Dio's Dimensional Journey

by Ashzaroth

As a consequence of releasing a Cosmic Horror from its prison, Dio-formerly known as Alex- has now been made into said Horror's personal entertainment. Transported into various fantasy worlds, Dio must either survive and conquer, or be crushed by the forces that prey on humanity. OC, and AU universes.

10. Chapter 10

Authors Note:

I've noticed an issue with the chapters I've posted; the line breaks aren't appearing, and neither is the underlining for Parseltongue. I'm not sure why, because my draft on Microsoft word has it. The transition to this site removes them apparently. I'll try to fix the issue somehow, but I do apologize for noticing that so late.

I do agree that Dio has had some bad luck, but I promise he won't always be on the losing end. Bad luck simply gives me more to write about. As I mentioned before, this chapter and the one before were supposed to be a single one, so I will elaborate more on subjects I didn't touch upon last chapter. I have purposefully left information out, most of it pertaining to Theresa and how she has been during her time in the wizarding world, and that information will be revealed in the future.

The Emperor mentioned in the book Dio finds is his namesake, King Trajan.

I need a favor; if anyone knows the price of brooms in the books, if they were ever mentioned, could you tell me? I just need to know if a specific amount was ever given. I'm trying to get a feel for the economy, and the higher quality broomsticks can be considered luxury items. I've set the economy here how I like, and I will give my reasoning's for that at a later date.

Enjoy the chapter, and please leave a review!

"Speech"= A normal conversation

"Speech"= Thoughts, telepathy.

"{Speech}" = Parseltongue

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry potter or Fable; they belong to JK Rowling and Microsoft respectively. I only own Dio, and I make no money off of this story.

-Skip-Clip-Rip-Dip-

The carts used by the goblins to reach the vaults are eerily similar to roller coasters in the sense that there only seem to be two speeds; zero, and fast. Not that I'm complaining of course, as I've always been a fan of roller coasters and rode as many as I could the few times I had the opportunity to go to a fair. Irene on the other hand, has never before had the pleasure of experiencing a roller coaster, and is currently tearing chunks of my hair off as the high speeds threatened to tear her off my head. I'm not sure if my screams of exhilaration or her screams of fear are louder. The high speed prevented me from seeing much of the underground where the vaults are located, but I did manage to catch glimpses of fire every once in a while. Whether the fire belongs to a dragon is unknown as I'm unable to hear anything other than the wind and Irene's screams in my head.

Like all good things the cart began to slow down when one of the two goblins in the cart with us –JawGauger I recalled his name is- flipped a switch. The other goblin is an unnamed guard who has yet to single word, and seems content to continue to watch me. In less than a minute the cart slowed to a crawl, before halting in front of a long tunnel which ends in a large gate.

"Get out," said the gravelly voice of JawGauger. Like the other goblins in Gringotts, JawGauger is short, green, and has a scowling face. Unlike the tellers or guards up above, JawGauger is dressed in what appears to be miner clothing, and is covered in a thin layer of dirt which I assume is from the constant travel through the underground tunnels. The other goblin is suited in the same outfit that all guards have; a full suit of a blue metal. Whatever the metal is, it must be extremely resistant to magic for the guards to be wearing it when surrounded by wizards.

As Irene and I stepped out of the cart three guards emerged from tunnels in the walls, and the guard in the cart joined them in surrounding us on all four sides. Irene continued to grip my hair tightly while also trying to calm down.

"Follow me," said JawGauger as he walked along the tunnel. He stopped in front of the large Iron Gate and took out a metal rod from his breast pocket. The rod glowed a bright yellow, which caused the gate to open. Instead of opening to the actual vault as I expected, the gate revealed a carved dragon statue standing over a small basin. Another door could be seen behind the statue.

"You must prove your identity with blood," JawGauger said as he took out a knife from another pocket. "Fill the basin with blood, and we shall see if you truly are who you claim to be." I accepted the knife with a roll of the eyes. Honestly, I would say the goblins are much too careful if they didn't guard one of the three Wizarding banks in all of Europe. And I'm fairly certain they have these annoying procedures simply to annoy humans.

I took the knife and sliced my hand open, then watched the blood pool in the basin. When the basin became filled to the brim it began to glow brightly, and I noticed the guards beside us tense. However, the light simply died out, and the vault mechanisms moved the statue aside and began to open the vault. With the guards distracted, I directed mana to my hand to heal it. After all, no need to alarm them when they aren't friendly.

"It seems you are who you claimed to be," JawGauger said looking oddly disappointed.

"What would have happened if I wasn't me," I asked.

"The vault would have pierced you with an iron spike, and if that failed, nearby guards would have been called to take care of you."

"How lovely. What now?"

"Now, you enter your vault. Gringotts goblins are forbidden from entering any of the vaults, per the accords of the third wizard-goblin war. We will wait for you here until you conclude your business, then we escort you to the surface. While I understand that you must check that all of your belongings were transferred to this branch of Gringotts, please do hurry up; contrary to what most wizards believe, we do have other matters to attend to other than waiting on you."

I shrugged and entered the vault, which sealed shut behind me.

"Great, I hope we aren't stuck in here."

"If we are," Irene said, "I'm kicking your ass since it's your fault."

"Yes dear, whatever you say."

"Hmph."

"Have you recovered from the ride?"

"I'm better now. Was that really the only way to come down here?"

"Yup. And on the bright side, we have to ride the cart again to get back!"

"I hate you Dio. Next time, you're coming here yourself."

The vault door sealed shut behind us when we walked in, probably to provide a sense of security. Lanterns came to life, illuminating a small hallway leading to another door. I rolled my eyes at the paranoia these goblins have, but proceeded to the second door and opened it.

Gleaming piles of gold caught my eye; the gleam from the lights in the vault made it seem as if the gold filled the entire room. And it practically did; there are more piles of gold taller than I am than I care to count. Smaller piles of silver and bronze coins also littered the room, but their sizes paled in comparison to the veritable mountains of gold. A small counter near the door caught my attention. When I approached it, I noticed letters and numbers on it.

-137,243 Galleons

-15,368 Sickles

-4,619 Knuts

Seems like it's a ledger. I picked up a galleon to test out a theory and put it in my pocket. I noticed that the number of galleons dropped by one. I threw the Galleon over to a nearby pile and the number increased by one. It seems that the ledger maintains itself, which is useful since I'm never going to actually count all of these coins. I wonder if there's a way to sync this ledger with a portable one?

"I know that you said you're rich Dio," Irene said, "But this is much more than I was expecting."

"Same here; I've never seen this much gold anywhere. But if you think about it, the Trajan's have been amounting money for millennia now; I would be surprised if they weren't filthy stinking rich."

"Very true, and we also don't know the value of any of this; while it may seem like much, this may actually be a modest amount of money."

"I hope not; being rich has a lot of uses."

"While I enjoy looking at gold as much as the next girl, why exactly are we here, and why couldn't Theresa come? You refused to tell me."

"I couldn't have Theresa come here because she is, at least on paper, my sister. Her blood on the other hand, shares no resemblance to mine. A sample of my blood was exchanged from the Gringotts in America to this one, it's how the vault was able to ascertain my identity. Theresa's identity would have been tested if she came here, and they would have found out we share no family history."

"And why wasn't a sample of her blood given to this Gringotts?"

"Because she was too young; a child must be eleven to be admitted to a magical school, which is a rule worldwide. To make things easier, Gringotts and many other companies only allow children access to their services after they turn eleven. Now that Theresa is eleven, it's expected for her to visit a Gringotts and register to the family vault."

"And that's what the blood adoption ceremony you researched about if for right?"

"Exactly; the ceremony will allow the both if us to share the same blood; mine."

"Is that the reason you've been collecting blood from the three of us these past few months."

"It's one of the reasons; do you remember that I told you that a group of people back in Albion seek Theresa's blood for a ritual?" She nodded. "That's the second reason I'm doing this; not only will I deny them the chance to use her blood, but I may be able to perform the ritual myself."

"And what does the ritual do?"

"It gives us access to the location of an extremely powerful weapon. The sword used to defeat the Court by William Black."

"The sword of Aeons?! You know where it is located?"

"Yes; under the Guild itself."

"That…makes sense; William did create the Guild, it makes sense that he would hide it there. No one would expect to find such a powerful weapon under one of the most popular places in Albion."

"Then Scythe IS William Black?"

"Yes he is, although I'm surprised you know that; it's supposed to be a secret only known by William Black, Nostro, and us, the Faeries."

"I believe I've established that I know many things I'm not supposed to."

I received a roll of the eyes for that. "One day you'll have to tell me how exactly you know so much. Anyways, after the fall of the Old Kingdom William asked us to guard the sword until he managed to find a place to hide it. We never saw the sword again after we returned it to him, and many Faeries have searched for it throughout the years. It's ironic that the sword would be located under the very location where most of us choose to gather."

"And why have you all searched for the sword all this time?"

"Because that sword is extremely powerful. We have no clue as to what the sword can do, but the small amount of time it spent with us made it abundantly clear that the sword is powerful. Are you sure that we shouldn't be trying to find it this very moment? You did say there are people after it."

"Don't worry, it'll be years before they will be ready, and after Theresa undertakes the ceremony it will be much harder for them to find it."

"And if she doesn't want to go through the ritual?"

"Then she doesn't; I'm not going to force her. But look at it this way; she's lost her entire family. This ritual will give her one. I doubt she will refuse."

"Very well, if that's what you think is best. Do you know who is looking for the sword?"

"If my sources are to be believed, and my sources haven't let me down yet, then jack of Blades is supposed to be the one searching for the sword."

"Jack of Blades? The one William fought? Well, its official; we're majorly fucked."

"Calm down, we have years to prepare before we have to fight him. And if we manage to get the sword we should be able to kill him."

"How did he even- no never mind. If William found a way to become immortal then it isn't a far stretch to think that Jack found a way to survive also. Let's just finish here and leave; this entire trip has given me a major headache."

I nodded and patted her on the head, dodging her attempt to bite my hand. I'm not keen on fighting jack either, but I at least have had years to get used to the thought. I know that Jack is powerful, although I'm sure the stories exaggerated his power. Either way, I need to become much stronger or else I won't survive a battle against him. And I do need to fight him; not only will it be a great battle, but I still need Albion, which means not allowing him to rule it.

I looked around the vault for the item I came for; a chest filled with more books written by my ancestors. I found a mention of the chest in an old note lying around. The chest is supposed to contain the entire history of the Trajan's, handwritten by them as they lived. It's also a compendium of their knowledge. The chest has been kept at Gringotts since the second Goblin-Wizard war, sealed by powerful Blood magic. It took Irene and I a few minutes, but we eventually found it. We're both ashamed to say that it took us far longer than necessary to remember that Irene could fly, which would allow her to scope the entire vault from the ceiling.

Irene found the chest snugly sequestered between two piles of Galleons. The chest looks like a typical treasure chest; wooden, with metal fastenings throughout it. The one object that set this chest aside from any other is the palm sized ruby located on the top of it. The gem seems to glimmer with the light refracted from the surrounding Galleons, and its shade seemed more reminiscent of a drop of blood than a ruby. Which is fitting, since blood is what it actually is. Generations of Trajan's have added their blood to the ruby, syncing their unique magical signature to it, granting them access.

I created a blade of ice on my finger and sliced my palm open, and allowed my blood to fall on the Ruby. It rippled when my blood fell on it, and shined brightly when it absorbed my blood, much like the gate outside. The top of the chest popped open when the ruby stopped shining, and I opened it. Instead of a veritable mountain of books, I found only one; a dusty old tome who's leather cover seemed to flake off. I picked the book up and opened it, and words began to write themselves on the first page.

Congratulations on locating the Trajan family Grimoire. Inside, generations of Trajan's have and will store their knowledge to impart on their descendants, beginning with me; Imperator Caesar Nerva Traianus Divi Nervae filius Augustus, Emperor Of Greece and Troy. My court and I have enchanted this Tome to reveal the knowledge within once it believes you are worthy of it, so no fool is able to defile the information within. Take caution of what you may find, and do not judge your ancestors too harshly. The call of powerful magic is often too tempting to resist, more so when you have nothing to lose, or something to protect.

"Nothing can ever be simple can it," I commented.

"What does it say?" I showed the page to her, and after she finished reading she seemed unsure whether to laugh at me or share my disappointment.

"I blame you and your luck for this Dio; I've never known anyone to have as much bad luck as you have."

"You're telling me. I'm certain one day I'll go to the bathroom and find myself facing some kind of mutant creature."

"Aaaand you just jinxed yourself. Congrats."

"Shush you."

I was about to put the Grimoire away in my pocket when I noticed more words written on it. They turned out to be various spells, chief among them an enchantment that causes a bag to be bottomless and weightless, much like the bag that Rover gave me. The spell itself is simple; a figure eight wand movement, and an incantation I forewent going through so as not to fall into the habit of always saying my spells aloud. I took off one of my socks, ignoring Irene's questioning look, transfigured it into a leather bag, and then proceeded to stuff handfuls of coins in the bag. Who knows when I'll have another chance to return. May as well stock up on money, especially since we are already in a shopping district.

I put the small Grimoire away in my coat pocket, with a mental note to look through it later. The other spells I noticed written into the book, tips on apparition being the most enticing. I sealed the chest with more blood and headed out of the vault. It sealed itself exactly how it opened, just in reverse. At least my blood wasn't required to close it. None of the goblins stationed outside said a word once we exited; rather, the only words said on the return trip were a rough 'Get out' by JawGauger who left as soon as Irene and I, along with our ever present goblin guard, left Gringotts for good. Even then, I could feel the eyes of the guards stationed outside watching my every move. It seems I'm a much bigger threat than I once thought if they notified this many guards. I wonder if Albus gets the same treatment?

Now that we had money, Irene and I looked at the various shops found in Diagon Alley. Most were what you would traditionally expect to find when the image of wizards is brought up; horticulturist shops with exotic and strange plants, a shop selling brooms, with the Nimbus 2000 being the centerpiece, a potions shop, an ice cream parlor, and many other shops, each distinctly garish and eye catching.. The one that caught my eye is the lone bookstore situated between the potions shop and the apothecary. I made a straight beeline for the store, my mouth practically salivating at the thought of finding more spells to experiment with.

I entered the shop and was assaulted by the smell of ink and parchment. After three years in Albion I had become accustomed to the smell, so I barely spared a thought towards it. What I did pay attention towards is the shelves filled with books that dotted the wall. I also noticed scrolls of parchment in cases below the shelves, each locked by a physical lock and I assume a magical one as well. Behind the lone counter stood an old man who, to his credit, merely stared at me for a full five seconds before catching himself.

"Ah," he said after he recovered, "welcome to my humble shop young man. Is there something I could help you find?"

"As a matter of fact there is," I replied. Irene flew off towards the shelves to look for any books that seemed interesting while I talked with the shopkeeper, who began to stare at Irene with a look of utmost admiration. I coughed to catch his attention again, and he laughed sheepishly.

"As I was saying, my younger sister is set to start at Hogwarts next year, and I would like to purchase the standard books for all of the core classes for all seven years normally purchased by Hogwarts students." The old man's eyes widened at what I imagine to be an expensive purchase, before a barely noticeable grin appeared on his face.

"That shouldn't be a problem, although I do have to say that teachers are the ones who select the books, and with the Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers being new every year I cannot make any guarantees as to which book future teachers will choose, Mr…."

"Trajan. Dio Trajan." The reference seemed lost on him, but his eyes did widen and his skin did lose some color when I mentioned my name. Good, maybe this will prevent him from attempting to cheat me. Better safe than sorry.

"I, I see. Well then Mr. Trajan, if you would wait here for some time I can gather the books you're looking for."

"That's fine. My partner and I will browse your shop while you look for those."

The old man nodded and pulled out a list, then began to summon books after consulting it.

"Did you find anything interesting," I asked Irene.

"I found three books in fact, this one about the Fae of this world being the most interesting."

I went over towards her to see the book, which had a picture of a female elf surrounded by faeries frolicking through the woods. I could tell this because, like every other picture I've seen in the wizarding world, the elf and fairies moving around the forest, and even the grass and trees were swaying in what had to be a gentle wind. All in all it seemed like the picturesque image ideally found in a children's story book, although the title of the book said otherwise.

"Compendium of the Fae. What do you think Irene; is it worth it?"

"I'm not sure," she said with a slight desperate tint to her tone, "but we do need some information on the Fae of this world; I've searched and searched, but found no trace of any others of my kind anywhere." That had been an enormous source of frustration for the both of us; no matter which tracking or locating spell Irene or I cast, even one's fae in nature, yielded any results in locating any kind of Fae anywhere. Irene had begun to despair, taking it as a sign that Fae in this world were nonexistent, or worse, extinct.

"Very well, then we'll get it and read it as soon as we get home." She smiled at that, and we began to scour the store for more books. We spent around half an hour in the store, and in the end the only other books we chose were the two Irene initially found; 'Customs of British society,' and 'Dueling decorum.' The former I suspect is limited to the wizarding sect of British society as I can't imagine many wizards to be interested in muggle society, and a brief glance through the book affirmed my theory. The book will be necessary to prepare against any breaches of etiquette, which I assume will be necessary for my inevitable excursions into Pureblood society. No need to alienate them over something trivial after all. The latter book is a collection of procedures and customs for a duel between wizards which, while not as common these days as they used to be, can still be challenged to resolve disputes.

"Excuse me Mr Trajan," the shopkeeper said as he stood next to a small mountain of books, "but the books that you asked for are ready."

"Ah thank you," I replied. "You won't mind if I inspect the books, would you?"

"No not at all sire, feel free to check them out. I may pride myself on the condition of the books that I sell, but you would be remiss not to inspect them yourself." I nodded and Irene and I did just that, and while it took some time to inspect each and every book, as there were over fifty books, we had a perfectly valid reason for it; any of these books could carry a curse with them, and I would rather not be caught by surprise. We both inserted a bit of magic into each book and thankfully detected nothing in each.

"The books are all in fine condition," I told the shopkeeper, "we'll buy them all. How much do they all cost." He took out a paper where he apparently tallied the total cost.

"That will be six Galleons, two Sickles, and fifteen Knuts," he replied. I tried not to let any of the shock I felt show on my face, and I noticed Irene attempting to do the same; is that really all that fifty books cost? That's barely a drop in the bucket compared to what I have in my bag, never mind the entirety of my vault. If everything is around this price range, then this will be a good shopping trip indeed.

I pulled out the money, paid the man, and then stuffed all fifty books into my bag. The shopkeeper thanked us profusely as he escorted us out, which doesn't surprise me; I doubt many people are buying books at this time of the year, let alone at the quantity that I am. I imagine the start of term for Hogwarts is the highlight of the year for many of these shops.

Irene and I continued to shop at the various stores, ignoring the stares of the populace along the way. It honestly began to get annoying; did these people have nothing better to do? I once again noted the lack of subtlety these people had; anyone would get annoyed at openly being stared at for a long period of time, yet every single person here does it.

Our first shop was Eeylops Owl Emporium, where we purchased a pitch black male owl. The shopkeeper there told us, repeatedly coughing to stop her from staring at me, that the owl is a breed from Australia, and the breed is not commonly bought in these isles. That was the only convincing I need to buy the owl, who I named Loivissa, along with owl food, treats, and a book with instructions on how to care for your owl. Purchasing an animal that could deliver letters is a necessity in the wizarding world, as animals take the place of all forms of couriers here. Until I could find a more exotic animal than an owl, Loi will have to do. The entire purchase barely cost us twenty Galleons, and by now Irene and I had begun to notice a pattern. Loi perched himself on my shoulder, and instead of attempting to attack or harass Irene he seemed almost subservient to her.

We skipped buying a broom or a wand, since we don't need brooms at the moment, and have our own plans for wands. We made a final stop at Madame Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, where I planned on purchasing several tailor made robes. Those who complain about the stiffness of tuxedos and the suits are those who have never worn one before, much less a suit specifically tailored to their body size. I can honestly say it's one of the best feelings to have; being in clothes that make you look professional, elegant, and fit perfectly on your body, having worn many of them throughout my life. From what I've seen, robes are the commonly worn vestments worn by wizards here, and I refuse to wear one that doesn't fit me perfectly, the one I'm currently wearing notwithstanding.

Entering Madame Malkin's felt much like entering a muggle clothing store, or at least the store was arranged in a similar fashion. Mannequins dotted the store, showing odd the various Robes the store sells. Much like one would expect, there isn't a large selection of robes available; there are normal robes, dress robes, and a few robes that looked sturdier, which I assume are specially tailored for a profession. What did occupy the entire store are Robes in different materials, although what the materials are is lost on me. Some robes look and feel rough and heavy, as if made from wool, while others are light and silky, as if made from silk.

There are few customers in the store at this time, and the same could be said about customers throughout the entire district, which meant that it didn't take long for me to be noticed. A small and portly witch came up to me soon, and while she did stare at me, she is at least professional enough to see to my needs first.

"Greetings sir," she said, "and welcome to Madame Malkin's. I'm Madame Malkine, how may I help you today?"

"I wanted to purchase various robes today," I replied, "and I also wanted to see if I could leave an order for some specially made suits." Her eyes lit up at the prospect of making a large amount of money, and she practically manhandled me as she rushed me to a waiting room.

"Well why didn't you say so before dearie, of course I can make whatever you're looking for; Madame Malkin's is the best shop around, no doubt about it. If you can't find it here, you can't find it anywhere. First of all, what material are you looking for?"

"What do you have available?" As we talked, Madame Malkin stood me in front of a large mirror and took out a measuring tape, which began to flit around my body and measure me. She took out a clipboard and jotted down the measurements read on the tape.

"Well we have Dragonhide which is a bit bulkier than some people prefer, but it is the preferred material for Auror's as it inherently magically resistant. We also have Acromantula silk, which is the lightest material around, and also one of the most highly sought after. Wearing it feels as if you're wearing air, and I've yet to know of anyone who is disappointed by it. We also have more standard cloaks from regular materials that, while not at the same level as cloaks made from the materials I just told you, they are also highly sought after."

"There's no need; would you happen to have a suit of Dragonhide or Acromantula silk that I could try on? If they are to my liking, I would like to buy ten of each." I could practically see her eyes transform into gold coins, and I swear a bit of drool escaped from her mouth.

"Of course I have a suit for you to try, let me return with one for you to try out." Madame Malkin ran off at a speed that would put the roadrunner to shame, and I had to once more endure the stares from the other workers and patrons in the store. Before it could bother me too much Madame Malkin returned with a suit in each hand and with a disturbing glint in her eyes and a slight blush to her cheeks.

"Here we are sir, one suit of Dragonhide, and one suit of Acromantula silk. If you will please follow me into the changing room, I'll help you change into each of the suits. Merely so I can get a better idea of your measurements, of course."

"Did…did she really just suggest that," Irene asked. "To your face?"

"I'm pretty sure she did. I have to applaud her; she isn't shy by any means."

"You're going to go along with it aren't you?"

"Of course I am; I couldn't call myself a man if I didn't. Besides, I've been stared at like a slab of meat the entire day; it's time for some payback."

"That poor, poor woman. She has no idea what she's getting into. Try not to give her a heart attack Dio."

In the end I did follow Madame Malkin into the dressing room, where I tried out each of the suits she brought with her. Her hands drifted into laces that they shouldn't on more than one occasion, for 'tailoring' purposes of course, although I certainly did nothing to discourage the woman. Both materials had its pros and cons, with Dragonhide being a better material to bring to a fight or a job, and with the Acromantula silk being the type worn to show off at a social gathering. I found out that the clothing didn't simply consist of a cloak worn over whatever clothing you choose, but it's rather more like a uniform, with the cloak serving as a covering over the rest of the clothing. Madame Malkin also informed me that I could also order a clasp to adjust how much of my body the cloak covered.

"So how much would the ten suits of each material cost me," I asked Madame Malkin at the counter.

'Well dearie, each dragonhide suit is twenty galleons, and each Acromantula silk suit is twenty five. All twenty suits will cost you four-hundred and fifty galleons in total." She seemed skeptical at the amount, and I imagine that not everyone would be able to pay this amount at once. Well, it's a good thing I'm not everyone.

"That amount won't be a problem. How soon can you have the suits ready?"

"I have to gather the materials and make each suit to your size, and I do have other projects that came ahead of you, so I'll say a month before all of your suits are ready."

"And what if I added an extra fifty galleons? How soon could you have the suits ready by then?" I couldn't suppress a smug grin at the look of shock on the woman's face when I said that, but it isn't as if I could wait an entire month for a few suits when I could convince the women to have them ready sooner. And who wouldn't want money that she could literally put in her pocket?

"Well," she said slowly, "If I rushed, I'm sure I could have your suits much sooner, since I would be remiss to allow such an outstanding citizen such as yourself to have to suffer waiting so long for the suits that you desperately need. Come back in a week and I could have five suits of each kind made, and I can have the other five made in another week. Does that sound good to you?"

I grinned and nodded, and took out the money necessary. Unlike in stories, I couldn't just pour out an amount of gold, or hand a sack over saying that it is the correct amount. No person worth their salt would accept someone telling them that at face value, as anyone could easily lie. I had to count out two hundred fifty galleons, half of the payment now and the other half when the suits are ready, which is a fate I wouldn't want to bestow on my worst enemy. At least I only had to count in sets of one hundred before Madame Malkin put the Galleons away, or else the gold coins would have flooded the counter. I left the shop with a 'receipt' stating the terms that we agreed on, and signed by both of us with a blood quill, which would ensure that neither of us renegaded on our deal without reason. I also showed Madame Malkin the design that I would like the suits to come in, and she agreed that it wouldn't be an issue. She seemed glad to have a new design instead of trudging through the same one again.

After we left the store, Irene and I looked through the rest of Diagon Alley, but failed to find anything that we needed at the moment, so we hailed the Knight Bus, which is the fastest form of travel in the wizarding world, sans apparition. It looks like a normal double decker bus, but that quickly changes when you step inside. Both floors have various beds and seats for the patrons to sit at, and cabinets filled with food and blankets for anyone to use. The attendant there, Stan Shunpike gleefully welcomed me and once again waved me fee for riding the bus, stating that it was an honor to have me here. At least he kept my identity from the other patrons in the bus quiet when I asked him to. I almost felt bad for using my name like this, but that quickly disappeared once the bus began to move. The bus shot off with a band, destabilizing the other passengers and sending some to the floor, and it would have done the same to be if I hadn't affixed myself to my seat and Irene to my head with a full body sticking charm. Why no one else ever thought of that I will never know. While the mph meter on the bus never moved above or below sixty no matter which speed, or lack thereof, the bus moved, it has to go near one hundred, since I don't remember ever moving this fast inside of a car. Vehicles, buildings, and everything else seemed to split apart to accommodate the bus in an impressive display of space distortion magic. Yet another subject to brush up on.

I asked the conductor, a man named Ernie that I'm sure has more than a few screws loose, to let me off a few miles away from where I lived. The house is located within a forest, and finding my bearings within it became an extreme pain in the ass. Eventually I decided to simply make my own landmarks, and uprooted dozens of trees for miles around. I used flash step to follow the markers I littered throughout the forest and reached my house. Said building looked normal enough; a two story house made of wood, with smoke coming out of a chimney. I used a charm to disperse the smoke about a foot above the chimney, so no one could see it from afar and track it to us. I also had to layer spells inside the chimney so the fire wouldn't harm the wood, which was more difficult than it sounds. I walked up to the doorway and felt my wards, limited though they may be, identify Irene and I and go into standby mode. I only had three wards, an identity ward, an alarm ward, and a one way see through ward on each of the walls in the house, as I hadn't yet had the time to set up any more since a ward requires a lot of time to set up. You couldn't simply wave a wand and create one; rather it's more like mini ritual in the sense that most wards require specific of an individual to identify them, and subsequently not act against them.

I opened one of the two locks in the door with a key from my pocket, and poured mana into the door itself to unlock the magical lock it carried. I stepped inside and hung the cloak I wore on a stand near the door, and Irene immediately flew off to do something. Before I could move any deeper into the house however, Ellamine, my house elf, popped in front of me.

"Ah, welcome back Master Dio. Is there anything I can get for you?" The English lessons had done wonders for Ellamine; she could speak like a normal person now, although she did revert back to her previous manner of speech when she lost her temper, or something went out of control. I found that out when I accidentally set fire to half of the house in one of my experiments.

"Not at the moment Ella. Did anything happen while I was gone?"

"Something did happen Master; a letter arrived for you from a Mr. Luscious Malfoy."

I felt my blood freeze at that; while I don't know any Luscious Malfoys, I do know of a Lucius Malfoy. And that worried me; either Lucius managed to locate me, break through my wards and leave a note without alerting anyone, or rover somehow helped him locate me. Neither prospect looks good, since Rover has a tendency of getting me into sticky situations for laughs.

"Bring me the letter Ellamine. Do you know when it arrived?"

"No Master, but I did notice it on your desk about two hours after you and Lady Irene left."

That confirms that Rover had something to do with this, since he usually prefers to wait until I'm far from him to start his plans so I don't ruin them in a way. Ella snapped her fingers and apparated away, and quickly returned with a letter in her hand. I took the letter and opened it after a cursory check for curses, which yielded no results. I'm not sure if I should feel relieved or not that Lucius doesn't want me dead. The letter was written by hand on thick and expensive paper, which is to be expected from Lucius.

Dear Lord Trajan,

Allow me to be the first to welcome you to Great Britain, and I can't express how overjoyed I am that someone from such an esteemed House has deigned to come here. If you would be so inclined, I propose that you and I meet to discuss future and current events. It wouldn't do for someone from your family to fall in with the wrong crowd after all. I have I closed directions to one of my houses within, and I request that you send prior notice to your arrival if you decide to come.

Lucius Malfoy, Scion of the House of Malfoy.

As he said, enclosed in the envelope were directions to get to Malfoy Manor, and I immediately wrote a reply and sent it along with Loi. Its times like these that I hate my parent's strict upbringing just a little less.

"Did Ella give you the letter that arrived," Theresa asked as she walked into the living room.

"Yes she did. A very powerful man wants to play a mind game, and he is about to find out just how low on the totem pole he really is."