As she pushes magic into the summoning, Petunia's new veild familiar slowly forms out of magic is a 4' tall humanoid with what looks a bit like a sheep skull for a head, though there are no breaks in the skull. It has large emotional eyes that have a deep red sclera. It's body is well proportioned for a human, but seems to be made from the fabric of space, with stars twinkling throughout. When she finishes summoning it, it says something that's incomprehensible to everyone, and makes them feel like liquid is running out of their ears, before bowing to Petunia.
"You're most welcome, though I'm not entirely sure how I knew what you said as the language doesn't make any sense to me. Ah, I see. Will you be able to get to my home like Sunbeam can, or will I need to unsummon you before I go there?"
As she asks the last question it raises a finger and touches her forehead, she immediately gets a vision of zooming out from where they are until the planet is but a pinprick as is the sun, then the more stars fill her vision before the shape of the galaxy she's in becomes apparent. Even that shrinks as more galaxies come into view, then clusters. Then it starts zooming in on one of the other clusters, and the whole thing seems to go in reverse, except the galaxies have a different shape. Finally, she recognises earth and then the UK, and it quickly zooms into her home in Little Whinging. Finally, it takes it's finger from her head.
Eyes wide, she shakes her head trying to cope with the enormity of what she's just seen, "I take it that means yes."
It nods its head in return.
"If you can do that, why were you even in that orb?"
It touches her forehead and an image of an eight armed, 3 faced alien approaching it and shooting a beam of light at it, enters her head.
"Oh, can I just say that it's scary that things like that exist?"
It touches her forehead again, and an image of one of those creatures, with a dark blue aura around it, approaching a dark spot in the centre of a galaxy. It touches that spot and elongates before breaking up into a stream of light.
"Oh, so they're gone then. That's a relief I suppose."
Simeon wiggles his finger in his ear and coughs, "Right, well I think that was a success. I think we can forgo the interface assisted binding and summoning and move straight onto how to use a broom." – Harry pulls out his new Rocket Broom with a hopeful expression on his face – "Yes Harry, you can try out your new broom, just remember to use all the steps I told you first."
He then goes step by step through the process of how to use a broom to Petunia. Meanwhile Harry is enjoying himself flying around and just doing tricks in the air. Together they all fly back to the main portal.
"Do you want me to talk you through buying that patch of land before you start learning Scrubaroo?"
Petunia nods, "I think that would probably be the best idea. That way if we have any issues with coming and going we can stay there. I know that sunbeam can travel between worlds, and take Harry at least with her. But, now that I've got Veild and understand just how intelligent she must be, I don't think it's fair to ask her to keep transporting us. Besides, it will give Harry somewhere that he can play on his brooms without worrying about the neighbours."
Harry cheers at that reasoning.
"OK, Can you see a picture of a pointed oval over a set of nine squares? Once you walk through the portal you need to focus on that. It will show you a map of the nearby area. You should be able to focus on each of the plots in the area, and see if they're for sale, and how much for. The interface should allow you to buy it without moving out of your current home. If you have any problems just come back through and I'll make a duplicate to help you out."
They step through together and it takes Petunia a few minutes to access that button, then several more to not immediately leave the map and feel the urge to start walking to one of the lots. Simeon was right, there is an empty lot available in this Hamlet. Though the interface says that the place is called Glimmerbrook rather than Glimmerstone. Buying the place is very cheap at only 2,500, idly she looks at the other properties, and there is one already built that's for sale at 35,000, but it doesn't look like the most appealing property out there so she buys the empty lot. Pulling out of the map she comes back to herself to see Harry looking a bit bored. Not that his face is showing that.
"I bought the place, do you want to visit and set up a basic home or start learning magic?"
"I want to learn a spell."
The two of them step back through the portal and go to find Simeon.
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Before they start, Petunia asks, "Simeon, the map says that the hamlet there is called Glimmerbrook, but everyone's called it Glimmerstone. Why is that?"
Simeon laughs, "It's because of the crystals that everyone uses to get to the realm of magic. Most people probably only ever visit the hamlet once in their lives and then use the crystal from then on. So over time the place itself became called Glimmerstone. We always get asked the same question by new sorcerers. Are you both ready to learn Scruberoo?"
"We are."
"Then take a seat at this table, as there's going to be a lot of theory craft involved. Unless you want me to just use the interface to teach you of course. As you already know, the two most important aspects of using magic are focus and intent. Having the interface makes this easier in many ways because we have to learn to use our focus like a scalpel in order to use it intuitively. The third component needed for spellcasting is verbalisation. It doesn't need to be anything specific, just something that verbalises your intent. Most people seem to cycle through things like 'Make it so', 'Do it', and other variations on the theme. However, if you can link it closer to what you're trying to achieve then it makes it easier to cast. This is less important in the beginning, but becomes more important if you want to start using spells for more than their basic usages.
"Now, using magic is as much an art as it is a science, while each school of magic is internally consistent and can be examined with an almost scientific process. This doesn't hold true across schools of magic, in fact you may find that things that are possible in one school are absolutely impossible in another school. Something that L has been trolling Minerva with recently, I hope that she'll let her into that little fact before it goes too far."
Petunia interrupts, "Sorry, what does trolling mean?"
"Ah, a Troll is internet slang for someone that posts something controversial just to get a rise out of people. So Trolling is doing the same. In this case L used a Practical magic spell to create a meal in front of Minerva. Which according to the Transfiguration school of magic is absolutely impossible."
Simeon pulls out a sheet of paper and a pencil, "Back to the subject at hand, the spell structure for Scruberoo looks like this. Note this word and that word and where they're placed in the diagram."
Petunia interrupts again, "Simeon, I can't see any words."
"Ah, grab one of the books on the shelves there and go to one of your homes, when you're there, focus on the book and select the read option. You'll want to sleep once you're done with that as it will teach you our language by shoving it in your head. Oh, and Harry, you might want to visit the potion ingredients store and buy whatever they have in stock, as you can plant anything using the system as long as you've got the fruit or flower. Maintenance can be done manually, as can harvesting. But this is one of those skills where most people use the system because it's more enjoyable that way."
They both head to the store to see what they've got, and buy a deaths flower, sage, parsley, and lily. Harry also splurges on a Gnarled wooden broom by selling more of his fruit stock. When they get to the plot it takes them an hour or so to work out how to let Harry build there. A discovery that happens quite by accident when Petunia focuses on Harry in puzzlement and sees an option to make him a dependant. When she selects that option she screams in pain as her brain is slightly rewired to include an urge to check on him. That's something that only lasts a couple of seconds, so it is with some real trepidation that she looks at the book before selecting read this book. An hour later she gets up off the floor and reads a, quite frankly, subpar crime thriller. By the time she's finished the book, Harry has built a squat bungalow with two small bedrooms, a toilet room and a shower room, along with a room like his bedroom with a sitting area and cooking area in one. He's currently in the process of planting one of each of the fruits in his inventory.
The thud she makes as she staggers against the wall alerts Harry to the fact that she's finished reading, and he heads over and leads her to a princess Cordelia single bed. When she wakes up she feels refreshed, and promptly goes into the build mode and makes a basement to their small house. One that she proceeds to fill with all the most expensive mod-cons that she can before the money runs out. She then spends a bit of time cooking with Veild before she spends some time exploring the interface. She's just found out how to look at her own information when Harry wakes up, so they both have breakfast before heading back to the university to continue learning the scruberoo spell.
Apart from the fact they sleep at Privet Drive, the next few days is spent learning the ins and outs of the spell, it's formula and how and why each part works. It's late Friday night that Simeon deems them both capable of casting the basic version of the spell. He has them both try it on each other, both with and without a wand. It's a slightly uncomfortable feeling, like having 100 kitchen brushes cleaning their skin and clothes at the same time. But it certainly leaves them completely clean, even their teeth.
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Petunia walks into the living room to see puffs of green smoke coming from around the room, Vernon's sitting in his chair nursing a can of beer looking very upset. As she glances above his head, she sees that his relationship meter with her is flashing red, which matches up with her own feelings.
"Is everything OK Honey?" she asks sweetly.
"Yeah, I'm OK, just trouble at work."
"Does this trouble have a name, like Angela, Candence, Lynn, Cathrine, or Rose?"
At the first name Vernon looks like he's going to blow her off, however he pales as she recites the other four names.
"Yes Vernon, I know about your little floozies on the side. Why don't you see if you can have an overnight business meeting with one of them? As of right now you're no longer welcome in my house."
"You can't do that, I'm the one that's been paying the bills."
"What, with the £800 a month we've been getting for looking after Harry? £800 I'll note that you've never actually told me about, on top of that you've only been contributing £400 a month. The other £2,600 has been going into a separate account. I think I can probably earn the money I need to pay those bills without you. And you had the sheer maracas to tell me that we were struggling financially because of Harry."
The conversation stops as they both process the fact that she said maracas instead of balls.
"Honey, we can talk about this."
"No Vernon, if it was just a one-time thing we could talk. If you had only been hiding a little bit of money from me we could talk. Right now? You've got five girls on the side and you've been earning more than double the amount you told me about. And no, you can't grab your files from the loft before you go, I am going to be giving those to my lawyer on Monday when I file for divorce. I will be applying to keep the house given the sheer disparity between what you told me you were earning and what you were actually earning."
A notification appearing in the top right corner that doesn't immediately go away stops Petunia in mid tirade.
Congratulations, the attempt to make a baby was successful.
Vernon is now in his first trimester.
Angrily Vernon stands up, his meaty hands forming into fists as he approaches Petunia.
"How dare you, I have taken good care of both you and Dudley. I have given you everything that you wanted, and you want me to leave?"
The change from yellow to fire engine red on Vernon's portrait brings Petunia's focus back onto Vernon. A focus that triggers the conversation menu, one that has a 'leave the house' option. Focusing on it, she finds herself saying.
"Vernon, it's time for you to leave."
Vernon replies, "I'm sorry, I need to leave I have things to do." Before getting his coat and car keys and leaving through the front door. When the sound of the car pulling out of the driveway fades away a whimper from the stairs makes her aware of the fact that Dudley came downstairs at some point during that conversation.
She turns to face him and opens her arms, "Come here baby, I'm sorry that we woke you."
Dudley runs into her arms sobbing, "What's happened to Daddy?"
She strokes his hair as he cries, "Your father has made some very bad decisions in the past. Decisions that I only recently found out about. Do you know what cheating is?"
"I think so."
"Well, I just found out that your father has been cheating on me for years. That means that he's been cheating on you too. It doesn't stop him from having been a good father to you over the years. It also doesn't mean that he's stopped being your father now. Just that I can't live with him anymore. If you take nothing else from this, remember that we still both love you, as you're our son."
As Dudley cries into her shoulder she mentally pulls on her connection with Veild, who appears beside her.
"Veild, would you be able to take the two of us to the other home, I think I need to stay with Dudley tonight, and he needs a better nights sleep than he'll get here."
Veild nods and touches both of them before the world disappears in a dizzying spectacle that is awe inspiring and terrifying in it's implications as they are both taken out to a point where both worlds are in their field of vision and then brought back to the other house, all of which takes less than 10 seconds. During which time Dudley, fortunately, didn't look up from her shoulder.
"Come on Dudders, would you like some yoghurt and strawberries?"
Tears still in his eyes, Dudley looks up "Where are we?"
"This is our home in Glimmerstone, or Glimmerbrook depending on who you ask."
"Oh, OK." He says faintly.
"We've got a 3d game system here if you want to play while I cook something more filling, would you like some cookies?"
Dudley nods mutely, so she leads him to the basement and shows him the game system. Once he's worked out how to use it, she heads back to the kitchen and calls Harry from her interface phone.
"Harry, sorry to wake you up but I've just kicked Vernon out. Dudley and I are in Glimmerstone, so could you ban Vernon from the house and let me know when Minerva arrives in the morning? Thanks, and no I'm not going to miss visiting Diagon Alley with you. If he's still asleep I'll phone Simeon and see if he can keep an eye on him. Yes, Veild can get me home if I ask, or I could just go through the portal. Sleep well Harry."
It doesn't take her long using the interface to cook Dudley some cookies. Once they're done she takes them down and watches Dudley playing what looks like a 3d blocks game. He seems to be enjoying the game so she waits until he comes to a natural looking break before she calls his name.
"Dudley, I've got your cookies here."
"This game system is absolutely brilliant, when you're in there the room disappears and you're really there. There were people standing around pulling pieces out of bins as pipes dropped them down out of it. I then had to stack them all together and it was so much fun."
Petunia smiles as Dudley enthuses about the game he played while eating his cookies. Once he's done she shows him where he's going to sleep tonight as well as the toilet and shower are. Once she'd told him to go to bed, and she went to her own bed, she heard him run back to the game machine. She sighed as she got ready for bed, if that's how he was going to cope in the short term, then fine.
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As she expected, when she wakes up he's passed out in bed and shows no sign of waking up soon. She casts Scruberoo on his clothes to get rid of the green smoke before heading down to the basement, where she sees the game unit sparking and showing signs of a mild temper tantrum. When she focuses on it frowning, she's surprised to see both a repair and a replace option appear. Focusing on Repair, she grits her teeth and allows herself to be guided through the pain to repair the device. Unfortunately, this goes on for over an hour, as it's not something she actually knows how to do. At least she gains a level in repair out of it. As Harry hasn't phoned yet she sends him a text message to see how he's doing. She's surprised when instead of getting a text message back her phone rings.
She answers it seeing that it appears to be from Harry, "Hello?"
"Hello, Mrs Dursley?"
"Speaking?"
"I'm PC Rudridge, we were called to your house by one of your neighbours because your husband was bashing on the door and trying to break a window. I need to ask, are you OK?"
"Oh, yes officer. I found out that he was not only cheating on me with 5 other girls. He was also lying to me about his income so that he could pay for their dates. I confronted him about it last night and kicked him out. Unfortunately, my son was distraught as the argument woke him up, so I took him to a friends where we stayed the night."
"What about your nephew Harry?"
"He was still asleep, and as he's got a basement bedroom with it's own fridge and shower I wasn't worried about leaving him there for a few hours, as even if Vernon came home in the night, he'd be safe. Vernon's been too big to use the trapdoor in the cupboard under the stairs for a few years now. Not that I ever allowed him down there, as he's hated Harry since he came to stay with us. Harry's father was rather rich, and Vernon couldn't handle that. So when he was orphaned and I took him in I needed to keep him safe."
"I'm going to have to stay with Harry until you come home, and then we'll need to have a chat."
"Dudley's still asleep, so I'll need to check that my friend is OK staying with him while I come home. Once I do I'll be there as soon as I can. I was going to come home soon anyway, as we're expecting a teacher from his new school later to talk about the curriculum and expectations. He's got in on an alumni scholarship you see."
"We'll keep an eye out for her then. Well, we'll be able to keep your ex-husband for the next 48 hours. That should give you time to safely contact a solicitor and get a restraining order in progress. It's lucky he wasn't able to get in, though he claims that his key wasn't working."
"We had to change the locks a few years ago after a burglary, I just kept the old barrel and put it back after he left."
"You've got a good head on your shoulders then, in my experience most women don't even consider that, or going to somewhere safe. I'll see you when you get home then."
As the officer hung up, Petunia's eyes flick up to where the notification sits.
Mischief has reached level 2
She wasn't really lying, ok, so maybe she was bullshitting as though her life depending on it, but did the interface have to inform her like that? With a sigh she uses her interface phone to call Simeon.
"Hi, Simeon it's Petunia. Look I'm sorry to call like this, but I was wondering if you could keep an eye on Dudley at our new property. Yes, I confronted Vernon last night, and Dudley saw it so I brought us here. Harry's still at Privet Drive, and so are the police otherwise I'd have waited until Dudley woke up. OK, yes I can see that option, found you. Thanks, you're a life saver."
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Petunia appears standing outside #4, and none of the police officers or bystanders even bat an eyelid as she does. She walks over to the officer standing at the end of their footpath, "Excuse me officer, would I be able to get to my front door? PC Rudridge is expecting me."
"Could I have your name please ma'am?"
"Petunia Dursley."
"Thank you very much, head right in. The doors on the latch."
Petunia heads inside to see Minerva and Harry chatting quietly on the sofa while a police officer sits drinking a cup of tea in Vernon's chair. Her fingers itch as she can see the faint green wisps of smoke coming from his shoes.
"Harry, how are you doing, he didn't hurt you did he?"
"I'm OK Aunty, I didn't even know it was happening until the police rang the doorbell."
"That's great news, and Minerva, I'm sorry for the trouble this is causing to our schedule. I'm not sure if Harry told you, but I found out that Vernon has been cheating on me for years so our marriage came to a rather abrupt and permanent end last night."
"It's quite all right, I built in some slack in case there were any delays in getting there."
"Sorry to butt in, but I need to have a quick word before we can leave. So the sooner that's done the sooner we can be out of your hair and you can carry on with your day."
"Don't be sorry, shall we chat in the dining room?"
The conversation didn't take long, it was just a confirmation of what had happened. Asking if he had any history of violence, and getting the names of the other women involved. She also told them that they could take the car, as it's in his name while the house is in hers as it was a wedding present from her sister and her husband.
Once the police leave, Petunia heaves a sigh of relief and then casts Scruberoo on the carpet and chair where the officer was sitting, as well as the welcome mat.
Minerva starts when she does, "I thought you didn't have any magic!"
"I didn't. I'm a sorcerer now, not a witch."
"But how?"
"You have enough raw magic channelled through you to permanently connect you to the realm of magic that's how."
"I'm not sure I want to know anymore details, but I know I'm going to find out in the future. Is your friend coming?"
"Oh, right. He's looking after Dudley at the moment, let me give him a call."
"Hi Simeon. Yes, Minerva wanted to know if you still wanted to go to Diagon Alley today. Yes, yes, sure I don't mind L looking after him. Sure, I'll see if I can bring everyone so that we only have to make one round trip. Sunbeam, Simeon's asking if you can go to Diagon Alley if Minerva already knows where it is. She's just nodded to me. Ok, I'll ask Veild to bring us to you and see if Harry will ask Sunbeam to do the return journey."
Once she hangs up she turns back to Minerva and Harry, "Simeon still wants to come, so we just need to go to our other home to let L in to take over from Simeon. Would you mind coming with us so that we can do it in two trips rather than three?"
"Sure, we should have time if you're quick."
"Thank you, Veild. I'm sorry to ask this again so soon, I will learn how to transport myself as soon as I can. But would you be able to take the three of us to the other house please?"
Veild appears out of a blue mist that seems to seep out from between worlds and nods before holding out it's hands.
"Merlin, what is that?"
"This is Veild, I'm not sure if it's a name or a species. Oh, apparently it's both as they don't actually use names as a species. Anyway, he'll be able to transport us there. It's a little disconcerting, as we'll be going far enough away from both galaxies that we can see them before returning. So you may want to close your eyes."
Putting actions to words, Petunia takes one of its hands, while harry holds onto an arm. Hesitantly Minerva swallows and then boldly puts her hand in its.