The moment his attention drifted, the easy chatter between them died on its own.
Ayla tilted her head toward the book on the desk, her round, still-childish face scrunched in confusion.
The expression was almost unbearably cute.
Soren made no effort to hide his admiration of her profile.
The warmth in his eyes carried something deeper now, something calculating.
Of course he knew that inviting someone into his room risked exposing the existence of magic.
He did it anyway.
This was exactly the outcome he wanted.
Snape had warned him to keep secrets.
The first-year handbook from the school reminded him to keep secrets.
The International Confederation of Wizards had even enacted laws requiring every witch and wizard to keep magic hidden from the world.
He had no intention of following those rules.
As a self-styled “prophet,” he knew better than anyone what a clown show the Ministry of Magic truly was.
Rules, laws, regulations.
Tools of the powerful, nothing more.
Mechanisms for those on top to maintain their advantage and extend their grip on control.
When the rules served him, he’d follow them gladly.
When they didn’t, it was time to break them.
Controlled disclosure of magic to a select few.
Leveraging the information gap and the wonder of magical artifacts to build influence.
That was the new strategy he’d settled on over the past few days.
A Muggle-born wizard with zero foundation in the wizarding world understood all too well how hard it would be to build a power base there.
But if he flipped the board entirely and started by founding an organization in the Muggle world, one devoted to him, the path became far simpler.
Voldemort had looked down on Muggle heritage, had even taken pleasure in tormenting small animals and other Muggle orphans.
Soren saw things differently.
These children, orphaned and penniless with nowhere to turn, held real strategic value.
And Ayla stood out as his favorite among all potential partners.
Beautiful, kind, bright, willing to listen.
Most importantly, she liked him, and he was drawn to her as well.
A deeper bond between them was entirely possible.
Letting her learn about magic, grooming her as his voice in the Muggle world, an instrument of his will.
That was the key piece that would connect the two worlds.
His voice softened as he explained.
“That’s a book I’ve been reading lately.
It contains a wealth of rare magical knowledge.”
“…Magic?”
Ayla turned back to face him.
“Magic.”
Soren spoke with absolute certainty.
His left hand rose from his side, revealing his wand.
A graceful flick toward the book.
Amplified by the wand, his magic flowed forth with effortless obedience, lifting the volume into the air.
Magical Theory spread open at its center, its pages flapping like wings as it circled the room in lazy, contented loops.
From a distance, it looked remarkably like a certain someone’s bouncing middle-parted haircut from their basketball days.
Ayla stared, utterly transfixed.
Both hands flew to cover her mouth, suppressing the gasp that threatened to escape.
A long moment passed before she found her voice again.
She gaped at Soren, wand in hand, conducting the air like an orchestra conductor.
“You…
you can actually do magic!”
“Yep.
I’ll let you in on a secret.
I’ve been using it to mess with Sean and his gang too.” This chapter is updated first at g.com.
“So when they said those things before, they weren’t lying?”
“Nope.
Pity nobody ever believed them.”
He nearly laughed out loud at the memory.
Sean led the rowdiest bunch of boys at the orphanage.
Before Soren’s meteoric rise, they’d sat atop the children’s social hierarchy.
Once Soren gained magical abilities, those bullying brats became his primary targets.
They’d suffered plenty at his hands.
The best part?
When they ran to the caretakers and the orphanage director to complain, nobody believed a word.
Their track record of mischief spoke louder than any accusation.
The pitiful, wronged expressions on their faces could keep Soren amused for a lifetime.
Ayla sighed on their behalf, then promptly forgot all about those troublemakers.
This was magic!
Real, actual magic!
“That’s incredible!” Her eyes seemed to glow, fixed on Soren with pure adoration.
“So you’re going to a magic school?”
“That’s right.
Up until now I’ve been stumbling around blind.
I’ll finally get to learn magic properly.
When I come back for holidays, I’ll bring you some fun magical gifts as presents.”
“Yes, please!
Holi…
wait.” Something clicked in Ayla’s mind.
“Is it…
one of those boarding schools?”
Soren nodded.
“Exactly.
I don’t know the specific location, but it’s somewhere in Britain.”
Despite his answer, the brightness faded from Ayla’s smile.
Her excitement drained away like someone had dumped a bucket of ice water over her head.
Soren was still leaving.
He’d come back for holidays, sure, but during term time she wouldn’t see him at all.
That tight, aching feeling gripped her chest again.
Last time it had happened, she’d been too young to understand it.
This time, she had a pretty good idea why.
She liked him.
No, she was almost certain she liked him.
She just hadn’t realized it before.
At ten years old, Ayla had zero romantic experience and couldn’t hide a thought to save her life.
Every emotion played out across her face in plain view.
After agonizing over it for a long while, she landed on what seemed like the perfect solution.
“Do you think…
could I go to that magic school too?”
If she became a student at the same school, she wouldn’t have to be separated from him.
“You, hmm.”
Soren didn’t answer right away, feigning thought.
“I’m not sure about that.
I only got my invitation letter right before turning eleven, when I was about to start secondary school.
It arrived just a few days ago, actually.”
That was half-true at best. You are reading on novelping.com, the official source.
In reality, he was pessimistic about Ayla’s chances of attending Hogwarts.
The reasoning was straightforward.
With looks as striking as hers, she’d be at least Ginny-level popular at Hogwarts.
Someone like that shouldn’t have gone completely unmentioned in the original story.
Besides, if she’d ever experienced a magical outburst, she wouldn’t have been so shocked to learn magic was real.
Still…
crushing a little girl’s dream felt unnecessarily cruel.
Stall for now.
Call it a white lie.
Ayla’s reaction to his vague answer was exactly what he expected.
Half hope, half dread.
Her sapphire eyes glistened with the threat of tears.
Soren had no interest in making her cry.
He pivoted fast.
“Don’t be so sad.
Even if we can’t see each other during term, we can write letters.
Today’s Thursday, so my messenger will arrive tomorrow.
I’ll introduce you two.
Once I leave for school, you can have this room and all my textbooks and notes.
We can write to each other.
Pen pals for a while.
What do you think?”
“Pen pals?”
The distraction worked.
Writing letters to stay close.
It felt…
romantic, somehow.
“Okay, I think that could work!
And after a year, I’ll come find you at the magic school!”
“Sounds good.” Soren smiled warmly, unwilling to burst her bubble.
“You’d better study hard this year, though.
From what I understand, magic schools don’t teach basic subjects.
You’ll need to build your own foundation.”
“I will!”
Ayla’s voice rang out bright and clear, her mood restored to full sunshine.
They talked for a good while longer before Ayla realized she was keeping Soren from his studies.
She finally tore herself away with obvious reluctance.
Before leaving, they agreed to meet after lunch the next day.
Click.
The door shut, sealing off the noise of the hallway beyond.
Soren glanced at the time.
Half past three.
Hell.
He hadn’t done a single productive thing.
Just sat around chatting, and somehow more than an hour had vanished.
Romance really was the enemy of productivity.
No more slacking.
Time to buckle down and recover every wasted minute.
Study mode: ON.