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Chapter 4: Departures     (5 Days Later) Landing roughly on the ground I groaned and tried to get back up after getting my ass handed to me

Chapter 4: Departures

(5 Days Later)

Landing roughly on the ground I groaned and tried to get back up after getting my ass handed to me once again.

Looking at my current opponents, I saw 3 of the 100 different existences of Asako waiting patiently on the other side of the field we were training on and further back was Ilulu with a bow in hand.

The day after Asako had joined, I had immediately thrown myself into my training with a fervor. With only weeks until Hogwarts started, I had nothing better to do than train and practice my White Magic.

That was how I had spent the past days either getting my teeth kicked in by Asako’s ‘clones’ or dodging potshots from Ilulu to train my reaction time. When I was not doing that, I spent my time with my head buried in my new course books trying to memorize everything written in them in my excitement at actually owning real magic books.

If there was one thing I knew for sure about wizards/witches was that they were lazy fucks that had no experience whatsoever in fighting barehanded and relied on their Magic for literally everything. With that in mind I had decided to split my time making sure I was training both my body and magic so I would be well balanced and not have the same weakness as the people here.

“Again.” I announced before launching myself towards my opponents again who just nodded silently to me and got ready to kick my ass again.

I was thankful that I didn’t have to keep providing Asako magic since she had been fully incarnated when I had purchased her. While the AP (Added Potential) I had for Nasuverse Magic had finally awakened with her purchase, giving me my own set of Magic Circuits, the quantity and quality of them was pathetically low at the moment.

To the side I could hear Maya, Cliffo, Varina and Keros cheering for me as they sat under the shade of a tree on a picnic blanket with an assortment of food around them.

As for the original Asako, well she and the rest of her ‘clones’ were currently out in various parts of the country capturing targets for me.

When I had finally received credit for my new captures after 4 days due to the Delayed Response Intensity, I immediately set to work with the plan I had thought of ever since choosing this world. First by buying HUD x2 and Toggle for myself and receiving Communication Talent for free along with getting rebates for some of my defenses with Ginny's capture.

At the end I had been left with 14 credits again but I didn’t care because I knew that thanks to Asako, I would be rolling in credits soon enough.

Last night I had pulled Asako aside and explained to her my plan. She would basically go around the country guided by her personal HUD and Target Tracker and Stamp all available Death Eaters and irrelevant characters when the chance presented itself.

Knowing this mission would take some time, I had deposited a good sum of money into Pocket Space and taught her how to access it so she wouldn’t have to rough it out in the wilderness. Since I didn’t just want to hand my Stamp to Asako as I might need it if I wanted to personally Stamp someone, I came up with a plan so we could both use it.

Basically, the Stamp would remain in Pocket Space at all times unless one of us wanted to use it and would deposit it back once we were done.

Finally, as the last instruction, I asked Asako to leave Hogwarts students and staff alone since I wanted to Stamp them myself. Other than giving me something to do at school, it would ensure I didn’t eventually become bored with this world with the knowledge that everyone was my servant.

I knew myself too well to just go around Stamping everyone, especially as I had to remain in this world for all seven years at Hogwarts. As soon as I Stamped everyone, in the back of my mind this world would stop being an adventure and become more of a chore and I didn’t want that at all.

I wanted to experience life and all it had to offer. To make mistakes and struggle along the way. That was the whole reason I had picked the No Skill Framework Intensity after all.

“Stop getting distracted Master.” One of Asako’s clones said before I was sent to the ground again.

“Oomph! R-right.” I grunted after getting my breath back.

‘Fuck, I really hope I don’t develop any weird habits out of getting by ass kicked multiple times a day.’ I thought worriedly before getting right back into it.

I chose to completely ignore the notification on the corner of my screen telling me that my Pain Tolerance skill had raised by another level.

That night, unknown to almost everyone, would mark the day that former Death Eaters or supporters of Voldemort would start disappearing randomly all over the country. The strangest part about it though was that nobody, not even their own family would raise a fuss about their disappearance and would go on about their lives as if they never existed in the first place.

=====

(A Month Later, Ginny’s POV)

The sounds of shouting and the random explosion or two finally managed to rouse Ginny from her dreams about black-haired and blue-eyed boys. Specifically, about a certain black-haired blue-eyed boy she had met in Diagon Alley a little over a month ago.

Since their meeting she hadn’t been able to get Aether off her mind, often finding herself daydreaming about him at random times during the day.

It had gotten so bad she had actually contemplated more than once on sending him an owl much to her embarrassment. At this rate she would probably cave in and write to him as she didn’t see herself holding out until next year to talk to him again.

Hearing her mother call her down for breakfast she shook her head and got ready for the day remembering that today all her brothers would be going off to Hogwarts. Fighting off the slight sting in her eyes at the reminder that she would be all alone after they left, she finally headed downstairs.

The thought of having a pen pal was becoming even more appealing to her, that she would be talking to the handsome boy she had been dreaming about was even better.

=====

Walking down King’s Cross Station with her family Ginny wished not for the first time that she had been born a year earlier so she could attend Hogwarts like all her brothers. Harry Potter was even supposed to be attending this year and she had been looking forward to meeting the boy from all the stories her dad told her about when she was little.

Admittedly Ginny hadn’t really thought about the boy since meeting Aether. Now that she really thought about it whenever thoughts of Harry Potter came up, she no longer felt the usual butterflies in her stomach nor was she feeling nervous and excited about meeting him. While she still wanted to meet the boy from her storybooks, it was more of a simple curiosity now.

In fact, it was Aether, the boy whom she had only just met once, that had been the subject of her thoughts as of late. Even her mother had noticed and had teased her about it when she caught Ginny daydreaming one day while she helped her in the kitchen.

Even now she was feeling jittery yet hopeful at catching a sight of him at the platform. She didn’t know what she would do if she saw him, but that was beside the point.

“New to Hogwarts too, huh? Not to worry, I'll show you the way onto the platform.”

A familiar voice suddenly broke Ginny out of her thoughts.

It sounded a lot like Aether.

It was impossible that she would ever mistake it for someone else as she had been dreaming about it every night for the last month.

Feeling her heart start to race she turned in the direction of where she heard the voice and almost came to a stop. There. Standing tall without a care in the world was Aether talking to 2 others about something.

He then suddenly turned in their direction when he no doubt heard mum yelling at Fred and George about something.

Ginny almost froze in place as she once again came face to face with the person haunting her dreams. She was actually only walking due to her mother holding her hand dragging her along with her.

If it was not for that, Ginny had no doubt in her mind that she would be frozen in place staring at him like an idiot.

When Aether finally turned in their direction she saw as his face instantly lit up in recognition before at last his beautiful blue eyes locked with her own. Her face immediately heated up when she saw him smile in her direction and she felt her own lips curl up of their own accord.

Ginny then saw Aether open his mouth and say something to her and to her further embarrassment she didn’t manage to catch a single word of what he said!

Her heart was beating so loudly that it was the only thing she could hear at the moment and she even feared that Aether might be able to hear it as well.

To her luck Aether turned his attention to her family and politely introduced himself giving her a chance to collect herself. It took a few moments, with more than a few deep breaths but she was finally able to calm her racing heart allowing her to hear the end of his introduction.

“I was just showing my possible new friends here how to get onto the platform as they were looking rather lost. Speaking of, we should really hurry if we don’t want to miss the train. There’s only ten minutes left before it departs.”

After that she thought she lost her chance to talk to him until next year due to everyone becoming panicked and rushing to get across the barrier. Ginny felt a sharp pain in her chest and once again tried her best to fight back her tears, cursing herself for freezing up.

The last she saw of him was Aether helping out a boy and girl who seemed to be dressed in clothes way too big for them as they crossed the barrier.

Ginny finally lost her battle with her tears a little later as she had to say goodbye to her brothers and watch them get on the Express knowing that loneliness awaited her back home.

“Pretty girls shouldn’t cry, you know? Unless those are happy tears coming down your face?” A soft voice said from beside her distracting her from her thoughts.

Turning to the voice she felt her heart speed up in joy this time as she saw Aether standing there with a small smile on his face.

“Aether?” she asked in a small voice, still a little shocked that he was here right now.

“Sorry about being a little rude earlier and leaving without saying anything. Luckily, I already got all my things on board so I thought I’d come and apologize before saying goodbye.” Aether said with a cute sheepish look on his face while scratching the back of his head.

Ginny didn’t know what took over her at that moment but before she knew it, she threw herself into his arms and hugged him tightly around the waist. Almost immediately she felt him wrap his own arms around her and a feeling of content and safety enveloped her whole being.

It felt as if nothing in the world could harm her and she unknowingly released a sigh in happiness.

=====

(1 September, Regular POV)

The start of a new month was upon us again with this one being especially important due to the fact that I would be leaving for Hogwarts to the start of the next seven years of my life.

I had trained and studied as much as I could in preparation for this, even writing down every single detail that I remembered about this world in case I forgot something or needed it for reference in the future.

As for Asako, she had made wonderful progress the past month and managed to Stamp 37 targets of which most of them had the evil or villain tag attached to their name. I was only waiting for Hogwarts to start so I could sell them as some had kids that would be attending Hogwarts and I didn’t want to run the risk of them not attending if I sold their parents.

Not knowing what to spend my new credits on, I had decided to hold off for now and just bought the other two purchases of Faerie Feast, Master Chef, The Secret Ingredient is Love, Wild Defense x1 and had received Creature Defense x1 for free thanks to Rebates.

Finally, since this world had many spirits I decided to get myself the Psychopomp Heritage, buying the first perk Death Mask (Shinto) in order to properly interact with them i.e. Stamp them.

Now as I stood in the front entrance ready to leave for the train station, there was just one problem I needed to get past.

“Maaasteeer~ Please take us with you!” Cliffo shouted as she clung to my right arm with a tight grip.

“Please don’t leave us for a whole year Master.” Varina said next from my left arm holding it in a gentle but firm grip.

“Why can’t we come with you Master? You said there’s a forest nearby, right? We could stay there.” Keros said, standing in front of me and holding onto my shirt with her hands as she looked at me with a pleading expression.

“Haah, we’ve been over this before girls. I don’t feel comfortable with you staying in the forest this year.” I said gently, feeling bad about having to leave them behind all alone considering Maya and Ilulu would be somewhat accompanying me.

Maya could just shift into a cat and the problem would be solved since the school would see her as a pet. Ilulu on the other hand would be traveling every day to Hogwarts to cook for me as she didn’t trust anyone else with my meals according to her and since she could shift into her old form of a house elf there shouldn’t be a problem.

The rest of the girls though couldn’t do that since their original forms were too big and eye-catching. While they could live in the Forbidden Forest during the year blending in with their former species, I wasn’t convinced. Especially with all the Acromantula currently living in the forest and the fact that this year Voldemort would be hunting down Unicorns for their blood.

However, that didn’t mean that all hope was lost. I clearly remembered there being 4 Vivariums that were in the Room of Requirement from the Hogwarts Legacy game and Universal Calibration had made all the events that happened in the game real. 

“Please give me a few days to make sure that the Vivariums actually exist in this world. If they do, I can have Ilulu teleport you to the forest where I can then sneak you in.” I explained my plan again only getting pouts in return but nonetheless slowly letting go of me.

“Alright…if you say so. In that case!”

Before fully letting go of me Cliffo suddenly grinned and surprised me by throwing her hands around my head and bringing me down for a kiss that lasted for a few moments.

“Haaah. Yep~ Now I'm feeling much better.” Cliffo said with a grin releasing me from her embrace and taking a step back.

Knowing what was coming I wasn’t surprised when Varina and Keros quickly pulled me in for their own kiss with Keros being extra careful so she didn’t hurt me with her horn.

“See you soon Master~” All three said at once with a smile on their face now standing a bit away from me.

Shaking my head in amusement at their antics, I recalled how months back they started acting like this after catching Maya and myself kissing one morning. Wanting to experience the same, they started acting more girly towards me and would surprise me with their acts of affection throughout the day.

As a matter of fact, Ilulu was the only one who had refrained from any acts of affection towards me but it was not because she didn’t see me that way as the Stamp’s effects made that impossible. No, it was because Ilulu was just really shy and everytime she so much as hugged me, she would blush to the roots of her hair and quickly walk away.

Bidding the girls a final farewell, Ilulu Apparated us to a secluded spot in King’s Cross Station.

We arrived at the station about 15 minutes before the train left at 11:00 a.m.

Walking across the station with a cart carrying all my supplies towards platform 3 ¾, I kept my eyes open for any gingers or scrawny black-haired boys looking completely lost. Maya meanwhile was currently asleep hidden within my pocket having shifted into a tiny garter snake.

All my thoughts came to a halt as I finally came into view of platforms 9 and 10 and spotted someone looking around in a panic. No, I take that back. Someone would indicate that there was only one person when the truth of the matter was that there were two.

One was a scrawny black haired boy wearing clothes a couple of sizes too big for him with the infamous lightning bolt scar on his forehead.

The other however was a girl.