, where
else can she sleep?"
"I don't know, somewhere else." She shrugged again. "Even so, I don't
envy her. Didn't you hear that a few weeks ago a bunch of students ended
up with monthly detentions? It was Flitwick who found out that the girl
was being bullied." Padma trembled, hugging her shoulders. "Never seen
him so angry before…"
Hermione, though surprised, decided to keep asking the Ravenclaws
about Luna. Unfortunately, all her inquiries went nowhere.
None of her Housemates had any idea what she was doing in her spare
time – as it turns out, she actually didn't sleep in the Ravenclaw Tower
anymore! The Prefects just shrugged their shoulders and said that the
Professors said not to worry about Lovegood. Not even Ginny knew Luna
was, when Ron offered to ask her.
They quickly realized that if Luna Lovegood doesn't want to be found,
then you won't find her.
So when they miraculously saw her on the outskirts of the Forbidden
Forest after class with Hagrid a week after, the Golden Trio jumped on
the chance to talk to the girl.
"Luna, hello!" Harry exclaimed when he saw that she was alone.
The girl turned around, looking at them with wide, pale eyes. A young
Bowtruckle was sitting on her shoulder, holding onto the fabric of her
robe. There was a strange gelatin cube in her hands, Harry could have
sworn that it had eyes.
"Hello, Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley," she waved
back at them.
As Harry got closer, he saw that the cube had eyes and was even
blinking. What kind of creature it was, he had no idea, and to be honest,
he was even a little afraid to find out.
"We haven't seen you since Halloween, how are you doing?" Hermione
asked, fiddling nervously with her hands.
Luna just looked at them, tilting her head in confusion. Her eyes slid over
their figures, freezing with each of their miniature movements. She was
like a lynx that was studying the behavior of its prey.
All three of them twitched uncomfortably under her bottomless gaze.
Maybe someone didn't know, but as the daughter of a reporter, Luna has
been trained to notice the smallest details since childhood. For her, the
reason for the Golden Trio's visit was as clear as day.
"You came to me for a reason. Why are you here? Do you have a
question, maybe?" Luna eventually asked, petting the cube on its head.
The three friends were so dumbfounded that they didn't know how to
respond. Ironically, Ron was the first to come to his senses.
"Erm… you see, we wanted to ask you about the Umbragum Slash-kilter-"
Luna puffed up her cheeks, frowning even more. It was clear that the girl
was no longer happy with their presence here.
"It's Umgubular Slashkilter. And I know you didn't believe he existed
before; I saw it in your eyes. So why do you believe now?"
Ron glanced at Hermione without thinking, but quickly turned his eyes
back. Unfortunately, he failed to hide this movement from Luna.
"I just wanted to find out what kind of creature it is." Hermione muttered.
"You were talking about him recently and I saw something that I believe
fits the description. There was nothing in the library, so…"
Luna could have believed that explanation, after all, Hermione didn't
believe a word she said about magical creatures. If she had seen
something inexplicable, then first the curly-haired girl would have
combed the entire library, asked the professors and only then came to
her. Her story checked out.
But her words were still reeking of a lie.
"I see…" She frowned, turning her attention to the curly-haired girl. "Your
jumps have become more controlled, but you have begun to use them for
your own purposes."
Hermione's jaw dropped in shock; she didn't even know what to say. How
could Luna know about-
"Did someone from the Ministry send you? Does Fudge want to take his
fighter back?" Luna wasn't frowning anymore, she just looked
disappointed.
"What? No, Luna, you got it all wrong." Harry quickly shook his head.
"We just wanted to know more about the-"
"I know how people like you think." She interrupted his words. "You
found something new and unknown and got scared. And again, you
began to prowl where your presence was not required."
Slime Cube let out a strange cat-like purr from her hands, enjoying his
little massage.
"And when you reached a dead end, you decided to come to me. You say:
"Luna, we want to know about Umgubular Slashkilter." But you ask
without respect. It never occurred to you to call me a friend. No, you
come and take away my precious free time, which I will never get back.
So no, I won't tell you about the Umgubular Slashkilter."
Without saying anything else, Luna turned on the spot and took a step
towards the castle, but stopped for a moment. "Have a nice day, Harry
Potter, Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley."
When Luna went deep into the forest, the girl let out a high squeak and
started jumping on the spot in happiness.
She was finally able to make a Godfather reference! Danil will be so
proud!
-=-=-=-=-=-
The trio sat in a secluded corner of the library, flipping through the
books looking for answers. Each had a sheet of parchment with a sketch
of a monster on it, which was their research goal.
Surrounding the drawing were the words wandless magic, teleportation
trough wards, purple sparks, and a few other facts that Hermione could
remember from her brief observation of the monster. There were not so
many creatures in the world with great strength, speed and magic ability.
Harry could see that Hermione already looked much better than before.
Parvati and Lavender, who lived with her in the same room, made sure
that the girl got enough sleep at night. Sometimes they found her
sleeping during the day when she was supposed to be in class. How she
could sleep and attend classes at the same time, no one knew, but
everyone was afraid to ask.
"Nothing here either." Ron muttered as he set the next volume aside. "You
know, Hermione, if even Charlie didn't know what kind of creature you
saw that day, I doubt we'll find it in the books."
Even when they began their search, Ron wrote a letter to his brothers –
Bill and Charlie – asking if they knew about the creature that Hermione
saw. As it turned out, no. Only Bill said that the description somehow
reminded him of the wall paintings that his team found in one of the
Egyptian tombs.
"You already said that." Hermione threw back. "We should still try! We
have no other choice."
And while it may seem so, they had a choice. Harry still didn't tell Bella
anything, believing he could handle it on his own this time. That he can
prove that he is no longer a child who needs to be led to every decision
by the hand.
"We can ask Luna again. Or talk to Hagrid." Harry offered diplomatically.
Ron and Hermione looked at him doubtfully. Their last meeting with
Luna made them think: do they deserve to be called her friends at all?
Trying not to think about it, Ron shook his head. "Talking to Hagrid
sounds like a good idea. Anything to get out of the library." He muttered.
Hermione nodded, waving her wand and muttering Tempus. The spell lit
up over her wand, showing the time. "Curfew will be in an hour."
"Why didn't we think to talk to him earlier?" Harry complained while
putting the books together.
"Dunno, I'm not the idea guy, that's more up your alley." Ron said.
The three of them gathered books and left the library, hoping that at least
their giant friend knew something about the monster.
Unfortunately for Dan, Hagrid never quite learned to keep his mouth
shut.
As they made their way down to the professor's hut, the Gryffindors
shivered in the cold wind outside. Winter has already sunk its claws into
Scottish soil, making people shiver and seek warmth in their homes.
Harry was the one who knocked on the door. The heavy tree barely
moved from his blows, rattling all over the area. Hagrid's faithful dog,
Fang, began to bark from inside the house, causing the giant to get up
faster.
"Down! Down, boy!" Hagrid screamed.
The door opened and the giant looked at the three students in surprise.
Hagrid let the three of them inside so they wouldn't shiver in the cold.
"What are you three doing here? This is not the time to be roaming the
streets."
Hermione took a sheet of parchment from her bag and began to unfold it.
"We wanted to ask if you know anything about the creature I found in the
book. I only saw one mention and can't find anything else." She tore.
Lately, lying to her friends had become easier and easier for her. She
didn't like it.
"Let me take a look." Hagrid took the parchment and looked at it for only
a second before closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. It was obvious
that he knew something. "No, you certainly don't need to know 'bout
that. If no one has already told you, then neither should I."
"But-!" Hermione exclaimed.
"No." Hagrid replied sternly. "Hermione, I know you're one smart gall
who's always looking for knowledge, but trust me, you don't need to
know 'bout him."
As a result, their investigation did not lead to anything and stopped. With
no new clues to use, Harry and Ron quickly lost interest, only helping
Hermione on her search in the library.
None of them expected that the week before Christmas they would get
another peep into a new mystery.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Simple_Russian_Boi
Strange, I couldn't write a comedy chapter. I was hoping my desire to
write something funny would express itself with a bunch of jokes, but
apparently not. Well, I'll be content with Luna Carleone.
Chapter 42: Vanilla Pudding with
blueberries
Luna couldn't believe it. Months of friendship, full of laughter and vivid,
happy memories, and it all collapsed in one moment. If she knew that her
friend… No, that this monster could think such things, that he could spin
a web of lies of this size… She would never have become his friend.
Dan leaned on the table, his glasses reflecting the light from the torches.
His thin figure was wrapped in a dark cloak that reached almost to the
ground. Any reasonable person would say that he looked threatening.
One glance in his direction would make the weakest in spirit lose
consciousness.
But was everything lost? Maybe the girl needed to show him the way to
the light! Then everything can go back to how it was before… before
this!
"There is no better dessert in the world than vanilla pudding with
blueberries." Luna stated, pointing her spoon threateningly at Dan, a bit
of the mentioned dessert still on it. "Any other opinion is dirty
propaganda and lies. Why can't you see that, Danil Khromov?"
The monster boy just shook his head, disappointed in his friend.
"Blinchiki with jam are much better and you know it."
Luna tossed her spoon into the bowl of pudding, slapping her hands on
the table and rising from her chair to meet Dan's eyes.
"You're just saying that because they're a Russian dessert!"
Dan and Luna argued about desserts for the last two hours. The house
elves who were preparing supper in the castle kitchen gave them a table
near the wall, trying not to distract them from their conversation. There
was only two weeks left before the start of the Christmas holidays and
everyone had enough stuff to do.
The students were loaded with more work, which in turn created more
work for the Professors. It seemed that the only one who wasn't busy in
the whole castle was Fawkes. Even Mantis and Billy were busy with
something! So finding a moment to relax with friends was difficult. But
not for Dan and Luna.
The monster boy had a very simple schedule: each of the professors tried
to teach him as much as possible, as if they were afraid that Danil would
disappear. Luna, on the other hand, was already not a very social girl, so
she spent all her free time in the company of her best friend.
The door to the kitchen slowly and creaked open, forcing Dan to fade
into invisibility and rise from his chair. However, it proved to be
unnecessary.
"Ooh! The Messeres Weasels are here!" One of the house elves excitedly
squealed. "What can Tilly dos for you?"
The two twins went inside, closing the door behind them. Their eyes
quickly found the blonde at the table.
"Ah, two cups of coffee–" Fred began.
"–for each of us, please." George finished.
Tilly nodded and disappeared into the sea of work in the kitchen.
"Miss Lovegood! It's a pleasure to see you on such a great evening." Fred
jumped forward, putting his hand on the girl's left shoulder.
"Definitely, such a meeting is worth an entry in the book of friendship."
George took a stand to her right.
"You have a book of friendship?" Luna asked in interest.
"Of – course! – It's – right – next – to – the – debt – book!" they said
together.
By this time, Dan had already dropped his invisibility and was looking at
the two with interest. Both brothers stood over Luna like an angel and a
demon on her shoulders, he was sure that they knew about it.
"And Danil! The man of the hour."
"The man of the day."
"The man of the week, I would even say!"
Dan waved his hand in their direction. "Stop it, my brain is starting to
hurt. Sit down and explain, why do you need so much coffee?"
Fred and George exchanged glances and sat down opposite Luna and
Danil, immediately assuming the identities of businessmen. It was
obvious that they had not come here for prank planning, this time they
were even a little serious.
It was concerning.
"We'll getting ready to work on one… interesting project."
"An important one even, we can say one of the most important ones in
recent times."
George pulled out a thick, folded parchment from his inner pocket and
put it on the table. It was obvious what exactly it was.
The three people in the room were already connected by one secret: the
existence of Danil. So the twins weren't afraid to reveal on of their own
secrets to their new little friend, especially when they weren't going to
use the artifact anymore.
The Marauders' map came to life under the twins' wands and the words:
"I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good."
Luna looked at the parchment with interest and her face brightened a bit.
"Oh! I get it now. So that's how you're stalking Angelina and Alicia when
they-"
"You know a lot." George spoke quickly, interrupting her words.
"A bit too much." Fred continued, feigning trembling.
""Scary.""
Luna just smiled back, returning to her pudding.
"Anyway, we've run into a problem." The twins continued.
"This map, as you know, has served us faithfully for five long years."
"A beautiful piece of magic, a brilliant execution of a simple idea."
"However, we no longer need it and we decided to return it to the heir of
the original creators."
Dan's eyes jumped from brother to brother, following their words. To be
honest, he didn't see the problem right away, but after a couple of
seconds he realized how problematic it could be for him.
"Oh, then they'll see me on the map… This isn't good." Danil thought for
a moment. Maybe it wasn't that bad? "Who's the heir?"
""Harry Potter."" Fred and George answered together.
'Okay, that's definitely isn't good.' Dan thought.
Knowing that in all the worlds Potter and all his entourage were
somehow Fate's bitches, Danil did not want to get involved with the
Chosen One at all. And those rare times when he saw the Golden Trio,
they didn't make a grand impression on him. He definitely didn't want to
deal with them.
Tilly placed four cups of coffee in front of the twins and left before they
could give their thanks. Dinner time was close and she had unfinished
business with some mashed potatoes.
"... You were talking about some new project?" He quickly caught on.
"Naturally! I always knew you were a quick one."
"You see, we want to hide some names from the map."
"Our own, of course, and yours."
"And seeing that you're strangely good with enchantments, we decided to
recruit you as an assistant."
Luna silently chewed her pudding and stared at the twins, her eyes
jumping from one to the other in a strange game where the girl was
trying to keep up with the conversation, just like Dan did.
Looking at Fred and George, Dan allowed a smile to spread across his
face. He knew well how much the map meant to them. It wasn't a simple
tool for pranks, it was the legacy of their idols. Seeing that these two
were willing to get into the entanglement of the enchantments of the map
and change things for his safety, even at the risk of destroying the map…
"You two are good guys, did you know that?" He eventually said.
The twins immediately acquired offended expressions, as if he had just
called their mother a courtesan.
"Do not offend our honor, sir!" Fred puffed up like a rooster, only missing
the feathers sticking out.
"The good guys are not about us, but we will settle for the title of a
neutral pranking force."
Luna finally finished her meal and tilted her head in thought. "Does this
mean you accept commissions?"
"Well, I'm glad you asked, my dear." George started with a smile, always
ready to advertise their services.
While they were giving their sales' speech, Danil picked up the map and
began to examine it from all sides. Strangely, there wasn't that many
heavy magical parts to the map, he could feel it on the paper, but their
complexity and function was indispensable.
The first enchantment was used to keep track of all the magical
signatures in the mapped area, the second to hide the ink from prying
eyes and the third to repel especially persistent people who didn't know
the password to the map, but tried to reveal its secrets.
These were the main and most powerful enchantments. Danil could feel
dozens of smaller and more precise ones that connected the map with the
Hogwarts wards, but in such a way that it was not noticeable.
How did those crazy Marauders get to the center of the wards? Dan
couldn't even imagine, but he really wanted to know.
"Yes, it's definitely an interesting project. You couldn't have chosen
anything easier." He ran one finger over the thick parchment. Too thick
to be normal. If the map also worked on runes, then they were definitely
hidden inside. "I can help, but only by pointing you in the right direction.
I have no idea what exactly the Marauders used to create this map."
The twins nodded in agreement and began discussing their next move,
not even noticing the one eccentric-looking elf who overheard their
conversation. He had several caps on his head, and his feet were wrapped
in layers of warm multicolored socks. Unlike the rest of the house elves,
he didn't wear a pillowcase instead of clothes, he was the proud owner of
an ugly, but warm Christmas sweater!
"A map that belongs to the great Harry Potter?" Dobby muttered in awe.
"The great Harry Potter needs to hear about this!"
To Dobby and many house elves, Harry Potter was a great wizard who
ended the war and reduced the suffering of elves throughout magical
Britain. Just a few months ago, the Boy-Who-Lived personally freed
Dobby from Malfoys' control as payment for Lucius' schemes.
Of course, there was much more political horror going on behind the
scenes, but what mattered to Dobby was his freedom at the time.
Unfortunately, Dobby couldn't become a personal house elf for the Potter
family, but the fearsome Lady Black said she couldn't trust him with
young Harry's safety. Which was absurd, of course! Dobby only wanted to
save the great Harry Potter!
"Dobby, where be's the lamb sauce?!" Tilly yelled from the kitchen,
making the elf with the multicolored socks wince.
"The great Harry Potter can wait for an hour…"
"Dobby!" Tilly shouted again.
"Mayhaps a week."
Chapter 43: Crack Chapter:
Halloween with Danil the
Enderman!
A/N: [This chapter is not an official part of the story or canon. This is
pure crack and should read like crack.]
-=-=-=-=-=-
Halloween came to Hogwarts pretty quickly. It would seem that only
yesterday little firsties put on the old, wrinkly and moldy hat, so that it
could shout to the whole world which group of stick-waving maniacs you
belong to. But time passed and homing pumpkins were already flying
around the castle, looking for naive children and exploding next to them,
covering them from head to toe in their insides.
Although the magical world has adopted some traditions from the
Muggle world, none of the children dressed up in scary Halloween
costumes. Being a Wizard in magical Britain was scary enough. Just
imagine, there's almost a hundred percent chance that your first teenage
crush is your cousin. The Horror.
So seeing something three times taller than a half-goblin walking behind
Professor Flitwick, the students, for obvious reasons, pissed in their robes
and ran away, shouting and waving their hands in fear. A thin figure
with black, stretched skin was only half a meter away from the professor.
Dressed in a torn hooded black robe that covered his face, the monster
walked with small steps, perfectly copying Flitwicks' movements.
"Merlin's sweaty balls! Look at his moves!" Some unimportant Gryffindor
with no name shouted, finally noticing what exactly the monster was
doing.
"Holy shit, he's a perfect copy of Flitty!" One unfortunate Hufflepuff
named Merlane Swetti Baless shouted back.
But as more students began to gather around the monster, it simply
disappeared in a flash of purple sparks. This caused some around him to
squeal in fear and one Slytherin girl to moan loudly.
When Hestia Carrow realized that the attention had shifted to her, the
girl pouted and crossed her arms over her ample chest. "What? I've never
had a purple shower before, let me enjoy the moment."
Silence was her answer, only a couple of people, who were standing
closest, retreated a couple of steps from the girl.
"Well, it's time to get Grandpa's grog, I don't want to remember this
shite." Flitwick said to himself and skipped to his office.
The corridor quickly emptied, leaving Hestia alone with a student she
didn't know from Hufflepuff.
"Hi there, I'm Jamie, wanna go out some time in the future?"
Hestia took one look at the flat-chested blue-haired girl and shook her
head. "Not interested in girls, sorry, not sorry."
"Who said I'm a girl?" Jamie grinned and lifted her– erm... his– their.
Their skirt.
Whatever Hestia saw there, she definitely liked it, because the next day
the whole school knew about the new couple.
Meanwhile, Danil found himself behind Dumbledore, who was entering
the Great Hall at that moment. The bearded old man decided to wear his
most eye-popping acid-orange robes with a cowboy hat of the same color.
Again, most of the students screamed in shock, but seeing that their
Headmaster didn't even twitch with the horror personofied walking
behind him, their fear was replaced by confusion.
"The old man has finally gone mental! How did Dumbasadoor think of
letting such a dirty creature into the great school of magic and sorcery?!
Just wait until my beautiful daddy hears-" Malfoy ranted, but no one
listened to him, his words sounded only slightly better than the buzzing
of a mosquito.
Passing by Ravenclaw's desk, Danil abruptly stopped right behind Luna,
who was sitting in the center of the table so that her classmates had no
choice but to sit next to her.
"Luunaa Loooveeegooood..." Dan croaked in a low voice.
The students immediately recoiled from the blonde, climbing over each
other to get as far away as possible from the monster and the girl who
caught his attention.
Luna slowly turned around, holding an impressive bowl of pudding in
one hand and a spoon in the other. The girl slowly chewed her food and
looked straight at the monster.
"Wanna bite?" She finally asked, holding up a spoon full of pudding.
The whole Hall watched with bated breath as the monster bent down and
tasted the dessert, carefully chewing it for five whole minutes.
The tension in the room could be cut with a knife, the weakest in spirit
even lost consciousness. Loud chewing sounds bounced off the walls,
echoing throughout the castle.
Someone in the corner of the hall whispered: "Morgana's perky tits, I've
never been so scared in my life."
Finaly, Dan slowly swallowed, standing tall and proud.
"Gooooood..." He croaked again and patted the girl on the head, making
her crack a smug grin.
"And what did I tell you? Pudding is the best thing in this world!"
Moonbean said in triumph.
Everyone who was in the Hall at that moment could have sworn that
they heard something inside the monster breaking like glass. They have
never seen such a rapid change in human behavior in their lives.
"That's it, you heretic! From this day on, I declare you an enemy of the
Blinmaker Guild!" Literally out of nowhere, a strange flag on a long pole
appeared in Dan's hands.
The background of the flag was completely red with gold stars in each
corner. In the middle of the flag was an overly realistic image of a stack
of thin Russian pancakes smeared with raspberry jam.
A/N: [Thin pancake=blin, if that wasn't clear.]
"May the holy Blin judge you!" Dan hit the ground with his stick, causing
the stone under his feet to crack, but Moonbean only laughed in
response.
"Do you think your god can do anything to the priestess of the Pudding
Church?" The girl laughed even louder and began to rise into the air, her
body was surrounded by flying pudding of all sorts. "Especially when
you've already consumed my special pudding?"
Dan abruptly fell to one knee, clutching his chest as if in pain. "Oh my
God, I feel like my body is slowly warming up, what have you added
there, you Heretic?!"
Moonbean flew closer to Dan and lifted his head up by the chin. The
table behind her was shaking from an invisible force, causing a couple of
plates to fall to the floor and splatter the back of Luna's skirt.
"This pudding was made using an old recipe of my family, with one
secret ingredient!" She announced loudly, causing everyone in the Hall to
gasp in shock. "And this secret ingredient is–"
"Cyanide?" "Acromantula venom?" "Fire whiskey?" "Virgin's blood?" There
were suggestions from everyone, one sounded more absurd than the
other.
"Ladies and Gentlemen! – Place your bets! – What could be the secret
ingredient? – Maybe it's the tears of a unicorn? – Or Vella's sweetest
sweat? – Place your bets now while there's still time!" The twins
immediately took up the monetization of the event.
But Moonbean quickly dispelled their illusions.
"No!" was her resounding refusal. "The secret ingredient is love! C'mon
people, it's in the name!"
She shook her head in frustration and got down to the ground to help
Dan get back up. Meanwhile, the Weasley twins were collecting money
from those who managed to place bets.
Danil once again got to his feet and hugged Luna.
"Aw, Moonbean, that's so sweet! Thank you!" But then his gaze dropped
down and noticed that there was something on Luna's skirt. "What's
that?"
The girl turned around to look at her skirt.
"Oh, poo, I creamed my skirt. My favorite one too!" She said displeased.
"Hurry up, to the Tower to clean up this filth!"
In one motion, Dan threw the little girl over his shoulder and both
disappeared into another shower of purple sparks, just in time to hit
another girl from Slytherin – who was nearby purely by coincidence this
time – making her moan too.
"I-I think someone c-creamed my skirt too. Excuse m-me for a moment."
Flora Carrow got up on trembling legs and went towards the exit.
Neville Longbottom chose this moment to enter the Great Hall. The girl
brushed against his shoulder and swallowed another moan in the back of
her throat. Neville could only make excuses, thinking she was hurt. But
seeing how wide-eyed everyone in the Hall was looking at each other, he
turned to Harry in confusion.
"What did I miss?"
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Simple_Russian_Boi
I'm sorry if you're disappointed that Jamie didn't appear in more
important chapters, I just couldn't find a moment when I could
introduce them.
Just for future reference, they will appear as a supporting character.
Chapter 44: A New Clue
A week later, just before Christmas, Harry was holding the Marauders'
Map. The old, thick parchment lay heavily in his hands, placing a strange
weight of responsibility on his shoulders.
Dobby had already warned him that the Weasley twins had found
something that was created by his father and his group of friends and
that they wanted to give him back his rightful inheritance. That they
wanted to wipe themselves off the map, just in case, as if it would put
them on par with their idols.
Harry didn't know how they discovered he was the Marauder's heir, but
he didn't ask much. He did not trust himself to keep his emotions in
check.
"They changed it." Harry muttered as he sat in the common room early in
the morning, Hedwig looking over his shoulder with interest. His owl
barked softly, as if asking what was wrong.
It was strange to understand his familiar's emotions, but in almost two
years, Harry had become accustomed to this unusual method of
communication, so he had no problem responding.
"You know I don't have enough of my parents' memorabilia. Their wands,
my father's glasses, my mother's favorite hairpin… Even their diaries." He
raised the Map before his eyes, looking at the moving ink with mixed
feelings. "I don't have much. And it's one of the few things my father left
behind. And they went ahead and changed the enchantments on the
map."
The names of his fellow students and professors moved across the
parchment, ink trails appearing and disappearing as if leading the names
behind them. Harry couldn't take his eyes off their movements as Susan
Bones walked somewhere with Hannah Abbott. Their footprints turned
abruptly into the broom cupboard in the dungeons and stopped moving,
only stomping in place.
Quickly opening the map on one of the higher floors, and trying not to
feel like a creep, Harry sighed heavily. Now he knew why no one in his
year could hit on the red-haired beauty from Hufflepuff.
For a couple of minutes, he just sat with his eyes closed, holding the map
in his hands and trying to decide just how angry he should feel about the
Weasley twins. In the end, he decided to think about it later and got up
from the couch, deciding to go get ready for class.
But then his eyes fell on the map again.
The Marauders' map was open on the fourth floor of the castle and one
name was written where he didn't expect to see it. Luna Lovegood was in
a hidden room, somewhere north of the library. Next to her were two
other names, but much smaller – Mantis and Billy no Bones.
What caught his attention was the last pair of flickering footprints that
were in the same room with her name.
Luna and her pets – because no sane or insane wix would name their
child Billy no Bones – didn't move, staying in place, but the second pair
of footprints flashed all over the room and there wasn't even a name
under them. The strangest thing was that these footprints disappeared as
soon as they appeared. It looked like someone was apparating in the
room.
"... What's going on there?"
-=-=-=-=-=-
Meanwhile, Danil was cleaning up in his room, teleporting around the
place and picking up scattered books and clothes. There was even a dirty
iron hoe lying somewhere in the corner.
"I will never leave the three of you unsupervised in the same room
again." Dan muttered, picking up another book and teleporting to the
bookshelf.
How those three had been able to bring his room into such a state in just
ten minutes, he had no idea, especially considering the enchantments
he'd placed on the room weeks ago.
"Sorry…" Luna muttered, along with Mantis and Billy, that made
apologetic noises. Well, apologetic wobbles in case of Billy.
Dan stumbled over something and looked sharply at his feet. His eye
began to twitch uncontrollably under the goggles.
"Where did you even get a bucket of water from?! Why didn't I see it
before?!"
-=-=-=-=-=-
Harry couldn't ignore it. This type of teleportation reminded him too
much of the one used by the monster Hermione had been talking about.
And the absence of a name under their feet did not give him confidence
in Luna's safety.
Getting up from his chair, Harry wondered for a moment exactly how he
should approach the– whatever the hell that was. Of course, he could go
alone under the Invisibility Cloak, but it seemed somehow wrong to him.
Hermione deserved to know what was going on there, too.
The decision is made, Harry looked towards the girl's bedrooms. He just
had to figure out how to wake her up without going up the stairs to the
girl's half. He could've tried to see if the Invisibility Cloak would hide him
from the staircase's enchantments, but then there was still a chance of
getting into huge trouble.
"Maybe I can fly on a broomstick?" Harry muttered to himself. It will be
difficult to squeeze through the corners, but he could handle it.
But apparently someone from above was looking after him today,
because as soon as he thought about Hermione, the girl immediately
appeared on the stairs.
"Oh, Hermione! Great, wait for me here, I'll take my Cloak and come
down in a second, I may have found a clue that will lead us to that
strange creature." Harry said quickly and went back up to his room,
leaving Hermione standing there, baffled, only blinking occasionally,
trying to figure out what had just happened.
After a couple of minutes of explanation, two teenagers went down to the
fourth floor, sticking to the walls and hiding from the interested eyes of
the students around. They decided to hide under the Invisibility Cloak
when they were close enough to the room, and that time was now.
"Merlin, I didn't think the Twins had anything like that." Hermione
muttered, snuggling closer to Harry so that his Cloak covered their entire
bodies.
"...Yes, I was surprised too." He muttered in response.
The warmth of the girl next to him pulled him away from his darker
thoughts, the smell of old books and ink and something definitely
Hermione flashing in front of his nose, doing something unspeakable to
his thoughts. Harry silently cursed his teenage hormones and could only
focus on the flickering footprints on the map to distract himself.
"What are we going to do? Just wait until Luna leaves the room and try
to see what's inside?" Hermione asked, still a little out of it.
Even though she was a morning person, that didn't mean that her brain
was working at 100% from the moment she woke up. Normally,
Hermione needed at least a cup of tea to really start her day.
"Pretty much," he checked the map, making sure that teleporter was still
there. "We can try to sneak in, but I can't read the password to the door, I
don't even know what language is this. We would be stuck inside."
Humming in agreement, Hermione pulled him forward, closer to where
the map showed the hidden room. Although to be more precise, there
were several hidden rooms. Some of them were closed with passwords,
and some were simply sealed shut, never to be open again.
Where a door should have been, hung a picture of an old wizard dressed
in some rather dashing robes. The portrait was still not completely
awake, only rising lazily from its seat and looking around.
"What, Graham, the girl didn't let you sleep?" Asked the snug portrait of a
young Lady that hung opposite Sir Graham.
If Graham looked like an old and respected wizard, then the woman was
more on the freedom-loving side. She was not wearing an old dress or
even a skirt like other portraits did, instead she wore long trousers and a
shirt with wide sleeves, but most notably was a sword on her side.
"Oh, hush, Elizabeth, as if she let you sleep. Although I'm ready to admit,
it's hard for me to remain annoyed with her. Her friend, however, is
another matter entirely. The password, the language he speaks is so
terrible for my ears, that sometimes I think I can feel the pain again!"
Muttering some very interesting curses under his breath, Graham sat back
down in his chair and frowned. "I don't like that these kids have to live
apart from everyone else because of the fear of attack from other
students. In my time, no one even thought to do so!"
Elizabeth rolled her eyes and folded her arms under her chest. "Because
everyone preferred to have flashy duels and breaking each other's lives
with cold blades in front of the crowd instead. I don't want to hear a
word from you that your time was better." Was her sarcastic response.
Hermione agreed with her words. Although in the old days' problems
were solved more openly and… brightly, this didn't mean that no one
struck from the shadows.
"That's not what I'm talking about, you insufferable woman!" Graham
grunted as he pulled out a flask of something clearly alcoholic from his
robes. "I'm afraid Albus won't be able to keep these two at school for
long. You've heard the rumors yourself; they won't feel welcome here.
Once his identity is revealed to the world, the boy will either have to
defend himself or run without looking back."
The two Gryffindors looked at each other in confusion. The more they
listened to the conversation of the portraits, the more questions they had.
"Even Professor Dumbledore knows…?" The girl muttered in shock.
The woman had no answer to that. She just frowned as she scanned the
floor outside the painting. "It's days like these that make me regret my
death. If I were alive, I could help the poor dears."
Harry saw Graham suppress a chuckle. It was clear that the man did not
agree.
"They don't need help. The professors are already doing their best to cram
as much information into their heads as possible. They know their time is
limited. I just hope they're not too late to help the boy."
"What are you talking about, Graham?" The portrait of the man said
nothing, choosing to get up from his chair and go behind the screen in
the back of the painting. "Oh, how I hate it when this man does that!"
Moving a little further away from the frustrated woman so she couldn't
hear them, Hermione glanced at the map in Harry's hands, only to sigh in
shock.
"Harry, look!" She hissed, pointing at the map. And when he looked,
Harry nearly stumbled in confusion.
The names of Luna, Mantis and Billy disappeared from the room along
with strange footprints, as if they had never been there.
"What…?"
"Are you sure your map is working properly?" Hermione asked
doubtfully, but shook her head sharply, understanding her mistake. "No,
the girl the portraits were talking about is definitely Luna. So how did
they leave?"
Harry frowned as he ran his fingers over the old parchment, feeling the
ink move under his skin. Scrolling through the map through all the
floors, he noticed Luna in the Charms office, where her first class was
held. The other three names were nowhere to be found.
"He can teleport other people along with him." He concluded, and
Hermione couldn't help but agree.
The danger of this creature immediately increased several times in her
head. If he could apparate anyone through any wards as if they weren't
there, then it promised hundreds of problems not only for Hogwarts, but
for all of magical Britain.
"... If things continue like this, we might have to ask Professor
Dumbledore about it. Maybe he'll answer."
Given his track record, Harry strongly doubted it.
Meanwhile, Sir Graham had returned, and with a heavy sigh sank into his
chair. The portrait of the man looked amused, to say the least.
"What's happened?" Elizabeth asked with interest.
"The girl and those two little ones are grounded. Now she has to wait for
Professor Flitwick without her morning pudding." The old wizard
chuckled and took another sip of his flask.
'Just what are we getting ourselves into this time?' Harry couldn't help
but think.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Simple_Russian_Boi
Been thinking about opening a Patreon lately. But then I remembered
where I live and how many hoops I have to jump over just to create an
account. And I haven't even thought about how to create a Paypal
account. Truly, a sad day for my dirty capitalist soul.
Chapter 45: It's Christmas!
A/N: [This is a rather short fluff chapter that shows Danil's progress with
magic and item crafting. For the most part. And, of course, we get to see
his ability to combine these two things to make something awesome.
Well, we see the results, the process is in another chapter, when Luna
returns and tries to create things through the crafting table.
Also, I noticed that my chapters get twice as many views as usual.
Anybody knows where this sudden influx of readers came from?]
The closer Christmas Day approached; the sadder Danil became. He knew
it was pretty useless to mope around, because this was the second
holiday that he would spend without his family, but he couldn't help
himself. So, in order to keep himself away from depressing thoughts, he
began to wrap the gifts he got for all the people that provided him with
support.
A dozen boxes were wrapped in bright paper. Red and gold, green and
silver, blue and bronze, yellow and black; the colors of the four Houses of
Hogwarts. It wasn't very original, but his choice was limited by the walls
of the castle. Fortunately, he didn't have many people he wanted to give
gifts to, so there was enough variety in colors for everyone. Mostly.
His gifts will be sent through the house elves in an hour, so after
wrapping the last box, Dan attached a note to it and nodded in
satisfaction.
His room wasn't quiet, recently he got his hands on some rather old
music discs and a record player. The house elves brought him a broken
one from some room of lost things and it was not that difficult to fix it
with magic.
With the recordings, however, things were a little more complicated.
Danil was a guy who was born in the twenty-first century, he lived and
breathed modern music. The sudden switch to Wagner and other old
composers wasn't easy for him.
Luna returned home for Christmas, but this time Danil had to stay in the
castle. Letting him leave the walls of Hogwarts for Halloween was
dangerous enough, but at least on the day of the dead he had the excuse
of: "It's just a very realistic costume." At Christmas, he could only pretend
to be the Grinch – back in black version.
Mantis was sitting on his shoulder as usual, looking at all the boxes with
interest. The little guy couldn't understand why his friend was doing all
this, but he hoped that some kind of surprise had been prepared for him
too.
"Hungry?" Dan asked Mantis, taking out some woodlice, which he kept in
his pocket on Hagrid's advice.
While the young bowtruckle was happily eating his treat, Dan looked
around his room. There were more books inside, sheets of parchment full
of ink filled his desk, and a magic backpack with an Undetectable
Extension Charm lay innocently at the foot of his bed.
If earlier all these things were for him something alien, inexplicable even,
now he was more confident in his knowledge. Well, rather, he knew
enough not to seem completely brainless in everyday conversation.
Take the very innocent backpack with an Undetectable Extension Charm
for example, it wasn't a thing that someone would talk about owning
openly. Mostly because they were extremely illegal to produce and own.
Danil never found a moment to ask how exactly they thought of foisting
something so illegal on him, leaving their questions for a while after the
holidays. Professors deserve their rest like no other.
'And I deserve a rest.' He thought as he sat down on a high chair, which
was comfortable to sit in with his height. On the table next to him was a
bottle of Xeno's mead, which the monster boy planned to empty before
dawn.
After the end of the holidays, the professors will announce the results of
the midterms tests. The tests, which Danil passed together with the rest
of the students of Hogwarts.
He knew that his further education would depend on his results. If he
was able to grasp the concepts of the first two years, then he will be able
to start learning more about Ancient Runes, Divination and Arithmancy.
Although he wasn't sure about the last subject. Danil's relationship with
mathematics has always been not the best.
Opening the bottle, Dan stared at the frozen snowy landscape that spread
out beyond his window. The moon was shining brightly and there wasn't
a cloud in the night sky. Seeing how winter took this piece of Scottish
land in its arms, Dan couldn't help but think about his family back in his
world.
They didn't celebrate Christmas – few people in Russia did – and the New
Year passed for Dan somehow unnoticed, because everyone at Hogwarts
was too busy going home for the winter holidays. And the absence of his
little blonde friend made him feel even more lonely than usual.
New Year in the Khromov family was an important day, even more
important than birthdays or other holidays. Kurt firmly believed in the
saying "as you celebrate the new year, so you spend it," so the holiday
was always a big deal.
Decorations hung on every corner, a Christmas tree stood in the middle
of the apartment, and festive music continued to play through the night.
Things were a little quieter than the holidays at Hogwarts, but if the
Khromovs' had magic, they would have arranged celebrations a hundred
times larger than those that took place within the walls of the school.
Closing his eyes to push away the wave of sadness, he sighed heavily and
began to speak.
"... Maybe it's not the New Year for you, or for me right now, but I don't
really care." Raising the bottle to the bright moon in the sky, Danil
smiled. "I wish you happiness, Kurt, Katya."
The monster boy took a sip and closed his eyes, placing the drink on the
arm of his chair. Now, sitting with a bottle of alcohol and listening to
Wagner, Danil felt like a real "badass" villain from the old James Bond
movies. Grinning at his silly thought, he settled back and let his mind
rest.
Only his moment of rest made him miss one very important event that
happened on the horizon.
Somewhere in the sky, two stars shone especially brightly, confusing
Astrologers around the world. They couldn't believe that two completely
different celestial bodies would make completely identical energy
emissions at the same time. The chances that this could happen were
phenomenally small, but still, it happened.
What they didn't know then was that just three months ago, a completely
different star produced exactly the same energy emission. It won't be
noticed for a long time.
[spoiler]
Help me out here, "energy emission" sounds somewhat wrong, but I feel
like I don't know enough words to describe what's happening.
What do you call a huge increase of activity on a surface of some random
ass star? A solar flare? An explosion?
[/spoiler]
-=-=-=-=-=-
The morning after Christmas couldn't have come earlier. Millions of
excited children jumped up with the first rays of the sun to see what gifts
that the day brought them.
And the residents of Hogwarts were no exception. Well, maybe not as
excited as small children, but few people weren't happy with the gifts in
the morning. However, this didn't mean that they weren't confused by the
appearance of an "extra" gift in their pile.
Danil thought for a long time about what to present to each of his
professors. A good gift in his opinion should be something useful, but
something that the recipient of the gift wouldn't buy themselves.
With plenty of time, materials – especially with all the crap he found in
the catacombs – and one crafting table, he had no problem making gifts.
All he had to do was figure out what he wanted to create.
A compass, that points to the location the user consider to be their home
for Flitwick. A solid glass block, inside of which was a transfigured figure
of a lion's head for Minerva – Luna helped him with this when she was
still in the castle with this one. Dan was still not capable of accurate
transfigurations.
Snape received several glass bottles, and in order not to give them to him
empty, they were filled with materials from the catacombs.
A golden apple for Madam Pomfrey as an object for research; the rune
block trap from the catacombs for Batsheda Bubbling and a little square
wolf figurine that Dan carved from a block of wood for Remus. Pomona
Sprout received an enchanted magical replica of a lily flower that could
be brought into any state of its life cycle by pressing buttons on the pot it
was planted in.
Hagrid became the owner of a brand-new crossbow, which was
surprisingly even stronger than what he had before. After creating this
one, Dan became convinced that the crafting table somehow understood
his intentions when creating items.
Albus, oddly enough, was the simplest person for whom Dan picked up
gifts. Seeing how crazy the old man tried to appear, he gave him a pair of
acid pink socks and mittens made from a skein of the same wool.
When it came to his friends, Dan could relax a bit because he only had
three people, he could call his friend and he knew them much better than
his professors. Fred and George were also not the most difficult people to
choose a gift for. The twins received two pairs of the most stylish red
leather pants Hogwarts had ever seen.
And Luna couldn't be happier when she opened her gift and found a
plush Crumple-Horned Snorkack inside.
While Dan was using the crafting table, he was only thinking about the
recipes of items from the game that he already knew. He didn't think it
was right to test his theories without Luna.
'It will be safer if someone is around during my experiments. You never
know what could go wrong,' he told himself. Completely ignoring that it
would be more productive to call the Weasley twins or even one of the
professors for safety measures.
Because deep down, Dan knew that he just wanted the girl to be there for
him if his theories turned out to be correct.
And so, he waited for the Holidays to end.
Chapter 46: No chapter today
Sorry, comrades, I couldn't finish the chapter in time, IRL stuff got in the
way, so I'll post it tomorrow.
Chapter 47: The All-Knowing Seer
A/N: [I apologize for posting late, life got in the way, but I did what
every Russian person does in the face of trials. I drank vodka and
continued to work.]
"Not bad for two months of continuous grind." Danil muttered, looking at
the results of his exams.
Now, Danil had a little problem with passing the exams. Because no one
could be sure at what level of knowledge he was exactly, they had to
improvise. For each subject he was given a three-meter scroll of
parchment with a bunch of questions. There were the most basic
questions from the first year to the O.W.L.s level questions.
And now, looking at the results of his exams, it was easy to understand
which subject he showed more interest in.
[Midterm exam results.
Assessment format:
The name of the subject – level of knowledge – assessment.
Astronomy – second year – E
Charms – fourth year – O
Potions – second year – A
Defense Against the Dark Arts - third year – A
Herbology – second year – A
History of Magic – second year – P
Potions – third year – P
Transfiguration – second year – A
Pass Grades:
Outstanding (O)
Exceeds Expectations (E)
Acceptable (A)
Fail Grades:
Poor (P)
Dreadful (D)
Troll (T)
Given your learning progress, you are given permission to continue
choosing Electives. Speak to Professor McGonagall about electives you
want to study.
– Head of the House of Ravenclaw, Professor Charms, Filius Flitwick.]
Satisfied with his results, Dan nodded and put the parchment in the
inside pocket of his robe. Maybe at first, he protested against buying one,
but after he realized the convenience of huge pockets that he could sew
onto one robe, his opinion changed dramatically.
His exam results were expected. The fact that he was able to understand
as much information as he could in just two months was due to his lack
of need to sleep. Also, his previous education helped him a lot too.
Believe it or not, but many things that books on magic taught freshmen
were very similar to the shit that Danil was taught by the "brilliant"
Russian education system. Especially all the mathematical formulas used
in transfiguration. Unfortunately, Dan was very familiar with them.
The conversation with McGonagall was surprisingly short. The woman
seemed to expect that he would choose Arithmancy and the Study of
Ancient Runes. But when she heard about his desire to try Divination, her
lips pursed into a thin line and the woman shook her head in
disappointment, but didn't try to change his mind.
So, he went to Professor Trelawney's officers to talk with the woman.
During his time at Hogwarts, he became more and more attracted to the
discipline of Divination. Something vaguely familiar about this branch of
magic drew him like a moth to a flame.
Maybe it was tales about Baba Yaga and her strange magic, stories about
the Wise Sorcerers who knew the past, present and future, or just
tarologists that were always present in Dan's life made Divination so
interesting for him. For a long time, he doubted whether Trelawney
would be able to teach him something useful, for the woman's reputation
left much to be desired.
From what Dan was able to learn from Minerva and Filius, Trelawney
was… a unique individual, to put it mildly.
Both professors had great doubts about the subject she was teaching and
the woman herself didn't help clear the reputation of the Divinations.
According to the books, not everyone can look to the future, as
Trelawney allegedly does.
The very office where Trelawny taught was on the northernmost tower of
the Castle, reached by a wooden hatch in the ceiling of the cramped area
in front of the office. It was strange to know that a woman almost never
leaves her tower, preferring to act like an imprisoned princess.
Danil could not be sure of the professionalism of the woman, but chose
not to judge her even before he could meet her. But he strongly hoped
that the woman wouldn't turn out to be a fraud, as other professors had
hinted at.
Opening the hatch in the ceiling, Dan watched as a silver rope ladder fell
in front of him, along which he could climb up.
'Haven't there been at least one handicapped student in the history of
Hogwarts?'
Leaving that thought for later, he teleported upstairs and looked around.
Trelawney was nowhere to be seen. What he could see, however, didn't
fill him with confidence.
The Divination classroom, looked more like a strange mixture of
massandra and an old-fashioned tea room instead of a regular classroom.
The curtains on the windows were drawn, lowering the room into a
mystical darkness, which at least a little, but created an atmosphere of
something magical going on.
Small round tables and comfortable-looking chairs stood all over the
room, but only on one of the tables was a kettle, from the sock of which
steam was moving in a thin stream.
Slowly, the door on the side of the study opened smoothly and Trelawney
stepped inside, stumbling over her own feet. The smell of alcohol
immediately filled the office, as if there was a moonshine still in her
private room.
The woman took a couple of seconds to notice his presence, but as soon
as her eyes caught his form, Trelawney immediately straightened up,
trying to appear more presentable.
"Ah, young Khromov, I have been waiting for your arrival." She said,
nodding to herself. "Yes, the cards foretold your coming."
The Divination Professor swallowed a hiccup, her misty eyes watering
behind a thick pair of glasses. The woman herself smelled of alcohol.
"You came here hoping to learn the secrets of Divinations, to get a
glimpse into the changing future. But do you have the will to look into
the timestream?"
Danil just continued to look at the woman with an uncertain look.
Something seemed wrong to him. Everything she said was just the
information McGonagall had given her, but something kept him alert.
"... I thought Divinations would be more focused on seeing the present
rather than the future? Seeing the future takes a special talent, doesn't
it?"
Trelawney blinked a couple of times, digesting his words, but finally
nodded. "That's true, but so far we haven't seen the depth of your talent,
which is what brought us here." She said, pointing to Danil to sit on a
chair.
The woman sat down across from him, making herself comfortable. "Give
me your hand, boy." She said, swaying in place.
Dan extended his hand to her, palm up, letting the woman look at his
lines. Trelawney hmmed and hummed, examining every crease in his
skin. The woman seemed to be lost in her own world for a couple of
minutes.
"I see…" She finally muttered. "So, what can you tell us about yourself?"
Trelawney suddenly asked.
Frowning, Danil took his hand back and leaned across the table, dropping
face to face with the Professor, causing her to squeal in fear and jump
back in her chair.
"I've been drunk many times before. I know exactly what drunk people
look like. How they talk, how they move, and even how they smell. I can
tell you that much."
"What are you implying?! O-Of course I didn't drink! It wouldn't be
professional!" She protested, shaking her head from side to side.
"Yes, I agree." He said, shocking her. "You, Professor Trelawney, have not
drunk a drop of alcohol today. So why pretend?"
Nothing in the cabinet dared to move. Even the dust in the air seemed to
stop moving, but the tension was broken with the whistle of the kettle.
Dan reached out and, without even looking, removed the kettle from the
heat.
The frightened look on Trelawney's face slowly melted into a smug smile
as the woman removed her glasses from her face. Her brown curly hair
fell far past her shoulders, neatly framing her face. Without her glasses
and her alcoholic bravado, the woman didn't look as deranged as rumors
had described her.
"Maybe all is not lost for you, boy! In Divination, being observant is
important. In this castle, you are the sixth person who could see through
the veil of deceit, although I confess it was not my best game in recent
times."
Trelawney pursed her lips in displeasure, but shook her head. "I would
congratulate you, but this is not the last test you'll have to take before I
accept you as a student."
Sitting back in his chair, Dan finally stopped frowning, but didn't relax.
"You still haven't answered my question, Professor Trelawney." He
reminded.
The woman raised an eyebrow with extraordinary elegance and took a
deck of cards out of her sleeve, immediately placing them on the table.
"And why would I do that?" She asked back as she started shuffling the
cards with skillful fingers.
Dan watched as she twirled the cards in her hands, shuffling them
together, letting them slide into each other's smallest openings. Her
question was double-edged.
"Same reason I use invisibility inside the castle." Trelawny handed him
the deck and he moved it in the half point, he was intimately familiar
with card readings, he even did card readings when his hands were still
human, purely out of curiosity. "If alcoholism and incompetence is a lie
to seem like a fraud, it means that you have enough skills that a lot of
people in the world would want to get them. To get you."
Trelawney's smile widened and the woman laid out seven cards in a
circle. It was impressive how she was able to do it with just one move.
"You hide away your talent to protect yourself from dark wizards." Daniel
concluded. It was the simplest and most logical explanation.
But the Professor just chuckled. "Oh, trust me, there are scarier things in
this world than dark wizards. Now, pay attention to the cards that have
chosen you. They will tell your past, your present and your future as
well."
Her slender fingers flipped over the first tarot card, revealing a moving
picture of a grim reaper with Roman numerals thirteen on top.
"Death, in an upright position. Means the end of familiar things and the
beginning of everything new, but given your circumstances, such an
outcome was to be expected. Your old life ended anyway when you
learned about the existence of the magical world."
Danil agreed, he was not surprised that Death showed up, especially
considering that he died to be reborn in this world.
The second card followed the first and the old man in white robes
showed himself. In his hand was a long staff, on which hung a lighted
lamp. The Roman nine looked at Danil, mocking him in the face.
"Hermit, upside down. Escape from reality, refusal to live life to the
fullest and empty stubbornness." Thoughtfully tapping her fingers on the
wooden table, the woman raised an eyebrow at the boy, but the boy just
shook his head. How can you live life to the fullest if you look like a
creature from Lovecraft's nightmares?
Realizing that the boy was well aware of his problems, the woman only
smiled, turning over the last card.
A tall stone tower appeared on the map, lightning flying around the stone
structure, destroying everything it touched. It was hard not to understand
what kind of card it was.
"Tower, upright. A harbinger of a test where you have the choice to
either rise or fall." Trelawney blinked slowly, lifting her gaze to Danil.
"Hmm. Have you felt like you're being followed lately?"
Blinking in confusion, Dan nodded. Trelawney leaned back in her chair
and just stared up at the ceiling for a couple of minutes. But in the end,
the woman just got up and went to the door from which she had left
before.
"Wait, what does that even mean?" Danil asked, also getting up and
following the woman.
"That I'll teach you, of course. Merlin knows you'll need it."
Together, they entered the office and the door slammed shut behind
them. The first lesson has just begun.
Chapter 48: Divination
The classroom that Trelawney brought Danil to looked even stranger than
the previous one. Although this time, this strangeness was expected, it
was a pleasant change even.
Instead of a stuffy and claustrophobic massandra, filled with more
furniture than it could ever logically fit, this room felt more open, though
it wasn't much larger. The wide windows and high ceiling allowed Danil
to see more and not walk around doubled over.
There were many cupboards – practically littered against the walls –
filled with various items: crystal balls, tarot cards, candles, coffee and tea
bags, small sandbags that lay next to long sticks and amulets. There was
even a separate shelf for runestones. One cabinet was completely filled
with a variety of dishes and seemed to go into the wall for a couple of
meters to keep everything inside.
On the walls, in places where it would be difficult to close them with
cabinets, there were maps of the starry sky and a couple of posters that
showed the paths of chi that went through the body of a person and
several magical animals.
Danil noticed that the more he looked around, the more the locations of
various objects took on meaning, destroying the first impression of a
large but sloppy office. Each item stood here exactly where it would be
most convenient to reach it.
"So, what are you really going to teach me?" Danil asked, looking at the
insane number of books that lay in a pile in one of the corners of the
room.
"Right now? Nothing. We still have more important things to do than
that." Trelawny took out her wand from somewhere and began twirling it
between her fingers like a toy. "First we need to find out which magic
loves you the most!" She announced and threw up her hands to the sides,
as if she had now revealed to Danil a secret of universal scale.
"Pardon?"
The woman immediately deflated, seeing his confusion.
"Come on! Haven't you ever read that magic is partly intelligent?" She
asked hopefully.
"Oh, that... I've seen several theories, but I didn't attach much importance
to them." Danil scratched his head in embarrassment. "I thought it would
be better to come to my own conclusions and beliefs about what exactly
magic is. To kkep my world will be a little wider, you know?"
Sighing again, the woman waved her wand towards the table and a
dozen identical boxes appeared on it. There was a feeling that they
jumped out from inside the table, and before that they were just sitting
and waiting for their moment to shine.
Seeing her pupil's questioning gaze on her, Trelawny began to explain.
"It's pretty simple: each of these boxes contains something related to a
certain type of divination. Whether it's a tarot card, a cat bone, a crystal
ball or something else, each of these items is old and contains very strong
magic." The woman stopped and waited for a nod from Danil to check if
he was listening.
"But the boxes they are in are even more special. By themselves, they are
not very useful, their enchantments only allow them to be used as
magnets. But with a couple of changes, we get..." Trelawny stretched out
her hand to the table and seven boxes immediately disappeared back
inside the table, leaving seven more on the surface.
"You created a predisposition detector for different types of magic?" Danil
asked in surprise, but the woman just shook her head.
"Ha! For creating a talent detector, I would have been given Orden of
Merlin, First Class! These are just fourteen boxes that respond to magic
used around them." One more wave of the wand and all the boxes were
back on the table. "If I tried this method with all kinds and subspecies of
magic, there would be hundreds of thousands of such boxes."
Danil thought it made sense. Otherwise, someone would have already
created a magical talent detector and children would be trained
according to their talents from birth. And that already sounded like
something sinful.
"And now direct your magic towards the table, those boxes that remain
will be useless to you. But those that disappear will be your friends for
the rest of your life."
For a moment, he did not understand why exactly those who would
disappear would be able to help him, but he quickly realized his mistake.
"Right. Magnets."
If his magic was predisposed to some sort of divination, then those boxes
would repel like magnets with the same polarity.
Stretching his hand forward, Danil let his magic surge from under his
skin and into the world. For a second, nothing happened, but then three
black boxes disappeared at once, making him blink in surprise.
"Hmm, not the worst result, much better than nothing. Most students at
Hogwarts don't have even a modicum of talent in Divination, having you
at three from the start is a good result." Trelawney nodded and waved
her wand again, leaving only those three boxes on the table.
"From the start? Are you saying that I can develop talents in my magic
from scratch?" He asked with interest.
Trelawny looked at him like he was an idiot. "Yes, that's exactly what I
mean. How do you think early wix developed future talents for their
bloodlines? Our internal magic changes after using one branch or another
for a long time, making it possible to transfer talents to the next
generation."
Touching each box with her wand, Trelawney pushed Danil closer and let
him decide where to start.
"Are you ready to see your future?" The woman asked, almost jumping on
the spot with excitement. It seemed that she wanted to know about his
talents even more than he did.
Danil nodded in response, opening the first box and looking inside. Inside
there was a skull of some bird, lying on the crossed bones, stared at him
with empty eyes.
"Bone divination! It's been a while since we've had Spatalamancy
practitioners. It's not one of my strengths, I'm afraid." Trelawney
commented.
Remembering all the bones, both human and animal, that he pulled out
of the catacombs, Danil could breathe a sigh of relief. At least here he
will have no problems finding suitable materials.
In the second box was a golden tarot card - the Fool was spinning and
spinning on the image of the card, showing his tongue to Danil, as soon
as he noticed that they were looking at him.
"Can't say I'm surprised." Daniel confessed. "My grandfather told me that
my mother had a talent with tarot cards."
"Many wix have connections with tarot cards." Trelawney said. "This is
the most popular type of divination, after all."
Opening the third box, both student and teacher leaned back to avoid
being hit by a column of fire that erupted from within. At the bottom of
the box lay a small fire made of seven fiery red pieces of wood that never
stopped burning.
"Pyromancy and possibly Tuphramancy. Not bad at all boy, you're
already showing great promise. You've been particularly lucky with the
combination of Pyromancy and Bone Divination, if you learn how to
combine the two branches, your predictions will become clearer."
"Blasted insane wizards..." Danil muttered as he patted his chest to
extinguish the flame that jumped onto his clothes.
After closing all the boxes and putting them away for the next time,
Trelawney looked thoughtfully at the monster boy.
"So where would you rather start?" She asked, giving him a choice.
For Danil, it was not a difficult choice at all. Between bones, fire and
cards, it was easy to take something familiar and start seriously studying
it. At least it was much easier than trying to study cracked bones.
"Tarot cards are what I have the most experience with. Let's go with
that."
Nodding in agreement, Trelawney turned to the other end of the room,
where a mountain of books lay, and walked towards it.
"Then that's where we'll start." The woman picked up some book from the
floor and threw it on the table, allowing Danil to read the title [Secrets of
Arcana and visions of the future].
"Keep this book to yourself and read it when you have free time. Now sit
down, it's time to talk about the nature of tarot card predictions."
Two hours later, Danil left the office with a superficial understanding of
the meaning of each tarot card and how exactly their appearance should
be interpreted. He will have to buy a deck of cards himself, or make them
from scratch so that his unique magic imprints on the cards.
Danil obviously chose to do everything himself, and at the same time use
this chance to check out the crafting table with Luna. Maybe she wants to
make her own deck.
Watching her student's retreating back, Trelawney frowned, placing a
finger to her chin. "I feel like I forgot to tell him something... Oh, well."
If she forgot, it didn't matter that much. In any case, they will meet next
Wednesday at the same time.
Chapter 49: Side Chapter: Luna's
Btrithday
Luna looked at the crafting table from all sides with interest. A solid
block of wood stood before her eyes, adored with various tools that
couldn't even be removed – judging by the way they were half hidden
inside the wood.
She didn't come across enchanted things that were not created in the
traditional ways of wix often. The girl poked at the wooden cube with
her finger, looking for hidden runes and buttons that could explain the
work of the cube, but she found nothing. So how did it work then?
Finally, she returned her gaze to the top of the crafting table. The leather
bedding that was placed on the wood was divided into nine small squares
with clear lines between each one.
Seeing this, Luna asked what had been bothering her from the very
beginning. She knew that the thing was enchanted, otherwise Danil
wouldn't be showing it to her.
"Is this a very fancy tic-tac-toe field? Did I get it right?" The girl looked at
Dan, but he just shook his head.
"No," he ignored her pout, "this is what I call a crafting table. This is an
artifact that can be used to instantly create different things, depending on
your materials. Look."
Danil took out three sticks and two coils of string from his backpack and
put them on the table. It was obvious that he was putting each item on
the specific squares for some odd reason, as if the artifact would refuse to
work without it. A second later, a new, but rather simple fishing rod was
already lying in their place.
"Huh." Luna took the fishing rod in her hands and swung it around a bit.
"A couple of Finite won't be able to wrap it back?"
"No, this fishing rod will forever remain a fishing rod. Even if-" Danil
didn't have time to finish his speech, as he had to dodge a fishing hook
flying in his face. "Hey!"
Luna stared at the rod with shock in her eyes as the hook hit the book
that lay on the nearby table, immediately piercing the hard skin and
digging inward, as if an invisible hand controlled the metal hook to force
it inside.
Danil immediately wrapped his hands around her much smaller ones,
forcing the fishing rod to stop. "It's not a toy, Luna, be careful."
The girl nodded in response, afraid to even blink, letting go of the fishing
rod, she allowed Danil to take it from her hands. In one motion, the
monster boy swung it back, causing the book to jump off the table and
land into his waiting palm, the hook crawled itself out of the skin, not
even leaving a trace of its presence on the old tome.
"Danil... did you use an enchanted item to create another enchanted
item?" Luna asked slowly, still not blinking.
This… behavior was simply absent from normal items. As Luna sent the
hook flying, she felt an almost imperceptible flow of magic that the
fishing rod used to control it. It was definitely an enchanted item.
"Yeah, some things come out a little bit magical, not all of them though.
My axe, for example, is just an axe, nothing more."
The girl looked at her friend's face, then at the fishing rod, and only then
her eyes fell on the crafting table. Luna clenched her small hands into
fists and almost squealed with happiness.
"Oh, I have so many questions! Is it possible to enchant already crafted
items with Ancient Runes? What can't be crafted using this table? If this
thing has no limits, then there are so many possibilities! This is the
perfect birthday present!" The girl was already reaching for the sticks in
his backpack, also wanting to try to make something.
Danil choked on the air and coughed. Did he hear her correctly?
"Luna? Is today your birthday?" He was able to squeeze out.
Standing up to her full height, the girl put a few sticks on the crafting
table and turned to Danil with a look of confusion.
"Yeah, my birthday is today, I thought that's why you called me here."
She tilted her head, tapping her chin with her index finger. "Though I
don't remember if I told you about my birthday. Did you hear about it
from the Nargles? I know they sometimes whisper things to people."
Shrugging, she returned to the sticks and began laying them out in
various shapes, hoping for some sort of result. But little could be done
with only seven sticks.
"You don't- never mind." He interrupted himself, making a note of Luna's
birthday so he wouldn't forget about it in the future.
"Danil, look, I made a ladder!" The girl exclaimed, holding a brand new,
but very short ladder in her hands.
Well. That's one theory down.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Simple_Russian_Boi
Some fluff, some magical testing.
Life is fun. I've been busy, sorry.
Chapter 50: Meet the Divinations
Club!
The real Divination classroom was full of life today. The small number of
people who had earned the honor of being trained under the most
impressive witch in the realm of divination were now in the room
discussing their latest events in their lives.
It may seem strange to someone from the outside that this meeting of
teenagers looked more like a meeting of an interest club, but that's how it
was. Trelawney would sometimes gather her students so they could share
their experiences with each other so they could pull each other forward.
Lavender Brown listened with interest to Jamie White's story about her
adventures with some girl from Slytherin because the stars told рук that
she would be fun. Parvati Patil was making a new set of incense with
Gabriel Truman, and Penelope Clearwater spoke with Trelawney about
the possibility of mispredictions.
Each of them was doing something productive, being completely
absorbed in their activities, even if it didn't seem so at first.
"My dear, there are no wrong predictions, only wrong interpretations."
Trelawney said with a smile. "Any prediction, no matter how small,
always comes true. At least if everything was done correctly."
Penelope frowned at the drawing of coffee grounds in her notebook. Each
of the students here had similar notebooks to write down their
predictions.
First, there was a shape of fire, as an advice to hold back emotions, to
think about the situation logically before making decisions. An eight-
pointed star, as a sign of an important event happening soon. And a
beacon, a sign that Penelope will be in danger, but it will be prevented.
Everything indicated that something terrible would happen in the near
future, but it would be prevented.
"...then how does that even make sense? What is about to happen that I
have that prediction?" She asked, showing her notes to the professor.
"The Dementors are gone, the Aurors left the castle and Halloween has
already passed, what else can happen?"
Trelawny stared at the drawings Penelope had made for a minute. Her
eyes took in the shapes and single dots of coffee that formed a much
larger symbol, one that the girl had missed.
A long, thin hand that reached for an eight-pointed star.
"Oh, so that's what I forgot about." She muttered, making Penelope
wince.
Suddenly, the door to the office opened and six heads turned towards the
entrance as one, only to see the empty doorway.
The wooden door slowly closed with a loud creak, hiding the office from
prying eyes again.
"Professor Trelawney?" Jamie began uncertainly. "This door can only be
opened by members of the Divination Club, right?"
"Certainly." She answered, her eyes slowly following something invisible
that was walking deeper into the office.
"Then who opened the door?" Lavender asked as she took her wand out
of her pocket and slowly looked around.
Seeing her actions, all the other members of the Club also had their
wands at the ready, looking for even the slightest movement in the class.
Each of them was ready to defend themselves and their friends if it came
to that.
"Put your wands away, he doesn't mean us any harm." Trelawney said as
she rose from her seat. "This misunderstanding is my fault, so I should
explain what's going on."
"He?" Jamie asked with interest.
"Yes he." Trelawney confirmed. "Last week I made the decision to take on
another student." She ignored the shocked looks on herself. Such a huge
event would normally be the cause of celebration in the Divination Club,
because Trelawny didn't take new students lightly.
She was extremely lucky with Lavender and Parvati, together the two
girls were very observant and had a good predisposition to Divination
arts. If only they didn't use their talents to collect fresh gossip, Trelawney
would be happier. But cover stories were important.
"But I completely forgot to warn him that our next lesson will not be one-
on-one!" The woman stuck out her tongue and tapped her head lightly
with her fist, letting out a soft "Tee-hee!" before the bemused glances of
his pupils.
"What are you? An eighth grader?" A raspy voice with a Russian accent
came out of thin air, making a couple of girls jump in surprise. Trelawney
merely crossed her arms over her chest and turned away with a humph,
her nose high.
"Hey, man?" Gabriel spoke to no one, putting his wand back in his
pocket. "Show yourself already, I don't think you can be more shocking
than…" He glanced at Trelawney with a weary smile, but quickly looked
away, least she notices his disrespect, "yeah."
A deep sigh sounded through the room before an unnaturally tall figure
began to appear in the center of the classroom. Several students screamed
in surprise, even falling out of their chairs.
Daniel expected such a reaction. What he didn't expect was a loud "Yes!"
from a Hufflepuff girl with long blonde hair.
Seeing that she was now the center of attention, Jamie lifted her nose to
the ceiling proudly, a smug smile on her face. The girl looked fifteen
years of age with her height, apparently nature didn't endow her with
large breasts, but she easily compensated for this with her cute face.
"I told you the next member of the club would be a non-human! Suck it,
Gabriel!" She pointed her finger at the Hufflepuff boy. He just sighed,
shaking his head in frustration.
"Shouldn't have made that bet…" He muttered under his breath.
"Lavender Brown. Does our new member have a name?" Lavender asked,
tilting her head up to see Danil's face. The girl winced as he turned to
her. She decided to keep her opinion of the creature's nature open,
because Trelawny put her faith in him, but it was hard to think of him as
someone… docile, especially with such a scary face.
"Danil Khromov, nice to meet you all." He glanced at Jamie, who was still
laughing at Gabriel's fate - whatever it was - and decided to add
something. "And technically, I'm human. Just cursed."
His words immediately made Jamie freeze, the girl's eyes darting from
Gabriel to Danil and back. The Hufflepuff boy only smiled wickedly,
seeing how the girl's confidence was melting before his eyes.
"Hehe…" Jamie took a step back. "Maybe we can find a compromise?"
"Of course. What kind of friend would I be if I refused to compromise?"
Gabriel asked, his smile never leaving his face.
Trelawney chuckled as she returned to her conversation with Penelope,
but the girl was still in shock that her prediction had turned out to be
true. She was one of the new students, having discovered Trelawney's
secret only a couple of months ago and was not yet confident in her
abilities as a diviner.
Danil sat down in the vacated chair next to Lavender, looking in
confusion at the quiet conversation between Gabriel and Jamie.
"What was their bet about?"
Lavender chuckled. "Gabriel and Jamie were making predictions about
who the next club member would be. Jamie said it wouldn't be a human,
but Gabriel was sure it would be a human."
A girl with swarthy skin and black hair sat next to Lavender, continuing
her words. "The loser will have to… ahem… suck the winner." The girls
quietly snickered as Jamie's soul slowly leaves her body.
"... How was Gabriel supposed to suck Jamie?" Danil asked, but seeing
how the eyes of the girls flashed with mischief, he was suddenly visited
by one very interesting thought. "Jamie is a girl, right? Right?"
The only answer he received was Lavender and Parvati laughing.
-=-=-=-=-=-
"Looking for a library lost in time?" Trelawney asked with interest.
Danil sat across from the woman, holding a small notepad with entries
about the Ravenclaw library. Inside was all the information he knew
about this library, and on a separate page were Luna's theories that he
considered very likely to be true.
"Yes. The Hat said there should be a record of every deal made since the
founding of Hogwarts. I hope to find something that will allow the school
to become independent from the Ministry." He said honestly.
"I don't know if that's a good idea." Trelawney muttered. "But since you've
decided to start your search with Divinations, then you're welcome to try.
Tarot cards won't help much here, but bones… In this case, bones might
be your best friends."
Danil drummed his claws on the table in thought. So far, he hadn't tried
using divination with bones, the explanations of this branch of magic
were too vague and incomprehensible in all the books he read.
"And where should I start?" He asked as he reached towards his
bottomless backpack, where there were enough bones to make eight
mutant skeletons.
"If the bones have not yet revealed their secrets to you, then it's time to
try to reveal them yourself. Usually, they are used as a catalyst in both
rituals and divination. Maybe to direct the power somewhere, maybe just
to make the result clearer."
That is why all the books were so cloudy. Different diviners had different
ways of using and interpreting what the bones showed them. Divination
was extremely intimate magic, which is why-
"What to do with the bones is up to you." Trelawney finally said.
Muttering curses under his breath, Danil moved to an unoccupied corner
of the room, trying to ignore the mumbling of the students around him.
He didn't like Trelawny forcing him to reveal her secret to six people he
was seeing for the first time, but the woman was arguably the most
powerful diviner in Britain, and that was worth something. If she thought
it was a good idea, then there was a good chance that it was.
He didn't decide to forgive her because she introduced him to people who
do not shy away from him in horror. Not at all, he wasn't that
sentimental.
Sitting down at the table, on which various maps were already lying
around, Danil took out several bones of the phalanges of the skeletons
and put them in a small wooden bowl. He decided to start with the
general location of the library, so his choice fell on the world map, which
served as a tablecloth.
Danil picked up one of the bones and began to twist it in his hands,
examining it from all sides. The skeletons in the catacombs were strong
enough to lift weapons and shoot arrows. This meant that whatever
magic that supported their bodies must have made their bones stronger.
"... Should work." He said to himself and began to sharpen the end of the
bone, making an impromptu dart out of it.
The enderman's claws were stronger than the bones of the skeleton, so it
was not surprising that within a minute the darts were ready. A small
bone levitated in Danil's hand, slowly spinning around its axis.
The monster boy felt something inside his soul move, causing him to
speak on instinct.
"In the name of the victor, I command: find what was hidden from my
eyes. Show me the way to the library of Rowenna Ravenclaw."
Purple sparks of magic began to dance between his fingers, sticking to
the bone and making it spin even faster. As soon as the last word left his
mouth, the bone dart immediately rushed to the table and stuck into the
parchment, immediately losing all the purple particles around it.
Danil blinked, looking at the map with interest. Except it wasn't a map of
the world. It was a map of Scotland that lay a little to the side.
"Should have expected it."
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Simple_Russian_Boi
Your favorite Boi has started his studies to get his bachelor's degree
today! That's good because I'll get smarter (mayhaps) but that's bad
because I'll have less time to write.
In any case, let's see how continuing education will affect my life.
Maybe I just have to change the updates of the new chapters a bit.
Chapter 51: Finding the Room
Danil spent the next hour finding different maps and using his bone dart
to find the library. At first it was a map of Britain, then Scotland, and
after he realized that the bone pointed him to the location of Hogwarts,
Danil almost burst into tears.
Most recently, he had the most complete map of Hogwarts in the world
in his hands and now he couldn't even use it! How was that fair?! Who
knows when he'll be able to get another map–
"Oh, it's right here." He muttered, seeing something that resembled
blueprints of a castle.
It was strange. He could find all the maps he wished to use with little
effort, that was surprising, considering just how much stuff there was at
the table. Danil had already begun to suspect that either the table or the
cards themselves were enchanted in some form. If he could copy that
enchantment, his life would certainly become easier.
Looking around, Danil lingered his gaze on his new acquaintances. The
fact that none of them considered him to be an inferiour, stupid creature
that could never be compared to humans was a huge advantage. He
wasn't sure if he could've pulled away and not wrung the neck of some
bigot.
Not that he had the right to say anything, especially after his thoughts
about Acromantulas.
But even so, with the appearance of new acquaintances, he still felt safe.
It was obvious that Professor Trelawney, although she forgot to mention
his existence, was sure that her students would be quite understanding of
his situation.
Speaking of other students...
"What are you doing?" A quiet question sounded right next to his ear,
making the monster boy flinch in surprise.
"Do not do that." He spoke quickly and turned around to see who exactly
prevented him from working. To his surprise, it was Parvati, a girl of
Indian origin who was in her third year at Gryffindor.
"Sorry-sorry!" She waved her hands in front of her, hiding the smile that
threatened to appear on her face. "I can never stop myself from scaring
anyone. But I really am interested, what are you doing?"
Having calmed down a bit, Danil returned to the map of Hogwarts. This
was one of the older pieces in the collection, as evidenced simply by how
yellowed the parchment was. The ink had long since lost its color, but the
drawing was still readable.
"I'm looking for hidden things at Hogwarts." He half lied, "passages,
rooms, abandoned labs, things like that."
Parvati blinked; her eyebrows raised in surprise. "Really? I thought
finding things like that was an extremely difficult and delicate process.
It's hard to imagine that you found something worthwhile just by sending
darts to the map." She said doubtfully.
But Daniel just shrugged. "It is what it is. I have no idea how other people
use divination to look for things, but I won't let their delusions interrupt
my magic."
Once upon a time, his sister began another lecture on magic in the world
of Harry Potter and Danil served as her only spectator. She ranted and
raved that, logically, the magic that Rowling showed in her book
shouldn't work according to the laws that the woman wrote.
Danil didn't understand exactly how magic worked in his new world, but
he knew one thing. Although he could feel the presence of the various
wards both at Hogwarts and elsewhere, most wards couldn't detect him.
The only reason Hogwarts's defenses – and through them the Marauder's
Map – could detect his presence, was because Arwen had helped upgrade
the castle's defenses in the past.
This meant that the wizards' main defense was useless in front of him,
just as it was useless in front of his search spells.
"Here. Let me show you." Danil cleared his throat and lifted the bone into
the air again with his magic. "In the name of the victor, I command: show
me the hidden passages in Hogwarts Castle."
The bone dart shuddered in the air, completely covered in purple
particles. For a couple of seconds, he only trembled, making Danil think
that he had done something wrong.
Parvati frowned as she saw that nothing had happened. "... What did
you-" Whatever she wanted to say was lost in the sound of the bone
exploding and her cry of surprise.
Shards of the bone scattered across the map, piercing the parchment and
leaving holes in their wake. The girl and the monster boy looked at each
other and immediately leaned over the map to look at the result.
"Hey, I know this passage!" Parvati pointed to one of the small shards
that caught her eye. "And this one too! To get inside, you have to pet the
statue of a hamster hidden behind a pillar!"
"Hamster?" Daniel muttered in confusion.
"Wow, I didn't think it would work." The girl confessed. "There are
passages here that I see for the first time! Padma would be across the
moon if she saw this map."
Danil had no idea who Padma was, but he agreed, anyone would be
happy to see such a card. The sheer number of secrets in the castle was
mind boggling, as if every year, the Headmasters added more secret
passages because they couldn't find the old ones.
Taking out another skeletal phalanx, the monster boy began sharpening it
again. He doubted he could do anything with the smaller pieces stuck in
the map.
He finished quickly, once again holding the new bone dart in his hand.
This time he knew what he had to do.
"In the name of the victor, I command: find what was hidden from my
eyes. Show me the way to the library of Rowenna Ravenclaw." Danil
repeated and followed the darts with his eyes.
This time, it did not rush towards its target with incredible speed. This
bone dart slowly left the boy's hand and gently flew towards the map,
stopping somewhere on the seventh floor. The monster boy has never
been there.
"This bone is much calmer than the previous one." Parvati commented
while looking at the spinning bone with interest. It didn't even stick into
the parchment of the map, just hovering over it. "I knew that living
components could have their own character, but I never saw it with my
own eyes."
Danil mumbled in response. "Interesting. Excuse me Parvati, I need to
speak to Professor Trelawney." The girl nodded and walked away towards
Lavender.
Rising from his chair, he collected the pieces of the exploded bone from
the map and put the new bone in his pocket. He preferred a calm
instrument that didn't need to be filled with magic to the brim for it to
work.
Pulling out a pencil, he marked the spot where the bone dart had pointed
and rolled up the map.
"Professor Trelawney?" He asked and the woman looked up from the
book that lay on her desk. "Can I borrow this map for a while? I think I
know a couple of people who would like to see it."
Trelawny raised an eyebrow at the map in his hand. "You found a clue
already? Maybe I underestimated your connection to bone magic. A huge
downside to the way we've determined your Divination predispositions."
She said thoughtfully. "Anyway, yes, you can take this map, we have
enough of them."
Nodding in gratitude, Danil left the classroom, disappearing into a
shower of purple sparks as soon as his foot touched the floor.
"What was that?!" Someone shouted in shock, but no one answered them.
-=-=-=-=-=-
"All I ask is that you consider the possibility. This would be the perfect
way to get closer to our neighbors, Albus." A man said to Dumbledore.
The monster boy made a short stop in his room to leave some things and
throw the bone fragments into a small plant that stood on his windowsill.
Mantis needed a stable home too, after all.
After that, he cast invisibility on himself and teleported straight to
Dumbledore's office, only to find him in the middle of a conversation
with a plump man in serious robes and a bucket hat in his hands.
"I understand, Cornelius. But I think we should discuss the details later,
when Ludo is free." Albus said, expertly hiding the annoyance in his
voice.
"Of course, of course. Then I will take my leave." Cornelius spoke quickly
and within a minute was standing in the dead fireplace that was in
Dumbledore's office. "Ministry of Magic!" He said clearly and threw some
kind of powder into the coals.
The fire immediately engulfed the man from head to toe and he
disappeared, not even leaving ashes behind.
"Floo travel." Dumbledore explained, turning to Danil. "The most
common method of transportation in the country. It is said that the
creator was inspired by Phoenix teleportation when he created this
system."
Danil cancelled his invisibility and sat down on the chair in which that
strange man was sitting minutes ago.
"Looks extremely unsafe." He said. "I want to know what the conversation
was about?"
Dumbledore waved his hand, not looking particularly flustered. "Just the
Minister wants to shove politics into school, nothing new."
'What sensible person would choose a peasant named Cornelius as their
minister?' Daniel thought, but just shook his head.
"So what is the reason for your visit today? Anything I need to know?"
"Yes, actually." Danil put the map on the table and unfolded it on the
seventh floor. "A few minutes ago, I found a lead on the location of the
Rowenna Ravenclaw library. It's on the grounds of Hogwarts."
Dumbledore leaned over the table and took the map in his hands, his
bright eyes immediately finding the mark on the parchment.
"Seventh floor… I think it's the corridor with the tapestry of Barnabas the
Barmy." The old man stopped for a second, only to twitch after a
moment. "Now that I think about it, the solution to this riddle is staring
me in the face. Maybe my age is finally catching up to me?"
Seeing Danil's questioning look, the Headmaster began to explain.
"Hogwarts, as you know, is surrounded by dozens and hundreds of secrets
upon secrets. This castle is full of the unknown, and even I, in all my time
here, couldn't uncover all its mysteries. But one of the secrets that I was
able to discover is the Room Of Requirement."
Something stirred in Danil's mind when he heard the name of the room.
Maybe his sister also talked about it in her rants?
"It is said that the room has the unique ability to provide or transform
itself into anything that a witch or wizard required of it at that moment
in time. For a long time, many have speculated that this room was
created by Rowena Ravenclaw herself."
"It makes sense that she would have chosen to hide her library there."
Danil looked again at the map and the cross he had placed on the
parchment.
"Are you saying I marked Room Of Requirement on the map? Not
anything else?" There was doubt in his voice.
"Exactly." Dumbledore confirmed. "I think I should assemble a group of
professors and lead a small expedition into the Room. I would suggest
that you come with us, but..." He trailed off.
"Students' safety is paramount. I understand, Albus. That's why I brought
you the map."
After the last visit to the Catacombs, Danil lost his desire to explore
potentially dangerous places for a couple of weeks. Even if he used the
ground floor as a place to practice his magic against "living" opponents, it
didn't make his outings any safer.
The old man smiled and nodded. "Thank you, young Danil. If that's all
you wanted to talk about, then you may go."
Without hesitation, Danil said goodbye to the Headmaster and teleported
away.
Dumbledore's smile never left his face, and when Fawkes squeaked a
question, he smiled even wider.
"We're regaining his trust, Fawkes. Perhaps with the records from this
library, we can make changes that will make students feel more at home
here than in a cold cage again." He muttered hopefully.
The old worries that had weighed almost impossible on his shoulders
were lightened considerably. Perhaps… Perhaps he will see a truly
unified Hogwarts in his lifetime.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Simple_Russian_Boi
I need new stones. The ones in my kidneys are far too old to be
crunchy.
Chapter 52: The note
The language of Endermen. A strange, constantly changing set of words
and letters that sounded like a vinyl record being played backwards to
the human ear. Complex sentence systems, where even one extra letter
could change the whole meaning of the message. Verbs that read like
nouns and nouns that meant nothing. There was a feeling that this
language was specially made to be as confusing as possible.
It was impossible to be sure why it was made that way, because its
creators had long been lost to the oblivion of time.
This did not stop Danil from cursing these bastards and their mothers.
"This shit is useless!" He yelled in frustration, holding himself back from
making harsh decisions. "What does that even mean?! How am I
supposed to choose something meaningful from this pile of meaningless
verbal diarrhea?!"
Today was one of those days when Danil decided to start deciphering
Arwen's message again. As everyone could hear-
"Suka, blyat'!"
He didn't succeed.
A scroll full of various interpretations of Arwen's will lay on the table in
front of Danil. He had spent the last few hours writing down hundreds of
different variations of the same sentence. His brain suggested a new
version each time he looked at the piece of paper.
After the fiftieth line, he stopped perceiving space and time, his hands
just continued to move automatically. For a moment, he ceased to be a
man, he was only a machine.
"Forty-one lines. Only forty-one original lines, everything else is just a
repetition of what I have already written." He muttered as he ran his claw
over the parchment and cut off unnecessary parts, choosing only the
original sentences.
[The path to hell is paved with good intentions] was written at the very
top of the sheet. It was the very first inscription that Danil could see in
Arwen's note. Every time his eyes found these words, this particular
translation appeared in his mind.
The words themselves were written in such a way that they could only be
translated in a certain order, line by line. Danil was sure of it, because
the alternative was that he had lost his mind.
"Did that madman leave me instructions on how to get to his Nether
portal?" Danil chuckled in shock. "Oh, if I could just figure out what that
bastard was hiding here!"
The boy's monster fist landed hard on the table, blasting a hole in it with
one clean blow. His heavy breathing rippled through the room, echoing
loudly against the walls.
His gaze jumped from word to word, trying to catch some secret message
among the scattered letters. His irritation slowly crept into his mind,
causing him to skip more things and make more mistakes, closing him in
an endless loop.
Taking a deep breath, Danil forcibly forced himself to look at the wall,
doing everything in his power not to think about this damned message.
Tapping on the table with his claws, he just sat there for a few minutes,
remembering the sounds of static he'd heard on the old TV. The gray
noise had always had a strange calming effect on his emotions.
Raising his hands, Danil released a pair of purple sparks, infusing them
with his magic and controlling their movement in the air. This distracted
him even more from the riddle that had been pulling on his nerves of
late.
The spark eventually landed on the parchment, soaking into the sheet
and lifting it into the air, right in front of his eyes. Looking at the lines of
words, Danil looked at the first letters in each sentence.
"No. No, it can't be that simple. I refuse to believe it."
The quill, which was also on the table, also rose into the air, scratching
every first letter on the empty space of the parchment. And the further he
went, the clearer the message became.
Quill and parchment began to fall to the ground, but Danil intercepted
them out of thin air, staring at the message Arwen had hidden in his will.
[The veil is an unlit portal do with it what you must]
Daniel's eye began to twitch. His fist tightened around the parchment,
claws tearing new paths through the paper.
"... What the fuck is the veil?"
Removing his claws from the holes he had made in the parchment, Danil
slowly laid it on the table, freeing his hands. Rage and irritation bubbled
through his body, mixing into a dangerous cocktail of negative emotions
that began to resonate with his magic.
Bright, aggressive purple sparks bounced off his body, scorching any
surface they landed on. If Danil could see himself in the mirror, he would
have noticed that his eyes began to glow through the goggles, making a
miniature beacon out of his head.
Jerking up from his chair, he walked towards the exit of the room. Sir
Graham only silently opened the way for him, knowing that he was in no
mood to say anything other than curses.
Stepping over the threshold, Danil reached the entrance to Luna's room
with three long strides, barking "Moon frogs live on the moon," towards
Lady Elizabeth. Something squeaked behind him and he immediately
stopped, turning back. The corridor was empty. Not a single person or
animal was visible.
Casting off these strange sounds as his imagination, Danil entered Luna's
apartment, having already calmed down a little.
He needed some of her usual madness. Maybe then he could gain
enlightenment and understand what was actually going on in Arwen's
head when that old bastard wrote his will.
The door closed behind the monster boy, leaving the lifeless castle empty.
But not for long.
The space in the small alcove a little further down the corridor turned
and folded in on itself as Harry Potter almost dropped his Invisibility
Cloak. His eyes were wide with nervousness and his hands were shaking
with fear. Cold sweat broke out on his back, causing his shirt to stick to
his body.
"Merlin, he can talk…" The boy muttered, quickly walking as far away
from the fourth floor as possible.
This meeting was a shock to his system. Now he understood perfectly
why Hermione was so afraid of this monster. Seeing him with his own
eyes, he couldn't deny that he was scared.
'He's dangerous,' flashed through his thoughts, 'I could feel his magic
even from here. Why are the professors hiding his existence?' Harry knew
there was no point in asking them anything. He didn't expect to get a
straight answer from them.
'... Perhaps we can find out something if we search his room.' He grasped
at straws in search of information. 'This is a bad and risky idea, but we
have no other options.'
His footsteps echoed down the empty hallway, hitting his eardrums,
mixing with his heartbeat. Strengthening his resolve, Harry decided to
talk about it with his friends.
'Maybe it's time to talk to Bella before I start doing something crazy.'
Somehow, he felt that this was the first sensible thought he had had in
his head in months.
-=-=-=-=-=-
Luna's apartment was as unusual as the girl herself. Despite the fact that
she had only spent a few weeks in her new room, the creatures that Danil
had seen in her house were already painted on the walls. Bright furniture
- most likely enchanted by magic - was placed in random places.
The windows in the main room were covered with yellow curtains that
were the same color as the carpet on the floor.
Two teenagers sat opposite each other in huge plush chairs. Well, for the
girl they were huge, her legs hung a good meter from the ground when
she was sitting down, but for Dan this chair was quite comfortable.
"Oh, he's talking about Veil in the Department of Mysteries." Luna said as
Danil finished his explanation.
The boy stared at the silver-haired girl without moving a muscle. The
bottle of mead in his hands cracked from the force with which he
squeezed it. He was very lucky that this particular drink did not burn his
skin.
"What."
Luna nodded, picking Billy up from the floor and stroking his head.
"Mhm, daddy told me that they have a physical veil between the world of
the dead. A one-way path for any creature."
The way the girl described the arch sounded very similar to the portal in
Nether. It was easy to see the connection between the two, especially
considering that Arwen said it wasn't lit yet. It was quite possible that the
magic of this world had mixed with the magic of Minecraft, creating
unexpected consequences.
"...Oh." Danil let out a sigh. "Then I just need to sneak into the
Department of Mysteries unnoticed. No big deal."
"Daddy also said that they have an aquarium with tentacle brains that
suck all the intelligence out of their victims." Luna added.
"Now you're just fucking with me."
"Not yet."
"What?"
"What?"
Chapter 53: Roll for a stealth
check
"Are you sure this is a good idea? The professors gave him access to this
place. I doubt that he could get into the Lord's suit just like that." Ron
said, looking around, making sure no one unwanted stumbled into their
meeting.
"If we want to know more, this is our only chance. Hagrid and
McGonagall haven't told us anything, and the rest of the Professors are
just pretending he doesn't exist." Harry said.
Each of them tried to ask the Professors about the monster, but each of
their attempts hit a wall. No matter who they asked, how many books
they read – and nothing.
Hermione was unusually quiet when they decided to sneak into his room.
The usually fair and strict girl was ready to do anything to get her sleep
back. She needed proof that he wasn't a danger to the Wizarding world –
that he wasn't a danger to her and her friends!
The girl was prepared to feel terrible if he turned out to be nice and kind,
but for now her doubts kept her moving forward with this plan.
"He may be the one who revived the Basilisk, and the Professors may
simply not know about it." She reminded Ron of the possibility. "And
we're just going to look, we won't touch anything. It's not something bad,
we're just worried…"
Ron wasn't sure who she was trying to convince – him or herself. But
both of his friends were sure that they had to do it. What kind of man
would he be if he refused to help them?
Holding the Marauders' map in his hands, Harry followed the point on
the map with a single, unreadable name. Ron and Hermione sat with him
under his Invisibility Cloak, which was barely enough to cover the three
of them.
For the last month, they took turns tracking the monster's movements on
the map, recording his routine hour by hour, trying to catch the perfect
moment to try to get inside his room. Imagine their surprise when they
noticed that he was attending classes for second years!
"He should have disappeared somewhere by now, it's already one o'clock
in the afternoon…" Harry muttered. "Usually by this time he leaves his
room-" as if hearing his words, the tracks disappeared from the map into
the unknown. "Never mind. Let's go."
To tell the truth, Harry had no idea where the monster had disappeared
to over the weekend. His traces could not be found on the map for
several hours, which meant that he had left Hogwarts.
Harry didn't have a solution to this riddle, but he didn't need one right
now. The main thing was that they had a chance to get inside.
"Ron-"
"I know, I know." He muttered, taking out his new wand. "Contra
conscientiam."
A gray, murky-looking ball of dim light tore off the tip of his wand and
hit the portrait of Sir Graham. That man dropped the book he was
holding in his hands and stopped after a moment, freezing in the picture.
It was unnatural, to see him freeze, after knowing that he could move
and even talk freely.
"Contra conscientiam." Ron said again and Lady Elizabeth, who had just
noticed her friend's condition, also froze with her mouth hanging open.
"Now we just need to open the lock." Hermione said, climbing out from
under the invisibility cloak.
Harry quickly rolled up his Cloak and tucked it into his belt. All three got
to their feet and approached the portrait, confident that no one would be
able to see them now.
Once they were close enough to the portrait to be heard, they proceeded
to the second step of the plan. Putting his wand to the parchment of the
map, Harry tapped on the password that was written in a strange runic
language under the door to the monster's room.
"Legit illud magna." The spell left his wand and the letters lit up for a
moment.
A couple of seconds passed and complete silence reigned in the Hall.
When the trio had already begun to think that the spell had failed and
looked at each other to figure out what to do next, the map suddenly
exploded with a cacophony of sounds.
"What's going on?!" Ron asked, covering his ears with his hands.
The names of students and professors sounded simultaneously,
interrupting each other and deafening the trio.
"It's reading everything at once!" Harry hissed back.
Suddenly, one sentence sounded much louder than the rest. A language
that sounded like someone had played a broken vinyl record backwards
cut its way through the tangle of English and the portrait suddenly
opened up.
Closing the map, silence returned to the corridor, making Harry breathe a
sigh of relief.
"Great, let's go inside, I don't think we have much time." Harry said,
putting the map away in his robes.
The trio crossed the threshold of the room, prepared for anything
unexpected, but even the broadest of expectations couldn't prepare them
for what awaited on the other side.
At first glance, it was the most ordinary room of a teenager their age. But
as soon as they took a closer look, this picture fell apart before their eyes
like wet paper.
On the bookshelves, right next to books and stacks of parchment, lay
someone's bones. Strange runes were carved into the smooth stone walls,
their meaning only the craziest scientist could even hope to decipher, and
torn scrolls with sloppy inscriptions lay on the table under the rays of the
morning sun.
"Looks creepy." Ron said, his eyes glued to a jar of fermented spider eyes.
"It's like someone stuck Snape's lab in their living room."
Harry couldn't help but agree. He didn't expect to see so many strange
things just by walking into the living room, in his mind, something so
dark people hide in hidden closets. Definitely not in the living room
adjacent to the kitchen. Who can cook when there are someone's eyes on
the shelf just a couple of meters away from you?
Hermione didn't say anything, she just looked at the two doors that were
located deeper in the living room. "If he leaves these things open for
display, then how dark are the things he hides?" She asked and the guys
shuddered.
Walking inside, the trio closed the door behind them, scattering around
the room in search of… something that would prove the dark nature of
the creature that had somehow managed to deceive all the professors. It's
not like they could talk to him openly, right?
Leaving her two friends to search the living room, Hermione opened the
door closest to the exit. The bathroom behind it looked untouched, even
empty, as if it had never been used before.
Without closing the door, she continued further. The last room was
supposed to be the creature's bedroom, where all his dark secrets would
most likely be hidden.
The room itself looked more lived-in than all the others combined. The
bed, although made, was still rumpled. On the table that stood directly
under the small window, there were parchments and quills lying around,
one of which was still writing something.
Hermione moved closer to the table, looking at the sheet of parchment.
The language in which the quill wrote was definitely of Slavic origin. But
that wasn't the only thing on the table.
Drawings of zombies, skeletons, spiders and strange green creatures hung
just above the table, the description of each creature was written in a
strange mixture of English and the same Slavic language. Most of them
were unfamiliar to the girl's eyes.
One of these creatures looked like a huge, cubic golem, with red vein-like
paths cutting paths through its body. The only words she could read were
[Redstone] and [Abomination].
"Right, let's see what's in here," she muttered to herself, making magical
copies of a few particularly interesting-looking notes to translate later.
Putting a couple of copied sheets of parchment into her bag, Hermione
began to search the drawers of her desk, but found nothing suspicious.
None of them were even closed! It was like he didn't even have secrets!
Top drawers – nothing. Bottom drawers – nothing. Even the hidden
drawer on the side of the table was simply empty! It's like that monster
didn't even know about the existence of this hidden compartment!
"No," she muttered, speeding up her search. "No, no, no." Her hands
began to shake. His notes, pieces of parchment, ingredients, even those
bones that lay in the living room were just that – bones.
"There's nothing." She muttered, shocked to the core. "No, that can't be
true! I just haven't found anything dark yet."
She opened each drawer and looked for the second bottom inside. She
looked at the legs of the chair for any hidden buttons. Hermione even
crawled under the bed, ready to face some corpse that the monster had
left there for dinner.
Nothing.
Hermione stood in the middle of the room, not moving a muscle. It
seemed that the girl even stopped breathing and became a statue.
Suddenly, she turned around and quickly walked towards the exit, her
eye immediately catching Harry, who was looking at the collection of
books that was in the living room. The boy muttered spells under his
breath, trying to catch even a hint of dark magic from the thick volumes.
"Did you two find anything?" She asked quickly, clenching her hands into
fists.
"No," Ron replied, leaving the bathroom. "There's only a toothbrush in
there and it's pink. I doubt it belongs to our guy."
"Books and potion parts. There's a couple of odd things in the kitchen
cupboard, but nothing you couldn't find at a nearby Apothecary." Harry
added, shaking his head.
Hermione looked at them with wide eyes. "Nothing…?" A small gasp left
her lips. "No dark books? Cursed objects?"
Harry grimaced. "Only one book on necromancy," Hermione breathed a
sigh of relief, "but it only describes how to spot the signs of necromancy
and identify a caster. I think I saw something similar in the forbidden
section."
Small shocks swept through the girl's body. How could this be possible?
"Guys, I think we made a mistake." Ron started hesitantly, drawing
questioning glances from his friends. "Maybe he's not an evil guy after
all?" Seeing Hermione open her mouth, the redhead raised his palm to
interrupt her tirade. "Hermione, if he had professors helping him,
wouldn't there be a reason for that? I know you've seen him do very
brutal things, but did he do anything bad?"
Hermione and Harry were about to explode with indignation, but Ron
beat them to it again.
"No, think about it. Of all your encounters with this monster, he just
looked scary and evil, but did he do anything truly bad?"
All three knew the answer to this question very well, but no one dared to
say it out loud.
"Let's just leave this case while we have the chance? If the professors trust
him and nothing terrible happened at the school because of him, then
what right do we have to go through his things?"
For a couple of minutes no one dared to utter a word. Hermione and
Harry mentally tried to find reasons to justify themselves, but could not
come up with anything.
Harry gave in first, sighing heavily and letting his guilt consume his
mind. Glancing at Hermione, he slowly closed his hand around hers and
pulled the girl towards the exit.
"Come on, we have nothing else to do here."
Ron breathed a sigh of relief. He was ready to drag his friends out of here
by force if he needed it, but the fact that they agreed with him was much
better.
Only when the Golden Trio was about to leave the apartment, the space
near the exit collapsed in on itself, exploding with purple sparks and
blinding the Gryffindors. They blinked, rubbing their eyes to get rid of
the white spots in their vision, and it was only a couple of seconds before
they were able to see what had arrived in the living room.
A tall, black figure, clad in a mixture of leather and iron armor, stood
between them and the exit. The newcomer's face was mostly hidden
behind an iron helmet, but there was no doubt in the trio's minds as to
his identity.
The hidden monster of Hogwarts returned home, holding a two-meter
battle ax in his hands.
Harry, with growing horror, dared to look into the eyes of this monster
and emerald green met purple amethyst.
This was his first mistake.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Simple_Russian_Boi
That's a big chap for you all, comrades! I apologize for another missed
upload; I caught a cold over the weekend and couldn’t think straight
for a couple of days. Been thinking gay for awhile.
I'm feeling better, so hopefully there will be no more missed uploads.
Chapter 54: Natural One
A wave of rage swept through Danil's body; his hands clenched the wood
of his ax. This – Inferior being dared to look him in the eye!
Three teenagers who had magically found themselves in the wrong place
at the wrong time were staring at him, frozen still as if they were statues.
But only Potter looked him in the eye. Weasley was more worried about
the huge axe, while Granger was staring at its armor.
'What are these idiots doing in my room?! Suka, why today–!'
With difficulty, he pushed his rage down, forcing his jaw to move and
began to speak.
"Don't look away and don't blink, worm." Danil hissed, shaking the trio
out of their stupor. Harry winced, but on instinct he did as he was told.
"No one else should look me in the eyes. As soon as this idiot blinks, I
will immediately start attacking. Girl, run as fast as you can and drag one
of the professors here."
Hermione didn't move, her wand pointed at Danil. "Why should we–"
"Now! The faster you go, the faster you can save your idiot friends!" Danil
barked, still looking into Harry's eyes. He saw cold sweat break out on
the boy's face. Anger built up in his mind like poison, slowly spreading
through his veins and filling his body with hate.
"Hermione, do as he say!" Ron also took out his wand, holding it close to
his body so that he could quickly react to any movement.
Without waiting for the girl's decision, Danil continued speaking, his
voice becoming even deeper than usual. "You stupid bastards will slowly
walk out of my room without breaking eye contact and run after your
friend as quickly as possible. All projectiles won't be able to harm me.
Use conjured water and transfiguration to slow me down."
Ron and Harry looked confused. The boys could not understand why he
was telling them all this. He was clearly going to attack them, he said it
himself, right?
"Why–?" Ron started but was quickly interrupted.
"Boy wonder doesn't have much time, move your limbs, ya twat!" Danil
barked, throwing the ax to the side and tearing off his breastplate, purple
smoke coming out of his mouth. "The scarhead looked me in the eye.
Now I'll either kill him, or you run for long enough to give me time to
calm down. Now move. He doesn't have long."
And it was true. Harry's eyes were already starting to water from the
tension, he wouldn't be able to hold out much longer. A strange, low-
frequency sound began to come from the monster's throat, its eyes began
to shine in the dim lighting of the corridor.
Ron ran out of the room second – Hermione had run to find help a few
minutes ago – and helped Harry out backwards so he could continue to
look into the monster's eyes. That strange sound became even louder,
causing the hairs on the back of the boys' necks to stand on end. Never in
their lives had they felt such fear as they did today.
The two teenagers' feet clattered on the stone floor as they clumsily tried
to exit the narrow passage. The monster turned slowly, its eyes following
Harry's every move, waiting for the moment when its target blinked so
that it could rush and rip out the throat of the rabble that dared to look
into the eyes of a representative of a superior race.
Danil felt his jaw drop down, depriving him of the ability to speak.
Plumes of purple smoke fell to the floor, melting the breastplate he had
thrown aside in his haste.
"Blinking!" Harry screamed and waved his wand, raising a stone wall
between himself and the monster.
As soon as their line of sight broke, the monster let out a blood-curdling
scream, ripping off its claustrophobic helmet and setting off in pursuit of
the lesser creatures that dared to enter its territory.
Harry and Ron ran as fast as they could. The nearest office belonged to
Professor Lupin, who was on the third floor. So, the chances were high
that Hermione ran there.
They didn't even have time to take ten steps when the wall that Harry
had put up was broken like glass and the monster that began to chase
them was madly looking around in search of its prey.
His violet eyes immediately caught the figures of the two intruders.
Emitting a non-human screech, the monster began to move. His long,
wiry body was much faster than anyone would have expected from a
creature of his size.
"Aquosus Flagellum!" Harry chanted, cutting the air behind him with his
wand.
Drops of water immediately gathered at the tip of his wand, lengthening
within seconds and becoming a long whip of water. Without looking
behind him, he sent a line of water flying, hoping to hit the monster and
slow it down.
The whip hit the stone floor, leaving a shallow abrasion on it, but the
monster managed to jump to the side without even being hit.
"Vapor Murum!" Ron immediately shouted, throwing a spell over his
shoulder.
Instead of the expected appearance of water, a wall of scalding steam
appeared before the monster. He didn't have time to stop and flew into it
at full speed.
Pain raced through every inch of his skin, causing the monster to scream
in pain and trip over its own feet. He fell to the ground, rolling and
jumping upward, continuing the chase again.
A couple of Hufflepuff students noticed the chase and immediately ran
away with a squeak of fear. The corridors were not as empty as the two
friends had hoped.
"It didn't work!" Ron shouted as he sprinted towards the stairs. "Any
further and we risk bumping into more people!"
Harry, making a quick decision, turned to the side without saying
anything. He was the fastest of the two of them and without Ron he
could run ahead.
As he expected, the monster zeroed on him.
"Harry!" Ron shouted in shock, but he suddenly understood his friend's
plan.
Thick stone walls rose behind Harry, only for the monster to walk
through them as if there was nothing in front of him. The armor sets
came to life and jumped to the boys' defense, but were scattered to pieces
with just a couple of hits. Waves of steam and whips of water flew
around, not even touching the Enderman – he just teleported away.
But all this slowed him down. For a second or two, he began to lose
speed.
Seeing his goal, Harry threw all his strength into the final push. He
knocked down the door to the room with his shoulder and slammed it
behind him, buying himself a few precious seconds.
The boys' toilet on the fourth floor greeted him with a dozen sinks along
the wall. The toilet stalls and urinals were a little deeper into the room,
but for his plan, it was perfect.
Without hesitating for a second, the boy twirled the stick around his head
and shouted: "Aqua Eruptio!"
The pipes that were hidden in the walls of the room began to tremble
under tension and, one by one, each sink and toilet began to spew an
incredible amount of water directly onto the floor.
"What the heck?!" He heard screaming from one of the closed toilet stalls.
"Whose ass do I need to kick?!"
Harry didn't have time to answer because the monster didn't even try to
break down the door, he teleported inside directly. Water quickly filled
the floor of the room, but not fast enough. The flooding had just begun
and could not help him with its protection.
With a scream, the monster swung its clawed hand, aiming to take off the
lower race's head with just one blow. But Harry saw it from a mile away,
the monster had no desire other than to kill him. Pure rage filled his
movements, there was no higher thought behind them.
"What– what's going on here?" The same voice asked in shock, but no one
had time to answer this question.
Every time the monster attacked, Harry dodged by a hair's breath,
waving his wand and dousing Danil with water. This helped keep the
monster at a distance and stall for time until help arrived.
Suddenly, the monster cried out in pain, teleporting to the side to escape
another attack, but not before his fist connected with Harry's chest,
sending him flying straight into the door of one of the stalls.
Harry's plan began to work, the monster simply could not stand in the
water that filled the floor, the slightest touch of the liquid brought him
pain.
It was clear that Danil was the one who suffered more. Pieces of skin on
his body looked burned, as if he had been doused with acid. Harry's
body, meanwhile, was covered in scratches and bruises from close calls
with the monster's claws.
Struggling to breathe, Harry glanced towards the other booth. Two
disheveled students stood there, a boy from Ravenclaw and a... girl from
Hufflepuff. He didn't need to be a genius to figure out what they were
doing here.
Danil stood at the entrance to the loo, where the water had not yet
reached. His leather sandals were of an open design, he couldn't take
even one step before the water would cause him even more damage. The
hatred in his eyes subsided a little, and his jaw returned to its normal
position, but he did not stop staring at Harry.
"Hey… Sorry about that." The Boy Who Lived said holding his wand at
the ready. Just because the monster stopped didn't mean it wouldn't try
to attack again.
"What did you do?!" The girl immediately screamed, stomping towards
Harry and not even paying attention to how the water soaked into her
clothes.
"What?" He rasped in confusion, turning to the girl. He noticed how the
Ravenclaw boy slowly approached the monster, carefully looking only at
the ground.
Harry raised his wand again and pointed it at the monster. "Stay back!
He–!" His hand was immediately pulled aside.
"Shut up and let him do his thing!" She forced his head down so that
Harry wouldn't even have the chance to look into the monster's eyes
again.
Harry didn't know what this madman was going to do and was ready to
stun both of them, but the boy was already too close to the monster.
"Danil? Buddy, do you understand me?" Gabriel began slowly, drawing
the monster's attention to himself. "Easy, easy. I know you're angry. He
looked into your eyes, right? I won't make that mistake. Are you okay?"
The hatred slowly left Danil's eyes. He tore his eyes away from Harry and
looked at Gabriel. His friend from the Divination class was tearing off the
hem of his white shirt, which only miraculously remained dry.
{"... This scum allowed itself to look at its betters."} He answered, but
then winced.
"That wasn't English, let's try it again. Take a deep breath," Danil did,
"and let it all out. Are you still with us?"
Danil was silent for a couple of seconds. His entire body was sending
signals of pain, his feet still tingling from the water that had seeped into
his boots. He couldn't feel his left side – and that was very, very bad.
"I feel like I ran through a meat grinder." He said in the end.
Gabriel and Jamie breathed a sigh of relief and the boy handed Danil a
piece of cloth. Without any argument, he wrapped it around his eyes,
removing even the slightest chance that this horror would happen again.
{"Perspicuus."} He said, touching the blindfold and within a second it
became perfectly transparent for him, as if it was not there. "Done, you
can look up."
"What the hell happened here?! Why were you chasing Potter?!" Jamie
asked impatiently, placing her hands on her hips.
"I'd like to know that too."
All four of them turned to leave and Harry's stomach dropped. A
breathless Ron and Hermione stood behind a furious looking Professor
Snape.
"So, Potter? Would you like to explain yourself?"
Chapter 55: Secret No More?
"This is not how I expected to spend my Saturday night." Remus muttered
to himself as he looked around the medical wing.
Harry, Ron and Hermione were sitting on one side of the room, and
Danil, Jamie and Gabriel were on the opposite. Snape circled the Golden
Trio, extracting every drop of information about the incident from them.
Each of the teenagers looked rumpled, but already dry. Pomfrey had no
tolerance for those who contaminated a sterile environment.
The section in which the impromptu interrogation was carried out was
fenced off from the rest of the room by a long screen, eliminating the
chance to peek at what was happening.
Speaking of Madam Pomfrey, she came just a couple of minutes ago, and
was now wrapping up the countless wounds that remained on Danil's
body.
"How many times could I have told you that you should be more careful!
You will have to stay here for a few days while Severus prepares the
healing paste for you."
Danil hissed as the Mediwitch tightened the bandage around the wound
on his arm. 'Bless all living things for the existence of disinfectant spells,
because without them the boy would have been much worse off.' She
thought.
"But he'll be fine, right?" Jamie asked, fidgeting in her seat.
"Of course, this boy heals faster than a dog. If he came into my wing even
less often, it would be much better. Oh, just let me tell you, how utterly
ridiculous his injuries are! Once he even showed up with a sword in his
shoulder, can you imagine?!" Pomfrey ranted and raved.
Hermione, who had been eavesdropping on their conversation with
interest, shrank into her chair. She didn't know what to think after
everything that happened.
"–ran into the bathroom because he said I needed to use the water against
him. I thought that by surrounding myself with water, I could stop his
pursuit long enough for him to calm down." Harry said, looking
anywhere but at Professor Snape.
The green-eyed boy's chest was bandaged under his robes. The last blow
from Danil had cracked a couple of his ribs, so a spell from Pomfrey
would get him back on his feet, but his wounds weren't all that life-
threatening, so he was left for later.
"And your only idea was to blow up the pipes?" Snape raised an eyebrow,
as if surprised at how stupid a human could be. "How arrogant do you
have to be to think you could get away with–?"
"Severus." Remus interrupted with a frown on his face. "Yes, he could
have made better choices, but that's already in the past. Don't pretend we
haven't fixed everything with a few spells."
Snape sneered at Remus, but didn't deny his words.
"Well, let's assume he didn't disrupt anything particularly important in
the castle's internal systems. We're still left with an obvious problem."
Taking a step towards Harry's bed, Snape loomed over the three friends
like a harbinger of death. His robes reached down to the ground and his
broad shoulders cast a shadow over the teenager's face.
"Why were snooping around in his room? What idiotic idea are you using
as an excuse for your actions this time?"
Remus's frown deepened, but he didn't interrupt this time. The question
was valid, even if he didn't like that Snape had been hostile from the
start.
"... it was my fault." Hermione said quietly, turning the Professor's ire
towards herself. "I– I noticed something was going on in the castle since
the day of the Acromantula attack and started investigating. I asked
Harry and Ron to help me search his room."
"Still don't hear the reason, Granger." Snape crossed his arms over his
chest. Of course, he had questions about how exactly their research was
conducted, but he would leave that to McGonagall. He was sure that the
know-it-all was still using the Time Turner, and that she probably used it
to see something that she should've seen.
"I was shaken by the Basilisk attack later in the year." She continued just
as quietly. "The Aurors didn't find anyone in the castle who could control
undead of that size, so I thought: who could be the culprit?"
"And your choice fell on Khromov?" Remus asked.
"... If that's his name, then yes. He was an unknown factor. All the
Professors refused to talk to us about his existence. I thought that he was
somehow able to deceive everyone and hide behind the protection of
authority to avoid punishment."
Snape didn't need to use legilimensy to know that the girl was lying. He
saw how her body trembled, how she flinched every time her eyes fell on
Khromov's body. She was scared and this fear fueled her obsession.
He didn't really care why the girl decided to make Danil into her personal
monster, but he couldn't let his source of ingredients disappear because
of the girl's ravings.
"And you didn't think that his existence could have been hidden for a
completely different reason?" Remus said with a hint of disbelief in his
voice.
Hermione and Harry both looked at Ron, but he just shrugged, refusing
to say anything.
"I see…" The werewolf said slowly, lost in thought.
There was a brief silence in the room, broken only by Danil's quiet curses
in Russian and Pomfrey's voice scolding him for his choice of words.
"Professor?" Ron finally broke the silence. "Who is he anyway? Why does
water… erm, melts him?"
Snape snorted and walked to the other side of the medical wing, leaving
Remus to answer their questions.
"This is something you should ask Mr. Khromov himself." Remus nodded
towards his bed. "It's his secret and I doubt he'll be too pleased if I tell it
to you without permission."
"But–" Harry's protest died on his lips, interrupted by someone opening
the door to the medical bay. That someone walked inside the room, and
then stopped, calling for the mediwitch.
"I'll check what's going on there." Madam Pomfrey quickly reached the
screen and disappeared behind it, talking in low voices with the
newcomer.
Meanwhile, Danil fell powerlessly on the bed and stared at the ceiling.
Now that the veil of rage had been lifted from his eyes, he remembered
everything that had happened during the chase. Jamie covered him with
a blanket and patted his good shoulder with pity in her eyes.
'Those Hufflepuffs definitely saw me.' He thought bitterly.
A couple of moments later, Madam Pomfrey returned, leading Professor
McGonagall behind her. The trio of friends instinctively cowered at the
sight of the woman, she looked absolutely apocalyptic, all she needed
was smoke from her nostrils to complete her look.
"Can someone explain to me why half the students in the castle are
talking about another monster chasing mister Potter?" She said
immediately, without even looking around, her eyes immediately found
Harry.
The Gryffindor boy shifted in his bed, but to his relief, someone started
speaking before him.
"I know I'm not your usual Prince Charming, but a monster from the get-
go? Really?" Danil muttered in displeasure, not even trying to sit up on
the bed. "I have feelings too, just so you know."
McGonagall turned towards the boy's monster and pursed her lips. "Well,
Mr. Khromov, if you want, you can make your feelings known at dinner
today, because by then everyone in the castle and their parents will know
about you."
Danil, Gabriel and Jamie looked unhappy hearing her words. The secret
of Enderman's existence inside the school didn't even last a year! Well,
Jamie was more unhappy that she could no longer consider herself one of
the holders of another Hogwarts secret, but who'll call her out on that?
"I doubt Madam will let me go until I grow some new flesh, Professor."
Danil deadpanned. "And I wasn't really planning on moving, to be honest.
Some of my muscles are missing from my body at the moment."
"New flesh…?" McGonagall muttered in horror, but immediately forced
herself to calm down and turn towards her colleagues. "Remus, Severus, I
could use the details of the incident right now."
After a short retelling of events with the addition of information from the
participants in the catfight themselves, the Transfiguration Professor
finally had a complete picture of the events. The woman wasn't sure who
she was more disappointed in, her Gryffindors for breaking into someone
else's room, or at Danil for telling Harry to use the water against him.
"I'm disappointed in you three." She said looking at her students with
conflict in her eyes. "But we will talk about your poor decisions later.
First, I must discuss with Mr. Khromov his possible future."
Madam Pomfrey, realizing that they would need privacy, waved her
wand and the partition split in two, this time surrounding only Danil's
bed. Gabriel and Jamie were quickly kicked out of the room because,
unlike everyone else present, these two didn't even receive a scratch.
Remus and Severus also left the Medical Wing, leaving the golden trio in
the care of Madam Pomfrey.
Left alone with McGonagall, Danil, now with some real bandages around
his eyes, asked the main question.
"How bad is it?"
Taking a deep breath, Minerva sat down on the chair next to his bed. The
woman knew the boy quite well; after all, they spent hours together
discussing how exactly his special magic worked with transfiguration.
"Right now, everyone is confused – no one knows what exactly happened
because witnesses only saw you for a couple of moments. Students are
speculating that another strange creature has chased Potter, this is not
such an unusual incident in this castle–"
"Which means the professors can give their version of events as the
truth." He commented thoughtfully. "There's still a chance to maintain my
anonymity."
"I wasn't done." McGonagall said sternly. "Among those witnesses was one
Colin Creevey. One of my students who is extremely interested in
photographs. He is developing a magical photograph in which he
captured you chasing mister Potter as we speak."
"And you can't confiscate his personal property without reason." Danil
finished her thought.
Magic photographs were not much different from ordinary ones. Apart
from the fact that they moved and had limited response to stimulation
from the outside world, they weren't all that special.
"Quite."
"Shit."
"Language, mister Khromov."
Danil slowly rose up on the bed to sit up again and waved off the worried
sound from Minerva, who didn't want him to move in his condition. The
fact that there was a Gryffindor hiding among the Hufflepuffs wasn't so
surprising. What was that the little shit had a camera and was fast
enough to take his picture!
'What are the chances?' He mused. 'He was in the right place at the right time.
Is this the Wanderer's doing or is it my fate?'
His comfortable and calm way of living began to crack again. Damn nosy
teenagers, what kind of bee stung them in the ass so that they began to
investigate its existence? Why couldn't they just leave him alone?
Unfortunately, he didn't have answers to these questions. So, the boy
could only work with what life threw at him. He was good at rolling with
his punches at this point.
"How long does it take to develop a magical photograph?" He asked.
"On average, from thirty minutes to an hour. Most likely, every
Gryffindor has already seen this particular picture."
"And that means we'll have to tell at least part of the truth." A clawed
hand rose from under the blanket, allowing Minerva and Danil to look at
the bandages that bound the boy's body.
Some of the bandages were already blackened by his special type of
blood, but the dimples in his flesh were still clearly visible through them.
The water wasn't just acid to the monster boy, it was like burning napalm
on his body, devouring his flesh while it had the chance.
"My legs are in the worse condition. Lord knows, I walked to this place
on my own two feet only thanks to adrenaline. I can't appear in person. "
He began to think out loud, ignoring the shocked gasp from Minerva. "Or
can I...?"
Scratching his chin, Danil finally turned to the woman, his eyes burning,
hidden from the whole world behind the bandage. "How quickly can
Dumbledore get me a few bars of gold?"
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Simple_Russian_Boi
Yep. Our boy's gonna craft some gapples!
Chapter 56: Gold and Aplles
Gold was an expensive metal not only for ordinary people. The magical
world also spun and worked often only thanks to the shine of the yellow
coins.
This metal was used in a variety of areas of people's lives: from use in the
creation of electronics, to rituals and artifacts created by skilled
magicians. Gold has taken its place on the pedestal since ancient times
and no one had the opportunity to throw it off.
A book could be written on why gold was so important to the whole
world, but right now for Danil it was important for a completely different
reason. Standing over the crafting table, which he took out of his trusty
bottomless backpack and placed next to his bed, he tested different
combinations with gold.
"And what exactly are you trying to do? Minerva didn't tell me the details
of why exactly you needed so much gold." Albus said with interest as he
watched the teenager's movements.
Considering that no one had said exactly how much gold was needed,
Albus only asked a hundred kilograms from his good friend Nicholas. It
was simply rude to ask for more.
"I'm going to create a golden apple that can heal me up back to hundred
percent. At the same time, I want to see if I can create a particularly
crazy item that could theoretically resurrect a person on the verge of
death." He answered distractedly.
Seeing that it was best not to distract the teenager for now, Albus
returned to observation.
To begin with, Danil broke one gold bar into nine nuggets – somehow;
the old man didn't understand how this little table worked – and
surrounded one normal red apple with eight of them. Nothing happened.
The monster boy frowned in displeasure, but didn't say anything, only
returning the pieces of gold to their original state. Then he surrounded
the same apple, this time with gold bars, and before Dumbledore even
had time to blink, a golden apple was now shining in the boy's hand.
This apple looked unusual. It was as if someone very skilled had made a
figurine of an apple and covered it with a layer of gold to show off his
skill. Only the stem remained made of wood.
"Well, that works." Danil commented, taking the apple by the stem and
eating the fruit of impossible origin in one bite.
Not having time to stop such an idiotic decision, Dumbledore could only
watch, fascinated, as the monster boy grunted in pain and grabbed the
table to stop himself from falling over. One could see his body was
growing with new flesh, filling the space under the tightly wrapped
bandages.
A moment – and they became too tight, so with a mental effort Danil sent
out a wave of magic and cut off all the bandages that surrounded his
body, leaving only the one on his head.
Now both of them had an incredible show ahead of them. New skin has
yet to grow on his wounds, allowing them to see how the muscles grew
in place of the missing ones and connected together.
They couldn't take their eyes off this disgustingly beautiful show. His
flesh was restored with incredible speed and after twenty seconds there
was not a single wound left on him, there was not even a single scar on
his new skin.
"Danil?" Dumbledore calmly scratched his beard. "Could you tell me what
I just witnessed?"
"To begin with, it was extremely unpleasant." He admitted, standing up
to his full height again. "This, my dear Albus, was the golden apple – the
only food that can help a living being with regeneration. How it works, I
confess, I have no idea, I'm just glad it does."
Stretching not unlike a cat, Danil began the second experiment, crafting
one golden block after another, grunting with difficulty and placing them
around the table.
Albus raised an eyebrow at this. He knew perfectly well that it was
impossible to make a solid block of this size from nine kilograms of pure
gold. Taking his wand out of his sleeve, he waved it over one of the
blocks and felt his eyebrows rise to meet his hairline. In front of him
stood a stable cubic meter of pure gold! It didn't make any sense!
"Danil, do you know that you have now created stable matter out of
nothing?" Albus asked, feeling a headache coming on.
The boy stopped his manipulations with the gold, looking at the old man
in surprise. "Did I?" He looked at all the gold that surrounded him and
shrugged. "Good to know if I ever want to crash the world economy. Now
on to the main show."
Taking the first block of gold in his hands, the boy compressed it in his
hands, reducing the huge amount of gold to the size of his own fist. One
by one, eight insanely expensive blocks of gold surrounded the second
red apple and when the process was completed, Danil slowly lowered his
hands to the crafting table and concentrated.
At first, nothing happened. But instead of backing away with a
disappointed face, Danil clung even closer and froze, glaring at the table
through the bandage around his eyes.
He felt the table reluctantly begin to take away his magic at first, as if he
did not want to carry out the orders of his consent. Seeing this, Danil
decided that this would not work and began to forcibly pour his magic
into the tree. That's when the fun began.
The table, like an energy vampire, collected the magic of the boy's
monster and, with its help, began to change objects on its surface
according to the user's ideas. The gold flowed towards the apple, slowly
enveloping it and penetrating the crisp skin, filling the flesh with cold
metal.
But that's not all that happened inside the small apple. Something has
changed in the metal itself, changing its essence to another, filling it with
ideas of protection, healing and restoration.
Finally, when the last gram of gold fused with the apple, it glowed a soft
purple hue, emitting a power that even Dumbledore had difficulty
understanding.
"Here she is." Danil said with a smug smile and took the Enchanted
Golden Apple in his hands. "Looks cool, huh?" He asked and slowly
turned to Albus – the creation of the Apple had drained all his strength –
but he only stood there, looking with wide eyes at the apple in the boy's
hands.
The old magician took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes as if he had just
been blinded by the sun. It was clear that Albus did not fully understand
what exactly had happened.
"Danil, my young friend, did you know that my glasses are enchanted to
see a limited range of magic? A useful skill if someone of my status wants
to live a long life." Danil nodded, but any intelligent being would benefit
from such an artifact. "So, right now this apple that you hold in your
hands shines brighter than the midday sun." He looked at Danil
expectantly, but he was already lost in his own thoughts.
This was understandable; if it worked even better than an ordinary
golden apple, then there must be much more magic in it.
'Or is it not magic at all?' A thought suddenly flashed through his head.
"... Take this Apple away already, you'll have your time to admire it."
Albus muttered exhaustedly, causing Danil to wake up and quickly put
the Apple in his backpack. "Thank you. Would you mind if I asked you to
study it later?"
"Yeah, go for it, but I want to join in." He easily agreed.
"Great. Now let's get back to pressing matters." The old man finally
started talking about what was truly important right now.
But the problem was not small, especially for Danil. Right now, all the
students' first impressions of him are negative. For them, he is just
another terrible creature who wanted to tear off the head of Potter, the
savior of all Britain.
"As I see it now, the secret of my existence is no longer a secret at all."
Danil said. "The question remains of how much to tell the students? I
rather not have the Ministry declare me a dangerous creature that's ought
to be killed on sight, so we need to tell them that I'm a cursed human at
the very least."
And oh, how he didn't want to do that. Life in secret suited him perfectly
and attracted him with its comfort. As soon as his bald head appears in
the sights of the Ministry, they will definitely have questions about his
existence. And the Ministry will bring along the gazes of other interested
people, that will try to use him in their own political agenda.
Danil was ready to accept Shrek as his one and only God rather than go
into politics.
"Any reasonable person will see that you are just a victim of
circumstances, my dear friend." Albus said with confidence, but Danil
wasn't convinced.
"Don't lie to me. I spent enough time in the corridors listening to students'
conversations. Most of the purebloods will see me as an animal, and
those from the dark faction will consider me to me worse than dirt under
their boots. And all the others who consider me their equal will be
quickly silenced."
Shaking his head in disappointment, Dumbledore took a bag of lemon
drops out of his pocket and popped one into his mouth. The professor just
enjoyed the taste of sweetness for a while, thinking about their next
move. Danil, meanwhile, wasn't even thinking about closing his mouth.
"The only chance to show that I am not a dangerous, insane creature
driven only by instincts and a desire to kill is to use Luna as my main
support."
Albus raised an eyebrow in a quiet question, but the explanation was
interrupted by the appearance of the school matron.
"Why did I feel a huge magical release from here five minutes ago-?
Mister Khromov, who allowed you to get out of bed?!"
Realizing that they owed Madam Pomfrey an explanation, Albus and
Danil resigned themselves to their fate. For you don't piss off the white
mage.
Chapter 57: Not so spooky
"And what do you mean by that?" Albus asked, but without reproach, he
decided to listen to his young student's plan first.
Madam Pomfrey has already gutted all the details of Danil's miraculous
treatment out of them and gave them a lecture so that no more such shit
would be done without the presence of a healer. After that, the boy was
ordered to change his clothes and get out of the medical wing if nothing
bothers him anymore.
"We both know that wizards are not the sanest – in normal folk terms, at
the very least. Our priorities shifted away so much that we all probably
look insane and deranged to an ordinary person." The old man nodded in
agreement, reaching for the second lemon drop in his little bag.
When in your world almost everywhere can heal everyday injuries with a
spell, and something more serious with potions that bring discomfort for
a short time; the word "safe" starts to change its meaning. It was difficult
to worry about a broken arm when you know that you will be healthy
again in the morning. But there are hundreds, if not thousands, of such
strange differences in the wixen way of thinking.
Take magical animals as another example. A bone that a wix broke in a
non-magical way can be healed in a couple of hours at most. But the
wounds left by the magical beast had to be treated longer and with more
natural methods.
Therefore, if in the eyes of wizards some life-threatening injuries were
practically safe, then a meeting with even the most "harmless" magical
animals could end in prolonged suffering and pain, or even in death.
"Since I will be seen by them as a dangerous creature in most cases, I
suggest hitting where they wouldn't expect – cuteness." Danil said quite
seriously. "Something like a Beauty and the Beast situation."
For a couple of seconds, Albus thought he had misheard his student. But
no, Danil just continued to stare and radiate seriousness. In front of the
old wizard was a monster boy who decided to win the trust of people
with Luna's cuteness.
"It sounds most unusual. But will it work?"
Although the idea was possibly workable, there were doubts about how
exactly they would be able to pull off this adventure. Because regardless
of what they tell and try to show, everyone will draw their own
conclusions. But someone might well have thought that Danil was under
Luna's complete control, something like a familiar.
There was no need to talk about how bad this could affect the girl.
"Well-"
"Danil!" The high-pitched voice of the little blonde rang loudly and two
quite serious men didn't even have time to blink, as a rocket named Luna
crashed into the torso of the monster boy.
The girl hung on to her friend like a koala and apparently wasn't going to
let go anytime soon. She sobbed quietly and tried very hard not to cry,
although she knew that for some reason human fluids don't harm Danil as
water does, she didn't want to risk it. Wrapping his left arm around his
friend, so that she wouldn't slip off, the monster boy smiled.
"Hi, Luna Lovegood, I'm already healed."
"I know, Danil Khromov." The girl replied, tactfully sobbing between
words to make it easier to understand. "I stole a report from Madam
Pomfrey- on your condition. Now I don't like the number six." She
muttered and hid her face in the boy's side.
Danil grimaced. After the battle with Potter – although it was more of a
giveaway game – he lost six percent of his flesh. And it seemed like six
isn't that big of a number, but it was on six more than he wanted.
"Since you're already here, will you listen to our proposal? There's
something only you can help with."
Interest flashed in the girl's eyes and she showed her face again, at least
for a moment giving Albus a hope that maybe their plan would work. All
that remains is to tell all the nuances that Luna may encounter if she
agrees to help them.
-=-=-=-=-=-
And once again this year, the Main Hall of Hogwarts Castle was filled
with the nervous trepidation of students and the harsh temperament of
professors. This year will certainly be remembered by many as one of the
richest in strange and dangerous events.
The escape of Sirius No-name from Azkaban, the Dementors in Hogwarts,
the attack of these creatures on Potter, the appearance of Acromantulas
on the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest, the reanimation of the Basilisk
and its attack on Potter…
Quite a lot of strange things were connected with Potter. It was amazing
how the Boy-Who-Lived attracted problems of Increasing size on a
permanent basis. There was a feeling that as a child he wasn't hit with a
death spell, but was instead cursed to have the luck of the joker. And
again, this time he was lucky to find another scary creature that wanted
to rip him apart.
Everyone in the Hall was wondering: what happened this time? Will the
Professors tell them the truth? Was it a farewell "gift" from Sirius No-
name? Right now, all the students were whispering among themselves,
throwing theories among themselves about what really happened.
And while some openly and with great interest discussed the latest news,
looking at the magical photos of the incident at the same time – which
were kindly provided by Colin Creevey, at a symbolic price of seven
Knuts – some demonstratively showed their complete indifference to
what was happening. Yet, that didn't make them special, because even
they wanted to know what's going on. And, as luck would have it, the
culprits of the celebration were nowhere to be seen!
"What do you think Potter got into this time?" Someone at the Ravens
table asked.
"A Sickel says that the idiot stuck his nose where it didn't belong." They
heard in response.
"Nah, this time he was definitely attacked unprovoked for sure, because
he got himself into the Basilisk fight, and to step into the same puddle
twice in one year will be a new peak of stupidity even for him." Said a
third person.
But all this talk and speculation died down when the Golden Trio entered
the Hall, and right behind them were the remaining staff members.
What no one expected was for an unexpected guest to show up with
them. Directly behind Professor Dumbledore walked a skinny black
monster whose height could only be compared to Hagrid's. Hell, maybe it
was even higher!
He wore black slacks, a white button-down shirt, and a dark robe that
flowed behind him like a cape in the wind. Somehow this particular show
of style strongly reminded everyone of Professor Snape's billowing robes,
which only added fuel to the fire of Hogwarts rumor mill.
"What is this creature doing in the castle?!" Someone squealed from the
direction of the Slytherin table. Fear had already begun to penetrate the
minds of the students and only the presence of their professors calmed
the children.
Dumbledore was prepared for such a question. "I ask all of you to remain
in your seats, everything will be explained in a couple of minutes. Mister
Khromov is on the territory of the Castle with my permission, you can be
sure of that."
Each of their small group scattered to their own places. The Golden Trio
remained at their table, sitting down with their peers, while the
Professors took their seats, leaving an empty chair for Danil next to
Hagrid.
The monster boy looked around the Great Hall, looking for familiar faces.
Most of his friends were surprised with his appearance. Almost none of
them expected to see him this evening, especially after they saw the
photographs that Colin took.
"Students, please give me your attention." The whispers in the Hall
stopped as soon as Dumbledore began to speak. "I'm sure that each of you
wants to know what happened this time, so I won't bore you with long
stories.
"First, I'll tell you about who Mister Khromov is. Since the beginning of
September of this year, he has been a resident of the castle as a student."
Shocked gasps came from all sides, because everyone knew that
Hogwarts had never trained magical creatures. "Yes, Mister Khromov is
indeed a human, albeit a cursed one."
Dumbledore looked around at his students and, as he expected, not
everyone took his words well. Who would be pleased to know that some
monster studied side by side with them?
"The true nature and the details of this curse aren't known, but we can
confidently say that this curse only affects Mister Khromov himself and
cannot interact with the environment." This calmed the students,
although not so much that they stopped being nervous.
"The reason for the chase that occurred earlier this afternoon was a side
effect of this curse." He continued and the students held their breath.
"Anyone who looks directly into Mister Khromov's eyes risks their life and
the safety of those around them. That is why, from the very beginning of
his arrival in the castle, he wears these enchanted glasses."
The students' gazes immediately fell on Danil, who stretched forward so
that everyone could look at the mentioned object.
"But how then was Potter able to look him in the eye?!" Asked a
malicious voice from Hufflepuff.
"I'll let Mister Khromov to tell this part of the story." Albus bowed, giving
Danil the opportunity to take control of the situation.
Rising to his full height, Danil began to speak, his low voice and Russian
accent forced everyone to pay attention to him, not allowing the
audience to even think about interrupting him.
"Greetings, students of Hogwarts. My name is Danil Khromov and only
half a year ago I first learned about magic, when my body turned into
what I am now." He ignored the expected sighs of pity and scoffs of
disbelief. "But you're not here to hear about my past. You are here to hear
about what happened today."
And Danil began to tell the edited version of events with a perfect poker
face, without feeling remorse for his lies. He purposely avoided
mentioning any things that could bring legal problems to both him and
the rest of the participants in this event. It was decided in advance that
they would not tell the public about the crimes of Potter and his friends.
They will suffer all punishments outside the knowledge of the public.
Someone may ask: why? After all, they deserved to be expelled from
Hogwarts at the very least! There is a simple answer to this - politics.
Neither Dumbledore nor Bellatrix Black herself could let the world know
that young Potter broke into someone's room and conducted a full-blown
illegal search inside just because he wanted to. So, by withholding this
information, Dumbledore and Danil got themselves some brownie points
with the Black family.
"... I apologize to anyone who felt unsafe in my presence." Danil bowed
his head for a couple of moments, ending his monologue. After which he
sat down, allowing the Hogwarts' body to digest everything he had said.
The students had mixed feelings at this moment. The fault for the
incident still lay with Potter and his friends, who were hanging around in
forbidden parts of the school, but it was also partly the fault of Danil,
who didn't take appropriate measures to prevent a disaster.
A couple of minutes later, one witch spoke up.
"Are we done here?" Luna asked, tilting her head as she waited for an
answer.
"Yes, Miss Lovegood, that concludes the announcement. Now I invite you
all to satisfy your hunger. No one can think on an empty stomach."
Dumbledore clapped his hands and the tables were immediately filled
with various dishes, announcing the start of dinner.
Luna, hearing this, stood before the eyes of the entire Hall and skipped
towards Danil, eventually landing on his lap. It was obvious that the girl
felt very comfortable and safe in his presence.
"Happy with yourself?" Danil grinned. At first, the only idea was that
Luna would just join him for dinner. The girl insisted on doing it her
way.
"Mhum." She nodded smugly and speared a sausage lying nearby onto her
fork, handing it to the boy behind her. "Now you're not so spooky to
them anymore."
Now, no one simply had the slightest idea how to perceive this monster
boy. After all, the professors didn't even think about interfering with the
girl's actions. They simply let her be.
'Luna used confusion. It's super effective!' Danil thought with a chuckle.
Chapter 58: The talks
Harry, Ron and Hermione sat together, shielded from the endless
questions of their classmates by a magical barrier of silence. The fact that
Dumbledore and Khromov told a far from truthful version of events
wasn't missed by either of them. And they didn't know how to feel about
it.
On the one hand, almost no one at school knew that the Trio had once
again violated the law. On the other hand, the Professors knew about it
and it didn't bode well for them.
And although in previous times they broke the law and got caught,
everything was not as serious as this time. If the truth about their actions
is revealed, the consequences will reverberate for them for the rest of
their lives! They didn't want to get a reputation as thieves!
"... Are we the bad guys? I feel like a bad guy." Ron confessed, crossing
his arms over his chest.
Hermione winced at his words. "We couldn't have known his situation,
Ron. If the Professors were more-"
"Let's not place the responsibility for our actions onto others." He
interrupted the girl with a stern look that looked unusually wrong on his
face. "What did they tell us? Leave this matter alone, they have
everything under control. We simply ignored their warnings. If we just
stopped to think a bit, none of that shite might've happened."
Harry nodded at his friend's words without noticing it. "We really
screwed up big time…" He drawled, looking at how Khromov was talking
about something with Luna.
The girl somehow forced him to get up from his seat and relocate to the
Hufflepuff table. They sat down next to the couple whose free time Harry
had interrupted earlier that day. It was clear that all four were friends.
And that raised eyebrows.
Were they familiar with Khromov even before his public appearance to
the people? How long had they known about his existence?
"Stop saying 'we'." Hermione said, hiding her eyes from the surprised
boys. "I understand perfectly well that if I hadn't pressed, we would have
passed by Khromov without asking about his story. We could've just
ignored that someone else lived in the castle. In the end, it's all my fault."
The only reason she didn't cry now was because she was in the Great
Hall. She wasn't going to cry in front of hundreds of people.
Harry put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her to his body. "You
can think as you want, but now we are in this together. So come on, chin
up, we'll need optimism to survive the punishment that McGonagall will
come up with for us." He tried to lift her spirits, but the joke fell flat.
The thought of Professor McGonagall being disappointed in her as a
student didn't make Hermione feel any better.
"Anyway, let's eat already. The shitty state of our affairs is not a reason to
start a hunger strike." Ron said and began to put food on his plate.
At the other end of the hall, at the Hufflepuff table, Danil and Luna felt
the full hospitality of the badgers. And if at first, they were still afraid of
the monster boy, then after the introduction by Gabriel and Jamie, they
began to think of him as a person at the very least. It was easy to get
along with already friendly people.
But after the first acquaintance, Danil was dragged under the dome of
silence by his friends, where they began the interrogation.
"And what will happen to Potter and his entourage?" Jamie asked,
throwing annoyed glances at the golden boy.
"It will be decided by Professors and guardians of idiots." Danil muttered
dissatisfaction. "I would love to tear off their heads for destroying my
anonymity, but that's just not possible. How did these fools see me for the
first time anyway? They came when I had already killed all the
Acromantulas." He scratched his chin thoughtfully, but decided that he
wasn't destined to discover this particular secret yet. And it wasn't that
important right now.
"Well, it's probably even for the best. No matter how stupid Potter is, I
wouldn't want him and his friends to be expelled." Danil's questioning
look turned to Gabriel. "What? Is it so strange that I don't hate the kid?"
"No, that's not the point." replied Danil. "It's just still hard for me to come
to terms with the fact that breaking and entering is considered as the
basis for expulsion, but assault is not. Even if I accepted it, it's hard to get
used to it."
His gaze itself came across those three girls who, at the very beginning of
the school year, tried to bully Luna. Now they were trembling with fear
and shivered when they saw that their peeping had not gone unnoticed.
He had no doubt that now they were pissing in their pants from the
realization that their previous target for bullying now had such a scary
little creature on defense.
"How are you feeling?" Luna asked, blinking slowly towards Danil like a
cat. He was distracted from his observations and looked down at the girl.
"Annoyed and disappointed, I guess." Danil sighed heavily. "Even
understanding why Potter and his company did what they did, it's still
extremely unpleasant for me. The bastard destroyed my way of life in one
day."
Just the thought of Potter made the familiar slush of hatred boil in his
blood. "It seems that I still haven't completely moved away from our eye
contact. Even now I want to smash his head against the wall."
Gabriel patted his unlucky friend on the back without saying anything.
His tacit support was enough.
"But the most disgusting thing is that now I can't escape from the
Ministry's gaze in any way. Maybe I'll have to move to Japan or South
Korea, they're not a part of the International Confederation of Wizards…
I think." Danil stretched out, picking up pork ribs from the plate and
gnawing into them, as if there was no bone inside.
Luna's frown went unnoticed by everyone, she clenched the hem of her
robe into her fists. If because of Grainger's fears and Potter's stupidity,
her first real friend will be forced to flee the country, she will never
forgive them.
All three of his friends frowned at his words, but this time it was Jamie
who spoke up.
"Are we sure that the Ministry will care about you at all? Although no,
that's an empty hope, every employee there has a relative at school. They
will certainly try to grab you by the balls." The girl muttered with
displeasure and pouted like a hamster.
"Why do they need Danil's balls? Is there something special about them?"
Luna said in confusion, but Jamie just waved the blonde away.
"Right, we'll discuss everything else later, let's get back to socialization. I
can see Bones and Abbott going out of their way trying to look at you."
Gabriel said, muttering a counter-spell from the dome of silence. "Susan,
Hannah! Let me introduce you to my good friend – Danil Khromov!" He
started enthusiastically, immediately digging into his victims with
metaphorical claws.
The girls squeaked in surprise, but their interest overcame their fear, so
they sat down opposite four friends with smiles on their faces.
"Danil, meet my good friends, Susan and Hannah."
Exhaling a short breath through his nose, the boy prepared for long
conversations and socialization. Too much time has passed since the last
time he was at a gathering of this size.
Students in the lobby actively discussed the replenishment in their ranks.
It's such a rarity to have a peer with such a strong curse on his body! For
some, he was like an animal in a zoo, only much more dangerous.
Everyone was wondering: who he was? Right now, Danil was no worse
than an exchange student, even if in some strange sense of the phrase.
"Maybe he's from the USSR? And he fled the country when the curse got
him." Cormac McLaggen, a Gryffindor suggested, munching on a piece of
scrambled eggs.
"McLaggen, it's no longer USSR, the union has been broken up for two
years. Honestly, don't you go outside?" Alicia Spinnet snorted with
contempt. "And I strongly doubt that he fled the country, otherwise he
wouldn't show himself to us. It would be easier for him to keep hiding."
Seeing that his theory was so quickly destroyed to the nines, Cormac
muttered something under his breath and continued to eat in silence.
"Is he really human?" Marinette Edgecombe from Ravenclaw asked
doubtfully. "It's hard to believe that with such a face he was once a
man."
"Marinette!" Cho Chang almost slapped her friend on the back of the
head, but held herself back. "Even if he's not human, that was very rude!"
The Weasley twins, meanwhile, were sitting next to Lavender and
Parvati. "Just look at how our friend is growing!" The first one said with
genuine admiration. "He already has so many friends!" The second one
played along. ""We're so proud of him!"" They said together and burst into
tears, like proud parents at the wedding of their only child.
"Stop clowning around." Lavender chuckled. "You're just jealous that he
hangs out with more girls than you."
"That might be true-" "-but is Jaime a girl?"
Similar conversations were heard all over the hall. Even the professors
joined and openly talked about their future plans, because now Danil
could be taught with the others, which was much more convenient than
their previous methods.
There were two sisters sitting at the Slytherin table, who watched Danil's
every move with genuine interest. Daphne and Astoria Greengrass
couldn't believe their eyes. A chance appeared in front of them literally
out of nowhere! And they certainly weren't going to let him go.
"Daphne…" Astoria began.
"I know." The older sister interrupted the younger one. "Today we will
write a letter to our father, he has to hear about this."
But if he gave them hope, then for Draco Malfoy, Danil was only a source
of disgust. "And the Headmaster willingly let this creature study with
pureblood wizards? Just wait until my father hears this."
Maybe Danil was too pessimistic in his reactions, but he was right about
one thing. A little less than half of all the people in the room did not
think his story about the curse was true. In their eyes, he was no better
than Centaurs or Goblins, and maybe even worse.
But talking with his two new acquaintances, Danil kept hope in himself.
Hope that everything will turn out to be alright.
Chapter 59: Creative minds
"How about a bracelet?" "Can you make one?" "Or maybe two?" The twins
asked, standing on either side of Danil and watching his work.
"I don't know, but I can try." He replied, taking out a piece of iron ore
from his bag.
After a memorable first dinner among his peers, Danil's small circle of
friends decided that they should spend Sunday morning together and
away from the Main Hall. So, having gathered in a small group, they
quickly discussed everything and were now in the monster boy's
apartment.
Each of them knew that breakfast would be quite noisy today. And if not
from the questions of other students about Danil's life, then from the
screams of howlers that would come with the morning mail.
They valued their hearing much more than breakfast in the company of
the entire population of the castle.
Now all his friends from the Divination Club, the Weasley twins and of
course, Luna, were here. And in their conversation, Danil quite
accidentally dropped the fact that he could create anything, if only he
had the materials. His statement was received with skepticism and now
each of the teenagers tried to come up with something that Danil could
not do on his crafting table.
"Done!" He said, picking up a shiny iron forearm bracelet from the table
and showing it to the audience.
The twins bent down, practically pressing their noses into the metal, and
began to examine every detail of the bracelet. And he didn't have that
many of them.
"It looks plain." Lavender said, the girl settled down on the couch next to
the fireplace and had no intention of moving from there anytime soon.
"Usually, these bracelets are a work of art, but here it's just polished
metal. It's kind of boring."
Danil shrugged in response. "Maybe so, but for me such bracelets are,
first of all, a piece of armor. Sorry, that's how the brain sets priorities."
He said without even a hint of guilt in his eyes.
"Luna did it better." George said, looking at the blonde who used the
table when everyone turned away.
In her hands lay an iron bracelet, only it was very different from the one
that Danil made. First, her bracelet had elegant engravings that twisted
and turned into images of unknown animals. It looked more like the
work of art Lavender was talking about.
Secondly, her bracelet was much smaller and lighter, although it was
made according to the same recipe and from the same materials as
Danil's bracelet. How that worked, they had no idea, but Danil suspected
that the crafting table collected information from the user's mind.
Jamie suggested that the table was somehow in contact with the
information field that surrounded the entire planet and connected every
life together. It was strange to hear that in the magical world the
information field of the planet was perceived as something real and even
sometimes tangible, and not as the delirium of another enlightened –
stoned – spiritual practitioner.
There was a reason why the two of them were the ones taking orders
from everyone else and making things. No one except Danil and Luna
could use the crafting table, much to the frustration and confusion of the
group of friends.
As a result, after several tens of minutes of discussion and a couple of
crazy theories, it was concluded that among them only Luna had a broad
enough view of magic, a suitable young age to learn how to use such an
unusual artifact. In Danil's case, his curse worked as a conductor of
power. Of course, all this was just a theory and no one was going to steal
people to test it.
"Really?" Luna asked, looking at the twins with her ever-wide eyes. "But I
think that I went too far with the engravings. A crumple-horned snorkack
can't stand so calmly next to a griffin. They would've already started
fighting." The girl said with confidence, looking at the design on her
bracelet. "It would be worth making two bracelets to make it more
comfortable for them." The girl said thoughtfully and turned back to the
table.
And Danil could only hope that she wouldn't accidentally create
something particularly sharp in her experiments.
"Your working stations are strange." Parvati said. "A table that instantly
creates inferior artifacts; a furnace that melts metals into perfect pieces
one kilogram at a time. Where did you even get them from?"
"I made the crafting table with Hagrid's help. Then I made the furnace
using the table, nothing too hard." Danil answered, taking out another
crafting table from his bag, which suddenly increased in size in his hands
and became an exact copy of its predecessor.
"... Just how many of these things are inside your bag?" Gabriel muttered
quietly in shock, but the monster boy heard him anyway.
"Twelve, I think? I decided to immediately make to stock up, not to suffer
later. What if my axe breaks on a hike, and there's nothing to replace it
with?"
"What axe?" Jamie asked with interest.
"This one." He took out a two-meter axe from his backpack under the
dumbfounded looks of his friends. Well, Luna already knew about his
little weapon collection, but she always looked a little surprised anyway.
Jamie jumped up from Gabriel's lap. "Okay, now I want to go through
your bag! How many secrets do you have hiding in there?"
Remembering the huge number of human skulls lying at the bottom of
his backpack and collecting dust until the right moment, Danil chuckled.
"Enough not to share them. I don't need to get kicked out of school for
the crap I collect."
Jamie, of course, started to pout and landed back in Gabriel's lap, but she
accepted his words as the truth.
-=-=-=-=-=-
Later that day, at a meeting of the Hogwarts Board of Governors, an
important issue was being discussed.
"Dumbledore, what were you thinking when you let him onto the school
grounds?" Augustine Longbottom asked dryly, sitting in the seat of the
head of the board of trustees.
"That one of my potential students' needs help. The boy had to be pulled
out of an Acromantula colony." The old man answered without even
twitching his eyebrow.
"Uh-huh. And you would tell us about your new student, when, may I
ask?" Parkinson sneered. "I have an inkling that the… boy would be kept
as a secret for a long time. If we can't trust you to speak to the Board on
these matters, then why are you still holding your place as a
Headmaster?"
Someone snorted. Parkinson's threats were as empty as his coffers. The
bastard just didn't want to be seen as "weak," and the definition of the
word in Parkinson's mind changed every other week.
"Have you thought about the fact that by your actions you could
endanger all the other students at Hogwarts?" Lord Greengrass muttered
dissatisfiedly. "Even if this kid is thrice cursed and not guilty of his
actions, this doesn't justify the fact that you didn't notify the Board of his
appearance. But more important, why didn't you even inform the
Unspeakables about him?! They could have helped him."
This time Dumbledore's eyebrow rose in great doubt. "Unspeakables?
Seymour, don't you think you should try a little better to hide your desire
to get another lab rat for your department?" The director asked
mockingly.
Seymour only huffed in response, but didn't deny anything.
Most people knew that the Greengrass family had close ties to the
Department of Mysteries. Of course, no one could say exactly what
positions they occupied in the ranks of Unspeakables, but the connection
could be found if one knew where to look.
"We can't allow him to stay on school grounds." Amos Diggory said in a
grave tone. "He will not be able to coexist with other students and will
only continue to be a danger to everyone around him."
Several people immediately squinted at the Head of the Diggory House.
Of course, the fact that he was saying the right things went against the
fact that it was about a boy who was a victim of circumstances.
"Don't even start." Lord Brown frowned. "The only recorded incident of
aggression on the part of Mister Khromov could have been prevented if
Messer's Potter, Weasley and Miss Granger had not been present in the
closed part of the castle. And the dinner after the incident was held
without a hitch, even with the boy's presence. He's responsible enough to
learn here."
It was safe to say that the boy was trying to adhere to all the security
measures that the situation imposed on him.
"No. I can't allow that." Diggory repeated, stubbornly sticking to his point
of view. "No matter how much sense of responsibility there is in the boy
and no matter what security measures he adheres to, just one slip is
enough for the irreversible to happen."
This time, someone openly laughed, attracting everyone's attention and
causing a wave of tension among those present. From the portrait that
hung on the wall of the meeting room, Phineas Nigelius Black, the former
Headmaster of Hogwarts school, laughed openly.
"Mister Black, do you have something to say?" Dumbledore asked with a
mischievous note in his voice.
"Oh-hahaha! Yes! And a lot of things!" The rather young-looking man
who was sitting in the painting forced himself to calm down and
contemptuously cast a glance at Diggory. "And especially to you. Do you
think that the presence of the cursed child here will be dangerous for
others?" Seeing that he opened his mouth; Phineas waved it away. "Be
silent, the question was rhetorical. Better answer me this: how many
accidents have happened in the Potions room over the past year?"
Diggory frowned and his eyes lost focus for a moment. "Thirteen cases
with minor injuries, but three students were sent to Madam Pomfrey for
recovery with severe injuries."
"Well, at least you read the reports, thank Merlin." Phineas sighed. "There
are also many who visit the hospital wing after every Quidditch game.
Also, quite a large number of students have been in mortal danger for
various reasons over the past few years. Do you feel how safe the
students are?"
"This is completely different!" Diggory almost burst out screaming, but
quickly calmed down his feelings. "I'm worried that a lot of students
might get hurt-"
"When I was still alive," Phineas continued, as if no one else was trying to
speak, "during my studies at Hogwarts, something terrible happened.
During a transfiguration lesson, one student pushed the arm of another
and a spell to transform an animal into a goblet flew into the head of a
girl who was sitting in front. Only half of her head transformed."
A couple of people turned green in the face, but no one wanted to
interrupt the portrait.
"What I want to say by this, Diggory, is that the magical world is far from
being safe. So even if you throw the boy out of the castle, you won't
change anything much. You'll only make an enemy." Spitting at his feet
with contempt, Phineas rose from his chair and walked somewhere
beyond the frame of his portrait.
Diggory had to be calmed down by Brown, who was sitting next to him.
But after a couple of minutes everyone went back on track and again
began discussing Danil's fate. And no matter how Brown tried to twist
himself in order to leave the boy at school, the future was looking grim.
Dumbledore did nothing but look at this circus from the side and grinned
into his beard. In the inner pocket of his robe lay a weighty argument
with which he could quite calmly put an end to any wrangling of the
Board. It was just a little something they found in the Rowena
Ravenclaw's Library.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Simple_Russian_Boi
I haven't noticed that we reached a million words already! I think it's
time to end the year already, but at least it's under sixty chapters…
Chapter 60: Independant
Hogwarts
A/N: [Well, comrades. I've got news for you.
In short, there is a real chance that your beloved Russian boi will be
taken into the army to serve for the good of the motherland. Which
means I won't have any internet access, so yes. You can think about
the consequences yourself.
It's lucky that now everything is coming to a logical conclusion of
the first "book", so most likely I will mark it as completed and make
a continuation of the second volume as a different work. During the
time I will be in the army, I may even have time to write the second
book, so it's not so bad.
Anyway, we still have some time together, so I'll try to make most of
it.]
-=-=-=-=-=-
As the conversation between the Members of the Board slowly escalated
into a shouting match, Dumbledore, very calmly and leisurely, took out a
slightly dusty scroll from his robes and began to read it. When he and
Flitwick read it for the first time, both men simply couldn't believe their
luck. Of course, who would believe that the solution to most problems at
school would be so convenient?
The half-goblin even joked that this scroll was like manna from heaven
for all of Hogwarts. And although accepting the "secret" rights and
responsibilities of teachers, which were mentioned in the scroll, was
associated with certain dangers, all professors were ready to accept them
for the sake of greater good.
The light in Dumbledore's eyes dimmed, but it didn't go out. He was
strong enough to hold himself together.
It was hard to think that after today everything would be the same as
before. Hogwarts will be overwhelmed by changes, some of which will be
taken with hostility, but-
"Have we bored you that much, Albus?" Madam Longbottom asked
indignantly, finally noticing that Dumbledore hadn't said a word in the
last few minutes. "Aren't you interested in the fate of your students?"
The old wizard only laughed in response. "Of course, I am, Augustine.
Now more than ever, the safety of the students is most important to me."
Gloomy faces were his answer. He saw it in their movements; they didn't
understand why his behavior had changed so much. Well, he wasn't
going to keep them in the dark for long.
"Dear members of the Hogwarts' Board of Governors." he began, allowing
a hint of sarcasm to creep into his voice, "I am happy to inform you that
for twelve hours now I have been under the oath of Vassalage before
Hogwarts Castle. With this position, I have received new responsibilities
that I must bear."
With a wave of his wand, Dumbledore copied the scroll in his left hand
and levitated it for each member of the board to see. He wouldn't lie and
say that he didn't enjoy the expressions on their faces when they realized
his words.
"What kind of nonsense are you talking about, Dumbledore?!" Parkinson
exploded. "You, being a Vassal to a damn building? Have you finally lost
your mind?!"
"Not at all, Lord Parkinson." The old man answered with a bright smile.
"Read the scroll. Maybe you'll learn something useful for yourself at least
once in your life."
Such impudence left Parkinson in a bad mood. But when Albus
Dumbledore advises you to do something with a soft smile, you do it as
quickly as possible.
The meeting room went quiet for a minute as everyone read and slowly
realized why Dumbledore looked like someone had given him a lifetime
supply of Lemon Drops. Amos Diggory muttered everything he had read
in shock and disbelief.
"...a magical oath? Autonomy from the Ministry of Magic? Albus, what
does all this mean?!"
Obviously, the man was confused. Separation from the Ministry did not
threaten anything good... For the Ministry that is, considering what was
said in the scroll.
"This means that from now on Hogwarts will be under its own control
and no one else's." He grinned, spreading his arms to the sides. "The
castle itself accepted me as its Vassal and became my Suzerain, so now, I
am only the executor of the will of four brilliant people who laid it in the
creation of their Magnum opus.
"You see, from now on, every member of the castle is required to swear
an oath of service to the castle for the duration of their work here. From
this day on, the castle returns to autonomous operation and is considered
independent from the influence of the Ministry, as was outlined in the
agreement when the school was created."
Indignant and rather rude words of protest immediately followed his
announcement, but Dumbledore did not finish.
"Ah, I almost forgot. In order to remain as a member of the Board, you,
dear Ladies and Lords, will have to take the same oath of Vassalage as I
did." The old man added happily.
He will most likely be removed from the position of Chief Warlock, and
his position of Supreme Mugwump. But Albus was nothing if not a
political monster.
For now, he didn't say that the Vault at Gringotts, which housed the
school's funds, had finally come under the control of Hogwarts. He wasn't
going to bring it up unless he was asked about it. After all, the school has
always been funded mainly by its students, with no support from the
Ministry.
The dustbags from the Department of Magical Education that controlled
Hogwarts' funds before, were just as corrupt as everyone else in that
damn Ministry. Albus had no doubt that in two years he could not only
renovate the castle and its Wards, but even buy new brooms for flying
lessons.
Conversations, arguments and discussions dragged on until almost one in
the morning. And in the end, only Dowager Longbottom, Lord Diggory,
Lord Brown and Lord Greengrass remained as members of the Board.
Everyone else left the room as soon as they heard the full duties of a
Hogwarts Vassal and the consequences of not fulfilling them.
Of course, who wanted to risk a magical kick to the soul from a
thousand-year-old semi-intelligent Castle?
And the very next day, another scandal was shown on the front page of
the Daily Prophet. News of an Independent Hogwarts has reached all
over the world and sent waves that will change the future forever.
-=-=-=-=-=-
After that, the rest of the school days were surprisingly routine for Danil.
Now that he could study with everyone else, he had a concrete schedule
that he could stick to. Add to this his newfound freedom and the absence
of the need to hide… Let's just say his days have become more eventful.
Now that he could study with a group, his life became both more
complicated and easier. A solid program – although it lowered the rate of
progress of his studies – gave him confidence in the basic things that the
Professors gave him.
In most subjects, he was at the level of the end of the fourth year in
theoretical knowledge, but his spells also remained limited by the
complexity of the third year. Of course, he could put more power into
them, or add something else to work better in tandem, but serious magic
remained inaccessible to him.
Only in Astronomy and Herbology was he at the level of the second year.
Just because he wasn't interested in these subjects at all. Although lately,
he has started to think about paying more attention to the stars. His mind
gave him the idea that they were somehow important in ritualism.
Danil spent his days either in the company of Luna, sitting with her in
the same classes, or with students from the third year… The course
where Potter, Grager and the Sixth Son of Weasley studied. He still had
mixed feelings about the three of them, but in the end, he chose to ignore
them and focus on his studies.
Only this golden trinity decided that this arrangement was unpleasant for
them. So, one day, when Danil was leaving the Herbology lesson with
Luna, three teenagers blocked their way.
Can you guess who it was?
"What do you want, Potter?" Danil asked, stopping in front of a group of
friends. Luna stopped with him, but the three did not hear the usual
greeting from her.
"Em… Hello, Khromov, Luna." Hermione – oddly enough – began to
speak uncertainly. "Can we talk?"
"And what are we doing now? Speak." He briefly threw back.
After hesitating a bit on the spot, Hermione sighed, gathering her
thoughts. A few interested students were walking around them, but not
enough to stop and listen to their conversation. "I want to apologize. It
was because of me that all the trouble happened. I can't make things go
back to the way they were before, but what I can do is accept the blame
for the whole incident. I'm sorry, Danil, for everything that happened to
you because of my actions."
"The blame also lies with me." Harry continued. "By my actions, I have
put you in mortal danger. If I didn't– I'm to blame too." He interrupted
himself from saying something else.
Ron, who was standing next to his friends, nodded in agreement with
their words. The red-haired boy wasn't as guilty as his friends, but that
didn't mean he wasn't an accomplice.
Danil blinked in surprise. For some reason, he doubted that anyone of
them would come to apologize. They haven't apologized to Snape, after
all. And now they came all at once. The only thing that could make their
apology more meaningful, that if they brought it up during dinner for
everyone to see. But he understood why they didn't. In the eyes of the
public, everything that happened was an accident.
"I will accept your apologies. But from now on, I'll ask you to stay away
from me." Danil said, looking down at the three teenagers, they looked so
small to him. With his height and other limitations, it was simply
impossible to talk to someone on the same level. "For your own safety. I
doubt I'll be able to give in and not use magic the next time someone
looks me in the eye."
Anger at Harry 'inferior creature, useless rabble' for his actions was still
bubbling in the monster boy's blood. He didn't want to piss himself off by
being around an idiot.
Showing with all his appearance that the conversation was over, Danil
put the Moon on his shoulders and walked further towards the castle,
leaving all three behind.
"I thought you'd say something to them. Well, for trying to interfere in
your life that time." He drawled thoughtfully.
"I've already told them everything they needed to hear the last time,"
Luna replied without much interest.
"Weren't you friends with them?"
The girl chuckled, placing her palms on Danil's bald head. She watched
with a playful smile at everyone who looked at the strange scene before
them. No one expected that such a huge and scary cursed monster would
carry a little girl on his shoulders.
"Friends? Maybe they considered me their friend, but they never showed
that I was their friend. And so, it turns out that I kind of was friends with
them, but I kind of wasn't." She shook her head thoughtfully, stretching
her hands to the top and guiding them along the branches of the trees
that grew on the way to the castle.
Danil didn't ask any more questions. He just decided to give the girl more
pudding for dinner.
Chapter 61: Magic
It was strange to receive an ancient book from an ancient chest – upon
opening which they tried to pierce Danil with arrows, but he simply
teleported away – the paper should have rotted long ago, and the leather
shell would have turned to jelly. The humidity in the catacomb was in
perfect order; one could even say that it was too wet there, so it was not
clear how exactly the book could survive to this day.
Of course, Danil understood that it was the magic of preservation or
something similar, but how did it work? What exactly does magic do to
maintain the integrity of the book? Keeps moisture away from the book?
Stops the book's state from changing while the enchantment is active?
Breaks down the surrounding danger to the tome at the molecular level?
He had enough questions, but no answers. You see, after he opened that
chest with the repaired red key, something seemed to click in Danil's
head. He spent all his time studying how spells should work, what they
do, how to use them without harming himself or others.
He didn't ask the question "how," the explanation "it's magic, Danil," was
enough for him, and there are no more questions. What logic can there
be if it's magic? There was no logic, he thought.
It was a huge mistake on his part.
Just looking at the thin book with the text about some sharpness
enchantment, untouched by time, Danil sharply felt the lack of a
scientific approach in his study of magic. Well, in the entire magical
world, it seemed that only a few wanted to know how exactly magic
worked the way it did.
Take a look at the same Department of Secrets. No one knew exactly how
many magicians worked in this department, but it was safe to say that
there were few of them. If there were only twenty researchers in all of
magical Britain, Danil began to theorize with horror about what this
meant.
Was this the case all over the world, or just in Britain? Was this targeted
sabotage or the consequence of a destructive policy of hiding Magic from
the larger world and an isolating lifestyle?
And then Danil realized that he had heard too many conspiracy theories
from Luna and decided not to think about it anymore until he became
stronger himself.
"How many Advancements have I completed already?" He muttered to
himself as he lay on the bed in his room.
Closing his eyes, Danil plunged into his consciousness. Over the past
month, full of conversations with his classmates, he had learned a lot of
new things, including a couple of pieces of information that otherwise he
would have had to look for on his own and for a very long time.
He learned a couple of useful rituals from – oddly enough – Jamie. The
girl gave him records of "universally used" rituals that every self-
respecting wizard should know. It was there that Danil found the Ritual
of Severance.
This ritual did exactly what the name said: it cut off all previously shed
blood, nails, hair, pieces of skin and everything else from the essence of
the person who undergoes such a ritual, but left these cut-off things with
their magical characteristics.
If earlier someone could steal those reserves of Danil's blood that Snape
kept as ingredients and use them to curse the monster boy, now it was
impossible. The blood didn't belong to anyone.
This, by the way, added to Danil's dislike for Snape. The asshole
definitely knew about the existence of that ritual, but apparently, he
wasn't going to tell the monster boy about it.
Occlumency was another addition to Danil's arsenal. It was mental magic
aimed at protecting the mind and increasing control over the thinking of
any intelligent being. It was also used to protect the mind against
Legilimensy, the branch of magic focused on reading a victim's mind
through eye contact.
It all sounded dull to him. Back in the previous world, he read a couple
of books that talked about the existence of psi energy – the energy of the
mind that can be used for a variety of things. Starting from simple
telekinesis and ending with mind control of another intelligent being
using only psi energy.
Danil read about the mental magic that wix had developed, he wasn't
impressed by its limitations and decided not to bind himself with the
chains of the traditional path of mental protection.
"Even the most powerful Legilimens can only broadcast their thoughts to
groups of people at a distance, and not take control of them. This is just
pathetic." He scoffed. Maybe this was impressive for the witches and
wizards, but not for Danil, who had examples of truly powerful mental
masters.
Take Charles Xavier, a mutant from the Marvel universe. That bastard
was truly terrifyingly powerful, if he was evil, there would be almost
nothing that could stop him. Danil chose not to think about Jean Gray,
the avatar of the Phoenix Force. That was a can of worms that he didn't
want to open.
Plunging into the depths of his mind, the boy stopped in front of a
representation of the work he had completed. Huge maps with icons
straight from the game took up space on the wall in the empty space that
Danil had not yet managed to fill with protections. Even if he wanted to
create something new, the progress was quite slow.
There were only five maps from the beginning. But seeing that in this
way he could keep a representation of his own progress in his head, Danil
himself made several more maps for magical disciplines. As a result, he
had about two dozen of them, and he understood that in the future there
would only be more of them.
"For some reason I don't want to become a jack of all trades, master of
none." Danil muttered dissatisfiedly, seeing that the progress was almost
minimal.
And again, the monster boy was faced with a task beyond the capabilities
of the average person. He needed to select the disciplines he wanted to
focus on. Again. There was simply too much to learn! Sighing quietly,
Danil gathered his thoughts together and began to think.
Among all the cards, only the majority were at least partially filled,
rather than hanging completely empty. He had only read about some
branches of magic, or heard some incompletely reliable information, such
as the magic of love or the magic of blood. They hung completely empty
and were eliminated immediately.
The second were those disciplines in which Danil did not feel much
interest or in which he did not consider himself talented enough.
Herbology, for example. No, he did not deny that with its help it was
possible to bring out really dangerous and combat-ready plants by
breeding, if you wait, but only you will have to spend time on it and have
a love for caring for everything green, which Danil simply did not have.
The last ones on his wall were the magical disciplines that could not be
learned legally. Yes, ritualism as a whole was very a very useful branch
of magic, but it was banned in Britain. And Danil didn't want to try to
understand a branch of magic, which, at the slightest mistake, could kill
or disfigure him even more than it was now.
But in the end, there are still too many disciplines left.
Danil looked at the remaining few cards with not yet fully open paths of
development and felt a vein bulging on his forehead in the real world
from tension. Well, or out of irritation, he wasn't sure.
In the remaining disciplines, he has already reached his current limit.
Even if he tried his best, the process of learning new spells was eerily
slow. It's like he hit a glass ceiling that he couldn't break through.
No matter how much he lied to himself, the problem wasn't in him being
stretched thin, trying to learn as much as he could. In almost every
branch of magic he made good progress. Who else could learn three
years' worth of material in just six months?
His talent for magic was incredible. That's why The Wanderer dragged
his soul to another world and stuffed him into a new body. If he didn't
have talent, he would have long ago rotted in a wooden box two meters
underground.
The problem was something else.
Opening his eyes in the present tense, Danil felt how a wig was put on his
head and now his braids were being braided. Little warm hands worked
quickly and within a minute the entire wig was tied into one thick and
long braid.
'Hmm, this is a flaw. If anyone can come up to me while I'm meditating and
do whatever they want… need to fix it somehow.'
"Hey Luna. How was class?" He asked.
"Good enough, I learned a lot of new things. Did you know that human
Legilimensy is radically different from that of Wampus Cats? It is the
same branch of magic, but they develop and use it completely
differently."
Danil blinked a couple of times, replaying her words in his head. And
then he slapped himself on the forehead so hard that the clap could be
heard even in the dungeons of the castle.
"Luna, you are the best in the world. And anyone who says otherwise is
absolutely wrong. I could kiss you right now!" But he didn't have lips,
instead, he jumped up from his seat and scooped the girl into his arms.
She laughed loudly, rising into the air. A long time ago, she saw that
Danil had reached his limits in magic and couldn't understand what the
problem was. But looking at his cursed form. the girl quickly found the
answer - the magic of their species was too diferent to coexist together.
For a couple of hours, she thought about how to present this information
to him, and then decided, why not push him to find the answer? And it
would be much more interesting this way, she wanted to know how
many hints she would have to make before he understood them? Luna
simply couldn't resist it, she loved to speak in riddles. And she did.
Meanwhile, Danil was ready to bite off his own head for not seeing the
obvious. After all, why did he try to cast magic like wizards do, if he is
now a representative of a completely different race?
Early in his training, he told Fawkes that he wanted to find the kind of
magic his race excelled at. So why did he think that this magic would be
found in wizards' books? Why was he trying to imitate them, with their
Latin spoken in the Farlander's language?
Taking control of his emotions, Danil abruptly changed his plans.
He will still need a wand, at least as a tool for more subtle work with
magic. There was a reason why Goblins and other intelligent magical
creatures fight so zealously for the right to own a wand. But he was no
longer going to learn to cast spells and control magic in the same ways as
wizards did.
He wanted- no. He needed to learn the magic of his race. It was no longer
a simple wish; it was a necessity.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Simple_Russian_Boi
Slowly closing all plot lines that I left in this book. Now, as I read the
first chapters again, I am beginning to realize a simple truth: I will
have to carefully plan the second volume.
Of course, I can continue to write as I did before, planning only parts
of the plot, but somehow after that there are many plot holes left. Not
to mention the strange emotional theme of the entire book, which
changed from light fluff to a bloody mess with giant spiders in two
chapters.
It's a good thing I'll have a whole year to think about it in the near
future.
Chapter 62: Enemy plans
While Danil was busy with his own research, and the Hogwarts' staff was
preparing for the big changes that would undoubtedly happen over the
summer, the world didn't stand still. More and more people heard rumors
that Albus had decided to shake off the old days and start changing the
game.
Of course, for a strong wizard, a hundred and something years is not old
age at all, but rather middle age, considering that wizards and witches
died from old age only after reaching two hundred, or maybe even three
hundred. Only when people saw Dumbledore's long gray hair and white
beard, everyone forgot this little fact.
"Perhaps old age has finally gotten to Dumbledore." Dolores Umbridge
said thoughtfully, sipping tea from a pink mug. "Who in their right mind
would refuse the support and approval of the Ministry? This is
outrageous!"
Several people were sitting in the Minister's office. The Minister himself,
the Head of the Department of Education and Tiberius Call, a
representative of the Call & Call Law Firm, whose services Cornelius
Fudge used quite often.
Without a good Magical Lawyer who understands not only the laws, but
also magical connections and contracts, discussing the situation at
Hogwarts could be forgotten.
As someone who worked directly under the Minister and achieved her
position through intrigue, blood and sweat, one could say that the
woman was loyal first to herself and only then to the Ministry. And they
will not be completely right. Madame Umbridge was devoted to her
vision of the world, and only then to herself. This is what made her as
dangerous as she was purposeful.
Dolores was a squat, plump woman, reminiscent of a large pale toad. And
maybe, to somehow show her femininity, she dressed in mostly pink
colors, and decorated her personal account with photos of cute kittens.
Everything around her was so sweet and pink that an unprepared person
could vomit from the sweetness.
To call her a part of the ideology of blood purity would also be wrong,
because first of all, she extolled the supremacy of Wizards and Witches
over other magical races. But she believed even more in the words Magic
is Might. The weak had to obey the strong, it was the natural order of
things.
Seeing how the weak Hogwarts tried to get out of the patronage of the
strong… She didn't like this at all. Because even if Hogwarts was weak,
with its independence the Ministry of Magic was losing some of its
influence, losing power. Umbridge couldn't accept this.
Considering the ancient contract, a copy of which was provided to her by
Lord Parkinson, Umbridge tried to find a loophole in it to return the
cunning school to control. But even the best magical lawyers could not
do this, let alone a person without special education.
"Cornelius, is there nothing we can do?" The woman looked up hopefully
at the Minister. But the man was a far cry from a confident leader, he was
sweating buckets, wincing at every loud sound.
The current Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, wiped the sweat from his
brow. The man has lost a lot of weight lately, losing his healthy
plumpness and starting to look more and more like an emaciated patient
supported only by IVs. It was such a stressful year for him.
"The Hogwarts treaty with the Cabal of Witches and the then existing
Albion is immutable. It can be circumvented or broken only after the
death of all wizards in Britain." Call calmly explained the nuance. This is
exactly what Soul Croaker told him when the Minister approached the
non-grower with this question.
"But they depend on us financially!" The woman protested. "The
Hogwarts Foundation is under the control of the Ministry!"
Shaking his head, Head of the Department of Education decided to
enlighten everyone. "Not anymore, Dolores. That strange contract
returned control of the Foundation to the Director and the trustees of the
Board of Governors. But even so, they will not have the opportunity to
become truly independent, there simply won't be enough money from the
students' parents for everything. Dumbledore will come crawling, begging
us for money." He reassured himself.
Cornelius didn't need an independent Hogwarts and a scandal on the
front pages of the newspapers! Especially not now, when the Ministerial
elections are so close!
"I wouldn't be so sure." Call said, leaning back in his chair. Three pairs of
eyes turned to look at him in panic. "For starters, they have a source of
rare ingredients - the Forbidden Forest. I think you remember why you
banned it, right, Mr. Rogger?"
The head of the Education Department just sneered, clearly displeased.
About fifty years ago, when Dippet was still the Headmaster of Hogwarts,
fees for seven years of training were significantly less. Of course, this
meant that the Hogwarts Foundation was also significantly smaller,
because the money earned from selling ingredients was immediately
spent on improving the school, never coming under the control of Rogger
and his department.
Of course, he didn't like it, so Rogger, without thinking twice, banned the
sale of ingredients from the forest. And a couple of years later he
completely forbade Hogwarts from receiving finances not from the hands
of the ministry.
"They also have the Black Lake, a second source of both dark creatures
and their parts. Should I mention the greenhouses?" Call raised an
eyebrow in question. "Hogwarts will start getting as much money as they
need, you can be sure of that."
Umbridge's face twisted in displeasure. "Speaking of dark creatures. Have
you heard the news about that 'cursed student' that Dumbledore brought
to the castle? It's even worse than the werewolf who taught the children!"
Remus Lupin was finally discovered as a werewolf and he quit the job
before the Ministry could press that as an advantage. At least that was
the official version, because what really happened was much more
interesting.
"Unfortunately, we cannot do anything about a student on Hogwarts
grounds." Call sighed. "The castle has become something like an embassy
of a foreign country. We can't force them to do things our way."
At first, Umbridge was ready to explode with displeasure, but then her
face lit up with happiness, and an overly sweet smile stretched across half
of her face.
"Well, the creature may be untouchable within the walls of Hogwarts, but
that does not relieve him of his obligations to the Ministry. Doesn't he
have to register? He is a dangerous dark creature, after all."
The men perked up, seeing that Umbridge had some kind of plan. If a
careerist like her offers a solution to a problem, people listen.
-=-=-=-=-=-
Sirius made his way through the wilds of the Albanian forest in his
Animagus form – something that looked like a very large dog. Once upon
a time, maybe he was just an ordinary black dog who was devoted to his
friends. But Lord Voldemort gave him enlightenment, changing his
world.
Now he was part Grimm, part Wild Hunt. Sirius had never felt as strong
as he did the day the hellhound essence merged with his soul. His Lord
brought this gift to him for his faithful service and the murder of the
Prewitt twins.
The positive effects didn't end with the feeling of incredible strength and
increased magic.
You see, hellhounds gained their power from devouring the flesh and
blood of their victims. Of course, the stronger the sacrifices, the better
the results, this was logical. That is why he devoured people without
much remorse; they were simply biomaterial that existed only to become
part of his power.
Something definitely changed in his soul when Lord Voldemort
performed that ritual on him. No one could merge with a magical animal
and remain the same person they were before. Sirius understood this
intellectually and recalled with a grin the horror with which he learned
that after the ritual he was fed human flesh. How weak he was then.
Now the taste of flesh was familiar to him, he could not forget it even
after so many years in Azkaban. Sirius was ready to do anything to
become stronger and be useful to his Lord. So, a no longer emaciated
looking dog was running through the forest, but a Grim was making his
way through the branches and bushes, ready to tear trough everything in
his path.
Sirius was lucky to meet a couple of squibs on his way to the Master,
whose crumbs of magic allowed his body to recover and his mind to
become clearer. Feeling his Dark Mark begin to pulse beneath his fur,
Grim turned human and continued on his feet. He was already close, he
felt it.
Sniffing the air around him, he caught the sweet notes of decay, which
usually did not last long in the forest. All the meat was taken away by
predators, and what was left was devoured by scavengers. Rot simply did
not last long in nature, and what he felt now was unnatural.
The man in dirty and torn clothes smiled a smile full of real happiness.
Only the appearance of the handsome man was spoiled by the dried
blood on his skin and clothes.
"My Lord… we'll meet soon." Sirius muttered to himself and went in the
direction that smelled of rot and death.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Simple_Russian_Boi
And here we are setting up the events for the second book. The
Ministry begins to prepare its response, and Voldemort finally receives
his support. Quite a long time ago, one of the readers asked me
whether it was necessary to make Sirius a cannibal? Now there are
explanations for his actions and behavior. Just like his betrayal.
Although I will delve into the events of the first pure blood war and
the history of the Blacks only in the second book.
Chapter 63: The Sorting Hat
The last days at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry were
always a bittersweet moment. Some were glad to have the opportunity to
return home and finally take a break from all their studies, while others
were sad that they would have to part with their friends. No one could
remain indifferent today.
Harry also did not remain indifferent. If for the past two years he was
glad to return home and spend time with the one who became his
adoptive mother, now he was only waiting with dead eyes for his
punishment.
Bellatrix was visiting Hogwarts once again when she heard that Harry
was back in the Medical Wing. And if you believe what the map showed
him, then she spent enough time with Dumbledore and Khromov for
them to tell her their version of events. Only then did she visit her
godson and, with a stony expression on her face, tell him to explain
himself.
Harry broke down under his adoptive mother's gaze and began to talk, as
Hermione sometimes did, only occasionally pausing to take a breath of
air. He had no idea if Bella was satisfied with his story, but she didn't say
anything. She just turned around and left the Castle, leaving him to
marinate in his own thoughts.
Hermione and Ron looked no better – except that his red-haired friend
was more confident in himself and his survival through the summer. This
wasn't the first time someone in his family had done something extremely
terrible at school, he knew what he could expect. After all, the Weasley
twins were still alive.
The girl could not sleep for the last week; every day she came down from
her room, looking as if death was hanging over her. One could say that
she looked even worse than when she was tormented by nightmares after
her meeting with Danil.
The fear of condemnation from her parents and unknown punishment
frayed her nerves. It was good that in the magical world there were
various potions that could later correct her nervousness. Because
otherwise the girl would have taken a long time to recover from such a
shock.
Looking at his friend, Harry thought that she had already brought enough
punishment on herself. No matter how much of a genius Hermione was,
the girl had a habit of overthinking. In this case, it didn't help her at all.
"Somehow the year is not ending very well." Harry said thoughtfully,
receiving two nods from his friends.
"It just means we have to do everything in our power to make next year
better. If there will be a next year for us." Hermione said wearily, but it
was clear that she had little faith in her own words.
"Don't be silly, curly," Ron grinned, "it's only two months of punishment,
it's not that bad. We could have been forced to work for a whole year. I
remember the twins messed up so hard with their pranks that Mum spent
a very long time working on their behavior."
Ron was betting on one simple part of human psychology. People like to
know that there is always someone worse off.
"I don't think it's that simple, Ron." Hermione said thoughtfully, tapping
her nails on the wooden table.
Almost all the students and teachers had gathered in the Main Hall, with
the exception of a couple of people at the teacher's table. Professor
Dumbledore had not arrived yet, just like Khromov, it would definitely be
easy to notice him among the other students.
But finally, the conversations in the Hall began to abruptly die down.
Dumbledore arrived in the Hall, leading Danil, who quickly took a seat at
the end of the teacher's table, standing next to Hagrid and Remus.
Dumbledore took a seat behind his throne, but did not sit down yet; after
all, first he had to make a speech.
"Another year at Hogwarts has come to an end! And what a busy year it
has been! I sincerely hope that today you are sitting in the hall with new
knowledge that you will not forget after a couple of months of rest."
Laughter rang through the hall, even a couple of professors smiled. "And
it would be worth starting the banquet, but first we must do something
that has been put off for later too many times."
With a wide wave of his hand, the very chair on which all the first-years
who had gone through the sorting ceremony appeared in front of the
table. At first, not everyone understood why this chair appeared here, but
when Khromov theatrically teleported into it, everyone understood why
they were here.
For some reason, his non-involvement in each of the Houses went
unnoticed by the students, but the Professors knew about this very well.
"Well, you were supposed to sit in the chair after I called your name, but
that'll do. Let's get to Sorting!" Albus muttered. Well, if his student doesn't
want to waste time, then so be it. Waving his hand again, an old hat full
of leather patches fell on Danil's head.
It moved sharply on Danil's bald head and a silhouette of a mouth and
two eyes appeared on it, looking not forward, but into the essence of
things.
"Hmm… What do I see…?" The hat started as usual, but then shuddered
and stopped moving. And then something happened that no one
expected.
At first, it seemed that the room became darker for a moment, and then
the shadows in the room moved. But this obsession lasted only a second,
after which the Hat perked up and shouted to the whole hall:
"Hufflepuff!" What almost no one expected.
And Danil, to the uncertain claps of the audience and the joyful cries of
the baggers, walked up to their table on wobbly legs and sat down next
to Gabriel and Jamie.
Something strange happened, but no one understood what. Celebrations
and farewells continued until the evening, after which everyone went to
bed. Only Danil couldn't sleep. Images of chaotic Gods danced at the
edges of his vision, leaving him irritated and tired.
That day, Danil promised himself that he would gain enough strength to
withstand the presence of creatures like The Wanderer. He really didn't
want to repeat the experience a third time.
-=-=-=-=-=-
Sitting on a chair, the monster boy waited for the Hat's voice to start
speaking in his mind. Danil knew that this artifact somehow
communicated directly with the consciousness of people, something
similar was said by his sister. But he considered it nonsense.
How could an artifact of such complexity be created by the wizards of the
Middle Ages? When practically nothing was known about the workings of
the mind! And there is no need to say that magic has smoothed out the
corners here; influencing and communicating with the human mind
requires considerable skills. Even the Legilimens of this world thought so!
And here the hat, and even everyone's mind reads.
Danil didn't know how the Sorting Hat actually worked, but it was too
early for him to be interested in that. What interested him at the moment
was why sounds had disappeared from all over the world.
"We meet again, interesting human."
The voice. The one voice he could never forget, even if he wanted to. The
voice was full of interest and apathy at the same time. The creature, who
wanted to see something new, but knew the outcome of all events in the
universe, again appeared before Danil.
Danil felt like he was under water, and his brain was shaking inside his
skull. The presence of a higher being affected gifted people much more
than ordinary beings. But then the moment passed, and the pain was
gone. The Wanderer took control of his power.
Danil exhaled, feeling like his body could move calmly again.
"I won't say I'm glad to see you." He admitted, looking up at the supreme
being. "I thought you would just watch, why did you come here?"
The Wanderer swayed in place, standing on its long legs. Even now, it
towered over Danil, who was standing at full height.
"You put on the Hat." It said, stating the fact as usual. "The Hat, as
much as you might hope, still reads memories and thoughts. Good
work. High quality work."
Blinking his eyes in shock, Danil took the motionless hat off his head and
looked it in the eye. "So, this thing-? What? Why make such a dangerous
artifact just to sort children?!"
"Because they could do it back then." It shrugged… it had shoulders?
"Funny human. You would run away if the Hat found out about your
past life."
Danil froze. The words of The Wanderer rang true in his ears. He would
definitely run away, at least because with this knowledge, even so
limited, he would know too much. And he will be removed. Yes, even if
no one finds out, he will no longer feel relatively safe. His choice? Run.
Run and don't look back.
"Really funny. And boring." The Wanderer said. "I came so that this
wouldn't happen."
"For what?" The monster boy immediately asked. "Why would you stop
it? I wouldn't have died; my story would have continued." Looking at the
thing that called itself a God, Danil tensed with realization. "You want me
to stay at Hogwarts."
The Wanderer nodded. "Naturally. All the fun stuff will happen here.
You should stay on the Tin Islands. Your life will simply not be
interesting if you are given the chance to leave Britain forever. Now
your fate is tied to this place for at least the next few years. My
work here is finished."
Danil wanted to ask something else, but The Wanderer's hand reached
out to the hat on the boy's lap. The Wanderer placed the Sorting Hat on
top of the boy's head and patted him on the shoulder, causing him to
shiver in fear.
"Yes, this house will do. It's too dangerous to throw you with the
others."
And just as suddenly as it appeared, God disappeared, allowing time to
move on.
"Hufflepuff!" The hat screamed and flew off his head, disappearing
somewhere under the ceiling.
And Danil remained the only one who will have to heal his heart from
the second meeting with the chaotic god.
'What's his domain? He's the God of what?' It flashed through his head, but
the thought was quickly forgotten. It was not enough for him to go crazy
from thinking about the nature of the gods of chaos.
[author] I think I've messed up somewhere in my explanation… As you
probably know, there's a chance that I'll go to serve in the army for a
year, that's true. But a lot of you think that I'll end up fighting the war.
That's… not correct.
Probably.
Short version: I'm just going through a year of military service in the
army, and I'm not going into active combat.
Long version: people in my situation – the majority, that is, not contract
soldiers, just dudes who spent a year in the army – serve for only a year,
where everyone is undergoing training. Nobody is going to throw people
like us into a military zone, they have enough meat shields as is.
I'm leaving on the eighteenth of October. By that time the novel will
already be over, at least the first part. Maybe by then I'll have time to
write a couple of crack chapters and put them on a delayed post.
So you can breathe out, I'm not going to die… Probably.
If I do, Imma haunt someone else to complete my novels. [/author]
Chapter 64: Future Plans
The House Hufflepuff greeted Danil with their famous friendliness and
warmth. True, this kindness mainly came from the senior students, who
were guided by Gabriel and Jamie, along with Cedric Diggory. The last
guy was just a friendly Prefect who wanted to make a new friend.
Danil had time to think about why The Wanderer and the Hat decided to
send him here. Sitting there, basking in the atmosphere of real
friendliness, he simply couldn't help but feel himself become a part of the
team. And if what he heard about hard work from these children was
true, then all they needed to be happy was more people with new ideas.
Or the Communist Manifesto, there were enough ideas there. Because
hard work and perseverance were doubly useful if channeled in the right
direction.
But it was worth looking at the other houses to understand why
Hufflepuff was the only right option. At least Danil thought so.
If he had ended up in Slytherin, then after a couple of weeks only a few
of the snakes would have remained alive. Well, or he would have been
poisoned before he could strike. As a safety precaution, to rid the world of
another dangerous creature that threatens to destroy the state of affairs in the
Magical Britan.
'Uh-huh. That doesn't even sound like a joke. These cunts would say that.'
Danil thought.
Ravenclaw was a better option, after all, he already had a friend in this
house! Luna would welcome him at the table of ravens with open arms!
But all the other "smart" members of the House would not tolerate
another "mistake" in their ranks and would definitely try to do something
to him. Little shits.
Was it worth mentioning what would have happened to them after the
first attempt? Also, he didn't forget that those three idiots who tried to
bully Luna at the beginning of the year were still a part of the House.
Seeing them, Danil would definitely not be able to restrain himself.
Gryffindor. Home of the brave and the foolhardy. Full of idiots with hot
blood and pride bigger than the Eiffel Tower.
Remembering his sister's whining about how Gryffindor treated Potter,
Danil understood perfectly well that there was no way for him to go
there. How will he be able to communicate with people who change their
opinion about you every other day? Of course, Potter's status as a
national hero cranked this reaction up to eleven, but it was still worth
noting.
So Hufflepuff was the best choice. It was a house that stood like a
mountain for each other. If you offend one of them, then you offend them
all.
'Thank the mad god that I became part of this strange family.' Danil thought
and could have sworn that distorted laughter was heard somewhere in
the distance. 'He hears my thoughts too. Wonderful.' The laughter in the
distance became an iota louder.
So the monster boy was pleased with his position and the new robes, they
fit his black body. The yellow and accents on the robes looked like gold.
And no one needed to know that a little later he improved his robe with
golden threads so that they would better hold standard enchantments.
At first, meeting his new classmates went well; no one even asked any
particularly awkward questions. But even so, there were some bumps on
the road.
"So… are you still human?" Asked one interested first year who was lucky
enough to be sitting nearby.
Danil, who at that moment was drinking something that vaguely
resembled blood, choked and looked at the boy who asked him a
question. He knew that many people were interested in the circumstances
of his life, but not enough to ask him directly!
If it wasn't a twelve-year-old child who asked him about this, Danil
would simply say a few very "polite" words to him, but could he blame
the child for pure interest?
"… I was a human until one day I became the one you see now. I
consider myself to be human, trapped in the body of a creature until I
find a solution to this problem." He said honestly.
The boy ooh-ed with a thoughtful face.
"What do you even call yourself now?"
And so, dinner at the Hufflepuff table became an impromptu question-
and-answer session with Danil in the leading role. Of course, he didn't
answer all the questions; they weren't Luna.
"You never played Quidditch?!" Ernie Macmillan asked dumbfounded.
"Comrade, tell me, how could I play Quidditch with my proportions?
There isn't a single broom that would support my weight and none of
them would be comfortable enough to control, my arms are too long." He
decided not to talk about the fact that it would explode in his hands.
"And I think this sport is strange. Who came up with the idea of
giving the Seekers such a huge influence on the outcome of the match?"
Jamie laughed at his grumbling. "Yeah, you won't make a professional
player! You're more suited to be a team mascot!"
Maybe Jamie was joking at that moment, but only a blind person could
have missed Cedric's inspired face.
Next year, the Hufflepuff team will have a second mascot and few will be
able to protest their choice.
-=-=-=-=-=-
Remus Lupin was a kind man who had a difficult fate. Being bitten at the
age of 7 by Fenrir Greyback himself is still a pleasure, but life with the
subsequent transformation into a thoughtless dog every month? This was
also not very pleasant.
But even so, Remus tried not to give up. All his life he tried to protect
both himself and those around him from the infection that was lodged
deep in his body. He didn't want to waste the chances that Hogwarts had
given him.
Now, many years have passed, and he returned to Hogwarts. This time as
a teacher, but he was already leaving it so quickly. It wasn't anyone's
fault, that just how life was.
One of the students was able to put two and two together and reveal his
furry little secret, because there were few reasons why a teacher would
disappear every month on the days of the full moon. Fortunately, Remus
had already thought about it and didn't hope to teach at the school for
more than a year, the contract was limited in time.
But what he should do next was a difficult question… Was. After all, the
solution to this issue was given to him by none other than Dumbledore,
which didn't surprise Remus. He knew that he was indebted to the old
wizard, this was just a way to repay a part of it.
But it is worth mentioning what exactly Dumbledore asked Remus to do.
Just a couple of days ago, sitting in his comfortable throne-chair,
Dumbledore was drinking tea with a slightly nervous Remus. And it was
clear why he was nervous. At that moment, his prospects of finding a job
in the magical world were zero. Well, or pretty close to this number.
Which made the man start thinking about his difficult future again.
"Remus, how would you like to take on an Apprentice for the summer?"
Dumbledore asked and Remus' thoughts stopped.
"... An Apprentice? Prof-" Seeing Dumbledore's unimpressed look, he
cleared his throat. "Albus. I may have the knowledge and experience, but
to take on an Apprentice? No, this is too much responsibility. And who
will choose me as their teacher? I'm a werewolf, Albus, maybe this means
little to you, but not to others."
Dumbledore just chuckled.
"Danil Khromov will be your student." For Remus, the name of the boy in
the monster's body sounded like a bolt from the blue. He certainly didn't
expect this. "You see, our young friend, is faced with a problem that is
unusual for an ordinary wizard. He simply cannot use the same type of
magic that we do. His body is not built for this. That's why I chose you as
his teacher. You have friends that could help him."
Remus swallowed his harsh response and began to think about the
situation. Now he understood why Dumbledore decided to contact him.
Among the adult werewolves there were only a few who could use
wanded magic. The bite changed them radically, increasing their physical
performance, but taking away their ability to cast spells like a wix.
Therefore, Fenrir Greyback preferred to bite his victims when they were
still children, then they had a chance to retain the best of both worlds:
the strength of a werewolf and the magic of a wizard. Remus was one of
those better creatures. This gave him respect among the werewolf
enclaves of which he was not a part, and that meant a lot.
To understand just how rare such werewolves were, you need to look
around. In all of Britain, those who were able to hold back the flow of
infection and preserve their wand magic were a rarity. Why do you think
there were no more werewolf students at Hogwarts?
The only reason Remus wasn't kidnaped by some crazy wizard
Chimerologist was because no one was interested enough. Werewolves
were old news.
Among those werewolves who lost the ability to wand magic were those
who taught themselves to cast spells in other ways. It was with them that
Dumbledore wanted to introduce Danil, in the hope that he would be
able to understand how to use his magic.
"Does Khromov want this?" Remus asked a logical question. "He seems to
have taught himself the spells, and a personally made wand would most
likely work for him. The boy can still use wands, right?"
"It's unlikely that Danil has the same problem as werewolves." The old
wizard agreed. "But even so, he will be able to learn a lot from their
magic. I'm sure they will give him more ideas on how he can use his own
gifts."
For a long time, Remus was silent, thinking about everything
Dumbledore had said. He noticed how the students looked at Danil when
they thought no one was seeing them. Looking at him, like he was a
particularly dangerous animal behind the glass of a zoo.
Fear, distrust and disgust were visible on their faces. Even rare
admiration and interest did not evoke good thoughts in Remus.
He knew what people like Danil wanted. He knows what he wanted at his
age.
Remus wanted to find a place where he wouldn't ne called a monster, a
place where he would belong. Where there will be no looks full of fear,
where he will not need to hide, where no one will whisper about his
curse behind his back.
Yes, the boy already had a circle of friends where he was not considered
a monster, where he was the same person as everyone else. But this was
not enough. Remus knew that in a life like Danil's, there would never be
enough of that.
Collecting his fears and throwing them into the far corner of his mind,
Remus made a decision. He will be the one to lead Danil to such a place.
For children, even cursed children, must be protected.
Chapter 65: Bruke’s special – The
end of the first book
Diagon Alley hasn't changed much since the last time Danil visited it.
People of all calibers walked around, some sporting bright colors and
others preferring to stick to the shadows with their dark robes. A lot of
owls were flying between the buildings, forcing the little fairies – who
served as an attraction in one of the shops – to hide from the hunters of
the night. And when they flew away, the fairies bravely jumped out of
their hiding places and stuck their tongues out at the owls' backs.
And shops: they were countless. Only the main street of Diagon Alley
could offer you a bunch of different magical and not so magical things.
Who knew what you could find if you walked further and turned into a
darker alley? It didn't matter who you were, the little magical corner
hidden from the view of the larger world had something for everyone.
A couple of kids who were too young to attend Hogwarts ran past Danil,
looking back when they realized just how tall he was. And in general, the
three-meter skinny teenager and his old grandfather were given a wide
sigh by everyone in the alley.
"Old man, don't you need to engage in some kind of shadow politics
now?" He looked down at the disguised Albus's head, but the man only
laughed in response.
"My young friend, let me do this for you at least. We both know that at
the next meeting of the Ministry, the esteemed Lords and Lady of
Wisgamoth will do everything to make life difficult for you." The old man
said sarcastically. "And with the situation that arose after Remus left…
Well, I think it will be more interesting for him to teach you one-on-one
on your trip than to teach the castle to children who will be afraid of
him. And it will be good for you to unwind."
Neither of them spoke for a couple of seconds. The whispers that Danil
heard behind his back didn't disappear. Students still regarded him with
distrust and contempt. For many, he remained a Dark Creature that
devours people at night; a cursed invalid who would never be able to fit
into normal society – he hangs out with Lovegood, the evidence is there –
or he was simply hated because he was a – stupid communist who can't
even put two and two together.
Looking at the behavior of the children, it wasn't difficult to guess what
their parents would think. They must have gotten their opinions from
somewhere.
So Danil was glad that he would spend his summer traveling through the
passes of the defenses and learning new things. The things that he
wanted to test, it is better to do away from populated areas. You never
know what might blow.
"Is it just me, or have you become less… polite? I'm not used to hearing
so much sarcasm from one of the great ones." Danil asked as they turned
into a narrow passage to shorten part of the path.
"Maybe so." Albus allowed. "Maybe the last few years at school and your
appearance have made me admit what I've been denying for a very long
time."
The monster boy adjusted his goggles and waited with interest for the
continuation of the monologue. But when there was no response, he
decided to ask what the old man meant.
"Let's leave this conversation for later, my friend. We are already there."
And together they went into a store already familiar to Danil – Bruke's
Wands.
The bell announced their arrival, sending ringing sounds throughout the
store. Now that Danil had been around magic for a long time, he was
able to feel an almost imperceptible surge of weak magic from the bell.
'Could it be sending signals to particularly noisy parts of the workshop?'
"Who's there?! We're closed today, go to hell!" This time it was a gruff
male voice that yelled at them, making Albus smile.
"Oh, like father – like daughter. The best students of their years, if you
can believe it." The old man said happily, as if showing off a trophy.
"Bruke, I don't think you should turn down good offers when they come
to you on a silver platter."
For a couple of moments, the store became quiet, and only then the door
behind the counter opened and a middle-aged bald man with a beard no
worse than Dumbledore's tumbled out. He was wearing strange-looking
clothes, as if someone had mixed a blacksmith's apron with a wizard's
robe, and in his hands he was holding… a sharp tuning fork?
"Ah, it's just you." Bruke muttered in disappointment seeing Albus and
putting his fork into the pocket on his stomach, but then looked at Danil
and widened his eyes. "What's this? Did you decide to introduce me to
Hagrid's bastard?"
Coughing even at the thought that he was mistaken for the son of the
school Gamekeeper, Danil waved his hand negatively. Meanwhile, the old
man took the conversation in the direction they needed. They didn't
come here to chat after all.
"We need a Wand for the young man." Albus pointed his hand at the
monster boy and Bruke narrowed his eyes in suspicion.
"Remove the illusions, then we'll talk." And although his words sounded
wary, the eyes of the wand maker sparkled with interest.
Danil remembered how Albus described Bruke's work. Most of his Wands
were mediocre, barely up to the standard set by the Ministry, but when
he found a client who iterested him, he made real works of art.
So, without much debate, removing the illusion from his body, Danil
appeared before the eyes of Bruke in all his monstrous grandeur.
"Hooo… So that's why you stuck your crooked nose in here. You were
sure that the kid would interest me." The wand maker whistled. "My
daughter said that you came with some kind tall guy under illusion
magic, but I didn't expect that."
Coming out from behind the counter, Bruke quickly walked up to Danil
and began to examine his uniform from all sides.
"What did you say was your problem?" He asked distractedly, grabbing
the boy's hand and looking at his palm and fingers.
"Wands explode at my touch."
"And you're asking me to make him another wand? Dumbledore, are you
an idiot?" Bruke dropped Danil's hand and looked back at Albus. "He'll
just blow it up too. The same problems happened when wizards tried to
give wands to dragons, their magic is simply too powerful and
aggressive."
"What kind of dumbass decided to give a wand to a dragon?" Danil asked
with wide eyes.
"A dead one, but that's a thing of the past." Bruke turned around again,
like a ballerina, and stabbed his finger at the boy's ribs; he simply
couldn't reach any higher. "And you, an alive dumbass, need something
stronger than a wand. A Bruke's spetial will do. Sure, it would be on the
bigger side, but I doubt you'll have a problem with that. Come on in."
Having said this, Bruke disappeared behind the door of the workshop.
"The what? What in the name of Gods is Bruke's spetial?" Danil muttered
in confusion, walking after the wand maker.
Somewhere just north of Paris, in a rich-looking Manor located in the
magical territory of France, lived a family of five people. Appoline
Delacour and Jean-Paul Delacour were a happily married couple for three
decades and were blessed with three girls.
Born from the marriage of a human and a Veela, the three girls were also
Veela. A magical race of creatures who enchanted men with their magic.
Fleur Delacour was the eldest of the three. She was no longer the little
girl who followed her parents everywhere with endless questions about
the world and magic. This girl grew into a young woman of incredible
beauty, although she was helped by her mother's blood. In just a couple
of months she will be seventeen years old and will become a legally adult
witch in the eyes of the law.
Shoulder-length blond hair, smooth skin without a single flaw, full pink
lips and perfect body proportions. It would be difficult for an average
man to take his eyes off such a woman even without magic, let alone the
famous Vella's charm.
Gabrielle Delacour was the youngest. She was only eight years old and
the girl was a ray of sunshine in the life of her family. Her hair was the
same blonde as her sister's, but it went down to the small of her back.
She was overflowing with energy, just as many children of her age did.
And the second daughter of the House of Delacour – Elizabeth Delacour.
The thirteen-year-old girl didn't stand out of the general iddilia of the
family pictures in any way. Every one of them always seemed perfect.
But it was impossible to guess whether it was just a side effect created by
the passive Vella magic, or their usual mood.
Her blonde hair, wasn't flowing freely, it was pulled into a tight braid
that fell over her shoulder and ended on her chest. And her blue eyes
seemed to be unnaturaly beautiful, even more so than an avarage Vella.
Appoline assumed that perhaps her little girl had discovered some hidden
talent that was transmitted with their blood, but so far no one has been
able to find confirmation of these words.
Now, two of the Delacour sisters – Fleur and Elizabeth – were sitting at
one of the small tables in the cafeteria of the Charmbaton and having
breakfast. Unlike Hogwarts, the French Magic School didn't have huge
communal tables and buffet-style meals. The food was cooked only if
someone ordered it.
"Elizabeth, I heard that a certain Bonier showed interest in you quite
recently. And that it resulted in a quite a scandal." Fleur said in pure
French with a twinkle of laughter in her eyes. "Do you want to share with
your beautiful sister what happened?"
"Your vanity is showing." Elizabeth wrinkled her nose in displeasure.
"This frog-eater has decided that we are destined to be together." The girl
looked like she would have spat on the ground if she wasn't a proper
lady. "I just explained to him where exactly he should go with his
declarations of love in simple words. I've never liked pompous idiots who
can only talk nonsense."
Fleur giggled softly into her palm. "Liz, we also are a part of the frog-
eaters, or have you forgotten?"
Lowering the fork back onto the plate, Elizabeth looked sternly at her
older sister.
"There is a huge difference between a frog-eater and a person originally
from France, my dear sister. A frog-eater is a model of behavior, and a
person from France is just French. I think I've already explained this to
you, haven't I?"
The girls looked at each other seriously for a couple of seconds, and then
Fleur grinned and went back to eating. She thought that her sister was
not serious, and Bonier was a known womanizer and an extremely
unpleasant person to the boot. Fleur had no doubt that her sister would
reject this pig.
Meanwhile, Elizabeth was deadly serious. She'll die before she starts
dating a frog.
"How's your Rune project going?" The eldest of the sisters changed the
topic.
"Good enough, I'd say. I think by the end of the week I will be able to
create a conceptual representation of the eternal flame."
So, their breakfast was spent talking, and only when most of the students
started drinking tea, owls began to fly into the hall and scattered
morning mail. One of these owls threw a bundle of newspapers on the
table to the Delacour sisters and flew away without even waiting for
payment. Their subscription was purchased in advance and for a long
time.
Elizabeth was the first to reach for the newspapers, taking out the latest
edition of the Wixen World News and the Quibbler, leaving everything
else to her sister.
"I don't understand how you can read this." Fleur glanced at the Quibbler,
the magasine was full of bright colors. As usual, even the main headline
was on the verge of madness – The escaped Umgubular Slashkilter! Read
the story of Ministery prisoner, Danil Khromov! – and it wasn't the most
delusional thing that was written. "Just looking at the colors makes my
head hurt. And I'm trying not to think about all the theories that that
English barbarian printed this time."
Fleur stopped, waiting for a reaction from her sister. It was already a
kind of tradition – Fleur tried to tease Liz in the morning to wake her up
a little, but nothing usually worked. Liz really wasn't a morning person.
But the expected response didn't come.
"Wow, what you're reading must be really sensational." She said to herself
in surprise and even straightened up in her chair to look at her sister's
face, which was hidden behind the newspaper. But Elizabeth abruptly got
up from her seat and buttoned her robe.
"I'll have to cut it short today, sorry, Fleur. I just remembered that I have
some urgent business." The girl turned on her heels and almost ran out of
the hall.
"... Was it something I said?"
Elizabeth, meanwhile, walked briskly to her private room, since everyone
in Sharmbaotna could afford it. And as soon as she closed the door
behind her, the girl's expression fell, and tears poured down her cheeks
like two perfect rivers.
"He's alive…" she mumbled, and although cats were scratching at her
soul, her voice still sounded like an angel's. "He's at Hogwarts. It can't be
a coincidence."
She slowly slid down the door to the ground and pressed her knees to her
chest, hiding her face in her legs. "He didn't lie, Danil is really alive. He's
alive. Alive." she muttered these words to herself like a mantra. Again
and again.
It will be a long time before the girl can calm down. But when her
emotions return to her control, she will set herself a new goal – to get to
Hogwarts, no matter the cost.
After all, she hadn't seen her brother for more than ten years. Elizabeth
"Kat" Delacour wasn't going to let this chance go so easily.
-=-=-=-=-=-
A/N: [Feels like I should've waited with the sister thing. Maybe I'll write
a short novel about Kat's life as well.
You know, two more plot chapters were planned, but my departure to the
army was shifted to 16th. So I had to change my plans. There will be
another crack chapter, at least.
But for now, this is it, comrades. I hope to see you all in a year!]
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Simple_Russian_Boi
Gimme stones
Chapter 66: Crack Chapter: The
strange evening
"Take your cauldrons off the fire, you useless maggots!" Snape barked,
waving his cape like a third-rate circus wizard.
The students, oddly enough, listened to their professor, removing the
cloudy, creamy potion from the heat and placing the pot on the table.
Danil looked with interest at the viscous slurry that he ended up with and
tried to understand how a potion called "Horse Power" was made from
the blood of a centaur and crushed deer bone. Of course, he understood
that it was magic, but how did they end up getting a potion that color?
Need I say what it looked like?
"Prof Bat, you still haven't said what this potion is!" One Ravenclaw girl
noticed. "And why does it look like jizz-?"
"This is where I ask questions!" Snape roared back, snatching the still hot
cauldron from the girl's table. The man looked at everyone around him
with crazy eyes, pressing the heated metal to his body. "Leave your
potions on the table and get lost! You'll hear your grades later!"
For a couple of moments, complete silence reigned in the office, which
was broken only by the skin on Snape's hands quietly sizzling from the
heat. But then everyone clearly heard someone behind the class swallow
very loudly. The professor's head whipped towards the sound, where the
Hufflepuff boy drank the potion straight from the cauldron.
"Idiot boy! YOU DARE TO TOUCH MY PRECIOUS!" Snape might have
dropped his cauldron, but it had already become fused to his flesh.
The Idiot Boy, meanwhile, felt the effect of the potion on his body, which
immediately began to react, forcing his classmates to move away from
him.
In just a couple of moments, a completely ordinary boy was transformed
into a strange cross between a horse and a man, very much fitting the
description of a hornless satyr. His new horse legs replaced human ones
and at the same time tore away his pants, showing the whole world that
the lower part was definitely that of a horse. A mare pair, to be more
precise.
"Merlin's dry left testicle!" The under- satyr muttered in shock. "My poor
pecker!"
"LEAVE!" Snape screamed again, finally tearing his hands away from the
cauldron, splashing blood and other fluids of questionable origin around
like a fountain.
After that, no one lingered. But a couple of students were still able to
steal one cauldron of potion for personal testing… ahem… All in the
name of science!
"My precious…" Snape sniffed sadly behind the door of the closed office,
hugging the dropped cauldron close to his chest.
Danil, meanwhile, was walking in a rather high corridor, trying to forget
Snape's face and his passion for horses…
"It's worth telling the centaurs about this, they'll need to be wary of this
pervert." He wouldn't wish anyone to acquire a stalker, especially one as
ugly as Snape, so the Centaurs would definitely get their warning. "Now,
how do I contact them…?" The monster boy, who had been ignoring one
other pervert for several days, said thoughtfully.
"Hey, you stupid creature, what is it like to be such a freak surrounded by
the finest representatives of pure blood like me?!"
Speak of the devil…
Danil turned around, looking with disgust at Draco Malfoy, who
miraculously survived the Rebellion of the Pudding Queen.
At first, they wanted to simply throw it into a vat of boiling pudding, but
then they decided not to spoil a good product with a rotten ingredient.
After which they decided to crucify him on the cross, but they found it
too cruel… As a result, Malfoy had been awaiting his fate for two
months, walking around the castle, not even knowing that that week he
could have been burned at the stake in front of the lake so that the giant
squid could try this new snack.
But why Danil considered him a pervert? Well…
"Do you need something, Dragon shitling?" He asked purely out of
politeness.
His grandfather didn't spend five years raising a child just for laughs. If
Danil had not at least answered Malfoy and Kurt had found out about it,
then even now his thick skin would not have saved him from being
whipped.
"What could such a wonderful representative of the English Aristocracy
need from such a creature like you?! Outrageous!" The blond squealed,
ignoring his new nickname… Oh, no, I take that back, he began to
breathe harder, and his cheeks turned red.
But Draco Malfoy would walk around with a sore ass on a permanent
basis, because the boy had no politeness at all. Although it would seem
that the heir to an old Pureblood family should have known better! But
unfortunately, he wasn't flogged in childhood, what a pity.
"Then get out of here before I shove your legs up your ass." Danil said
without much interest, turning back and continuing on his way.
He tried his best to ignore the moan behind him.
"I'm not done with you yet, Mudblood!" Malfoy squealed and ran after
Danil, trying to grab him by the robe or hand, but a moment later his
gaze was filled with a blue flash of a spell that fulfilled Danil's threat.
Malfoy was already prepared for a wave of euphoria, but suddenly
realized that he couldn't feel the lower half of his body. And while the
Heir of the Great Family Malfoy was screaming in frustration, Danil
finally decided to teleport to his room and hide from all this madness.
Unfortunately, the madness did not want to leave Danil, so in his room
he found a completely naked Luna Lovegood, covered in someone's
blood, which was also used to paint the runes on the stone floor. The
girl's quiet chanting echoed off the walls with a strange echo that
distorted her voice to incredible levels. It seemed like a dozen people
were talking at the same time.
A strange light surrounded the girl in rings, focusing around her head.
"Luna, what are you doing?" The monster boy asked carefully.
The girl immediately fell silent, stopping the bloody ritual. The light
immediately went out, plunging the room into pitch darkness. Three dead
bodies fell from the ceiling, hitting the ground with a crunch.
"Oh, Danil! You came a little earlier than expected." She said, moving one
corpse to the side, trying to hide it under the bed. Where did the bed
come from…? "This is just a weekly ritual for good hair growth, nothing
complicated! If you want, we'll do one for you, you'll be as shaggy as
Hagrid!"
Slowly accepting his fate, Danil agreed. Because you don't say No to the
Queen of the Revolution.
A/N: [The date of my deployment to the army has changed again. Now I
only leave on October 25th. I have no idea what is going on with the
bureaucracy at the military commissariat.]
Chapter 67: Crack Chapter: The
Rise of the Pudding Queen
Sitting on a high throne made from hundreds of melted down teaspoons,
Queen Luna Lovegood - founder of the Pudding Worship Church - looked
down on her subjects with a soft smile on her face. The young girl
became the leader of hundreds of people in the Castle, luring them with
promises of sweets and freedom of choice.
"My subjects!" She began, her smile becoming a little sad. "Today I have
gathered you here to announce the beginning of a holy crusade!"
Whispers began among the people who knelt before their Queen. This
was the first crusade in their memory.
"You will become carriers of my faith! You will bring the joy of the taste
of pudding to the masses, providing new believers to our church!"
The crowd of people exploded with shouts of approval that lasted about
ten minutes. And when everyone was quiet, someone asked hesitantly.
"What should we do then?" One unfortunate person asked.
The queen's followers looked at each other in momentary confusion. But
they quickly found themselves and began to offer solutions.
"Impale all non-believers!" A seventh-year student shouted with a huge
wooden stake in his hands.
"Burn the heretics!" The second supported him, waving a torch that he
grabbed from the wall.
"Eat all their other food so they'll have to eat pudding!" The little girl said
that she had just entered her first year.
Words of agreement were heard from all sides, the crowd slowly reached
a boiling point. Pitchforks, sticks and torches rose to the sky, and the
screams became louder.
But they were all interrupted by one raised hand from the queen.
"Of course not, what kind of stupid ideas are these?" Luna blinked,
looking at her subjects with wide eyes. "Although the idea of eating all
the other food except pudding has a place to live. Girl, after the meeting,
come to my office, I want to listen to even more of your thoughts."
Looking around at her subjects, the queen nodded with a smile to the
girl, who blushed and hid behind one of her friends.
"Isn't it obvious? You have to feed the blessed pudding to everyone you
meet, whether they want it or not!" The queen hit her staff on the floor
and no one even asked where she got it from. After thinking for a
moment, she added, "Unless they're allergic to pudding, of course. Then
you should bring them straight to me so I can help these lost souls!"
Nodding in response, the Hogwarts students began to dream in
anticipation. With the advent of new successors, their church-kingdom
will become larger. This meant that a new wave of baptisms in the lake
of pudding would soon take place! No one knew what miracle happened
for a whole lake of sweet dessert to appear in the Forbidden Forest, but
no one really complained.
Feeling all the kindness of their Nun, the servants of the Holy Pudding
Queen began to leave the well-lit dungeon where their meeting was
taking place. Leaving only the most devoted people in the hall. The little
girl was among them.
"Now let's begin our private meeting. Gentlemen, Ladies, what are your
reports?"
After a short discussion, Jamie stood up first, holding a rather thick roll
of parchment in her hands.
"First, I would like to tell you about our progress inside the castle. A
quarter of all students are currently on our side, or in some way helping
the cause. If the spread of our beliefs continues in the same spirit, then
by the end of the year half of Hogwarts will be ours, including
professors."
Luna nodded thoughtfully, reading the copy of the report that Hufflepuff
was holding. Inside were graphs and forecasts of the spread of their
influence, first throughout the Castle, and then throughout Britain.
"Some time ago, we had our first agents in the Ministry. Amelia Bones
was particularly interested in our religion and the community that you
gather around you, my queen."
Drumming her fingers on the wooden table where her advisors and spies
sat, Luna nodded.
"Avoid contact for now, make her work to get information about us. Don't
open our cards so quickly, she may be a follower of the Rotfang
Conspiresy. Until we prove otherwise, keep communication with her to a
minimum."
Jamie nodded and sat back down, writing her queen's words onto a new
piece of parchment. And the first-year girl who stayed with the leaders of
the revolution could not contain her shock. After all, they were already
able to interest the head of the Auror!
The conversations dragged on for more than an hour. There was too
much information to discuss everything in ten minutes. No matter what
anyone says, leading a revolution is a troublesome business.
And when the meeting came to an end, all advice had been listened to,
and orders had been given - it was time to end their meeting.
"Thank you all for your contributions today." Luna said raising her hands
and clapping her hands twice. "Now let's move on to the final ceremony."
As soon as she fell silent, the table immediately changed, all the
documents and cards disappeared, leaving behind only a white tablecloth
without a single spot. A moment later, a plate of pudding and hot tea
appeared in front of each of the participants in the revolution. The house
elves did a great job.
And before they even had time to start eating, everyone noticed how
someone else appeared in the room. Violet sparks dispersed the darkness
in one of the corners, allowing us to see the tall dark figure of Khromov,
who had returned from his walk through the Catacombs.
He blinked at the sight of so many of his friends at one table.
"Hello, Danil Khromov! Join us, we just sat down to drink tea." Luna
invited him with a smile, to which he silently sat down at the offered
chair.
"Since when did you start getting together at this time?" He asked in
confusion and looked at Gabriel. "And don't you have an Astrology lesson
now?"
The guy just shrugged, taking a sip from his cup of tea.
"It's just a gathering among good friends, don't worry so much." Luna
continued. "Pudding?"
Danil looked with some disbelief at the sweetness offered to him, but
decided not to ask unnecessary questions. Maybe he just thought
something was wrong.
But something bothered him.
"Luna, why are you sitting on a throne of spoons?"
"Because there is no spoon."
"Right."
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Simple_Russian_Boi
Can't answer any of you, I'm already gone.
Chapter 68: Summer of the Wolf:
The Iron Heaven
It is difficult to find a forest that was left untouched by human hands.
True virgin forests were as rare as Dragons – True Dragons that is, not
Wyverns, who stole their name to intimidate other beasts.
Where a man come through, a scar remains, whether they want it or not.
It could be a footprint that scared away a fox, a cigarette butt, some coal
from an extinguished firepit, a pile of garbage that some idiots left
behind, a broken tree brunch... There were so many scars.
But it could have been different. People could be one with nature, they
just had to learn to truly be a part of it.
The forest, which is listed as a protected one in Ireland, managed to get
boring for two travelers on the second day of their journey. It was almost
no different from dozens of other forests and reserves. It seemed that you
could turn around and see a familiar place, but these were tricks of
nature that only beginners fell for.
It was precisely for such begginers that the roads were trodden here.
Narrow paths on bare ground that can hardly be walked by one person.
But this didn't stop a handful of small animals from following their
companions on their heels.
"Explain to me again why we couldn't just apparate to the werewolf
camp? Something about a high magical background?" The taller one
asked, stopping for a moment and spreading his arms to the side.
His dark cloak hung from his dark body like a bag, fluttering in the wind,
occasionally showing the world the black skin of a teenager. "So why
can't I see even a bit of fucking magic around?!"
The man, who was dressed appropriately for the weather, shook his head.
His jacket, darned and sewn dozens of times, made from the wool of a
magical beast of an unknown breed, hung faithfully on his shoulders for
what seemed like a dozen years already. He preferred to wear time-tested
clothes, ones that wouldn't fail at the wrong time.
The teenager on the other hand seemed to have developed a love for the
clothing of the wizarding world; the robes perfectly hid his true
appearance.
Danil and Remus went on a trip immediately after the start of Summer
Holidays. The werewolf contacted some of his friends in advance and
asked permission to visit their abode. Oddly enough, they agreed almost
immediately when they found out that Danil was also affected by some
curse.
Although, perhaps this was to be expected. Damned to be drawn to their
own kind like magnets, after all.
"That's why Silver's pack chose this forest as their home. You may not feel
it, but there's a lot of magic around us, it's just that it hides quite
skillfully from strangers."
If there were eyebrows on Danil's bald skull, they would have crawled up
from shock. In his memory, he had not seen or heard of magic hiding
from anything. Yes, there were some cunning stealth charms and even
magic that could erase everyone's memories of a certain place...
But it was magic that was made so using long words and powerful wands.
People directed it, gave it this shape, colors and properties. How could
magic – without a direction, without a user – hide?
He asked just that.
"For a long time, this forest was a reserve, maybe you know that. But
who and when declared it such, no one knows, but one fact remains: for
hundreds of years, people have been coming here either with the
permission of the Queen, or they were wizards like me and you." Remus
said in the same voice he used to lecture at Hogwarts.
"Basically, only those who wanted with all their hearts to preserve the
pristine appearance of the forest and only enjoy its beauty walked here.
They didn't want to intrude, they wanted to look."
Remus fell silent, allowing Danil to think about his words and draw a
conclusion. Most often, this is how his student came to the right thoughts
and answers to his own questions. And a minute later, Danil spoke
instead of his teacher.
"Are you saying that the ambient magic was formed by the desires of
people? Even if this forest was visited by hundreds of wizards, I can
hardly believe that. The forest is too large to be influenced without the
necessary intentions. And muggles, and there was a lot more of the here,
can't use magic," because if just about anyone could use magic, he
thought, the Wanderer wouldn't turn his nature inside out.
'He would still do that, just to see what would happen in the end.
Ephemeral fucker.'
"Of course they can't, but they can influence the path of development of
background magic. Many old buildings that have not changed their
purpose for centuries also acquire some kind of ambient magical
presence. Have you ever felt..." Remus was lost for a moment, looking for
the right one word. "Grace? Yes, grace, in churches, maybe at
Stonehenge?"
It was noticeable that Remus found this topic more difficult to discuss
than DADA. He seemed embarrassed by the very fact that he had once
been in a church.
"Happened a couple of times." Danil didn't argue. "One day, my
grandfather and sister took me out of home on a trip around the country.
I remember we visited a cathedral built right into the wall of a mountain
– the Reds did not dare touch it. When I walked inside, it was as if I had
entered a territory full of ancient power, where the weak break down
under pressure. It is said that this cathedral was often used as a shelter
during enemy raids."
At this point the conversation died down. Remus still remembered what
the boy in the monster's body had said about his family. And Danil was
simply lost in his thoughts. Was background magic the reason why old
families valued their Manors so much? Maybe because of magic, many
Ministries didn't change their main buildings for the same reasons.
"For the life of me, I can't remember the name of that cathedral." Danil
muttered.
"Maybe I can help?" Someone's helpful voice asked from the side. It
appeared so unexpectedly that Danil immediately teleported onto a tree,
and Remus bent down and pulled his wand out of his sleeve. But in the
next second, he lowered it with a tired sigh, seeing who exactly appeared
on his way.
"Kendrick, why do you feel the need to scare me every time I come
back?" Remus asked, rubbing the bridge of his nose with his palm.
Kendrick looked like a middle-aged man, worn out by life of stress. And
he was, if you didn't look closely. And there was something to see.
Even in the bitter cold, he wore only long pants made of coarse fabric
and a thin long-sleeved jacket with a Freddie Mercury print on it. There
were no shoes on his feet.
But what was so wrong with him? There are enough madmen
everywhere, even in the best cities in the world they exist on each corner.
But this one was in his prime, judging by the tight muscles hiding under
his dry skin.
"Remus, who's that dick?!" Danil shouted from the tree, clutching a long
staff made of dark oak. Where he got it from was known only to the
Wanderer himself.
"Get off of there, you fool! This is Kendrick, our guide!" Remus shouted
back.
Without thinking twice, Danil disappeared from the tree and appeared on
the ground from a bunch of purple sparks.
Kendrick looked at the two and a half meters of pure monstrocity with
interest and some respect, although the boy couldn't know where the
latter would come from.
"I believe this is the child you wrote to us about, Lupin." The man
drawled thoughtfully. "Well, let's not waste any more time, follow me."
Without saying another word, the man turned around and walked
somewhere away from the road, Remus followed him without hesitation,
and Danil tagged along.
"I repeat the question," said Danil, "who's that dick?"
Remus sighed.
"He's in charge of patrolling the area. Not that he's needed here, but it's
better to be on the safe side of things."
Danil hummed. "He's the local Hagrid?"
"To some extent, yes."
Not a word was spoken further on the road. The three walked through
the thickening bowl of the forest, where with every step there seemed to
be a dozen more trees. Danil almost broke his legs when he tripped over
a root, but there were no other incidents. The forest still seemed normal.
Remus looked around every now and then with slight misunderstanding,
but he did not dare to break the silence. An hour later, Kendrick stopped,
letting the guests forward with his arm outstretched.
"Welcome to the Iron Haven." He said gloomily.
A seemingly ordinary hilly area opened up before them. But you just had
to look closely and you could see doors hidden in the sides of these very
mounds. A couple of trees spread their branches here and there, making
the doors even more difficult to spot.
Several people were visible gathered around the firepit, from which not
even a hint of smoke emanated.
"What the..." Remus muttered.
This haven did not make a grandiose impression. It seemed that not
people lived here, but fighters hiding from enemy eyes and artillery
shelling. Danil wasn't one to judge a book by its cover, but it seemed that
the place was shit.
"Have you moved? The place was completely different before." Remus
asked, puzzled.
"We've been moving every month lately." At Remus's pointed look,
Kendrick just shook his head. "Only Silver can tell you the rest. Only he
has the right to do so."
Remus nodded in understanding, but Danil didn't like these words. The
dugouts built around began to resemble protective dugouts that a friend
from the Internet, who served on the border, had told him about. The
boy wouldn't have been surprised if someone had told him that there
were also fox holes here.
The inhabitants of the Heaven cast fleeting glances at the guests,
lingering on Danil's figure only a moment longer than on the others. Only
children and teenagers pointed their fingers in their direction and
whispered something among themselves.
"You're lucky Silver is home right now." Kendrick said.
"He is already one hundred and seventy years old, a decent age for a
werewolf. Where else could he be?" Remus asked with a chuckle.
"Old age begins not when your hair turns white, but when your soul gets
tired. Silver is the living proof of this saying." Kendrick responded wisely,
opening the door to the dugout, which looked slightly larger than the
others.
"Sounds like a quote." Danil said, bending almost in half to go inside.
"Who's author?"
"An ancient Sumerian Magician named Creole." Came a strong, bass that
definitely didn't belong to Kendrick.
The underground shelter was surprisingly comfortable, most likely
because the inside was three times larger than the outside. And it stopped
looking like a dugout. Rather, it looked as if Danil had entered the living
room of an old English Lord. Maybe because in fact it was the living
room of an old English Lord.
The werewolf named Silver was waiting for guests, sitting in a chair
opposite the fireplace. And for being one hundred and seventy, he didn't
look that old at all. The long silver hair that adorned his head made it
clear where he got his nickname from. And even from behind it was
difficult to call him old; he did not an aura of an old man.
"Remus, long time no see, glad to know you haven't forgotten your
teacher." He didn't even turn around to look at the arrivals. Only when
the door closed did Silver get up from his chair and look at Danil. Bright,
violet eyes hidden behind goggles met the orange eyes of the wolf, in
which vertical pupils gaped.
"I've only heard about you, cursed child. But I think something good will
come out of you if Mooney lets me teach."
Silver didn't act like an old man, dejected by the experience of many
years of life. In front of the guests stood a man who believed that he
would live forever, or at least live hundreds more years. Broad, strong
shoulders, thick arms and legs, shaped like that by countless battles, and
a face marred by a long pair of scars.
But something completely different caught Danil's eye. He had seen this
face before.
"Geralt of Rivia?" He muttered in shock.
"Who?" Silver asked in confusion. "We don't have anyone going by that
name, and never had. You're thinking about someone else."
Rising from his chair, 'Geralt' began to stretch his stiff shoulders. "You
couldn't have picked a worse time to come herr. Well, or not really,
depending on which side of the shit pie you have."
"Silver, what's going on? Is the pack in danger?" Remus asked.
"The pack is always in danger." Silver chuckled. "The Ministry of Magic,
Hit-Wizards, vampires... There is enough danger for everyone, and even
more remains. Every year we bury one of our own, but this time we
buried more than it was worth."
Danil looked closely at the leader of the pack. His calm words were in no
way shown with the rage that he tried to hide in his movements. The
man had been living under stress for several weeks; the bags under his
eyes confirmed that.
"Silver–"
"Ten months ago, on the night of the full moon," Silver began to tell,
"when we went into the forests to transform, someone attacked us. Those
who decided to lock themselves in their homes and wait out the night,
are dead. Everyone who was nearby the camp are dead too."
Silver's voice didn't tremble. He was calm. As calm, as one could ever be.
It felt like he had already told this story a hundred times and was ready
to tell it just as many more.
"Now, I take people from place to place, we try to hide in the forest, we
call for it's protection, but every time these fuckers find us. Every time
someone dies."
A heavy fist landed on the table that stood in the middle of the room.
"Then why the hell did you agree to have us here?! I brought a student
here, Silver, a teenager!" Remus exploded, hissing at the leader with
anger in his voice. Danil recoiled; he had never heard Remus raise his
voice at anyone before.
"The next full moon is a little less than a month away. I will have more
than enough time to teach him a lot, and then you both will go back to
your homes." He was given a calm answer. "And we also have children
here, we evacuate them first. Or do you think I have already fallen into
insanity?"
"That would be far too easy to believe..."
Silver's words didn't do much to calm Remus. Somewhere near the
shelter, a creature was wandering, capable of killing a turned werewolf.
Such creatures were a significant object of concern.
"Sounds good to me." Danil finally intervened in the conversation. "Can
you tell us more about the attacks of these creatures? Maybe someone
saw them?"
And Silver continued to talk.
The first time, when no one was expecting an attack, the pack was twice
as large. Some new converts and elders, fearing for their safety or simply
not wanting to be in the way, chose to stay home. It wasn't something
unusual, people had previously chosen to stay in their homes – at that
time made of wood – no one could say anything against it.
This choice was their last.
When Silver's group returned to the camp, not a single house remained
intact. In their places there were now craters.
"I don't know what they used to blow them up, but the explosion broke
the spell of invisible expansion." The werewolf explained. "Otherwise,
they would have remained standing. We would have heard explosions of
such power from a mile away. Unless they used some Muggle shit, I
couldn't find any other explanation."
The bodies of those who managed to escape from their homes were
mutilated. They were torn to pieces and pierced with arrows, as if a
simple death was not enough for the invisible enemy. There were no
survivors.
"Actually, there was one boy..." Kendrick said thoughtfully. "Billy, seven
years old. I can't remember his last name..."
"Brown." Silver muttered. "Billy Brown."
"He's the one. When we found him, he was bleeding, he kept talking some
kind of nonsense about hissing monsters. We didn't have enough time to
save him."
For several minutes everyone was silent, the death of a child, even of the
one you had never seen, was terrible. But now everyone was thinking
about something of their own, because that was already a passed stage.
The boy was buried and mourned. It was impossible to help him
anymore.
And Danil tried to understand why the words about monsters were so
familiar to him. It could've been a dynamite stick, so why...?
"That boy, Billy," Danil began slowly, "did he say anything else?"
Kendrick frowned and shook his head. The boy said nothing but
nonsense.
"I see... so what will my training and education be like? What will I even
be learning here?"
All three werewolves bared their teeth with unkind smiles, making Danil
flinch. It seemed to him that someone's childish voice was laughing at
him, but he put it down to his imagination.
"Oh, my young friend." Silver seemed to grow taller and began to look
much more dangerous. "Here you will learn how to be a Beast!"
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Simple_Russian_Boi
Did you know that living for two months with minimal contact with
the outside world is very boring? Did you also know that when you
have a shitton of free time and have nothing to do, you start to do
some strange things? Things, you never would've done before?
Now guess who gained three kilograms of muscle in two months. The
Grind never stops.
Chapter 69: Summer of the Wolf:
Lesson one
The first day of school is always exciting, no matter who you are or how
old you are. Schoolchildren, excited by the unknown and new
expectations, are feverishly packing their school bags. Students
reluctantly take notebooks and laptops with them, and older ones go with
the determination of a military man who has been ordered to study –
they did not expect to return the same as they were before.
Of course, there are still people who like to study, those are still
psychopaths. Erudites who cannot be scared away from a topic that
interests them.
Danil could hardly be called an erudite, or even a person who loved to
study. He simply studied what could be useful to him in life. Or what was
needed for work, at least the essentials. Surprisingly, he was able to learn
new things with relative ease.
Magic had long been a necessity in his life, and studying it was
surprisingly interesting. The fact that knowledge of magic could open the
way for him to his home world was only additional motivation to
continue studying it. It was the same with weapons training – Danil
understood perfectly well that sooner or later he would have to get his
hands dirty. The quests that the old Enderman left him hinted at that.
Therefore, he went to his first classes with werewolves with a battle staff
at the ready and a desire to learn something new. People around didn't
really whisper or point fingers in his direction; one day was enough for
everyone to know about his existence. And werewolves knew very well
what it was like to be locked inside the body of a monster.
Walking to a small clearing where children and teenagers were sitting on
tree stumps, Danil sat down in the last row. With his height, he could see
everything from there.
What he didn't take into account when he sat in the last row was that he
usually sat there to talk with friends, not to listen to lectures.
"Hello!" The silver-haired girl sitting on his right hand squeaked. "Are you
the guest who came to grandpa this morning?"
It was not difficult to guess whose granddaughter it was. The white curls
on her head and blue eyes with vertical pupils gave a good clue.
"Yes, and you are Silver's granddaughter?" He asked her in response.
"My name is Sarah! And my grandfather is not a silver, he's a human!"
She giggled at the little joke and held out her little hand to him. "Let's be
friends, I don't have such tall friends yet!"
"Now you do, I'm Danil, but you can call me Dan." Danil answered and
shook her hand. He never refused new friends, especially the nice ones.
"Okay, Danny! Oh, gra- teacher Silver is coming!" The girl corrected
herself and sat up straight, as if an iron stick had been inserted into her
back.
Silver stopped at the meeting of young animals and looked at everyone,
narrowing his eyes. The children immediately became quiet; it was clear
that discipline in the camp, even in turbulent times, was at a level, or
Silver simply had enough respect even among the children.
"Good morning, everyone." Hearing a general "good morning" in
response, he nodded with satisfaction. "As you may have noticed, we
have a new addition – his name is Danil Khromov. Keep all personal
questions not related to the topic of the lesson to yourself until the end of
class, you can ask them later. Of course, if you manage to catch him."
Danil didn't like the way some of the kids started looking at him.
Apparently, Silver's order was not a joke at all.
'Sarah, even you? I thought we were friends!'
"Now let's begin." Silver again attracted the attention of the class. "Many
of you were born and raised here, knowing exactly what awaits you in
the future. Some came to us with their families, and some found their
way on their own. Some of you have a blessing, while others have a
curse.
"You are all different, but at the same time, you are all the same. Know
that your circumstances do not make you evil or bad, just different." The
teenagers listened to his words with gloomy faces, and the children were
already beginning to nod off.
Danil thought that Dumbledore should say similar things, at least
sometimes without falling into senile insanity.
"Due to the fact that we have a new addition, I will not check your
homework for today, but don't think that this will save you next time."
Someone to Danil's left swore quietly in French. "Polnareff, you will stay
after class. The topic of today's lesson is hit-wizards. Tell me, if you are
being chased by a hit-wizard, what exactly will you do first?"
Blinking in surprise, Danil leaned forward. This was not what he
expected from his first lesson at the Haven, but it should've been obvious.
The life of werewolves wasn't easy if they didn't learn to fight on their
own, life taught them, whether they wanted it or not.
"Escape to a busy area to give up the chase there, after which we should
activate our personal portkey." A lanky guy from the second row
answered. "A magical area would be best, where it would be more
difficult for a wizard to track you through traces of magic. If this is not
possible, you should hide from the enemy's sight and only then use the
portkey."
Silver nodded approvingly. "That's true, but it could have been said
better. Right now, your best way to survive is to run and there's nothing
shameful in that."
Danil raised his hand and waited for Silver to nod in his direction. "What
if there is no way to escape?"
"This is the topic of our current lesson." The leader of the pack answered
calmly and began to walk back and forth. "Usually, people like us are
hunted only by trained professionals who know our nature in advance,
and self-confident idiots who decide to kill a wolf for profit. All you need
to do, to take down an idiot, is take away his wand and they will remain
defenseless, but with professionals there are much more problems.
"Any reasonable professional wouldn't work alone. They go in groups of
three, and if you're lucky, it will be a teacher with two students. Their
equipment – well, the things they use – is an order of magnitude better
than what you're used to seeing here."
This didn't surprise the children much. On the mainland there were
always artifacts that were an order of magnitude better than those made
in a flock. It was enough to compare their clothes and those sold on
Diagon Alley to feel the difference.
"Even their students always have at least two artifacts with them. One for
defense, and the other for offence. Hit-wizards have even more, and they
carry at least two wands with them. And if you are very unlucky, you'll
meet a wizard with an arsenal of Alastor Moody on their back. It's best to
avoid them if possible, and if they do follow you, it will be safer to kill
them than to get a spell in the back later."
No one was very surprised by this answer. Life was a cruel thing, but
everyone wanted to live. Kill or be killed, a principle as old as the world
itself, werewolves couldn't live otherwise, not on this island.
"Hit-wizards perform worst in close combat, or in endurance combat.
They are wizards first, and fighters only second. And for magic users, the
main thing is mastery of the magic itself."
Wizards in general were quite lazy. Why climb the stairs when you can
make them move themselves? Why do they have to go up the hill when
they can just apparate there? Who will wash dishes by hand if half a
hundred spells have already been created for this very purpose?
"I advise you to carry melee weapons, or artifacts enchanted to penetrate
shields. A good choice would be to master the use of Muggle firearms.
For some reason, many wizards think that next to magic, all Muggle
inventions of the last fifty years stop working. Idiots."
Danil put this information aside in the subcortex of his mind. For his
hands, he would most likely have to order a custom weapon, but that was
the least of the problems.
'Can I craft a gun?' Deciding to check it out later, when he wasn't
surrounded by a crowd of children and had enough materials in stock, he
continued listening to the lecture.
"Beware of the Unforgivables, it's quite easy to get out of their way,
especially since the verbal component in them is required, you will hear
the attack. The fastest spells can fly at the speed of sound, but they have
little power, with the exception of spells of the lightning element. Watch
your hands the enemy and the movements of their wrists. It's better not
to meddle where the wand is pointed."
Silver continued his lecture in the same vein, giving the children only
bare facts and explanations. The squeeze out of useful tips and tricks
ended in about thirty minutes. After this, Silver began asking questions so
that the students could understand with their own minds why exactly
they should do as he ordered.
He was a good teacher, although he did not shy away from cruel details,
explaining exactly why one should never play with fire.
Remus, watching the lesson, could only shake his head. Silver may have
been telling the truth and not hiding anything behind beautiful words,
but his students were still children. Teaching them to kill and rip people's
throats for looking sideways was simply wrong.
"A little cruel, but everything he said is true. Your own life is above all, it
must be preserved, if not for your own sake, then for the sake of the
happiness of your loved ones." Danil made his verdict when the lesson
was coming to an end, but the students hadn't left.
"Teacher says that it is better to learn about the dangers from him than to
face them later and be unprepared. You should hope for the best, but
prepare for the worst." Sarah said with a wise look that made it difficult
for Danil to contain his chuckles. "Oh, I almost forgot, are you staying
with us until the next full moon?"
"Yes. Why?"
"Just wondering." The girl closed her eyes innocently, but Danil knew
that she was avoiding answering. His sister did exactly the same thing at
one time, and then she simply learned not to say anything.
"Now I give you permission to leave. The hunt has begun." Silver had just
finished speaking when three particularly curious children attacked
Danil. He would have stayed there, talking about himself all day, if not
for one of his quirks…
Scattering into purple sparks, Danil disappeared, leaving the children to
fall to the ground. The trio of friends groaned with resentment.
"That was mean, teacher!" The boy lying under the two bodies of his
comrades said. "You can't apparate here!"
"Nobody said it was easy." Silver said calmly and slowly walked towards
the forest where Kendrick stood, and to his left there was a barely
noticeable blur in the landscape.
Danil watched as the children slowly rose from the ground and went
about their business. Sarah carefully examined the place where her new
friend had disappeared, hoping to find at least some traces of his
teleportation.
"I didn't think Silver had kids."
"Not anymore. His son and his wife were killed during the first attack on
the village. They stayed to look after the elderly. Now he only has Sarah
left."
"... Why everything is so sad? Ya'll got another curse on you?"
"Maybe so." Kendrick didn't deny it. "But the girl keeps herself in check.
Even now she finds some little things to feel happy about and share the
joy with others." Only the deaf wouldn't have heard the pride in his
voice. Sarah was a popular girl in their small village. Although she was
only nine years old, high hopes were already placed on her.
"That's a lot of responsibility for one grieving child. Are you sure she's
okay?"
"You can be sure of it." Silver muttered as he finally came closer. "In our
family there is no mourning. In our family there is only revenge."
Danil nodded slowly, digesting the new information. Looking at Sarah, it
was hard to believe that this girl would actually take revenge on anyone,
she seemed to be far too kind to do something like that. But everyone
knew that there are devils in still waters.
-=-=-=-=-=-
The life of werewolves was not very different from the life of ordinary
people. They still needed to eat, drink and sleep, except that their food
contained more bloody meat.
Of the big differences, Danil could only notice a lot of Muggle things that
almost everyone in the Iron Haven knew how to use. Clothes, shoes,
books, lamps and other household items were popular here. Someone
even installed a diesel generator right next to their house...
Near the same dugout there was a chaise lounge, definitely made of
plastic, and not from something more natural, as the wizards preferred.
How exactly such things worked together with nature, Danil had no idea,
but he was going to find out. Plastic and earth usually didn't get along
well.
"Do we leave anything behind?" Sarah said, hearing his question. "Not
even a speck remains behind us, which means the forest won't drive us
away. The main thing here is not to harm the Forest, then everything will
be all right."
The girl's logic was ironclad – pardon the pun.
"When a wolf catches a rabbit and eats it, leaving only the bones behind,
they will be carried away by other animals and birds, they will find
where to use them. We are the same. If there is something left after us,
then everything goes to the benefit of the Forest, we take away all plastic
stuff. But even if we leave it by mistake, the Forest uses these things for
its own good. And if you leave something intentionally, then the Forest
will know about it. It will find out and punish you."
The thought of a sentient forest that could influence its inhabitants didn't
scare Danil as much as it should have. Much more, he was scared of the
unknown.
What did the Forest consider bad and what was good? How did it reward
successes and punished failures?
No one has been able to answer these questions for him for sure. None of
the werewolves really knew if the Forest could actually think, it was just
that everyone believed in his power to do everything justly. Even if this
justice was unusual for the human mind.
"It's more a belief that everyone gets what they deserve," Remus
explained. "Most magical beings don't believe in any Gods. But sometimes
you want to believe in something, so we believe in a kind of form of
karma."
"Yeah." Danil muttered skeptically. "It sounds like some Buddhists visited
you. But you still don't believe in the Gods for nothing..."
After his death, Danil could not afford not to believe in Gods or karma.
All these things could be quite real, and how many other things were just
as mythical and completely unknown, it was even scary to imagine.
"No, it was not a Buddhist, but a priest of the Morduk. When he started to
talk about karma, you wanted to believe in it."
And here it was again. An unfamiliar Deity, unfamiliar magicians who
worship him. Was it also Creole, the Sumerian Magician whom Silver
mentioned? Danil didn't ask.
Questions about faith in a world where ghosts were real and the
existence of a soul had been proven in ten different ways over the past
three centuries were at least uncomfortable to discuss. After all, if living
beings have souls, then where do they come from? And where do they go
to after death? Who's looking after them?
No matter how hard the wizards tried, they couldn't find the answer to
these questions. So, the debate has continued to this day.
But Danil knew what awaits people after death. Death itself in person and
most likely a lot of fourth dimensional paperwork. Because even the Gods
must have at least some kind of control system. But he wasn't going to
tell the truth about it. No one would believe him anyway.
At least the truth about the universe was useless to farmers who grew
food for wolves using alchemical potions.
"Everything is natural here. Kendrick boasted, completely ignoring the
chaise longue behind him. "And what is not natural is created by wizards
for a while. Conjuration, you see."
A half-naked girl fell on a chaise longue and it creaked. Even the autumn
cold couldn't stop her from enjoying the last rays of the sun.
"Do the magic deck chairs creak?" Danil asked doubtfully.
"For the sake of authenticity."
The chaise longue creaked once more, as if agreeing with Kendrick's
words. The girl didn't move an inch.
"What a madhouse." And another creak. "Even the chaise longue agrees
with me. And how does she not freeze? Do werewolves have any
resistance to the cold, or is there something I don't understand?"
"Who, she?" Kendrick looked at the girl. "Bitch's just built different."
The girl picked up a cold bottle of beer from the ground and drained it in
one gulp, without even blinking. Only those who had blood alcohol levels
always on the verge of a lethal dose drank this way. Alcoholics who have
long forgotten the taste of water.
"Sickel says she has a bike." Danil immediately said.
"Galleon says she has a forty-ton truck in Australia." Remus answered to
his bet.
As a result, the money ended up in Kendrick's hands. The girl didn't know
how to drive.
Chapter 70: Summer of the Wolf:
Sumerian method
Danil ran.
He ran faster than ever before in his life. Fallen tree branches and leaves
crunched under his feet with every step, even despite the silence spells he
had cast around his own body.
'Werewolves are fucking crazy!' He screamed in anger and immediately
tripped on a particularly thick tree root.
From the blow of his foot, the root shattered into small pieces, but the
balance was already broken. With tremendous speed, Danil rolled head
over heels on the ground, stopping only when his ribs crashed into a hard
tree trunk. The teen groaned quietly in pain, even with his thick skin, it
was quite unpleasant.
"And why are you lying here?" Silver's voice rang out. "Nobody gave you
permission to rest. Get up."
What he didn't want to do was get up and run away again. He wanted to
curl up by the fireplace under a blanket with a cup of hot chocolate in
one hand and Luna in the other. Or fall into the sea and die. He would
rather do anything else than continue this torture.
Have you ever run through a battlefield and written an essay on
philosophy in advanced mathematics at the same time? Try it, then you
will understand what exactly Danil was doing now. Only, instead of
bullets, spells from Remus and small stones were flying around him,
which Silver threw every time he made a mistake in casting a defensive
spell or in a counterattack. Danil thanked the universe that these were
not knives, his teachers had not gone so crazy yet.
'But next week...'
His whole body ached, the brand-new combat staff in his hands was
already rubbing the second row of calluses, his soul wanted to leave the
body as soon as possible. He had never used so much magic in one day,
even during his raids into the catacombs.
'And Silver says this is the easiest challenge?'
All that Danil needed to do was get from the edge of the forest to the Iron
Haven, while Remus, Kendrick and the girl from the sun lounger – whose
name he never learned – followed on his heels. In order not to lose in the
first minutes, Danil had to constantly monitor his surroundings and use
as many spells as possible. Teleportation was forbidden, because the
point of the training would be lost if he avoided all the tests.
"We are preparing you for a possible future where someone finds a way to
block your teleportation." Silver said. "Such an experience will be useful for
you."
Danil slowly rose to his feet, his throat wheezing with every breath, his
lungs refusing to take in air. It seemed that now his heart was beating not
two times a minute, but much faster.
"Bitch, how- kha!" Another pebble flew into the teenager's stomach, but
he didn't have time to dodge or put up a shield.
"The Bitch is running after you right now, wanting with all her heart to
rip your hands out and make fashionable gloves out of your skin. She's
rather playful today." Silver said with a grin, passing another stone in his
hands, only this time it was larger. "Now stand up!"
Rolling away from the tree, Danil jerked to his feet. His vision swam,
green leaves and brown tree trunks mixed together inside the teenager's
eyes, but he resisted.
Quickly throwing the air blade behind his back, he ran on, not even
paying attention to the howl of pain that came after him. The spell found
its target, which meant it was worth speeding up. Angry wolves were
much worse than playful ones.
Dodging the thick tree branches that again floated past his gaze, Danil
tried to throw off his tail. For the third day in a row, he was trying to get
to the Haven, repeating the same actions in a different order. For three
days the target did not change, nor did the pursuers.
Another stone whistled near the hole that replaced his ear and the
teenager fell out of his thoughts; it was definitely not worth being
distracted now. Someone had been running behind him for two minutes,
and he was only able to notice his steps now. Danil took a handful of
small earthen cubes from his pocket and threw all twenty at his feet.
With a dull creak, the cubes returned to their normal size, acting like a
springboard and launching the teenager forward.
The footsteps behind him stopped.
"Clever, but you'll have to clean it up after." Silver's voice came, but Danil
could not understand where it came from.
The tricks up his sleeve were running out, magical and physical
exhaustion came in waves, tangling his legs and taking his breath away.
The veins hurt, although Danil had never even thought that this could
happen. Pretty soon, he will simply fall to the ground exhausted and will
not be able to get up for the next day.
"Three hundred meters." Silver said. Danil was getting closer.
The teen kicked the ground and was thrown up by a gust of wind. The
way to the village most likely had traps and it was much, much easier to
walk through the trees.
Only he didn't take into account the fact that the trees weren't safer than
the ground. Someone had already prepared an ambush for him, jumping
out of the shadow of a tree like a ninja.
"Gotcha!" There was a victorious cry from Bitch and two strong hands
grabbed Danil by the torso, starting to pull him down. Another stone flew
in his direction, only this time it hit Bitch's shoulder. She made a mistake.
The branch under Danil's feet cracked from the weight of the monster
and the girl and broke in half. Without thinking twice, the teenager
turned around, shielding the Bitch with his body from the blows of the
branches, until a couple of seconds later his back met the cruel ground.
The girl groaned in pain, because even having protected her from most of
the blows, Danil couldn't soften the last one completely. He himself was
not in the best shape, and now a couple of dozen new bruises added to
his exhaustion.
"Fuck-" he threw the Bitch off, she hadn't yet regained her senses, and
rolled over, starting to run again. He had no strength left to return to the
treetops.
Finally, he saw a clearing in the distance, but Danil had no right to relax
and rush there headlong. The smell of wet metal from somewhere nearby
stopped him dead in his tracks.
Swerving sharply to the left, he dodged Kendrick's fist, who was hiding
behind a tree. Blood was running down the man's palms, and a shallow
cut was visible on his wrists. Grabbing his wrist, Danil pulled Kendrick
towards him and threw him aside, sending a Stunning Spell after him to
ensure that he was knocked out.
There was only a short distance to the village, but Kendrik wasn't the last
obstacle he met for today.
Covered in a thin layer of earth, with a wand in his hands and an evil
glint in his eyes, Remus stood between Danil and his well-deserved
victory. The ground in front of the werewolf turned into quicksand, and
above it, he could see a web of thin steel cables. And this was only what
Danil could see.
"Looks... dangerous..." The teenager said breathlessly.
"Don't be afraid, none of this is fatal." Remus reassured him as he
prepared the next spell.
Danil had to bend down to avoid being hit by a bluish ray of light.
Raising his hand up, he was about to release another blade of wind, but a
spell that his sister had once talked about popped up in his head.
"Sectumsempra!" The invisible blade cut the steel threads like a hot
knife trough butter; he couldn't even hear them break.
Remus responded by erecting a transparent wall in front of him that
seemed to be made of armored glass. But this was not a hindrance to the
enderman's strength. Having placed a circular shield against spells
around himself, Danil jumped over the swamp, flying straight onto the
glass. Another stone whizzed past his eyes, but there was no time to be
distracted by that.
The blow of the hand made a gaping hole in the glass and Danil jerked
himself upward, flying over the wall and landing directly on Remus,
immediately depriving him of his wand.
"I won." The teenager muttered and fell to the ground next to his teacher.
He reached the village.
For the next five minutes he didn't move or even breathe. Endermen hold
their breath for up to an hour, the oxygen in their blood moved slowly,
adjusting to their heartbeat. The only reason Danil was used to breathing
faster than usual was because he talked a lot.
The wet grass burned his skin, but he was too lazy to move now. It was
much easier to simply regenerate the melted skin later.
His remaining teachers slowly emerged from the forest. Kendrick helped
Bitch walk, throwing her arm over his shoulders, and Silver looked
thoughtfully at his student.
"Mmm..." he drawled, walking up to Danil and sitting down next to him
on the ground. " I'd give you a C+, but for your first try it's acceptable.
Naturally, you have some things that will have to be corrected next time."
Danil groaned.
"What... idiot came up with this torture...?" He squeezed out with
difficulty, finally taking a breath.
"Saint Creole, who once visited our Heaven." And again, this name. Danil
was already wondering what kind of person that man was. "His student
and the genie were also good company. He passed on to us quite a lot of
ways to raise the youngsters."
Danil didn't like something in these words. "Youngsters?"
"Children, usually under eleven years old." The old man watched with
pleasure as Danil's eyelid began to twitch behind the goggles. "Of course,
their task was a little simpler, and they only have to walk about two
kilometers, but everything is learned by comparison. My Sarah, for
example, quite successfully passed this test at the age of six, hiding from
the eyes of her pursuers."
A groan came from Danil's mouth again, but not because he was
overtaken by a small girl, but because he finally noticed one
inconsistency. Although the werewolves were beaten and even wounded,
not one of them was even out of breath. There weren't even any wrinkles
in Silver's clothes.
"Any one of you could grind me to dust in a minute." He tried to say it as
a fact, but he knew he was starting to whine.
"Well not exactly." Silver disagreed. "Without any restrictions, Kendrick
could kill you in about five minutes when he understands your
teleportation scheme. Your fight with the Bitch may end up in a draw if
she's lucky, but she won't have enough experience to escape or defeat you
in a fair fight. But Remus can do it in about two minutes, spending the
first one on preparing traps."
He had nothing to answer to this. Danil knew very well that even with all
his strength and abilities, he was sorely lacking in experience. But with
all his advantages, how could he lose? After all, he had almost killed
Remus once before.
"You're still young." Remus patted the teenager on the shoulder. "You're
here to gain experience and learn something new. Don't worry about it
for now."
The monster and four werewolves sat in silence, looking at the waking up
inhabitants of the Haven. Looking at them from the outside, it was hard
to believe that every full moon they were attacked by an unknown
enemy. Life went on as usual, and people tried to get through the day,
even despite the danger hanging over them.
"So, what about you?" Danil finally asked, looking at Silver. "How fast
can you kill me?"
The white-haired werewolf did not answer, he just pointed his hand
somewhere towards the forest. Danil followed his hand with his eyes and
winced in phantom pain.
The stone that flew in front of his face last did not disappear into
nowhere. He crashed into a tree and made a neat hole through its trunk,
leaving only a small web of cracks in the bark. He might not have time to
escape from such an attack.
"Got it." Danil muttered, regretting that his magic staff would only be
ready by the end of the month. Maybe then he'll be able to use more
complex spells instead of being limited to what he has now.
"You can rest, you are free until evening." Silver stood up without much
effort and headed towards his house. "At night, the Bitch will start
teaching you how to use your stick."
Danil and the Bitch simultaneously coughed in surprise.
"Walking with a staff and swinging it like an ax is like carrying a dead
weight. It's stupid and dangerous, there's no pleasure in it." The old man
didn't even try to hide the fact that he was mocking them.
Finally rising from the ground, Danil noisily inhaled. His body
regenerated quickly, healing its injuries and exhaustion within minutes.
But magical reserves did not. Danil had long ceased to be surprised by
the peculiarities of his body; now he could only sculk.
"I've never taught someone to fight with such a long weapon before,
especially someone your size." The bitch looked at Danil appraisingly,
rubbing her bruised back. For a moment, her gaze dropped to his belt,
but then returned to his face. She licked her lips. "It will be an interesting
experience for both of us."
The girl turned around and walked away, slowly swaying her hips with
each step. Danil looked after her without a shadow of shame in his soul,
but he had one question.
"Does she know that I'm not even seventeen?"
Kendrick laughed into his fist and shook his head.
"Of course, she knows, that's why she's a Bitch. No one went beyond
words with her, neither girls nor boys. They say that she loves attention
more than people themselves."
"And she chose her name herself?"
"No one knows. The naming process in a pack can happen in different
ways."
The brain in Danil's skull began to scrape against the bone. For some
reason this information seemed important to him.
"Naming?"
"Why do you think no one calls Silver by his real name? Or the Bitch
herself?" Kendrick raised an eyebrow questioningly. "If you don't call a
wolf by their nickname, it feels wrong, as if someone put salt in your tea
instead of sugar. The Named ones are those who received their nickname
among the company of other Named ones. Another person can come up
with it, you can give it to yourself. Each nickname distinguishes the
essence of a person, sometimes superficially, and sometimes to the very
depths of the soul, it's difficult to guess which one it is."
Danil glanced at Remus, but he just shrugged.
"My nickname is Moony, but that name died a long time ago, along with
James and Peter. Now I'm just Remus."
Danil tensed. Remus spoke too calmly about losing his name, there was
no anger or hatred in his eyes, only cold calculation. The last person who
knew his nickname has now escaped from Azkaban. Most likely someone
will die during the meeting of old friends. Danil decided not to stir up
this topic any more than necessary.
"Does every werewolf get a nickname?"
"Sooner or later, everyone gets one, some just have to earn it." Kendrick
spoke quietly.
Sighing heavily, the man rose from the ground and also left without
another word. As a result, two people remained on the outskirts of the
village, Remus and Danil, watching the boiling life from afar.
"... Well, that wasn't good." Danil said to himself. His back was wet and
peeling off, but the desire to move never appeared.
-=-=-=-=-=-
Clutching the combat staff in his hands, Danil looked at the body of his
opponent. Even a novice fighter knows that all movement starts from the
legs so that the impulse of the blow is stronger. Only the wooden thing
standing in front of the monster boy had no legs. As if stolen from a film
set about ancient Chinese martial arts, the wooden... thingamajing had
only five spinning rings with protruding sticks.
Danil didn't know the name of this thing, and the Bitch lovingly called it
"dummy."
"Wasn't there anything taller?" Danil asked, looking down at the dummy.
It didn't even reach his chin.
"Get used to it, squirt. Almost all your opponents will be much shorter
than you, you should know that." The Bitch answered caustically.
Muttering something unintelligible, Danil agreed. Skeletons, zombies and
even slimes could not reach his height. Why he thought he should train
with someone his size, he couldn't say. After all, you still had to try hard
to meet people like Hagrid or himself.
"Just try not to fight with goblins, they will bite your legs off."
Concentrating, Danil stood still. To begin with, the Bitch asked him to
show what he already knows.
Wood hit wood with a dull thud as he spared no effort, knowing that the
indestructibility charms on both items had only recently been renewed.
Due to the force of his blow, the first ring began to spin and the teenager
was forced to block and hit the next ring.
This demonstration lasted about ten minutes, while Danil got used to
working with the dummy, the Bitch carefully watched his every move.
Every mistake he made, from small to large, was noticed by her. And as
soon as those ten minutes were up, the Bitch told him to stop.
"Not so bad, at least you're not mindlessly waving it around." Although
she approved of his form, the Bitch was frowning. "But the fact that you
are used to fighting with other weapon can be seen a mile away. A
double-headed axe, I assume?"
Danil nodded.
"Well, then you should add short blades to your staff if you want to
continue to take advantage of its benefits. If not, then I advise you not to
backhand so often. The blade of an axe is difficult to intercept, but
anyone with a brain can catch a staff. Focus on fast, precise hits to
internal organs. Later, I will show you where they are located in most
living beings."
The Bitch forcefully spun all five rings of the dummy and took Danil's
staff in her hands. Four dull blows sounded in the night, but the fifth was
only able to graze the spinning stick and the staff rested on the ground,
going down a couple of inches when the ring spun to the end and struck
back.
"Still, it's a little big for me." She drawled. "But I hope you understand
what I showed you. For now, try it for yourself, then we will solve the
issue with the blades and pressure points."
Shrugging, Danil took his weapon back and continued to train. The Bitch
stayed with him for another hour, correcting his stance and movements,
and then went to bed. The boy seriously decided to take up hand-to-hand
combat, because you can always be left without a weapon in the heat of
battle, but it would be harder to lose his arms.
The night passed slowly. Danil persistently hit the crossbars of the
dummy with his staff, sometimes blocking retaliatory blows. He was not
bothered by the lack of sleep or the darkness that had fallen over the
forest.
Three quick pokes, a block and a backhand blow that even made the
dummy sway. The machine itself was indestructible, but the ground
around it was not, Danil quickly corrected this. The pain in his muscles
from the tension disappeared almost instantly, leaving his body stronger
and sturdier than it was before.
He took breaks only twice – to eat. The body required fuel to function.
When the sun began to peek over the horizon, Danil stopped for the third
and last time. He was interrupted by the quiet hooting of an owl and the
flapping of its wings. A moment later, a strange-looking bird landed on
his shoulder – it looked like an owl and a macaw parrot at the same time
– and extended its claw to him, in which a letter was clenched.
The bird was blue, with cool white feathers on the tips of its wings and
tail. She squinted one eye and looked at the monster boy with some
suspicion. Of course, it was the Lovegoods' owl, as strange and unusual as
they come.
"Hey girl. Is it from Luna?" The owl hooted approvingly. "Can I take it?"
Having waited for the second hoot, Danil took the letter and opened it
with a smile on his face. No matter what, the new day started off great.
"I'll write an answer. You'll wait until I'm done?" He said and finally went
to the dugout allocated to him.
Danil didn't notice how the bushes moved behind him, perhaps it was
just the wind, but two bright eyes that flashed in the dawn sun said
otherwise.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Simple_Russian_Boi
Dear me, that was a long one... Didn't think that I could write chapers
longer then 3000 words anymore, but here we are, back where we
started.
Well, I wish you a good time during the holidays, comrades! In the
meantime, I'll go follow orders for a bit.
Chapter 71: Summer of the Wolf:
The Beast Inside
"In each of us, somewhere in the depths of our souls, lives a Beast." Silver
spoke, looking carefully at the faces of his students. "Definitely a Beast,
with a capital B. Some will never know about its existence, leaving the
Beast to sleep and not calling on its power. Someone knows that there is
something inside him, ready to take control if necessary. And someone –
then refuses to accept it as part of ourselves."
Another lecture from the leader of the pack became a breath of fresh air
for Danil. After a three-day walk through the endless forest, he needed
rest, especially mental rest.
"And there is another type of people – us. Those who know about the
Beast and want to accept it. Take its power as our own."
Unfortunately, his need for rest was taking its toll on his focus. The
teenager openly nodded off, although such speeches were precisely
needed in order to kindle interest in the hearts of children. Danil was not
interested in such words; he was already going to extract as much
knowledge as possible from the old werewolf.
"So, let's begin." Silver suddenly said, causing Danil to raise his head and
collect his thoughts. "This may sound obvious to some of you, but during
meditation you should not think about anything. Of course, the first
dozen times you will not succeed. For beginners, it will be easier to think
about one thing. About the color gray, about melody that refuses to leave
your mind. The most important thing is not to think about unnecessary
things."
Silver's gaze settled on Danil.
"For those who already practice meditation, there is another piece of
advice. Seek the farthest corner of your consciousness. There will be no
thoughts, experiences or emotions, only primal instincts. In this place you
will find the Beast."
"What should we do when we find it?" Sarah asked, causing Danil to look
at her with interest.
He thought that the girl was already in contact with her Beast, having
received vertical pupils like Silver's from the deal. But apparently, that
wasn't the case. Maybe it was just a feature of genetics?
"It's entirely your choice." Silver answered. "Submission, cooperation,
defeat, deal or takeover. The options are endless and only you can know
what is right for you."
Sarah nodded and closed her eyes, trying to think about the color gray.
As gray as a rabbit's fur... or a cloudy sky...
Danil made himself more comfortable and crossed his long legs under
him, calmly closing his eyes. For a while, his chest was still rising up and
down with his usual breathing, and then slowly stopped. The monster
boy didn't take a breath for the next couple of hours.
Opening his eyes already inside the expanses of his own mind, Danil
stretched his arms to the sides and stretched his neck. The familiar action
calmed his nerves before facing the unknown. Now, he looked like a
cross between an enderman and a human, with sharp black claws instead
of nails and pieces of black skin in seemingly random places on his body.
Finding yourself inside your own consciousness is much easier than
people imagine; it was much more difficult to navigate there. Tightly
woven memories and emotions hid behind them notes of sensations that
you had experienced before. Echoes of old traumas settled on the web of
consciousness like black dust, moving apart only if you focused on it.
And all this was just a superficial consciousness. All the memories here
were either very fresh or too important to be forgotten for a long time,
you just had to reach out to find them.
Danil did not linger; he needed to get deeper. The threads of light around
him began to part, allowing him to lean forward into the more distant
corners of his mind.
Thoughts slowly began to speed up, becoming simpler and gradually
turning into instantaneous impulses that immediately put commands into
action. What exactly these commands were was not worth thinking
about, because the human brain did much more than anyone could
imagine.
The depths of the mind were a strange place not to be in for long. Here
was the subconscious, that part of a living being that made decisions
even before you could realize it. If superficial thoughts looked like an
intricately woven web, then this place was more like a spider's lair.
Confused and chaotic, full of little nuances that made people think the
way they should.
Danil never went further than this point. The moon once warned him
that he should not change anything in the work of his own consciousness
if he did not want to lose himself.
So, he went around the spider's lair and headed further.
Only a minute later, he suddenly realized that he had found the place he
needed. Around him lay a field full of lush green grass, and in the blue
sky without a single cloud, the Sun and Moon shone brightly. The
weather was whispering to lie down on the ground and rest, but the
unnaturalness of this place stopped Danil.
For starters, he didn't feel the wind on his skin, nor did he feel the heat
from the Sun. It was difficult to feel something when you didn't have a
body, only a representation of it created by you. But Danil didn't care
much about this.
He wasn't alone. Someone else was in the world of instincts, standing
only ten meters from the teenager.
At first, Danil thought that it was the Drifter invading his mind again to
see his progress, but this theory died as quickly as it was born. The Gone
God didn't need to invade anyone's mind, just to talk, he could easily
appear anywhere and anytime.
The final nail pierced the coffin lid as the creature spoke.
"The Free one... And so soon?" He sounded surprised.
Danil knew this voice. Only it didn't evoke any pleasant memories, at all.
"And you are a fucking exploiter who hung five hundred quests on my
soul." The teenager muttered in response, but was sure that the old
enderman would hear him.
In any case, he was not going to come closer; he was irritated by the
presence of someone else's consciousness where it should not be at all.
How many times could this old man influence his choices while he was
here?
"Still as weak," said the enderman, ignoring Danil's words and starting to
step forward. "But smart. Free, and this is important. Weakness can be
corrected."
Danil blinked. Although, rather, the world around went dark for a
moment and came to life again, only the enderman was now standing
right in front of the teenager.
"Your questions." He said quietly. "Ask three."
For a long time, silence reigned between them. Three questions, three
answers, this is exactly the deal the enderman offered. It was useless to
ask for details; it seemed to Danil that it would be a waste of the chance
to find out more. No restrictions were indicated, but what was worth
asking?
"I don't believe that you are doing this for free..." He said doubtfully.
"Why do you need me? To kill that strange creature that keeps you under
control?"
"Only the Free One can set us free." The enderman answered
monotonously. "Freedom for me and the others, that's my price, but
you would have freed us without answers. Two."
Danil cursed quietly. Instead of a clear answer, he received even more
questions.
"There are too many old people in my life who want something from me."
He grumbled as he thought about his next question. "Who should I free
you from? The Ender Dragon? I need to know who I'm facing."
The Enderman didn't answer immediately. He stretched out, towering
over Danil, like a mountain above an ant. In his current form, Danil
finally understood what it was like to look at a monster twice your
height. By remaining himself in his mind, he lost the advantages of a
monster, but retained his humanity.
"Two." As a result, the enderman repeated. Apparently, there were
restrictions after all, the old man just decided not to talk about them.
Danil didn't argue.
"If I meet your enslaver right now, how long can I hold out?" It might
have been a stupid question, considering that even the enderman thought
he was too weak, but he needed to know.
"Until they notice you. Then five seconds. One."
Danil frowned. He could teleport away from attacks, damn it! How could
he only last five seconds? It didn't make any sense!
Taking a deep breath out of habit, he jerked his head. He still had one
last question left, he had to choose it wisely. But there was a lot of
choice.
Where did the endermen race come from in the world of Harry Potter?
Who were they before their mysterious enslaver came? Where did he
even need to go if he wanted to kill this 'great evil'? Was it worth killing
him at all? What if, once freed, the endermen go to war against the
human race? Maybe we should just give it all up, take the Lovegoods out
of Britain and live somewhere on the shores of Australia?
But that's not what Danil asked. As a result, the answers to all his
questions will be found themselves, sooner or later.
"Why would I free you? You say this with such confidence, as if this is my
destiny. All I want is to regain my form and meet my family again. I don't
need to get rid of tyrants for this."
This time the answer was immediate.
"That's why you'll free me, human." For the first time, mockery was
heard in the enderman's voice. "If you want to return the body, you
will kill the tyrant. If you want to return to your family, you will
free my people. Only the Free One can do this."
The figure of the old enderman began to flicker like a mirage. It seemed
that he could disappear at any moment, simply disappearing into thin air,
and both understood it.
"Get ready." The enderman gave the order. "Gather your warriors.
Become stronger. Meet the Beast. Kill the tyrant."
With the last words, the enderman finally disappeared, leaving not even a
hint of his presence. Danil was left alone again. But not for long.
At first, it was an inaudible whisper of apprehension, so quiet that you
had to strain to hear it. Then the second one joined him. And to him the
third. And again, and again, until the whisper of dozens of voices grew
into a cry of fear and rage directed at the teenager. Here he was clearly
considered superfluous.
And following the voices, the Beast appeared.
He did not grow out of the ground, creating his body from dirt and grass.
He did not fall from the sky, smoothly descending on white wings. The
beast appeared over the horizon, as if returning home after a long walk.
Probably, when hearing the word Beast, and even with a capital B,
people imagined an animal. Huge, dangerous, aggressive and cruel. A
bear-sized monster with blood-red eyes, ready to tear any living creature
in half.
Only the Beast was not a monster or an animal. It was a man. Completely
naked, with the anatomy of a Ken doll, but human.
Danil looked at the Beast as if spellbound. In front of him stood his exact
copy from the previous world. Short brown hair, a straight nose with a
mole at the bridge of the nose, pale lips through which ran a thin, ragged
scar from being hit by a stone... The only difference was his eyes.
The Beast's pupils were cold and empty, without a hint of color.
But even so, Danil could see fear in them. Fear of your instincts towards
yourself; fear that he had become part of the Beast long ago, but he
stubbornly refused to show it. Tens and hundreds of voices did not stop,
they only became whispers again, as if watching what would happen
next.
The beast bravely looked into Danil's face, refusing to back down. He was
ready to die for his world if necessary.
"I recognize myself." Danil slowly extended his open palms to his chest,
trying not to make sudden movements. "You know why I'm here. You're a
part of me, no matter how much the Wanderer changes us. So why are
you afraid of me? I don't wish harm on myself – and you."
The Beast was silent. Instincts could not speak at all, only give signals.
Now, the voices have fallen silent one by one. Primal instincts and those
that he had earned in his short life himself were waiting for his avatar to
respond. There was no threat from the intruder yet, or it could have been
avoided.
And then Danil took a risk. He extended his right hand to the Beast.
Slowly, carefully, as if communicating with a barn cat.
The beast stared at her with empty eyes, and then turned and
disappeared without uttering a word.
You couldn't earn someone's trust with just a few words, it was
impossible. People and animals did not give their devotion to anyone just
like that.
"That's to be expected..."
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Simple_Russian_Boi
Happy New Year, comrades!
Chapter 72: Summer of the Wolf:
The Final Exam
[-traces of another attack by the Crumple-Horned Snorkack. Daddy says
it's too early for me to see this, but a Magozoologist must be ready for
anything! Sometimes I don't understand him at all, what's so scary about
dead people? It seems to me that living people can be much scarier.
How is your training at Summer Camp going? Have you already learned
the secrets of kung fu? Why do you refuse to tell me the woman's name?
She's been training you for almost a month, how can you not know her
name?
P.S: when should I expect a visit from you? Dad is learning to cook the
Russian drink "chefir".
P.P.S: should I expect a souvenir?
P.P.P.S: Mantis misses you very much too. I think he doesn't get enough
attention, even Billy looks sad.
- With love,
Luna Lovegood.]
Danil carefully put aside the last letter from Luna and began to think
about his answer. For him, writing letters was no longer new; months of
practice in writing replies made it easy for him. At first it was a little
difficult to get used to the absence of phones and instant messages, but
he managed. The stack of hundreds of letters from friends that lay on his
desk was confirmation of this.
True, sometimes it seemed to him that in her free time the moon was
writing a book, and she was sending him draft versions of her articles.
However, he was not against this option for anyone, and he was always
ready to help Luna. Only they didn't let him write an answer; there was a
knock on his door.
Danil got up from his chair; the last month had been very productive.
From a dry, skinny, black monster with arms reaching to the floor, he
transformed into an Apollo monster with arms reaching to the floor,
capable of shooting fireballs from the tips of his fingers. Constant
training, both physically and magically, made him a machine capable of
withstanding even the most insane loads.
Only he couldn't figure out how to cast more advanced magic. The magic
of endermen and wizards wasn't very different, but it was these small
differences that did not allow him to advance further. And it wasn't yet
possible to find the magic that members of his race used. There was no
way for him to learn something new by taking information out of
nowhere.
But now he knew how, with the help of "Flippendo", to force an enemy's
heart to do a backflip. And if he applies a little more force, he can even
tear someone in half.
Opening his eyes, Danil looked down and met the gaze of little Sarah.
The curly-haired girl looked a little nervous, but it was understandable,
today was the day of the full moon.
"Hey Danny! Grandpa Silver is looking for you."
"I know, little one, you don't have to worry." He patted the girl on the
head, but she threw his hand to the side, wrinkling her nose with
displeasure. "Yes, yes, you're not little, it's just that everyone else is too
tall."
"By the way, I'm already an adult! Last night I defeated my Beast!"
Deciding to prove that she had grown up, Sarah stuck her tongue out at
Danil, and then turned around and ran to her friends who were waiting
for her nearby. "Don't be late! Today is an important day!"
Hiding his chuckle, Danil turned around and entered his house again.
"... where do I need to go?"
Shrugging his shoulders, the teenager decided to change clothes first, and
then solve the remaining problems. Going to the exam in pajamas was at
least inconvenient. It was worth at least changing my pants.
-=-=-=-=-=-
Some things do not change immediately; they are stubborn, like a ram
before a new gate. Little can be changed in just one month, so Danil did
not succeed in many things.
The forest still refused to accept him as part of itself, hiding its secrets
from him. He was never able to hit Silver during their sparring sessions,
where the old werewolf usually put the teenager on his shoulder blades.
Remus never fell for one of his pranks, and the Bitch never recognized
him as her equal in martial arts.
There was too much to do and too little time.
And there was still the Beast. The avatar of primitive instincts never
warmed to the idea of cooperation, refusing to accept Danil out of fear
of himself. Something in the human subconscious violently protested
even at the very thought of entering into cooperation with an enderman,
even if this person and the enderman were the same person.
Today, Danil wanted to fix this.
"The student has finally arrived." Silver said from his place on the tree
stump. "Great, you can move on to your last attempt. Remember, your
next opportunity won't come until next year."
For a whole week he didn't even try to enter his mind, giving himself
time to collect his thoughts. To both of its parts.
"You've been given until sunset. By moonrise, you and Remus should be
as far away from here as possible. This isn't your war, after all." Silver
looked at his students carefully and waited for them to nod. "Great, get
started."
Closing his eyes, Danil fell into his own mind, not even having time to
exhale. The boy was cut off from the outside world.
"Silver, why didn't we leave yesterday?" Remus finally decided to ask,
finally having his ward in sight. "We had an opportunity."
"I have a bad feeling, Remus." The old werewolf admitted, surprising his
apprentice. "It was impossible to let you go, it would have ended in
death. You are where you should be, here and now."
-=-=-=-=-=-
A field, lush green grass, a blue sky without a single cloud, giving an
excellent view of the bright Sun and Moon. Since Danil's last visit to his
consciousness, almost nothing has changed. Only complete silence stood
out from the picture he was accustomed to; his instincts did not scream.
Smiling, Danil sat down in his hybrid form directly on the ground and
began to wait. Previously, he always took the first step, always. Being
patient, he fell onto his back. The beast will not touch him. They both
knew it.
Lost in thought, he raised his hand in the air and began to examine it.
Before, he had never seen himself from the outside in this guise and
could only speculate about what his face looked like. But he had a nose,
which was pleasing, and his hair grew where it should.
"I wonder why there's no lake here? I love lakes, which means you do too."
Danil lowered his hand and looked to the left. "Can you tell me why?"
The animal stood motionless, looking at Danil as if he were a new exotic
animal in the zoo. The Avatar slowly sat down next to him, keeping his
empty eyes fixed on his target. He was alarmed by the fact that his main
consciousness had not visited him for several days. After three weeks of
daily visits, willy-nilly you will begin to get used to them.
Animals can be difficult to communicate with. They are not as intelligent
as humans; they cannot speak to express their sadness or happiness. Only
their behavior could tell about their true thoughts.
There are many ways you can use to gain an animal's trust. Feed the
animal, give them love, talk to them; but what to do when, at any
slightest movement, the animal runs away?
Nothing. All you have to do is be nearby and show that you are not
dangerous. This is what Danil did, especially since his work was much
easier, because the Beast could feel his intentions.
Although this was not entirely true, he did not just sit around doing
nothing. He talked, talked a lot.
"You're part of this world, right? At least you know the area better than I do."
He didn't move much, trying not to scare the Beast. "Can you make a lake
here? We both love them, I know it, you know it. Just one small lake of cool
water."
And for the first time, the Beast did something other than run. He tilted
his head and scratched the back of his head. Apparently, the avatar of
instincts had never thought about this, and he couldn't think like a
person. The part of consciousness that was now sitting in front of the
Beast was responsible for this process.
Both parts of consciousness blinked and a lake appeared below them, as
the Beast usually appeared. Just appearing out of nowhere.
Danil and the Beast fell into the cold water, their projections immediately
got wet from head to toe. Spitting out the water, Danil floated to the
surface, continuing to look at the blue sky.
"This is much better, have you thought about adding a couple of trees?"
-=-=-=-=-=-
Danil had been sitting motionless for ten hours. His breathing slowed to
one breath every two hours, and his eyes did not twitch at all, although it
was difficult to notice behind the thick lenses of his goggles. Silver didn't
leave his post either, nor did Remus, both men prepared to sit still until
the end of the final exam.
"The moon will rise soon." Remus said. "We should wake up Danil and
leave before it's too late."
"Sit on your ass straight and don't rock the boat, the boy has come up
with something. We shouldn't disturb him." Silver looked around.
"Kendrick and Bitch are already leading people away from the village,
and we're close enough to respond to the attack."
Something clicked in Remus's head.
"Respond? Silver, I hope you're not going to fight an enemy whose
strengh you don't know?!"
Silver didn't answer immediately. He pulled out a long two-handed sword
from behind his back and stuck the blade into the ground. A long cloak
fell from his shoulders, revealing that underneath was leather armor with
steel inserts inscribed with runes.
"Superhuman strength, night vision, free teleportation, extremely fast
reaction speed." Remus' eyebrows went up. "With them come zombies,
acromantulas, skeletons and some green exploding things. We call them
creepers."
Now, in Remus's head, there were no clicks, there were sounding alarms,
ringing all the bells and screaming in horror.
"You're going to fight." He said quietly. "While Danil is still here. Gerasim,
are you crazy?!"
Hearing his real name, Silver felt like he was doused with cold water. He
immediately stopped checking his armor and stared at Remus with
narrowed eyes.
"All the children and other non-battalions have been evacuated, an
ambush has been set up in the Haven, and they won't get here so easily.
Why am I crazy? The counterattack plan was created two months ago."
Remus began to seethe. That's why he could never stay in Silver's pack
for long. Gerasim's self-confidence crossed all boundaries, even if he was
right in most cases.
"Who is their leader? They appear once a month, always on the full
moon. Don't you think that this is for a reason?"
Silver stood up from the stump, straightening his shoulders and drawing
his sword from the cold, hard ground.
"That's why," he said, "I get the front row."
-=-=-=-=-=-
"Now it's much nicer here."
The world of instincts has changed almost beyond recognition. Now it
was filled with a variety of biomes, full of colorful vegetation and
animals. Each of them personified their part of the instincts that existed
in human genes. Snowy tundras with bears, coral reefs full of colorful
fish, oak forests with their own separate ecosystem, and all this is located
just steps away from each other.
"Yes, and you look somehow calmer. Have you finally taken the burden off
your shoulders?"
The beast actually looked somehow calmer. He tiredly sat down on a
small island in the middle of the lake next to Danil. The teenager never
moved, preferring only to give ideas and watch how the Avatar of
Instincts worked. It seemed that the Beast was pleased with the work
done, like a librarian who had finally brought order to the old library.
"I think we're done for today. It was nice spending time with you, friend."
Danil grinned. "Grandfather said it right - there is no better friend in this
world than yourself."
Starting to slowly get up from the ground, Danil felt a hand on his
shoulder. The beast finally stopped him, finally understanding the
underlying consciousness's intentions.
The two sides of one person looked at each other, no longer trying to
read the other's intentions. Time inside consciousness flowed much
slower than in the real world. If only ten hours have passed outside, then
a whole week has passed here. During this time, it was possible to gain, if
not a drop of trust, then at least understanding.
"So you agree to work together?"
The beast shook his head, they worked well together, there was no
arguing with that. But this was not enough.
"What then-"
The Beast's hand entered Danil's chest up to his elbow.
-=-=-=-=-=-
"Do you hear yourself, Gerasim? Where do you have confidence that you
can kill their leader? You have never seen him, you cannot prepare for
battle without knowing your enemy. I know how you win your battles!
People will die!"
"Half of us are all that's left!" Silver lost his patience. "What do you
suggest we do? What?! Run from the enemy for the rest of our lives,
while the creatures kill us one by one? Or maybe you'd just say leave the
forest? Ha! The only way out is to kill the enemy. Crush them utterly and
completely, leaving no survivors. I'm willing to die if it means keeping
my pack safe."
Remus fell silent. Forty people. Women, men, old people, children; the
creatures didn't spare anyone. How many more could die? How many
will die protecting others?
"Then why let us into the pack? You could have refused us, sent us to
another pack."
Silver laughed quietly and bitterly, twirling his sword in his hands. It was
the laughter of a man who had carried the weight of knowledge for a
long time.
"Do you think these attacks are happening only here? The packs of Fenrir
Greyback, Vazozh Efrator and Colon the White suffered losses. And
smaller packs were destroyed, wiped out from the face of the earth. Even
the damn vampires couldn't fight back the first time!"
There were no winners here. Attacks were happening everywhere, no one
was safe. The pack of creatures was looking for smaller prey, testing their
strength and killing all living things in their path. Only protected
settlements and large cities were untouched.
"Wha-" Remus couldn't finish.
A long wheeze, full of pain, escaped from Danil's throat. The teenager
curled up into a ball and began scratching his chest with his claws.
And then the first explosion was heard from the direction of the village.
-=-=-=-=-=-
In the world of instincts, everything worked like a clock. The recent
reshuffle has brought order to a chaotic system. The sight of two
creatures trying to merge into one was not at all compatible with this
innovation.
The body of Danil and the Beast are fused in the middle, in the chest
area. Now they resembled Siamese twins with three legs, two arms and
heads.
"Fucking idiot!" Danil groaned, writhing in pain. "Couldn't you have at least
warned me?!"
The Beast looked at him with wide eyes. Isn't this what he wanted all
along? And in fact they were one person, he should have expected
something like that.
"Come on, faster, my head is going to explode!"
The beast didn't need to be told twice. Leaning his head back, he bumped
heads with Danil. The teenager almost had stars falling out of his eyes.
Blinking a couple of times, he realized: the Beast was not nearby, now it
had become a part of Danil.
It was time to wake up.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Simple_Russian_Boi
First chapter of the year, feelin' great!
Chapter 73: Summer of the Wolf:
Pack of Beasts
Danil opened his eyes with difficulty, his body was numb after twelve
hours without movement, and his soul ached after the merger. But it was
easier to breathe, as if he was taking more air into his lungs. But the
main problem was his awakened instincts, as if someone was whispering
in his ears about the approaching danger.
"Danil! Finally, we need to leave, the moon will come out soon!" Remus
helped him to his feet. The teenager noticed that there was something
wrong with his sense of balance, as if it had shifted a little higher than it
was before. "You can sort out yourself later, let's leave!"
But Danil didn't hear him. "Where's Silver?" He croaked. "Where are the
explosions coming from?"
The answer was another explosion that came from the direction of the
village. Danil straightened up and walked towards the sounds of battle.
"Stop! This is not our battle; don't you dare go there!"
"The Beast has merged with me." Danil continued to mutter. "I need to be
there, the free one must set them free."
"Danil!"
Danil's mind was like scrambled eggs. Something primal pulled him into
battle, he knew that if he left now, he would not be able to forgive
himself. The threads of his soul stretched like the string of a bow, they
demanded to release the arrow.
Remus ran after Danil, ready to grab him and apparate him away. But the
boy was faster. He disappeared in a cloud of purple sparks, leaving the
evil werewolf behind him.
The moon creeped out from behind the clouds.
-=-=-=-=-=-
The Iron Haven did not look the most pleasant. Two dozen werewolves
fought against overwhelming odds. The ground was dotted with craters
where the werewolves threw the corpses of zombies and acromantulas.
The few wizards who lived in the Haven fought in the back rows, picking
out skeletons and creepers from the crowd of monsters. But the number
of enemies didn't decrease.
"Push them back! Wizards, blast the bastards, no matter if any allies are
nearby! We must deal as much damage as possible while the moon is still
behind the clouds!"
Werewolves had a strange feature. Until the first ray of moonlight
touches their body, they will not transform. Now time was not working
against them.
Silver fought in the thick of things, his sword crushing skulls and cutting
flesh with every swing. Arrows and spells flew past him, killing the
spiders that had sneaked up from his back. But that wasn't what he was
here for, he was biding his time.
The sheaf of purple sparks didn't take him by surprise; he immediately
pierced the enemy who had appeared right through, in the area of the
heart. The creature howled and tried to disappear, but the sword held it
in place.
"So, this is what feral ones look like." Silver pulled out his sword,
sprinkling black blood on the ground. The Enderman fell down like a
puppet with its strings cut off.
Outwardly, this enderman was almost a complete copy of Danil, but there
were still differences. The lack of clothing and genitals was the first and
most obvious difference. The enderman's eyes burned like lamps, full of
madness and rage, but it quickly faded. The creature's teeth were yellow
and dirty, not white, as Danil's were.
There was no time to look at the corpse in more detail; the creatures
continued to climb as if from underground. There were already three
Endermen, they were pushing back the werewolves and teleporting out of
the path of the spells. The Bitch and Kendrick tore one of them apart.
And then help arrived.
Danil appeared on the outskirts of the forest in a sheaf of bright purple
sparks. It took him a moment to understand the situation, but when it
finally dawned on him what was happening, he pulled his staff from his
back and teleported forward.
Zombies and skeletons were easy prey; one blow to the head was enough
to break the skulls of living corpses. It was more difficult with
acromantulas; the tenacious bastards could withstand blows from the
staff, so Danil pierced them with ice spikes. Creepers exploded at the
mere hint of fire, causing havoc in the enemy ranks.
And then the moon appeared from behind the clouds. For a moment, the
werewolves froze and began to transform, the stream of attacks holding
back the crowd of monsters stopped and the creatures rushed forward.
And they would have crushed all resistance if a wall of stone had not
grown in front of them.
Danil closed his bag and began to shoot the creatures that were within
the village. The wall of stone blocks will not delay the enemies for long,
but it will be enough time to give the werewolves a chance to regroup.
"Take a defensive position! Tear them apart!" Silver shouted and a long
howl sounded in response.
"You're still human." Danil noticed, helping the werewolf climb the wall
to throw away the spiders that were climbing up.
"And you have become wider in the shoulders. It doesn't matter – what is
this?"
A second wave of howling sounded, but this time from the side of the
forest, behind the backs of the creatures. The enemy was taken into a
vice.
"What are they doing here? Why are the children here?!" Silver jumped
behind the wall, tearing two spiders at once with a blow of his sword.
"Corners and rats... corners and rats... something about rats."
A fireball began to glow in Danil's hands, quickly changing its color.
Yellow, orange and then white. The fire burst from his fingers and hit the
ground, exploding into a sea of death and taking a dozen creatures.
The already converted werewolves rushed at those who were thrown
back by the shock wave. There was no mercy.
The smaller wolves attacked from ambush, dragging their victims into
the forest. The counterattack worked; the enemy was simply not ready
for it.
Silver and Danil fought side by side, flashes of sword and spells mixing in
a dance of death as they searched for their next victim.
"Where, where are you... Where are you, bastard?"
"He is here." Danil said, turning to the figure that came out of the forest.
It was a man dressed in a dark blue robe. His gray skin made him look
like a vampire, but his huge square nose swept that theory aside. In his
hands was a red book, from which purple smoke oozed, trailing behind
his feet like a cloak.
"A Summoner. Ranged attacks and the ability to summon monsters to
help. Possibly strengthening his summons." Danil immediately said,
bending his legs and gathering another fireball in his hands.
"You know a lot for a lost one, wanderer of the land." The Summoner
spoke, the pages in his book began to turn over as if they were being
moved by the wind. "Kill him."
The spiders around him began to grind, seeing the danger to their leader
and ran towards Danil.
Silver stood ready and didn't even blink when a blue ball of fire flew at
the summoner. He knew that the leader's confidence had to come from
somewhere and rushed after him.
The fireball was broken on the armor of a large zombie that had risen
from the ground. Full armor did not save him from having his head cut
off, or even from a huge icicle in his heart. Throwing the corpse aside,
Silver stepped towards the Summoner, but even then, he was intercepted,
this time by three small pixie-sized creatures. The swords in their hands
were as small as themselves, but they cut through leather armor and flesh
with ease. But Silver didn't seem to notice them, his target was someone
else.
"Ragh!" The wind blade cut one of the Vex and he crumbled into dust.
Danil finally made his way to them through the horde of acromantulas.
"I'll take on the Summoner."
The pages in the book rustled even faster, but nothing new appeared.
This was a bad sign; the Summoner was preparing something big. Danil
teleported behind the villain and struck the back of his head with his
staff, but his attack was interrupted by a gray translucent shield and the
staff went to the side.
"An artifact of protection." Danil immediately determined. "Feeds off the
energy of souls." He added.
"Where does such knowledge come from? Maybe you somehow managed
to escape?" The Summoner took the book aside. "Although it's not that
important, you're all about to die abruptly. Redstone Golem, destroy my
enemies!"
The ground next to the Summoner heated up red and cracked, a huge
colossus, twice as tall as Danil and ten times as wide. Made of stone,
metal and red veins, the golem looked menacing, but neither Danil nor
Silver flinched. Fear had long since left their bodies.
"Redstone Golem. Attacks with waves of fire and in an area. Strong, but
slow."
Knowledge from Danil's past world helped him in the battle, but it was
only a picture on the screen. The monsters' attacks and movements were
different from those in the game. Real enemies behaved differently,
moved differently. But the gaps in his knowledge were filled by his
instincts. They told him what his opponents were capable of and what to
expect.
The golem's body began to creak, its slow arms rose into the air and
crushed the earth into pieces. A wave of fire spread across the floor, not
distinguishing between friends and enemies, burning both creatures and
werewolves. Three wolves did not survive the explosion.
"Hit the red plexuses." Teleporting onto the golem's back, Danil hit the
redstone line with his staff. The tree hit the stone and left a neat round
hole in it.
Silver distracted the Summoner, his sword cut monsters left and right,
but they did not remain in debt.
The golem sprayed fire, throwing Danil off of him, but he rolled on the
ground and immediately got to his feet. Four cubes of iron fell out of his
bag – as if completely by accident – and grew to their normal size. They
were followed by a pumpkin with a face carved on it.
"Golem versus golem." Danil muttered, watching the pumpkin fall onto
the central cube of iron.
The steel began to spread and form a body; within three seconds, his
personal Iron Golem stood next to Danil. He didn't need commands; he
followed the will of his creator. The Iron Golem walked forward on stiff
legs, ready to give his life without a single thought. But Danil understood
that this would not be enough.
"We'll have to climb into the mine." He muttered to himself and reached
into his bag. "Need to create backup."
-=-=-=-=-=-
Mooney ran as fast as his legs could carry him. The werewolf's
consciousness remembered the man's last thoughts – to protect his
student. The branches whipped the wolf across his body and face, but he
felt no pain. The sounds of battle were getting closer.
Running out of the forest, Mooney grabbed the neck of the first zombie
he came across, tearing the rotten flesh into pieces. Only then did he
decide to look around and shamer. A thought flashed through the
werewolf's head: am I even needed here?
Thirty werewolves of different ages fought side by side with tall iron
machines. Silver, Danil, Kendrick and Bitch were circling around a huge
Red Golem and some gray-skinned guy. Blue ice covered the Golem's
body, cooling the Redstone compounds and preventing it from moving.
Lupin, hidden in Moony's mind, recognized this as Danil's handywork.
After thinking for a second, Mooney rushed towards the grey-skinned
man. His shield had been under attack from Kendrick and Suki for ten
minutes. Mooney leaned with his whole body on the magical barrier, it
immediately burst into gray light, but resisted.
"One more! When will you be finished?!" The Summoner said wearily,
turning the pages of the book with his free hand. The pack of creatures
gradually ended, the rare endermen in the crowd tried to protect the
Redstone Golem, but the werewolves quickly put them to waste. It's hard
to survive if your heart replacement organ has been ripped out.
"It's still a long way until dawn." Danil muttered; his fingers covered in
the soft blue light of the spell. "Light. Need sunlight."
The spell began to change color and glow even brighter. "Lumos Solem!"
His loud voice rang out and the spell ball flew up, stopping fifteen meters
above the ground.
Bright sunlight flooded the Iron Haven, causing the wights to burst into
flames, cries of pain rang out from their rotten throats. The werewolves
pressed their advantage, killing wounded creatures and confused spiders.
"Burn in the flames of the Nether, you bastard!" The Summoner shouted.
"Oh Lord, see with my eyes, hear with my ears, accept my body as your
vessel!"
The shield broke under the blows of three werewolves, but it was too
late. The spell was completed and the wolves were thrown back.
As soon as the crack of the shield sounded, Danil immediately teleported
to the Summoner and pierced his chest with his staff. The tree pierced
flesh and bone with a terrible crack, crushing the greyskin's heart and left
lung. The villain's eyes became clouded with black and he grabbed the
monster teenager by the wrist, holding the staff in his body.
"Free." The Summoner's voice did not sound human. Their eyes met and
Danil felt a sharp pain in his temples, but his mental defense held out.
Whoever occupied the Summoner's body was a shitty mind mage, or
simply couldn't use all of their power.
"Not a runaway, but a free one." Someone spoke through the
Summoner's mouth in the language of the Endermen, tearing vocal cords
not accustomed to such feats. "I don't recognize you. You are not one
of the failed ones. Who are you, warrior?"
Danil did not answer. He took a deep breath and doused the Summoner
with purple smoke. A cry of pain cut through the chaotic sounds of the
battlefield. Gray skin and flesh melted right on the Summoner's body, and
then the smoke reached his bones.
Three seconds and the body hanging on the staff went limp. Danil
casually threw it aside and winced with displeasure as he watched it turn
to dust. And the rest of his monsters followed the Summoner, crumbling
into nothingness, as if they didn't exist.
The werewolves howled in victory, feeling the victory over their enemy.
The Iron Golems were destroying the remains of the Redstone Golem,
which was still trying to move and refused to die. But it was already
over.
Silver was breathing heavily, looking around. Even with the Moon giving
him the strength to fight for hours without rest, his wounds were
dragging him down.
"Twenty-six... four killed, twelve seriously wounded. Thank Merlin they
had no silver." The man exhaled heavily, holding his wounded side.
"Where are children?"
In response, a loud bark was heard from the forest and a small she-wolf
with white fur ran up to Silver. And after her, all the other children
appeared, from young to old.
"Sarah." He sighed with relief. "You're all right." The girl cheerfully licked
her face instead of answering. "That's great, grandpa is fine too. Go check
on Danil, the Brightest one deserves it."
Sarah didn't need to be told twice, she barked cheerfully and ran to the
village, where Danil looked with interest at the loot that had fallen to
him. When Sarah was far enough away, Silver sighed once again and fell
to the ground. He's lost too much blood.
Chapter 74: Summer of the Wolf:
To Build a Tournament
"Gunpowder, redstone, spider eyes, cobwebs, bones, rotten flesh, sugar
and ender eyes." Danil looked at the loot that the Iron Golems had
collected for him. They could be surprisingly neat if the will of their
creator required it. "Where did you get the sugar? Now that I think about
it, how did you even gather the ingredients? You got no fingers."
The silence of the three became his answer. The Golems couldn't speak,
the design of their bodies didn't account for this. Rubbing the place
where ordinary people had the bridge of his nose, Danil turned again to
the table with the loot in his dugout in the Iron Haven. She and Remus
decided to stay here for a couple more days to help rebuild the village.
Danil volunteered to help with the construction of normal houses, with
his magic and abilities it was quite easy to do. Just five hours with a
lunch break to complete one building. The golems will remain in the
village as additional protection; they certainly will not be superfluous,
especially since Danil simply could not take them with him.
"Still, this day isn't so bad." He turned to the mirror, examining the
changes in his own business.
Although nothing much had changed, if you looked closely, you could
notice the differences. His chest seemed to expand, his shoulders became
wider, and his arms and legs gained even more muscle. It felt like he was
becoming a pumped-up version of the enderman. And if his guess was
correct, then his personal ender eye in his chest became a little larger.
"How long are you going to admire yourself? Time is running out; Silver
and his group have already finished collecting wood for houses." Said
Kendrick, standing behind a wall of Golem backs.
"I'll be right there, Count, it's not every day you get free muscles."
Kendrick, who had finally received his name, snorted despicably and
limped away. During the battle, one of the skeletons planted an arrow
directly into his knee, since then the wound has not yet had time to
recover and Kendrick has taken up the habit of walking with a cane. It
seemed that this was precisely what was missing from his image of the
important owner of the Count's estate, who often went for walks in the
forest.
Leading the Golems, Danil left the earthen house and found himself in a
strange combination of a holiday and a large-scale construction
operation. They decided to build houses without nails, using magic to
replace everything missing with spells. Danil wanted to build a hut in the
harsh Russian style, perhaps even with chicken legs. The problem of lack
of space inside houses was just as easily solved by the spell of invisible
expansion, in which werewolves have long become real professionals.
"–three houses on the outskirts for patrolmen, roads for Golems and
people, a possible common building, something like a club house." Silver
stood with his torso wrapped in bandages and his arm in a cast. The pack
finished him off well, but the man was already on the mend, magic
helped incredibly with this. "Oh, the Brightest, you're already here, great.
Then we can start construction. The wall will be our first priority, but
we'll build a river through it, there's a suitable current just nearby."
"Why do you need a river? Make a water tower and make it endless, it
will be easier." Danil suggested, but Silver's look made him understand
that this was a bad idea.
"And lose the opportunity to have a personal river? Well, no. Now come
here, we have drawn a diagram of the location of the buildings, we plan
to do–"
Sighing heavily, Danil leaned on his staff. The day may have promised to
be good, but that didn't mean it would be easy. Life in general was rarely
simple. Life in general was rarely simple, especially the life of people
locked in the bodies of monsters.
"And here we will place a common dining room and a fire for sacrifices–
are you even listening to me?"
"No."
He didn't even try to dodge the slap on the head that Silver gave him.
-=-=-=-=-=-
Wizengamot meetings have always been distinguished by their dullness
and meaninglessness. Two hundred politicians harped on the same topics
over and over again, trying to pull the blanket over themselves. It has
always been this way.
It was impossible to count how many of these meetings Bellatrix Black
attended, although the head of the Black family would prefer that
number be reduced to zero. But fate decreed otherwise and the best
duelist of the last fifty years slowly lost her brain cells, listening to yet
another argument between idiots about raising taxes on unicorn dung.
"Andromeda, honey, can you wake Bella up when something interesting
starts?" Bella begged, but her sister immediately elbowed her in the side.
"If I have to listen to this nonsense, then so do you. Don't you dare leave
me here alone!"
Andromeda and Bellatrix were as similar to each other as two peas in a
pod, except that they differed in the color of their eyes and hair. Bella
chose her sister for the position of adviser as soon as the opportunity
arose. She didn't want to be left alone with the old bastards.
"Okay, okay! Merlin's beard, can't we make a joke anymore?" Bella
pouted like a little child. "Bella doesn't want to sit here, she wants to go
home and throw Potter in the wall again."
Andromeda shuddered. Harry's punishment for his actions at the end of
the school year was harsh, but ridiculously simple. He had to survive a
one-on-one duel against Bella for fifteen minutes. The problem was that
the woman didn't even think about holding back and all of Potter's
attempts to date had ended with him on his back and a couple of broken
bones.
"Don't you think he should take a break? The boy is already trying his
best."
"There will be no respite. If my heir thinks he can lose without
consequences, then he is sorely mistaken."
That was another problem, Bella didn't see anything wrong with her
adopted son actually attacking another student. She was much more
worried about the fact that he lost. Bella didn't encourage losing.
"And now I ask everyone to open the booklets given to you on page
twenty-six. A further question concerns Hogwarts, which recently
declared itself independent from the Ministry." Bella perked up at
Weasley's voice and feverishly opened the booklet that she had not
touched before.
"Let me note that as Headmaster of Hogwarts, I am categorically against
the initiative that the Ministers have put forward."
Dumbledore, sitting on the observer's stand, looked at the Minister of
Magic with disappointment. Albus himself abandoned all his other
positions of power, focusing on the well-being of the school. And under
his supervision, the school was already beginning to bloom. Repairing old
parts of the Castle, purchasing new equipment – Dumbledore spent a lot
of money and time to make Hogwarts better.
Unfortunately, this meant that he had less leverage over Wizengamot.
'Less, but not zero.' Bella thought Dumbledore was the only observer for
this session. Even reporters who usually covered events in Wizengamot
were unable to get permission to visit today.
"Your attention is noted, Headmaster Dumbledore." Fudge looked like he
wanted to sneeze, but he just couldn't. "By the decision of the Ministries
of Magic of England, France and Bulgaria, an agreement was made to
hold the Triwizard Tournament in order to improve relations between the
countries."
"What the hell?" Bella muttered as she read the details in the booklet.
The Triwizard Tournament was quite famous among the Pureblood
Families for all the wrong reasons. Deaths of participants, injuries to
spectators and even a few deaths of judges. Of course, the Ministers and
other officials promised increased security for everyone around, but Bella
knew an empty promise when she saw one.
"Are they crazy? The tournament was discontinued for good reasons."
Andromeda muttered as she read the booklet through the eyes of a
professional lawyer.
Bella was interested in something else; her voice broke through the roar
of indignant politicians.
"Who gave the Ministry the right to enter into this 'agreement' without
consulting the House of Lords?" People became quiet. Lady Black spoke
rarely, but when she spoke – people listened.
Fudge was embarrassed by the unexpected question, but answered. "The
agreement to hold the Triwizard Tournament was created more than a
thousand years ago, for its continuation only the consent of the three
current ministers is required. The location of the Tournament is
determined according to rotation and Hogwarts is next on the list."
The noise rose again, but this time much quieter than the first. The rotten
heads of the old bastards sitting in the Lords' seats began to work. Within
five minutes, they were not thinking about the danger their children
might be in, but about the possible benefits that tourists from other
countries could bring.
Bella sneered contemptuously, looking down at the booklet. A thousand
Galleons and eternal glory for victory.
'Let them name at least one winner of the past Tournaments, idiots. And what
kind of crazy person decided that bringing in some dragons would be a good
idea? They'll tear the kids apart and we'll be lucky if they stop there.'
Somewhere down the hall, the pleased Head of the Department of
Magical Games and Sports, Ludowig Bagman, sneezed loudly. "What was
that?"
Now Bella understood why Dumbledore looked so unhappy. The
Triwizard Tournament originated in Greece, during the founding of the
Olympic Games. The contract between the Goblet of Fire – the artifact
used to select participants – and the Schools was irrevocable.
"An age line? It's like they want their protections to be bypassed."
The security measures proposed by the Ministry were so simple that Bella
wanted to laugh. Sometimes the simplest defense was the best, but not in
this case.
"Andromeda, write to Narcissa and let her return from India. I think we
could use a qualified healer."
"Write her yourself."
"No. Her care last time gave me an aneurysm."
"Okay, but after this I want a day off."
"You'll get the day off when Harry lasts fifteen minutes."
"This sounds so wrong..."
"He'll survive."
"If anyone hears you, I won't survive the consequences. Do you know
how tired I am after talking to the press?"
"Bella doesn't want to know anything. Bella wants power, chocolate and
money. And a man." Bella added after thinking for a moment.
-=-=-=-=-=-
The trunks of dark oak lay on top of each other like a glove, as if
processed on a high-tech machine. At first, the werewolves had little faith
that Danil would succeed in something useful, but the result spoke for
itself. The Club building was completed in record time.
The traditional Russian hut has caused mixed feelings among people; on
the one hand, it was better than dugouts in every way, but on the other...
"Why did you attach chicken feet to the house? How does it even stay
above the ground?" Silver muttered, trying to understand where Danil
was able to get such huge chicken feet made of wood.
"It looks impressive. The common dining hall will have three floors, I
haven't heard any objections to this."
Silver sighed heavily. Of course, no one had any objections; they would
need more space in the future. When the rest of the packs hear about
their victory, refugees from the destroyed villages will begin to flock here
in the hope of receiving protection from the hoard of creatures. And they
were going to provide that protection.
"Okay, okay! What's with the wall?"
Danil scratched the back of his head, looking somewhere deep into the
forest. "My Golems are now collecting stone and cobblestone; the wall
will be ready by evening. Damn, they are much more useful than I
expected."
Construction was in full swing, no one was sitting idle. Danil has already
begun to build a common dining room building. Silver and Earl made
sure that everyone worked in their places. Remus walked off into the
woods, muttering something about Vietnamese traps and stakes. Several
wizards were talking about placing enchanted weapons on the wall for
the future defense of the village from attacks.
Iron Haven was slowly but surely turning into a full-fledged village. The
werewolves saw that their enemy was not immortal, not infinite, and
realized that they had a chance. Even the children, whom Sarah led, were
eager to help with the defense of their home. They have already lost one,
they won't leave the second one.
[Hello, Luna Lovegood. I am still writing to you from Silver's Summer Camp.
Although, rather from the village, the renovation of the houses around has
breathed life into this place. I have a lot to say, but I don't think it's worth
doing it in a letter. There are only a couple of days left before I return.
Now we have already finished with the construction of the walls and buildings,
all that remains is to put up the protective Wards. It will be interesting to see
their work, maybe it will help me move forward in learning my own magic.
After the raid, we have quite a lot of ingredients left for potions and crafting.
As soon as I return, remind me to show you all the things I can make.
To answer your constant question: no, I can't tell you the name of my teacher.
Even Silver doesn't know Bitche's real name, how would I know it?
Say hi to Mantis and Billy, I miss you all so much. Don't drink chefir
anymore, it gives you headaches.
P.S: don't write me back, by the time the letter reaches you, the owls will no
longer be able to find the Iron Heaven.
- With Chrome
Danil Khromov.]
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Simple_Russian_Boi
Hmmm, yes, the last chapter of the arc. Tastes funny.
Chapter 75: Summer of the Wolf:
Sorry, goodbye, hello
When the heroes are leaving to continue on a long journey, people send
them off on a grand scale. Especially if all the villagers can be called
heroes. Tables are bursting with food, houses and streets are decorated
with ornaments, and people around are having fun from the bottom of
their hearts. They are celebrating: they won, they're alive!
But not all heroes want this celebration. After a long battle, where any
mistake can cost you your life, and many others will follow after your
death... Some people just prefer to relax in silence, the celebration can
wait.
And other heroes escaped under the cover of night, as one enderman and
a werewolf were doing right now.
Walking as quietly as their magic and their skills would allow, Danil and
Remus made their way to the outskirts of the village. They knew, if
people heard about their departure, almost everyone would come to wish
them good luck. But their efforts were in vain, because they had been
waiting for a long time.
Danil stopped abruptly, seeing a head full of white curls in front of him.
"Danny, are you going to run away from us without even saying
goodbye?" Sarah puffed out her cheeks in displeasure.
Restraining himself from squeezing her to death, Danil got down on one
knee to at least slightly reduce the difference in their height.
"Yes." He replied without a shred of shame. "I can't stand long and tearful
goodbyes, forgive me for being a fool."
The girl looked at the monster with displeasure for a couple more
moments, but then jumped on his neck, hugging him with all her might.
"I'm going to miss you..." she muttered. "You're going to visit us, aren't
you? Comrades-in-arms do not leave each other, and after the full moon,
we are definitely comrades-in-arms."
No matter what, Sarah was still a child in a small village where half the
inhabitants were killed by merciless monsters. She easily found a
common language with other people, and she became friends with Danil
quickly enough. She didn't want him gone.
"Of course, I will, you can be sure of that. And I will write letters if the
owls can get through the new barriers." He grinned. The wizards of the
pack have done a colossal job with the protective Wards around the Iron
Haven.
Sarah nodded, burying her face in his shoulder and trying not to cry.
Finally, the girl loosened her grip on his neck and Danil lowered her to
the ground.
"Then goodbye, Brightest One. We will be waiting for your next visit."
"Goodbye, Sarah, wait for my letters."
Sarah watched the backs of the men walking into the woods until they
were out of sight. Sniffling, she went to her new house, so much like her
parents' house. But it was different. It didn't hold the same warmth that
the last one had.
Even magic can't give you some things.
-=-=-=-=-=-
Pushing a branch away from his face, the monster boy frowned. "They
are great people, but they can be so annoying... I still don't understand
why they gave me special attention after the battle. What did I even do?
Melted the head of one freak?" He snorted. "If there was a banquet for
every freak, then I would have solved the problem of world hunger long
ago."
Remus laughed in response. Danil complained rarely and about the
strangest things. His fantasy at such moments were enviable.
The werewolf wasn't bothered by Danil's words about murder, he knew
what his student was doing in his free time inside the catacombs of
Hogwarts. The fewer creatures there were, the better for everyone,
especially for the rest of the students. With his campaigns, Danil slowly
but surely cleansed them of filth.
Suddenly, Danil stood, rooted to the spot, his eyes glued to what had
previously been hiding from his senses.
"Oh, so you finally see them? That's good, the Forest has recognized you
as one of its own." Remus said with a smile.
But the monster boy was not listening to him, he was looking at hundreds
of small lights that flashed between the trees. They were Fairies – with
fireflies circling around them – leading a column of all kinds of animals.
Danil thought that this is what he looks like when animals start following
him in the Dark Forest.
A little further on, emerging from behind the trees, was a small pond
with a mirror-smooth surface. Griffins gathered around it and lapped up
the water with long tongues. Golden snakes crawled by their feet, which
the majestic animals didn't seem to notice. And right in the middle of the
lake sat a large and fat toad, holding on to the surface only by force of
will.
Danil could have sworn it was Trevor.
"It's beautiful, isn't it? That's why don't want to leave. Every time it's the
same dance and song." Remus confessed. "This was my third home,
although it will not surpass Hogwarts. Maybe when I'm gray and old, I'll
settle down here, raise a couple of brats and lie down in a coffin after
seventy."
There were so many colorful animals and plants around that Danil's jaw
dropped down by itself. Flowers growing upside down, trees whose
leaves shone like silver, bore blood-red dew drops. And when one of the
leaves hit an insect that landed on it, Danil suddenly realized that it was
not dew at all.
"Wizards live longer than normal people, just like werewolves." Danil
answered automatically, finally looking away from the lake.
"That's right, but magical werewolves don't belong on this list. You've
already seen what ordinary werewolves look like after transformation
and what I look like." Remus turned towards several wolves that were
following them closely. Danil again attracted the interest of wildlife.
"Non-magical werewolves, although they rarely undergo transformation,
but they turn completely. They are difficult to distinguish from normal
wolves, except in size. But magical werewolves walk on two feet. They
look sick, twisted, wrong.
"For us, transformation is torture, because our magic is fighting against it
at every turn. A few days before the transformation, malaise begins,
followed by body aches. During the full moon, all I feel is hunger and
pain. But the fur is worse. You can't imagine how it itches the next day."
You have to pay for every advantage, Danil thought as he looked at his
hands. That in a previous life, that in this one, there was no such thing as
a free meal, you have to pay for everything, sooner or later.
"I don't remember the moment of my transformation." The boy confessed.
"One moment my sister and I are walking through a park in Moscow, and
a second later I wake up in a Forbidden Forest in Scotland. Apparently, I
can consider myself lucky."
Remus frowned. There was something wrong with Danil's words. "Your
sister... she–"
"Will never see me again. Whoever did this to me–" he pointed to his
face,"–made sure I was out of reach. A puppet with the face of Danil
Khromov has been living in my place for a year now."
Remus stumbled, his face pale with horror. To do something like that to
an innocent child, you have to be a truly disgusting scum. And to
completely pretend to be another person, you need more than just
knowledge of black magic. It takes madness, which only a few can cope
with.
"Merlin's beard... Danil, why didn't you tell us about this earlier,
Dumbledore could have helped you."
The monster boy only smiled sadly in response and fell silent. Lying
dirties the soul, he learned that from Luna. If you don't want to say
something, it's easier to keep silent.
'What can Dumbledore do against the Wanderer? The old man hardly has
a way to harm God. What am I thinking, he wouldn't even stop him for a
couple of seconds!' Danil exhaled noisily, several sparks of purple flame
fell from his nose, scorching his cloak. 'No need to be angry. I can't do
anything anyway. At least right now.'
"There are only a hundred meters left before leaving the forest, are you
sure you haven't forgotten anything? We won't be able to return." Remus
asked, looking at the place where the path became much wider.
"My God, you sound like an NPC from an old quest." Danil smirked. "Let's
get out of here before I decide to stay."
Nodding, Remus put his hand on Danil's elbow and walked the remaining
few steps. As soon as he felt that the Forest was no longer holding them,
the Werewolf and the Enderman disappeared into the apparation vortex.
-=-=-=-=-=-
Harry was once again thrown into the wall by an invisible fist. He didn't
have time to put up a shield to protect himself and as a result, something
in his chest crunched unpleasantly, but the boy was too high on
adrenaline to notice it.
Today he sparred with Bellatrix again. Ten times he crossed Sticks with
her and all ten ended with him flying into the wall. Harry didn't know
why Bella decided to send him to the wall at the end of their fights, but it
helped him. He knew what to expect, at least roughly. But Bella knew a
lot of spells that could send someone flying.
"Eight minutes, forty-six seconds. A new record, Harry!" His mostly sane
mother said with a smile. "Narcissa, help him, please."
Sighing wearily, Narcissa went up to her nephew and began to conjure
over his windows. Even she had gotten tired in the last hour and a half,
and Harry looked like he hadn't slept in a week.
"It was the last round for today, it's not up for discussion." Narcissa said
sternly in her 'healer voice,' looking in Bella's direction. "The boy has a
cracked rib, give him a break."
Harry's pain was slowly going away with each wave of her wand. No
matter what people said about his family, each of the Blacks was a
professional in their field.
"Aunt Cissa, did I tell you that I love you?" Harry muttered, but got a slap
on the back of the head in response.
"You'd better keep quiet, young man. Why am I always the last to know
about your adventures? What possessed you to sneak into someone else's
room like a common thief? Grandfather Arcturus raised you better than
that." Narcissa muttered something under her breath and the bone
cracked in Harry's chest again, his torso was wrapped in tight bandages
in the next second. "Don't strain yourself too much, drink some skele-gro
before going to bed and you'll be as good as new in the morning."
Potter's head fell powerlessly to the floor, this was not the first time he
had heard that over the summer.
"Get up already, it's time for dinner. After that, you're free for today.
Narcissa is right, you fight worse without rest." Bella stroked the boy's
head and kissed him on the forehead before leaving. Even with all her
flaws, she genuinely loved her son. But she showed it in strange ways.
From the very beginning of the holidays, Bellatrix's bi-polar nature
showed itself in all its glory. At one moment she was a loving but strict
mother, and at another she was a lunatic with experience of a
professional Hit-wizard. Harry thanked Merlin for the fact that
Grandfather Arcturus took part in his life, otherwise he would have
grown up to be just like her.
After a short dinner, during which no one said a word – the Blacks had
conversations only during tea, after everyone had finished eating – Harry
struggled up to his room and fell on the bed. His... everything hurt. Even
those muscles that Harry had only suspected existed did.
The boy groped blindly under the pillow and pulled out a square mirror
with a silver border. Hesitating for a moment, he just stared at his tired
face in the reflection for a couple of minutes, but then decided to say one
name.
The mirror immediately turned frosted and Harry froze, waiting for an
answer. The boy didn't know what to expect, he had not had the
opportunity to talk to his friends since the beginning of the summer.
Fortunately, he didn't have to wait for long, Hermione answered almost
immediately.
What Harry not expected was to see Hermione in pajamas. And after a
moment, Harry realized that it wasn't pajamas, but a bathrobe.
Apparently, he called her as soon as she got out of the shower. The
bathrobe fell off her left shoulder, giving the boy a chance to see a lot
more than some Purebloods see before the wedding.
"Harry! I'm so happy to see you!" The girl exclaimed and Harry realized
that he was openly staring. But he distracted himself, because if she could
be happy with a simple call, then everything was so bad. "Oh my, you
look like you got chewed out by a bear, what happened?"
"Hi, Hermione." He said with a smile on his face. "I'm fine, I'm just the
only one at Bellatrix Black's training camp right now. After our last
adventure, she said that her son had no right to lose. So now my every
day consists of constant training and reading books."
Hermione looked at him sympathetically. Bellatrix was a well-known
witch, so the young Grager found out about her existence in her first
year. And about her cruelty and madness – on the second.
"If they gave me a break more often, I would even be glad." Harry
continued to say, frowning. "It feels like I'm being prepared for war. Even
my breakfast, lunch and dinner are scheduled for a month in advance!
And do you know what the worst part is? There are no treacle tarts!"
Hermione giggled, covering her mouth with a slightly tanned palm,
which made her nightgown slide even lower. Her wet curls bounced with
every breath she took. When she finally calmed down, it was her time to
talk about her punishment.
"My parents were also unhappy. Mom grounded me for the whole
summer, but at least we have a backyard... Dad canceled our trip to
France and the tour of its magical part." Hermione frowned. "So, I'm
alone with my books again. I got them to keep me company."
Now it's time for Harry to laugh. "Who's talking about what, and
Hermione's talking about books."
"Well, I'm sorry! If my books were taken away from me, it would be like
you were banned from playing Quidditch." Hermione was indignant.
"Hey, why go to such extremes? Quidditch is sacred!"
This was the last straw. The teenagers laughed out loud at the same time;
all the tension accumulated over the past months slowly leaving their
bodies. But when the laughter died down, Hermione decided to bring up
a problem they had forgotten about.
"I'm still mad at myself for revealing Khromov's secret," she said quietly.
"Should I apologize to him and Luna again?"
She had a lot of time to think this summer. Both about her actions and
thoughts. As much as she wanted to blame her irrationality on fatigue
due to constant time jumps, she knew that wasn't true. Even fully rested,
she would have gone looking for answers.
It was more difficult with Luna. Hermione was a bad friend for the
blonde, it was hard to argue with that. Only, she realized it way too late,
when the bridges had already been burned.
"It looked like he didn't really need our apologies. Remember what he
said when we met him after Herbology?"
Hermione frowned even more at his words and reluctantly took an
envelope from her desk, Harry managed to see Truman's signature before
it disappeared beyond the boundaries of the mirror.
"I wrote to Gabriel Truman, the Hufflepuff who helped Khromov calm
down and then went with him to the Medical Wing. He refused to answer
my questions about... you know... but said that if Khromov had looked or
stayed with us long enough, he could've attacked again. It looks like
something similar has already happened to Professor Lupin."
Harry shuddered. Right now, and especially when he was injured, he
wouldn't be able to defend himself. And with Khromov's ability to
apparate freely, no one would have been able to stop him. The-Boy-Who-
Lived had no illusions that he survived their fight only because Khromov
wanted him to.
"It's unpleasant to think about it." He confessed. "Then it's worth putting
it off until he calms down. I don't want any misunderstandings to arise,
we don't need a second Malfoy."
Hermione nodded in agreement. "We should also tell Ron; he would want
to come with us to clear the air... If Khromov wants to do anything with
us, that is."
"Don't tell me, he definitely could have gone to apologize himself without
even telling us about it. Sometimes I think he's twenty years older than
us." Harry scratched his chin thoughtfully.
Ron has always behaved much older than his age. As he himself said, the
reason for this was their former neighbor, who moved before his
admission to Hogwarts. Captain Sam Vimes – a former auror, he said –
Sybil, had been looking after the Weasley children since they were little.
When Molly and Arthur needed a break, he was there. The only one who
could get the twins to fall in line. And for some reason, Ron became
attached to him the most.
Vimes always walked around with a pipe in his mouth, was extremely
grumpy and sarcastic. Arthur said that the former Aurors were either like
that or six feet underground. But his most memorable feature was his
scarred stone-cold face. One day Ron found an old photo of Vimes in his
uniform. The man stood still, as if he was frozen in place, and moved
only if someone was going to poke him.
Sibella in the same photo looked like a giant bodybuilder compared to
her husband. Harry wouldn't be surprised if he heard that she had some
creature heritage. Although, maybe all dragon handlers needed to be that
strong.
"I'm not arguing, Harry. Now go to bed, your eyes are closing." Hermione
said softly.
"Mhmn... I'll call you tomorrow if I'm lucky." He said, yawning. "Good
night. Love you."
Before he even had time to understand what he said, Harry laid on the
pillow and fell into a dead sleep. Meanwhile, Hermione was gasping for
air like a stranded fish.
The girl panicked and decided to resort to the only source of help
available to her right now.
"Mum!"
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Simple_Russian_Boi
While I was translating this novel, my muse decided to show her face
again.
Now I have four chapters of a yet-to-be-named Harry Potter x MHA
fanfic. I've already had two attempts to make these ideas work, but
looking back on them now, I find them lacking.
I don't know how to feel about this because I recently re-read them
and didn't like them, but the idea is good, overall. I'll need to work on
them for a bit to polish a couple of points and then you'll have another
book.
Chapter 76: The Triwizard
Tournament: Back in Black
Hospitality comes in different forms. You may be invited to a party by
good friends who have gone through all the ups and downs with you, but
you will leave them with a nasty feeling of coolness in your soul. After
all, in fact, you were invited for the sake of decency, and you accepted
and agreed. That's kind of disgusting, right?
And other times, you knock on a stranger's door and leave only the next
morning with a new best friend, if not your soulmate, completely
forgetting why you knocked in the first place. People weren't expecting
you here, but they were glad to see you.
Perhaps in order for people to talk about your hospitality for a long time,
it is enough to sincerely rejoice at the arrival of guests. And now two
guests emerged from the funnel of magic in the Lovegood garden, the
most hospitable family in Britain.
"Ugh, never liked long distance apparation." Remus exhaled, letting go of
Danil's hand. From the forests of Ireland to northern Scotland it wasn't
close, but it wasn't far enough to justify using a portkey.
"I could carry us without too much shaking." Danil grumbled in response.
"As far as Luna's house is, that's for sure, and who would see us here?
You're so paranoid, Remus."
"You sound like James who just learned to apparate."
"Who?"
"Harry's father – James Potter. Doesn't matter, you don't get along with
my nephew anyway." There was no accusation behind his words, only
slight notes of sadness.
Shrugging his shoulders, Danil went to the door of the house and raised
his hand to knock, but they had been waiting for them here for a long
time.
The door swung open on its own and a miniature hurricane of bright
paper and bright light exploded into the faces of the guests. Danil had to
blink - which he did not do as often as before – for the black spots to
disappear from his field of vision. He may have blinked away the
confetti, but he'll never know.
"What–"
"Surprise!" With a huge smile on her face, Luna jumped into Danil's arms
and hung on his neck. "You have grown up again, Danil Khromov. I
thought that now I would at least reach your chest, the carvosants said
that it would be so. Apparently, they deceived me."
Mantis, who appeared on Luna's shoulder, jumped onto Danil's clothes
and quickly climbed onto his head, taking his place of honor. The little
bugger sat on his bald head and grabbed it with all his limbs so as not to
fall.
"Apparently so." Danil answered abstractly, he was not the only one who
changed over the summer. "What does Xeno feed you?"
Luna, in just a couple of months, has grown by leaps and bounds. She
became taller and no longer looked like an underfed child. It felt like
puberty hit the girl like a high-speed train. Her face had lost what little
baby fat it had, making her look older. And feeling a pair of soft orbs on
his body, Danil had no doubt that the girl had only grown upward.
"Corn, it's good for you." Luna released Danil's neck from her hands and
jumped to the ground. "Hello, Mr. Lupin, would you like a cup of coffee?
With corn, of course."
"Of course..." he agreed hesitantly, entering the house.
The interior of the house had not changed at all since their last visit,
parts of various animals hung on everyone's display, furniture of irregular
– or too regular – shape had not moved an inch. Even the stains on the
tablecloth remained in place.
Xeno said that even if you move something, in a couple of days this thing
itself will return to its place. 'If you add something new, it is better to
immediately decide where its place will be,' he said. 'The altered stasis charm
in the refrigerator is broken, I'll fix it later.'
He didn't fix it.
"Ah, Remus, Danil, happy to see you," he said, crossing his eyes and
actually looking at both of his guests. "Sit down, now I'll set the table,
while Moonbean tells you the latest news."
The guests looked at the girl in bewilderment, and Mantis nodded
importantly from his head. Apparently even the small magical animal
considered the news quite important.
Raising her chin importantly towards the ceiling, Luna began to speak.
"The ministers of France, England and Bulgaria have jointly decided to
revive the Triwizard Tournament!" She said pathetically, as if she was
reading, as if she was reading the headline of an article from a
newspaper, which was most likely the case. "Hogwarts was chosen as the
venue, Dumbledore was very dissatisfied, even when they announced the
introduction of an age limit."
"Sounds familiar." Danil muttered, turning the name of the Tournament
in his head. "Oh, right..." The events of the fourth book were close and
Potter must again find himself in the middle of a web of events. "Write in
the next issue of the Quibbler that Potter will be included in the
Tournament as one of the participants."
"It's already done, Potter gets into different stories every year." Luna
sighed sadly.
"You know, you're talking about my nephew here." Remus muttered. "But
I wouldn't be at all surprised if everything turns out that way. It's strange
luck for him."
Danil did not say that Harry could write books about luck; most likely
they have already tried to publish a book here, and maybe more.
Moreover, in his world there were at least seven of them.
"Mead, tea and coffee with a plate of corn." Xeno arrived in the living
room, levitating drinks behind him.
As everyone sat with their drinks in their hands – and Remus with an
entire cob of boiled corn – Danil asked the question that had been on his
mind for the past couple of days.
"So, what about the final Quidditch game of the season? I've never even
seen a game."
Xeno perked up, remembering a couple of things in his pocket.
"Oh, it's at the end of the month, we already have tickets. It's free for the
press, just like you."
Xeno put some strange icon on the table and pushed it towards Danil. It
was a well-made badge depicting a pen and inkwell covered in gold.
True, the pen moved from the invisible wind, as if it were not covered
with metal, and ink splashed inside the inkwell.
"Apparently I'm part of the Quibbler's headquarters as an employee?"
"Author and inspirer of sensational articles. Part-time." Xeno nodded to
himself. "Now you are just a trainee, to become a full-time employee, you
need to gain experience."
The boy looked at the gold-covered badge, thinking about something of
his own. The programmer-designer wasn't needed in the world of wizards
unless he made himself necessary. If he had just been a designer, or a
regular artist, then his future would have been assured. But the wizards
haven't gotten around to computers yet. Maybe somewhere in Japan or
China technomagic is already being developed, but in England they didn't
even think about it.
It was interesting that Danil found a job when he was not looking for one
at all. In his world, all he did was look for the next order or a new client,
freelancers may be paid well, but rarely if luck is not on your side. And
he hadn't even been here a year before he found himself an official
position in a fairly well-known newspaper, although a little out of his
specialty.
How long ago did he write his last line of code? How long ago did the
dog lovers' website stop working in another world?
"Maybe it's for the best..." Danil muttered, pinning the badge on his chest
to his clothes. He never really liked programming anyway. "I'll write a
couple of articles about creepers. Or about the Vex with elder guardians,
I remember enough of the creatures."
"Are these creatures widely known in Russia? I haven't heard these names
before." Xeno asked with undisguised interest.
"Oh, you were talking about creepers – exploding descendants of plant
mutants, right?" Luna said flipping through her notebook. "But I haven't
heard about the ancient defenders yet, who are they?"
After thinking a little, Danil began to tell what he remembered about
various Minecraft mobs. Fortunately, he remembered enough. For the
Lovegood duo, he was a treasure trove of new information, full of gold.
After all, no one here either knew about such monsters – or they had long
been forgotten. Danil did not reject this possibility.
Remus, who was simply sitting nearby and listening to his student's 'crazy
nonsense', shivered at the descriptions of some of the creatures. What a
detailed story about the habits of the ancient defenders was worth. It was
surprisingly easy to believe that there was a fish in the world that could
kill you with one long look. As well as the fact that they could become
the inspiration for the creator of the first basilisk – Herpo The Foul.
It was better not to know about what lives in caves deep underground,
according to Danil. He was going to write an article about these creatures
himself.
In the evening, a thoughtful Remus apparated into his house, leaving a
fairly tired Danil in the care of Xeno. He was given a guest room where
Billy was waiting for him. Luna and Xeno remained in the kitchen like
hospitable hosts.
"He seemed to like his new position." Xeno started. "The boy needs a
distraction, otherwise his mind will become a breeding ground for
wrackspurts."
"I think he got upset without noticing it." Luna answered.
"Yes?" Xeno glanced towards the stairs, focusing his gaze on one point for
the first time that evening. "... maybe so. Life is a difficult thing, where
everyone faces many challenges. He simply had to deal with much more
than an ordinary person can withstand. With the right support from good
friends, he can cope."
The eldest Lovegood glanced at his daughter with a sly squint, but she
didn't even blush.
"Everyone needs good friends."
Xeno sighed; it was hard being a single father. Especially when your
daughter is also a Lovegood, it's not for nothing that people say that they
are all quirky.
"What do you think Ravengers eat? Danil never said."
"Probably meat. Maybe even people."
"People aren't tasty, there's no point in eating them. It would be better if
they ate corn."
-=-=-=-=-=-
Little Hannington has long been a dilapidated and half-abandoned
village, inhabited only by those who had no other choice. Once upon a
time, this place glowed with life and greenery, but they were replaced by
destruction and oblivion. The few residents who still inhabited the area
preferred not to linger on the street. The places here were not good, as if
cursed.
A black dog, more reminiscent of a wolf in its size, ran along the cold
ground. In his teeth, the dog clutched a knot that rang with every step he
took.
People learned to find this dog a mile away on the very first day of his
appearance. The predator was visible from afar; not everyone could
survive an encounter with him. This was far from an ordinary dog or
wolf; a Grimm came to the village, his name was Padfoot.
Grimm ran down the street without much ceremony and turned towards
the Riddle mansion. Having ducked through the open gate, he – already
hidden from prying eyes – turned into his human form, again becoming
Sirius, formerly Black.
He didn't look like someone who had escaped from Azkaban just a year
ago. Dressed in dark robes, clean-shaven and neatly trimmed. Sirius gave
the impression that he had just left a reception with the Queen of
England. Grimm generally recovered quite quickly, and those who ate the
flesh of wizards – even faster. Only a bunch of things in his teeth spoiled
his image.
Entering the abandoned mansion, Sirius stretched out and picked up the
bag; he would not dare appear before his Lord in an inappropriate
manner. A long snake crawled past his feet, at which the man smiled, the
Lord already knew about his presence.
"Padfoot, you're already back..." came a hoarse, weak voice, "my only
friend who comes on time."
"My Lord." Sirius got down on one knee.
Lord Voldemort looked pathetic. The once great wizard was reduced to
the status of a homunculus. The turned, fragile body of the baby served
as a container for a soul completely unsuitable for him. The disfigured,
snake-like face was proof of this.
"I have collected what is needed for our mission. The blood of an ancient
vampire–"
"I know what I ordered you to bring." Voldemort interrupted him.
"They're useless to us now, but you did a good job, well done Padfoot."
The Dark Lord's words flowed like honey mixed with tar: sticky, sweet
and slightly tart. He constructed his words strangely, as if he wasn't sure
what to say next. But it would be a mistake to assume that Voldemort's
mind was not fine; it was as sharp as ever.
"Soul Catcher, were you able to get it?" The Dark Lord muttered.
"Yes, my Lord." Sirius nodded, taking a strange thing out of the bag.
The Soul Catcher was somewhat reminiscent of the Dream Catcher. A
round hoop made of wood held in the center an intricate network of
threads and thin ropes holding red gems. The pattern was somewhat
reminiscent of a black web with red drops of blood, each of which
contained the soul of a wizard.
"Good, very good..." Voldemort clenched his weak fist. "All that remains
is to wait for the performer, you must stay at my side."
Somewhere behind the door a floorboard creaked, and then Nagini's hiss
was heard. Voldemort smiled.
"Nagaini, my sweet, have you met our guest?" The snake's hissing
sounded even louder. "Even so? What kind of hosts will we be if we don't
give him a warm welcome? Padfoot, meet our guest."
Sirius's wand was in his hands faster than the intruder could blink.
"Avada Kedavra!"
The guest's body crashed to the ground, the older man no longer
breathed, and was no longer a guest. Now he was nothing more than
dinner for Nagini.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Simple_Russian_Boi
I started rewriting my new fanfic. And again I don't like it too much,
even less than the first version. Well, that's life.
Chapter 77: 67. The Triwizard
Tournament: Talks in the yellow
tent
For quite a long time, Homo sapiens behaved like an upright man. From
an evolutionary point of view, it was simply safer: there were more
chances of survival and procreation. We still have thumbs for the same
reason; the use of labor tools gave a huge advantage in the struggle for
survival.
Of course, evolution didn't always leave people with useful parts only;
The appendix is enough proof of this. And if we talk about magical
animals, then you can brew two pots of tea at once, the conversation
about them will be long.
Now just such a conversation was taking place in the Lovegood house.
Although, it would be more correct to say that it never ended in their
house.
"Pixies' wings are the source of their ability to fly. Magic passes through
their wings into their bodies, allowing them to fly, and the wings
themselves are used to control the direction of their movement."
"Are you saying they can levitate without wings?"
"They can try, but not everyone of them will succeed. Wings are a vital
organ for all air-born creatures."
The conversation about wings didn't start from nothing. Danil and Luna
discussed the possibility of him having new body parts and why the
"heart" in Danil's chest had increased in size. They couldn't find the
answer to "why?" But that didn't stop them from drawing up theories.
Perhaps, Luna suggested, that Danil, collecting parts of himself in his own
consciousness, received more power and therefore the Ender Eye in his
chest became larger. But then why didn't he gain more power when he
learned Occlumency? The question remained unanswered, and it sounded
too fabulous and romantic to be real for Danil.
Danil thought that merging with the Beast resulted in a magical release
that filled his magical core with additional magic, which led to an
increase. But he was using way more magic on a daily basis, how one
burst could help?
As a result, someone – we're not gonna point fingers at him – talked
about evolution. Oddly enough, magizoologists knew about evolution
much longer than Muggles, they were supposed to know such things by
profession. And Luna stated that Danil is evolving.
And after another twenty minutes of talking... well.
"That doesn't explain why I should grow wings." Danil argued. "I actually
can't fly. Never even tried to."
"Because wizards came from birds. When Phoenix and Thunderbird
turned into humans, from their union the first wizards appeared."
A logical question: "Why in the name of sanity did they decide to fuck?" and
"How do you even know about that?" was cut off by the appearance of Xeno
at the door.
"I hope you're ready, there's only ten left until the Portkey activates!"
Danil and Luna looked at each other, their things had long been collected
and hidden in the teen's bottomless bags.
"Ten what?"
"Nine... eight..."
The teenagers immediately jumped out of their seats and grabbed onto
Xeno, who made a portkey from his robes. Which was convenient if you
were traveling alone, but quite awkward in a large group.
"Glamourus!" Danil chanted the spell and his skin color changed to
white, his hands became an acceptable size.
Naturally, this was just an illusion; his real arms retained their length of
almost two meters. So he won't be able to hold a feather in his hands; it
will float a meter away from him and break the conspiracy.
"Let's go!" Xeno announced and the three disappeared in a swirl of
clothing.
Portkey travel wasn't pleasant. Despite the development of magic and
science over the past hundreds of years, not a single wizard has been able
to come up with a good way to instantly move. At least one that didn't
leave you feeling like minced meat, a corpse, or soot didn't exist. Danil's
teleportation didn't count; only he and other Endermen could use it.
The world around the three travelers was spinning through space, as if
they had been placed on a particularly huge top and launched into flight.
Sometimes they were able to see pictures of the landscape flashing past,
which only added to the anxiety of the two people in the company.
"When do we let you go?!" Danil shouted through the roaring winds
beating against his eardrums.
"I didn't think about that!" Xeno shouted back. "Better not let go at all!"
The world stopped abruptly, only the travelers found themselves not on
solid ground, but about ten meters above it. Danil immediately
transferred them to the grassy earth below; he didn't want to walk
around again with a bruise the size of half his body.
Luna turned away from her companions and bent in half, and Danil held
the staggering Xeno on his feet. He looked a little green, but not to the
point where he was emptying his stomach.
"Next time," Danil said, "I'll teleport us."
Xeno nodded, and Luna moaned pitifully something similar to agreement.
No one wanted to repeat this journey.
"Where did we land?" Luna asked, looking around after a couple of
minutes.
They fell somewhere south of the camp. In the distance one could already
see the roofs of tent-houses with stone chimneys and other colorful tops.
It could easily be said that wizards were stationed there, and if it weren't
for the wards averting their eyes, the Muggle authorities would have had
a huge number of questions.
"I think we need to go to where the fanfare sounds." Xeno turned to the
camp and walked forward with confident steps.
Quickly passing the guard at the southern entrance – the muggle guard
looked a little confused, apparently the obliviators had been busy today –
the company of journalists headed towards their tent. Xeno paid someone
to install it in advance. Danil wasn't surprised when Luna said that it was
bright yellow.
"Oh look, Gryffindors are drinking alcohol." The girl looked with interest
at Seamus, who was trying rather poorly to secretly drink firewhisky
from a bottle.
"Gryff- Xeno, can you tell me who our neighbors are?" Danil asked,
feeling as if a storm was approaching him.
Xeno took out a tiny piece of paper from his pocket and began to unfold
it. "Let's take a look..." The piece of paper began to grow in size and
stopped only when it reached the size of a marching map. "An extremely
good location, quite close to the stadium and such interesting neighbors!
Next to us are the Weasley, Black, Crouch and Finch-Fletchy, families.
There is someone from the French delegation, but the name is not
indicated here."
Whining quietly, Danil covered his face with his hands, which looked
somewhat strange, given their illusory appearance; they didn't even reach
his chin. Xeno shoved them into the barrel of social monsters without
even realizing it! He only saw the benefits and opportunities to get more
funding for his newspaper, not future problems.
For the second time, during his short stay in the new world, Danil began
to pray: 'Wanderer, if you have even a drop of compassion, then may this
week pass without unnecessary conflicts.'
And then he saw an acid yellow tent with glass windows and a literal
smoke pipe on top. Near the entrance stood a trio of Gryffindors and a
woman with black curly hair that reached down to her shoulder blades.
Monotonous laughter was heard somewhere very nearby, but no one
except Danil acknowledged it.
'Thanks, bastard.'
-=-=-=-=-=-
Sometimes, our loved ones decide to give us a "surprise," which is one,
but only in name. Somehow it just so happened that they wanted the
best, but it turned out, as always, the worst. Maybe this was also part of
evolution, only social.
Right now, Harry had no idea what he had forgotten near the colorful
tent, he didn't even know who occupied it. Bella brought him, Hermione
– she was now a guest in the Black Manor – and Ron here, and began to
wait for something. In this state it was useless to ask her anything; she
wouldn't answer anyway.
"We've been waiting for forty minutes," Ron complained, "Who's
important enough to wait forty minutes for?"
"I hope not the Minister." Harry muttered in response. "Talking to him is
pure torture. Every time he tries to seem like my best mate and adviser,
as if I would be friends with a fifty-year-old politician."
"He will be better than Lockhart in every way." Hermione trembled in
disgust, and the boys just grinned.
"Anyone can be better than Lockhart."
"Who is Lockhart?"
The three teenagers immediately turned to the sound of a familiar voice.
The dry, bassy voice with a noticeable Russian accent undoubtedly
belonged to the one man, who they were talking about just a few hours
ago. Their eyes immediately found the group of Lovegoods and Danil,
whom they recognized only due to his height.
"An author of books whose web of deception was uncovered only two
years ago. He is now in Azkaban." Bellatrix replied as the teenagers
recovered from Danil's human appearance. "It's good to see you all in
good health, especially you, Mister Khromov. I heard you were
recovering from your wounds somewhere in the forests of Ireland?"
Danil blinked. He had no idea who the woman standing in front of him
was, but given her knowledge, he assumed it was Bellatrix Black. Who
else could stand with the Hero of All England without even looking out of
place?
"Rather, I was getting myself new ones, Miss Black. I would shake your
hand, but I don't think you'll see it."
Bella examined him from head to toe, like a rare animal. Even under a
couple of illusions, Danil's appearance was striking. Tall, dressed in
purple dark robes that perfectly matched the color of his eyes – for some
reason she was felt that he was not the one who chose his outfit – with
the sharp facial features suitable for the son of an Ancient Family. But
her eyes stayed on the press badge on his chest. You can't miss someone
like him in a crowd, especially with a cut staff in his hands.
"You were described to me a little differently. Is this what you looked like
before the curse took effect? I must say that you have very good
genes." Bella nodded, ignoring Harry's uncomfortable cough behind her.
"I was a meter shorter, but yes. Luna helped me choose the appropriate
spells. I don't want to scare others by walking around with my regular
face."
Taking turns, everyone awkwardly exchanged greetings. The Gryffindors
felt out of place, and the Lovegoods were simply constantly distracted by
the festivities that were happening around them.
Harry especially didn't like his mother's "surprise". He planned to meet
Danil on his own terms, and not be thrown to the Hippogriffs!
"Xenophilius, my friend, would you like to talk about the latest issue of
your newspaper? The Quibbler has caught my eye over the last couple of
months, especially with your new writer, the Brightest One. It seems to
be the only newspaper I can read without burning it afterwards lately."
"Of course, Miss Black." Xeno quickly agreed. "Let's go to our tent, I think
the children will find something to do."
Danil and Harry looked at the man with betrayal in their eyes. Neither of
them wanted the conversation to take place, especially since people
around them had already started pointing fingers at them. But Xeno and
Bella ignored them, entering the tent with sly smiles on their faces.
"... Let's just go have some tea." Danil suggested. "Knowing the Brits, we
must have a kettle around here somewhere. I've fucking hate this cheap
drama, I won't let it get bigger."
He muttered, for which he received a poke in the side from Luna. "What
did I tell you about swearing in Russian?"
"Swear louder so I can find my people." He answered automatically,
turning towards the tent. "Come on, tea and whiskey are waiting for us.
Or whiskey and tea."
-=-=-=-=-=-
Drinking tea with a man who tried to kill you just a couple of months ago
is a surprisingly common thing in Russia. Well, it's to be expected from
people, who, after a brutal fight, can sit down at the same table and
become best friends. Violence in the country of bears and vodka was the
third official language, right after Russian and Russian-swearing.
But in Britain – especially among the Magical Aristocracy – people
weren't used to this. Wizards here are accustomed to harboring grudges,
sometimes quarreling with each other for entire generations over a failed
wedding. So, Harry didn't expect a warm welcome at all, hoping to see
some kind of catch.
But here he is, sitting with a mug of tea and cookies in his hands, and
Danil is right opposite him, serving as a seat for Luna. No catch in sight.
"These are some good cookies; can I borrow the recipe from you?" Ron
asked, with an empty mouth for a change.
"Sure, it's not a secret." Danil waved it off. "But you'll need an oven, and
as I know, wizards and electricity are not friends with each other."
"My father has been the head of the Illegal Use of Muggle Inventions
Department for ten years, if not more. We've had an oven in our house
for about five years." Ron grinned. "Not all wizards are as ignorant as you
think."
"But some people still can't pronounce electricity correctly." Luna added,
biting into her cookie.
Oddly enough, the three began to communicate like old friends. Ron was
a simple guy who only held grudges in very serious cases. Luna forgave
people easily, most often preferring not to waste her energy on them, and
took revenge innocently enough, but annoyingly. It was no wonder that
the three girls who bullied her a year ago were still finding itching
powder in their underwear.
And well, this was not the first time that Danil went to a truce with his
"enemies," for him it was an ordinary Tuesday.
"I can't do this anymore," Hermione finally broke down. "Are we going to
talk about the elephant in the room? Don't you have anything to say to
us? Accusations, insults, or even demands for an apology? Nothing at
all?"
Although her words were rude, her voice was trembling. There was a
feeling that the girl wanted to hear from Danil confirmation of her guilt,
as if she had been waiting for punishment all summer, but it never came.
The monster boy picked up a cloudy bottle from the table and drank half
of it in one sip. Despite everything, Hermione's question was reasonable.
Someone else in his place would blame Potter for revealing his identity,
for wounds sustained in their battle, or for sneaking into his room. But
not Danil.
"What should I say? I'm in perfect condition, all of my things are where
they need to be, and I wouldn't have been able to hide for long anyway.
Your actions didn't lead to anything that would not happen in a couple of
months by itself. Everything's good." He stopped for a moment. "Almost
everything. There's nothing I can do about the fact that the whole of
Britain knows my face. But you can understand me." Danil said, looking
at Harry, who wrinkled his nose in displeasure.
"The fact that my name is known to every dog isn't something I'm happy
about." When journalists have been hunting you since childhood, you
inadvertently begin to hate them. Although Harry saw the huge
advantage his fame gave him, he didn't use it often.
"I understand." Danil agreed. "Fame can be both a blessing and a curse.
And luckily for me, I already have one." His voice was so full of sarcasm
that even a deaf person could hear it.
Suddenly, Danil slammed his fist on the table, punching through the
wood, splinters rose into the air, flying in all directions. Three wands
were immediately pointed at his face. The only reason the Gryffindors
didn't start attacking was the absolutely serene expression on Danil's
face.
Mantis, who was sleeping in Luna's pocket, stuck his head out to check
the situation, but seeing that everyone was staying still, he shrugged his
shoulders and went back to sleep.
"What the hell was that?!" Harry demanded, his hand gripping the wand
so tightly that his knuckles turned white.
"You still don't trust me." Danil said instead of answering. "But it's not
like I'm giving you a reason to start trusting me."
Hermione twitched. Even after all the words of support towards Danil,
she still couldn't bring herself to believe him to the end.
"But what I said is the truth. I don't need an apology, compensation, or –
Gods forbid – revenge. But if you want to continue to deceive yourself
and believe that one night I will come and pull out all the hair from your
pubes – please continue. Any whim for the cost of your nerves."
Harry watched Danil's movements carefully. There was something he
didn't like about this attitude to life, he didn't know how one could just
forgive someone for the evil they had done. Reluctantly, he admitted to
himself that he couldn't have done the same. The Blacks always paid back
their debts.
"What could have driven you to revenge?" Harry asked faster than he
could stop himself.
The illusion of Danil's human form faded for a moment. His skin
darkened, and instead of a smile, a predatory grin full of sharp teeth
appeared on his face. Purple eyes flashed behind the goggles and the
illusion was restored.
Hermione nudged Harry imperceptibly in the side, such questions should
not have been asked to people they didn't know very well.
"... Drink your tea, Potter. He's already cooling down." Danil advised.
"There are very few things that can push me to revenge. And now I have
almost no one to avenge." His invisible hand stroked Luna's head, pushing
her hair away from her face. "Almost."
Warily, the three friends sat back down at the table and started drinking
tea again. Danil's words led them to have bad thoughts. After all, they
had guessed before that the teenager had no one left, and now they
received the confirmation.
Unnoticed by everyone, Luna slipped her wand back into her sleeve.
"So... About that recipe." Ron began.
"Oh, right. Write it down somewhere. First, you need to prepare the
dough–"
Ron eagerly began to write down the recipe, and Danil waved a bug from
his shoulder. He could have left it for Mantis's lunch, but Mantis had
already eaten a double portion in the morning. So the water beetle stayed
alive.
And Rita Skeeter stayed to listen to the cookie recipe. The new story was
almost ready, now it was time for her hobby!
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Simple_Russian_Boi
A little author rant.
The next chapter will be the last one that was written in my little
notebook. After that, I will continue to write from zero again.
I thought that my notes from the "Summer Camp" would last for a long
time, and that it would be easy to translate them. I was wrong. Lord
knows, how wrong I was.
There is a saying that real artists continue to create even in the worst
conditions. I feel like a real artist right now.
Chapter 78: The Triwizard
Tournament: The Weasleys
Quidditch is a strange, illogical, violent and 'fun' four-ball game. Wizards
flying on high-speed brooms catch these balls, throw them at each other
and try in every possible way to prevent the opponent from getting
points. Some may complain about the unfair value of the Snitch, and
others about the long matches, but in England, France and Bulgaria,
Quidditch was the most beloved sports there could be.
After Danil told Ron the cookie recipe, Bellatrix and Xeno were finished
with their conversation. So the two groups went their separate ways,
deciding to spend their time having fun.
"How long do you say games can last?" Danil asked, rubbing his face.
"Until they catch the Snitch. The record for longest is a match that lasted
three months." Luna replied, ignoring the way the monster boy started
coughing violently. "But you shouldn't worry, both the Bulgarian and
Irish players are very good at their chosen positions. It will be over
quickly."
The girl's words didn't do much to calm Danil's nerves. But he knew that
she wouldn't lie to him.
"Is he that good of a – Catcher? – Is this the right word?"
"Experts say yes, otherwise he would not have been taken to the national
team while he's still in school."
Danil and Luna walked around the camp around the stadium, looking at
the various games where all wizards and twitches were offered to
participate.
Some flew animated kites of various shapes and sizes, controlling their
movements with their Wands. Children flew on small brooms just a
couple of feet above the ground, chasing golden balls that Danil was sure
wasn't real Snitches.
How they were allowed to do all this in front of Muggles, he did not
know, nor did he care. Apparently the Obliviators really had too much
work to do.
"Playing on the national team without even leaving school is impressive.
This Krum sounds like a talanted man."
"Who do I see!" A familiar voice rang out and a hand fell on the boy-
monster's shoulder. The fact that they could reach his height surprised
Danil, but not their sudden appearance. He could feel them move– feel
their magic getting closer. It wasn't like anything he felt before, his
Beastial side showed some benefits already.
"Our old friend!" "You were off for only a month." "And already got on the
side of Bulgaria?" "You need to reconsider your views." "Ireland will
definitely win this match!"
The Weasley twins weren't the kind of people who could be found so
easily if they didn't want someone to find them. They already considered
the fact that Danil noticed their approach unusual, but not something
that deserves attention. At least for now.
"Greetings to the valiant men of England!" Danil answered with the same
enthusiasm in his voice. "I take it you're here with your family?"
"Of course!" "The Minister himself invited us." "We think he wants to get
to Harry through us though."
The monster boy snorted in displeasure, but calmed down, feeling Luna
pat him on the chest. Politics was not something Danil loved. He hated
both politics and politicians, preferring to watch the see the bubbling of
poisonous shits from afar like a true journalist.
"Our brother said that you also came with your family?" Fred –and it was
definitely Fred, he had one more wrinkle in his left eye – said with a
smile on his face, playing with his eyebrows in Luna's direction.
"Not yet." The girl replied calmly, continuing to look around in search of
something interesting.
The three guys looked at each other awkwardly. Fred muttered a quiet
"sorry," and quickly removed his hand from Danil's shoulder. And the
monster boy himself was staring at the back of the short blonde's head. It
wasn't the first time Luna had said something like that to him, and he
knew it wouldn't be the last.
'I'll talk to her about it tonight.' He decided, leaving the problem for later.
Now that the greetings were over, the twins started circling Danil like a
pair of sharks that smelled blood in the water, looking at him from every
direction.
"Hmm, a press badge?" "Did you find a job, our friend?" "Does it have
anything to do with your sudden change in your looks?" "We liked you
more as a huge black monster." "No offense." "And no racism."
Luna wrinkled her nose in displeasure. She didn't like it when her work
was devalued for no apparent reason. But she quickly forgave the twins,
they just liked the original, not the remix. She couldn't blame them for
that.
"Wait for my articles in the new issue of Quibbler. And for my new,
brilliant and fresh appearance, you can say thanks to Luna." Danil put his
hands on the little girl's shoulders and looked at the twins. They
straightened up under his gaze and stood at attention like soldiers. "Now
tell me, how do four handsome people like ourselves have fun here?"
The smiles on the twins' faces told a lot, but the next tour of the most
notorious places of the World Cup.
It turned out that thoughts in the world of carnival entertainment in the
normal and magical worlds didn't differ too much from each other. The
games of the wizarding world and muggle games looked like two drops of
water, it was impossible to even guess who was stealing ideas from
whom, but money flowed freely to the owners of carnival attractions.
"It's not very fair, but that's life. Ideas are stolen from everywhere and
remade in a new way." Commented Danil, looking at the magical version
of the game 'put a ring on a bottle.' Only the bottles were running,
jumping and rolling away from the thrown rings, and the rings
themselves changed size and followed the bottles like homing missiles.
All the player had to do was throw the ring and watch the unusual game
of cat and mouse. "But everyone is having fun."
But the games were not limited to "live bottles" alone. There were a lot of
games around, it seemed that new ones were coming up right on the spot
to cut down a quick buck. Danil's eyes soon began to ache from the
overly bright colors of this festive place.
They stumbled upon a magical version of a shooting gallery, which was
created only so that people could legally practice their spells.
Fortunately, the use of more dangerous spells was prohibited by the rules
of the shooting range and two Aurors who stood next to the tent and kept
order.
"And that's only half of it!" George said proudly. "I remember there's a
chess dueling tournament going on somewhere around here." Fred
chimed in. "People are dueling and playing chess at the same time!"
"Interesting enough, but strange to look at."
"No. It was enough for me." Danil muttered, holding his bag in his hands,
inside of which were toys that he and Luna had won in the games.
Although most of them were earned by the girl, for some reason, people
didn't want to let a man with a two-and-a-half-meter tall staff to play.
"Where are we anyway? It feels like we were thrown here by the crowd."
"Oh!" George looked around. "We are back from where we started, our
tents are quite close. Feeling up for some tea?" "Or for lunch, if you don't
want to melt."
"I won't say no to tea," Luna nodded.
Seeing the familiar tents and immediately noticing the one belonging to
the Weasleys, the teenagers headed there.
"How many people do you have in your family? Eight?" Danil asked. "It
feels like every time I count, there are more of you."
"There are seven of us here." George started. "Charlie and Bill work
abroad." "So our team consists of our parents, Molly and Arthur." "Older
brother Percy." "Younger sister Ginny." "You've seen Ron before." "And
your humble servants, Fred and George!" "Who will stop the march right
here!"
The group of friends stopped in front of a seemingly ordinary tent. It was
made of red and yellow fabric, and a brick chimney protruded from the
roof, the heat from which did not ignite the fabric only thanks to magic.
Strangely enough, it was one of the most normal ones in the camp.
"That's nice. Even cozy, I would say." Danil commented.
Fred wanted to say something, but a red-haired, rather young-looking
woman came out of the tent.
It was hard to give her more than thirty years old, even despite the worn-
out clothes that had seen better days. Her choosen clothing didn't fit the
woman, but still, it added some kind of homely charm to her. Danil was
once again amazed at how well magic affects people. The woman in front
of him didn't look like a mother of seven.
"There you are! And with friends – hello Luna, dear." Luna waved back
with a smile.
"Good afternoon, Molly Weasley. There are kwyorks flying around you as
always, that's good. They always choose kind people."
The woman smiled at the girl and turned back to her sons. It was
interesting to see how quickly her face could change its expressions.
"I was just going to look for you, lunch is ready and on the table. Come in
quickly."
"Yes ma'am!" Two voices rang out and the boys marched forward, Luna
following close behind. Molly shook her head and let them in, only Danil
was left outside, he had not yet greeted the Matriarch of the Weasley
family.
"And you must be Danil Khromov. My sons have told me a lot about you."
"I hope only the worst." He said with a grin.
"Merlin forbid! All I hear them say is praise, as if you were some kind of
god among men. What kind of prank did you help them with, that they
are almost ready to accept you into the family?"
"No pranks, ma'am. I'm just keeping them out of trouble."
"For some reason, I thought so." She murmured with a knowing smile.
Danil held the curtain open for Molly and only then went in himself.
From the inside, the magic tent looked as cozy as it did from the outside.
Soft red armchairs stood at the entrance and around the armchair, and
there was a clothes rack to the left of the entrance.
"Oh, more guests!" A man's voice rang out from the small kitchen inside.
Danil blinked when he saw how many redheads were in one place. He
was not sure that he had seen at least three natural red-haired people in
his entire past life, and now there were seven of them sitting in front of
him. The names that the twins had given him slowly took on faces.
Arthur Weasley didn't look much older than his wife, except he had more
laugh lines on his face. Thin red hair and a small stubble adorned his
head, and old robes hung on his shoulders. But even so, he looked like a
kind and strong man at the same time, it was strange to look at him. This
combination was quite rare.
The guy sitting next to the twins was definitely Percy. A serious look,
smoothly ironed clothes and a poker face. He looked out of place, as if a
very bad spy had been planted in this chaotic family. But judging by how
actively Fred and George talked to him, he was just like that.
Ginny was sitting next to Luna and the girls were whispering about
something. Danil could have sworn that he saw a red tinge on the
blonde's cheeks, but she quickly turned away from him. Ginny was a
beautiful girl, with a small nose, blue eyes and fiery red hair. She had an
air of mischief around her, but hers was more subdued, not like the
burning one around her brothers.
"Well, don't just stand there, take a seat! You're a guest after all." Arthur
said and Danil complied.
His day was about to become more interesting at the very least, he was
sure of it.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Simple_Russian_Boi
I can feel the question already. Why did this chapter took so long to
make?
Got a new... job, you might call it. It took me some time to figure out
how to deal with things. I'm not sure if I can keep up a consistant
update schedule, but I'll try to post more then once in two months.
Внимание! Этот перевод, возможно, ещё не готов.
Его статус: идёт перевод
http://tl.rulate.ru/book/100904/4562231
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