The path not taken
Sirius was still pleased that his alternate was having his life start to get better. The fact that he was kicked out of the basilicom went right over his head in favour of him looking for pranking supplies. James and harry were pleased for the old dog. They had neither been pleased about the fact that he had been locked away without a trial.
Lily and rose despite being glad that things were looking up for Sirius, neither really had much care for pranks thus were more worried about the trouble that he might get himself into if he caused too much trouble.
Cornelius was worried about how his other could possibly save things. It had appeared to be one thing after another going wrong. Whilst they could not be traced to him, it was worrying how many of the issues that were occurring.
Chapter 16: Other points of view, and romantic side-quests.
In a part of Planatune, a thirteen-year-old boy was practising with his new sword. The teen was fat but showed evidence of recent and rapid weight loss, and muscle development.
He didn't know whether to curse or praise the girl named Chloe. She had gotten him out of juvenile hall, but at the same time, she had signed him up for this hellish training to join a dangerous profession.
Yes, his trainer was cute, but she was a real slave driver. At the same time, she was powerful enough to, at his previous weight, pick him up and throw him one-handed.
Those within the room had raised eyebrows at this. The only ones who really knew who it was that the chapter was on about were the potters and Chloe herself. The potters were not sure why a girl who was doing her hardest to move on would do such a thing for someone who was partly a cause of her pain.
"That's enough for today," said trainer, a green-haired young woman wearing a mouse like outfit said after he hit his one-thousandth swing which was the last part of his daily workout. "do your cool down stretches then take a bath, and get your homework and studying done. You have a test tomorrow, and I expect you to do well on it... or else.
The teen nodded and put away his sword. He really couldn't complain too much about his current life, because it was better than the jail, and he didn't want to end up like his father. He had been instructed, by his new trainer and guardian, about why his parents were in jail. He was also shown the law books, and what would've been his fate if he kept on his current path.
He would most likely be in an adult jail as soon as he hit eighteen, on the other hand, even with the restrictions he found he had, that he wouldn't reach beyond level fifty, unless something extraordinary happened, he could become a respected, and relatively wealthy man in fairly short order, it would just take hard work, and some danger.
The healing spell he learned shortly after he started training was awesome, even if he couldn't use it too much.
He just wished he could apologize to Harry, he knew the boy was being left behind and didn't say anything about it.
Shaking his head he finished his bath and booted up his computer to complete his online homework, and then he would play that new game from Leanbox.
"Was that the Underling" gasped out Neptune at seeing the images. The shock was not that much of a surprise as while the girl was a irritation, she had never actually been a threat. She just slipped from their memory due to others such as arfiore taking the attention during situations.
"Ah Linda" said Chloe with a smile. "She is a nice girl who just never got a break in life." said the candidate. The fact that Linda was her source in the underworld went unsaid. The CPU used IF for their information, she had Linda. The fact that IF was well known meant that Linda was able to get information that such a well known face could not.
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As the trainer watched the boy leave she smirked, and took out her phone to give a progress report to her friend.
"Hello, this is Linda. Yes his training is going well, he was a bit of a brat to start with, but I beat it out of him, and he respects me now. He'll never get beyond fifty, but he could be an excellent low to middle-level guild member if he puts the effort in.
Yes, I'll keep you posted.
Thanks, and thank you for convincing your sister to get me out of prison, I think three hundred years was enough to make me learn my lesson. I'm just glad you didn't put me with someone I couldn't even try to beat into shape.
Oh? If he had refused to try you would've sent him right back? Good to know.
On a more serious matter, I've been hearing rumblings from my contacts. I'm not sure what they mean, but I will keep you informed. After all, you've treated me better than my old bosses, and with more respect than the rest of the candidates.
Well, have a good time at that school of yours, bye."
This caused everyone to slowly turn their head to an innocently whistling Chloe. Vert was smiling and made a note to do something similar when they returned. It was a good idea after all.
Severus could not help but admit that he was impressed by the girl. She was smart and powerful. That however was only an aspect of her as she clearly understood that sometimes a more, subtle approach was needed.
The potters were quietly snickering, Lily was trying to suppress it but she had met Dudley and knew how spoiled he was. The fact that the girl had given him to someone who used the 'tough love' method in a sink or swim method was amusing. What was funnier to them though was that it looked like the boy had gained a crush on the girl who was training him.
Albus was not happy. There were multiple people that had either extremely extended lives or a form of immortality. The fact that they were all incredibly powerful did not help. Now however he had just found out that the girl that he was trying to guide had sent her own cousin into danger. No he was not pleased.
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Chloe sighed as she hung up her phone, it looks like her gamble was about to pay major dividends, getting Linda freed seems to have given them a chance to get ahead of a potential problem, or at least know one is potentially coming.
She sighed again, it was two days before Christmas break, and her coffee supply had run out the day before, and she was not a morning person. She needed her coffee, a brand designed for the goddesses and candidates, that would give normal humans heart attacks, to start her day without feeling like she was going to kill someone.
It was currently seven am, and she had to control herself from reaching through the phone to rip Linda's head off.
Oh well, time to start the day.
Most of the goddesses winced. They knew the brand that the girl was on about and whilst they also drank it, only vert and noire really had a similar issue. Vert due to her being a closet Neet, used it to let her get her work done when she could not hide from it any more.
Noire was a similar case to Chloe though in a different way. She was a workaholic and it was not unknown for her to work herself unconscious. It was at these times that the coffee was a god send though they usually just let her sleep.
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Her house took one look at the candidate, and how her friend was on eggshells around her and parted like mosses purportedly split the seas before her.
The rumpled hair and clothes, the badly done makeup, the glare from her bloodshot eyes.
For a girl whose appearance was normally immaculate, outside of training, returning from training or combat, these were warning signs. Major ones.
"Sounds a bit like you lils" snorted out Sirius only to be silenced by the glare that was levelled upon the man from said woman. He was just glad that it was only a glare and not spells that she was shooting his way. It was not an unknown occurrence when she was in a situation similar to Chloe.
Nobody seemed to want to cross her at this point, at least nobody in their right mind.
Not after she tore the entrance to the common room right off with her bare hands at least.
"What in Merlin's name is wrong with her?" Professor Sprout asked as she witnesses that feat.
Cyberconnect2 turned back to reply, "She's out of her coffee."
CC then ran after her partner, as she had to prevent the girl from killing anyone in her bad mood. If she's lucky the girl would recover in time for lunch.
If not then, hopefully by bedtime.
Chloe turned beet red at this. She knew that she practically lived off of her coffee but she had never realised that she was this bad. The fact that her sister, despite pulling her into a hug was quietly chuckling did not help things. Neither did the looks of disbelief that she was receiving from the wizards and witches within the hall.
The next two days passed quickly with everybody avoiding the girl like the plague, until the last day, when Cyberconnect2 dumped three pepper up potions down the candidate's throat at seven am and promised herself that she would be bringing back enough of the coffee to least for an entire year, just in case.
The teachers actually insisted on it, as the girl's magic was completely out of control, massively overpowering every spell.
She was her pleasant demeanour by ten am, just in time to catch the train, even though all she needed to do is call for a portal.
She was told it was a tradition.
The ride back was quiet with most of the students still avoiding her, and so she had over five hours of video game play uninterrupted.
Cyberconnect2 merely napped the ride away, she had to prevent some students from committing suicide by Chloe, multiple times within that forty-eight hours.
Despite how bad it sounded quite a few within the hall could not help but laugh at the description. Neither could they blame the girl for having to sleep after what appeared to have been an arduous job.
When they arrived home Chloe was hungry and tired, she decided to catch an early dinner, and turn in for the night. When she arrived at the dining room after separating from her partner, in order to order her meal from the kitchens, she found Sirius Black reading the book she wrote when she was first reborn.
"and what do you think you're doing?" she coldly asked.
Sirius could not help but wince as the girl had proven that she had retained quite a few of lilies mannerisms so it was not that hard for the man to mentally fill in one of lilies 'you are in deep trouble' growls in his head. He felt sorry for his alternate as those were the worst to be on the receiving end of.
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Sirius black was board. It had been months since he was brought here, and he had quickly become frustrated. It was also nearing when Hogwarts would be letting out for Christmas break. Leanbox tech, which was the second lowest of the four nations, was far in advance of what he was used to. He was also getting bored of the games that he had access too, as he was more used to magical entertainment, and before he was arrested he had a job to occupy his time. The problem was he had no qualifications to be anything but a guild member, something he didn't want to do.
He had had enough of risking his life for others.
He had also met Chloe's sisters, her very hot, immodestly dressed sisters.
In the hall Sirius tried to shrink into himself as he felt a certain glare burning into his back. He had blatantly ignored the looks from the others from the enclaves but that one certain glare had power and a promise behind it. So it was unsurprising that he was terrified to look at its origin point.
Sisters that had shown zero interest in his flirting, in fact, one seemed to be in a relationship with another girl in a large coat.
With a sigh, he started wandering around the basilicom, at least the parts he had access to and found himself in the privet dining room of the goddesses, and Oracle, which he was only allowed in because they weren't there. On the table was a handwritten book, stamped with the legend "For Vert's and Chika's eyes only."
The warning made him even more curious, and he started reading.
A loud smacking sound resonated around the hall, looking at where it had come from no one was surprised to see Sirius clutching his head from being smacked across the back of his head by lily potter. The teachers who had known the boy during his school years could only shake their heads. The boys curiosity was almost legendary.
It was about a person who was severely abused. There was no name for the child, but as much as he didn't want to keep reading he continued, a sinking feeling in his gut.
He remembered Lily's sister after all.
When he hit the three quarters mark a familiar voice coldly asked, "and what do you think you're doing?
He jerked around and saw that Chloe had returned, and she looked pissed.
"I was just curious..." he started.
"I think that the book being labelled for Vert and Chika should indicate that you aren't supposed to read it," the candidate continued, snatching the book from the man's hand, and vowing to tell her sister to be more careful with that.
"I think I have the right to know what happened to Harry!" the man snarled standing up and slamming his fist on the table.
"Why do you think this is about Harry?" the candidate asked not intimidated in the least.
James could only sigh " Considering just how powerful Chloe has proven herself to be it is not surprising that she would not be intimidated" this got groans and sighs of agreement. The thought of the wizards being the most powerful had long been burst. Now it was just a matter of how much of a difference there was between the worlds. It was not looking good for the wizards.
Black sank into his chair with a look of defeat on his face as he explained, "the description of the child the book was about, and the fact that I can't imagine that there are too many Petunia Dursley's in existence."
"He's dead," Chloe said bluntly, as she acknowledged the fact that the man deserves to know, due to him being the dead boy's godparent. "They left him locked in a cupboard for a week during a heatwave with no food or water... is wasn't a clean death."
She then stood up, having lost her appetite, and headed for her room for the night, halfway there she turned and headed for her sisters. She knew that if she slept alone tonight that she would be plagued by the nightmares of Harry's death, only to remember a text stating that her sisters, both of them, were out of town for a week at a conference.
With a sigh, she headed to her room, resigned to a sleepless night.
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In another nation, a short woman started giggling, she had a feeling that the first step of her self-given side-quest, the romantic one, was about to start.
She had also heard that one of the others was going to throw her hat in the ring, but hadn't made any move yet.
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Chloe stopped as she walked to her bed, and stooped to pick up two objects off of her pillow.
One was her favourite flower, a dark blue winter rose.
The other was a note, with a simple message.
From an admirer.
H~
Chloe sat down heavily on her bed, not knowing how to handle the fact that she's apparently being wooed, in a far, far more effective manner than the boy's at school had tried.
And then she noted that the note had something on the back.
Your sister approves of me trying.
H~
The night would pass with Chloe staring at both the rose, and the note, unable to comprehend that someone wanted her, for her, and not for her position.
…
…
At least she didn't have to worry about the nightmares she knew she should've been hit with.
"It was a strange feeling and line of thought" admitted Chloe with a shrug. "I had never entertained such an idea as a relationship. There was also the fact that I used to be male. This complicated things as I was split did I like females or males? I still had a sense of harry inside. This made it complicated in how I would take such things" said Chloe.
"So this brought up one of the parts of your identity that you had not quite resolved at that point?" asked Pomfrey getting a nod from the girl.
Chloe could still see the looks of worry and joy upon the potters faces. She would however not tell them that she would still have such a crisis for a few years to come. They were rare but she was just glad that she had resolved the vast majority of the issues and it was only things that people could go their whole lives and never encounter that brought it up.