The Gaunt Shack. Little Hangleton.
I'd come to this charming little bit of the British countryside because it was the ancestral home of the Gaunt wizarding family, a run-down place located in a clearing in the woods near a road that was just outside the charming village of Little Hangleton.
I would make my way into the village sooner or later as I had business within a certain graveyard. I didn't want Voldemort returning to power in case he attacked my home, killed any friends I made in this world, or disrupted my ability to shop in Diagon Alley for needed supplies.
The former Gaunt residence was a shabby little shack that had once housed Marvolo Gaunt, his wife, their son Morfin, and daughter Merope. While time might be to blame for its current poor state I remembered from the books that it had never been a place that anyone other than the poorest of the poor would want to live within.
This was odd since they should have been able to improve the shack with magic. I could only assume that centuries of inbreeding had taken away the intelligence required to plan out such improvements and the magical skills needed to carry out such designs. Nor did they have the wealth required to pay others to do the work as I would have.
What really mattered about this location was that after the last of the Gaunts had died or been locked up in Azkaban, the residence was then used as a hiding place for one of Lord Voldemort's Horcruxes, the ring that he stole from Marvolo Gaunt after framing the man for the murder of the Riddle family.
I wanted to destroy the ring and claim the Deathly Hallow so as to help weaken Voldemort and to increase my own power. With that stone, I could question some of the greatest magic users of all time (at least in this world) on a variety of magical topics and this would make learning magic much easier.
That was the least the stone could do if used correctly. I could solve murders by questioning the victims, I could speak to historical figures to learn more about the past, and find the location of lost treasures by seeking information from those that hide their fortunes. Assuming that I could find some way of compelling them to talk to me.
If he could understand modern English then I wouldn't mind having words with Herpo the Foul, the inventor of Horcruxes in the hopes of finding out if I could use the diary to defeat Voldemort or gain power from it.
Of course, I would use the stone carefully as it was possible that the magical artefact was actually meant to drive people to kill themselves. If there were any hints of that then I was going to throw the stone in the ocean after putting it into a heavy box.
Although there was little evidence of this aside from the tale of the Three Brothers the only two people to die while possessing the stone didn't really die because of it.
Dumbledore was cursed by the ring the stone was attached to because his desire to speak with the dead and seek forgiveness from them overrode his common sense. As for Harry Potter, he'd decided to die before he used the stone.
"Shouldn't be more than half an hour, Mr Macross" I heard someone say.
I turned my head to see William 'Bill' Weasly the eldest son of Arthur and Molly Weasley who had graduated from Hogwarts a couple of years ago and now was a Curse Breaker. He was working under several more experienced wizards to aid me in obtaining the stone. He would be working in Egypt in the future, right now he was here backing up other Curse Breakers because I paid for their services.
"There's no rush," I said "And it's just Macross".
This team of Curse Breakers had been rather easy to hire even at short notice since I could afford to throw some gold around and it would be well worth the expense as once I had the stone I could learn the locations of many hidden treasures and other lost secrets.
What was going on here would be hidden by magical contracts, but it was legal since the Gaunt Shack had become the property of Gringotts due to unpaid debts. I'd simply purchased the property while hiring the Curse Breakers.
I wondered if Voldemort had ever returned to this place since laying his Horcrux to rest here. Was he so arrogant that he simply assumed that the defences he'd laid down as a sixteen-year-old boy would work against Curse Breakers? Or did he think that by never returning here and thus not drawing attention to the place, it would help keep the Horcrux secure?
"Can you tell me anything about this object we're supposed to be finding?" asked Bill.
Due to the laws of this country, I'd needed to buy the Gaunt Shack, and the land it was built on, from the goblins in order to claim the ring legally, the goblins had taken it in payment from the Gaunts due to non-payment of loans once the last of them had either died or been locked up for the rest of their lives. It was worthless, but by buying it I owned anything found on the property since there were known Gaunts left to counter my claim.
Voldemort could legally challenge a claim since the goblins didn't care at all if you were born outside of marriage or had a different surname because they tested inheritance via blood, but Tom Riddle was officially dead so that wasn't an issue.
"It's just an old ring," I said "A gold ring with a black stone. I suspect that it has been cursed so please be careful. It's a family heirloom".
Just not an heirloom of my family.
"We can contain a Cursed object" assured Bill "It's the shack I'm worried about I don't think it will stay standing for much longer. Not now that we're removing the spells cast on it".
This didn't concern me.
"I don't care about the shack," I told the young wizard, "I think it will be best to dismantle it all and burn what's left"
Bill Weasly agreed with me.
"There's dark magic here, has been for a long time," he said "Before we go I'll lay down some fresh muggle-repelling wards so that they stay away from here".
That would be wise and I wasn't at all worried about any of the Curse Breakers saying anything about me owning this place and recovering a cursed object because these wizards all worked for Gringotts, not the Ministry which was heavily compromised, and they'd all signed magical contracts that prevented them from giving anyone details of their work.
"We've got it!" declared one of the older Curse Breakers.
He'd just come out of the shack and he was carrying a heavy-looking box in his hand that must contain the ring. The box was special, meant to safely contain cursed objects.
"It's got a compulsion charm on it and some nasty curse I got rid of, but there's still something dark about it" I was warned
The thing about compulsion charms, a type of spell which can compel a person to perform a certain action, is that they aren't hard to resist even if you don't know how to make use of the mind arts to help control yourself as long you are aware of them.
Ginny Weasly being a little girl, feeling homesick and lonely was compelled to write in the diary due to such a spell, but even then with the diary having taken hold of her she still managed to resist long enough to try getting rid of the Horcrux for a time.
Voldemort must know that a magical compulsion that he'd put on the ring wouldn't work on someone with the skills required to get past the defences he put up. Perhaps he was so arrogant that he just assumed that his compulsion would be more effective because he'd placed the spell on the ring himself. Even teenagers who aren't evil can be very sure of themselves and do underestimate those they see as inferior despite them often being the superior ones.
"Thank you, gentlemen," I said to the group as I took the box "Forgot about this and enjoy your bonuses".
I imagined that Bill would use the extra money to spoil his large and somewhat poor family so lucky for him I would be sending more work his way as he would be part of the team that was going over the stuff I'd pulled out of the Room of Requirement.
As for me, I had other matters to attend to while I was in the area.
Graveyard. Little Hangleton.
Like the now dismantled Gaunt Shack, this graveyard was located just outside the village of Little Hangleton. Both the graveyard and the Riddle House were clearly visible from the hillside above the valley as I'd seen for myself when walking towards the village from what remained of the Gaunt family's property.
By the time I'd gotten here, it become dark enough to do my work with little fear of anyone seeing me and if they did there were spells to handle that problem by messing with people's minds.
Granted I'd never tried them on human beings before and I might not have the power to cast the spells, so it was good that I could just teleport away if things got rough. Not anything sort of a lynch mob was something I needed to worry about as I did have a gun. I doubted that there were any armed police to call upon in the area.
From up on the hill I'd been able to see that there was another graveyard behind the local church. I figured that the one I was in now must be for the Riddle family rather than the whole community. This was easy enough to confirm since nearly everyone here had the name Riddle on their gravestone. Did most of the women who married into other families end up buried elsewhere?
As for Mister Frank Bryce, the Riddle's groundskeeper who was thought by the local muggles to be the one who killed Voldemort's family, he lived in a cottage on the grounds that was located right next to the graveyard and was separated from it by the stone wall that wouldn't have hidden me from view if he looked out in the graveyard while I was working.
Due to one set of the cottage's kitchen windows facing the graveyard, I'd know that I would need to deal with Mr Bryce before coming here. I didn't want him to know about the coming switch and somehow end up letting Voldemort know if the Dark Lord ever came here. The Dark Lord was known to enter people's minds.
Stunning an elderly gentleman was risky, but I'd needed him out of the way for a time. Stunning him was safer than shooting him and less cruel than assaulting him before tying him up. Besides, it was one of the few spells that I could actually cast and was rather easy to use.
Even though I was here to take an action that could save hundreds, maybe even thousands of lives, I still felt bad about attacking an old man, so to make myself feel better if nothing else, I'd left Frank with some muggle money. Enough that he could go on holiday at least.
I knew that I would need to toughen myself up. I might have to do some nasty things in order to achieve the power I desired and there would be forces out there that I couldn't simply run away from since there were others who travel to different dimensions.
For now, my focus was on the newest graves here, those of the three Riddles who'd died decades ago and who had been the last of the Riddles to be buried here as no more came after them. The Dark Lord's paternal grandparents and father were the last and had all laid to rest in this graveyard shortly after being murdered by the self-styled Lord Voldemort.
It was also the site where Lord Voldemort would return to power or would have been able to if not for me taking steps to prevent this from ever happening.
To start with I dug up the grave of Voldemort's father and I was thankful to find only a few bones as the man had been buried for more than forty years so the worms had done their work.
I carefully placed the remains of the muggle Tom Riddle in a pouch. This was a man I felt bad for even if he had abandoned an unborn son since he'd been magically drugged and repeatedly raped by Voldemort's mother until she got pregnant.
Given that their relationship didn't last very long, he might have not believed that Merope Gaunt was pregnant he could have thought it to be a lie by his abuser to keep him around. It wasn't as if she'd be the first woman to do something underhanded to keep a rich husband.
Even if he had believed her I couldn't blame Tom Riddle for not sticking around and looking after his rapist. Perhaps he should have kept track of Merope in case she was pregnant, but this had been a long time ago when you couldn't just track someone's progress online.
Thinking on I decided that this was all the fault of Voldemort's mother really. I had no sympathy for that woman at all. If she'd not roofied a man she had a crush on a lot of death and suffering would have been avoided.
While I'd intended to rebury the muggle Tom Riddle I realised that it would be safer to destroy his bones just in case Voldemort had some way of tracking his father's remains. I wouldn't put it past the Dark Lord to know a spell for such a thing.
These bones were also very old and from a man who died decades ago. I needed them to pass for the bones of a long-dead non-magical so they had to be as normal as possible. This was why I didn't use animal bones or a woman so as to hopefully mess up the ritual even more.
My plan depended on Wormtail, or anyone else trying to carry out the ritual. not bothering to check if anything was wrong with the bones, although how he would do that I had no clue, did they have magical DNA testing?
I didn't want to use any of the other Riddle's remains in case somehow the bones of Voldemort's second cousin Jermory Riddle would somehow work for the ritual. I didn't know enough about magic to know what would happen if he used a different relative's remains.
Once the bones were in place I covered them up and used a potion meant to speedily grow plants and a packet of grass seeds to make it seem as if the grave was overgrown by plant life.
It needed to look as if no one had ever messed with it, and it should look okay by the time Voldemort took up residence in the manor. Assuming he ever got that far.
This plan to prevent the return of Voldemort to power was far from flawless, but it was just one plan of many and might never matter since I was working to prevent his return.
Taking out the Horcruxes was just part of the overall scheme to defeat the Dark Lord and to make sure that the world I would be spending a lot of time in didn't burn in a civil war.
One of my plans involved using my Deathly Hallow to summon and trap Voldmort's spirit. If I could contain the spirit within some sort of object that I could seal away in a secure container, and then abandon him somewhere on a lifeless planet then would solve a lot of problems.
If I dealt with the Horcruxes then Voldmort's spirit might just fade away even if he wasn't killed in some way while he had a physical existence. Harry Potter wasn't a proper Horcrux and might be enough on his own to tie Voldemort's spirit to this plane of existence.
Although the Prophecy might do something to cause things to work out so that Harry Potter still ends Voldemort no matter what I did. Not that I had much faith in prophecy so I wasn't going to worry about it.
Number 12 Grimmauld Place. London.
"I'm impressed that you were able to purchase this property so quickly," I said to the goblin known as Sharphook who was taking care of this matter for Gringotts "I thought it would take longer given that all the people with a claim to it are either dead or locked up in Azkaban".
It was just a shame that the home I wanted to buy from the muggles and then be converted hadn't been sorted out so quickly. Although living in a magical tent wasn't so bad since it had modern comforts and by moving around I was hard to find. Not that anyone should be looking for me.
The non-human and I walked into the house after a large group of curse-breakers went in, intending to cleanse the building of any cursed objects they could find. Those people removed curses laid on tombs from thousands of years ago as such they wouldn't have a problem with a few dark artefacts left behind by the Blacks.
"Sirius Black was quite eager to sell" Sharphook informed me, "He told the bank employee who managed to get into see him that he'd be happy to get rid of it. He doesn't even want the money, he instructed us to divide the gold between a few different people".
If not for the fact that it was magically protected even from the likes of Voldemort I doubted that Sirius Black would ever have gone near the place, but the Order of Phoneix had needed a safe house.
As for me, I had plans for this property beyond acquiring the locket Horcrux, this house was going to become my version of Marvel's Sanctum Sanctorum, the place I would use for the storage of magical items and books that I didn't want in the house I lived in.
While I had no interest in the dark arts (as people who used them rarely lived happy lives) I knew that magical items can be dangerous even if the intent behind their creation wasn't to harm others. Best to keep that stuff separate from the house I might have guests in.
"Mr Black requested that we make it known he was never given a trial" mentioned Sharphook as we ended a living room of some kind "Gringotts agreed to this term and informed the public".
The goblin took a copy of today's paper out of his leather suitcase and I skimmed the front page to find that someone had tipped off Rita Skeeter. She had made the fact that Black never got a trial seem like some sort of evil conspiracy by the Ministry. She'd phrased things in such a way that I suspected that people would soon be demanding the Black get his day in court for everyone to see.
"We leaked the information to Miss Skeeter" I was told by the goblin "She's always good at getting the public riled up and we'll push for a trial as well. Any expenses for this will be charged to your main vault".
That didn't concern me at all as the chest full of jewels found in the Room of Requirement had turned out to be real and worth more than enough to cover my expenses. The goblins didn't care where they got their wealth from and had a lot of influence due to their control over money.
"The gold paid for the house will be divided between Harry Potter, Remus Lupin, and Andromeda Tonks" Sharphook was now saying "He didn't want a knut for himself".
I wondered if Lupin would accept the money since he thought Sirius Black to be guilty. As for Potter, he didn't even know he had a godfather so this should all come as a surprise for him.
For a moment I wondered if I should try to expose the fact that Wormtail was still alive. I knew where he was right now and it might be a good idea to tip someone off because if the rat finds out that Black might go free he could flee the country. If Peter went looking for Voldemort then I would be very glad that I'd replace those bones at the graveyard.
Since I knew that Voldemort would most likely travel to Riddle Manor once he returned to the country and that this would take some time I might be able to handle him myself. I still had time to learn plenty of magic and Gringotts might be able to help me get in contact with some fighters who didn't work for the Ministry or Dumbledore.
The goblins had their claws in many pies and I had the wealth to take advantage of that. Hiring some mercenaries and securing their services for a time with magically binding contracts would be expensive, yet worth it.
That was something to keep in mind if Voldemort got back into the country. It would be best to prevent that if possible. I could try to deal with the rat myself, but I could see that going wrong as while getting into Hogwarts wasn't an issue for me I didn't want to draw Dumbledore's attention to me and that would happen if something went wrong.
Besides, I had better things to be doing with my time. I needed to look into getting tutors as the books would only take me so far.
"Does Gringotts have any contacts at the DMLE?" I asked, "I'd like to tip them off about something, but I don't want it being traced back to me".
The Curse Breakers were moving from room to room, collecting cursed items that would be cleansed if possible and destroyed if not. They were far too busy to overhear anything I had to say.
"All Gringotts customers have a guarantee of confidently" I was assured, "We wouldn't have remained in business for centuries if it were otherwise".
A fair point.
"And we do have contacts in that part of the Ministry" I was told, "Aurors who wouldn't mind making a bit of gold on the side".
It was nice when the Ministry's corruption served my purposes.
"Peter Pettigrew is alive and hiding out as a rat called Scabbers at Hogwarts," I told the goblin "And Barty Crouch Senior is hiding his son at his family home".
If Sharphook had any emotional reaction to this news he hid it very well.
"Gringotts will tip off the right people for a small fee," he told me "If your information is correct it will embarrass the Ministry. Never a bad thing for the goblins".
No more of that was mentioned because Bill Weasly, who was again going to be getting a nice bonus for his work, came into the room to give a report.
"We've found a house elf," he told us "We've stunned it".
The elf didn't belong to me as did everything else in the house, he belong to the Black family so he would have to be sent to the Malfoys or the Tonks. It wasn't my concern as long as the elf didn't return here and there were spells that could prevent that.
"We've found a number of cursed and illegal items," said Weasly.
I was presented with a list that was updating itself as more objects were discovered by the Curse Breakers.
"Destroy anything that is dangerous if you can't make it safe" I ordered.
Due to the security ensured by contracts, the employees couldn't tell the Ministry what they had found here. I would happily pay to keep it that way even if it meant forking over more gold in the future.
"It would be better to take all the books with us and then hand over the dark stuff to the Ministry without telling them where it comes from" advised the redhead "We can put the books that aren't so dark in your vault so you can collect them later".
That was fine with me. I was no light wizard, but I had no desire to be a dark one either. As for the Ministry asking questions, that was what bribes were for.
"Whatever you think is best," I said.
I wasn't experienced enough with the local magic or the magic users to decide for myself.
"Sir, we can deal with the pests as well," said Weasly to Sharpclaw "But that will take a few hours even with the full team. The team leader thinks we could still be here well until the evening, there's just do much to go through".
The goblin looked at me.
"If you're willing to pay for overtime then I see no problem with this," he said.
I agreed and the young wizard soon got back to work.
Before long another wizard came into the room and the locket Horcrux in a box meant to secure dangerous objects. I only opened it long enough to be sure that it was the correct item.
"We had to stun the House Elf to get this off him" I was told.
I hadn't destroyed the ring yet since I wanted to question Herpo the Foul about the Horcruxes in case there were ways to use them against Voldemort or to empower myself. It would be good to have a spare in case anything went wrong.
Gwynedd. Wales.
I had not expected this property to be ready so soon. From what I'd been told via a letter from the bank, my promise of a large bonus had lit a fire under the feet of the dwarven workers resulting in them converting the large white building into a wizard home in a couple of weeks rather than the predicted month and a half.
In my view, that was well worth paying a big bonus for and it made me wonder if the dwarves had much else going on in their lives. If not then it was good that I still had greenhouses for them to put up.
If I had been intending to live in this world full time, rather than simply using it as a place to stay when not adapting to the magic of some far-off world, I might have felt inclined to look more into the situation of the dwarves and to see if I could use their poor economic situation to my advantage in some way.
My current intentions were far less ambitious and while I hired the dwarven workers to fix up Grimmauld Place that would likely be the last time I had need of their services. My focus was on learning the magic of this world and to that end, I needed a large home even though I lived on my own.
Having extra bedrooms could be useful if I gained followers of some kind, or made myself a harem, because why not? but mostly the bedrooms had been converted into spaces useful for a wizard. The house now contained a potions lab, a duelling area, a study and a large library as well as what a home should contain such as a kitchen, bathroom, living room and a proper dining area.
There were features of the house that I wasn't too happy about such as the elf I'd purchased to take care of everything while I was away. I didn't like owning a creature that was basically a slave.
However, I couldn't just abandon the property for months at a time (or perhaps more if time moved differently in other realities) and so I'd needed a House Elf. At least Tippy wasn't too bright it had been easy to trick the magical being into accepting an allowance meant to cover expenses such as wearing a clean uniform, I learned fast never to use words such as wages or clothes around a House Elf.
Sooner or later I'd have to hire an elf to look after my other house. That might take some time as House Elves weren't that common, nor were they cheap to buy, not that there was any rush.
"Sir your guest is here," said the elf as he popped into the library.
The Curse Breakers had done as they promised and dealt with the books that were dark by Ministry standards at least and many of the ones I'd found at Hogwarts had been left by children so they'd been cleared rather quickly by the hard-working wizards and witches who I was happy to pay overtime to. I'd always gotten the impression that most wand wavers were lazy, but Curse Breakers were different.
Quite a few of them taken from the school had clearly come from the library and then hadn't been returned. I'd left them behind since they belonged to the school and should be left for future students to find.
Even with those books removed and many from the Black library having been handed over to the Ministry. I still had more to read though than I could get through even if I spent years doing nothing other than studying, and that wasn't counting the books I'd purchased.
There were books that were legal to own but existed in a moral or legal grey area, that would be kept safe in my Sanctum Santorum. I wanted my public house to be a safe place for visitors, even children should one or more somehow find their way inside the house.
It just made sense to me now to have a home open to people and one hidden away as that made it possible for me to take further advantage of what this world had to offer.
"Take him into the drawing room and serve tea" I ordered.
The drawing room was just the space I'd chosen to receive guests in. It was comfortable enough for the role.
"Yes, sir," said Tippy before he scampered off.
House Elves were a subservient race to the wand wavers, yet they could be very firm about some things, such as terms of address. I should be referred to as Master Macross, and it had taken some effort from me to get Tippy to agree to simply call me sir.
I didn't rush to the drawing room as that would make me seem too eager. Instead, I wandered in after making my guest wait for a short time.
"Mr Macross," said the wizard as he stood up.
I wondered what Remus Lupin, the man I had hired as a tutor as even my library could only take me so far, would think of the owner of this fancy home when he saw me in my comfortable muggle clothing.
"It's just Macross," I told my guest as I gestured for him to sit.
Tippy served the tea before vanishing off to wherever it was he spent most of his time. There were sets that would pour for you, however, I felt it unwise to have pots and cups full of hot liquid floating about. Call me crazy.
"It's Remus then" he replied "I read your letter and I'm surprised that someone as old as you needs a tutor".
Magical children don't attend some version of Primary School as I did when I was a kid. They are either taught by their parents or tutors. Lupin was for hire in that role and his past experience was likely one of the reasons why Dumbledore had taken the risk of hiring a werewolf as a professor. I didn't he got much work as a tutor given that he was a werewolf and people don't one near their children.
"I didn't have the means to obtain an education in magic until now" I explained "A distant relative of mine passed recently and that changed my situation drastically as you can see by the house. I now have a chance to learn magic and I intended to take it".
Which was all true, it just wasn't all of the truth. I wanted him to think that I just never had the chance to go to Hogwarts or one of the other schools rather than wonder more about my past.
"I have no trouble teaching an adult" he mentioned.
Even if I had ended the curse of the job of Profesor of Defence Against the Dark Arts by destroying the Horcrux stashed in Hogwarts, the two things did seem to have a connection given that the Horcrux was hidden in the castle the same day that Voldemort was refused a job at Hogwarts, I didn't think Lockhart would last due to him being a total fool.
As such Lupin might still end up teaching at Hogwarts. However, if Sirius Black got out of Azkaban legally then Lupin might never be hired by Dumbledore, but that wasn't my problem, and all I could do about it was pay the man well during the time he spent tutoring me.
"I want my education to focus around Charms and Defence Against the Dark Arts," I told the werewolf "If you feel something is valid to my education then add it to your lesson plans".
We began to discuss pay and time off. He made the excuse of having an illness to explain why he needed regular time off. Even if I hadn't known about his 'furry problem' I might have figured it out from the dates he
wanted off.
"I can cover the use of the wolfsbane potion," I told my tutor "As long as you secure yourself and take the potion I have no problem with having a werewolf in my home".
In my view, he was no different than someone who'd been infected with HIV through no fault of their own. As long as Lupin took the right precautions I had no issue with him being in my life.
"Please don't let it get around that I'm a monster part of the month" he requested.
He didn't need to worry about that.
"I don't gossip" I assured the man.
We soon got to sorting out a timetable that would see me taking lessons a few times a week that would be focused on the use of charms and defence. I would need to look into a separate teacher for potions and I had someone in mind for that.
Gwynedd. Wales.
Overall I liked Horace Slugborn who was the tutor I'd hired to teach me about potions. He clearly had a passion for the subject and took the time to explain why certain ingredients were needed as well as why potions sometimes had to be stirred anti-clockwise rather than clockwise.
How you stir a potion can change how the ingredients will react to each other. This can be why potions sometimes explode or end up reacting in ways they really shouldn't.
People with magical abilities can bring out the magical properties of certain substances. If a muggle tried to brew a potion they'd just end up with a cauldron of gloop because the magical properties of the ingredients wouldn't react together properly. Or they could end up making something toxic due to chemical reactions that don't happen as long as the potion is bewed correctly.
Knowing this I was quite surprised by the lack of health and safety involved in these lessons, but the wand wavers were a durable lot and unless an injury was caused by dark magic they didn't have much trouble healing most wounds due to their medical magic. This made them less cautious than they should be.
There were also factors to consider such as the freshness of the ingredients, even something like the phase of the moon when a certain plant is picked can alter the potency of a potion. That was something I needed to know since I was having my own greenhouses set up.
Even the amount of time a potion was allowed to simmer mattered. Certain numbers meant more in magic than others. Three and seven were the most important by far. As such, brewing a potion for the wrong amount of time can render the potion useless.
The power of the witch or wizard brewing the potion also mattered. Someone with a lot of potential magical power, such as myself, could produce a superior potion as we brought out more of the magic in the ingredients, or at least that was what Slughorn told me.
When it came to potions there was more involved than just a lot of facts that needed to be memorized. You had to try to understand why it all worked the way did if you ever wanted to make a new potion or alter an existing one.
"I see Amelia Bones is looking to advance her career" mentioned Slughorn.
He was looking over the newspaper as my latest potion, a brew that acted like a magical energy drink, was left to simmer.
"How so?" I asked.
I'd actually been a little surprised that Slughorn had so quickly agreed to be my tutor. Lupin taking the job without much discussion made sense as for him work was hard to find and I was offering a lot for something he enjoyed doing.
Slughorn was different. The overweight man had his contacts and his comforts, I doubted he needed the money. Even if he did I was sure that his services were in high demand.
Then it struck me that the man might be looking to add me to his collection of important people within the Wizarding World. I might not be well-connected, or be famous for something, but I was very rich and news of my wealth would have gotten spread about even if the details of what was in my vaults would be unknown due to Gringotts being careful about that sort of thing.
Secrecy contracts wouldn't stop people from speculating about me, and I'd been seen dragging entire chests containing valuables into Gringotts to be checked out by their Curse Breakers. Those witches and wizards must be able to say something about their work even if they couldn't share details.
Like with Lupin I'd told Slughorn just enough of the truth to make the local magical people he shared the take with, think that I was the star of a rags-to-riches story, with a distant uncle who had left me a fortune and the chance to become a proper wizard. People love those sorts of stories because they want to think it could happen to them.
I intended to keep my head down as much as possible, but I knew that soon I'd start attracting more and more attention to myself. Hence why I'd already let it slip to Slughorn that I intended to go travelling and wouldn't be spending much time in the country.
That should reduce the number of people who would try to get me to come to their party or dinner and give me an excuse to refuse any invites that I bothered to reply to. The wand wavers were a fickle lot, they'd forget about me once I was gone for several months at a time.
"Bones has advanced up the ranks of the Ministry rather well since You-Know-WHo disappeared despite her department being subject to so many cuts in funding," said the retired teacher "She using this Sirius Black issue to humiliate Fudge while going after Barty Couch Senior".
As I'd wished the goblins had tipped off someone with the DMLE and let them know about a couple of arrests they could make that would make the department look good.
"Fudge was one the Hit-Wizards who arrested Black and Barty Crouch was the one who threw the poor man into Azkaban" Slughorn was now saying "Even the idea that Black is innocent could damage the reputation of both men. A good part of why Fudge got the top job was because he brought Black in".
Which explains why in the book series Fudge wanted Black dealt with so extremely by the Dementors when the man escaped from Azkaban. Fudge knew there had been no trial and wouldn't want one because he'd be partly to blame for getting an innocent man locked up.
"As for Barty Crouch, the only reason he isn't Minister today is because of his son" I was informed, "If he did in fact break his son out as Prophet says then he'll be lucky to avoid the Dementor's Kiss. He could be charged with treason".
It was amazing what the right word in the right ear can do.
"Then there is Pettigrew arrest," said Slughorn "That shook up the Ministry and Fudge will be looking for a scapegoat".
I considered the situation for a few moments.
"Fudge can always pass the blame on" I commented "He can just point to Barty Crouch Senior and blame him since he was head of the DMLE at the time".
Slughorn agreed.
"He will, but it's still an embarrassment for the Minister and Bones wants the top job" the old wizard stated, "If anything else like this happens she'll be the new Minister I'm sure of it. Fudge might even retire to avoid getting caught up in the scandal".
Arthur Weasly might be the only person at the Ministry who is actually interested in doing his job. A shame that he and his family were being investigated due to housing Pettigrew for so many years. I felt sure that Dumbledore would do his best to protect them given how useful they were to him as minions.
"That should be enough time for your potion to simmer," said my tutor "Let's finish up and see how you're progressing".
As amusing as it might be to upset the status quo at the Ministry I'd come to this world to learn magic. As such I refocused my attention on the lesson.
