Tails was hacking into the computer to get past a force field. Not even Sonic could walk past it, so they were stuck waiting. Knuckles and Amy were on robot watch.
Sonic was leaning against a safe area of the console, bored out of his mind.
So you could imagine his horror when Tails found an odd folder and opened it up...to reveal what could only be a DNA test.
"This looks like Sonic's DNA," said Tails, frowning.
"Didn't Eggman swipe some of Sonic's blood before he kicked us out?" asked Amy.
"I'm pretty sure he did," agreed Knuckles. "In fact I remember him drawing blood after he had us pinned."
"Why would he need Sonic's blood? Is he planning to clone Sonic again?" asked Amy.
"I don't think so...this code seems to be comparing Sonic's blood to something," said Tails, his hands never straying from the keyboard. He pulled up the screen...and everyone stared.
Sonic was in immediate denial, because according to these results, he was related to Eggman.
Knuckles however, didn't look surprised.
"This explains a lot," he commented.
"What's that supposed to mean?" demanded Sonic.
"You're the only one who's ever gotten past those invisible barriers, and your features look a lot like his. You being his missing grandson would explain why...the wards were only meant to keep anyone not related to Eggman out."
Sonic looked ill at the prospect. Then again he had been fighting the man for years.
A few hours later...
Eggman was annoyed they had read his journal, but was unsurprised they had found his program examining Sonic's blood. He had been trying to see if he needed to put Sonic on any potions when Tails stumbled across it, and had let them see the results.
Sonic was clearly in denial, but the others were just done. This entire mess had been more draining than any other adventure they had for multiple reasons.
Which was why Eggman was willing to offer them a deal of sorts. A truce, since he did want to bond with his grandson.
"What do you want?" asked Sonic.
"A truce, you annoying blue pest," said Eggman. "One that might have benefits for all of us."
"What sort of truce? We're not handing you the chaos emeralds," said Tails.
"I can collect those at any time," said Eggman dismissively. Honestly, did they think it was that hard to get them? "Considering I've finally found out where my grandson disappeared to, it's clear he's going to need training. Especially since he's only a year or two away from attending Hogwarts."
Disbelief filled their features.
"Wait...are you telling us you want to train Sonic?"
"World domination is fine, but I'd never hear the end of it from my sister if I didn't insure my only heir attended Hogwarts. Especially since I would like to keep an old fool in the dark about the chaos emeralds. If you think I'm bad, the incompetent Ministry would be worse."
After all these years in this world, Eggman could learn to tolerate the hybrid creatures. The worst he had ever done was thrown them into robots as power sources. If the Ministry got their hands on this world, it would be wrecked beyond anything he would do to it. Just look what they had done to the native brownie spirits of the British isles!
And that was before Dumbledore and his meddling got involved.
"What's in it for you?" asked Sonic suspiciously.
"I make sure my grandson is at least semi competent, and your friends leave my other bases alone until I'm ready to create a new plot to kill my boredom," said Eggman promptly.
Dead silence.
"...Are you telling me all the times you've tried to use the emeralds to take over the world...was out of boredom?" said Knuckles, twitching.
"Do you have any idea how boring this world is? There's next to no entertainment, and at least this way I can work out the kinks of my robot army in the event those idiots manage to follow me here. You lot have been surprisingly effective at testing the endurance of my robots and helping me work out the kinks of their programming."
The four were silent in absolute disbelief. All this time they spent fighting Eggman, and it turns out that he had done all this damage out of boredom?
Knuckles didn't have to think too hard on the matter. If tossing Sonic to Eggman for training meant that they'd get some peace, then he'd toss Sonic to the lunatic. Besides, maybe this way he'd figure out how to go back to his old form again.
Sonic was not happy, but he was next to useless in this form. Besides, maybe he could find out what Eggman was really scheming if he humored him.
In Eggman's base...
Eggman, as it turned out, was a strict task master when it came to magic.
The first thing they worked on, which Eggman only did to earn some level of trust from his grandson, was the animagus transformation.
It was a very frustrating moment, because Sonic was so used to going fast that he had little patience for meditation. To be fair, his grandfather had a bit too much enjoyment using minor stinging hexes every time he looked like he was about to drift off or moved too much.
It took Sonic a full month before he got the hang of it without actually falling asleep. And that was between the other lessons that Eggman insisted were necessary.
"You are the heir of an ancient and noble house. You will be expected to uphold a certain level of decorum while among your peers," said Eggman.
"Wait, seriously?" said Sonic.
"Your father was the head of an ancient and noble house, and his best friend was the head presumptive of a second ancient and noble line. Your godfather named you his heir shortly after you were born. That means you have to show proper standards when you meet your cousin, who is the heiress to my old family," said Eggman strictly.
Sonic stared at him.
"You're taking this pretty seriously," he said.
"I have to, because otherwise the other families are liable to walk all over you...never mind the fact my sister would never let me hear the end of it."
He refused to have his grandson become a complete embarrassment like his father and godfather. The only reason James Potter and Sirius Black got away with half the crap Lily told him about was because they were Gryffindors and because no one dared to offend their families.
Getting Sonic up to date on the little things that most purebloods taught their children was easy. Teaching him how to shift into the form he was more comfortable in was an uphill battle.
At least he had stopped looking at the minor gifts his grandfather gave him with such suspicion.
The jacket he wore had charms to adjust size, temperature and had so many defensive charms it was basically armor. The goggles had an automatic navigation system added to it, a communication system, and a few other hidden extras. His shoes, which had been almost worn out from how much running he did and were almost too small, were replaced with almost identical extras that had extra durability charms on them.
The thing Sonic loved most was the hoverboard. It was as close as he was going to get anytime soon to his old speed, and Eggman was even nice enough to create a special harness for him so he was never without it.
Being able to go fast was doing wonders for helping him adjust to his human body. He was regaining a lot of his old reflexes, and Eggman had zero issue letting him blow off some steam by destroying his 'defective' robots with his new spells.
It didn't hurt that Eggman had zero issue calibrating his digital arena to stun Sonic so he learned to dodge as a human. It was a fun bonding activity and allowed both of them to blow off steam.
Tails and the others would periodically show up to insure the two hadn't killed each other.
The pathway Eggman had created years ago was fairly straight forward. It also had Sonic throwing up a bit when he went through because of how rough the travel was.
They were back in Eggman's home world, because the letters were due to come out and he didn't want the "old fool" to find a way to the other world.
Dumbledore was annoying enough in his own world. He didn't need to learn of the Chaos Emeralds, in Eggman's opinion.
Sonic looked around fascinated. There were more humans here, and the place had a certain smell to it that made his nose twitch.
"Come along...we have an appointment to keep with the goblins and they don't like to be kept waiting," said Eggman.
He walked at a brisk pace, and it was obvious he knew exactly where he was going. The two made a beeline to a dingy old building called the "Leaky Cauldron". Eggman didn't even blink at the interior, and lead them both to a small alleyway outside.
He took out his stick (wand) and tapped a specific series in the brick.
The street was incredibly crowded, and seemed to be bustling. Eggman lead them to one of the better looking buildings guarded by creatures Sonic had never seen before.
Neither of them realized exactly how big of a headache this particular meeting was going to be. Eggman would be nursing a fifty-year-old firewhiskey by the end of it, while Sonic went shopping.
Two hours later...
Eggman was in an incredibly foul mood. For reasons that would forever baffle him, someone had apparently set it so that his daughter's adopted sister Petunia received a stipend for his grandson, despite the fact she had never seen the boy in her life.
It had taken him ages arguing with the goblins and having to fork over entirely too many galleons to get the keys reset and the vaults put under a full audit.
Fortunately, he still had his keys and no one had dared to touch his vaults so they were still able to go shopping. But the fact someone had tried to screw over his grandson's inheritance from his father's side pissed him off.
"Remind me again why I had to go by the name Hadrian?" grumbled Sonic.
"Because that is what your birth name is and the goblins won't allow Sonic to enter the vaults," grumbled Eggman. "Fortunately I'm your magical and legal guardian, so we were able to get a lot of that nonsense cleared up relatively quickly."
"So what now?"
"Now we're going to be doing some basic shopping and come back for the books once the lists go out," said Eggman.
They could get a lot of the Hogwarts shopping out of the way early, and pick up whatever books the Defense teacher had assigned since the lists hadn't really changed since Lily was a girl. He had checked with Amelia, who had confirmed that much.
While he wasn't a skinflint by any means when it came to supplies, he saw no need to getting personalized ones until his grandson was at least in his third year and had picked out electives. Children were notoriously accident prone, and there was no harm reusing old school books.
A few things he would buy new, like the potion kits and his wand, but things like his trunk and the majority of his schoolbooks were another story.
Amelia still had her old books which she was gifting to Susan. He planned to gift James and Lily's copies (whichever were in better shape) to Sonic. Besides, who knew what the boy would find hidden in the margins.
Their next stop was to Madam Malkin's, so Sonic could get his fitting done. His spot was guaranteed at Hogwarts, so getting the fitting done early was common sense really.
"Going to Hogwarts dearie?" said Madam Malkin.
"Yes ma'am," said Sonic politely. Eggman had warned him to be on his best behavior...or else.
Standing around was boring, but Eggman had promised him a reward if he behaved.
It took him a good thirty minutes, but the wait was well worth it when Eggman arrived (smelling faintly of liquor) to take him wand shopping.
"Most families go to Ollivanders to obtain their wands. Overpriced nonsense, catering to the common denominator," said Eggman derisively.
"What's wrong with that?" asked Sonic.
"He is legally required to place a Trace spell that allows the Ministry to track underage magic, and most of the wands are premade. Which means you have to hope for the best that the wood and the core itself are properly attuned to the owner," explained Eggman. "His wands are acceptable if you don't feel like going the extra mile to having a properly attuned wand...or can't afford one. However considering the nature of your magic and the amount of time you've spent around those items, it's safer that we get you a custom wand right off the bat."
Sonic didn't argue, as Eggman lead his grandson into Knockturn alley. His instincts were on high alert and Eggman's aura was likely the only thing that kept them from being harassed.
He lead them into a little known shop well off the beaten path.
"Theodred. It's been ages. I hope it's still working well," cackled the hag.
"Theodred?" said Sonic, amused.
Eggman huffed, and nudged Sonic forward.
"We're here to get my grandson his first wand."
"Come along then," said the hag. She lead them deeper into the shop, which was bigger than it looked outside.
Sonic had the feeling this was going to be a long, long day.