Gateway 16
The feeling of waking up in my own bed after an extended period away from it was, honestly, pretty great.
Being greeted by a warm cup of coffee made by my mother after that? Almost magical.
Then sitting down with my father to smoke a cigarette and watch the news? Perfection.
As I fished a cigarette from my father's pack and lit it with his lighter, I finally felt like I was home.
Of course, I forgot one crucial detail.
"What the fuck are you doing?" My mother demanded in a deceptively calm tone, which clued me in on my mistake.
My parents didn't know that I smoked.
A glance at my father showed him to have moved the farthest away he could from me on the sofa, looking at me as if I was insane.
"It's fine! Being a Campione means it has no actual impact on my health!" I defended.
"And before that?" She asked.
"Wait, you knew that I was smoking before!?" I asked incredulously.
My parents' twin snorts at that was all the answer I needed.
"Finish your cigarette and get ready, you have to leave in 15 minutes if you want to get to school on time." She sighed, leaving the room.
I stifled a groan as I finished my cigarette, ignoring my father's chuckles as I went to my room to get ready.
School was boring.
After a full month of studying different disciplines of magic, I didn't think I'd ever be able to properly go ever again. Just being inside the building seemed to sap my will and the less said about my classmates, the better.
The only classmate I could actually hang out with was Leo, who wasn't a nuisance like the others, he spent our entire time at school talking about the shows he'd been watching and his woodworking projects.
It still wasn't enough to make me want to stay, deciding to continue school after I became a Campione was a mistake.
Thankfully, school didn't last long, I invited Leo to hang out on the weekend and left as soon as the clock stuck 12:45.
Arriving home I was hit with a strong smell of pasta with my father's tomato sauce, I didn't even bother changing out of my uniform before sitting down at the already set table and dumping my bag behind my chair.
It didn't take long for him to come with the full pan and for us to begin to eat.
Once we finished, he got up to grab a small stack of papers and sat back down, handing the papers to me.
"And what's this?" I asked.
"After Carlos came around to explain why you disappeared, I started making that." He said, pointing at the papers. "It's a list of all the changes this country needs to become an actual good place to live in, changes that you could make with your position as King."
After going to Italy, even if my visit had to be cut short, I could understand what he was saying. Compared to European nations it's easy to see how Brazil is horribly mismanaged. But for someone like my father, who ran away to Italy the first chance he got? Who only moved back because he and my mother wanted to live close to the rest of their families? All those differences would be much more pronounced.
With a nod at him, I turn my eyes to the list and I can't help but snort at the first item on it: Railways.
Ever since I can remember he's been complaining about Brazil's lack of them, with good reason too, Brazil is simply too big of a country to be dependent on roads only, especially when our biggest food producers are all landlocked.
Reading the rest of the list, most of it are common sense things that should have been in place already and the rest are things that need to be removed. Unfortunately, what needs to be removed is the base that the country was built on.
Who could have thought that Brazil was the place where a progressive Royal family would be ousted in favor of a corrupt democracy?
"Yeah, I can do that. I have to go see Carlos today anyway." I said nodding at him. "Just don't expect immediate results."
"Son, this is Brazil, just knowing that results will come is enough for me." He snorted before working on taking the dishes away as I went into my room.
A few hours later, I opened a Door to the Association, Severus' box of potions in hand.
I thought about apparating in, but I didn't go enough times to memorize a location, only remembering a door.
The people of the Order of the Golden Star were an eclectic bunch, some wearing suits, some in social casual, most in full casual, and a small minority in a fantasy novel's idea of a wizard robe.
Having just come from Luna's world, their idea of robes was too drab and non-functional, serving more as a fashion statement than as an actual part of their daily lives.
Thankfully, the different ways people dress here mean that I don't stand out with my t-shirt and jeans.
Moving through the hallways, asking for directions every now and then, I quickly reach Carlos' office.
"Carlos! How have you been this past month?" I ask, taking a seat and shaking his hand.
"Alex! Apart from having to explain things to your parents everything was calm. We did receive a package from the Copper-Black Cross for you," He said, pulling a small brown package from one of the drawers on his table and handing it to me.
I set the box of potions on the table to check out the package, opening it up was a velvet-lined flat box, inside of it was a Key in a necklace.
Touching the key, I could feel it in a way similar to Severus and Xeno apparating, a connection to my Authority.
"Janus' Key?" I asked, lifting it to get a better look at it.
"Yes," He said with a nod. "Apparently, some overzealous members of their order were running tests on it to find out what it could do, but once one of their higher-ranking people noticed it they terminated the experiment and sent it here as soon as possible, with guarantees that the ones responsible would face the consequences."
"So…" I prodded, taking my eyes off the Key to look at him.
"It works like your Authority," He said with a sigh. "You insert the Key on a door, think of where you want to go, and it opens on the destination."
"Interesting, I'll play with it later to see if it has the same limitations," I said.
"Limitations? I wasn't aware of your Authority having any." He said, leaning forward. "And where were you, Alex? I know you said you'd be gone for a month but I didn't expect you to completely disappear during that time. And the things you brought back with you! Does it have to do with your new knowledge over your Authority?"
"Yes, yes it does, Carlos," I said, leaning forward as well. "You know how I was having trouble controlling my magic, I was thinking up a solution when my Authority gave me Doors with ridiculously long cooldowns."
"So the month…" He said in realization.
"Yes, and that was using a physical door as an anchor." I nodded. "So when I reached the other side, imagine my surprise when I found out it was a completely different version of Earth."
His eyes bulged in shock.
"Yeah, and their system of magic was different too! They use this," I said, pulling out my wand. "For everything," I cast the whisky-conjuring spell, pushing one of the glasses full of amber-colored liquid to a wide-eyed Carlos.
"This brings me to the first order of business I came to talk to you about: this wand is a poor fit for me, so need your help procuring materials so I can get a new one," I said, putting my wand down and taking a sip from my glass.
"And what kind of materials are that?" Carlos asked after taking a strengthening gulp of his own.
"Divine, with a preference for hairs/feathers and wood," I said.
"Anything divine is hard to come by as is, being that restricted may pose a problem." He said, leaning back on his seat while nursing his glass.
"What kind of problem?" I asked.
"The best way to go about getting what you want is by trading with other Campione," He said.
"Ah, yeah, I can see how that'd be complicated," I said in commiseration.
Because he was right, my siblings were by and large all considered antisocial weirdos by the magical community at large, and I couldn't help but agree.
But maybe…
"What if we have something they'll want to trade for? Make them come to us instead of the reverse." I said, looking at the box of potions. "Even Associations without Campione will want to depart with whatever divine things they have for a deal with us.
"Oh? And what do you have that'll get everyone interested like that?" Carlos asked, interest shining in his eyes.
"The things that I brought back with me? They're for this," I said as I opened the potions box, taking a red vial out to show him. "Magical potions. The world I was in dealt heavily with them, they are ridiculously varied and useful, especially the healing ones."
I set the vial down and pulled the shrunk books out of my pocket, a quick 'finite' to cancel the shrinking charm and they're back to their original sizes.
"These are the textbooks on how to brew potions," I said pulling out the book on top of the pile, the sixth-year book, and opening on one of the most interesting potions in it. "And this is the Felix Felicis potion."
I gave him the book and let him read it, his shock at what he found only increasing as he paged through the book.
That's why I chose this year specifically to be at the top, it had some of the most interesting potions in the entire Hogwarts curriculum so it was a sure way to get Carlos personally invested.
"I see why you want to start this project. If even half of these work as intended…" He trailed off.
"They do, and I managed to get a Master of the discipline to help us do it, in around a year I'll get him to spend a month here, so hopefully things will be progressing nicely by then," I said.
"They will, I'll make sure of it." He replied with a nod.
"Great! Now, next thing on the list: I ain't going back to school." I stated.
"Expected," He snorted. "Will you stop with the program too?"
"No, I actually like the program you set up better, so just expand it into a full education." I shrugged.
"Huh, didn't think you'd want to keep going, Lord knows any kid your age would do anything to get out of a classroom." He said, writing something in a notebook on his desk.
"And I am. I don't consider a personal tutor in a comfortable room at the academy a classroom." I said with a smirk.
He rolled his eyes at me. "Anything else?"
"Matter of fact, yes, there's one more thing," I said, taking my father's list out of my pocket, unfolding it, and giving it to Carlos.
"Fuck me!" He groaned out. "Do know how much of a headache this will be?"
"Yeah, but I think you agree that making this country a little bit less of a shithole is worth it," I said pointedly.
"I do! But just thinking about all the politicking I'll have to do not only with the normals but the other Associations too! This'll take years, Alex, years!" He whined.
"Carlos, I'm a Campione, if they refuse to see reason with logic you can just say that I was the one to send you, y'know, the truth? I very much doubt that you'll have too many problems after that." I said.
"You're right, you are the Campione! They'll just cower and follow orders!" He visibly brightened at that, before sobering up and looking at me seriously. "You act way too casual and unassuming for a Campione, I almost forgot about it and we were talking about your Authority just now!"
"Eh, maybe it's because I'm still mellow over my time in the other world?" I shrugged.
"Maybe," He said slowly. "By the way, what more can you tell me about there?"
"Oh, lots! They are a very strange people, and their methods of transportation are insane!" I started to say, spending the next few hours filling Carlos in about Luna's world.
A/N: And that's that for the week folks, a little bit of slice-of-life, a few setups, and Alex making his first real moves as a Campione, wonder how that'll go?
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.