Before I knew it, the first of September had arrived.
Carla had taken me to train station in King Cross using Taxi. There were only the two of us.
At first, Natasha wanted to skip her classes to follow us there but I'd persuaded her to attend her classes. She'd left the orphanage with the fellow orphans in very bad mood.
"Are you sure you can find your train by yourself?" Carla questioned me with a worried tone.
I held back my urge to roll my eyes at that. Then, I answered her question easily: "Yes. Don't worry. I can find it myself."
There was a reason why I didn't want Natasha to follow me. My train was in hidden platform between platform number nine and platform number ten. Carla didn't know that I was going to a magical school. She didn't question me about the school I was enrolling into for she had her faith in me because of my maturity.
"If you're sure then I'll stop worrying you. I know that you're too mature for your age. Just be careful in there, Dias. I'm going to miss you. Everyone in orphanage will miss you."
Saying those parting words, Carla embraced me.
I returned her hug and silently benefited from her soft body on me.
What? Don't look at me like that! I'm a growing child who has hit his puberty and shown interest to opposite sex. It's just that I rarely gave into my urge because I'm still too young and I have my priority somewhere else.
After we separated, I dragged my new trunk to the platform 9¾. I could feel Carla's gaze on my back until I joined the crowds.
As much as I harbored gratitude for her, I understood that this time I needed to leave her and the orphanage for my own good. Living in the orphanage in the mundane area couldn't give me the chance to let my power, as a wizard and a gamer, bloom. It could be seen from how low-levelled I am.
Ten years and yet I hadn't broken through level 25. The quests provided by the orphanage and the neighborhood were very stingy with Experience Points. The highest Exp I'd got from the reward was only ten Exp and that quest was rarely appearing.
Because there was no 'Instant Dungeon Creation' skill like what Han Jee-Han had in The Gamer Manhwa, I couldn't grind my level freely.
Killing human wasn't a good choice because the society I was living in. That didn't mean I wasn't well prepared to take a life. Oh, don't be mistaken. I don't have any intention to be a cold-blooded murder but knowing what would happen in the future it was better being prepared than being caught off guard, no?
Furthermore, Hogwarts could provide me with a chance to grind my level. It was the Forbidden Forest. In that ancient forest, many monsters that were dangerous to be kept alive existed. For example: the Acromantulas. There was also the Black Lake with its aquatic monsters such as Grindyllows and Kappas.
Just fantasizing how much Exp I could gain from hunting them almost made me salivate.
Shortly after I separated from Carla, I arrived in the pillars between platform number nine and platform number ten. I activated my 'Magic Detection' to feel the abnormality in the pillar and, soon, I felt the right one. The pillar was left alone and ignored by the non-magical folks because of the 'Notice-Me-Not' charm applied on it.
I then checked if my hand could submerge into the pillar. After I found out that my hand could enter the pillar, I immediately dragged my trunk into the pillar. Soon, I walked in the dark corridor and stepped out into the bustling platform number 9¾.
My eyes swept the bustling platform and took a mental note to the magical folks with different clothing style. The majority that was filling this place was preteens to young adults, wearing four different color themes.
Dark yellow or gold paired with red signified the Gryffindor; blue with bronze marked the House of Ravenclaw; pastel yellow and black showed their status as Hufflepuff; green mixed with silver explained their allegiance to Slytherin. There were also rare kids without the four themes, signifying their status as the unsorted first years.
I strolled into the nearby train's cars, dodging people on the way, and climbed up the iron steps. After that, I tried to find the closest compartment and opened the door. I found the compartment wasn't empty. Three little girls had filled one seat, leaving the other one empty for the newcomer.
When I entered the car, their attentions were on me. I smiled faintly to their direction and said: "May I join this compartment, ladies?"
The girls unsurely stared at each other's eyes, silently conversed, before one nodded her head timidly. I took a mental note of her Asian face and from her lack of four colors that signified her allegiance to one of Hogwarts' four houses I could guess who she was. The other girls, a twin, had Indian facial structure, informing me who they were.
Still, I used my 'Observation' skill to glean some information from them and found something like this:
Su Li
- Race: Witch (Half-Blood)
- Level: 11
- HP: 110
- MP: 19.6
[Strength: 1.1] [Agility: 0.8] [Mind: 1.4] [Magic: 1.4]
- Details: a half-blood young witch and first year in Hogwarts. Her father is the Ambassador of Magical Chinese in Britain and practitioner of Chinese's ancient mrtial art while her mother is a non-magical. She's timid, silent and shy type girl. But, you know that the silent one is the...
Padma Patil
- Race: Witch (Half-Blood)
- Level: 11
- Health: 110
- Willpower: 24
[Strength: 0.9] [Agility: 0m8] [Mind: 1.5] [Magic: 1.6]
- Details: a half-blood witch and first year in Hogwarts. She's the eldest of the Patil twins. Her father is working as the ambassador from Magical India in Department of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation while her mother is a muggleborn witch graduated from Hogwarts. She's silent and studious type and she'll grow up into dedicated and devoted type. You know what you have to do about this...
Parvati Patil
- Race: Witch (Half-Blood)
- Level: 11
- HP: 110
- MP: 12
[Strength: 0.9] [Agility: 0.8] [Mind: 1.2] [Magic: 1.0]
- Details: a half-blood witch and first year in Hogwarts. She's the youngest of the Patil twins. Her father is working as the ambassador from Magical India in Department of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation while her mother is a muggleborn witch graduated from Hogwarts. She's obnoxious and energetic type, in contrast to her elder sister. This girl is a trouble but it won't be a problem because without her, twin set won't perfect!
Ignoring the suggestive comments in the end of each detail, they were whom I had expected. Still, it was a pleasant surprise to be in one compartment with my future year mates.
"May I lock this door, ladies?" I asked their permission politely.
They did their silent communication again and then Parvati — the boldest one of the three — nodded her head to me. After getting their permission, I levitated my trunk to the iron rack above our head first before I turned my body around to face the door. When I demonstrated my magical prowess because I was too lazy, the girls stared at me in awe.
However, I stopped my plan because there was a girl standing outside of our compartment, anxiously taking a peek inside the room. Our eyes met and I couldn't help but feel a surprise from seeing her. I decided to open the door and let her to step in.
She had an untamed black hair and a fair skin. She had a scrawny and short figure. Her emerald colored eyes were cold and indifferent. Oddly enough, she was wearing an oversized long sleeved shirt and pants that seemed to be secondhand and for males. I didn't need my 'Observation' skill to know who she was.
It was a pleasant surprise to find out Boy-Who-Lived actually didn't exist in this world. On the other hand, the Girl-Who-Lived was in his shoes. I'd found out about it when I took a trip into the Diagon Alley with Professor McGonagall and other muggleborns with their parents. Instead of the unofficial Boy Who Lived franchise scattered in the children's section, there was Girl-Who-Lived's.
When I finally used 'Observation' on her, her 'Stats' was shown up in a small screen in front of my eyes.
Holly Potter
- Race: Witch (Half-blood)
- Level: 11
- HP: 110
- MP: 100
[Strength: 0.7] [Agility: 1.2] [Mind: 1(0.5+100%)] [Magic: 10(5+100%)]
- Details: a half-blood witch born from marriage of James and Lily Potter. The Girl Who Lived, an orphan who mistreated and became fate's favorite chew-toy. Introvert girl who is wary of other people, more accurately to males. Oh my, this is going to be a problem, isn't it?
I couldn't help silently agreeing with the comment of my witty skill. However, I put aside that issue for now and focused my attention on Holly Potter.
"Why are you standing silently like that? If you want to step in, then go." I said calmly, snapping her from her internal debate.
She watched my face warily, like a cornered animal, which tried to find any weakness to leverage. After a short while, she nodded her head faintly and entered the compartment. She unintentionally tried to put a distance between our bodies.
I mentally frowned at that. I knew that the existence of the Girl-Who-Lived had changed everything.
At first, I thought that I could let Harry Potter cleaned Lord Voldemort and his Death Eater problem while I took a slow life as a wizard. In spite of this, I found out there was a Girl-Who-Lived and I felt a sense of crisis I couldn't explain. My hunch was proven correct when my view was on this scrawny little girl.
We (Su, the Patil twin, and I) curiously watched the Girl-Who-Lived. Of course, the girls had yet to know about her identity. Meanwhile, my curiosity to the Girl Who Lived was because I wanted to find out what kind of person she is. When I saw her having problem to put her trunk into the rack above her, I decided to give a hand. However, she backpedaled when our body almost touched. This time I didn't hide my frown.
"Something is wrong. Her condition is worse than her male counterpart." I took a mental note, before I said loudly, "Calm down girl, I won't bite. I want to help you with your trunk."
The Girl-Who-Lived eyed me distrustfully. Indeed, this was very distressing.
After a short pause, she said: "No need. I can do it alone."
Her tone was clipped, unbefitting her youth. She looked jaded and I could guess the reason.
"Really?" I challenged her.
She nodded her head faintly before she continued to try. Alas, it was proven to be nigh-impossible with her short height and weak muscle strength.
Su and the Patil twin stared at me with imploring look, beckoning me to help her since they knew I could use the 'levitation spell'.
With a sigh that sounded like from an old man instead of a youth, I said the stubborn Girl-Who-Lived: "Just leave your trunk alone. I'll levitate it to the rack. It's painful to see."
The Girl-Who-Lived grunted and threw her body into the empty seat across Su's and the Patil twin's. She was sitting near the window, protecting herself in the proverbial shell she had erected around her.
I levitated her trunk and she watched my action silently. Her face was carefully blank. After that, I turned my head to face her, only to find her throwing away her face from meeting mine. There wasn't even a faint "thank you" from her lips, not like I needed one of course.
After that, I continued my earlier intention to lock the door and put on a locking spell and 'Anti-Alohomora' spell. After everything was settled, I sat down on the empty spot besides the Girl-Who-Lived. She curled further away and tried her best to create a distance between us. I respected her wish and let the space that could be filled with two children between us.
Su and the Patil twin watched what happened curiously. There was a scientific curiosity in Su's and Padma's dark eyes and a wild curiosity in Parvati's eyes. They held back their curiosity because the tension between I and the Girl Who Lived.
Unlike them, I took the tension in the air in stride and took out a copy of 'Magical Theory' from my 'Inventory'.
"Where did that book come from? Is that a kind of magic?" Parvati inquired after she couldn't hold back her curiosity any longer. Su and Padma, and even the reclusive Holly, alternated their views between me and the book in my hand. They were confused and curious but they hold back and let Parvati voiced out their curiosity.
"What do you think?" I returned her question with my own flippant response. The free spirited one of the Patil twin pouted cutely to me, which I ignored easily.
"If you don't want to answer, at least, don't be a jerk! You jerk!" said Parvati.
I cocked my brows at her voiced dissatisfaction and said: "Good grief . . . there's really no way to satisfy woman's desire after all. You call me jerk because I have said that but you'll also call me jerk if I bluntly tell you that I don't want to share about my secret. Either way, you're going to call me jerk, no?"
Parvati deepened her pout then threw her face away from my view.
"Parvati, don't be like that!" Padma, who'd grasped and squeezed her little sister's hand softly, chided her twin sister.
"But, he's a jerk!" replied Parvati petulantly, which made Padma sigh in exasperation.
The eldest of the twin turned her sight on me and apologized for her sister's manner.
"I apologize for my sister. But, where's my manner. My name is Parvati Patil. May I know your name Mister?"
I regarded Padma silently after I raised my face from the book in my hand. Then, I introduced myself to them. "Asmodias Lustburg, but you may call me Dias."
"Then, you may call me Padma." She gestured to her petulant twin and continued, "She's Parvati, my twin sister. And this is . . ."
"Hello, my name is Li Su, surname first before my given name. It is my pleasure to meet you," Su introduced herself when Padma gestured to her.
I nodded my head in acknowledgement.
The Patil twin and Su turned to face Girl-Who-Lived and gave her expectant looks. Knowing she couldn't evade this one, she introduced herself softly, "Holly Potter."
The Patil twin and Su had to gape at that. They immediately tried to find the infamous thunderbolt-shaped scar on her forehead, which was covered by her uneven black bangs.
"What?" Holly questioned with a flat tone that badly contained her annoyance.
Su and Padma seemed to be aware of Holly's discontent and decided to keep silent. However, Parvati was different. The free-spirited one of the twin inquired inconsiderately.
"Are you really? Can I see your — well, the scar?"
Holly frowned deeply and then hesitantly tried to sweep away her front bangs. However, my hand clamped her wiry wrist with an iron-vice like grip. Her body turned frigid immediately and she glared at me heatedly with carefully hidden fear.
"If you don't want to show it — then don't. Don't be easily swayed by other's whim. Don't be a sheep which easily herded around. Who knows, the Shepherd maybe will herd you to a slaughterhouse."
I stared at her emerald eyes impassively. It felt like an eternity yet only a moment passed.
"Hey you jerk! Why did you stop her? I want to see her famous scar!" Parvati complained loudly, breaking the staring contest between Holly and I.
"Because it's a bad manner," I told Parvati with a flat tone.
The youngest of the Patil twin scoffed and sulked in her seat. Meanwhile, her sister gave me an apologetic smile, which I acknowledged with a nod. Then, I returned back to my book.
The girls were discussing about their experience related to magic. Mostly, it was their accidental magic. When Su and the Patil twin questioned Holly, the Girl-Who-Lived replied curtly and maintained her distance. She was one stubborn girl. Then, the discussion broached the subject of the Houses in Hogwarts and what they wished to join in. They, even Holly who answered with a soft, curt tone, had shared a strong resistant against Slytherin.
"So, what House you will join later?" Padma decided to get my opinion after a while.
"Sis, why are you asking this jerk!" Parvati rudely admonished her twin, but her sister gave her a look that shut her up. She sulked and glared at me resentfully.
I looked up from my book and regarded the studious Indian witch silently. I contemplated my answer for a moment.
"I think I lean more to Ravenclaw," I said.
I decided to elaborate my choice when I saw their curious looks, bar Parvati who was still showing her resentment to me.
"Ravenclaw — the house of wits and smarts, just from their motto, at least this house should be filled with studious people and bookworms. With that in mind, I'm sure that I can get my in due peace. Of course, I also heard the house has been degraded into house for children with excess curiosity, which frankly can be very annoying. Compared to . . . let's say, Gryffindor, or Hufflepuff, or Slytherin, which is filled with more noisy kids and scheming little gremlin in the Slytherin's case, Ravenclaw is more appealing in my eyes. Furthermore, knowing Rowena Ravenclaw, I hope she'll prepare a private room, or at last a less crowded room in comparison to other houses' dorm where it needed to be shared by four people, for her house's members, so they can study without any disturbance and focus on their academic more."
"How do you know about that?" Su inquired with interest. It was the second time she directed her voice to me.
"From here and there," I replied vaguely.
Su pouted before she said: "You like to act mysterious, are you not?"
"I'm not trying to be mysterious or anything. It's just that I dislike talking nonsense and wasting my time when I can spend it for something productive instead."
"You're very strange. You act unlike children at our age." Su mused loudly, which the Patil twin agreed with silent nods.
Then, Parvati chimed in. "And you're also a jerk."
"Nobody asked your opinion," I retorted back easily.
After that, I pulled myself out of the girls' discussion. When I listened to their discussion subtly and found they were discussing some menial things, I decided to focus on my book. I was also aware of how Holly eavesdropped into our conversation since a while ago.
Suddenly, my 'Presence Detection' skill warned me of the group of girls. I didn't know who they are, but they stopped outside of one compartment after another, as if they were searching for someone.
I discreetly glanced to Girl-Who-Lived direction and our eyes accidentally met. No, it wasn't an incident since I was aware of her glance because of my 'Presence Detection'. Holly shifted her eyes away, trying to not meet mine. I took her reaction in stride and mused in my head.
"If Harry Potter is a girl, there is a chance that his archrival, Draco Malfoy, is also a girl in this twisted reality. I can't imagine Draco as a girl. Will she look like a younger version of Helen McCrory? Who knows — At least, Lord Voldemort is still a Dark Lord, and not a Dark Lady. That feels so wrong by the way."
The group of girls stopped outside of our compartment and one tried to open the door forcefully. Too bad, I had charmed the door with locking charm, staked together with Anti-Alohomora charm and the transfigured doorknob. Except one blasted the door open, it would stay unmoving until I undid the enchantment and transfiguration.
"Whom you think is in the other side?" Parvati inquired to her sister, who replied with a wordless shrug. When she tried to sweep away the veil that coveted the door, I stopped her and shook my head.
"A trouble. Just leave them alone," I explained with a soft volume as she gave me an annoyed yet inquisitive stare.
Parvati turned her head around to look at the other girls in the compartment, who replied her silent question with wordless shrugs (Su and Padma) and indifference (Holly). With a huff that spelt her annoyance, Parvati returned back to her seat and continued her chat with Su and Padma.
After that, nothing significant happened along the way. There were moments where I needed to undo and reapply the charms and transfiguration on the door because the ladies needed to visit the toilet a few times and a moment when the lady who sold magical snacks in the train arrived outside of our compartment.
Surprisingly, Holly bought everything in the trolley with her fist-full galleons and offered the spare to the girls with a soft tone. Although she also shared the snack with me, I wished she said something.
Her treatment between boy and girls was clearly biased.
When the red and gold colored train arrived in Hogsmeade station, the sky had turned dark. The girls had changed into their respective plain school robes.
Earlier, when they wanted to change, they had kicked me out of the compartment, much to my chagrin. Fortunately, I needed only to put on the hooded black cloak and the plain black tie since I had worn the plain white, long sleeved shirt and a pair of black pants.
Speaking of the child hero staying together with us, she had changed into her uniform in the washroom and to tell you the truth she looked more presentable in that apparel.
The girls' uniform consisted of a long sleeved, white shirt, miniskirts that stopped above the knees and a black cloak with a hood. For personal touch, they donned either stockings or shocks to keep their legs warm.
"What are we waiting for?" Parvati questioned me when I stayed in my spot while the other first years climbed down.
I could hear Rubeus Hagrid's loud, booming voice, calling the first years to follow him.
"Let's wait behind. It's dark outside and better to keep a distance from the crowd."
The girls conceded.
I was curious why they followed my words so far. We only became acquaintances this morning.
I decided to put that question aside and undid the charm and transfiguration on the door.
Since the car had become empty, we had enough space to move easily. We then climbed down the iron steps and immediately joined the crowd of the first years. The moment we joined, Hagrid waved his hand to our direction — to Holly to be precise. Then, he herded us to the Black Lake and we followed the keeper of the ground from the further back row, slightly separated from the crowd.
The moment Hagrid pulled boats and asked us to enter with four people in a boat, we decided to climb into the last boat since we had met the quota of passengers. There were already three girls and a boy, four people in total. I helped the Patil twin climbed up to the boat, though Parvati seemed to have a problem with it. Meanwhile, Holly tried her hardest to keep her distance from me. It was when she almost dropped in the lake that I grabbed her and pulled her light body into the boat.
I took a mental note that her reaction was better than the first time I touched her. At least, she didn't freeze but she had instinctively tried to pull her hand from my grip.
After we were settled in the boat, she eyed me with a blank, curious look. I decided to ignore her look and waited for the view of Hogwarts castle. As I had expected, it was different from watching the movie. There was a sense of reality in this surreal experience. It had more 'Omph' element.
Hogwarts Castle
Rank: Phantasm
Durability:
- Castle: 9,821/10,000
- Wards: 999,571/1,000,000
Details: a magical castle that had become semi-sentient because the ambience of Mana in it for more than a thousand years. Boasted impenetrable magical defense from outside, albeit it was quite fragile from inside, it is the master piece of the four founders (Godric Gryffindor, Rowena Ravenclaw, Helga Hufflepuff and Salazar Slytherin). If you are inside, don't forget to check the broom closets or empty class rooms after the curfews were closed. You may find interesting views. . .
The dirty comment aside, I was amazed by the durability of this magical castle. More than million points for durability if combined, this was the highest number I had seen yet.
Shortly afterwards, we moved out of the boat and followed Hagrid to the castle entrance. We stopped on the stone floor while we waited for Hagrid. The groundskeeper knocked the heavy double door with a thunderous sound. Soon, the doors were opened from inside and Professor McGonagall showed herself.
This time, she wore a dark green witch robe and pointy hat that was the mainstream. Talk about the cliché.
After exchanging words with Hagrid, Professor McGonagall herded us to the entrance of Great Hall.
We were left alone before the closed heavy double doors. At this point, the restless children started to make disturbances. They tried to smoother their anxiety from the unknown method of sorting. The anxiety became more palpable in the air when a kid, whom I believed to be Ronald Weasley from his freckled face, red hair and tall height, said how new students needed to wrestle the troll in the sorting.
That was a lie or a prank from Ronald's mischievous twin brothers, but the effect had already spread.
The uppity pureblood children scoffed and ridiculed Ron to calm themselves, Hermione began to recount her list of memorized spells and even the unflappable Holly showed her clear anxiety.
"Don't worry, the sorting is harmless, but all your secrets are going to be found out."
I didn't know why I tried to soothe the girls' anxiety but I had blurted it out. Maybe, their anxiety annoyed me or maybe I felt pity to them. With the effect of the 'Gamer's Mind', I couldn't understand what I felt because my own emotion was always in a calm state.
"What do you mean by that?"
It was the first time Holly directed her voice to me. She stared at me intensely and demanded an answer with her frigid emerald eyes.
Su and the Patil twin also focused their attention on me.
"The sorting uses a magical artifact that can read the sorted person's mind. Mind Reading is a branch of witchcraft and wizardry, and this Mind Art to read other's mind is called Legillimency . From your memory and traits that not even you are aware of the artifact will short you into one of the four houses. Of course, you can choose where you're going to live for next seven years if you have more than one choice. The different trait will let you be sorted into the house and these traits are courage and righteousness for Gryffindor, inquisitiveness and wits for Ravenclaw, ambitious and cunningness for Slytherin and loyalty and hard-worker for Hufflepuff."
"How do you know about this again? And don't answer with something vague, Mister!" said Su Li.
I leaked a helpless sigh at that and answered with another lie.
"From Hogwarts' alumnus I have met in the past."
Su and the Patil twin seemed content at my answer and their anxiety had been smothered by my words. Parvati looked at me with appraising eyes while she nodded her head.
"It seems you're not only a jerk. At last you're a smart jerk." She finished her insult(?)/praise(?) with showing of her tongue at me in a very childish manner.
They seemed uncaring to the underlying threat of something like Mind Reading magic, or maybe they already knew about it and had one or two tricks under their sleeve to deal with it.
For me, I have my 'Gamer's Mind' and it gave me invulnerability to any psychological attack such as compulsion, memory charm, Legillimency, love or loyalty potions
"Mind Reading . . ."
I caught Holly's soft tone. Her expression showed how alarmed she was.
Then, our eyes met and I could see her hesitancy before she looked at me resolutely and asked a question.
"Do you know away to find if someone's reading your mind or messing up with your head?"
I opened my mouth but I couldn't voice out the answer I prepared because the loud shriek from the front row. Our attentions were taken by that and we turned our head to the front row, only to find gaseous floating ghosts coming out from the stone wall.
The children who had never seen ghost before seemed fascinated and afraid by the ghosts. Fortunately, the ghost of Hufflepuff, whose name was Fat Friar, was a kind ghost and wasn't like a certain Poltergeist. The ghost said something to the kid in the front row before McGonagall arrived and drove the ghost away.
Footnote:
Chapter was fixed at August 18th, 2018