Magic Multiverse 10 (Patreon)

He hadn’t had to wait long for Hermione’s return. The door opened a few minutes later, and he certainly appreciated the view. She had not only applied new makeup but also changed, replacing her black corset and stockings with a red, transparent nightie.

She looked good, but he also appreciated the lengths she was going to apologize for her disappearance. It was a good thing, because he was sure it would be repeated. With her magic job and her university responsibilities, she had a busy life.

He watched, enjoying the way her body swayed as she crossed the small distance and climbed onto the bed, with her knees spread, though unlike her usual, her back was turned to him, giving a better view of her plump ass. She lowered herself without waiting for his touch, already sopping wet.

“Amazing,” he whispered as she sank onto him in one unbroken slide that punched a moan out of him, and started riding him in reverse cowgirl style.

“Just a start,” she whispered as she put her hands on his thighs for balance and started moving. Her hips moved with determination, her transparent nightie making the scene even more dreamlike.

It was a good way to christen his new bed, he decided as he crossed his hands behind his head and watched. Occasionally being lazy and enjoying the show was worth it, especially since, in just a few days, Hermione had come a long way, her shy hesitation leaving its place to determined passion.

Her obsession with perfection was unexpectedly useful.

As she picked up speed, the bed started to shake, the headband hitting the wall, reminding him to pull it a bit forward to prevent the neighbors from coming down. Maybe he should see to get an actual house once he managed to get some extra money.

However, as much as he loved watching her, he didn’t want her to feel neglected. He slapped her ass, and her head tipped back with a moan. “Harder,” he ordered as he spanked her again. “You’re trying to apologize. Earn it, Miss Granger.”

“Yes, sir,” she moaned as she picked up speed. He could see her legs already trembling due to the combined exertion and desire. He grabbed her ass, both to tease her and to help her move.

Still charged after her earlier show, it didn’t take long for her to climax.

[Personal Victory, +5 Tantric]

[Secondary Special Character Defeated, Hermione Granger]

[+5 Wand Magic Theory]

He pulled her back, so that she lay on his chest, and he kissed her. However, at the same time, he had noticed something interesting. This time, there was no reward from Ron Weasley.

Something clicked.

It must have been why Holly suddenly decided to follow him, to see if he had anything to do with the broken engagement. Too bad it exploded in her face in a way she hadn’t expected. Not literally … at least not yet.

He continued to kiss Hermione while she moaned, dazed, wondering what to do.

Frankly, he wasn’t surprised that her engagement was broken. Even before he got involved, she was happy to spend the free time she had from what was clearly an extremely busy work schedule tutoring him. It was written on the wall.

The problem was that he had no intention of a committed relationship. He could have lied himself and claimed it was to save the world, but he knew that it never had been the plan, even without it.

However, he wasn’t sure how it would go if he directly raised that fact with Hermione. That wouldn’t work.

Luckily, Holly had already volunteered to help him, indirectly as it might be. Of course, maybe he was just being paranoid, and Hermione had no intention of a committed relationship, but better safe than sorry.

With the decision made, he focused on kissing Hermione. Regardless of anything else, he wouldn’t disrespect her by not giving her his full focus.

“Apology accepted,” he whispered.

“Good, because I might have to save some goodwill,” she said.

“Why?”

“My work,” she said. “There have been some unexpected developments, so for the foreseeable future, I might be dealing with some overflow.”

“Anything serious?” he asked.

“No, just the office politics,” she said, but the sharpness of her voice suggested it was something else. Combined with the sudden loss of extra rewards, he had an idea of what was going on. Ron Weasley, or at least his family, must have a degree of control over her work. Not enough to fire her or seriously threaten her, but enough to annoy her with some extra work.

He didn’t ask her more about it. Knowing her personality, there was a good chance she could have prevented it by pulling a few levers, but she was too straight-laced to do so unless prompted.

Interacting with her, he had long realized she had a special bond with rules. She followed them almost obsessively, but when she broke one, she had no problem pushing forward, pushing in the same lane to the end like a runaway truck.

She was fun.

“Alright, then we should store some extra fun just in case,” he whispered, flipping her, trapping her under him and started moving again, ripping her nightie violently. That made her moan even louder, her legs clamping around his waist.

Her moans were beautiful as he moved passionately, each push making her moan louder, each push making her beautiful breasts shake. This time, there were no fun tricks or changing positions. He drilled her hard until she momentarily lost her sense of self, the climax hitting her hard, her moans the best melody.

“You’re mine,” he found himself whispering as he kissed her hard. Even with the earlier decision, it was hard not to be possessive. She was incredible.

“I’m yours,” she moaned, and climaxed again.

[Personal Victory, +10 Tantric]

[Secondary Special Character Defeated, Hermione Granger]

[+5 Wand Magic Theory]

That was not her last climax of the weekend. Not even close…

&&&

Early on Monday morning, he woke up to a bird flapping its wings loudly, far earlier than he had planned. It would have annoyed him, but spending the weekend locked in a room with Hermione in an incredible marathon of passion, very few things in the world could annoy him.

And, a bird wasn’t one of them, even if it was another owl bringing a message to her.

He would have awakened Hermione with a kiss, but he decided to let her wake up on her own. He didn’t want to confront her about why there was an owl with a letter in front of their window.

It was better to leave that little box unopened for a while.

Instead, he merely poked her gently while he buried his face in the pillow, even snoring a bit to sell the fact that he was sleeping, but he was angled so that he could watch her.

While she struggled to wake up, his mind wandered to the system gains he had made over the weekend.

[+45 Tantric]

[+35 Wand Magic Theory]

[Wand Magic Theory Intermediate -> Advanced]

Unfortunately, the numbers were lower than he had expected, mostly because he had discovered a new feature of the system. After a high frequency of rewards, the system stopped granting more, something he had noticed Friday night, though calling it Saturday morning would have been more accurate.

From there, the rewards stopped until after Sunday afternoon, which it once again restarted, which had been far better than them disappearing completely.

It wasn’t that he would stop seeing Hermione if the rewards suddenly ceased, but no one would turn their nose up at some extra rewards. Wand Magic Theory might be temporarily useless, but Tantric had some unexpected health benefits that were proving to be very useful.

While he thought about those rewards, the owl started to knock the window with its beak. He watched as Hermione got out of bed, her naked body on display, which tempted him for another little session before she left for work.

The weekend had been amazing, though somehow, it only left him wanting more.

She checked him absentmindedly before she removed her wand from her invisible holster, and with a spell, she opened the window.

The owl flew inside, raising its leg. The bird was well trained.

Hermione grabbed the letter, then waved her wand once more, and some kind of treat flew from her bag. The owl flew away after taking the treat, while Hermione read the letter.

She must not have liked what she found. “That absolute bastard,” she whispered, fury radiating off her.

After that, she glanced at him, but he continued to act as if he were asleep. She sighed, read the letter again, then went for a quick bathroom trip.

Curious, he glanced at the letter, skimming it without getting caught up in the details.

In summary, it was a message from the French Ministry of Magic, informing Hermione that they were revisiting a cooperative project about space expansion charms unless certain problems were fixed.

Though, he noticed the key detail of her anger. A part of the letter mentioned that the review process was triggered by the British Ministry of Magic, raising strategic security concerns.

Combined with Hermione’s cursing, he suspected that it was Ron Weasley, who had some pull with the Ministry.

… which, to be fair, was another surprise. He had realized that the magical people lived hidden lives, insular to a degree, but he had assumed that, other than going to a strict school, they were similar to Hermione and Holly.

But, the letter was made mentions of multiple magical government departments, which implied a degree of independence.

He decided to bury his face in the pillow, waiting for Hermione to return.

She returned, already showered, looking angry and hurried. He was initially planning to coax her for another ‘apology’ but seeing her face, he realized that the situation must be even more serious. He decided not to bother her.

There was a difference between being a cute rascal and being a real annoyance.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“I just got a … call from work. One of my projects is in danger,” she said.

“I’m guessing it’s a big one.”

“Just what I had been working for the last eighteen months,” she delivered sarcastically, which was enough to show how annoyed she was, contrasted with her usual earnestness.

He stood up and kissed her. “I understand,” he said. “I’m going to guess that I should expect you to disappear a week or two? Keep me posted if it goes any longer,” he said.

That made her pause. “That’s it?” she said.

He shrugged, then grabbed her chin. “You take work seriously; there’s nothing wrong with that. I’m not going to pester like an impatient puppy for scraps and annoy you,” he said.

She paused, examining his face as if searching for a lie. It was the most she had ever scrutinized him.

It was a good thing that he was completely honest. While he might have made mistakes in the process of chasing them, he had always taken his dream and ambition seriously, and hated when other people asked him to compromise them for their convenience.

Extending the same grace to Hermione was just basic courtesy.

She must have liked whatever she had found on his face, because she gave a gentle smile, rose to her toes, and kissed him gently. “Too bad I have to leave immediately, or…”

“I trust your creativity,” he responded as he lay back, but he kept his eyes open.

She was about to lower her towel when she froze, blushing. “Look away,” she said.

“Really, after the weekend…” he teased her. She blushed even worse, which made him laugh. “Fine,” he said. And put his hands on his face, but his fingers were parted open, with no attempt to hide it.

“You’re incorrigible,” she whispered, but when he just grinned, she decided to drop the towel before quickly dressing, giving him one last glimpse of her beautiful body, carrying several distinctive hickeys.

Once she finished dressing, she kissed him again, looking guilty. “Go finish your work,” he teased her, spanking her ass again.

“Fine. The sooner I leave, the sooner I can come back, ready to apologize for a full weekend again…”

He chuckled. “Well, no complaints there.”

With that, Hermione left. Once she was in the corridor, he thought about going to the window and waving at her, but he heard a distinctive crack once she closed the door; his Magical Combat skill telling him she apparated away.

He lay back. Hermione’s absence had surprised him for a bit, but it wasn’t like he had nothing to do. He decided to revisit his plans for his near future after the unexpected additions to his skills.

“Too bad most of my skills have no short-term benefits,” he muttered as he summoned his panel.

[Tantric - Advanced 83/250

Soccer - Advanced 53/250 (Midfielder)

Wand Magic Theory - Advanced 25/250

Chess - Intermediate 74/100

Magical Combat - Intermediate 50/100

Boxing - Intermediate 35/100

Darts - Intermediate 21/100

Vampire Lore - Intermediate 0/100

Poker - Basic 9/50]

The cases with Vampire Lore, Wand Magic Theory, and Magical Combat were obvious. While they gave him a lot of information, there were two problems with it. First, he lacked magic, making them mostly useless. Also, while he appreciated the information they provided, most of it was specialized, lacking broader context, forcing him to make some wild guesses to connect the dots.

Comparatively, football and chess were high enough to make him competitive in any amateur context, but they had very limited utility professionally, or in terms money-making.

Poker had limited usefulness all the same, and it would have been true even if he was much better. Gambling was not safe for anyone that won regularly.

Ultimately, Tantric, Boxing, and Darts were his three most useful skills. Tantric had no issue, as both the use cases and the path of improvement were clear.

Darts was a bit trickier, mostly because he wanted to have some ranged capability in case he ever faced vampires. He would have acquired a gun, but vampires were immune to it. Intermediate Darts lacked usefulness in that aspect, but if he improved more, he should be able to throw a stake within a few meters’ range with serious accuracy.

It was a nice backup strategy if he ever could develop it.

Still, his current priority was boxing.

He was under no impression that he could kill a vampire by punching, but luckily, boxing had been focused on dodging far more than people realized. Using an evasive style while holding a stake should be doable.

Trying to adjust his technique while he was still at the Intermediate level was difficult, but he would have a better chance if he could bring it to Advanced, and possibly even higher.

However, upgrading it further was trickier. He couldn’t ask Hermione or Holly for a boxing match. Dudley would have been a good target, but he couldn’t meet with Dudley now that he met with Holly. They seemed to be estranged, but he didn’t want to deal with the inevitable questions if the worst happened.

While the underground fights gave him multiple points, but he couldn’t ask Liam for more fights. Boxing was a destructive sport, and fighting once a week consistently was already somewhat suspicious, but the kind of thing a young idiot would do for a year without collapsing.

Trying to expand it would be an unnecessary complication.

However, he still had one problem. Going around dangerous parts of London, looking for fights was technically an option. His previous encounter with the druggies had shown that it was a viable path.

Dangerous, but he feared that taking it slow might be more dangerous. He just needed to find a good context.

In the past, he wouldn’t have dared to take such a risk at all, but things have changed. First, his boxing meant he could defend himself if the plan went awry.

He had some extra cash, meaning he had free time to utilize it.

Most importantly, thanks to Tantric, he had the ability to heal himself. It wouldn’t work against gunshot wounds or deep knife wounds very well, but against the damage from scuffles, it should work well.

He just needed to find a group of idiots that was easy to goad into serious fights, yet that wouldn’t pull a blade, and the fight itself would be accepted.

He found the perfect one.

“Well, let’s try for a day, and if it doesn’t work, then it doesn’t work…” he muttered and lay back and closed his eyes.

It was too early to fight…

&&&

“… well, that was unexpected,” he muttered as he looked at the five men in front of him, each struggling to stand up, then checked his stat screen, which had no reaction.

It was a new development.

After deciding to improve his boxing, he spent the last week looking for trouble. At first, he realized that by fighting someone one-on-one; he received no bonus. It had to be at least two-to-one. Then, as his boxing continued to improve, even that started to fail.

Luckily, getting into scuffles had been easy. His plan worked. All he needed was to drift into places with Chelsea hooligans while wearing a Tottenham kit, insult their pathetic team, which inevitably led to a fistfight. It allowed him to farm points rather easily.

Beating up Chelsea fans was always a bonus.

Unfortunately, once the Boxing skill had reached Advanced, it seemed that increasing the number of opponents in a street fight was not enough.

It might change if there were genuine danger, but he decided it would be excessive even with his advantages.

“Well,” he muttered as he walked away. Seventy points in three days had been more than he expected in any case. At least, with his abilities reaching Advanced, he no longer was afraid of losing the fights arranged by Liam.

Which meant, suddenly, he had little to do in terms of his development.

On his way back, he even checked Hermione’s flat. He knew Hermione wouldn’t be there, but he at least hoped to meet Holly. To have an excuse, he even picked a book from a second-hand bookstore, one that he expected Hermione to read.

However, that didn’t work as he had planned. No one was at home, and worse, when he arrived back at his flat, he found a message from Hermione on his answering machine, explaining that the work mess would keep her away for a few weeks, minimum.

A rather unfortunate development, he decided.