Even after returning to the Vance residence, Alistair couldn’t stop playing with his new wand.
Every few steps he would turn it between his fingers or give it a small experimental wave, looking exactly like a child who had just received the toy he’d wanted for years.
The dark elder-wood wand felt surprisingly natural in his hand, and the memory of the flames and sparks that had erupted when it chose him still filled him with excitement.
Unfortunately, the moment he opened the front door, his attention was pulled away from the wand.
The elderly witches and wizards who had accompanied Vinda during the attack were already waiting inside.
Before Alistair could ask what was happening, Vinda entered behind him, closed the door, and gestured for him to sit.
“Alistair, since you’ve decided to attend Hogwarts, none of us will try to stop you again,” Vinda began once everyone was seated.
“However, after discussing the matter last night, we’ve decided that you should receive some training before September first.” Alistair stared at her for a moment and couldn’t help thinking that apparently even after transmigrating into another universe, he still couldn’t escape private tutoring.
The thought wasn’t nearly as depressing as it would’ve been in his previous life, however, because this time the subject was magic.
He immediately became interested and started wondering what useful spells they might teach him first.
For one ridiculous moment, he even considered whether there was a spell capable of duplicating homework so he could save himself trouble once classes began.
One of the elderly wizards sitting near Vinda spoke before Alistair could make any suggestions.
“His safety at Hogwarts should be our highest priority.
I believe we should first make sure he has enough power to defend himself.” Alistair nodded slightly, thinking that sounded surprisingly reasonable.
Then the wizard continued, “So I suggest we begin with the Killing Curse.” Alistair’s eyes widened.
Since when did Avada Kedavra count as self-defense?
“No, that’s ridiculous,” another wizard immediately objected.
Alistair quietly breathed a sigh of relief, reassured that at least one person in the room possessed some common sense.
Unfortunately, the man continued, “Alistair is the future leader of the Alliance.
Why should he personally dirty his hands whenever someone needs to be dealt with?” His expression became completely serious.
“He should learn the Imperius Curse first.
Then he can simply control someone else and have them handle the problem for him.” Alistair’s brief relief vanished so quickly that he almost felt betrayed.
He looked around the room and began seriously wondering whether these people knew any ordinary magic at all.
Every discussion somehow returned to Dark Arts or one of the three Unforgivable Curses, and their idea of protecting a first-year student apparently involved teaching him spells that could earn him a permanent place in Azkaban.
Vinda finally interrupted the growing argument before anyone could propose the Cruciatus Curse as an educational tool.
“Enough.
We don’t have much time before Hogwarts begins, so arguing about what we want to teach him is pointless.” She turned toward Alistair.
“Tell us yourself.
Is there any branch of magic you especially want to learn before school starts?” Alistair answered almost immediately.
He had already considered that question the previous night and knew exactly which skill mattered most.
“Mrs.
Rosier, the thing I want to learn first is Occlumency.” The room became quiet, and several members of the Alliance exchanged puzzled looks.
Occlumency wouldn’t give him more offensive power or make him dramatically stronger in a duel, so they clearly hadn’t expected it to be his first choice.
Alistair, however, had a very practical reason.
He was about to enter Hogwarts, a school led by Albus Dumbledore, and Alistair knew perfectly well that the Headmaster was highly skilled at Legilimency.
Whether Dumbledore would actually invade an eleven-year-old student’s mind without reason wasn’t something Alistair wanted to gamble on.
The real danger wasn’t some embarrassing childhood memory but the fact that Alistair had come from another world and possessed knowledge about events that hadn’t happened yet.
If anyone discovered that secret, explaining how he knew about Harry Potter, Voldemort, and the future would become almost impossible.
Learning to protect his mind therefore mattered far more to him than throwing around dangerous curses.
Quiet discussion broke out among the Alliance members as they tried to understand his reasoning, but a sudden burst of applause interrupted them.
Vinda was smiling broadly as she slowly clapped her hands.
“Alistair, I’m genuinely pleased.” Her words immediately made him suspicious.
“I had wondered whether you inherited only the Grindelwald family’s talent and ambition, but now I understand that you also regard us as your own people, just as the master once did.” Her expression softened.
“Thank you.” Alistair blinked.
“You’re…welcome, Mrs.
Rosier.” Vinda turned toward the others and frowned when she noticed that several still looked confused.
“Have all these years of peace made you forget who we are and what kind of enemies we once faced?” she demanded.
“Think about what happens when Alistair reaches Hogwarts.
What if Dumbledore uses Legilimency on him and learns the locations or identities of the Alliance members from his memories?” Recognition gradually appeared on the faces around the table.
Vinda looked back toward Alistair with unmistakable pride.
“Instead of choosing magic that would immediately increase his own strength, his first concern was making sure none of us could be exposed through him.” The others finally understood—or at least believed they did.
Several elderly witches and wizards looked at Alistair with visible gratitude, leaving him sitting stiffly in his chair with an increasingly awkward smile.
That’s not why I chose it at all.
Correcting them, however, would require explaining what he was actually trying to hide, which was obviously impossible.
Once again, Alistair found himself trapped inside one of the Alliance’s increasingly elaborate misunderstandings.
The more ordinary his intentions were, the more impressive they somehow became after passing through Vinda’s imagination.
“It’s probably more than that,” a familiar voice suddenly added.
Alistair turned toward the elderly man sitting on Vinda’s other side.
“I caught a fragment of his thoughts earlier.
My apologies, Alistair—I didn’t intentionally use Legilimency against you.
Your surface thoughts simply became unusually clear for a moment, and I withdrew as soon as I realized what had happened.” Vinda gestured toward him.
“This is Abernathy.
He once worked for MACUSA—the Magical Congress of the United States of America.” Abernathy gave Alistair a polite nod.
Alistair remembered him immediately as the wizard who had dragged the surviving attacker into the kitchen after the assault.
“Yes, I do have something resembling a plan,” Alistair admitted cautiously, hoping he could give them enough information to stop the speculation.
“But it’s really just—” Before he could finish, Vinda, Abernathy, and several others stopped him almost simultaneously.
“No, you don’t need to explain anything,” Vinda said firmly.
“You must understand something, Alistair.
You’re the future leader of the Alliance.
A leader doesn’t have to justify every decision to the people who follow him.” She leaned forward slightly, her expression becoming unusually serious.
“If you have a plan that Dumbledore must never discover, then keep it to yourself.
Your wand has already shown us that even magic itself can sense something unusual in your ambition.” The others nodded in agreement.
“When the time comes, simply give the order.
We will be ready.” Alistair quietly swallowed everything he’d been about to say.
Fine.
Believe whatever you want.
All he actually wanted was to spend a relatively peaceful school life learning magic and avoiding Harry Potter’s future disasters, yet somehow everyone around him had become convinced that he was already developing a secret strategy against Dumbledore.
At this point, trying to correct every misunderstanding would probably create even more of them.
He therefore leaned back in his chair and decided silence was safer.
Vinda seemed satisfied with his response and finally returned to the reason they had gathered.
“Then we’ll begin as soon as possible.
Occlumency isn’t a simple spell; it’s a branch of magic requiring mental discipline, talent, and repeated practice.
We don’t have much time, so you’ll need to work seriously.” She turned toward the man beside her.
“Abernathy, I’ll leave his training to you.” Abernathy immediately rose from his chair.
He drew his wand and walked toward Alistair.
Alistair’s confidence disappeared as the wand slowly pointed directly at him.
End of Chapter 9 [Chapter Rewards]