{Edited} The Chaotic Traveler - Chapter 2 (Patreon)

AN: Edited Chapters do not count toward monthly quota's

Chapter 2: Fear The Elderly

Jin’s journey through Diagon Alley was enlightening.

For one, it didn’t smell as bad as a 13th-century medieval-looking city might.

For another, despite the few dirty looks he got for wearing jeans, he saw others walking around in them too, showing that Muggle clothing wasn't that uncommon.

And finally, magic was incredible.

The sights and sounds of the Alley were alive with people going about their day, wizards and witches waving wands as magic flashed before his eyes.

Wares were advertised in half a dozen styles, from some bellowing out with volume-boosted voices, to dazzling mini-firework displays, to even a jumping pair of animated wooden monkeys.

Jin passed a picture frame shop, his reflection in the glass met by a dozen moving figures within the frames, some kind of zebra-looking magical creature even huffed at him from within.

The whoosh of countless items zipping above his head constantly made him twitch at the sound, his gaze glancing up to see them flying by accompanied by the occasional owl fluttering in daylight as packages and letters flowed like a river through the air.

Dozens of noises, smells, and sights took his attention, and Jin was drowning in a world of real magic, his eyes big and smile bigger.

“Two cinnamon twists for a Knut!” A big man yelled behind a stall, the sweet scent hitting Jin’s nose like a siren’s call and making him fondly remember honey-glazed roasted nuts.

‘Odd, I can recall the smell but not where it came from?’ Jin scratched his head and walked up to the stall. “Do you have change for a Sickle?”

“You got it, lad.” The big guy quickly processed his payment, and Jin happily walked away biting into a toasted skewer of cinnamon and fried dough goodness.  

A massive jet of flames stole his attention, and Jin idly wandered over to a group of street performers.

The half a dozen uniquely dressed performers ran some kind of dance routine to support their team in the upcoming Quidditch World Cup, based on what Jin could overhear from others, equipped with flashes of fire, water, and finishing with a large lightning bolt sent to the sky.

The last one had the crowd gasping and applauding before a whistle blew and a pair of Aurors came running in talking about unregistered spells.

Jin hung back, eating his snack and laughing at the chaos as the performers took off like a group of startled cats.

‘This place is insane. I love it.’ He tossed the empty skewers in a trash can and continued on his way.

The Alley was a grand display of a magical secret society living without fear of sharing their talents.

Wanting a better idea of the prices, Jin stopped at an out-of-the-way stand selling Christmas Stockings.

In July.

‘Seems fitting.’ Jin mused and waved toward the older woman behind the counter. “Excuse me, can I have a moment of your time?”

“Oh, what a handsome young man.” The woman looked like a classic grandmother you’d see knitting in a rocking chair. “What can I do for you, dearie?”

Putting on his best smile, Jin leaned against the counter so he wouldn't have to yell. "I've been out of the country for a few years, and I'm trying to understand the current prices. Do you mind if I ask some general questions?”

“Of course, of course.” The older woman’s face lit up like Christmas came early. “Come around back, dear. Grannie will get your head set on straight.”

Something about the lady's eagerness raised concerns in Jin's mind. Still, he courageously stepped forward into the waiting jaws of a gossiping old lady.

0000

‘Never. Again.’ Jin’s smile was forced as he politely waved to the old woman, Shelby. “Thank you, but I really must be going.”

“Of course, of course.” Shelby gave him a bright smile after cutting off his retreat route half a dozen times. "Try talking up the new employee over at Florean's; she's just right for your age."

“I will.” Jin answered for the fifth time and beat a hasty retreat, hours after he’d sat down. ‘I must never meet the Weasley mother.’

Shaking off the experience, Jin was at least glad to have gotten an idea for the current prices. ‘Thankfully for my wallet, the average cost of simple items is in Sickles, and most of the food listed in displayed menus typically doesn’t go for more than an amount in Knuts. So far, it’s only been the enchanted items that have price tags in galleons.’

Although that rule didn't apply to everything.

Thanks to Shelby's advice, Jin practically fled Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions from seeing all the zeros on the price tags. 'A little old lady says Madam Malkin is fleecing the Hogwarts orphan fund for her robes. The nerve.'

He chuckled and resisted the urge to splurge on all the cool stuff he kept passing until he finished his first errand.

Jin looked up at the sign of [Wisdom's Library], a second-hand bookstore, and headed inside. The door jingled as he passed, and the smell of parchment and ink hit him immediately.

Rows of books in a chaotic swirl of bookshelves greeted his eyes before Jin focused on an older man in a robe with a pointy white beard, sitting behind a counter. "Oh, a new customer. How may I help you, young man?”

The elder's soft, refined voice carried easily through the quiet store, and Jin’s shoulders unconsciously untensed at the peaceful vibe. "I'm looking for knowledge."

“Then you’re in the right place for that.” The old man guffawed and shut his book. “But perhaps specifying what you need may be of help.”

“Right.” Jin checked a list he wrote for himself as he explored the Alley and quickly started counting off. “I need books on a few subjects: General Knowledge of Magical Britain, Indexes for Magical Creatures - Fwoopers specifically, if you have any detailed books on them, and introductory books for Charms and Arithmancy. Theoretical knowledge is fine, but hopefully, something I can actually learn from instead of philosophy."

He got the last tip from Shelby. Gossipy old lady she might be, but she'd been around a while.

“Hm, quite the list there.” The elder ran a hand through his beard and looked into the store, deep in thought. "We should have what you need." A raised wand pointed at the shelves, and soon, books began flying over one by one and stacking up. "Coming from out of the country, son?"

Jin answered absentmindedly as he watched the books move, a twinkle in his eye. “Yeah, got a job here that needs me to brush up on a few things.”

The old man nodded and continued stroking his beard. “Wonderful, it’s always nice to see more young ones seeking scholarly pursuits. Knowledge should be shared with all.”

Jin pointed at the register. "Does that mean I can get a discount?"

“Not on your life.” The older man scoffed good-naturedly.

Jin figured as much. "Could you at least show me a good place to start?"

"Why, of course, I would be delighted to.” The old man was all smiles as he rang up the register with a resounding ding. “After you pay."

“Tsk.”

"Don't sass me, child; I might be over a hundred years old, but I can still put you over my knee.”

Jin’s brow twitched. "You wanna go, old man?"

0000

‘I might have more of a temper than I realized.’ Jin idly admitted while rubbing the edge of his black eye. ‘Old fossil’s got a mean right hook.'

Jin could only laugh at their almost cartoon-like brawl, but seeing an old man rip off his shirt to reveal gleaming muscles was enough of a distraction to get Jin socked in the face.

It wasn’t even a real fight, just an amusing scuffle that both ended up laughing at. Still, being pimp-slapped by Gandalf's buff little brother made Jin see red for a bit there.

‘I need to hit the gym.’ He rolled his shoulder with a groan.

Thankfully, the elder gave him some pointers on how to throw a proper punch, seeing as Jin didn’t actually have any combat experience, and he still agreed to help Jin figure out where to start his studies.

The old guy even threw in a few more books as Jin expanded on topics of interest such as Animagi and Occlumency. ‘Old man is kinda cool. I wonder if he’s a secret overpowered wizard living in the background.’

The silly thought made him chuckle.

Still, realizing how easily he could be riled up made him consider a new stop.

Looking up at the sign of a small side-alley clinic the bookshop owner recommended, Jin could only wonder. ‘Did the story ever mention normal doctors existing outside of a school nurse and a hospital?’

Jin tried to think about it but only felt a fuzzy absence in his memory as he pushed open the door.

The clinic was clean and professional-looking, similar to a dentist's office, and was run by an older witch with a nametag that read: [Healer Thorn].

She took one look at Jin and raised an unimpressed brow. “You pick a fight with a troll?”

"Not unless trolls are over a century old and run bookstores now." Jin rolled his puffy black eye. "I'm not here for the eye; well, I kinda am, but I primarily came for a physical exam.”

“Ha, ole Edgar sent you my way, did he?” The Healer cackled and pointed to the side. "Room three in the back; take a clipboard and complete the paperwork. I'll be with you in a moment."

“Thank you, ma’am.” Jin nodded politely.

However, the moment he sat down and looked over the paperwork, he couldn’t help but balk. ‘I have to pay for a non-disclosure contract?'

He read further and felt his face twitch. 'What's with all the old people around here? First, Shelby, the gossiping monster; then that buff bookkeeper being way too willing to throw hands. Now this healer is blatantly telling me she will sell my information to the highest bidder if I don't pay an extra fee for the contract.'

The contract ensured that nothing the woman heard or saw could be shared with another soul without his permission. Any attempt to speak of it, write it out, or even read her mind would erase the memories from her mind temporarily as a form of protection.

Jin pointed at the thing when she came into the room. "Isn't this a blatant rip-off? You're blackmailing your own clients."

“That’s a standard Healer Confidentiality agreement, boy.” Healer Thorn laughed openly. “Healers are under so many oaths, no one would bother trying to get secrets out of us, but if you don’t like it, feel free to go to that hectic hospital off Diagon. They will charge a leg or arm for things, sometimes both.”

Jin had seen signs for the hospital's fees on his walk through the Alley, and they were three times the price she was asking. “Fine.” He sighed and signed the contract. ‘At least I don’t have to worry about watching what I say.’

The healer gave a chuckle dry as tree bark and snatched the clipboard away to study it. "Good, now take off your shirt and lie down. A full checkup will take an hour, unless we find something."

Jin used the backstory of the dark ritual he was part of as a child to answer her questions, but that only made the specific ones harder.

“Are you sure you don’t remember more?” The healer looked at him dubiously, but Jin could only play dumb.

“I was a kid; the event was blurry enough even back then.” Jin couldn’t specify what the ‘ritual’ that changed him did, but he could point to what he did know. “All I know is that I woke up with magic-resistant skin, and recently I’ve been feeling odd flares of emotions that impact my judgement."

“Is that so?” Healer Thorn hummed but didn’t comment further as she ran diagnostic spells while explaining her findings.

"Your skin is definitely magic-resistant." She clicked her tongue and had him open his mouth to cast her spells on his interior. "You could probably shrug off most casual spell fire without feeling it."

She cast another diagnostic spell. "Your internal organs are not protected; the resistance is only skin deep, so potions should be fine." She dug deeper. "You have a substantial mana core; my word, you could match the raw output of a trained Auror. Has it been feeding your skin all these years? That could do it."

Jin went to reply, but she held up a hand to silence him.

Healer Thorn seemed to be speaking out loud rather than to him. "The passive pull must have been partially draining and stressing the core for years, forcing it to grow to this point." She focused back on him. "If you didn’t have that ritual accident on file, I’d assume one of your parents was a magical creature.”

“Would that be a bad thing?” Jin couldn’t help but ask.

"Bad? No." The woman shook her head and wrote down some notes. "It would just make it easier to narrow down how your magic would respond to certain diagnostic spells."

"I figured you would be…" Jin trailed off, but the witch understood and scoffed.

"Not all of us are xenophobic, boy. Why do you think I work here and not in that blasted hospital? Now turn over; let's take a look at that emotion issue." Jin had no idea what she was casting, but her wand flashed through various colors. “Huh, that’s not something you see every day.”

“What did you find?” Jin couldn’t see her face from his angle, but she sounded surprised.

“One moment.” She shushed him, roughly turning his head to face her, and focused her spell on his eyes before her own widened in shock. “Oh, you poor child.”

“Excuse me?” The honest exclamation made him blink.

The healer seemed to be looking at something inside him. “Have you found it hard to hold onto thoughts?” 

Jin scratched his head and admitted. "A bit."

He went from very focused to a bit scatterbrained and back.

“I thought so.” She pulled her wand away and sighed. “Your mind is fractured.”

“That sounds bad, but… I feel fine. I think.” Jin frowned to hide his inner thoughts. ‘I thought the Occlumens perk helped with that?’

"That's the odd thing." Healer Thorn waved her wand, displaying a few diagrams in the air. "I cast a few spells to check for genetic abilities and found more than I should have. I can't tell what you were born with and what that ritual you experienced altered or added. Still, you came up positive for natural-born Animagus and Occlumens, both being incredibly rare, almost unheard of in the same person. See these colors?"

She pointed to a blob of green light and another for white.

"They only appear for those two traits, and by how deep the color is, whether it was ritual-gained or not doesn't matter; it's settled in and become a natural ability over the years." She hummed and tapped her chin. "Perhaps they are only appearing now due to magical maturity?"

“Doesn’t magical maturity happen when you turn seventeen?” Jin asked distantly while looking over the hologram.

“Not necessarily.” The healer answered, snapping the diagnostic off to get his attention. “It’s a general concept, but it can be earlier or delayed depending on the individual. For you, it seems like you were just a late bloomer or delayed by your chaotic physiology.”

Jin could only nod as he didn’t have a better answer. “Is that going to cause me issues?”

Healer Thorn waved her hand nonchalantly. "No. I've diagnosed patients born as natural Occlumens and Animagi before, but never together. However, that's not the issue."

She reached forward and tapped his forehead with a finger. “Your mind is fractured, likely from the ritual that did all this to you in your youth, and the sheer fact that you are functioning normally right now can only be attributed to those two natural traits holding you together somehow.”

The older woman huffed and shook her head in disgust. “Whoever was supposed to give you a medical checkup after the incident must have been a quack to miss it. Bloody lazy shits."

Jin didn't want to focus on his backstory, so he pressed for details. "So, because I'm an Occlumens and an Animagus, I'm ok? How does that work?"

“Hm, I’ve only met a few natural Occlumens in my years, but they didn’t just wake up one day and realize they could alter their minds.” She explained patiently while flipping through her clipboard. “Each and every one discovered their talent after they experienced strong trauma or magic that affected their mind, such as a Veela's Allure or dark creature exposure. The difference between a natural and a practiced practitioner is that a natural's mind will automatically work to protect itself. Your mind seems to have some sort of passive pull that is acting as glue and keeping you coherent."

“I see.” Jin internally noted how similar her description of his mind was to his soul issue. ‘Maybe picking Occlumens was a better choice than I originally thought.' Looking up, he asked the witch. "What do you think I should do to fix it?”

"Seeing a mind healer is the best option." She noticed Jin's frown and shrugged. "Don’t like it? I can understand not wanting another person in your head.”

The healer considered it for a moment. "You could always self-study Occlumency. Natural Occlumens pick up the art quite quickly, although it can vary. If your mind has remained intact for a decade with the first signs of an issue appearing now, then you should be safe to practice. I can give you a few potion regimens to follow that will help."

"Please do." Jin was willing to trust an expert's judgement. “But can you explain the emotional spikes I’m feeling?"

He could handle whatever he needed to, but he didn’t like not knowing what was causing it.

"That's likely from the Animagus trait." The healer leaned back against a table, arms crossed. "It's quite common for natural Animagi to be a bit odder than others. An Artificial practitioner usually deals only with temporary issues right after their first change, since they've been human longer. Natural ones, however, grow with their animal traits influencing them throughout their lives. If I had to take an educated guess, whatever animal you are connected to is quite aggressive, and the mind fracture you're dealing with is probably going to make that worse."

Jin frowned at that. “Is there a way to deal with that? My judgement hasn’t been great today, and it's annoying. I feel aggravated.”

He didn’t like the idea of anger issues.

“Of course.” Healer Thorn looked through a cabinet. “Potions, herbal remedies, Occlumency, letting the animal out once a month to temporarily get it out of your system. I’ve seen plenty of Animagi find ways to deal with it. Aggression is far from the worst trait I’ve seen pop up.”

Jin tilted his head, confused by how casually she spoke of it. "I thought there were fewer than ten registered Animagi in Britain?"

“If you believe that nonsense, you’re far too naïve, boy." The older woman rolled her eyes and pulled out a syringe. "Do you really think half the population cares about what the Ministry says? Any decent NEWT Transfiguration graduate could buy a potion and get an artificial Animagus form; heck, you can simply travel to India, Africa, or China, and they have entire programs designed for it. Might take a few years, but some consider it worth it."

Jin opened his mouth to respond, then stopped when he realized he shouldn't expect meta knowledge to be accurate. Instead, he focused on the weapon currently being pointed in his direction. "What are you doing with that?"

“What do you think?” The healer flicked the needle and shot him an irritated look. “Antibodies, boy. You haven’t gotten any of your shots in years. Did you want to catch dragon pox or something?!”

"Linda, wait!" Jin wasn't proud of the sounds that left his mouth over the next ten minutes.

Thankfully, he only needed a few shots. They guaranteed him protection from various magical illnesses for up to a decade.

The last thing he learned before beating an ignoble retreat was that he apparently wasn't done growing.

“What do you mean I’m not done? I’m eighteen and six feet tall.” Jin pointed at his reflection in a mirror.

“And you will continue to grow under the influence of your Animagus form.” Healer Thorn signed off a form and ripped out the page before handing it to him.

"Natural Animagi are far more in tune with their animals than simply their minds; as you get closer to its awakening, you will notice more changes. Here are your results if you want to see another healer in the future." The older woman patted his cheek, chuckling at his concern. "Follow those potion prescriptions, study Occlumency, and you should be fine, boy. It shouldn't be too hard to learn with a natural talent like yours."

Jin looked over the potion prescription and swallowed. “Thank you, ma’am.”

“Thank me by paying.” Healer Thorn cracked open the register and Jin winced at the sound.

‘I’m starting to dislike the elderly around here.’

Chapter End.