The Adventures of Michal Riley Book 1

by Heirx

Faced with many options on his death the OC chooses the path of a Jumper! With no guide to help him he enters the Harry Potter world. This is book 1, year 1 of the series. Year 1 is complete and I have already mapped out the next few years as well. Hope you enjoy the world of Michal Riley! Note: No romance, they are only 11 after all. This year is about making friends!

Well that could have worked out better. One minute he had been driving and the next he had met truck-kun on the highway flying into his lane like it wanted nothing more than to give him a great big hug.

At least he had died quickly, no suck in chest wound for him. Nope he had blacked out instantly as he kissed the fender. His wife had always said his motorcycle would be the death of him. Well she had been right it seemed, good for her.

Well seeing as he was no longer on his motorcycle or in a hospital room, he figured this had to be the afterlife.

Riley took a bit to look around the room he opened his eyes to. He was standing in a large room made of everything, which was really weird. The floor and walls were changing as he watched them. Dark wood style like an ancient Viking lodge, smooth metallic futuristic next, a retro 50's room, a cave, a grassland, a forest, an island, an office, and so much more.

It was odd but it seemed normal somehow. After enjoying the strange scene, he shifted his focus to what was laid out before him.

The floor was littered with hundreds of exceptionally strange objects. A pencil and paper, a set of dice, a small maze, computers (several dozen of them in fact), a cup made of silver, over a hundred different articles of clothes, a radio playing some really creepy music when he focused on it, several tv's each of different make, and so much more.

It was a rather eclectic assortment of stuff that was for sure. He turned around looking over the room and behind him he found one last object. It was a dull and simple little globe of the Earth.

So, he had left boring old Earth and this was his chance to pick a future life? Maybe, made some sense, though it would be nice if there was a guide, manual or anything to explain it all. Whatever, he would figure it out somehow.

As he walked about the room, he finally started to make sense of it all. The stacks of paper littered throughout the room were a good clue. He saw character sheets from various rpg games on the different papers. Several editions of D&D, Shadowrun, Star Wars, and even a No Thank You Evil sheet. That last one got a solid laugh out of him. He had loved playing that game with his kids, and his grandkids when they had come around.

Several games he recognized were playing on the various screens. Though he finally realized the radio was from Silent Hill, and he made sure to give that a wide berth. The costumes were for various worlds he realized as well. A Superman Suit, Thor's hammer, Evil Dead, Goku's suit, and hundreds more. In fact, the more he searched the room the more items seemed to be coming about.

One item kept drawing his attention simply from how different it was. A lightly glowing chain shaped like a jump rope. It took him far longer than he would like to admit what that meant.

"A jump rope made of chains? A jump chain… Oh yes!"

Was it really possible? Would he be able to become a Jumper? To travel all of the various realities of existence and see it all?

Holding back at first Riley looked over the room a few more times before going back to the Jumpchain.

Bending over grabbing the handles they lifted from the ground easy enough. As the object left the ground it turned into golden sparks that filled his very being. He now was a jumper and could feel the jump spark firmly within his soul.

Looking at each object around the room they were now in a far closer focus than ever before. He realized the worlds they were attached to now. The spark filled him with knowledge and a new sense. The sense of a Jumper looking across a section of the multiverse finding their next journey.

Walking around the room thinking Riley realized that he would need a low power jump for his first jump. Something with minimal danger but offering a decent power up. Marvel, DC, Warhammer, and others were right out. Even civilians died easily enough in those worlds. Someone with powers trying to gain more would be meat in a grinder for now.

It was the black robe, glasses, and wand that made his final decision for him.

"Well hello Mr. Potter, it looks like we will be meeting soon enough. After all, it's a world of magic!"

Taking up the wand he could feel the room shift as the spark arced out to the wand pulling him to the Wizarding World.

The jumper sense was filling him as the world came into focus. The possibilities of the world and what that meant for him. The spark shifted and moved as he began pulling the possibilities around shaping them to something, he would be happy with. He realized that his spark was still young and that his ability to alter the makeup of his new self in this world were far from perfect.

Nonetheless he had plenty of room to shape his future body. Firstly, was the wand, it needed to go. If your entire powerset was reliant on an outside factor that was easily stolen or broken it was flawed from the get go. An understanding of wandless magic happened and he twisted it slightly more. Wordless and Wandless, yes that was an excellent start.

A start he realized that had taken a rather large chunk of his ability to shift the potential in this world. Oh shit, couldn't wizards read minds! Yes, they could, he shifted the potential around several times until he found a way to keep his mind safe.

Mind reading and mind control were a fairly big fear of his. Being able to stop one and gaining a significant boost towards fighting the second was a good deal. Oh, what was this?

There, that was interesting. It was his introduction to the world, and it was tied up to so many things as well. Here was something even more interesting as well to go with it. It looks like he could twist the spark to take on some of the potential from the world to give himself more options to work with.

It was not free however; he couldn't figure out how to explain it fully but if felt like playing on harder difficulties with increased rewards. That was a gross oversimplification of it though it would work for now.

Seeing the ways to twist the potential around he found one that he had to pick regardless. It was the potential of The-Boy-Who-Lived. No longer would young Harry have to live without his parents. He would have done anything to protect his children, and grandchildren. To give Harry the chance to have his parents was something he would most assuredly do. It looked like this would save Sirius as well, nice.

It seemed Barty Crouch Jr. was the secret keeper for their family and had betrayed his family right away. Huh, what would that mean for Snape then? He had only turned spy to save Lily, it would be interesting to see how this turned out.

He had more than enough potential to pick up an ability to supplement his health with magic. It didn't tie his health to his magic, it simply increased his overall health while keeping him from getting sick via his magic. That was rather helpful, and it was a fair bit stronger than the usual boost wizards received to their health naturally. Digging around he found a way to boost it even further and there he got stuck.

He could be a Half-Giant or a Metamorphmagus, though he didn't have enough potential for both. Shape shifting was cool as hell that was for damn sure. The Half-Giant ability though would tie into his magical health ability and they would both skyrocket. It would not let him go toe to toe with the Hulk but he could easily kick Captain America's ass from strength and durability. This was well past peak human levels of strength.

Shape shifting or "I'm the Juggernaut bitch!", that was the question. Well when he thought of it like that the answer was rather clear.

Half-Giant all the way, cause "I'm the Juggernaut bitch!". With that in mind he started going back and shifting everything around trying to find anything that could boost it even more or that it would boost as well. It seemed the Half-Giant part would greatly increase his mental defenses so that was great. Oh, there was something new!

It seemed he had found some background options after picking his status. He could pick a martial art to have learned and even pour more potential into it to get more skill in it. That was the Juggernauts biggest weakness, beside mental defense, he was just a brute brawler. Riley had learned Brazilian Jiu Jitsu as a supplement when in the Army. Nothing great, but enough to bring someone down, how to fall, and ground control.

Even that little bit had saved his ass a few times. Figuring a clench with a knee to the face from a stronger than normal Half-Giant would do some serious damage he focused on Muay Thai. The potential used started cheap and grew in cost rather fast. Looking it over he realized the reason for it. It was creating a natural talent in martial arts in general as he pushed it higher.

Which made sense, an average 11-year-old would not be a master Muay Thai fighter. To reach the high and truly dangerous levels of skill would require a rather high amount of natural talent. He found a level he was happy with; it was well past normal but not godlike skill level. Just enough for him to have extremely firm foundations and be aware of the higher forms. At that point it would be just maintenance and actual sparing to increase his skill.

Digging through his remaining potential he found his background options had changed significantly. Following the connection, it seemed he had to now choose between being a half-blood or a pureblood. Why though? There we go, by taking on the role of the Boy-Who-Lived he had to have at least one magical parent. Well he had no plans of going anywhere near the likely inbreeding of a pureblood so half-blood it was.

After picking that he noticed his potential raise back up. Being a half-blood had granted back him more potential from his other options, mental defense and Half-Giant blood line, while slightly raising the cost of some others, his martial arts. Overall, it was a far more positive net gain though. His half-blood with Half-Giant status made it far easier it seemed compared to before for him to have mental protections. He noticed a significant increase in the protection it provided.

Speaking of Half-Giant, dear lord was he going to be tall! Digging through that, tracking down how it affected his potential through being half-blood, he found a few modifiers for the giant traits. He was going to likely be a solid 11ft or more. Messing around with the various modifiers he found a great one that would use up a good chunk of his remaining potential.

Flesh of the Titans, it was buried deep in the potential but it further increased his strength and durability to the point of being able treat full grown dragons as something to cuddle with. If he had been this durable before he died the semi would have been the one to come off for the worse. Heck, chances were, he could tank a killing curse or five before it would bring him down even.

Well that would actually kind of suck, he had a horcrux lodged in his skull now. Maybe basilisk venom straight on the scar if he opened it up with some phoenix tears afterwards? But what would he find sharp enough to cut open his skin? Sword of Gryffindor should do it right? Just needed to get hold of it first, and get the ability to speak snake, then kill said giant ass snake, then get phoenix tears as well.

How exactly did Harry survive in the first place? Magically sharp sword (literally pulled from a hat), super venom, super healing from super rare magical bird, and speaking super magical super rare language. Yeah that's a whole hell of a lot of small barely likely to ever happen things all coming together into one fairly impossible event.

What the hell man?

Yeah fuck that, I'll just talk snake face into casting killing curses at me until one sticks. Harry got a freebie from that and came back to life; it should work out.

Damn, okay time to take a step back and really review all this. No plan should involve surviving a few death curses until you actually died and then luckily coming back to life afterwards.

Sure, being a Juggernaut is badass, Horcrux lodged in skull is far from badass. Oh wait, idea time! They can regrow bones and shit! So, cut out the part of his skull with the curse and boom! Winning baby!

Okay back to this whole Flesh of the Titans potential. There was a fair bit going on here and even it had room to suck up that last chunk of potential he had laying around. Yeah there was no desire to reach 20ft so cutting that down was an expense. 10ft was a good maximum height, so best to cap it out there. Oh, interesting!

He kept running across that, more options appearing as he altered the potential of various options. By reducing his maximum height, it focused the power into a more compact form, which opened up a fairly high level of regeneration.

Sure, it would take him a few weeks to regrow a limb but that was fine. Better than having to pull a Cyborg and become a cyborg.

Pulling back, he looked over everything and it was good, though he did have a small chunk of potential left. After a few minutes of playing around with options he found the options for his background. Having a fairly good deal of wealth was a nice start that took the last bit of potential. He would have just under a hundred million to use though it had been rather expensive to get that high. The regular wealthy option had not even reached a half million. Between the two of them his wife and he had made nearly that a year before he had died. That was far from his idea of wealth, wealth meant you never had to worry about working again. Having ten years of cash on hand did not count. Lower middle class was somewhere around 50k a year, right? Best to have well over that. After all it seemed he could in fact take his things with him after this jump was over.

Which seemed like it would be around a decade long. So, he had to survive, kill off snake face, and then hang out for about ten years. That should be possible with a bit of work.

Okay so at least his background and abilities were fleshed out fully. Giving it a once over again he felt he was missing something but couldn't figure out what it was. No willing to just shrug and go for it he stepped back and tried to figure out what it could be.

Mental protection, Juggernaut body, silent and wandless casting, regeneration, plenty of money, horrible horcrux, and that covered it. He was going to a world of magic to learn magic, so he really wanted to make sure he could do that. However, he was more than a little leery of having his mind messed with.

The mental protections were even at the edge of what he was willing to accept honestly. If he wasn't, rightly so, worried about all the mind magic stuff that existed in the Harry Potter world he would have passed that by.

Still maybe there was something in the mind and mental section that he was missing. He couldn't figure out what he felt was missing though he would give it a look.

No, he didn't want a photographic memory, that seemed more like a curse than a blessing. Imagine all the horrible and embarrassing things in your life. Now picture the memory of them being just as purely fresh as the time they happened. Not happening, no thank you.

There were a bunch of personality shifts available. Who the hell wants to change their entire personality?

Reading minds with magic was here as well, no thanks as well. That was just asking to be abused and lead down a dark road.

Magical languages were available as well, pass. Except for magical snake language, which he had already? Oh, horcrux gave him that as a freebie, cool. Just need a rooster and someone dismantle the beast and he would have some sweet basilisk material to play with.

A few magical knowledge skills as well to pick from. Making wands would be interesting to learn but not nearly enough to pay that much for it. Skill in potions was cool though that was stupid expensive. Enchanting was hella expensive, crazy.

Ding! We have a winner, he finally found what had been bothering him all along! Seer was an option with several sub branches. Luna Lovegood was always going on about those strange things she could see. Maybe it was covered here?

Yes, it was, and it was something he honestly wanted. The ability to see magic and its interactions with the world was a big one. Though it needed to be trained it seemed or it was fairly useless. Digging through it heavily he found an acceptable price for having the ability to see magic and understand what he was seeing. If he dropped his regeneration way down to months to regrow limbs instead of around a week, he could afford it. Instead of around eight days to regrow a leg it would take him over half a year naturally to regrow one.

So worth it though, feeling satisfied with his options he let go of his spark and let it twist to the new shape it would be taking on. The potential was fully drawn out from the reality he was going into and the spark blazed.

Taking a sharp breath, he sat up from his bed as he felt his mind merge with the memories of child his spark potential had created for him. It seemed he had been resting slightly in the background of the mind since birth.

Michal Riley was happy with his life so far. After his muggleborn father and giant mother had died his grandparents had taken him in. From spending so much potential on his wealth it seemed they were immensely wealthy. Low billions, with wealth was simply the amount in his name after his parents died.

Which was in Galleons, that converted over to 5 British Pounds to 1 Galleon, which traded at nearly 1.8 US dollars to the Pound.

He was nearly a billionaire, oh dear lord, no wonder it had been so expensive. Running through the price of items in the wizarding world he realized he was likely the single most wealthy wizard in the world. The magical and muggle world's economy were entirely decoupled. Dear lord, what the hell!

Still today was July 31st and his birthday. He would be getting his Hogwarts letter today from the Goblins, thank you mail redirection jinx!

Well he would set up a meeting with his advisory board today when they dropped of the letter for next week.

His nan and grandpa were wonderful people who had cared for him with nothing but love. Edna and Edgar were some of the nicest people you could ever meet. Reaching out with his magic he flipped the curtains open and sat up. The stone floor may have been a bit much for most homes but by his 6th birthday he had reached a meter and a half tall while weighing over 14 stone. He had fallen asleep once outside in a snow bank on a skiing vacation in his shorts. He had turned out perfectly fine and they had realized his giant blood was rather strong. He could handle desert heat and mountain winters with no real fuss.

His room had been redone to account for his current thirty stone, almost two-meter height, along with the strength to match. His strength was so great that his grandparents had been forced to undergo a ritual involving Re'em blood before his third birthday just to handle his strength. Even now he had to be exceptionally careful or he found himself crushing nearly everything he touched.

Grandpa had got him involved with an old Thai military officer he had known from when he had been an officer in the area year ago. The man had drilled a strict discipline into him from an extremely early age to help him get control of his massive strength. That had led them to eventually discovering his current teacher. He was a master of Magical Muay Thai and was far stricter than his original instructor.

Michal had lived a life of privilege most would could only dream of and now it was time to pay the piper as it was. Removing his night clothes, he used a few charms to clean up and dressed for the day. That had been an issue for some time until his nan had found a magical seamstress who could enchant his clothes. Having enough strength to bend solid steel bars was exceptionally hard on clothes and shoes.

He made his way down from the loft where he had his room. Despite his rather massive size he loved heights, a solid hold over from his previous life. Smirking from the top of the staircase he saw it was clear and yelled out loud.

"Incoming!"

Leaping over the banister he fell the three stories to the ground loving the feeling of free fall. He heard his nan yelling he had better not be jumping off the stairs again. A wide smile broke through as he landed on the ground in a classic super hero three-point landing.

His booming laugh filled the manor halls as he heard his grandpa soothing nan. It wasn't like such a sort fall would hurt a normal wizard much anyways. He could fall from a much greater height than this and be fine.

Getting up he walked into the sun room where breakfast was being served today. His nan had an exasperated look on her face before smiling and waving him over. Getting a kiss from her he made his way around the table. Grandpa was already half through his morning scotch and tea.

His lips were wrapped around one of his black cigarettes he had got addicted to when he had been overseas years ago. When his dad had learned he was a Wizard years ago he had spent a considerable amount of time and money getting the best healers for his parents.

Nan couldn't even complain anymore about the hazards of smoking with his daily potions, and a charm the house wizard kept up made the smell disappear as well.

All the magical staff had to sign several restrictive and powerful magical contracts with the board before they were allowed to work for the family. It kept his muggle, actually squib descended, grandparents safe from any magic tomfoolery from the staff.

He started with his glass of pumpkin juice; it was not the best drink but it was calorie dense like no other. Magic kept you fit, though most pre-Hogwarts kids didn't need such and intensive number of calories. Being a Half-Giant meant he needed far more calories than most though. Enjoying the quiet of the morning he finished off a rather large amount of food, with proper manners of course. Best of all he only got a raised eyebrow from his grandpa when he bent a table knife on accident.

If he only got a raised eyebrow for a slip up on his birthday, he wanted every day to be his birthday!

It was interesting as he thought about it. He was enjoying being a child again, the younger thought process and mind was much more than his had been. He could feel all his emotions far more than he had remembered them. It was nice if he was being honest to himself.

As breakfast wrapped up, and he had his nutrient potions as well, gross, they began talking about the plans for the day.

"Well, Michal, Account Manager Ripfang will be here soon enough with your letter. After that we will need to make the flight to Lisbon to make your appointment with Afonso for your wand."

As his nan was talking grandpa started muttering under his breath about lazy Portuguese which both nan and Michal ignored with practiced ease.

"Aleifr and Henry will be there as well for a nice get beach dinner for your birthday Michal. I expect you to behave with young Astrid. You're a young man now, so you must shape up."

His two friends Aleifr and Henry were both also children of magical's who worked for the family. Astrid was the little sister of Aleifr. She was a vicious little spitfire a year younger than Michal. The girl loved drama like no other and was one of the biggest diva's Michal had met in either life. His joy for his birthday took a dramatic downturn that the hell-beast would be at his party tonight.

"Yes, nan. I'll be nice to the little demon."

He wouldn't pout as he was far above that but he could pull a solid scowl and felt no qualms in doing so.

Grandpa laughed and murmured something about young love and Michal muttered something back about early onset senility as well causing grandpa to laugh.

He had mulled over breakfast on how to best put his knowledge of the Harry Potter world into best use. He finally determined he would have a talk with Idun, Aleifr's mother, who was his Seer trainer. She was one of the few Seer's in the world who also had as strong a magical sight as he did. She was also the only one willing to work for the family.

Perhaps he could talk to her about the Malfoy Diary and the Hufflepuff Cup in the Lestrange family vault. If he could get those taken care of quickly enough, he would be good to go. After that it would just be the ring, locket, tiara, and of course his scar. The Ring he could pay off the Goblins to get, better yet, if he set them on the ring then he could hint about another Horcrux possibly being in one of their vaults. The tiara would be easy enough to get hold of, he fully planned to loot the room of requirements to the ground. That would leave the locket and then his scar. He should be able to get all but the locket this year.

Yes, just talk to her slightly about having a strange dream and see about getting the goblins on everything.

Nodding his head, he excused himself from the table and made his way to the gymnasium. He would not let his birthday stop him from getting his morning exercise in.

The gymnasium looked like something from fantasy world compared to a regular workout area. A large silver ball floated in the middle of a mirrored room, it could freely morph into whatever equipment or weight he needed, so long as it was a simple shape. To the right side were several stone golems for sparing. There were dozens of bludgers floating in the air circling one another in the far corner, all the better for reaction practice. There was a ring made of Heavy Jade Bamboo off to the right for some gravity training. The last and one he was looking to use now was the treadmill.

Instead of just running on a simple belt it could simulate various terrain and show them as a background as well. He set it to forested mountains and began picking up speed.

After half an hour it began slowing down and he checked his distance, he had just broken the sixteen kilometers in thirty mins barrier he had been pushing for. Being a Half-Giant with Flesh of the Titan was amazing! Hopefully one day he could break fifty kilometers in a half hour, though that would likely be a long time from now. Giant Lore spoke of the old Titans who could cross miles in only a few heartbeats.

He knew he would likely never reach anything approaching that level.

Properly warmed up he made his way to the reaction drill and set it for a medium intensity workout. The first few bludgers rammed at him from the front, twisting and smacking the one he couldn't avoid he shook off the electrical sting they released on a bad block.

He was practically dancing after 10 minutes and collapsed to the floor once they settled down. He had never felt this powerful before! Even during his peak in the Army had not come close to this. Satisfied with the light workout for his birthday he walked into the attached shower and let the water wash off the sweat he had worked up.

A more appropriate outfit for the day was hanging for him outside the shower when he was done. Getting dressed he had to say most magical trinkets were gauche at best. However, the magical line of Patek Philippe lived up to the name. He was never without his Celestial Navigator, which made astronomy and celestial calculations orders of magnitude easier. He loved the stars but spending a couple of minutes calculating the vector of Mars in relation to Belt of Orion was not something worth his time. He knew the calculations, the watch just cut out all the middle work, if you knew how to use it that was. Which he did, thankfully.

Loafers, slacks, and t-shirt tucked in with a belt was a reasonably smart ensemble. Waving a hand at his hair the well-practiced grooming charm arranged it in something his nan wouldn't complain about. A mouth freshening charm latter and he made his way to the lounge.

Nan and grandpa weren't here yet and he had nearly an hour until Ripfang would be here. Settling in on a good adventure book about braving the dangerous Bermuda Triangle and finding a lost magical society who had hidden away thousands of years ago.

He was startled out of his read later by a loud snarl that signified Ripfang had found something worth laughing about. Goblins may be sapient but they were not human. Goblins had dark vicious laughs that set people on edge until they grew used to it. Needless to say, grandpa loved the brutal little people.

Looking up he saw said old man laughing it up with Ripfang, likely at his expense if he had to guess. Standing he offered a small but polite nod to Ripfang. The goblin race was an armed race, to offer a bow or to take your eyes off them upon meeting was an insult. It was either dismissive or a sign of weakness, neither good attitudes to show the person in charge of your money.

"Master Ripfang, a pleasure."

Ripfang bared his teeth and leaned his head forward in greeting back.

"Young Lord Riley, congratulations on surviving another year."

Michal was thrown off for a second by the unusually kind greeting from Ripfang and it was seen clearly on his face.

Then his grandpa let loose a laugh and handed over a stack of galleons to Ripfang who was positively snarling in joy.

Oh, they had bet on whether they could mess with him easily, well, at least grandpa had bet on him. That was a slight silver lining to the whole situation.

Plopping back down in the chair with a lack of decorum he then just waved them both over to sit. A tea appeared on his arm chair, a whiskey neat for grandpa, and whatever the hell it was Ripfang drank every time he came over. It looked like hot tar but the goblin seemed to love it.

He noticed his tea had sugar cube melting in the bottom of the cup and smiled.

"Thanks, Mimsy, you're the best." He turned to his grandpa and scrunched his nose slightly. "She remembers to add the sugar afterwards not before."

Grandpa smiled as he took a sip of his whiskey and waved for Ripfang to begin. The goblin reached into his little coat and pulled out a letter that was actually larger that the vest he was wearing. Handing it over he saw the address.

Mr. Michal Riley

Care of Gringotts

Master Account Manager Ripfang

"Alright Ripfang, Anthony will be getting my supplies though we will be going to Lisbon for the wand it seems."

At this his grandpa grimaced and coughed lightly.

"We will also be going to Milan for your robes. Edna is insisting since Ruth is off with the mumblemumps."

Ruth was the magical seamstress that they had on retainer. He hadn't heard she was sick though he also didn't see her that often unless he was in another growth spurt.

Still he had to wince along with Ripfang and grandpa at the thought of going to Milan for clothes shopping. Edna loved shopping there, and unlike grandpa he couldn't skive off this time.

"That's a problem for future me, current me is going to focus on his birthday."

Nodding his head, he opened the letter and saw it was roughly what he had been expecting. Placing the list on the table beside him he handed the letter back to Ripfang.

"Send a reply saying I plan to attend and will be needing my ticket."

Ripfang nodded to Michal and took the letter back into his jacket. With that Michal let out a deep breath and prepared himself for the next part.

"Grandpa, Master Ripfang." They both looked at him as his voice and body posture took on a more serious manner.

"I will need to still speak with but I believe I had a Dream last night."

At this his grandpa startled and got significantly more serious. His grandson clearly had some seer talents from his powerful mage sight. Still he had not had any prophecies or other signs of a young seer. Idun had said Michal would grow into the other gifts of Seeing as he grew.

The theorized the trauma of the night Michal had seen his parents die had brought his seer gift of mage sight into maturity far earlier than usual. As such it may have had an adverse effect on his other seer gifts delaying them. This was important and something they needed to address.

Ripfang nodded and focused on the young wizard. The lad had a truly powerful gift of mage sight, Idun had made it clear in her report to the board that his sight was significantly more powerful than her own. That suggested his other seer abilities, once they manifested, would likewise be abnormally strong.

"This pertains to the Telling in regards to me scar I believe."

Grandpa held up his hand to stop Michal from continuing any farther at the moment. He walked over to the door rang the intercom.

"Jacob, we need you in the study to raise level 5 privacy spells."

Walking back over he sat down and waited for their wizarding section security chief to arrive. Level 5 privacy spells were close to unbreakable vows of security. Nothing said in the room would be heard outside the room regardless of who was attempting to do so.

Jacob arrived within a few minutes and began casting. He spent several minutes before nodding and stepping out of the room.

"Alright Michal continue now that the room is secure."

Michal steadied himself again and started his tale.

"I Dreamed of five different objects last night. A Black Diary named Tom Riddle, a gold ring with a black stone centered on it, a gold locket with writing on it inset with a snake, a golden chalice, and lastly a bird like diadem made from goblin silver with three large sapphires and several diamonds. All had a cloud of darkness wrapping around them."

Ripfang let out a truly terrifying snarl of outrage and anger as he sought to calm down the blood pulsing through his veins call for the destruction of an enemy. He recognized the description of the diadem immediately; it would be hard pressed to find a goblin who wouldn't. One of the first of the Stolen, a list of all goblin silver items that were owed back to the goblins.

If the diadem was the diadem of Ravenclaw then the locket would likely belong to Slytherin, and the chalice to Hufflepuff. He was unsure on the ring and he would be looking into the name Tom Riddle soon enough.

"I believe that the diary is located in Malfoy Manor, under the drawing room. I am not sure of the others though I remember galleons surrounding the chalice. Moving forward I want to beggar the Malfoy's and see if we can get hold of the diary if it is there. Even if it is not it would be no great loss to the world if the Malfoy's are removed from being active."

His grandpa thought over it and agreed.

"Best to make sure, the Malfoy's are a parasite at best from what little I know of them. You have my full backing."

Grandpa turned and nodded to Ripfang ensuring the goblin knew he was serious.

Ripfang let his blood sing as he snarled in joy of working for the men of house Riley. They were quick to strike any foes down without concern, especially after they lost Michal's father. Edgar had given the Goblins free rein to capture Crouch Jr. after he had caused the death of his son. In fact, Edgar made it a point to visit during the week before every Halloween to see the punishment being carried out on the spineless little shit.

The punishment he had paid the goblins to visit upon the traitor was something that had brought Edgar great amounts of respect from the goblins as a whole. Parents told their children the story and many a goblin had traveled from around the globe to see the legendary punishment.

A vile darkling had been hired to replace the man's blood with unicorn blood entirely. Then his limbs were encased in aqua regia, forever burning off and re-growing. The nerves constantly being made anew making the pain forever fresh. He was feed a dose of skelegrow each day as a stunted Bone Gnawer forever fed on his ribs trapped in a cage bolted to his chest.

Lastly but far from least he was enclosed in an entire herd of Stuttennacht. Edgar had paid millions creating the world's only Stuttennacht preserve. If Thestrals were what most thought were horses of terror then the Stuttennacht were the true nightmare creatures. They were shadowy horse like creatures made of twisting corrupted tubes.

If dementors draw forth your every bad thought these creatures did the opposite. They thrived off the corruption of happiness so that is what they did. They drew forth your happiness, your joy, your love, the very essence of the safety of a mother's embrace of an infant.

They drew if forth and corrupted it into something so horrendous that few could survive even a few hours exposure to the beasts without killing themselves. The traitor had been exposed to an entire herd of the beasts for over six years. It had taken over three years just to gather the beasts and find a way to contain them.

They raised him from the herd each day long enough give him his dose of skelegrow. His screams for the sweet release of death were soul crushing in absolute madness. It was harsh enough to cause the goblins to cast a silencing charm on him. They had started that after the third day, he still screamed to this day.

Yes, Ripfang was looking forward to seeing the family Malfoy brought low. They were one of the few wealthy clients who were not smart enough to at least be neutral towards the goblins.

"It shall be done; we will tear his manor to the Earth's mantle if need be. If the book is there, we will get it in short order. Of equal import is your Dream, we will have it recorded as your first having happened on the night of your 11th birthday. Perhaps this is a sign or omen of some form."

Edgar had made it a habit to learn much of the magical world after his son had been found to be a wizard. They were well aware that something evil lurked within his grandson's curse scar. They had been set to remove it before being advised by the goblins it pertained to a prophecy. Only when Michal knew it was time for it to be removed should it be done so. Until then they had laid many powerful magics binding the foul thing to protect him from its affects.

"I hope it is a Sign, an Omen would mean we are on a tight schedule." His grandfather drank some of his whiskey as he thought further.

"Ripfang, treat it as if it was an Omen but look for other Signs in case it is so."

The goblin nodded his head and stood.

"I will not delay anymore then. I shall get the board started right away and send a reply to Hogwarts today."

Edgar finished his drink and stepped forward. He gave Michal a firm squeeze of the shoulder.

"Take heart my grandson, we will clear this mess. Come Ripfang, let me walk you out."

Edgar rang the charmed bell beside the door to signal Jacob could come in to take down the security spells. Following Ripfang out Michal could hear them talking about simple matters.

Michal carefully stretched his body as he looked out the window. He wished they could have just taken an international portkey but sadly by his seventh birthday it was no longer something they could safely do.

One up/down side of having the Titan blood potential was it took an obscene amount of power to overcome his natural spell resistance. Which meant for any portkeys he used had to be so overpowered they were dangerously unstable. Jacob believed that once he was magically mature enough to make his own portkeys safely that would no longer be an issue. The theory was a portkey made by him would contain his own magic, thus it should bypass his resistance allowing for regular portkey usage.

Until then he had to make do with his grandparents Gulfstream. At least the plane was kitted out with enough magical extras to make it not so great a hassle. His grandparents were well aware he would reach over three meters. It had a far larger cabin than usual so at least he wouldn't ever feel cramped.

Still he turned back to the book he was reading for now. Grandpa must have mentioned something to nan as she gave him a hug before handing him his current read.

'Learning what you are seeing' it was a Korean book written by a River God, or at least it had been transcribed from the River God's teachings. He was interested in the writing and like his grandparents had received magical language lessons for years. Korea was really a fast-growing technology country worth investing in so they had all learned the language.

While most of it didn't actually pertain to him, as he wasn't a true seer, it was good knowledge on how to fake it better. There were also a few interesting bits scattered throughout he realized were about understanding magic through your senses. They didn't focus just on seeing magic but gave good tips on how to adapt the mind to what it was sensing.

Time flew by rather quickly as he found himself engrossed in the book easily enough. He looked up as he noticed his nan getting her purse and heading his way. Cushioning charms, along with inertia charms, made for an unnoticeable landing.

Putting the book down he followed nan as grandpa chattered still with the pilot. He co-piloted, or even primaried sometimes, often enough to keep his license current.

The disembarked and soon found themselves headed towards the magical district riding a carriage. Lisbon was the second oldest capital in all of Europe, only Athens being older. Seeing as how Lisbon was 2,700 years old it had a gigantic magical center. In fact, the magical part of Lisbon was nearly twice the size of what was currently thought of as Lisbon that muggles knew about.

Due to the ancient nature of magical Lisbon a small carriage was the best you could get by with for the most part. At least they had an escort of Bruxo da Coroa. While they had long since passed the days of the monarchy the police force of Portugal used the old name.

They were a brutal people who strictly enforced the laws of magical Lisbon. Still the laws of magical Lisbon were far and few so it was rarely an issue. It was safe for children to run up and down the streets of magical Lisbon in the late-night hours without fear.

They made their way to the shop of Afonso with Jacob leading the way. It was a nice shop considering the age was likely nearly as old as the city itself.

Afonso was a young wizard seeming to be in his mid-forties. He had dark black hair and a deep tan that most in Portugal seemed to carry. He smiled broadly and welcomed everyone to sit as shook hands with everyone. They were quickly but politely offered seating as he brought Michal around to get started.

He offered Michal a few magical artifacts to hold and noted the various reactions they offered.

"I must ask, you have non-human blood in you correct? Your mother was a giant if I remember correctly, this is correct yes?"

Michal nodded and the wandmaker nodded. He set the artifacts aside and grabbed a few others.

"It seems that you have inherited some of the old blood, as I am sure you have noticed." He turned towards Edgar and Jacob who both nodded. It was not wise to lie to a wandmaker if you wanted a solid wand.

Jacob then walked forward and offered a letter from Gringotts addressed to Afonso. The wand maker lifted an eyebrow but opened the seal and read it still.

It described what was known of his talents, his heritage, and his unusual curse scar. Afonso was a great wandmaker and like all wandmakers they kept themselves under strict vows of secrecy. Wandmakers delved deep into a wizard's magic finding that one true connection. This led them to learning many secrets that many would not wish to be known.

They knew the secrets of Michal would be safe with Afonso, the goblins had made sure of that.

Afonso set the letter ablaze before letting the ashes drift into a basket that he vanished as well. Jacob nodded to the extra security he had taken.

"Well, it seems I will be making a wand that will only be used for a few years before you will need a replacement."

He subtly but surely nodded towards his curse scar before continuing.

"Still I believe every student should come for another wand after graduating no matter what. The person you are today, the magic of your being today, why neither of those are quite the same as the person who graduates seven years from now."

Jacob took on a thoughtful look at this piece of advice. Perhaps it would be best to arrange a new wand fitting as well, if not a new wand possibly just an adjustment for his current one.

Michal let the man continue to have him hold various instruments and artifacts as he noted down various findings.

"Alright, here let's start and see how it goes. If you would be so kind as to step over here that would be excellent."

He led Michal over to a thick bricked area enclosed on all sides except for the archway he stepped through.

"One of my ancestors had that created after one child seemingly particularly suited for conjuration brought forth a manticore into the shop on his bonding. Best to keep any possible accidents well contained."

Well that made perfect sense to him, Michal figured it was just good business sense. Afonso set a small stack of wand boxes down on a table near Michal. He then gestured for Michal to give them a try.

Each box was fold top so opening them was an easy affair. The first one was a lovely red cedar that was quite long. In fact, all of them were well over twelve inches.

Lifting it up he could feel subtle incompatibility with the wand. Like a sixteen-pin connector with a twelve-pin slot, it wasn't something that would really work.

Putting it back he opened the next. It was another red cedar as well. Placing his hand on it still in the box he could still feel the subtle sense of something off.

"They feel off, like trying to stick to many pegs in a hole with not enough space."

Afonso nodded; the boy was indeed a prodigy of wandless magic. Wandless magic required a deep connection to your magic. For him to so clearly state what he felt was wrong clearly indicated this.

Idun had impressed on him it was considered rude at best to use his magic sight in some circumstances. The building of a wand maker was near the top of that list. He wanted to use it to perhaps understand what was going on but he understood it was not something he should lightly do.

"Yes, I had thought more of you magic would be harnessed towards your gifts but it seems there is even more still in abundance. Wait please, I will return these and bring back others."

It took him only a few minutes to bring the next set and he laid them out. Pointing to the farthest left first he indicated for Michal to start trying them once again.

Michal opened this box to see a dark purple wand that was rather elegant. He felt the connection line up though it was shallow, no real strength to it. Remarking as such he closed the box and waited as Afonso pulled another two boxes away with that one.

The next box contained a light grey vine of some form that felt much closer. He lifted it from the box and concentrated on the feeling. It was full and deeper than any others that was clear. However, what wasn't clear was how it seemed to be almost dead to him. Afonso nodded and took all the boxes back with him after he replaced the wand back in its box.

His next set were laid out and Michal opened the first one taking a few seconds to try and place the wood. It was unusually smooth and straight for a wand. He laid his hand on it and felt significantly better with it already.

It was alive in his hands though it had a shy feeling to it. Something that would be happy floating in the breeze perhaps?

"Yes, exactly to both young sir. This is sky bamboo, a hardy but free-floating breed of bamboo grown in the western reaches of China. In fact, if you buried this wand and came back in a century or so a new sprout would have grown there. If it wasn't for the fact it had a core it would be grown back to new within a decade."

Michal felt the magic of the wand for a bit more and nodded placing it back into the box.

The next box held a dark almost black red wand. It gave off a heavy feeling just looking at it. Placing his hand on it he pulled back just as soon as he had touched it. The sharp feeling of a sword made of fire had not agreed with him at all.

"Forgive me for that wand, I needed to see if it was your connection to the elements or a living wand. It seems you need a living wand, possibly connected to deep water, no, oh yes, I see! Here try this one if you would."

He pushed a box up from further down the line towards Michal. Opening it up he was interested right away. It was a dark muddy brown, with thin vines clinging to it that were a dark muddy green. Placing his hand on the wand it leapt from the box into his hand as he felt his wand for the first time.

It was a deep satisfying connection that sang of the onrushing storm of a hurricane, the raging implacable muddy flood waters. A combination of free movement constrained with purpose. Deep earth, free wind and stead water.

He let out a gasp as his magic reached the core through the wood and it burst free. It was a bolt of white light slammed from his wand and smashed into the brick work forming a wave that began grinding the wall away with speed.

Afonso waved his wand and the magic slowly faded away as the bricks repaired themselves in short order.

"Yes, you have the blood of the ancients about you. The deep connection to earth, water, and sky were clear once I realized it. The wand is made of brown Nile palm with green crocodile vine growth. The Nile is a wild ravaging beast of a river who provides for many. The leaves of a Nile palm tree float freely with a slight breeze giving you a deeper connection to the sky."

Michal could feel his connection with the wand and now he understood why so many were willing to forgo learning wandless magic. It was like finding a limb that he hadn't even realized was missing. Now he couldn't picture cutting off new limb.

Afonso continued explaining the makeup of the wand.

"The core is the reason for the wand material and the length. The core of your wand is made of Qilin hair. A rather picky material that has to have properly restraining yet complementing wood. It also loses its magic rather quickly if trimmed so it must be made to full length or not at all. Luckily this one was only sixteen inches. Most are several feet long and have to made into staves."

Michal really took note of the almost half meter-long wand. He wished there was a universal system of measurement. Wizards used inches, feet, and miles, which was only standardized due to potion suppliers forcing a standard. Muggles used both metric and imperial so it was getting rather annoying always converting them back and forth in his head.

Derailing that train of thought he was happy with his wand, sure it looked like a skinny beaters bat but he was fine with that. In fact, that was an excellent point he needed to ask about.

"Sir, my strength is much greater than a usual mans. Is there anything you can do to help me protect the wand, a way to strengthen it perhaps?"

Afonso smiled at that, here was a young man thinking past the moment and seeing trouble coming, already trying to head it off.

"Yes, I have a few things that can be done for it. Judging by your strength, age, and heritage it might be best to go more than a bit overboard just to be on the safe side."

Grandpa laughed at that as nan nodded to his sensible suggestion.

"That sounds lovely, how long will it take to make the adjustments?"

Nan was one to cut to the point on the important things, something she loved about the Portuguese.

Afonso took a moment seeming to put everything together in his mind.

"No more than two hours. If you like I can bring it along afterwards to where you are staying?"

Jacob stepped forward and began making arrangements with the wandmaker as Michal walked back to his grandparents.

They left the wandmakers and enjoyed the lovely weather of Lisbon, walking to the beach area they would be staying.

Henry was already there; his father was the family potions master. Henry was showing a clear talent for his father's passion as well. This was only relevant as Henry was currently on the beach collecting sea water with a beaker.

"Henry! What is your latest insane plan?"

Henry was great at potions, and he was always playing around, finding things that could replace other ingredients. He had confessed his goal was to create a potion of legend from only base ingredients one day.

Smiling the brown-haired mop tossed in the air as he looked up at Michal.

"I think, that with freshly gathered sea water, I can replace both beetles' eyes, and ground chalk for a potion of slipperiness."

Michal was far from a potion genius though he did nod along. Henry often made strange leaps that worked somehow. They walked over to where Henry had set up his travel potion set, it was already simmering along with an off yellow tone and smelled of lilac's.

Michal opened his magic sight and stared at the potion. He couldn't really how everything would react or just what could cause what. He could however see when potions were going bad most of the time. That ability, and his willingness to help Henry, were a great tool for avoiding problems with bad potions.

Henry poured the potion in slowly tapping the cauldron in a set manner as the new ingredient was added.

Michal saw the magics fizz and start to move rather fast, still they weren't getting out of hand so he held off. After a minute they had fused and it seemed that it at least hadn't blown up.

They spent ten minutes and found it was a successful brewing!

Michal was glad as Henry would have been off all day if his new idea had failed. Instead they would be having a great time together today and had a great prank potion to use later.

He stashed a little bit of it for a plan that was already forming in his mind. He was amazed and taken back for a second on how great it was to be so young again. On the childish thoughts and mannerism's, he had now.

He had decided it was best to simply think of himself as an eleven-year-old, as of today at least, with some extra years. No matter what he was biologically eleven now, and had the body chemistry, including brain chemistry, of one. He would seek movement and happiness regardless of any far more mature leanings.

Dear lord was he going to have to deal with puberty again! At least it should be far less awkward this time. Though the raging hormone leading to crazy mood swings would still suck.

Shaking his head, he clapped Henry, lightly, on the back laughing as his friend stumbled in the sand.

"So how was Japan?"

Henry and his mother had traveled to Japan for a learning trip. His mother was a barrier specialist, one of a handful in the western world. She regularly traveled to the east learning more from the masters there.

"It was amazing, she finally got permission to start learning Ofuda! They do the most amazing things with paper over there."

They simply swam and enjoyed catching up for a time until he heard the single worst sound in the world.

"Happy Birthday Michal, you finally get to learn magic with a wand soon. I bet you are so excited."

He voice was sweet like rotten candy left in the sun, Astrid. How could no one else tell she was obviously being a bitch!?

"Well I'm sure in a few years you will as well. You just have to be patient, no matter. At least you still have years to just play around instead."

Ha! Take that you little she devil!

He turned around to see her as he had made his reply. Her light blonde hair was dressed in a simple braid behind her back. This only made her look even more of a stereotypical little Dutch girl. At least she was wearing a simple swimsuit and not some insane Hello Kitty thing like usual. How a pureblood magical girl had found out about Hello Kitty he was unsure.

She smiled even sweeter at him and he was even more sure of his planned prank for later.

Aleifr bounced into the scene and grabbed Michal's hand pulling him away.

"Happy 11th Michal! Come let's build a sandcastle, catch up Henry!"

Aleifr was not as tall as Michal and only three weeks older. But he was far stronger than he looked. Aleifr could easily drag Michal along behind him as he ran.

The three of them set to building the best castle they could. Michal reinforcing it with his magic as he went along. It was sloppy magic at best, just raw intent shaped and held in place. It would last a few hours at most before falling apart.

Until then though man was it amazing!

Astrid had come over and they had managed to pull off their planned prank perfectly. Once she had turned away from him Michal had poured the potion down the back of her swimsuit. It had flowed down and soon enough she was sliding around the beach on her bum like a skier.

Aleifr had turned away so she wouldn't see him laughing at her as she flew by. They had gotten a minor talking to but the potion only worked for a few minutes so the adults had let them off. It was his birthday after all! Though he did have to give an apology.

It was hours later that they had finished eating dinner and were enjoying pudding. Michal was wearing the present he had got from Aleifr already, well technically it was also from Astrid though he was ignoring that part.

Idun had gotten her husband to make a vambrace of some dark almost liquid metal that he could store his wand in. It was great as the standard wand holster simply couldn't keep the sticking charm on his arm. He was also nowhere skilled enough to enchant his own yet either.

This did not stick to his arm so much as hug it. He had even found himself happy enough to give Astrid a thanks smile, only the one though. The pudding had calmed her down and she was now no longer giving him the stink eye. He was worried somewhat about her revenge but that was future Michal's problem.

Henry and parents had gifted him a collection of some of the less secret family techniques for brewing. He wouldn't be sharing them with anyone but they were nothing that other master brewers hadn't already figured out. He was truly looking forward to working with Henry over the next few weeks on these techniques.

His grandparents had gifted him a rather excellent set of quills that he would enjoy using rather much.

Afonso had brought his wand and a wonderful book as a little gift. It was a treatise on the life of the Lady Jiutian Xuannü. A woman of Chinese history who held a magical giftset rather close to his, strangely enough. He was really looking forward to reading the treatise.

His wand seemed to melt into his vambrace and he was in love with it. When Idun had shown him the Vambrace could hold up to four small items along with his wand he had hugged her in sheer joy. He had watched the book sink in along with the notes for potion making and smiled bright enough to light up the sky.

The boys had stayed up rather late that night on the beach enjoying a summer bonfire. This would be their last week they would all be together until next summer. Aleifr was to spend the rest of summer after the left in a few days. His father was having Aleifr work the forges it seemed until he left for school. Henry was going to Beauxbatons for their potion program. Aleifr had skirted around it but they all knew he was going to Koldovstoretz. They were a brutal school that the old hag herself Baba Yaga was a faculty member of.

They also taught the single most advanced enchanting course in the world. Anyone who could make it all 7 years there, without quitting or dying, in their enchanting program would walk out with a mastery in enchanting.

For his birthday last month Michal had gotten him a bezoar from a chimera. Aleifr had almost cried tears of relief at such a gift. There was a real chance that his friend would die at Koldovstoretz. Michal would do what he could to help his friend survive the experience.

They spent that next day walking the street of Lisbon until they had run across a street gang. Soon enough they were all four roped into a game of esmagamento. A local kid's game that was fun enough. It involved a quaffle was a strange mix of rugby and football.

The only way to score was to kick the ball but you could freely carry and pass it. Astrid had let her inner she devil out and was vicious in the scrum. Aleifr and Michal had both been regulated to goal tenders after everyone else realized how insanely strong the boys were.

Still it was a fun day and they had spent most of the remaining week running with the wild gang. Aleifr had met another kid heading to Koldovstoretz. They spent a great deal of time together. He was the only one of the group of kids heading to one of the 'Big 11'. The vast majority of witches and wizards simply couldn't afford to attend these ivy league level schools.

The rest of summer had gone by in that forever long quick way that was a hallmark of childhood. Each day lasting longer and longer yet gone in a flash.

Nan gave him a kiss on the cheek and a hug before he could grab his trunk. Grandpa had given him a firm nod and a clasp on the shoulder. They both loved him and he smiled back to grandpa as he gave his nan a hug back. Gathering his things, he promised to write and headed into the train station.

He had seen the barrier easy enough even with his magic sight at a minimum. It practically glowed and he waited for a break in the crowd before strolling through it. The platform was not overly crowded yet and he found himself relaxing in a compartment soon enough.

Jacob had recommended he leave the door open until they were well underway. It would keep others from opening it all the time to see if the compartment was empty. It also meant it would be easier to meet new people as well.

Michal was looking forward to having a few peers that he could talk to magic about with. In his primary school he had been forced to keep his magic secret. He was hoping to make some friends. He kept reminding himself that the characters from the book were not the people of this real world.

They were also maybe a bit different due to the Potter's being alive and well. As far as he could tell the Longbottom's were well also.

The young Draco would not be joining this year it seemed, or any year, or any school, ever. His father, mother and he had all died in a tragic accident in Diagon Alley it seemed. The Goblin's of Gringotts were also now in possession of a rather interesting black book.

He managed to see several older students and a few nervous looking people before he recognized a familiar face.

"Justin! What the hell man!"

Justin Finch-Fletchley, they had gone to St. Mary's primary together for years. They were not really good friends though they did hang out every now and then.

"Michal! Holy mother! Anyone else from St. Mary's showing up as well?"

They laughed and Justin walked in the cabin. His father was behind him carrying Justin's trunk. Standing up he offered to take the trunk and greeted Justin's father.

"Hello Mr. Finch-Fletchley, grandpa will be surprised if you give him a ring."

The older man laughed and handed off the trunk.

"I would say that is an understatement."

Turning towards his son he spoke a few words of parting and encouragement before heading off the train.

"So, how long have you known that you were a wizard Michal?"

Michal took the opening offered and gestured for Justin to sit.

"Since as long as I can remember. My father was a muggleborn, and my mother was a giant. Yeah, it's kind of weird."

Justin paused in what he was going to say as he processed that his friend was a half giant.

"So, giants are real and I am guessing really, well, giant?"

Michal nodded and confirmed the unasked question.

"Yeah, the tribe my mother belonged to average around nine meters give or take. I should top out around three meters though. Going to make doorways and short ceilings interesting."

They both let out a laugh at that and the minor tension released from the cabin. Justin relaxed back in his seat and had a question that he was wondering.

"If you don't mind, how common is marrying a giant?"

Michal waved it off as no worry and tried to determine best how to explain the state of blood status in the Wizarding World.

"No, it is not common, and in the circles, we would normally take part in, is fairly looked down on. In fact, we both are not even welcome normally in those circles at all."

Justin took a second to think about it and replied.

"Is this about me being a muggleborn? Professor McGonagall gave a sort of quick speech about it though in no real detail."

Nodding Michal confirmed it to Justin.

"If you have four magical grandparents then you would be considered a pureblood. Even if my grandparents were magical as my mother was a giant that makes me mixed blood. At best that would grant me status close to but not equal to a half-blood."

They spent a few minutes explaining the various ways you could be a half-blood and the issues with pureblood political power.

"The Wizarding house of commons is the same as the house of lords which also is their judicial court!? What the hell kind of system is that?"

Michal had to shrug; he also thought the system was crap.

They had got back into the discussion when a small Asian girl stepped stopped at the compartment.

Michal and Justin both stood, as was proper and offered smiles.

Justin was always the better at making new friends and took the lead.

"Looking for somewhere to sit? You're more than welcome to join us."

She took note of his upper received accent, both of their well-tailored and fine cuts before nodding.

Michal offered to take her luggage and listened in as Justin moved over to his bench making room for her.

"I am Justin Finch-Fletchy and this huge barbarian is my friend Michal Riley."

Michal finished putting up the luggage before turning and smiling.

"A pleasure to meet you."

She noticed his upper received accent as well and relaxed a bit more. He did look rather like a wealthy barbarian though she had to admit.

He was far taller than either of them, his hair was a deep russet that was braided in a thick knot down his back. His strong jaw and wide face gave a powerful look to him overall. That he was wider than she thought someone that size could be without being fat meant he likely had an obscene amount of muscle. The thick cords of muscle on his neck helped make her sure his guess was right.

She found herself intrigued; her family had been magical martial artists for many generations.

"Sue Li, nice to meet you both as well."

She had a clear but well-polished accent that Michal placed right away. He loved speaking in as many languages as he could. That was a constant source of amusement in the household. He had been enrolled in both the Euro-Glyph School of Extraordinary Languages and Herwinkles School of Communication since he was five.

He had opted for their most magically enhanced language courses. He had even reached the point where the schools were searching out new languages for him to learn. He was paying a bit extra for the service but it was well worth the cost.

Spouting off in Mandarin he asked her if she had moved to England recently.

Pleasantly surprised to hear him speak flawless Mandarin without an accent she smiled and replied in kind.

"Yes, my family moved here three years ago as a branch of the main family."

Before anything else could be said Justin punched Michal in the shoulder.

"Yes, yes, we get it you speak everything."

Turning towards Sue Li he continued on.

"The lummox here speaks more languages than I can name and never turns down a chance to show off."

He paused for a second and you could see the proverbial light bulb go off.

"Oi! Don't tell me, is there a magical way to learn languages? That's how you do it isn't it?"

Michal let a smug grin plaster across his face.

"Why yes there is, several actually, and yes that is how I learned so many."

Holding up his hand he held off the next question he could see forming.

"I will write nan and have her send the information to your parents Justin, promise. They should be able to get you started soon enough. I have a new language starting this weekend with my tutor in fact. We can probably set you up to get started as well."

Justin smiled and nodded. This would be useful for both the family and himself.

"What language is it?"

Justin was curios what language Michal would be interested to learn.

"You're in for a treat, my school managed to finally track down a dryad who was willing to share South American Sylvan. It's the language of treefolk, dryads, sprites, natural spirits and others in South America."

Sue Li gasped at that. Mercy, that had to have been a near impossible task just to get it in the first place. She was sure that lesson would not be something that was usually just freely offered. It would take serious connections just to be aware the class existed; much less be able to take it.

Justin noticed Sue Li's shock and raised an eyebrow at Michal who shrugged.

"I've learned every major spoken language, even sign language, that is used today. That only leaves the unique and rare. Mostly secret languages and such left."

Justin got a feeling that this was a bigger deal than Michal was making it out to be, after all he was a Riley. They had power and wealth that even his family could only reach the edges of.

"Michal, how much is this class going to be exactly?"

Michal didn't have a grasp of money as well as Justin did. While Justin's family wouldn't mind spending several hundred thousand a year on stuff, Michal's family added a few zeros to that.

"Not sure? I think it was a couple thousand galleons is all though. Not that bad for a language with less than a dozen witches or wizards who could speak it in the world."

Justin leaned back in relief, that was a rather acceptable price to learn a language considering the cost of tutors. He was guessing no more than twenty to thirty thousand pounds.

"The lessons are great! You get a refined copy of their memories that you spend a few hours in a trance learning. After that you know the language perfectly."

Justin laughed at his Michal's excitement over learning a new language. Michal always seemed to have emotions as large as he was.

Sue Li was quickly realizing these both were people with wealth that was likely equal or greater than what the main house had.

Raised as a pureblood she had little interaction with the muggle world. Even then she would have not likely recognized the names Finch-Fletchy or Riley. Both families kept their names out of the papers, mostly, and enjoyed it that way.

Justin got the conversation going again soon enough. They were talking about games they were looking forward to playing at school when they were interrupted again. There stood Hermione Granger looking nervous but resolute. Michal laughed internally as he noticed Justin see her trying, and failing, to hid her nervousness.

Still, this was Hermione Granger, a rather intelligent and extremely driven person. He was somewhat excited to meet one of the main characters of the books.

Standing up he held out his hand to take her luggage.

"Hello there, would you care to join us? Plenty of room for one more."

He kept his smile friendly, as Justin stood beside him. Justin began laying out his smooth talk and pulled her in with practiced ease.

Taking her trunk Michal set it up on the rack and sat back down.

"Yes, thank you."

She held out her hand in a stiff manner that clearly said she wasn't used to social gatherings.

Justin side eyed him as Michal reached out with his paw of a hand.

"Michal Riley, pleasure to meet you. This Teddy Boy wannabe is Justin Finch-Fletchy."

Justin sniffed in mock disdain before smiling and taking her hand next.

Sue Li had a rather forced smile; handshakes were still rather uncomfortable for her. Hermione noticed right away and wasn't sure why the girl seemed to being not wanting to shake her hand.

Michal noticed she was about to get wound up in some type of self-defense mechanism and cut it off rather quick.

"Sue Li is a recent Immigrant to England. The Chinese people don't shake hands to greet people. Purebloods are the same so it's best to not offer a handshake. A nod or curtsey is best, otherwise you can easily come across as rude."

The got a sparkle on interest along with a hasty apology to Sue Li. As he had opened to proverbial door about blood status and customs that conversation kicked off right quick.

The train was well underway while they were still quizzing Michal on the different customs of Wizarding Britain.

He had impressed to both Justin and Hermione that is was best to think of Wizarding Britain as a different country that happened to speak the same language. Like the difference between Portugal and Brazil, or Algeria and France.

They were interrupted by the cart lady and Michal ordered a few of his favorites along with a box of beans.

Those had been a hit with Justin though both Sue Li and Hermione were far from fans of the things.

Justin asked if there was a dining cart and they all agreed that sounded splendid. Michal set back in the dining car and listened in to the conversations he could. Few people bothered with privacy spells it seemed.

Justin had made excuses for him as he realized what Michal was doing soon enough. Michal was happy to hear that many people were discussing the Malfoy tragedy and how quickly the goblins had seemed to grab up their estate.

The main rumor was they were in debt somehow, no real theories there, to the goblins. The goblins had then gotten tired of waiting around and finished off the family.

Michal let a smile slip out over that. It seemed everyone was far too busy making sure they weren't on the cross with the goblins to find out exactly why. He was sure some people were looking but Michal knew it wouldn't go anywhere.

The goblins made a mint working for their family. That the Riley family was now a large shareholder in several of their businesses helped matter even more. Sure, they had a bank, they also had an entire nation under said bank. Along with a loose confederacy of nations around the world forming the Goblin Confederacy. The Riley household had a spent several hundred million already buying up every goblin business around the world they could get their hands on.

The goblins were ecstatic to have the massive amounts of fresh capital rushing into their economies.

As they walked back to their cabin Justin bumped him and tilted his head in question. Michal nodded back letting Justin know it was okay to ask.

Sitting down Justin wasted no time in doing just that.

"So, what's the scuttlebutt? There seemed to be a lot of really excited whispering happening back there."

Michal made sure the door to the cabin was closed and pulled out his wand. Setting a basic privacy charm on the door he stashed his wand back.

"It appears the rather vocal leader, along his family, of the traditionalist and blood purist have all died in a tragic accident just a few weeks ago. Horrible tragedy."

His sarcasm was thick enough for everyone to realize he felt it was no such thing at all.

Justin knew Michal had a rather brutal outlook on some things, hence his nickname of the barbarian at St. Mary's.

"It also seems the goblins moved on his estate within an hour. They had no one they could legally pass their estate to. The ministry of magic is up in arms about it but it boils down to whoever got it first gets to keep it. Now everyone is scrambling to make sure they have not pissed off the goblins recently. As the timing was rather of a coincidence."

Justin realized that it was no such thing and it seemed Sue Li had as well. From the look of Hermione, she was still processing it all.

"Is the house going up for sale? I doubt a bank would have any need for a wizards house."

Michal knew Justin was sharp but most wouldn't make that connection so quickly. It would come out eventually so no sense in hiding it.

"It was a French renaissance era castle, and it has already been sold. The payment of taxes to the ministry seems to have settled them down a fair bit."

Justin nodded and then realized something, turning sideways he looked at Michal.

"Will you be renovating it?"

Smiling at his friend who was far quicker than he had ever realized he nodded.

"Not much, it's located in the hilly region of Wiltshire, with rather large grounds. We just need to remove some of the more unsavory things on the property I have been told. Still it was a hell of deal, the galleon to pound conversion was a blessing let me tell you."

Justin nodded along to that; his family had been amazed at the buying power of the pound when converted to galleons.

Hermione gasped and looked at Michal in shock.

"Wait are you one of The Riley's! Oh my gosh!"

Michal closed his emotions down tight and closed his eyes calming down.

Justin knew the history going on and laid a hand on his friend to help him calm down. Looking over to Hermione he explained.

"I assume you read the Forbes magazine from April and that's how you know correct?"

Hermione was a fair bit socially dense, she was well aware of it, but she knew she had just stepped into something she really shouldn't have for some reason.

"Several of the families listed in that article of 'Britain's Richest Families' had kids at St. Mary's, which was named in the article. They were all pulled out for those last few months of school. The paparazzi have been an absolute nightmare. I wish my parents had let me tutor those last few months as well."

Hermione didn't really understand but she guessed it had been a bad experience overall.

"Nan tried to buy them out, they are privately held and family owned. Grandpa told the Forbes Family if they did another article on our family to not be surprised if they suddenly met some Russians."

Justin wasn't surprised, Michal's father had married a giant, they were a family that were not kind towards enemies.

They had also been studying the recent events on how Russia was leaving Eastern Germany recently and it was no secret the Russians were desperate for money. That they could be bought to have a 'Bristol Walk' was not a stretch by any means.

His family wasn't one to take such measures he was fairly certain, but he had learned the family history. The Finch-Fletchy family history was filled with raising up militias for hire. They were mercenary lords until the world wars.

Sue Li nodded and added her voice on the matter.

"That sounds right, Russian Battle Mages are ruthless. They could tear a muggle family apart with ease. They are excellent mercenaries my mother says."

Hermione was still trying to parse everything. These kids were casually talking about hiring mercenaries to kill people they didn't like.

Justin noticed that Hermione was getting uncomfortable really quick. Quickly switching the conversation back to games that they had been having back at the train station.

"Tell me about this game you were playing in Lisbon with the kids there."

Soon he was explaining the rules of esmagamento again for the girls benefit and talking about it. They all relaxed as they talked about their favorite games. Justin kept Hermione talking and soon she was fully into the conversation.

It was many hours later an older student knocked and opened the cabin door.

"Best to get changed, we will be arriving in a half hour or so at the station."

She turned and left without any further conversation. Michal looked over at the girls with a question in mind.

"Will you need your trunks? I can get them for you, Justin and I will wait outside while you change."

Both girls agreed and the boys stepped out as the girls changed.

Justin leaned in and spoke to Michal.

"I don't think that Hermione is one to see the more violent side of things."

Michal laughed internally at that, by the end of the books she was a spit fire. But yes, now she was only an eleven-year-old girl with minimal experience with such life.

"I agree, but she sure is sharp. It took forever for her to stop wanting to talk about though, not a lot of sense."

Justin had to agree with that. She was a font of nervous information but she knew a great deal of things. She would make a good study partner.

Eventually they were allowed back in and then got changed themselves. They all got in a boat together a short time later watching the castle come into view. It was a rather amazing sight to see.

Justin kept Hermione calm as they waited in the hall and Michal finally got to see Harry Potter.

He looked far more refined then he had in the books. He wore some square glasses on his face and his hair was short in the style currently popular among quidditch players.

"Michal Riley, if you please?"

Michal made his way to the chair sitting down. The hat settled down and within a second was yelling out "Ravenclaw!"

He waited for McGonagall to take the hat off and made his way next to Sue Li. She was happy to see him joining her house, this would help her make connections her family would be able to use hopefully.

Maybe in another world Michal would have had to deal with the reputation of being the Boy-Who-Lived. However, his grandparents had clamped down on that hard. Hard enough to have bought every wizarding publication in existence. Hell, they had spent years in negotiations with the Lovegood family. It was finally the fact that Jacob had saved the wife of the owner's life one day that had led to them finally giving in.

She had been doing some experimental spell work when they had heard Luna crying out loud one day. Jacob had rushed in to while his Grandpa was talking with her husband. Xenophillius had not been happy being at home compared to writing an article at his office. Jacob had determined her heart had stopped and used a resuscitation spell to get it beating again. She had made it through with no long-term issues. Though she was far more careful with her spell work than before.

The Lovegood family was happy for the purchase after that, nan had hired a few cryptozoologists to help the paper and the extra income meant the Lovegood family could spend more time searching the world.

Michal was looking forward to if they ever actually found the Crumple-Horned Snorkack.

With the purchase, or majority shareholding, of every single wizarding publication around the world any hint of Michal being the Boy-Who-Lived was killed before it made print. That the purebloods didn't have to celebrate a half-giant boy who was the son of a muggleborn only made it an easier potion to swallow.

He perked up at the notion that the third-floor corridor was off limits. He knew for a fact that Gringotts had not been robbed. The buggers would have been up in arms and ready to declare war right now if that had happened. Owning a large percentage of the both the Wizarding and Goblin world meant his family received several missives from their various boards each week.

Events were still proceeding roughly as the books had laid them out though not quite the same. Somehow Severus Snape was still the potions professor. He wasn't looking at Michal more than a few cursory glances. He did seem to hate Harry Potter with a burning passion from the looks of things though.

Quirrell was the DADA professor as well, so that meant that Tom was hanging around.

He made it through the feast and was enjoying his room in Ravenclaw Tower. The were assigned single rooms that had a basic bed and a rather nice book shelf with a desk.

The really pushed the desire to learn here in Ravenclaw. Hermione would have been a mixed bag here honestly. They had made it clear that while at least an Acceptable in every subject was expected the fully encouraged members of House Ravenclaw to focus more on learning than passing a few tests.

This had to be the work of Flitwick, the man was half-goblin. They had little in the way of formal education as a whole. Libraries were plentiful throughout the various nations, and the only thing free to use in all of goblin society. Young and old were both expected to seek knowledge on their own. The young to learn their place, what role they wanted in life. The old to expand themselves so that they could better pass on what they knew. Goblin scholars were a frighteningly well-educated people.

He had a meeting arranged with Flitwick in two days, all first years were expected to met this first week with him. Michal was looking forward to it, it should be an interesting conversation.

He had spent the last hour arranging his room. He had a plethora of books that he had to organize. His grandparents were ensuring he continued with his education past what was taught in Hogwarts. He had to pass on his education boards letter to Flitwick as well during his meeting.

That next morning saw him up and out as soon as curfew was lifted for the night. He didn't have any place yet to exercise but a long run and going through his forms would do for the next few days until his meeting with Flitwick.

He was making his way back into the tower when he met Sue Li. She was dressed in a martial arts uniform soaked through with sweat. She had a lean and well-toned physique speaking of years of dedicated practice.

She saw his hulking body and realized he had to have some Demon or other non-human blood. No human could have such thick slabs of muscle on their body at such an age. Combined with his rough looks and great height she was sure that he wasn't fully human.

Nodding to him she asked the question that was wondering through her mind.

"Do you practice the arts of battle or are you simply keeping in shape?"

Michal let her step through the entryway first into the tower before responding. There were a few up and about, all reading, when they entered the tower.

"I have been practicing Cea Muay for many years."

Sue Li had seen a few Cea Muay fighters come to her family's house back in China. It was according to her family, a brutal martial art focused solely on true war. The purpose of Cea Muay was to lead a group of Muay Thai, their non magical branch of warriors, into combat. The did so through the simple axiom of kill everything that was a hint of a threat. There were no defensive moves in Cea Muay, it was a blade without a guard.

He wondered if she would talk about her family's martial arts. In most of Magical Asia it was a rather touchy subject to inquire on the specifics of a person's martial arts style unless on close terms. She had opened the door of the subject and he was interested to see what style she studied under.

"From your uniform I take it you also are someone who follows the arts?"

There, a polite inquiry, she had not asked for his style, he had offered it freely after all. It gave her plenty of room to dance around the subject into what she felt comfortable with.

"Yes, my family has a large school in China. As a branch of the main family it is my honor to learn it."

They reached the stairs and began to part.

"A light spar sometime in the future?"

There Michal was reaching, it wasn't fully appropriate to ask but he loved the feeling of sparring and learning. This would be a bit of both and he couldn't help himself from asking.

Sue Li noticed the excited look on his face and took a minute to think about it. It was clear he was a Ravenclaw, she got the feeling he was one who loved to spar and learn the ways of martial arts. Her younger brother was the same as well. He was constantly getting into fights, part of the reason they had moved honestly.

She saw that same excitement her brother always let slip at the chance of a new spar. Laughing at the similarity she nodded.

"Yes, I would like that sometime in the future."

Seeing the smile break out across his wide face let Sue Li knew she had been right. He was like her brother, always looking forward to sparring against someone new.

They were both sitting at the breakfast table soon enough and she was, politely, watching in awe as he ate. She had to admit, was eating with a refined enough manner for even the main house meals. It was the sheer amount of food he was eating that drew her wonder. He had devoured enough to feed several grown men already.

The whispers wondering if he would ever stop or just go on to eat the table were growing.

He had restrained himself last night at dinner and no intention of doing so anymore. It was simply his desire to not make a scene last night that had held him back.

As he went through a couple dozen boiled eggs, he was delighted to see that the house elves were easily keeping the table well stocked.

Finishing off the second pitcher of juice, he was happy to see they had orange juice as well, he was enjoying the looks he was getting. He wondered how long it would take before someone asked him about it.

After all his rather large size and clear appetite were well past baseline human. He wasn't sure if Justin would let it out or not. It would be interesting to see if the rumors of his non-human parent came from Hufflepuff first.

They had the day off to explore the castle, after a tour by the House Prefects that was.

It was two days later and he was looking forward to his next class, potions with Professor Snape. He had to know that Michal was the 'child of prophecy'. He had done as much research as he could and found that Snape had been Dumbledore's spy as well in this world.

From the look's the man kept giving Harry Potter he still hated James Potter and had pushed the sins of the father onto the son. It seems the Potter or Longbottom family had been targeted by Tom. It seemed both families were doing well right now, both boys also had several siblings. Many of the light families had been rather busy it seemed. There would be a marked uptick of incoming students it seemed his third year.

Snape had been giving Michal a few fleeting looks though nothing overt. The man had barely paused his roll call when he reached his name. Justin was sitting next to him at the table and they were enjoying sharing the stories about the castle they had found so far.

The simple Boil-Cure potion was just that, simple. The instructions were laid out clear enough as well. However, they relied on a basis of knowledge that it was clear a decent chunk of the class did not have.

He had taken the time to explain the various methodologies of the potion to Justin before they even got started.

Squashing and Smashing were different, as was cutting and slicing. He would have taught Justin a few basic potioneer spells, or at least used them, if not for the fact he had already seen him tear into Hannah Abbott over doing just that. It seems Snape was a Purist, when he had said 'no silly wand waving' he had meant it.

Michal resolved to work on his wandless silent potioneer spells until he could cast some of them on the sly.

Yes, he was a prodigy of both silent and wandless casting. No, that did not mean he was Merlin reborn, capable of casting any spell perfectly the first time. Hell, he had to learn at least forms of every spell.

Verbal with wand, silent with wand, verbal without wand, and silent without wand. At least learning to cast without words or his wand was an easy twist to the spells. His education board members had advised him to learn the most basic manner first. Verbal with wand, and from there he could twist it how he wanted.

He already could use all of his potioneer spells wandless, he just had never bothered using them wordlessly. The words were an excellent tool to keep from getting the castings wrong after all.

He had written down the title of a rather good introductory book on potion prep for Justin during class. Justin had promised to get a copy before next class.

So far all of his classes had been with Hufflepuff and he was rather interested to see how both Gryffindor and Slytherin had changed. One didn't have Harry Potter as the Boy-Who-Lived and the other was missing the Malfoy family.

This afternoon was his meeting with Flitwick and he was looking forward to meeting the man. The charms class they had yesterday had been a hit. Flitwick had explained the basic theories of using magic, how words helped shape intent. This meant the more clearly you spoke the more clearly you would, in theory and practice it seemed, shape your intent.

A wand was a further focusing tool. The actions of the spell movement were ways of guiding your intent in specific ways over time. By the time they graduated they will have well shaped their intent and those movements so that spell casting was easy for any spells you knew.

You had built specific mannerisms into specific forms of intent. A clockwise twirl meant you were always using your magic in a certain way. It was a proto language of sorts for your magic to use. It was the theory accepted worldwide for a good reason; it worked every time.

Michal had managed to be able to ignore these issues through his prodigy level use of wordless and wandless magic. It was a shift of his being that meant his magical intent was already finely focused.

The major downside of this though was the constant need to keep his emotions in check. He could freely enjoy his emotions; he didn't have the luxury though of giving in to them tough. His intent responded freely to such outburst, and it always ended poorly.

Standing outside Flitwick's office door he was soon entering taking the offered set.

The room was large, bordering on huge, yet was filled with tomes and several weapons.

"How is Hogwarts treating you so far?"

Settling into the comfortable chair before responding.

"Quite well, the stairs are going to take some time, I mostly just jump them."

Flitwick chuckled at that one. He had been forced to explain to his Ravenclaws that no it was not a spell, and it was best if they didn't go searching for one. Mr. Riley was just naturally that sturdy and yes it seemed a hundred-foot fall was as easy for him as taking going down a step for them.

"Well, at least you aren't dragging your friends around with you while doing so. Madam Pomphrey is most put out let me tell you."

Flitwick offered a shrug showing he didn't really care about the matter overly.

"I have a letter from my education board that concerning tutoring in the near future as well."

He held out the letter for Flitwick to take, who did so quickly.

"There's nothing wrong with the education here so far." That was a bit of a lie, History was dreadfully boring.

"It's mainly lessons required for me to be able to still live in the muggle world after school. There is a battering of etiquette lessons in there as well I believe."

His tired tone of having to deal with etiquette lessons leaked through if Flitwick's chuckle was any sign.

Flitwick gave the letter a quick glance over seeing nothing overly unusual. Several students had tutoring throughout their time here as well.

It was the end of the letter that he had to reread though. Well whoever had written this clearly was expecting to somewhat deal with goblin sensibilities. The thinly veiled threat of torture for being obstructing, while also offering a rather nice sum if he was helpful got a deep chuckle out of him.

Flipping the letter back around he saw that his name was in fact on the outside of the letter. This had been prepared by whoever his education board advisors were with him in mind. He would bet a galleon that the boy had came to school with three other letters of similar nature, each written in a different tone.

"So, you need a room to set aside privately for martial training, do you? Normally I would just tell you to find an abandoned room and make your claim. That is about standard for the school. However, if you are going to have expensive equipment in it, I agree official sanction is the best course."

Michal was glad it was going well; he had no idea what his board had bribed the man with but he was sure it was something good as he was being helpful right away.

He then handed over the second paper he had brought for the meeting. It was a list of preferred room size, and the various equipment he would be using.

Flitwick took his time reading this one, looking over it several times in fact before letting out a whistle.

"Honestly Mr. Riley, the equipment you have is worth more than most make in a lifetime. I will have to find a place close to the tower that we can set to a guardian portrait. It will take a week at the least to get set up. It should be no problem in the long run, just slow in getting set up."

"That's perfectly fine sir, thank you for helping in this matter."

Flitwick could tell there was something else the boy wanted to say but was working up the courage to do so. After a few minutes of small talk, it finally broke free and he found it rather humorous.

"Sir, I was wondering if perhaps you taught a dueling course or were willing to at least tutor me some?"

Ah, there it was. One or two students asked this same question every year.

"I see you already have two magical combat instructors though Mr. Riley."

He held in a chuckle as the large boy was practically vibrating in his chair.

"Yes, but are The Flitwick! Grandmaster of the Pits, World Champion Dueler, Youngest Captain of the Ser'Keck Riders in centuries!"

He was practically exploding in excitement at getting that out it seemed. The knowledge that he was a Grandmaster of the Pits was rarely known by his prospective students. Mr. Riley was the first to even know of the Ser'Keck Riders, much less his legendary place among them.

"That is all true Mr. Rider. Yet I have given all that up to be a teacher, what does that tell you?"

Michal slumped down and could only offer a nod in respect.

"Yes sir, I understand, sorry for bothering you."

Flitwick gave a light smile to the boy. He had understood right away what it meant. He had entered his late years, the time of knowledge and teaching. He was not a warrior anymore; it was not his place to train warriors anymore due to this as well.

"No worries at all Mr. Riley. When I was a youth I also burned to learn from those masters in the libraries. It is something all goblins go through, and one wizard it seems."

He laughed gently at that last part and the tension was dispelled easily.

It seems Justin had in fact managed to get himself signed up for the tutoring lesson on South American Sylvan for this weekend.

Michal and Justin were standing with Hagrid waiting at the gates of Hogwarts to arrive. It seemed that about half his time was taken up escorting people into the gates. Keeper of Keys indeed it seemed.

Hagrid had all the subtly of a brick so Michal had just come right out and spoken of his giant heritage to the man. Michal's mother had been an Amazon, his father had a boyhood crush on them that had only grown once he realized they were real. The South American Giants were far more human looking than their Northern European brethren. Who were more closely related to the ancient Jotun's then they were wizards.

They had been speaking of the major differences between the Amazon Tribes and Northern Tribes when his tutor arrived.

Hagrid let the man and they made their way to the castle quick enough.

Flitwick had offered the use of his Charms room for them to use for now. Until Michal had his own area set up, which should be finished sometime late in the coming week. Whatever the bribe had been to Flitwick, it had been large enough that the man was adding a room to the castle.

Soon enough Hagrid was off again, promising to be back in three hours. Michal was excited for this lesson. The orbs were the smooth lavender of a magical language. Such languages were not capable of being spoken without the aid of magic. As such they also imparted the magical skill to be able to speak it.

Michal was rather tempted to offer when he was older to make one of Parseltongue. For now, he was keeping that he spoke it under his belt for sure.

Senior Teacher Julian was the one teaching today and he got them situated soon enough. Both boys were laying down in what were essentially hammocks with the orbs resting on their chest. The orbs were giving off a soft light as they merged slowly with the boys.

Language orbs were one time use devices. As it could take anywhere from several hours to days to create and refine one, they were not used often. The common witch and wizard were not even aware they existed.

They usually attended special language courses that offered wit-sharpening potions and various charms to speed up the learning process. Using orbs to learn was a rather extravagant method of learning. Though it did mean you could learn an amazing amount of languages, including magical languages, with ease.

The boys were laughing as they walked out of the classroom for the day. It was always best to speak in the language for an hour or so after using an orb to help settle it.

Sylvan was a humorous language that was filled with puns and clever word tricks. Many of the jokes were rather cruel actually yet in the sylvan language were extremely funny. The few students they passed looked at the boys in wonder.

They were speaking in sounds of rushing water, falling leaves, and thunderstorms. The various sounds they made were far beyond normal sounds that they had gotten a small little following without realizing it.

The language was magic and they were loving exploring it. They spent minutes just standing there laughing as they told jokes over the moving stairs. It was over an hour later that they heard crash of a tree and turned to see the Headmaster standing there.

"I am sure you are well acquainted with the language now Misters Riley and Finch-Fletchley."

They both flinched as they realized he had likely heard their latest joke. While in Sylvan it was a funny one about turning people's eyes into toads it was not something best said around company.

"I would also prefer if all my students were capable of reading their books so it would be best to avoid said actions yes?"

Nodding they both stood there looking abashed.

"Well then, then it seems we have no problem. Off you trot now."

Both nodded their heads turning on their heel, making a quick step around the corner before running off.

"Bleeding hell!"

"Agreed!"

They looked at one another and laughed at the same time! That had been brilliant!

It had taken him a week to get his room and he had invited Sue Li, Justin, and Hermione all to use it with him. Justin and Sue Li had been quick to take him up on the offer.

It was only the lure of new magical items that made workouts, along with excellent health potions, that had finally drawn Hermione in. She wasn't fitting in well at all in Gryffindor, and he had noticed she was regretting her stubbornness in wanting to be there.

They all met up shortly after curfew was lifted each weekday and would work out for an hour. Sue Li had taken Hermione under her wing teaching her how to properly work out and keep a nice feminine figure.

Not that they had a feminine figure to speak of. They were eleven for Merlin's sake, but he wasn't one to shatter their illusions.

Justin was learning the basics of Cea Thai from Michal. Not any of the magical parts, just the refined martial parts. It was just a far more offensive based version of Muay Thai. Until you got to the enhancing your blows with magic and using any of the Eight Strike of God.

They were raw magical power harnessed into attacks; it was like surrounding you eight points of attack with a spell frame. There were several levels of the used spell. He was only on the third level out of the eight. The eighth level was similar to having a killing curse wrapped around you. Each touch was death, simple as that.

Michal knew even with his gifts it would take a long time before he was anywhere near that level.

It was approaching the end of October and Michal had a plan. He had paid off, through cut outs, a few of the older Ravenclaws to check if there was a dog at the door.

In the mean time he had also hired Lockhart, through blackmail as well, to teach him his memory spells. Michal had snuck out a few times and Lockhart had provided a few people to test on. Michal had ensured Lockhart was locked behind several unbreakable contracts to keep the man from turning about and trying to blackmail him.

Finally, it was time and he was under a basic invisibility cloak. Hermione had been carefully maneuvered into being sick today as was at the hospital wing right now. If it was some other bystander trapped in a room with a troll, besides Justin or Sue Li, well best of luck.

After a few minutes he saw Quirrell arriving and opening the door. He struck from under his cloak with one of Lockhart's massively overpowered confusion charms. He cast a total of three times before being satisfied. Making sure to attack the back of his head.

Happy he then cast Lockhart's special memory spell. It not only removed memories from the target, it placed a compulsion on the target to not think of, or look for, the missing memories.

He cast the spell over and over targeting horcrux's, the name Tom Riddle, and everything for else as a general overview for the last century. He wanted to wipe Quirrell and Tom of every single thought they had ever had.

Over and over he cast silently under his cloak until he heard footsteps approaching.

He sunk into an alcove disillusioning himself. His invisibility cloak was nearly useless now after casting through it. They were delicate devices to begin with. Casting through them shredded the fine hairs making them swiftly become useless.

Snape arrived and saw Quirrell laying there at the threshold of the door. He quickly pulled the man back from the door locking it behind him.

They would suspect that someone had cursed the door if he was lucky. With them running off to that idea he should be fine.

He quickly made his way to the hospital wing, taking every shortcut he could. That should make a suitable alibi for him as he strolled into the hospital wing. He made his way over besides Hermione who was sleeping. He took out the book he had brought for this and sat down digging into the book.

It was another ten minutes before Snape came in levitating Quirrell with Dumbledore behind him. The swiftly retrieved Madam Pomphrey and began inspecting Quirrell. Soon enough though they noticed Michal sitting there reading besides Hermione.

Dumbledore came over a question on his tongue.

"While it is wonderful to see you supporting a friend, I must ask why you are not in your common room Mr. Riley."

Michal let an expression of confusion slip on his face.

"I'm sorry sir, is it already past curfew? I'm so sorry, I didn't realize at all. I came to visit Hermione and got caught up reading hoping she would wake soon."

He gestured with his hand holding the book in question. It was the tales of Jiutian Xuannü that he had gotten from Afonso as a birthday present unexpectedly. She was famed for her gifts of tactics, powerful body, war magic, healing, having a phoenix, and sexual prowess.

He was ignoring that last part and greatly enjoying the book. Her entire domain matched his, minus the sexual part, mostly and he was finding himself looking forward to practicing healing magic more than ever before.

Healing magics, other than potions, were not taught until sixth year. Even his tutors had made it clear that he would not be getting instruction in healing magic until he was that age as well. Everyone agreed it was best to wait for puberty to settle down some before learning the art of magical healing.

Healers were some of the single most dangerous magic users on the planet. Afterall that which can heal can also kill you.

If someone who didn't know better were to look through Madam Pomphrey's private library, they would think she was a Dark Lord of ancient renown. You had to understand what the hell was happening to fix it after all.

While students weren't casting dark curses on each other all the time, the effects of poorly managed spells were often close enough.

A poorly cast and severely overpowered tickling charm was eerily similar to a madness charm. That was one she dealt with once every few years. It took days to set the mind back to sorts.

Dumbledore realized the boy had likely missed dinner so caught up in reading a book waiting on his friend he had been completely unaware of the troll. He sent off a quick Patronus to Filius about the location of his missing student.

He had to chuckle some as he did so, it was such a Ravenclaw thing to be so caught up in a book to miss a troll smashing about.

"Filius, Mr. Riley seemed to have been caught up reading besides Ms. Granger's bedside and missed the feat entirely. I will have him stay here until you have a chance to retrieve him."

He knew that Michal was the boy of prophecy but he was patient. The boy would eventually face his destiny. Until then though he was content Michal was living a happy full life filled with friends.

"Well a troll seems to have snuck in the castle somehow. Professor McGonagall has already dealt with it so there in nothing to worry about."

Michal gave a nod and thanked the headmaster for the information.

Dumbledore turned away and made his way back towards Professor Quirrell. Casting several privacy charms as he did so. He would need to check what had happened to the poor man.

It was nearly an hour later, and after a great commotion over where they were doing something with Quirrell it seemed, that a prefect arrived to escort him back to the tower.

That Yule Holidays he had promised Hermione, Justin and Sue Li to have them over for a nice Yuletide Celebration.

The Winter Solstice this year was on the twenty second of December. It was a fair bit close to Christmas but the families had agreed to take Portkeys to his house to ease the travel. Sue Li's family had assumed some form of magical travel as a matter of course.

Justin was excited to see the infamous Riley Castle. The Riley family was well known, in their circles at least, to still live in their ancestral castle. They had never invited anyone there for the last few decades though. Instead meeting and holding get togethers in a large mansion they held just for that purpose outside London.

Knowing that is was the place was likely enchanted to hell and back now, hence they could no longer have muggle company, made him want to see it even more.

The solstice arrived soon enough and everyone arrived that afternoon a few hours before the sun would set for the day.

Justin was not disappointed by their castle. They had been given enchanted pins that would act as security cards for when they were there.

Michal had greeted the families as they arrived and dragged his friends, and Sue Li's little brother, into the castle off the front grounds. Henry, Aleifr, and Astrid were already waiting in the back garden. Henry had been here for a few days and the siblings had arrived earlier today. They could only stay for a bit today. Their father had a ritual of some sorts they had to undergo every solstice.

Hermione was in awe of the castle that Michal was casually dragging them through. It was something she expected to see in a magazine or book on antiques. Not the home of one of her classmates. She ran past gilded framed paintings and vases she was sure cost more than her parents made in a month.

The back gardens took her breath away, as it did Sue Li. It was gorgeous and Michal gave a quick introduction.

"This is the back gardens, it's the third largest private garden in Britain. No matter though, come met the rest!"

Justin was looking around trying to keep up with the barbarian's huge steps until he stopped introducing his other friends.

"Hermione Granger, Sue Li, Astrid." He put just enough coolness in that last name as he introduced them that Astrid stuck her tongue out at him.

Astrid responded soon enough.

"I've heard Hogwarts has small classes, to think it was small enough that you have to spend time with Michal. My condolences."

Henry let out a laugh at their antics. If they could ever spend more than a few minutes in the company of one another without sniping at each other he would be amazed.

Continuing on he introduced everyone properly. Astrid had pulled Hermione and Sue Li away already. They were talking about female stuff and Hogwarts, not anything he was interested in.

Justin got on great with Aleifr and Henry. Soon enough all four boys were up on brooms flying across the gardens performing silly stunts. They had just gotten a makeshift game of quadpot going when it was time for Aleifr and Astrid to head back to their home.

The girls were not wanting to play and with Aleifr missing it they were uneven on the teams.

Hermione asked if he could show them around the place though. Henry agreed as he wanted to show off some of his idea's to Michal in the potion lab.

Figuring why not he first took them off the gardens to the magical garden. They were only allowed in the Green Zone. The Yellow, Orange, Red, and Black Zones were all dangerous and not something he wanted to mess with. No sense in risking near certain death just to show off a plant.

The girls enjoyed some of the more beautiful flowers and Justin found great fun in throwing small bits of gravel at the Curling Whiplash. Which responded by whacking the gravel back at him. The boys had played with that for a few minutes until the girls were ready to move on.

He led them across around the magical green house to the waterworks. It was far to intricate and large to be a simple pool. That it was enchanted to be the perfect temperature year-round was a big hit. The girls made him promise to have them over during the Easter break so they could play in the water.

The potion lab was in the north section of the castle so he had to show them the armory collection on the way. Henry thought it was rather neat but he wasn't a large fan of fighting so had passed wanting to set up some potions to show off.

Sue Li was amazed at the armory. It was an amazing collection of banners, pinions, armor, and weapons. Justin recognized several of the flags and was quietly impressed. His family had kept up the history well and he was required to learn the histories as well.

Hermione simply thought the history contained in the room was amazing. She did recognize the what looked like a mint copy of the Treaty of Peace. The treaty that had ended the first world war. This was amazing! She didn't even know that you could purchase copies of it. Looking around she found many different treaties around the room.

Michal realized what she had found an interest in and had to roll his eyes.

"We have some of the more delicate and rare ones on display in the main library. I can show you sometime. Just not today, it would take days just to look through it all."

Hermione was mollified for now though she was excited to read so many histories.

"Fair warning you will need a more than passing understanding of Latin, French, and German to read a fair bit of it."

Justin nodded to that. He was well versed in those languages simply to read the books in his own home. He had mastered them a dozen others with his magical language lessons though. His mother had been so excited she could show off his new found mastery of a few of those languages this Christmas ball.

She was a socialite; Justin wasn't sure how his father and her had met. His father was a much different man and Justin simply couldn't see how they had ever fallen in love. She wasn't bad, he loved his mum, she just was a social person far more than his father naturally was.

Hermione promised herself to brush up on her French and start learning German. She had been studying Latin since the week she had got her Hogwarts letter.

They made their way to the potion lab were Henry had a few potions ready for him to show off.

"Alright Henry, you have been dying to show off since I got back. Let me see it already."

Henry pouted some, he had gone over a speech in his head and had been excited to show it off. Michal sighed as he finally accepted that every person he knew that was incredible at potions was also a drama queen. Snape had been the final cincher for him. The man was the single biggest drama queen he had ever met.

Henry waved them over to his first potion and soon got his chipper step back.

"Now, I've already submitted these potion modifications to Potions Quarterly so you can talk about them all you want. They've accepted to have them in a small article!"

They were all suitably impressed, even a small mention in the quarterly was a huge deal for a student.

"Now first one is the one I am simply relieved to have made! After an idiot in class melted a cauldron making a boil cure potion, I decided to never let it happen again. So here is the result!"

He let them see his formula and where he was so far.

The formula was the same until it became time to add the porcupine quills. Instead of having to take it off the heat you instead added an infusion of Wormroot. After that the potion formula differed greatly though it still seemed just as easy as before.

He demonstrated to them and they were all rather impressed. Especially Hermione as Seamus Finnigan had set his cauldron on fire somehow. The boy could burn water and set fire to an empty cauldron; she was sure of it.

Henry was clearly excited about his improvements to some of his potions and it was infectious. In his own words, he had saved the best for last.

"Ladies, gentlemen, and our resident barbarian."

Justin had let the nickname earlier when they were all playing in the gardens. Aleifr and Henry had agreed right away it fit perfectly.

Michal showed he was the better person by sticking his tongue out and pretending to raise his nose.

There was a burst of laughter from the group and Henry soon had them back on track.

"I wanted to see if I could make a potion that could be made nearly anywhere. So here it is, my own newly invented potion of Narration! It's made of chalk dust, owl feather, ink, pumpkin juice and cat hair. For five minutes after drinking it you hear any words you read instead of reading them!"

That was a rather interesting potion Michal had to admit, especially given the basic ingredients. Still he gave it the side eye, Henry had used him a few times to experiment with potions on the sly.

"Don't be like that Michal, that was only twice. Besides dad already inspected the potion, he thinks there is a rather nice market for it if we can get it to last longer. He is thinking it would be sold in book stores. You could relax and listen to a book instead of reading it at your own pace."

Michal had to admit it did sound marketable, and for an eleven-year-old budding potion master it was a great way to get his name started.

Trusting his friend, he took the offered vial Henry had just poured for him. It tasted off, like waking up with a fuzzy mouth. It faded after a few seconds but it was a nice experience.

"Yes, the taste still needs some work, at least it doesn't taste bad though, just weird for a few seconds, right?"

"Yeah, it's not bad, I just wouldn't want to drink it often."

Hermione and Sue Li followed suit and downed their potions as well.

Henry had a small stack of books already and was handing them out as he took the vials back. Cleaning them was only a few flicks of the wand and he had them back where they belonged. Henry was not a purist like Snape was.

Soon enough they were each enjoying their books as they enjoyed the unique experience. Michal did think it was rather novel and he planned to mention to Henry's father he wanted to sponsor the potion. He didn't want any stake in it, he just thought it would be great to support his friend in his first major potion creation.

Topsy, one of the house elves, popped in and let them know it was time to make their way to the family hearth.

Michal led the way and they were soon at the doors. The adults were each holding a skein of twine as the children approached. Michal made his way over beside his grandparents as the other children were made their way to their families as well.

In the center of the room was a large table filled with a hodge podge of random items. From balls of wool, to small sheaves of wheat, strips of linen and more staples of the ancient man.

They were all important items that had been used to survive the coldest of winters and the long dark. As from here until the equinox it would only get colder. Now was the time to beseech the gods and fight to survive the elements.

Making a sacrificial bundle to place on the yule log before it was lit was your offerings to the gods. Each bundle was unique to the person making it. The meaning of each item special to them in that moment.

They all made their way around the table slowly assembling their bundle wrapped in twine. It was a solemn affair, a moment of reflection on the trails to come. Now in the modern era it was just as important. It was a time to give thanks for the gods, spirits, or God, as the case may be, for your ancestors having made it through the many times of trial.

That due to their great work your family had survived. They had lived and now you were here to show your respects to your family and the gods as thanks.

The Li family had been rather approving of the ceremony, it was remarkably honorable for someone not born of China. The Grangers had understood the significance of the old-fashioned ritual. They were one and all fans of history. European history had been filled with famine many times.

Finch-Fletchley's had been happy that the Riley's had given them a nod my including the Christian God as someone who was also someone worth giving thanks to. It was a rather religious experience overall with the lighting of the Yule Log with a simple charm cast by Michal. Seeing their offering burn in the fire had been humbling somehow, they greatly enjoyed the experience as a family.

After that had been the mulled wine and yule dinner. The kids had each been allowed a glass of wine, even Hermione after her parents had shared a look. All four families found themselves getting along well enough.

The Li Family had been especially happy for the visit as they were sure they would be able to do business with the Riley family. Magical China was not an easy market to break into, though the Riley family had made a few minor inroads. With the Li family help it would go much smoother now.

Quirrell had been replaced, they were talking about the DADA curse. They had looked into it and it seemed he was in the Georgian Center for Dangerous Magical Maladies. Having a completely unknown spirit attached to your head counted for the dangerous part.

That both the man and the spirit seemed to be completely without memory made it a magical malady instead of a case of possession.

For now, Michal wasn't worried about it and was happy that he didn't have to deal with it for several years at least.

Class was starting soon and he was looking forward to his new teacher. They had gotten a senior officer on loan from the DMLE to take over for the few months until after the yule holidays were over.

The goblins had found the Goblet it seems, and proceeded to declare the Lestrange family enemies of the Goblin nation. The goblins were not fans of having items that had parts of souls attached to them sitting in the heart of their bank. It had been a short investigation and they had claimed the entire vault as forfeit for the insult.

Now Michal needed to get hold of some basilisk venom for the Diadem. The goblins had hold of the cup and diary. They were currently looking for the other items as well.

Michal had a plan for getting rid of the basilisk, he just was waiting for the results of the investigation he had commissioned. They were going to see if the cry of a rooster would in fact prove fatal or just damaging to a basilisk. There wasn't a great deal of lore on the subject and he wanted to make sure he was doing it right. He had also put in an order for a vial of basilisk venom from them.

Michal figured if they were going to test if roosters worked, they would have to get access to a basilisk to do so. So, getting some venom then made sense to Michal. That way he could deal with the one in the Hogwarts basement at his leisure.

Until then though he was essentially spinning his wheel. Though he had mentioned the importance of Tom Riddle and an old house in poor repair as a likely place for a ring of some importance.

They should make the connection between Tom Riddle and the Gaunt shack soon enough he figured. With Tom out of the way now mostly he wasn't in any particular hurry.

He was sitting now at the table for the first feast of the year. Would Dumbledore rescind the ban on the third floor now that the threat was gone? He hoped the Flamel's would get their stone back. They were world class magic users in their own right. It would be a shame to lose such knowledgeable people.

After Dumbledore announced the third-floor corridor was safe to travel once again he made a note to have someone check in on the Flamel's. If he could get an in and have them teach him it would be a tremendous boon.

Things quickly got back into the swing of things though he was surprised to see that Remus Lupin was the defense instructor for the rest of the year. Michal sent another note urging them to soon obtain him a vial of basilisk venom. He remembered the curse was linked to the diadem. Getting rid of it would hopefully keep Lupin from being a victim of the curse.

It was late March before a vial was brought to him in a small package by one of his tutors. Ms. Sherald had not asked what was in the package and he had not volunteered any information.

He waited for a night when both Potter and the Twins were in detention, Michal wasn't sure which one currently held the map. He managed to get up to the room in early April late one night.

It took him three hours to find the Diadem of Ravenclaw in the mess that was this room. He carefully opened the vial and dropped a few drops on the artifact.

It soon enough broke and the spirit of Tom came screaming up to disappear into nothingness shortly afterwards. Then he looked over the room and made his way back to the entrance. Calling his house elf Mimsy she arrived shortly. He had her check if a Portkey would work or not in the room. She took the portkey she was holding and began using elf magic to check.

She soon enough told him it would bypass the anti-portkey jinx to leave the castle but couldn't be used to enter the room.

He had planned for that and thanked her telling her to let his grandfather to use Plan B. The goblins had already purchased Honeydukes and were now aware of the secret entrance into the school. They had checked it and it was in fact not guarded.

It was more than possible for a force to enter through that secret passage into Hogwarts without the Headmaster finding out.

Early next Monday morning they would bring a force in that would sneak to the seventh floor and he would get them into the come and go room. They would spend the week sorting, cataloguing the contents, and storing them in a large amount of storage trunks. Afterwards they would then portkey out once they had gotten everything of any worth from the room.

He was expecting they would get a rather nice haul from this. It was not much different than their regular curse breaking activities. Only this time it would be a raid on delve where that was inhabited. They were not a fan of thieves though they had a clear line on things that had been abandoned.

They were getting a slightly larger than usual cut of the haul than was usual on a commissioned raid. Which Michal figured was fair enough as it was far from a usual raid.

The infiltration had gone off without a hitch and Michal was now looking at the completed list. They had already agreed to give the goblins a copy of any text that was recovered. His advisors had negotiated with the goblins and the list he held was what his family was taking ownership of.

He had really wanted the vanishing cabinet, and he had gotten it fixed as well. They had purchased the matching one from Burgin's already. He had requested any books they had on the creation of vanishing cabinets.

Hermione had been focusing on learning as much French, German, and Latin as she could. When Easter rolled around, she had spent most of a week at his place just loving the books. Nan was enamored with the girl and had taken Hermione under her wing. The girl was equally enamored with his nan, so it was working out well.

Michal was also happy that his nan had made a few subtle conversations steering Hermione to understanding that violence was something that was a part of life. Sometimes bad things had to happen to bad people so good people could sleep safely at night.

It was a work in progress though the many books in the library showing that axiom to hold true was helpful.

Michal had spent an afternoon at the Li house one day during vacation. After meeting during Yule, the family was taking Sue Li's comments on him being a powerhouse far more serious. She had seen him go to town on the training dummies in the workout room. They were heavily enchanted and Michal still needed to have one of his tutors come in once every two weeks to repair all five of them.

He had a light spar, for him, with her brother Andrew. The poor boy had been a sweaty mess at the end while Michal had only gotten warmed up. His giant-blood was clearly on display. Combined with his prodigy talent in martial arts and he had impressed Sue Li's father.

He had then sparred with her father and that had been great!

The man was a grandmaster of the family style, that was a requirement to be able to go off and start a branch it seemed.

He had moped the floor with Michal even worse than Michal had defeated Andrew. Michal had happily thanked the man for the experience as he had peeled himself off the mat. His Cea Thai sensei was pleased as well over the break at his progress in the art.

After spending a day at the Li family house their family had opened up even more with his. Now his grandparents were sending people into Magical China with introductions from the Li family. That had begun opening many doors that had not even been visible to them before.

One of the personal achievements of his was the permission to begin studying anatomy already. While he couldn't study healing magic for several years, he knew having an in-depth knowledge of how the body worked would be a great foundation to start with.

Michal was interested in learning more about Lady Jiutian Xuannü and had read the book several times already. He had been somewhat subtle, not overly so, about his interest around Sue Li. Letting her catch him reading it a few times throughout the year and making sure it was laying in the exercise room once where she could easily look it over without being obvious about it as well.

She had noticed it and given the book a look over quickly. That she knew he shared many of her talents and interests was just more for him to look forward to. He had no clue if the woman was even still alive or what other writings about her there were.

She could well still be kicking around as he had noticed that transfiguration masters and master healers seemed to live far longer than most. That wasn't even counting those like the Flamel's who had discovered a way to cheat the years through means of magical artifacts.

Michal was holding out a secret hope though, the woman was written about having lived over five thousand years ago and she was still teaching over two thousand years ago. A complete set of her works would likely by a dynasty level treasure. He was planning to offer a complete thousand-year-old basilisk corpse as an opening offer. That wasn't something he would even be qualified to speak of yet though until his family had more serious inroads in Magical China.

The school year was wrapping up soon and Michal had kept an eye on Harry Potter. Without the insanity that was his life in the books hanging over him he was a rather normal, if a bit of a git, eleven-year-old boy.

Hermione had found herself through her daily exercise and martial arts. She wasn't treated nearly as much of an outcast anymore now in her own house. That was something he was happy about for sure.

Both Justin's and Sue's birthday were near the end of the school year. He had gotten Justin a family tapestry of the Finch Family. His line was a squib line of the family that had separated nearly six hundred years ago. Justin was amazed by the gift; it would do much to clear up some of the murky family history.

Michal had been depressed to find out that it was considered highly inappropriate for him to give Sue Li a birthday present. He had found this out before gifting her one though so he had dodged a bludger there at least.

It was okay for his family to offer a small gift to hers in show of friendship though. They had given a somewhat rare lily as a gift having learned that Lily was the origin of her name.

She had thanked him the next day after the family had informed him of it. She was happy for both the gift and for him following the tradition as close as someone who was not raised in it could be expected to.

There had been a first edition of Hogwarts: A guide, which latter had the name changed to Hogwarts: A history for Hermione already set aside for her birthday next school year. He hadn't a clue when her birthday was and they had not been that close of friends by mid-September to give her something like that.

The four friends had made plans over the summer to meet each other a few times. The year drew to a close and he was riding the train home. It had been a good first year at Hogwarts. He had finally settled his mind fully as that of a young preteen as well. Yes, he had more knowledge and experience backing it up. It didn't change that he was eleven physically. He felt young mentally as well. The quick changing mind of youth was his and he was loving the fresh way of thinking that came with youth.

He was excited for the summer and what next school year would bring. Especially with the DADA curse having been broken. It seemed Remus Lupin was coming back next year!

Smiling he went back to the conversation with his friends about their plans for the summer.