Ember and I appeared as eleven year old twins at the reception desk of Wool's Orphanage. It was Wednesday July 24, 1991 and the nice lady who worked the desk was talking about assigning us a room and how it was so very odd we'd already received letters before we arrived. I exchanged a glance with Ember and we agreed telepathically to wait until we got the letters to start on our plans. Seeing her as a human girl was weird, but kind of nice. We were siblings now, more so than we had been after I became her brother as a ninetails. The fact that I was legitimately telepathic was going to leave the Weasley twins in the dust. I sent Ember a party invite and she accepted.
"Alright...so if I want to do this quickly, I should try and limit myself to Harry's first year. My goals will be to completely eliminate Voldemort, get Harry together with Sirius Black as a guardian, cure Remus Lupin so he can take over the defense post, remove the curse on the defense post, and keep Ron Weasley from ever gaining a foothold in the gold trio."
[Quest Alert! Permanently defeat Voldemort!]
[Quest Alert! Free Sirius Black!]
[Quest Alert! Cure Remus Lupin!]
[Quest Alert! Break the curse on the Defense Against the Dark Arts position!]
[Quest Alert! Get Remus Lupin hired as the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor!]
[Quest Alert! Spite Ron Weasley!]
[Quest Alert! Remove the Dark Mark!]
[Quest Alert! Obtain the Deathly Hallows!]
[Quest Alert! Neutralize as many Death Eaters as possible!]
[Quest Alert! Eliminate dangerous elements around the school!]
[Transform, Animagus, Metamorphmagus, and two alternate forms combined to make the skill: Shapeshift!]
Awesome.
Our letters retrieved, I thanked the woman before carefully applying [Mind Magic] to erase her knowledge of both us and the letters. We walked out, found a secluded spot, and transformed into adult versions of ourselves before hailing a cab. We were headed for the bookstore on Charing Cross Road, which I remembered should be near the Leaky Cauldron, from which we could access Diagon Alley and the post office among other things. Checking our pockets revealed we already had wands, mine hawthorne and phoenix feather and hers dogwood and phoenix feather.
The Cauldron was pretty run-down, but not as bad as some of the hole-in-the-wall restaurants I'd been to. The bartender was nice enough to let us into the Alley, and from there we headed to the post office to send replies to our Hogwarts letters to Professor McGonagall in which we asked for assistance and notified her we would be at the bookstore or the Cauldron. We stood out a little in our muggle clothing, but nobody asked us to leave while we browsed the shop. We'd already gathered up the first year texts along with anything that caught our eye as potentially useful and I was busily flipping through and memorizing the last of the seventh year texts when a stern witch that I could only assume was McGonagall herself walked into the shop. Her eyes locked on us as the only unattended children in the store, and she approached.
"Wren and Ember Black, I presume?"
Ember looked at her curiously while I finished the book and returned it to the shelf, then replied, "You presume correctly, madame."
The woman nodded and guided us to an alcove where we could have a discussion without being in the way of the other customers.
"What exactly do you require assistance with so urgently? You clearly found a way into the Alley. And where are your parents?"
"That's just it, ma'am," Ember replied. "Father died recently, and left us a few journals explaining the magical world. We received our letters today and came here by muggle means, since we don't have an owl. We were supposed to contact cousin Sirius or you if we needed help, and told we needed to visit the Ministry at some point too. We don't know where the Ministry is, though."
"You poor dears. You're related to that scoundrel Black, then? And why would you need to visit the Ministry?"
"Yes, though I didn't know my cousin was a scoundrel. We need to visit the Ministry because we both have animal forms. Our tutors were quite surprised to find we had a natural talent for that and several other things."
McGonagall's eye twitched a bit and her expression became incredulous when Ember told her we were animagi. Since I was directing her via telepathy and she had no tells as per the Occlumency perk, there was no way to tell whether or not we were lying. She decided to test us anyway.
"Animagi? At your age? Show me," she demanded, expecting us to fail. Her eyes went wide when we exchanged a glance then turned into a pair of pure-white foxes right there in the bookstore. "Astounding! For someone not even in their first year to have such a skill is unheard of! Do you have any trouble transforming? Have you ever gotten stuck?" We shook our heads in reply and I took up the conversation.
"No, ma'am. Sometimes we have trouble not transforming, but that's altogether different than turning into a fox." Mine and Ember's eye colors flashed through a few different colors before returning to our default blue, and she gasped, putting a hand on her chest as if she felt faint.
[Shapeshift has gained a level!]
"You certainly are related to the Blacks. Metamorphs are very rare, and with you two we'll have three in the school at the same time! Goodness me, animagi as well! I don't think that's ever happened before! Do you have any more surprises for me? I'm not sure I can handle another."
I shrugged and Ember tittered a quiet laugh, earning a reproachful look for our future teacher.
"Shall I take you two little prodigies to the Ministry then? And what are your living arrangements?"
"Yes, please. And we have a muggle caretaker. We never knew Mother, but she's been good to us. Wren's pet brings us places if they're magical, but kind of stands out if we bring him outside the house otherwise."
"And I suppose I'm going to have to have to deal with an unusual pet too, if it can bring you places. What is it?"
"No ma'am," I replied with a sparkle in my eye that set her on edge. "Guinevere's just an ordinary phoenix."
The professor looked faint, and I heard her mutter that she needed a drink. My smile didn't budge an inch.
"Aye lad, that I'll have to see. Let's get your books paid for and I'll escort ye to the Ministry," she replied. Her accent was a little thicker when she was caught off guard, I guess. "Black twins descended from a disowned squib with a phoenix familiar and animagus forms before you even start school! You're damn right someone in the Ministry needs to see you miscreants before you get yourselves killed," she muttered as she herded us toward the counter. I paid for the books silently, and McGonagall muttered again that we were Ravenclaws for certain when she saw how many we'd picked up in addition to the normal texts. Alchemy, arithmancy, divination, runes, occlumency, and a few extra potions references for study and some wizarding children's stories for fun.
-
The Ministry of Magic was an interesting place, and Professor McGonagall pushed us through the animagus registration process as quickly as she could then took us directly to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, or DMLE. When asked what her business was she asked to speak to Director Bones if she had a moment, or a senior auror if she didn't. Fortunately Madame Bones had some time before lunch, so we were quickly led into her office.
"Minerva," the aging but still very pretty redhead behind the desk asked. "What did you need me for? And who are these children?"
The professor began her explanation, and the Director of the DMLE looked increasingly incredulous. When it was done, the woman turned to me and Ember and asked us for a demonstration. We both turned into arctic foxes and back again, making the stoic woman twitch but not much more. When I called Guinevere and a shining silver-plumed phoenix appeared on my shoulder in a ball of fire her eyes widened and she leaned back in her chair far enough I thought she might fall over.
"We also have a matter we need to speak to you about privately, Director. If that's alright?" I said. This was the real reason we were here. I knew there would likely be some repercussions to this beyond what I wanted, but I was confident we could handle anything unexpected. When Professor McGonagall left the room after a few pointed words with Director Bones, I turned serious eyes on her and began my pitch.
"Director Bones, when Father was died it wasn't from old age or an accident. He was killed by men in masks and dark robes. They took us somewhere and experimented on us. From what I heard they were trying to force something called the Dark Mark to work on people who didn't want to take it. Guinevere eventually felt our distress and came to rescue us, bonding to me in the process. The problem is this. My sister has one too," I finished and lifted my sleeve. The Dark Mark was there, emblazoned on angry red skin for all to see. Amelia gasped and immediately came to inspect it. She raised her wand to her lips and whispered a few words, then pointed it away from herself and a silver form shot from it.
I was annoyed when she marched over to the door and called Minerva back to explain what I'd told her, but it was to be expected. I wondered if she'd be the one to fulfil the Bully Teacher drawback, but I doubted it. When another auror and a man in a hooded cloak with an obscuring spell over his face entered I started to wonder exactly how far this would spread with a mixture of anticipatory glee and exasperation. Unspeakable Croaker, as Madame Bones addressed him, set about examining the mark on my arm when Ember shied away to hide behind me. No one seemed aware of the constant telepathic communication between us, or if they were they showed no sign and asked no questions. Perhaps if they did notice they'd attribute it to a phenomenon unique to magical twins in this universe.
When Croaker started asking questions I answered as succinctly as I could, saying I remembered being taken to a stone room that smelled of mildew. There had been several figures present, but I only overheard them speaking about the experiment except for a few names. When asked what those names were I reached back into the memories of my first life and recited a list.
"Alecto, Amicus, Lucius, Nott, and McNair. There were more, but those are the only names I heard. I'm fairly certain they were going to kill us when they were done."
Bones, the auror, and the professor looked angry but with some sadness and a touch of disbelief. The Unspeakable's expression was calculating. The adults huddled together for a few minutes under what could only be a silencing spell, since my enhanced senses detected no sound other than a faint buzzing coming from them. When they finished the Unspeakable approached me.
"Are you willing to be questioned under veritaserum?" He asked seriously. I assented with the condition that my sister did not have to undergo or witness such a thing. I'd undergone a great deal to protect her, and speaking about them again like this was already painful enough for me. McGonagall and the auror escorted her to a waiting area while the Unspeakable and Madame Bones took me to an interrogation/interview room. Another auror met us there, and started a quill floating above a roll of parchment.
They asked my name, and I gave it freely. McGonagall already knew us and our Hogwarts enrollment would have such information. There was no reason to hide it. I stuck my tongue out and the potion was administered. It didn't affect me at all due to Gamer's Mind, but I let my eyes unfocus slightly and made my voice as emotionless as possible just in case. When they used a spell to test and see if the potion I wasn't I honestly wasn't sure what would happen, but the Unspeakable who cast it confirmed to Madame Bones that it was working so I assumed it only checked to make sure it hadn't been neutralized in my body.
"Official questioning of Wren Black on July 24th 1991 regarding allegations of murder, kidnapping, and illegal experimentation performed on children. Mr. Black, please state your full name."
The interrogation went on from there with me repeating the story I'd told them earlier and making up details for Marius's death. When asked if I'd heard anything else unusual I reported that only three things had stuck out at the time: imperio, morsmorde, and obliviate. Both were used in my presence, but I'd heard obliviate used when my sister and I were in our cell too. After that they started repeating questions in different ways, trying to see if I had any more information or if I'd seen any faces or defining features. I told them that Lucius had very pretty blonde hair, but I remembered little else. Ember and I had been found and taken home by Guinevere.
That got concerned looks, and they asked me if I meant we'd been taken back to where Marius Black was murdered. I told them no, and when asked to elaborate I said that we'd been staying with a squib caretaker and one of our tutors at the time. It had only been bad luck we were visiting our father when the men in masks showed up. More detailed questioning regarding the murder followed, and Washu's giggling in the back of my mind started to get annoying. Apparently some sort of emotion got through into my voice, since the adults wrapped up and gave me the antidote before escorting me back to the room with my sister then disappeared for a while.
Ember and I talked about basic math and I worked with her on reading and writing with supplies from my backpack/inventory to pass the time. When McGonagall and Bones returned to collect us and brought us back to the Head's office, we were asked to sit. Questions were raised about how safe we were at home and whether we should be allowed to return. I argued that if we didn't return our caretaker would be worried for us, and he was the one Father had said would take us when he died. He'd been quite old after all. That seemed to appease Madame Bones a bit, but McGonagall insisted that steps be taken to protect the home from magical attack, or at least notify the DMLE if an unfamiliar magical showed up there.
Amelia seemed to consider this carefully before writing out a note and casting a spell that turned it into a paper aeroplane, which then soared out of her office. She then explained that there was a young auror candidate who would be joining in a year if she passed the test, and that she was also a cousin to Marius Black and thus his children. She would discuss with the young woman the possibility of a sort of internship for the rest of the summer to watch over the house when we were there and us when we left, then contact Arcturus Black to see if he wanted anything to do with his distant relatives.
Feigning a look of surprise, I asked how many relatives we had left since Father hadn't liked to talk about family. The explanation that followed was informative for Ember, but only useful to me in that it confirmed Walburga Black was dead and the names they did give us might not wish to associate with us because our father had been disowned. We were essentially muggleborn per the law and family tradition unless someone took us in. Even then our social status would be half-blood at best. Until they heard back, we were to be taken to a secure ward in St. Mungo's to be examined as part of an ongoing investigation.
-
We stayed at St. Mungo's for several days. Every night I ate away at the Dark Mark on our arms just a little bit, and every time the healers checked them only to see them fading away they took copious notes. Croaker showed up a few times to take his own notes, but nobody ever noticed him except me. I had to point him out to Ember, and she still had trouble. The spell aura around him when he did this was fascinating, and I made sure to memorize it in as much detail as possible. Still, no one had detected my own magic use or said anything about it if they had. My telepathic conversations with Ember were likewise uncommented on, and I tutored Ember in the basic skills she'd need for Hogwarts the majority of the time. Reading, writing, arithmetic, and study habits mostly. Thanks to my [Tutor] skill she picked things up very quickly, and I started throwing in lessons on my own magic system and how to use it via telepathy when we were "playing."
One night I handed her one of the [Holy] books and since she was in my party she simply absorbed it. Her understanding of the way I used mystical energy skyrocketed after that, but she gave me a couple of odd looks. When I finally asked about them she reluctantly told me that Sung-Ah had added a lot of information to the printed copies, and had depicted me as a demi-god on the path to ascension. The skill book wasn't just a book on how to heal people and smite the shit out of undead and demons anymore, it was a religious text! Washu's hysterical laughter and admonition that it had to happen eventually didn't ease my headache. I briefly considered finding a bookbinder to print my re-created notes, but Washu said it would only slow down the process of actual ascension. I wasn't a demi-god yet, but I was close.
That blew my mind a little. I knew I was extremely powerful, but I didn't think I qualified for any sort of divinity. Washu and Ember both disabused me of that notion when they pointed out a long list of things that indicated I was divine, not the least of which was that my [Holy] power and the effect it produced when I stopped using [Mystical Energy (Concealment)] to keep it bottled up were consistent with minor life and nature gods and grew more powerful when people prayed to me or worshipped me. My dumbfounded look at the revelation that I had worshippers and prayers directed my way caused both Washu and Ember to laugh at me.
When she was finished giggling, Washu actually gave me permission to pass myself off as a minor god or powerful spirit descended from her! The worst part was that I actually WAS starting to hear little whispers in the back of my head that sounded an awful lot like Sung-Ah and some of the people I'd known in The Gamer universe, and when I heard them my [Holy] energy also flared a bit. It never escaped my body to become visible to others, but it was indeed slowly growing more powerful. Feeling a bit morose and very wrung out, I asked one of the healers if we could have some ice cream. Ember found a new love that day: strawberry ice cream. She gave great hugs, especially when she was happy. She was also very hyper.
-
When we were released from St. Mungo's it was in the care of a cheerful Hufflepuff seventh year with what I assumed was a deputy badge of some kind. She introduced herself as our cousin Tonks and took us back to the Alley so we could get the remainder of our Hogwarts shopping out of the way, then followed us into the muggle world for groceries and other necessities. We'd gotten very fancy multi-compartment feather-light self-shrinking trunks, more potions ingredients than usual, and a lot more books but other than that we stuck to the Hogwarts requirements. Tonks whistled at the trunks, and tried to get us to follow her into Hufflepuff instead of Ravenclaw when she saw how many books we got. Even if we were only cousins, she said family should stick together. Knowing that we were both going into Hufflepuff anyway, we teased her a bit about it before saying we'd see what happened.
When the time came to go home she asked us where we lived and I almost panicked. I'd only figured out a few places that might be useable for our cover story so far (abandoned homes we'd seen on the way to Charing Cross Road) and hadn't been able to prepare any of them before we acquired our escort. Gamer's Mind kept the anxiety from hitting full-blown panic mode, and my reply was a fairly reasonable gamble based on my knowledge of the series and my ridiculously high luck score. I told her we lived at four Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey. She apparated us there under disillusionment (invisibility) spells and walked us to the fence gate so we could enter discretely through the back. She'd send an update to the aurors and watch the house until the shift changed.
I desperately pushed a veil of [Illusion] over us to cover the sound as Ember and I burst into giggles when the gate closed. It was Sunday the 28th, and I heard movement inside. The wards were pathetic, so aside from the one that seemed to be linked to three of the people inside I tore them down and started erecting my own. With the theory I'd learned toward the end of my stay in The Gamer universe I layered in protections against teleportation, fire, water, offensive magic in general, divination in general, and a couple that would actively contain excess energy such that both the wards and magic use inside the house would go undetected unless you were actually inside them. They covered the area just beside the back door where Ember and I were standing and the whole of the building. I was the master of these wards, so I keyed in Ember and the only magical presence inside as being exempt of the restrictions of scrying, divination, and offensive magic before going to knock on the door.
I stopped before my hand came in contact with the wood. This was going to be loud, so I wove a barrier of [Illusion] into the wards that blocked outgoing noise as well. I might have to take that one down later, but it would be helpful here. I knocked, and a muffled "What the bloody hell!?" sounded from inside. An extremely obese man opened the door a minute later and started loudly ranting at us about interrupting his dinner and sneaking into his back yard. I silenced him with a look and a touch of [Illusion], then turned my skin slightly silver and let a bit of visible [Holy] aura leak into the air. Since we were inside the wards no one had heard Vernon Dursley's rant and the guard out front wouldn't notice anyone using magic. His eyes bulged out and he grabbed at his throat, so I gently nudged him aside with telekinesis and closed the door after we were all inside.