Vita Magicis (HP SI-WC) (Patreon)

Chapter 46: Otherworldly Truths

‘I totally called it.’ That was the only thought running through my head as I walked into the Great Hall a bit later than usual, just a few days before Christmas break.

At first glance, the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw tables looked normal enough, as barring one of the Weasley twins’ latest pranks, nothing really interesting happened in them. But the Hufflepuff and Slytherin tables? Whole different story.

Well, not the tables themselves, but the students that sat in them.

Starting with the Slytherin table: every single boy looked super miserable. They walked funny, no, waddled, into breakfast, grimacing with each step like they’d just lost a duel with a centaur’s back hoof. Sitting down seemed to be an ordeal in itself, and more than one clutched an ice pack discreetly against their privates.

Then I turned to the Puffs to see a similar but different scene. Their boys weren’t waddling, but they looked like someone had inflated them with a bicycle pump. Cheeks and lips puffed out like balloons, every single one of them resembling a gang of human pufferfish making it quite the funny scene.

And seated at each table like nothing was wrong at all? Were of course the forms of Sakura and Illya. The two of them wore the most innocent, butter-wouldn’t-melt smiles imaginable while the rest of the girls around them laughed, pointed, and whispered at their classmates’ misery.

Behind me I suddenly heard muffled laughter. I glanced back to see Astoria and Rose trying, and failing, to hide their amusement, cheeks red and shoulders shaking.

Then my eyes landed on Rin who had strangely remained silent the whole way to the Great Hall. She looked amused too… but not surprised. When our gazes met, she quickly looked away, and my eyes narrowed. ‘So. She was obviously aware of this beforehand. Or maybe even helped.’

“Oh my, I hope that’s not infectious,” Luna said in her usual dreamy tone, finally looking up from whatever she was fiddling with. She blinked at the puffed-up Hufflepuffs. “It must be painful to eat like that.”

That was apparently the last straw. Astoria and Rose burst out laughing, and their giggles set off the Ravenclaws walking near us. Their laughter seemed to have a ripple effect as a moment later, the entire Great Hall was roaring with laughter, fingers pointing at the poor boys. Some ducked their heads in shame, others glowered darkly back.

By the time we sat down at our own table, a few chuckles still echoed here and there.

We were soon interrupted from our meal when the Headmaster rose. “Good morning, students, good morning.” His eyes twinkled as always, giving nothing away as his gaze roamed across the Great Hall. “As you may have noticed, some of us are not having the most… pleasant morning.”

Another round of laughter broke out, unstoppable.

“Order, order.” Dumbledore waved his hands lightly until the noise settled. His eyes flicked first to the Weasley twins, grinning innocently at the Gryffindor table, then strangely across to our group at Ravenclaw. In the end though he said nothing, only continued:

“As I was saying, while a prank or two can bring a laugh or two, I must ask that you be mindful not to let them go too far. I trust that the effects of this incident will disappear soon enough.” His smile turned slightly serious as his eyes roamed around again as if talking to the one responsible before it quickly returned to his usual smile. “That is all. Please, continue your meal.”

Chatter filled the Great Hall again, with some of them already spreading rumors about what might have happened.

Astoria stabbed a forkful of pancake and asked between bites, “Don’t you think it’s weird for Dumbledore to make an announcement? He’s never done that for all the other pranks before.”

Normally Rose would scold her for eating ten pancakes doused in syrup, worried she was eating too much, but she’d learned better after Astoria had shrugged and declared that “it all goes to my bum and tits anyway.” Rose had never asked again.

Leveling Rin with a pointed look, I enjoyed watching her squirm for a few moments as she busied herself shoving waffles in her mouth like she could avoid the conversation entirely.

“I think that might have to do with the way they were pranked,” I answered, grabbing a chocolate-chip waffle of my own and adding plenty of syrup with a tall glass of orange juice to go along with it.

“What do you mean?” Rose asked curiously after nibbling on some toast from her regular English breakfast.

Luna beat me to it, dreamy as ever as she ate pudding for breakfast. “Aether probably means that usually something simple as a rash on the boy’s privates or whatever was done to the Hufflepuff boys, would have easily been resolved by a trip to the Hospital Wing. Which means…”

“That whatever was used to get them in that state, is giving Madam Pomfrey trouble, else the problem would have already been fixed like Luna said.” My gaze slid back to Rin and the girl at least had the decency to flush and duck her head lower avoiding eye contact with anyone.

Noticing my look, the others caught on instantly. Astoria smacked Rin on the back hard enough to make her choke on a bite of waffle.

“Wow,” Astoria grinned, “who knew the usually prim-and-proper Rin could actually pull off such a good prank? Guess there’s fun in those bones of yours after all.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Rin muttered, glaring daggers at her not looking happy at almost choking.

Rose frowned thoughtfully. “I just wonder what pushed her to do it.”

I had my suspicions.

My eyes flicked first to Draco Malfoy, who was squirming worse than anyone at the Slytherin table, and then to Illya, who was giggling behind her hand with a slightly sadistic look in her eyes. Finally, I looked to Sakura, who seemed calmer than she had in weeks, now that no overeager boys could pester her with swollen lips, muffled voices and the sheer embarrassment of even talking to a pretty girl in that condition.

Yeah. I had my suspicions.

=====

A Day Before Christmas Break

Like I had promised earlier in the year, today would be the day I’d reveal to the others my ability to travel to other worlds, and some of my other powers. After discussing it with Rin, Sakura and Illya, we’d agreed to keep any details about the Company to a minimum.

Today was supposed to be a Hogsmeade trip, and with the werewolf situation not going anywhere the Aurors had declared the area safe; we were now allowed to return to the village as normal. Since this proved a perfect opportunity for everyone to meet, we decided not to go, instead we were all huddled in the Room of Requirement with snacks spread out thanks to Ilulu, who keeps spoiling us rotten.

“Is everyone comfortable?” I asked after taking a bite of a cookie from the small assortment of biscuits Ilulu had made.

Around me everyone was busy stuffing themselves or sipping hot cocoa; Daphne apparently heard me and quickly put her mug down, revealing a chocolate mustache.

“Yes, very.” Daphne said with a nod, trying to look relaxed and serious, which only made her look cuter with cocoa on her lip.

I grabbed a napkin and, taking advantage of the fact Daphne was sitting beside me (she had beaten her sister to the spot, much to her annoyance), leaned down. Her eyes widened and a blush spread across her cheeks as she shyly retreated.

“W-What are you-?” she stammered in embarrassment, then seemed to give up and closed her eyes, puckering her lips a little.

Amused, I dabbed her upper lip with the napkin. She blinked in confusion, opened her eyes, and stared at the napkin.

“You had chocolate on your upper lip,” I said, my eyes crinkling in amusement. She widened further in panic, face turning a tomato-red at her own mistake.

Before she could spiral, I leaned down and kissed her cheek. She gaped, then slowly raised her hand and touched where I’d kissed her.

“You’re seriously too cute sometimes, Daph~” I said with a genuine smile. “I like seeing this side of you more than your usual aloofness.”

Squeaking with embarrassment, Daphne grabbed a cushion and hid her face in it, folding forward.

“Great, now I’ll be forced to listen to her ramble on and on about you during break,” Astoria said sarcastically, though she watched her sister with soft eyes.

‘I guess all siblings are that way,’ I thought privately observing them closely. ‘Constantly at each other’s throats, but there when they truly need it.’

Even Daphne had proved that, she’d been willing to do anything I asked when she’d asked me to heal her sister behind her back last year.

“We’re ready,” Hermione’s voice pulled me from my thoughts. She had a scrap of parchment out and a quill.

“…Really?” I asked deadpan, making Hermione blush and huff.

“Just start already! Besides, this is for my benefit, I have a feeling you’re going to say some crazy things today and I want to note it all down.” She squirmed in her seat.

A few chuckles lightened the mood.

“Very well.” I relaxed into my seat and smiled. “I guess the first thing that must be said is that I’ve died before.”

Of course, my revelation was immediately met with surprised gasps and wide eyes from everyone still not in the know. I even felt Daphne, who was sitting beside me, and Ginny come out of their embarrassment and reach for my hand, holding it firmly.

“Relax,” I reassured everyone in a calm voice, squeezing Daphne’s hand in return. “As you can obviously see with your own two eyes, I’m alive and not some undead monster. Neither have I ever created a Horcrux or want to.”

“…I knew it was going to be crazy,” Hermione muttered to herself as her quill flew across the parchment.

“So, what happened then?” Ginny asked, looking more relaxed as she snuggled closer and hugged my hand to her chest.

“That’s just the thing,” I continued, my smile getting a little mischievous. “You see, when I died, I was a twenty-three-year-old college student living in America and my name definitely wasn’t Aether Cordelia. There’s also the exact date of my death, which will sound impossible.”

Hermione, who, thanks to her Time-Turner experience, had a better grasp on temporal oddities than most here, widened her eyes and whispered, “You went back in time.”

Her answer produced plenty more wide eyes, but I quickly raised a hand to restore order and shook my head. “Good deduction, Hermione, but unfortunately that’s not the case this time.”

“What happened then?” Rose asked, leaning forward, clearly intrigued.

Rin, Sakura and Illya, who already knew most of this, listened half-heartedly while quietly stuffing themselves with Ilulu’s snacks.

“That will come after,” I said, the smile returning. “The important part is what happened when I died. Upon gaining consciousness instead of being in some sort of heaven, hell or whatever you consider an afterlife, I met a certain entity that offered me a second chance at life, and granted miraculous powers.”

I could see the awed look on Rose, Ginny and Hermione’s faces; they loved a good story.

“…You met God?” Rose asked in disbelief. I blinked, then let out a full-blown laugh that surprised the others.

‘While that’s an understandable leap given what I’d told them so far, The Company is the farthest thing from God imaginable.’ I thought in dark amusement before I shook it off when I saw the others were now looking at me weirdly.

“Sorry about that.” I said after catching myself. “I didn’t mean to laugh but you have no idea how amusing that thought was to me. Anyway, the entity itself isn’t worth importance, just know that its beyond our comprehension and just as powerful. What matters is that one of the abilities I was given is travel between universes or different realities, if you prefer.”

Seeing confusion around the room, I tried another explanation. “Think of it this way: every book, movie, cartoon or anime you’ve ever seen, they exist somewhere out there in the vastness of the cosmos. And I can visit those worlds whenever I wish.”

Silence settled for a beat. Luna, who’d remained quiet until now, turned to Illya, Rin and Sakura and said, calmly: “I see. Then that must mean Rin, Sakura and Illyasviel are from another reality, right? Though, if you’re from another world, how come you can use our magic?”

Ginny and Hermione, both of whom I’d already given special abilities, blinked as if pieces of the puzzle were clicking into place.

“Correct,” I said. “They are. And I can grant powers to those I form a bond with and am close to.”

“So,” I continued, smiling a little at the reaction, “what I’m trying to say is that if you ever thought about visiting a world from a story or piece of media, past or present, I can take you there no problem.” I signaled to myself with my thumb with a cocky grin.

My words were met with awed looks from everyone. After all, who hadn’t ever thought about visiting the world from their favorite story or movie, getting to talk to them in person, going to places that only exist in fiction or other thousands of things that would be possible.

“So you yourself are from another world, Aether?” Daphne was first to ask, breaking the silence that had fallen over the room.

“Yes and no,” I answered, which confused a few people. “You see when I died, I reincarnated into this world and grew up as the Aether Cordelia you know, with normal wizarding parents and everything. Then when I turned thirteen, an incident with a broom that cracked my head opened up my memories of my previous life and here we are.”

“Fufufu, at least I know I’m not dating an old man~” Astoria teased, and the room broke into a little ripple of laughter.

Then, as if a dam had burst, Hermione and the others launched into a stream of questions, though most coming from the brunette. We spent hours in the Room of Requirement, Hermione furiously scribbling, and by the time we were done it was already time for dinner.

Before leaving the room and heading out into the Great Hall, I turned to everyone and gave them a smile, pleased that they had taken the news so well.

“As I stated before, use the upcoming holidays to really think about everything I’ve told you today.” I reminded them. “If you still see me the same way and that doesn’t bother you, then I welcome you with open arms.”

I paused and felt my smile turn a little sad. “If that’s not the case, then I completely understand and we can end our friendship on amicable terms. I just ask that you not reveal what I shared with you today to anyone you don’t explicitly trust with your life.” I let out a small breath; there were no more secrets between us and everything was now out in the open.

The girls looked at one another for a moment before they all broke out into a giggling fit, which made me blink.

“Don’t blame him, everyone, the Wrackspurts around his head are to blame for him even thinking that we would ever think any differently,” Luna explained simply as she came up and pulled me into a hug, her grip surprisingly strong.

“He does tend to let silly ideas roam around his head, huh?” Daphne said next as she joined Luna and hugged me from my left side.

“At the end of the day, he’s a boy after all,” Ginny added with amusement dancing in her eyes as she took my right side.

“As if we could ever think any differently,” Rose said with a soft smile, joining the hug too.

Right after that, Astoria jumped onto my back and wrapped her arms around my neck, her head resting on my shoulder. “Idiot. Didn’t I already tell you you’re stuck with me?”

“There’s still thousands of questions you haven’t answered yet, and you promised to answer all of them last time.” Hermione said at last with a blush as she also joined the pile.

Looking down at everyone, I felt the last of my worries lift and my shoulders relax. Our tender moment was ruined seconds later by a little white-haired gremlin squealing as she happily jumped into the group hug, somehow causing us to tumble to the floor.

Rin and Sakura, not wanting to be left out, quickly joined in too, leaving me at the bottom of a heap of girls as they all argued with Illya.

‘I wonder what world we will travel to in the summer? I can’t wait~’