Hi, everyone!
Here’s another new story, this time, a Harry Potter fanfiction!
As with my other stories, I’d like to mention before you start reading that this story has been translated and edited by me, rather than translated word for word.
I’ve made adjustments where necessary to make the dialogue, terminology, and overall writing feel more natural in English and better suited to the Harry Potter universe.
If you notice any mistakes, awkward wording, or incorrect terms along the way, please feel free to leave a comment.
I’ll do my best to fix them.
🙂 I hope you enjoy the story.
Happy reading!
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 145th Street, London.
The most famous building on the street was an orphanage.
At that moment, inside one of the orphanage rooms, a boy in a denim jacket stood alone before the window.
In his hand was a letter.
Judging from its contents, it was an acceptance letter.
On the back, a lion, a serpent, an eagle, and a badger surrounded a large letter H.
The letter had only just arrived.
No one had noticed how it had been delivered, because the postman responsible for bringing it wasn’t human at all.
It was an owl.
The moment the boy opened his window, the owl flew neatly into the room and held out the letter tied to its leg.
Excitement flashed across the boy’s face.
After quickly skimming through the contents, he folded the letter and slipped it into the pocket of his jacket.
“Finally!” The instant he received the letter, a mechanical electronic voice rang out inside his mind.
━━━━━ QUEST ━━━━━ [Beginner Quest] After receiving your letter from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, proceed to the Leaky Cauldron in London and complete a Sign-In!
System detection complete.
You have successfully received your letter from Hogwarts.
Quest activation requirements have been met.
Please proceed to the Leaky Cauldron and complete the Sign-In as soon as possible.
Completing the quest will grant you a System reward!
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ The Leaky Cauldron stood at the entrance to Diagon Alley in London.
It was the oldest pub in the city, bar none.
Two years ago, the boy had crossed over into this world and become an ordinary child living in this orphanage.
His name was Eric Clapton, the exact same name as that godlike guitarist.
From the very first day he arrived in this world, Eric had known he was a wizard.
That was because, at the same time he crossed over, he had awakened his cheat ability, the Strongest Wizard Sign-In System.
Apart from the notification he’d received on that first day, however, the System had remained completely silent for the past two years.
Eric had spent a rather long time feeling thoroughly frustrated about that.
It wasn’t until today, when his Hogwarts acceptance letter finally arrived, that the System issued its first quest.
It was now July 1993.
Eric had just turned eleven.
And, by an almost ridiculous coincidence, Eric had been a fan of the wizarding world in his previous life.
He had read every one of the original Harry Potter novels from beginning to end.
Now, at last, he had actually come to this world himself.
Without the slightest hesitation, Eric pushed open the door and strode out.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ That afternoon, Eric stood outside the Leaky Cauldron with his Hogwarts letter in hand.
The pub was tucked away on an unremarkable London street, squeezed between a large bookshop on one side and a record shop on the other.
With the address written on his letter, Eric had little trouble finding the entrance.
The entrance to the Leaky Cauldron consisted of a small, inconspicuous black door.
Pedestrians passed up and down the street without pause, yet not one of them spared the door so much as a glance.
The pub was protected by a Muggle-Repelling Charm.
Only witches and wizards could see where the entrance was.
Eric took a deep breath, tightened his grip on the Hogwarts letter, and pushed the door open without hesitation.
A bell chimed as he entered.
The sight that greeted him was a small, dingy, shabby pub.
This place is filthy.
That was Eric’s first impression.
Dark walls surrounded him on every side, the gloomy brickwork seeming almost to press inward.
Eric took a single step forward, and the sole of his shoe immediately made a sticky noise against the floor, leaving behind a perfectly clear footprint.
The decor was extremely old-fashioned.
It certainly didn’t look as though it belonged to this century.
It was broad daylight outside, yet the interior remained dim.
If not for the weak glow of the candles, Eric doubted he would have been able to see much of anything.
Based on that first impression alone, Eric was certain of one thing, if the Leaky Cauldron had catered to Muggles, it would never have had any customers.
[Ding!
Congratulations.
You have successfully arrived at the designated Sign-In location.] [Sign-In commencing immediately.
Please do not leave the Sign-In location before completion.] As the System’s voice sounded, Eric’s eyes suddenly went distant.
A strange and wondrous force enveloped his entire body, gradually beginning to transform him from within.
“Oi, boy!
Don’t just stand there.” A somewhat hunchbacked wizard emerged from behind the bar, glaring at Eric with obvious displeasure.
It was Tom, the landlord of the Leaky Cauldron.
Ever since Eric had pushed open the door, he had simply stood motionless in the entrance.
To Tom, he looked very much like some young wizard who had wandered in by mistake, one who wasn’t even old enough to attend Hogwarts yet.
Eric paid no attention to Tom’s shouting.
His awareness was completely immersed in the reward being granted by the System.
[Ding!
Congratulations.
Sign-In successful.] [Reward acquired: Top-Tier Magical Power.] When Eric continued standing there without responding, Tom’s irritation deepened.
One look at the boy was enough to tell that he had been raised by Muggles.
No child from a traditional wizarding family would dress like that.
No wonder he didn’t know the first thing about how to behave here.
Tom walked up to Eric and gave his shoulder an impatient shove.
“Oi!
I’m talking to you.
Didn’t you hear me?” The shove forced Eric half a step backwards.
At precisely that moment, he emerged from the strange state brought on by the System’s reward.
Then Eric abruptly raised his head.
A brilliant gleam flashed through his dark brown eyes.
Without warning, a wave of pressure erupted around him.
Magic surged out of his body like a raging tide, bursting forth in every direction and sweeping through the entire pub.
BOOM!
Tom didn’t even have time to react.
The sheer force of Eric’s erupting magic hurled him backwards, sending him crashing onto the floor.
Several other witches and wizards sitting near Eric suffered the same fate.
Every candle in the pub went out at once, plunging the already gloomy room into an even deeper darkness.
But nobody had the slightest attention to spare for the lighting.
Eric’s magic had condensed into an invisible pressure that blanketed the entire Leaky Cauldron.
Tom was pinned firmly against the floor by the crushing force.
He tried to push himself upright, only to discover that he couldn’t move at all.
His face filled with horror.
Magic taking physical form?!
What in Merlin’s name is this terrifying pressure?
Who is this boy?
“Stop!” Tom shrieked in panic, his voice turning unusually high pitched.
“You’ll break the Muggle-Repelling Charm!” He wasn’t wrong.
It was precisely because the Leaky Cauldron was protected by a Muggle-Repelling Charm that it had managed to remain hidden right under the noses of Muggle society for so many years.
If Eric continued pouring out magic at this rate, the Muggle-Repelling Charm wouldn’t be able to withstand it.
The Leaky Cauldron would be exposed to the Muggles outside, and Merlin only knew how they would react if a pub suddenly appeared out of nowhere before their very eyes.
At Tom’s warning, Eric’s thoughts shifted, and he immediately stopped releasing his magic.
Every witch and wizard in the Leaky Cauldron breathed a collective sigh of relief as the suffocating pressure vanished in an instant.
Tom struggled back to his feet.
Still trembling, he stared at Eric and asked, “Who exactly are you?” “My name is Eric Clapton.
I’m a first-year starting at Hogwarts this year.” The voice that answered him was calm and composed, carrying the clear, gentle quality unique to a boy of his age.
And as Eric spoke, a smile appeared on his face.