I apparated to London. The apparition was rowdy and harsh, but, hey, it was instant travel through the half of Europe, so I am not complaining.
I was a tad bit exhausted, so I decided to sit on the ground and rest a little bit. Thankfully, I picked a quiet location in one of the alleys of busy London and I had a mask on, so even if somebody saw me magically appearing here, they won't be able to recognize me.
After a few minutes of resting, I got up, dusted off and set off. To make sure, I escaped all unnecessary attention, after walking out of the alley, I turned right and instantly changed to my other set of clothes, putting off the mask.
Afterward, I went towards Grangers' house. I took me some time, but eventually, I reached their door.
*Knock**Knock**Knock*
I heard a young voice behind the door:
"I will open the door"
Then I heard a fast thumping of human legs and finally, the door was opened by Hermione.
"Hello there!"
"Magnus!"
She hugged me and started asking me a ton of questions:
"Where you've been for so long? How was your friend? What happened? It was so sudden, we were so surprised!"
In my letter, I explained, that I have to return back home this instant because my friend needs help. I knew it will work on them and I also knew that Dumbledore, that lazy punk, won't do shit to explain how shitty was this reason. The only concern was Black and Lupin, but apparently, they didn't meddle too much with Hermione.
"Can I come in or should we talk here?" I smiled at her barrage of questions.
"Of course, come in. I was just too excited. I haven't seen it for more than 2 months! And you didn't even send a letter!"
"Well, duh! Where would I find an owl at my hometown? I don't have a handy owl with me all the time. Didn't I already mention that in letters?"
"True enough, but I thought it won't take you whole 2 months. That the longest we haven't been together!"
"..."
She reddened, suddenly understanding how misinterpreting that sounded.
"You know... people may misunderstand..."
What she meant that we always were together. The longest time we were apart was last year during the time they went for weekends in France I think, but even then we kept in contact via owl mail.
"I-I-I me-meant..." she was quickly stuttering while thinking how to explain.
"No worries, I know what you meant. Let's enter the house."
She still red, turned back and quickly entered the house and I slowly followed her.
Entering the dinner room, I saw unexpected guests in the house.
"Mister and Missis Granger, good afternoon! Mister Black!? Harry!?"
"""Magnus!?"""
Everyone sitting said.
"And we thought who might it be. Magnus, we missed you." Missis Granger said.
"More like you missed his help in the kitchen, but truth be told we indeed missed your presence in the house. How you've been? We heard something happened to your friend. Is everything alright?" Mister Granger smilingly commented on what his wife said and asked.
"Yeah, Magnus, how was your trip? Harry told me, that you had to quickly leave and I couldn't even properly say "Thanks". You went to help friend, right?" Sirius asked as well. I really escaped fast at that time.
"Yes. Everything is alright." I answered.
"So how is your friend?", " Is he alright?" Harry and Hermione joined in questioning.
"Not really. He died." I said with a sad smile.
It was a dead silence, where everyone's lower jaw was lying on the floor.
'Time for some BS.'
"But it's okay. I knew that he was dying before going. That's actually why I was in a hurry and that's also why I am quitting Hogwarts."
"Magnus, my boy, this..."
"I don't want to discuss it. He was very sick and... I knew that he was dying, but I thought he will live at least until I finish Hogwarts and find the cure... but I..."
A silent tear dropped from my eye, yet I smiled.
"My friend and I... we had a dream and now that he's dead, I will fulfill it. I promised him." I said solemnly, "Plus it was an initial plan anyway, so there is no difference if I do this earlier."
I smiled once more.
'3...2...1... and...'
Everyone just nodded quietly.
『 Speech 36 ➔ 37 』
'Indeed this skill is the best...'
[Indeed]
'FOR BS!'
"Let's not speak of the sad stuff. So what are you doing here Harry?"
"Ron and Mister Weasley called us to Quidditch Cup, so we came here to take Hermione there."
"You live with your godfather, now?"
"Not exactly", Sirius answered "I had some things to deal with upon returning as a lawful wizard. There were documents I needed to fix and Ministry overall is not exactly an organization that easily admits its mistake."
"Hm... So, you are free, but not exactly?"
"Kinda... Anyway, I can have weekends with Harry and maybe next year he will be able to move to my place."
"Yeah" Harry answered happily. Knowing his situation, living with Dursleys or whatnot is indeed a hellish experience.
"So, can I go with you?" I need to make sure that my changes are in order. I don't need any death eaters running around reviving dead dudes.
"Of course! We were thinking of exiting now, actually, but we can wait for another day for you to rest and..."
"No need. Let's go. I am ready, anyway."
"Are you sure. You look a bit pale."
'Of course, I look pale, dude. I just apparated across half a Europe.'
"It's okay. I just had no time to properly eat the last few weeks, but now that I am back I will be okay."
"Well, okay. Let's go."
"Have fun kids." Mister Granger wished us.
"Keep them safe, Mister Black!" Missis Granger sternly reminded Sirius.
"No worries, just trust me. Okay, kids."
Then we exited the home and started moving towards the car. I was really surprised because Sirius didn't have a car in the movies, so I looked quizzically at him.
"You had a car?"
"Not just a car, but a flying car!" Harry proudly corrected me.
""Wow!"", mine and Hermione reaction.
Black smirked and said:
"That was one of the sorry gifts from the Ministry."
More than ten years in Azkaban should bring at least some benefits, right.
"So what other 'gifts' did Ministry give you to close the case peacefully and without unnecessary attention?"
He looked at me surprised.
"What? It's obvious, that it will be impossible for them to openly admit their wrongdoings. They care too much for their image. So, to pacify you they need to give you some nice gifts. Moreover, I bet they will manipulate the news to reveal the rat as secret suspect that they had all along, but couldn't find and then they would tell that in Azkaban you were kept for your own defense. To safe keep you from servants of the dark lord."
"Wow! That's exactly what they wrote! How could they..." Harry said both surprised and angry.
I only smirked and interrupted him:
"Politics and life, Harry. Truth is subjective and facts can be molded to anything, as long as you have enough power."
Harry and Hermione were lost in thought after hearing this.
Sirius looked at me and said:
"You are very mature for a 14-year-old boy."
"Indeed, I am."
[Indeed, he is.]
'System you became very talkative. You even sneezed recently... What's happening?'
[Nothing...]
Soon we reached the car and settled in. While riding we talked about many things. They told me what happened during summer and which House won, but honestly, I didn't pay much attention.
I was thinking about the system and its suspicious behavior recently. It felt concerned for me and a little bit nervous.
Thankfully, either due to my speech or because the topic was sensitive, nobody asked about my vacation and how I passed the time. Everyone tacitly agreed to not raise the topic, so there was no need to come up with any more lies.
Harry and Hermione were very talkative during the trip, while I was a listener. In my past life, I was a very big talker until 25, so I know what requirements a good listener should fulfill. Plus, my speech worked not only in the speaking part. It helped me be fluent in any conversation no matter which role I was representing.
Finally, we reached Weasley's home and started exiting the car. I decided to relax my body first, which got very stiff after such a long time. Black and kids followed me in stretching.
Fred and George were the ones who greeted and invited us home.
""Hey, Magnus!""
"Where you've been?"
"What were you doing?"
""And how did you leave Hogwarts, without the train?""
Fred and George have barraged me with questions.
"Wow, wow! Calm down, uncles." I smirked, "I am also happy to see you. Everything later."
We had a nice dinner and decided to play, while I quietly left my room to roam around. This place was magnificent. So much enchanted stuff. Thanks to my bracelets I was practically unnoticeable, therefore nobody bothered me, which was my perfect.
I didn't want to entangle with these world's people more than required.
My goals are to push away Voldy's return as much as possible, then get stronger, then stomp him and turn back to researching stuff. That should be my focus.
'But there is also that promise to Hermione, about being forever friends.'
*Sigh*
I hate hypocrites and breaking promises, yet I feel that I am doing just this now. Being a hypocrite, that breaks promises. However, I simply can't trust them completely.
[Was there anyone you ever trusted completely?]
'System? Now you are being my personal mental advisor?'
[Not really. But you do not need to concern yourself with that. Do what you want.]
'I am doing, but I can't let myself break a promise. I know that I will feel horrible after that.'
[Promise was forever, but she is not immortal and you can't be friends with a corpse. So killing her can be an option.]
'... You are really serious about this? Well, I think that's a bit of an overkill, literally...'
[Returning to the moment before the promise, can be another option.]
'And waste so much experience? I need my magical abilities to properly control magic and remove trace. Plus, I honestly don't have any wish to redo my whole year or even multiple years, because of one promise.'
[Aren't you contradicting yourself here? You are willing to change your whole future because of one promise, yet you are unwilling to change your past few years, saying that one promise is not a big deal?]
I smiled ruefully.
'Hypocrite in the truest sense, he-he.'
I started laughing in sadness.
'What would you advise me?'
[Nothing. The choice is yours, no matter what.]
'Maybe... '
I silently looked at the amulets in my hand and silently contemplated enchantment on it.
'Maybe not...'
*Progress*
『 Alchemy 39 | Sneak 28 | Speech 36 ➔ 37 』
『 Studying 47 | Wand Making 32 』
『 Herbology 39 | Magic Channeling 61 』
『 Magic Chanting 42 | Magic Gesturing 42 』
『 Magic Theory 58 | Astronomy 35 』
『 Riding Expertise 20 | Crafting 32 』
『 Playing Games 15 | Enchanting 40 』
『 Cooking 26 | Training 26 | Physical Activities 18 』
『 Programming 25 | Dancing 0 』
『 Legilimency 29 | Occlumency 34 』
『 Drawing 10 』