Reviews
Alan
Did the vampire get dusted by the imaginary stake or did it just make him run away?
I thought Loki only used daggers in the movies when he wasn't using that spear with the Mind Stone inside it. Getting the dwarves to craft a number of daggers makes sense since the MC will need plenty and he can gift them to his allies.
Overthinking Everything
No that was Welsh. It's a language.
frankieu
You're welcome.
Crossworld 1 - Harry Potter
Part 28
Slughorn's Quarters. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Not long after the exams were done and the last Quidditch game of the school year was played, I'd finally run out of excuses to avoid going to one of Slughorn's parties. This one turned out to be more of a fancy dinner than anything else, so thankfully there weren't too many people around. I wasn't as much of an introvert as I used to be, but I'd still rather avoid large groups if I could.
With me having won every game I'd been in for Ravenclaw House during my so far short career as a Seeker and because I was sure Slughorn knew how well I'd done in the exams, he'd been very insistent on me coming to this little party of his. For once I didn't mind because Slughorn could be useful to me as could any connections I made at this event with other mages who had promising futures or famous relatives.
While I'd been told that I could bring a date I'd decided not to because I wasn't at all interested in dating and the only girl I ever spent time with was Granger and she got invited anyway as Slughorn had already singled her out as someone who could go far. He wasn't wrong as in some timelines she'd become Minister of Magic.
That was very unlikely to happen in this timeline due to all the changes I'd made and the fact that I planned to make certain that wasn't going to be much of a second wizarding war, or any war at all if I could help it, and this sure sucked for Hermione, however, it was for the Greater Good and this case that was a valid argument for messing with a career she could have had.
Unlike Dumbledore, I didn't use the Greater Good as a means of justifying my actions all the time, it was just that once in a while it was a valid philosophy, sometimes you did need to make small sacrifices to prevent some sort of bigger harm. I didn't feel great about it and I didn't think I was a good person either for making these choices, I simply felt that was necessary.
Perhaps that was partly why I'd taken her under my wing and why I was considering taking her with me to see more of the multiverse. Not as she was now I'd end up abandoning her somewhere when she got too annoying, however, with my guidance she might mature into someone worth having around.
Although I did think that it would be Luna I took with me unless she drastically changed as a person because if Luna and I got married Hermione would feel like a third wheel the entire time.
"What are you thinking about?" asked Granger.
Desert was being served as she spoke.
"I was just thinking about how much Luna would like to be at these parties," I said "She loves her pudding".
Hermione gave me a confused look.
"Who's Luna?" she asked.
Had I never mentioned her before?
"Luna is my future wife" I answered "We have an arranged marriage".
Granger would have choked if anything had been in her mouth.
"That's barbaric" she commented "Forcing children to marry someone they don't love when they grow up".
Bloody SJWs. Granger now had people staring daggers at her for disrespecting one of their cultural practices even if it was rarely used these days. Clearly, I still had some work to do on smoothing Hermione's rougher edges.
"Such agreements are a little outdated," said Slughorn "but it's not like anyone gets forced to marry at wand point".
I didn't think that would calm down the little witch.
"Arranged marriages can be very successful," I told the foolish Muggleborn "They are still rather common in India both in the muggle and magical societies, and rarely end in divorce unlike marriages in this country that so often break whole families apart. Besides I'm not being forced. no one can make me get married. I want to marry Luna I think she'll make a good wife".
Thankfully Slughorn changed the subject.
"I rather enjoyed your last Quidditch match, John" stated the teacher "If I hadn't seen you in action I wouldn't have believed how effortlessly you caught the Snitch just as Ravenclaw House got the points it needed".
We'd needed to be a certain amount of points ahead before I caught the Snitch in order to ensure that we made enough points to win the House Cup as well as all of the Quidditch games we'd played in. Of course, I had an AI providing me with aid so perhaps I was cheating a little. Cortana had been able to keep track of the Snitch once it was located while I watched the enemy Seeker.
This made my fellow Ravenclaws very happy as Slytherin house had been winning the house cup for years thanks to Snape being biased with the points, but with him gone and Dumbledore having no excuse to give his favourite house the cup by rewarding them massively for rule-breaking (because of me dealing with Voldemort back during the Halloween Feast) my house had won the cup, much to the delight of Professor Flitwick.
Not that this mattered much to me as house points were meaningless, and normally I liked to avoid any attention, but I was happy for my housemates, and it was after all just a game.
"Slytherin house put up a good fight," I said, "But they need a better Seeker. I hope they get one next year there's no sport it if the other teams don't have good players".
I could tell that Slughorn agreed with me.
"My hope is that one of the first years will be able to step up and take the role next year," said the teacher.
Since Draco Malfoy wasn't attending this school I wondered if someone else would bribe their way onto the team.
Before long the conversation moved on and I was left to chat with Harry who'd also been dragged into this little gathering.
"I was thinking about joining the Gryffindor team" he mentioned to me.
He should do. The lad was too pale and could do with getting some form of exercise as well as more fresh air. Plus teamwork was always a good skill to work upon.
"Your father was a Chaser for his team," I said.
His lack of reaction to the news let me know that he'd already discovered that fact.
"I was hoping that you could give me a few pointers," he said.
Since the Gryffindor team already had decent Chasers and Harry's slight build made him suited for speed it seemed likely he'd be the team's new seeker starting next year as their current one was a bit sluggish on his broom.
If Dobby was around then that could cause some problems with Harry playing the game safely. There'd be no Lockhart around to make things worse, but Potter could still get killed by some rogue bludgers.
I would need to handle Dobby myself, to summon him as Tom Hiddleston and assure the elf that I knew about the plot, and that I intended to prevent the Chamber from being reopened. Sadly it might involve the use of the mind arts on the poor creature, but I couldn't let anything happen to Potter.
"You'd have to wait until school starts up again," I told the Boy-Who-Lived "I don't have access to a pitch over the summer, and you'll need a decent broom. Perhaps we can go shopping and pick you out a broom".
Harry looked crestfallen.
"I don't think we'll get the chance to meet over the summer," he said.
Like hell was I going to let him be locked up until September.
"I'll come and visit" I promised "And if your family make any trouble my cousin will sort them out. He owns Grunnings now so your Uncle won't go against him".
Harry needed a moment to process that.
"Why did he buy Uncle Vernon's company?" he asked.
I had to lie a little here.
"Your uncle only manages Grunnings it doesn't belong to him" I explained "My cousin has a lot of business interests. Grunnings is just one of them".
I didn't want Harry to think that I was trying to control his life. Not that there was much chance of that happening since he never realised how bad it was for Dumbledore to manage his life so much.
"When school starts up again I'll show you some tricks" I promised "We'll have to be careful about it because I don't want anyone on my house's team to think that I'm aiding the enemy".
The prank war between his house and mind had died down finally. I didn't really want it to start up again. Loki might be amused by it and I didn't mind offering a little mischief as tribute as he'd given me cool powers, but I did have studies to be getting along with.
(Line Break)
Headmaster's Office. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Albus, too many middle names, Dumbledore was not a happy man and no amount of phoenix song or sweets would soothe him. He was upset because Harry Potter was not acting as Albus wished him to. The boy had shown very little in the way of curiosity about what was going on with the third-floor corridor or what was hidden within it despite the hints that had been dropped.
The boy had found the mirror and learned about Flamel, but he'd not ventured into the third-floor corridor. Because there hadn't been any reason for him to go. No one had gone near the place since Halloween. Oh, a few had dared to open the door to check out Fluffy as Hagrid called him, but once the novelty had worn off no student had shown much attention.
With there being no threat to the stone it wasn't odd that the boy had shown so little interest in the object. Maybe if someone hadn't done away with Quirinus Quirrell then things would have worked out differently.
Perhaps that Longbottom boy was to blame. He was rather timid, although less so according to the teachers he'd questioned now that the boy's parents were up and about. That Granger girl that Harry sometimes studied with might also be the cause even if she was likely to have helped Harry find information about Flamel.
No, it must be the fault of that Hiddleston boy who Harry kept hanging around with despite Dumbledore having suggested that Potter keep his distance from both of the Hiddleston wizards. He'd even gone as far as to hint that the Hiddleston's could be a family of dark wizards.
That the boy had ignored his advice had surprised Albus since he'd been careful to ensure that everyone who had contact with Harry had good opinions of the Headmaster and that those who didn't admire Albus were seen as untrustworthy by the boy. The Longbottoms weren't his biggest fans, but nor were they against him.
As for that Granger girl, he had been informed by her teachers that she was overly fond of authority figures and therefore she should encourage the boy to listen to his superiors, only that didn't seem to be happening. She was very close with the Hiddleston boy so perhaps she was more inclined to listen to him as a peer.
John Hiddleston should have been a non-issue. He was supposed to be some Muggleborn orphan with no influence, a charity case, but now he had the backing of a powerful if somewhat small family and the Headmaster couldn't do much to the young Ravenclaw because there was nothing to use against him.
Hiddleston was popular, he was his House's Quidditch player and never got into trouble with teachers because he rarely drew any attention to himself when not playing Quidditch, and despite being popular he didn't actually socialise much outside the tutoring he offered.
Dumbledore couldn't forbid Hiddleston to tutor anyone because students needed help and if it could spread around then others might refuse to tutor any younger students for fear of some sort of punishment.
He couldn't punish Hiddleston without a good reason because if he did his cousin might take offence and let it slip to a reporter who could twist it to look as if Dumbledore was lashing out against the Hiddleston family. Something Albus couldn't do because then it would look to some as if he was angry about the book that he'd spent a lot of time trying to downplay.
Looking back Albus could see that he should have handled it better when he'd found out that young Mr Potter had to the Hiddleston's house over the holidays. The lad must have felt some resentment towards his Headmaster for being forced back to the castle when he wanted to spend time with a friend. The gift of the cloak should have handled that, only it hadn't.
He could not afford to have Harry Potter disliking him so perhaps he should do something else to make him seem caring in the opinion of the boy. The young Mr Potter didn't care much for his Muggle relatives as such it might be a good idea for arrangements to be made to get the boy away from them and to make sure that Harry knew who had arranged the rescue.
Molly should be able to help there. She'd always been one of his most loyal supporters and she wouldn't mind taking in the boy for a week or two. Harry might even strike up a friendship with Molly's youngest son as Albus had hoped he would despite them not going to school together.
He'd have to come up with some other kind of test for the boy, but there was no rush, Harry was still young and Albus had time to mould him into the self-sacrificing hero that he needed to become.
Thinking on it, Dumbledore wondered if he should be trying to win young John Hiddleston over to his side. After all, while Tom Hiddleston was certainly no friend of Dumbledores, John was his own person and mature for his age meaning that he would have his own opinions.
That was something to think over during the summer. John might respond well if given some attention by such a famous wizard who could help with him his career and as Ravenclaw, he could be tempted with knowledge. He'd have to be subtle about it but was Dumbledore, people should listen to him.
Yes, he'd speak with the younger Hiddleston after the summer and bring him under the influence of the wise headmaster so that he could be correctly guided.
(Line Break)
Hiddleston Residence. Godric's Hollow.
While I could fly around as any number of birds, take the Knight Bus, jump on a broom, or simply teleport around the country, I'd still decided to invest time and effort into making my own enchanted motorcycle so that I could drive around with ease.
It wouldn't be a waste as teleporting long distances can be dangerous and the Knight Bus had to be powered by trapped demons because there was no other way to make a form of public transport so evil. Plus there are ways to prevent magical teleporting and brooms were easy to damage, and I didn't want people to know that I could transform.
To that end, I'd purchased a Harley-Davidson Fat Boy for a princely sum, and now I working on casting a number of advanced spells on the bike that should allow it to move much faster than was possible for a normal motorbike.
Unlike in many fan-written stories, this did not involve carving runes onto the object. Rather I had cast a number of spells onto the vehicle and since these were permanent charms they took quite a power to cast. This made the work time consuming and mentally tiring
I'd expanded the inside of the fuel tanks and placed charms upon the petrol so that the fuel would refill itself. This wouldn't last forever as while you could add to the volume of something with magic it would over time degrade so I would need to refill the tank once in a while. I just wouldn't have to do it very often and the container could contain far more fuel than it could normally. Helping this would be that the bike would mostly be running on magic.
It was legal to charm muggle items to do things that they were meant to do even if those charms allowed the object to perform better, so having a car or bike that ran mostly on magic was fine, but I shouldn't have it going invisible or be flying around, like a certain car seen in the Chamber of Secrets movie, that would get me into trouble with the Ministry and less I had to do with them the better for everyone.
As such you can buy a muggle teapot and bewitch it to keep the tea warm for you longer than a normal teapot would, but it's illegal to make it so it keeps cold drinks at a low temperature, you'd have to enchant an icebox or buy the wizarding version, or use the cooling charm when you wanted a nice cold drink. Or you could just buy a wizarding tea set if you really wanted hot drinks flying around for some insane reason.
I wanted other features for the bike, such as whatever charms were on the Knight Bus that let it travel vast distances in mere seconds. The bike should prove simple enough to enchant given that I could call upon the spirit of James Potter who must have helped Sirus Black with his bike at some point.
Already I'd decided to contact Sirius Black and get the information I needed from him since I didn't think he'd refuse. That had involved sending an owl and until he replied I'd go back down into the basement so that I could work on one of my other projects. There wasn't much more I could do with the bike before I spoke with Black.
Once I was in the basement I decided to quickly summon up James Potter anyway just to see if he could offer a few tips. I also needed to find out who had actually charmed the Knight Bus and speak to them if they were dead by now, as I didn't think it was actually empowered by demons even if it sure felt that way when I was riding around in the evil machine.
Perhaps I should speak to Lily Potter as well if only to let the couple know that I'd taken some action to help their son. That might entice them to share useful information in the future. I would just ensure that it was a short meeting since casually chatting with the dead was not a good idea.
As for projects I had plenty of them to be getting on with. I still needed more test subjects for my studies of the mind arts and to begin looking more into the Death Eaters since once I had the diary I'd be going after them. That was going to take some research and planning before I made any moves.
(Line Break)
Number 12 Grimmauld Place. London.
Sirus Black had responded to my owl much sooner than I'd expected I got the sense from his wording that he didn't have much going on and wanted some company. As such I decided to head over to his home so that we could discuss the enchantments that needed to be placed on my motorbike.
I noticed right away how much brighter and cleaner the house was when compared to the last time I'd been here with Regulus Black who was hopefully on the other side of the planet living out a peaceful life. I wondered if Sirius had acquired a new House Elf or if he'd done the work himself since he had nothing better to do with his time.
"My cousin wanted to know if Harry has moved in with you" I mentioned.
Sirius Black took me into the kitchen and I couldn't have failed to notice the smell of firewhisky. Someone had been drinking heavily and had recently cleaned up any sign of it yet the smell remained.
"No he's better off at his Aunt and Uncle's house," Black said.
We'll I'd hopefully improved conditions for the Boy-Who-Lived he would still take moving in here over staying at Privet Drive. Besides, Grunnings did make me a small profit and I liked having leverage over Vernon Dursely as such I wouldn't have considered the purchase a waste.
"Really because I spoke to my cousin about that after he went to Little Whinging with young Harry to get permission for him to stay at my home for the Christmas holidays last year" I mentioned "He told me all about how unpleasant Harry's aunt is".
I could tell that Sirius felt a bit guilty. I didn't think that it wasn't his wish that Harry would live elsewhere. The Headmaster must have pressured him quite a bit.
"Dumbledore assured me that it is for the best," said the former inmate.
It was a good thing that I had such fine self-control or I might have cursed this idiot. I went to some trouble to get him out of prison as part of my plans, and it hadn't been only about screwing with the Headmaster, I'd actually wanted a better life for Harry Potter if only because I felt sorry for the boy.
"You're his godfather, surely it's up to you what is best for the lad," I pointed out.
Black poured us a drink each. It was a little early in the day for me, but I could tell that the wizard needed to talk to someone about this and I wasn't without a sense of empathy. I was even considering letting him talk to Lily and James Potter if he would make some sort of magical vow never to tell anyone about him being able to chat with their spirits.
"I want him here," he said, "But there are special wards around his aunt's house".
Given that Harry had never been attacked by Death Eaters or Voldemort when at his home there did seem to be some evidence of their existence, but since Potter is nearly soul-sucked by Dementors when close to number 4 they must not extend very far.
"No point in keeping him alive if he isn't living" I pointed out.
Black took a moment to consider those words and let him before speaking further.
"Besides even if he has to live with his aunt why can't you stay there with him or just visit a lot?" I questioned, "Even if you draw some attention to the place he must be safer with a proper wizard nearby".
While I did care about Harry I had to admit, at least to myself, that I enjoyed doing anything that might befuddle Dumbledore. It made me feel good inside.
Black changed the subject to enchanting the motorbike. Cortana would keep a record of every single word in this conversation so there was no need for me to write anything down.
(Line Break)
Ottery St Catchpole. England.
Like the Knight Bus, my new bike took far less time to reach somewhere than should be possible even at really high speeds. It should have taken me at least a few hours to get here depending on traffic, but I'd gotten here in slightly less than half an hour according to my watch even if it didn't feel like so long. That simply wasn't possible and yet I didn't think the bike had been teleporting around.
This was something that I mentioned to Cortana as she'd experienced the ride along with me and might have noticed how odd it had felt.
"I think it works as some theoretical FTL drives I've read about are supposed to work," I said to Cortana, "There's an idea called Space Folding which is this fictional method of instant space travel whereby an FTL engine causes space to fold so that the start and endpoints of the trip are suddenly right next to each other".
The AI gave it some thought before speaking.
"I have heard of that idea, and it might work that way somewhat, by folding and twisting space in some way. A lot like the Knight Bus seems to" she said, "I did notice how some of the roads seemed to stretch out longer while some were shorter. There didn't seem to be any sort of pattern to it".
If so then wizards had beaten the muggles when it came to FTL travel even if they'd never ventured into space. If they could make a motorcycle or a bus bend space and maybe time like this then what could wand magic do to something like the space shuttle? Something I also ran by Cortana
"The books do say that Muggle technology and magic don't mix, but the Knight Bus, the Hogwarts Express and that bike suggest otherwise," she said to me as we headed closer towards the Burrow "Something to look into if I ever find the time and if we ever go to a universe with space travel it could be profitable to see if FTL travel can be achieved with certain enchantments".
For now, I needed to meet with Arthur Weasley so that my bike could be approved by someone official. To that end, I pushed the bike into the yard of the Burrow where I was met by a member of the family.
"Who the hell are you and what are you doing in my yard?" Ron Weasley demanded to know.
He sounded as if he very much didn't approve of our presence here. Not this surprised me as the redhead treated everyone badly even Luna Lovegood who was basically harmless and nice to people. Molly Weasly was also a judgemental bitch and had been mean to me because of the anti-Dumbledore book despite the fact that I'd been in the form of John Hiddleston at the time.
"I have some business with your father," I said.
Of course, he demanded to know what kind of business. As if I needed his approval before speaking to one of his parents.
"It's to do with your father's work," I told him.
Thankfully a more friendly member of the household appeared and soon Arthur Weasly was looking over the bike having been drawn to it.
"Mr Weasly I'm Tom Hiddleston" I greeted "Sorry to bother you at the weekend, but I needed to see you at home".
Of course, he'd heard of me.
"This is my charmed motorcycle," I told the man "I wanted to run it by you encase it violates any laws".
Given the car he'd be working on around this time he should know the laws about such things.
"Why didn't you bring this into the Ministry?" he asked.
I was supposed to do that according to the law, but since I lacked any political clout aside from being wealthy it had seemed wise to bring to someone unlikely to be corrupt. Besides, how would I even get it into the Ministry with the bike? I didn't know how the shrinking charm might react with the expansion charm in the fuel tank.
As for the law, I knew that Arthur Weasley was able to bewitch a Ford Anglia to fly legally because he did not intend to fly the car, as such having a flying bewitchment on the bike wasn't illegal should I ever put one on it as long as I didn't fly on it. A bit of a loophole even if it was sort of illegal. And that law wouldn't matter once I'd left this world.
"I heard that it's your department that handles this sort of thing," I said, "And I didn't think that I'd be able to get the bike into the visitor's entrance at the Ministry so I decided to bring it directly to you".
Mr Weasly began to look the bike over as he did I noticed that the only girl child of the Weasley Clan was watching me. I must look like a very stereotypical bad boy right now what with my dragonhide jacket, which unlike my normal coat wasn't likely to get caught in the wheels.
"Something this big wouldn't even fit in my office," said the Ministry worker.
He knew what he was doing because he worked at The Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office. His entire job was about regulating the use of magic on Muggle objects and trying to keep items that had been bewitched away from Muggles.
To this end, members of his Office along with people from other departments were known to participate in raids and to do other things to keep magic items out of the hands of people who might misuse them. Mostly this involved containing and destroying bewitched items meant to harm or even kill Muggles.
"So I can ride it, just not fly it," I said "Not that it has a flying charm on it yet".
Sirius Black had offered to add charms to allow that when we'd been working on the bike. I just wanted to know if it was legal before having them add.
"Unless your life is at risk" the Ministry employee explained, "But that's an absolute last resort as you'd have to explain your reasoning at a Ministry Hearing if anyone was to see you".
And given the corruption within the Wizarding Government, they might not accept my reasoning.
"Leave it with me for a week for a proper inspection and I'll grant you permission as long as the charms check out," Mr Weasely said "All magical forms of transport needed to be approved by the Department of Magical Transportation so I'll talk to Madam Edgecombe before I write up a wavier for you".
The Department of Magical Transportation normally only handled the Floo Network, portkeys and Apparition, but I could see how the bike would need their approval. Since I didn't want legal trouble I decided to come back in a week. I figured that the redheaded man would be checking the charms against his own bewitched car, but since this was his field of expertise I trusted him not to do anything that would harm my new toy.
"Just don't tell your wife whose bike it is" I requested "From what I've heard she's not a big fan of mine".
The red-headed wizard found this amusing.
"I'll keep it in the garage," he said "She never goes in there".
Why is it that married men so often get pushed into garages, attics and basements? Perhaps I'd find out one day if I ended up living with Luna Lovegood. For now, I had my home to myself and I had valid versions for spending time in my basement.
Before I teleported myself away I used an illusion to hide myself and wandered the outskirts of the property as part of an effort to build a new magical map. One that would let me know who was in the Burrow.
I wanted to return for my bike at a time I knew that Dumbledore or any member of the Order wasn't visiting the Burrow. I would also need to remove any tracking charms the Headmaster might decide to place on the bike once he knew about it. This was something I wouldn't put past him even if he wasn't showing much interest in me as far as I could tell.
Once I was done with the charms required for the map I'd take the form of John Hiddlestone so I could visit Luna.
