Doni left the next day, saying that it'd be pointless to keep sparring with me until I at least mastered the Runes I'd been using with my Authority active and that I'd already learned what he could teach at this point.
I took it to heart, spending only a few more days enjoying the beach before returning home to train.
So, for the following weeks, I trained and learned to the best of my abilities. The Runes with and without my Authority active, the limits of my Doors without going to other worlds, wanded magic in general, and, considering the Door for the next world I'd be going, learning Japanese.
Training the Runes with my Authority active was a massive game-changer, and it gave me perspective on how much Odin was holding back in our fight.
The most glaring difference was how the concepts manifested, just the power alone would be enough of a change, but no. Instead, the best way to put it would be to say they were more true to themselves: Wind blows, Fire burns, Water flows, and Earth lays still. What seemed simple on the surface ran deeper than I imagined, but it was subtle, and it took me quite a while to grasp.
Unfortunately, I didn't have nearly the same progress with my Doors, most of my ideas didn't work and the ones that did weren't practical enough to be used in combat aside from extremely specific circumstances.
Wanded magic, on the other hand, saw just about as much progress as I could feasibly get from my limited resources in the area. Thanks to my Runes training, wand movements, and vocalization quickly became obsolete, and while that wasn't the sure way to obtain control of my wandless magic, it did help.
I also took a more hands-on approach with the researchers, but there were missing links between the two schools of magic that simply did not let them work together.
And Japanese? Well, as a Campione that was easy, and I even started watching anime from my childhood to help. This made me dearly wish my sword would be a katana, so I could get Doni to help me create a real version of the Hiten Mitsurugi-ryū style.
But that wish was relegated to the background of my mind, as I progressively lost focus on my training as December rolled around.
I checked on the farms with Carlos, made sure the bodies were still fresh and got some gifts for my friends there.
When the day to leave came, my friends and family got together for a barbecue. We partied until my time to go came, so after a round of goodbyes my mom and I left the party for the Order's HQ in the late afternoon.
Arriving at the Order's HQ, we walked towards the room where I left everything I'd need for the trip, with a quick detour to grab the (covered) bodies. When we reached the room, Carlos was already there.
"Alex! Everything ready?" He asked.
"I should be the one asking you this, Carlos," I said with a stern tone, guiding the floating bodies in front of me to the top of the cart where my things were.
"Yes, well, considering how smooth you made things run over here, is it a surprise that I want you to be well taken care of?" He snorted.
"I just use my name when needed, I've already told you that." I rolled my eyes.
Carlos gave a weak laugh while sheepishly scratching his neck at that.
Deeming my chastisement successful, I gave my mom a big goodbye hug, and Carlos a fistbump.
I grabbed my things and moved to the door I conjured previously, sitting in the middle of the room.
I pushed my cart to stand in front of the door.
"This is the Doorway that heralds all of the beginnings! Who's opening brings forth the new era! Open! Heavenly Doorway of Transmigration!"
Opening the Doorway, I looked back to give my mom one last 'goodbye' before stepping through.
As I stepped into the Lovegood home, I saw Xeno sitting down with a man remarkably similar to him at the kitchen table.
"Xeno! I'm back!" I called out, noting how the other man stiffened at the sound of my voice.
"Alex, you made it!" He exclaimed, getting up and quickly approaching to give me a hug.
"After all that guilt trip you gave me? Please," I rolled my eyes at him.
"Well, I wasn't sure it'd work, especially with your one-month delay." He said quietly.
"Well, I'm here now," I said before looking at the man slowly approaching us.
"Oh, where are my manners?" Xeno said, taking my hand and excitedly pulling me towards the man.
"Alex, this is my older brother, Lucius. And Lucius, this is Alex, the boy I talked about." Xeno said, almost vibrating where he stood.
My eyebrows rose to my hairline at that, but with a shrug I let it go, it was expected that Xeno would be making moves while I was away, although it was a bit weird he never mentioned a brother.
"Alexander Lupi, it's nice to meet more of Xeno's family," I said, shaking Lucius hand.
"Lucius Malfoy, and believe me, the pleasure is all mine," Lucius said in a smooth voice.
"So you know?" I asked.
"About your status? Yes. It was particularly hard to deny when Severus of all people confirmed my brother's story." He rolled his eyes. As if Xeno asking him to believe in such a ridiculous story was a normal occurrence which, fair, knowing Xeno it probably was.
I nodded and shared a commiserating look with Lucius. If in the month I lived with him I had already been pulled into his crazy theories, I couldn't imagine what growing up with him felt like.
"And, Severus? Then you're one of his 'connections'?" I curiously asked.
"In a way, he's always been one of the few competent people you can trust to be discreet." He nodded.
"And from which 'side' do you come from?" I prodded, now paying careful attention to him.
It wasn't that hard to figure out, honestly. The obvious aristocratic look wouldn't normally tip the scales one way or the other, but Lucius had a 'vibe' to him that was decidedly dark, although not wholly.
"I was part of the 'dark' faction," he said, shifting slightly where he stood.
"Buuut…" I said teasingly. That he was open about past allegiances meant he was probably open to changing them, and if Severus and Xeno were vouching for him I'd let it play out.
"But Severus pointed out how I was already one of the most powerful people in the nation, and how all I had to do to become the most powerful was to wait for Dumbledore to die of old age." He said with a sigh. "The man has truly earned his position as head of Slytherin. To point out how my unfettered ambition could cripple my cunning into self-sabotage." He finished with a small chuckle.
"Yes! That's all well and good but, Alex, what is this!?" Xeno asked from the direction of my cart in front of the door.
Lucius and I turned to see Xeno staring beneath the cloth covering the bodies.
"Ah! Those are the materials for Ollivander!" I cheerfully said, approaching him with Lucius in tow. "I should probably go deliver them to him before he closes. You two want to come with?"
The two men looked at each other before turning to me and nodding.
"If they are materials specially caught by you, it would be nice to see Ollivander's reaction to them," Lucius said, a hand cupping his chin.
"Yes, yes. Could we go then? I haven't had something interesting happen in months!" Xeno said.
"I'm going, I'm going!" I said, pulling out my stick from the things and giving it for Xeno to carry. I pulled out my wand and levitated the bodies aside to move towards the door. With a quick thought about the door at Ollivander's shop, I opened the front door of the Lovegood home and motioned for Xeno and Lucius to step through, carefully guiding the levitating bodies behind them.
"Garrick! Alex is back!" Xeno called out as I closed the Door.
"I'm coming!" Came Ollivander's voice from the back.
"That is a truly marvelous form of transportation," Lucius said, staring at the closed door.
"Considering the other ones I've seen, any form of magical transportation that doesn't make you spin is an improvement," I snorted in response, setting the bodies on the floor.
Lucius nodded in agreement as Ollivander came out from the depths of his shop.
"Alex, It's good to have you back! And I see you brought something for me?" Ollivander said, already moving towards the covered bodies.
"You're going to love this," I smiled, pulling the sheet from the bodies. "Let me present you with the Wolves Geri and Freki and the Ravens Huginn and Muninn, Odin's familiars."
"Oh, they're a beaut!" Ollivander exclaimed, kneeling down to check on them. "Although the damage on them is quite extensive."
"I didn't exactly have a chance to take them out cleanly, with these four plus Odin trying to kill me, I was lucky enough there was anything else left at all." I shrugged before grabbing my stick from Xeno and presenting Ollivader with it. "And this one is a piece from Yggdrasil, used to directly kill the God-King Odin by piercing his heart."
Ollivander's eyes were as wide as saucers after listening to my stick's pedigree, the bodies were left to the wayside as he reverently took hold of the wood.
"This…This is…" Ollivander muttered, seemingly lost in the majesty of the stick.
"I know, right?" I said with a grin. "I'll probably be able to get more Yggdrasil wood in the future, so there's no rush to use up all of this batch."
He looked up at me, the reverence in his eyes making me slightly uncomfortable, before he closed his eyes and nodded.
Letting Ollivander recompose himself, I turned to the brothers to see Lucius' flabbergasted stare directed at me.
"What? You said that Xeno and Severus told you," I asked, lifting an eyebrow at him.
"I don't think I had actually internalized it yet," He muttered, turning his eyes to Ollivander.
"What I'm more curious about is how did you kill a God with that stick?" Xeno asked, his eyes narrowing.
"Last ditch effort," I shrugged. "I had hurt him, but the Runes Odin put in the area were helping him get back on his feet. Thankfully, I had set up the stick as a trap in case I couldn't finish him off, so when he got into position I just sent all of the magic I had left to the Locomotion spell I had on it and let it fly."
Xeno paled at that and, noticing Lucius not reacting, turned to face him with a serious look.
"Lucius, Alex wandless and holding back makes Voldemort and Dumbledore at their best, combined, look like first years on their first day, with badly matched wands," Xeno told Lucius slowly. "Any spell that takes 'all the magic he had left' would be powerful in a way I don't believe even the legends of Merlin would compare."
After hearing that, Lucius' eyes widened slightly, but I could see he didn't actually understand. Xeno noticed too, but there was nothing to do for it except give him a showing, something that wasn't going to happen as I had better things to do.
Looking back at Ollivander, I noticed he was back inspecting the bodies, the stick nowhere to be seen. I slowly approached him to see him meticulously checking every inch of the Raven he had in his hand.
"So, can you work with these?" I asked him.
"Yes, although the cuts and perforations damaged much of the birds. The wolves are in better condition, but that's because of their size," he said, looking up at me. "You can go now, I need to focus on my work."
With a nod, I motioned for the brothers that it was time to go, and with a quick focus and a turn of the doorknob, we were gone.
Lucius didn't stay long after that, while Xeno and I had some catching up to do.
I told him about my projects and Authorities, and he told me about Luna and his articles.
As we sat at the dinner table, and our food finished, I asked the question that had been on my mind since the day I left.
"So, how did the article go?" I had been wondering why he decided to make it in the first place, but since he refused to answer it then, I decided to skip the pointless argument.
"As expected," he said, taking a sip of his after-meal tea.
"And that means?" I probed.
"My readers understood the message," he shrugged.
"And the message was?" I pushed, leaning forward to stare at him.
"Alex, if you have to ask, then you need to start thinking deeper about what is going on around you," Xeno smirked. "I know you don't know much about this world, but I believe you have enough clues to figure out for yourself."
Xeno finished his tea and got up.
"Take it as a learning opportunity, not everyone is going to tell you everything and a lot of people will want to use you for your power. You need to be able to protect yourself from manipulation, especially when it comes to matters like these." He said, walking up to his room before pausing and turning back to me. "Diagon Alley tomorrow? I need to send a letter to Severus telling him you're back."
"Yeah," I sighed. "I need to go to Madam Malkin's to refit my dress robes and make some modifications."
"You have grown in the last few months," he nodded. "And Alex?"
"Yes, Xeno?" I answered.
"It's good to have you back," He said with a smile.
"It's good to be back," I smiled back.
"Good night," he said, turning back to the stairs.
"G'night," I said, leaning back in my chair and looking at the ceiling.
"I fucking hate politics," I cursed.
The trip to Diagon Alley the next day went quickly, the modifications to my robes were easy to do and Xeno only needed to send a letter, so it didn't take long for us to be back at The Rook.
The pillow fort Luna made was still there, so I lay down there to think about what Xeno had told me.
Starting from my interaction with Lucius the previous day, it was easy to notice how even though he said he 'was' part of the dark faction, his justification for not being there anymore revolved around the fact that he could accomplish his goals without taking overt action.
Remembering the talk with the Weasleys after the World Cup, it was easy to slot him as one of the 'purebloods' they talked about and from that inferring him to be their leader was simple.
This brought me to another realization, Severus was the one who convinced him that I was legit and to not take overt action to achieve it.
But was it really 'not to take' overt action or 'stop taking' overt action?
'Was he one of the cultists in the World Cup?' I wondered. It was completely possible that he was, even likely if he needed Severus to personally talk him down of any more attacks.
Which led me to question what Severus had to do with all of this, Xeno too for that matter, but to a lesser degree.
He had contacts on both sides, could personally convince what was probably the leader of the 'dark' side from taking any more action while at the same time having a high-ranking position under the leader of the 'light' side.
'Maybe he was neutral?' I asked myself. Considering his accolades, his power, and his overall demeanor, he could have pulled it off. Although I didn't know how much changed in the decade after the war.
In the end, Xeno was the biggest mystery. It was apparent he was using the article to gather supporters. The question was, for what?
Considering his conspiracy-theorist tendencies, it could be political, but I didn't see why he would keep it secret if it was, he already knew my thoughts on cultists, and considering his brother was one and Xeno brought him into the fold, that couldn't be it.
Thinking about the article, I remembered the beginning portion of it. While focused on me, I was used as an example of the heights that humanity could achieve, with my interview and the full story of my arrival relegated to page 3.
Another memory hit me then, of a small group of cultists scaring off thousands of other magic users, with precious few standing up against them.
Was that it them? Did he want a magical revolution? Not against the non-magicals, but against the current society, who was lazy and had no wonder or excitement about magic.
That very well could be, but why the secret? The only reason he wouldn't want me to know about it would be because I wouldn't approve, and since I doubted he'd go about it in a 'dark' way, that only left my pos-
I stopped, understanding flooding through me as I finally grasped Xeno's plan.
I quickly stood up and stormed to his office, catching him unprepared as he almost fell out of his chair when I arrived.
"Xeno, what the fuck!?" I exclaimed.
"Ah, you found out them?" He sheepishly asked.
"I did! Why the fuck would you do that!?" I exclaimed again.
"It seemed like a good idea at the time?" He said/asked.
"Not good enough," I said, crossing my arms.
"Fine. Sit down, let me explain." He sighed. "This is going to be a long story…"
A/N 1: Last chapter was the last of my backlog, this is this week's chapter. After today, updates will be weekly, every Thursday to be precise.
A/N 2: And we're back in HP!
Alex had a good long thought about things, but how much did he get right?
And Xeno's plan will also finally come to light.
Like my writing? Want to be able to read a full two chapters ahead? Then check me out on P a treon . com (slash) NickKane.