Like always welcome back to another chapter of "Road to Power".
I am glad to see so many people that are interested in this story and I hope that I won't disappoint you. With the new chapter lengths, I am now able to release chapters faster for all my stories so you at least won't need to wait 2 weeks for another chapter. I am trying to stick 1-2 chapters per week, but if anything changes I will inform you about it on my profile.
Also in this chapter, I am touching on the subject of the magical trace. Some of the things are canon and others were created by me or inspired by other stories.
Again if you have any questions, leave them in a review or PM. I will try to answer everything, but I am only a human so I can miss a thing or two.
That would be it for today's AN. More at the end.
Enjoy.
Chapter 5. Time to go
"How did it go, Albus?" his trusted deputy headmistress asked after Dumbledore finally came back from his visit, "Do you know if the boy is connected in any way to him?"
Albus sighed softly and sat down in his chair before turning towards the third person in the room, "Severus, it is good to have you back. I hope your visits to the States bore some fruit."
Severus Snape was a thin man with sallow skin, a large, hooked nose, and yellow, uneven teeth. He was one of the few that still used robes every day, but Albus thought that the man did it for the dramatics entrances he liked so much. The Potion professor was also another of the few people that Dumbledore knew he could trust, even with the questionable background that Severus possessed.
Dumbledore knew that with so many bad decisions that Snape made in the past he should probably be in Azkaban, but unlike many others, Severus at least attempted to change. And that was why he earned Dumbledore's trust.
The Potion Professor nodded, "It was enjoyable, Headmaster. I managed to gather most of the things I wanted and some time away from the castle was welcome... Minerva informed me of what has happened and I can't help be curious. I don't remember the Dark Lord telling anyone about a child. Not even his inner circle."
That was something Dumbledore expected. Tom might have needed his followers, but the man didn't trust anybody. So if he had a child it was perfectly understandable that no one would know about it.
"I did find out some troubling news, but they are not as bad as I feared," Dumbledore then opened the hidden compartment where his Pensieve was hidden and removed a small silvery strand from his head, "Take a look for yourself, his appearance alone prove it all."
Both Severus and Minerva quickly moved to the Pensieve and dived in. Dumbledore just waited outside, there was no reason to see it again, this memory was still fresh in his mind.
Finally, after a few minutes, the two Professors came back and while both were mostly calm Albus had enough experience in reading people to know that they were at least a bit shocked.
"The boy is his son," Minerva stated more for herself than the other people in the room. She then sat down and took a sip of the tea that was delivered by a house-elf, "I can see him in the boy, but I have no clue who his mother is."
"Lestrange," Severus said instantly, also taking a seat, "I spent enough time in her company to see the similarities. Besides she was probably the only one the Dark Lord would reproduce with. The woman was mad and probably the only person that he was at least a bit fond of."
Dumbledore nodded in agreement, "I came to the same conclusion as you Severus. It would also explain why Bellatrix was less active in the last year of the war. The thing that bothers me the most is the fact that the boy was abandoned the day he was born without even a name. At least that's what the staff at the Children's Home told me."
Minerva frowned at the revelation, "Why would he get a child only to abandon it instantly. It just doesn't make sense, you-know-who always had a reason behind his actions. Severus are you sure that he didn't reveal anything back then? Maybe something that didn't make any sense?"
The Potion Professor shook his head, "Nothing comes to my mind currently. But I could have missed something, I would need to go through my memories of those times again. It might take me some time, but I might find something useful."
"Good idea," Albus agreed, "While I doubt that you will find anything specific, this is the only way for us to discover something. Especially with what my contacts reported in Albania. If Voldemort is ready to come back then we will need to prepare. I doubt that Mr. Potter will miraculously defeat him again."
The mention of Harry soured the atmosphere in the room and Severus was quick to change the subject, "What do you plan to do with his son, Headmaster?"
"For now?" Albus said, "Nothing. While I am sure that the boy is hiding something, I also know that he has no clue who he really is. We will treat him as a normal muggle-born, it would be a mistake to single him out. I made that mistake once and I have no plans to repeat it. He seems like a normal if a bit too mature boy and we will only react if he does something wrong."
Minerva looked pleased as Albus knew that she didn't like playing favorites or punishing somebody without a reason. The woman was strict but mostly fair. Severus was mostly indifferent, but Dumbledore learned a long time ago that the man was simply hiding what he really felt. Besides Albus knew of Snape's reputation among the students. The Headmaster might not like some parts of it, but he already tried to change the man's opinion on teaching.
"If that will be all, I will be going. I still have a few students that are in need of an introduction to the wizarding world," Minerva finally broke the silence and left the room.
"I will also take my leave Headmaster. If I begin my task now, then I might have an answer for us in the next week," the Potion professor said, slowly getting up from his seat.
"I wish you luck Severus," Dumbledore replied with a small smile, "Don't stress yourself over this, we still have time and I will be doing some research myself."
Snape nodded in thanks and also left the room.
Dumbledore slumped back in his chair. When he said that they had time, he wasn't too sure. If they didn't deal with Voldemort fast then another war would come and with it problems that Albus wasn't sure the wizarding world could face. After all the director of SHIELD was quite straightforward with what would happen if Voldemort ran amok again.
The past few days had been interesting to say at least. My first trip to Diagon Alley with Dumbledore revealed a lot of new information to me. I finally knew the precise timeline I was in and discovered that Harry Potter would be going to Hogwarts at the same time as I. Like I thought earlier, this wasn't exactly good. If I had a year or two to prepare before the shit hit the fan with Potter's appearance, then it would be much better.
Unfortunately, life was never fair and I would need to adapt. Thankfully with my knowledge and already expanding magical abilities, I should still be able to do everything I wanted. It would be harder and I might even fail, but it would be fun, right?
Besides I was already learning things from the textbooks even if I couldn't practice most of them. My wandless magic was still too weak to accomplish some of the harder tasks in the books, like transfiguration.
I was sure that with enough practice I would be able to do them without a wand as after all, I read somewhere in my last life that there were places in the world where people didn't use any kind of foci. I just couldn't remember if it was canon or fanon... I was quite sure that it was canon, but I could be wrong.
But like they say, "Where there's a will, there's a way". At least I hope it went like that.
I hoped that after trying some of the spells with a wand I would be able to repeat the process without one. Of course, I wouldn't throw my wand away so I could do everything wandlessly, but I didn't want to be too reliant on a tool that could be easily broken. Besides, I planned to learn about the magic of Kamar-Taj and they didn't really use any magical fucuses apart from some artifacts. Maybe my wandless practice would give me some headstart when I finally began.
Probably not, but one could dream.
I managed to cast a few simple jinxes and charms, but they were weak and probably wouldn't accomplish anything. Still, after only a week of practice, I was happy, even if my book collection was smaller than I wanted.
At first, I planned to return to Diagon Alley the next day and do some shopping on my own. I quickly dismissed the idea as I had enough material to last me for at least some time. Unfortunately, I quickly realized that it was... sorely lacking. Magical theory only had some of the most basic instructions and laws of magic that should be followed.
While it was all nice as I needed to know what I could and couldn't do, I wanted something that would explain things a bit more in-depth. Besides I needed to find some books on other subjects. Hopefully, I would be able to find them in Diagon as I didn't plan to go to Knockturn before I could defend myself properly.
That was why I was currently riding in the madness called Knight Bus. It was worse than portkey. I thought that I would vomit my insides at least ten times during the trip. It was no surprise then when we arrived at the Leaky cauldron I ran out of the Bus as fast as I could.
I was coming back with mundane transport, I had the time and I didn't know if my stomach would survive the trip back.
I quickly went to the backroom where the entrance was stationed and repeated the correct sequence with my wand. Thankfully I remembered it and was granted the entrance to Diagon Alley.
The Alley was as populated as when I was here with Dumbledore, maybe even more so, but I didn't have any problems with getting to Gringotts. I approached one of the free Tellers and asked, "Excuse me, what is the exchange rate from Pounds to Galleons?"
The goblin looked at me as I was the most annoying thing in the world and drawled out, "Twenty five Pounds to Galleon. Do you wish to make an exchange?"
I nodded and gave the goblin four hundred Pounds. I would keep the rest for myself, I still wanted to do some shopping for clothes in the mundane world. I wanted something better to wear before arriving at Hogwarts. I was used to at least some standards in my last life.
The goblin took the money and called another one of his race. They had a quick chat in their language and the second goblin walked away after a moment.
"You will need to wait a moment while we collect the needed amount," the goblin said before returning to the papers on his desk. I stared at him for a moment before shrugging. If he wanted to ignore me then so be it. I only wanted my money not their friendship.
A minute later the goblin returned with sixteen Galleons which I quickly hid with the rest of my money.
My task done, I left Gringotts and made my first stop at Flourish and Blotts where I again went to browse through the books but this time I took my time. After all, I was alone now and could do whatever I wanted.
I immediately went to get a few books about a more detailed history. I needed to know every little difference between this world and the original HP-verse and my textbook for the first year wasn't too useful. I liked history and it was the first time that I was bored when I was reading about it. Quite sad if you asked me.
I probably remained in the book store for another half an hour before finally paying for my new purchases.
The books I bought were mostly theoretical almost without any spells inside. I searched through some books on magical theory and only found one that had some information that I didn't know already. I would probably need to go to another store with more rare tomes if I wanted anything even more detailed.
Apart from that I also took a simple book on runes - while I didn't want to practice them yet, it would be good to know what they meant - and a small spellbook with spells that could be useful in everyday life. Nothing special but I was pretty sure that I would be using some of them pretty often.
My next stop was a simple shop with some artifacts that most wizards used nowadays. I didn't really expect to buy anything, but I wanted to see what they had.
To my surprise inside I found a pretty cheap forearm wand holster that I quickly bought. Its condition wasn't the best, but for now, it should be enough. At least now I didn't need to fear that I would break my wand in an accident.
Another thing that grabbed my attention was a row of mirrors. From what I had read, it was one of the artifacts that were meant to work like mundane TV. I had no clue how they exactly worked, but it could be useful later on as it also could communicate with other mirrors that were connected by some spell.
Of course, unlike mundane TV, wizards didn't have any permanent channels that played 24/7. They only transmitted when wizards had something important to show. I suspected that nothing apart from daily news and some important events made an appearance in those mirrors.
I wanted to buy one, but it would cost me too much money. For now, I would stick to newspapers regarding any news. I could try to earn enough money later.
With the decision made, I left the shop before I could spend more money on some unimportant things. I still had one more shop to visit before I would go back to the Children's Home.
Obscurus Books, the only shop in Diagon Alley that sold more than the most common books. When I passed by it during my trip with Dumbledore, I hoped that they might have at least something on Occlumency. I really needed some instructions on this particular art of magic if I wanted to finally fix my mind. I had enough of some random memories flashing before my eyes...
Unlike Flourish and Blotts, Obscurus Books had fewer people inside and most of them were probably already out of Hogwarts. Not surprising as most young children didn't really care about more reading material than they already had.
If it wasn't for my need to learn Occlumency, I would probably wait for the next Summer to go here. I didn't need people asking why and eleven years old without parents was browsing through books that even some adults never read. Unfortunately, the choice was taken out of my hands when I was put in this body with tons of memories that weren't mine.
The store had many books that I would probably buy in the future, but it took me good twenty minutes before I found what I was looking for.
Know your mind by Eleanor Douglas.
Like most of the books I bought today, it was pretty thin and after skimming thought it I was pretty sure that it didn't go beyond beginner knowledge on Occlumency. I was fine with that as long as it helped me with my problem and fixed any mistakes I made during my experiments.
The basics were all I needed, I could worry about more later. Maybe Hogwart's restricted section would have something about this obscure art. I really doubted that the 'restricted' part would stop me for long.
As I finished my shopping earlier than I expected I went to find a less populated spot in the Alley. I had one more thing to try out.
Taking out my new wand I recalled the most simple spell and performed the required wand movement, "Lumos."
A small ball of light appeared on the tip of my wand and stayed there for a moment before I dismissed the spell with a quick, "Nox." After that, I began looking in the sky in search of the owl.
After ten minutes of waiting, I grinned widely. The lack of any ministry owls meant that I either didn't have a trace yet, it didn't work in magical areas or both of my previous thoughts were true. I knew that at first, I would only get a warning so I was planning to test it out in the Children's Home. Even if they couldn't detect my wandless magic, it could be different for wands.
Unfortunately, this was something I couldn't find in a book as I was pretty sure that the ministry didn't want people to know how exactly the trace worked.
I was somewhat sure that it didn't activate before the kids arrived in their schools, but I was wrong before. I only feared that if I was right then during the next summer they would be able to detect my wandless magic.
Sighing tiredly I left the Diagon Alley and treated myself to some dinner in the mundane world. Then I went back by a normal bus to my Home. Knight Bus could kiss my ass.
The rest of the summer quickly went by and the 1st of September finally came knocking.
The last few weeks of summer let me get familiar with the wizarding world to a good enough degree that I knew most of the things that I wanted. Well, at least the theoretical parts.
To my surprise apart from the modernization of the wizarding world after the last war, not much changed. Death Eaters still managed to avoid Azkaban. Harry Potter was hailed the hero. And Dumbledore still got his strong reputation from defeating Grindelwald in World War Two. I didn't found any mentions of the mundane part of the war, but I wasn't really surprised. Magicals didn't really like to speak about non-magical so I would probably need to search for information somewhere else.
From what I gathered the wizards might have adapted some of the modern ideas, but they only did it for more comfort in their lives. They definitely didn't care about the mundane world, well maybe apart from muggle-borns and some half-bloods. I couldn't really get a good enough picture of this situation as I didn't want to go around asking questions like that, and Hogwarts would probably give me an answer.
The books I bought in Alley helped me a bit. My Occlumency was finally working as it should be and all of my memories were sorted out and I could recall them a lot faster. My defenses were shaky at best as the book didn't really say much about defending yourself so I had to build them myself from the fanon knowledge. Again I didn't even know if they would work.
Thankfully apart from my continuous training of the mind arts, I could also practice magic, with a wand at that. And wasn't it surprising that the trace only activated after kids arrived at Hogwarts?
I tested it as soon as I arrived back from my trip to Diagon Alley. I could use my wand and no warnings ever came. For this summer it was great as it sped up my magical education a lot, but I knew that during the next summer this fact would bite me in the ass. After all, in HP-verse Dobby performed an act of magic in Harry's home and the boy was blamed for it. This little fact assured me that my wandless magic would probably get noticed when the trace activated.
It was going to be a pain in the ass to find a way around this restriction.
Oh well, at least now I was going to Hogwarts with most of the First-year material mastered. You couldn't expect a boy with the mental capabilities of an adult to have problems with lessons for eleven years olds. Besides, I wanted to master all the basics as fast as I could to move onto harder things while in Hogwarts.
Banishing those thoughts from my mind I looked at the building before me.
King's Cross Station.
It wasn't any different from the same station in my old life. I might have been here only a few times, but I still remembered my way around the station. Besides I came here quite early so the station wasn't as populated as it would be in an hour or two. I wanted to see people entering the station. I was curious if everyone looked like their character in movies. After all, Dumbledore looked exactly the same.
Shrugging I grabbed my trunk and searched for the barrier. Thankfully Dumbledore explained to me in detail where exactly it was so I had no problem with fiding it.
The moment I arrived near it I could feel magic radiating from the wall. If my guess was right then apart from the magical barrier, there were also quite a few wards around this place. Not surprising, but the amount of magic that was put in them was quite staggering.
With a last look around me, I ignored how idiotic I looked just standing there looking at a wall and stepped through the barrier.
The change was instant and I was no longer at the mundane train station but at the Platform Nine and Three-Quarters. There waited for me the same scarlet steam train that I saw in movies and read about in the books. It definitely was beautiful and I understood why they never changed the way of transport.
Like the mundane version, the magical platform was also almost empty. Only a few adults with their children were walking around, probably waiting for other families.
I ignored them and set my way straight to the train's entrance. I wanted to get a good seat and I didn't really have any reason to stay here.
The inside of the train was also mostly empty, but I instantly noticed that the compartments were refreshed and looked more modern and comfortable. Figures that they would agree to a change on the inside and not the outside.
Chuckling lightly I slid into an empty compartment that should have a good view at the entrance to the Platform and sat down by the window. I grinned to myself and relaxed in the seat.
It is finally time to have some fun. I can't wait.
That's it for this chapter. Maybe not the most interesting one, but I needed to get some things out of the way so I wouldn't need to deal with them later.
I know that I left you in not the best of places, but I wanted to get the Hogwart's Express and Sorting in the same chapter.
Like you all saw I touched on the subject of the Trace and I mostly used canon information for it. This subject will return in the nearest chapters, but it won't be the main problem.
Thank you all for reading. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. The next one should be out later this week.
Have a good day/night.