8: Chapter 08: I’m Telling My Father!
8: Chapter 08: I’m Telling My Father!
“Platform Nine and Three-Quarters.” “This should be it.” After checking the ticket several times, Witt took Lily’s hand and prepared to go through.
Grindelwald, following behind them, gave him a contemptuous look.
“You seriously can’t see a magical barrier this obvious?” Witt replied helplessly, “Mr Grindelwald, has it occurred to you that I’m only a first-year?” “A first-year?
That’s the funniest thing I’ve heard all year.” “A first-year whose opening move is Crucio.
I’m sure you’ll give Dumbledore a wonderful surprise.” “I—” Witt was about to argue when Grindelwald simply reached out and shoved him through.
“Enough.
In you go.” “Sir.” Harry, having seen Witt and Lily disappear straight through the barrier, hurried over and asked quietly, “Excuse me, is Platform Nine and Three Quarters here?” “Yes, that’s right.” “Thank you.” After thanking him, Harry copied Witt and broke into a short run towards the barrier.
Having casually pointed Harry in the right direction, Grindelwald Disapparated.
After staying at Witt’s house for several days, there was naturally no way Witt’s occasional disappearances could have escaped Grindelwald’s notice.
Sometimes Witt left empty handed and came back carrying something he hadn’t possessed before.
Those observations had allowed Grindelwald to reach a fairly firm conclusion.
Witt was almost certainly the reason he had appeared in this world.
After all, during that entire year, the only truly unusual thing that had happened around Grindelwald was Witt.
If Witt could bring him here…
Perhaps he could bring Dumbledore here as well.
Then that damned Riddle could grow old and die alone in the other world.
While he— Heh heh.
Two Dumbledores.
Twice the happiness.
(≖⩊≖) Changing worlds hadn’t caused Grindelwald the slightest discomfort.
If anything, he was enjoying himself even more here.
There was only one thing in this world that truly dissatisfied him.
This world’s Dumbledore was just as stubborn as his own, clinging to outdated ideas and refusing to compromise.
So what if Grindelwald was a Dark Lord?
Was there anyone more qualified to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts than an actual Dark Lord?
Yet Dumbledore had rejected his application for the position.
Instead, he’d allowed a stuttering man whose very back of the head reeked of Dark magic to become the professor.
Utterly unreasonable.
After his application was rejected, Grindelwald had immediately blasted that garlic scented Quirrell half to death.
Dumbledore had flown into a rage and thrown him out.
Grindelwald’s original plan had been to become a professor and move directly into Hogwarts.
With that plan ruined and nowhere else to stay, he had no choice but to continue lodging at Witt’s house.
At least until today, when Hogwarts finally reopened.
After seeing Witt off, Grindelwald suddenly found himself profoundly bored.
He had no interest whatsoever in returning to that empty little house.
After considering his options, Grindelwald decided to find himself some entertainment.
He would go to Nurmengard and have a look at that pitiful failure who called himself Grindelwald.
Couldn’t even deal with Dumbledore.
Pathetic.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ On the Hogwarts Express, Witt handed his luggage over to an attendant and led Lily into a random compartment.
The old fashioned locomotive and elegant steam era carriages had a wonderful atmosphere.
If only there weren’t so many shrill voices chattering away outside.
A cup of tea, the scenery rolling past the window…
Now that would have been relaxing.
Unfortunately, the peace didn’t last long.
Before long, two students appeared outside their compartment.
One was a bushy haired girl.
The other was a round faced, slightly pudgy boy.
“Hello, I’m Hermione Granger.” “This is Neville Longbottom.
May we sit here?” “Witt Cress.” “Lily Evans.” “Go ahead.” After the brief introductions, Witt took out an introductory Potions textbook and began studying it with Lily.
Thanks to the reward from his earlier Quest, Witt was already fairly familiar with Potions, while Lily seemed to possess a natural talent for brewing.
Over the past month or so, the two of them had successfully brewed the Draught of Living Death, Cure for Boils, and Forgetfulness Potion.
They had even sold some in Diagon Alley for a little extra money.
“Are you studying ahead?” Hermione looked delighted to have finally found kindred spirits.
When she’d been talking with Neville earlier, she’d discovered that despite coming from a wizarding family, Neville couldn’t cast spells and no one had taught him any of the Hogwarts curriculum in advance.
Apart from helping his grandmother care for plants and picking up some basic Herbology, Neville knew virtually nothing about anything else.
Hermione found that unbelievable.
Wasn’t studying ahead the most basic thing anyone could do?
She had spent the past two months memorising enormous amounts of information about the wizarding world specifically so she wouldn’t fall behind students raised in magical families.
Neville’s performance had left her with the deeply frustrating sensation of punching a pillow.
“No.” Witt didn’t even look up.
“We’re trying to work out which potion would sell best and make us the most money.” “Where did you get the potion ingredients?” Hermione immediately leaned over without the slightest hesitation.
“I asked around in the shops in Diagon Alley, but none of them would sell potion ingredients to first-years.” “They said they were worried we’d hurt ourselves.” “That’s easy.” Witt drew his wand and demonstrated.
“Just put the tip of your wand under the shopkeeper’s chin like this and tell him that if he doesn’t sell to you, you’ll kill him with Avada Kedavra.” “If there are two of them, even better.
Take one out first, then put your wand under the other one’s chin.
He’ll definitely sell to you after that.” In reality, Witt had simply begged Grindelwald to accompany him to buy the ingredients.
No shop was going to refuse perfectly good money when an adult wizard was standing there.
Hermione, being a child on her own, naturally got turned away.
If something happened to her afterward, the shopkeeper would be in trouble.
Witt was only saying all this because he had a naturally wicked sense of humour.
Hermione didn’t react much to the words Avada Kedavra.
The three Unforgivable Curses weren’t exactly covered in first-year textbooks.
Neville’s reaction was much stronger.
Coming from a wizarding family, he had obviously heard of them.
“Avada Kedavra?” Neville looked frightened.
“You can get sent to Azkaban for using an Unforgivable Curse.” “Only if they catch you—” Before Witt could finish, Lily reached over and tugged at him.
She was clearly telling him to stop.
Couldn’t he see that Neville was looking at him strangely now?
“Sorry,” Lily said.
“He tends to say whatever comes into his head.
He’s actually quite nice.” “What are Unforgivable Curses?” Hermione’s curiosity about everything in the wizarding world was limitless, and a name like that naturally caught her attention.
Neville hesitated, unsure whether he should explain.
Witt, on the other hand, was getting carried away.
“They’re just three little spells.
Pretty much everyone in the wizarding world knows them.
Erm…
quite a few things that aren’t people know how to use them too.” “I’m telling you, if you get to Hogwarts without even knowing the Unforgivable Curses, people will laugh at you.” Hermione immediately felt as though Witt were taking a jab at her.
“You know them, then?” “Of course I do.” Witt puffed up proudly.
“I had to get hit by them hundreds of times and gain deep, firsthand experience before I finally learned them.
Ordinary people couldn’t manage that.” “Then show me.” Witt whipped out his wand.
“Fine, I’ll—mmph!” Lily instantly clamped a hand over his mouth and glared fiercely at him.
She wasn’t the clueless beginner she’d been when Witt first met her.
By now, Lily understood exactly what the Unforgivable Curses represented in the wizarding world.
If Witt cast one aboard the Hogwarts Express, he wouldn’t need to bother going to Hogwarts at all.
He could skip straight ahead to Azkaban.
Under Lily’s threatening stare, Witt’s protests grew quieter and quieter until they became inaudible.
Hermione immediately seized the opportunity.
“You obviously can’t do them either.” “Who says I can’t?” Witt muttered.
“I just promised Professor McGonagall I wouldn’t use those three spells whenever I felt like it.” “Oh!” Witt suddenly brightened.
“I know other spells too.” The Starter Pack had given him three spells.
Lumos and Wingardium Leviosa were both first-year material, far too basic to show off with.
Instead, Witt decided to demonstrate Flipendo.
That was a spell normally learned by older students.
There was no way this little girl would know it.
“Let me think.
The incantation was…” Witt tilted his head, carefully trying to remember.
Ever since he learned Crucio, Flipendo had effectively vanished from his regular repertoire.
The Cruciatus Curse was simply much more useful.
“Oh, right!” Witt excitedly swung his wand.
“Flipendo!” An invisible force shot from the wand tip and struck Goyle, who happened to be passing the compartment.
Right in front of Draco’s eyes, Goyle suddenly flew through the air and slammed face first into the train window.
His flattened face slowly slid down the glass.
He was completely unconscious.
The sudden incident startled Draco, who had been on his way to find Harry.
“Sorry!” Seeing that Witt had caused trouble, Lily hurried over to apologise on his behalf.
Draco had initially looked frightened enough to run.
But the moment Lily came over and apologised first, his attitude instantly became arrogant.
“Get out of my way, you filthy little country girl.” “Poor Goyle!
You’ll pay for this.” Draco pointed accusingly at Witt.
“That uncivilised brute attacked Goyle!
I’m going to tell my father and have him expelled from Hogwarts!” “Flipendo!” The moment Draco finished speaking, another spell struck him squarely.
He went flying just like Goyle and hit the window face first before sliding down the glass.
Witt walked over, gestured for Lily to return to her seat, then grabbed Draco with one hand and hauled him upright.
“Now apologise to Lily.
Immediately.” His voice turned cold.
“Or I’ll show you exactly what Crucio feels like.” Country brat.
Witt would never allow anyone to insult Lily like that.
His eyes were icy enough to make it seem as though he really would cast the curse in the next second.
Draco had never faced anything like this in his life.
He surrendered immediately.
“I’m sorry, Miss Lily.
I apologise for what I said.” Only after Draco apologised did Witt lower his wand.
Then he patted Draco gently on the shoulder and smiled.
“I wasn’t trying to hurt anyone earlier either.
We should all get along, shouldn’t we?” He produced a Galleon.
“Here.
Take this as compensation for the medical expenses.” Draco accepted the coin in a daze.
It wasn’t until Witt turned away that his mind finally caught up.
Humiliation.
This was an unspeakable humiliation!
Since when had the Malfoy family fallen so low that people could throw money at them as compensation?
Draco desperately wanted to hurl the Galleon straight into Witt’s face.
Then he compared the distance between them.
He decided against it.
Draco hurried away until he believed he was safely out of range.
Only then did he turn around and shout furiously, “You rude little country bumpkin!
How dare you treat me like this!
I’m going to tell my father and have Hogwarts expel you!” CREATORS’ THOUGHTS Hidden_Quill Thank you so much for reading!