Rating change due to language.
A dilapidated shack was the first thing Kevin saw after he apparated. He sent a silent Bombarda at the door and barged into the poor excuse for a house. Each time he entered another room, his anger increased exponentially. Upon realizing that the shack had been abandoned for years, the last Keeper exited the house. Taking a breath, Kevin turned around and roared in anger. Since there were no people to enact his vengeance on, he decided the house would be a good enough substitute. Raising his wand, the angry man let loose the most powerful spell he knew.
"Fiendfyre!"
Red flames burst from the tip of the wand and started to surround him and the shack. The flames began to rise and gain speed. Pouring every ounce of his hate and pain into the spell, black began to mix with the red and before long there was a hurricane of fire. Just thinking of the pain his friend had to go through, knowing that he could have stopped it, made him angrier than he had ever been. And with that thought, the fate of his other friend came to mind.
Spending years looking for him, never giving up, and losing his life in the end increased the young man's pain and guilt. The red turned blue and everything began to move even faster.
With one final scream, Kevin let the flames of hell extinguish. Where a shack of horrors once stood, not even a single splinter of wood was left behind. The urge to fall to his knees and give up was strong. Everyone he ever cared about was either dead or had moved on. But he couldn't. He wouldn't. His friends had lived their lives by their own choices. Now he must do the same.
The time-displaced man took some deep breaths and tried to rein in his emotions. When he felt calm, he looked at what he had just done. With a clear head, Kevin saw that there was one thing left over. In the center of the destruction, a glint caught his eye. Kevin walked to see the remnants of what must have been a ring. The gold was melted down to a liquid but the jewel looked to be in perfect condition.
"Wingardium Leviosa." The jewel rose to eye-level and he saw a symbol that he had been researching since his first Christmas at Hogwarts. Most wizarding children know the story and believe it to be just a cautionary tale to be humble and respect Death. Some, however, spend their entire lives scouring the Earth for the items that were left behind. He knew where the wand was and now the stone was in his possession.
Pointing his wand at the gold on the ground and pulling out an extra Galleon, Kevin transfigured it into a ring once more and placed the stone in the empty space. Putting the ring on his hand, a smirk suddenly appeared on his face. There was one way to confirm his suspicions. Focusing on one person, the prodigy used the ring as a focus to complete his objective.
"Huh?! YOU DAMN WIZARD!" Kevin turned to face the pale visage of the goblin who killed his mentor. Ranrok's face was twisted into a sneer and was struggling in place, trying to charge at the one who defeated him.
"Ranrok, you look like shit. How is Hell?" The wizard asked with a smug smirk on his face, loving the fact that he has power over the bastard once more.
"WASN'T ENOUGH THAT YOU KILLED ME BUT NOW YOU HAVE THE AUDACITY TO BRING ME BACK!? WHAT DO-" Ranrok was cut off abruptly. After confirming that the stone was what he believed it to be, Kevin sent him back to whatever Hell he was in.
With one last look at his surroundings, Kevin left with a pop.
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Some time had passed since Kevin had destroyed the Gaunt house and claimed the Resurrection Stone. The Wizard Examination Authority had tested Kevin to verify that he would be able to properly teach Magical Theory. He had gotten some of the highest marks in the last hundred years, the only things he was docked for were minor mistakes about recent changes in the subject. They agreed to allow him to teach the class but Dumbledore had to agree to catch him up.
The day before the first session with Dumbledore, Kevin decided that it was time to check on a few more things he had left behind. The new owner of the Three Broomsticks was an attractive, blonde woman by the name of Rosmerta. She was quite nice and had offered Kevin an ear to listen whenever he came in. Gladrags was being run by Augustus's grandchild, who had apparently heard tales of Kevin from their parents. He remembered that he had helped those two get together and was glad to hear that they had been happy and had a child. Brood and Peck was being run by a man who seemed to care little for the beasts in his care. He may just meet an accident later. Perhaps he will learn to care for them more or someone with a proper respect for these beasts will take over. Who knows? Spintwitches was being run by a couple. Francis Wood was a friendly enough man, if a bit obsessed with quidditch. But compared to his wife, he was a novice. Layla Wood, was a muggleborn and seemed to love quidditch more than anyone the time-displaced man had met. Nice people but intense.
Then came the one store that was the most significant to him. After all, he did own it. In a place that would not often get a lot of foot traffic were houses and a lone store. Said store looked like it had not seen anyone grace it for years. Windows boarded up, door had chains wrapped across it, and the sign was covered up. One could just barely see "St" behind the cloth. Seeing this, Kevin rushed to unlock the chains and front door, needing to know what had happened. Upon entering, he could feel a familiar magic in the back room. The first thing he saw was an old chest.
"Fastidio! Get out here right now!"
The chest shook and jolted from side to side before the top burst open with a blinding, blue light. When the light cleared away the time-displaced man saw the familiar figure of Fastidio. Clad in a bright blue coat with a narrow face that had always slightly reminded him of Peeves, for multiple reasons.
"You're alive?! Where have you been?! Over a century, I have not been able to have my fun! Those wankers came and locked the shop up after you went missing!" Fastidio was in a right angry mood, making his head bigger and more demonic-looking the more he spoke. Kevin just had a smile on his face to see that his poltergeist was ok, other than being incredibly angry. They may have gotten off on the wrong foot, but Kevin knew that Fastidio cared about Kevin in his own way and Kevin had come to like the insane dead guy after a while. Before Kevin could respond though, there was a very distinctive pop.
"Oh Kevin!" Arms were suddenly thrown around his legs and the young man nearly toppled over. "Kevin is back! Penny has missed you so much!" Kevin quickly turned around and bent down to return the hug. He was overjoyed to see that familiar hat with a flower in it and for there to actually be a voice to go along with it.
"I have missed you too Penny. I am sorry I didn't come check on you sooner but I was so scared that you guys would be gone too." The time-displaced man was nearly crying, overjoyed to see his business partner alive and well. Penny was absolutely balling and it took a couple of minutes to calm everyone down. While this heartwarming reunion was taking place, Fastidio was screaming and trying to get the attention back on him. Still ignoring the poltergeist for the time being, Kevin asked the question that had been burning in his mind.
"Penny, what happened? Why is the shop locked up?"
"Oh, it was horrible! After Kevin went missing, people in purple robes came and said that a house elf couldn't take care of a shop on their own. And then, Mister Fastidio came out and scared the angry wizards so bad that one of them fell down, shaking! They boarded up the shop and said Stitches & Draughts would never be opened or purchased again!"
'Great,' Kevin thought, 'Ministry shut my shop down and belittled my friend.' The young man was beyond ticked off at the Ministry and their non-wizard prejudice. Bad enough that people would occasionally look down on him because of him being muggleborn. Now, he finds out that he took his friend's dream and another friend's entertainment for a hundred years. The latter, he sort of understood but the former angered him. The last generation messed up. They could have moved forward, made the wizarding world better, more accepting. Instead, there had apparently been two different dark lords and both of them used the stagnation of the wizarding world to their advantage. Maybe as a teacher, he could help shape the next generation into something better.
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Kevin spent some more time talking to Penny and telling Fastidio that the deal would be back on. He planned to get the shop open again in time for the new school year but that would come later. Returning to the castle, the master of the Resurrection Stone met with the master of the Elder Wand. Dumbledore filled in all the gaps in knowledge that Kevin had about the subject of magical theory. After the quick lesson, the headmaster wanted to get to know the newest addition to his staff better. The two talked about their years in Hogwarts while enjoying some firewhiskey. Kevin had just told Albus about another hidden part of the castle and took another swig of his drink when the older man, technically younger, finally noticed something.
"Say, where did you get that ring?" There was a certain gleam in his eyes that was all too familiar to the time traveler.
Kevin looked at the ring for a few seconds before answering, a slight downturn to his lips was barely visible. "It would have belonged to an old friend, but his family never approved of him. Said he was too soft." Finishing his glass, the last Keeper quickly filled it again. "Ominis Gaunt," at this Dumbledore's eyes widened but Kevin failed to notice it, "blind as a bat but one of the best wizards that I ever met. Was able to navigate life using his magic as a way to see and was very protective of his friends. Never did like the darkness that the rest of his family seemed to revel in. Used to watch over him and tried to keep his family amicable towards him." At this, Kevin gained a distant look to his eyes and looked out the windows. "Apparently, once they had heard I was missing, they decided to get rid of the weakness. Told him that if he refused to use the Unforgivables, then they would force him to. Friends at Hogwarts tried to reach out, take him away from them. By the time Seb and Ann got a yes, the bastards had gone too far. They barged into the house to find him lying on the ground, whatever light was still there gone from his eyes."
The sound of glass breaking was heard and after a quick, silent Reparo the tumbler was fixed.
"So I took it from their home, and burnt the remains till there was not even ash."
Kevin looked into the eyes of a man who defeated a dark lord to see his reaction. There was a deep sorrow in them, glint gone, and what seemed like understanding. When it seemed like the young professor was done with his story, Dumbledore finally spoke up.
"I am so sorry. To lose someone so important to you like that, I am sorry that you had to go through that."
'Those eyes, he must have experienced something similar.' Kevin thought before replying out loud, " Thank you. And I am sorry as well."
The two of them sat in silence for awhile, thinking of the people they had lost before Kevin decided to move onto other matters.
"Who is Harry Potter?"
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Sorry about the wait. I will try and upload more regularly from now on. Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Also how would you all feel about a romance between Kevin and possibly an OC or another character from HP?