13 Two Minds are Greater Than One

"This is a soul orb?" Professor Quirrell held up a grey orb closely to his face, studying it with his intrigued red eyes.

"Yes, Professor." Ymir answered as he packed his things into his bag.

They'd just finished their lessons for the day and he thought it'd be appropriate to show the results of the project his professor had inadvertently helped him with.

The professor hummed thoughtfully to himself. "Since you are showing this to me now, I'm sure it means that you've completed your little side project already, am I right?"

Ymir's hands paused their packing for a moment.

"Well, one of them is finished." He trailed off, unsure if he should let him know about the other project he was working on. "The other one is half completed."

Might as well, since he wasn't giving away the details anyways.

"So you were working on two projects at the same time?" The professor raised an eyebrow. "Impressive, but, always be aware of the eyes all over Hogwarts."

And here he goes again with his paranoia. Honestly, aside from Dumbledore's favoritism towards Griffindors, his caution towards Slytherin, and neglect towards the other two houses, he wasn't actually that bad. Atleast, not bad enough to spy on what the students were doing in the privacy of their bedrooms.

"Understood, Professor." Ymir nodded anyways without revealing his inner thoughts. "Though, I have a question."

The professor regarded him with an inquisitive look. "Ask away."

Ymir thought about how to phrase his words for a moment. "If I am in need of a partner to do my experiments, but I cannot ask anyone to help due to obvious reasons, what do you recommend me to do?"

That seemed to make the professor pause, thoughtful.

"A tricky situation." He admitted. "No one can be trusted fully other than yourself."

It is exactly this thought process that caused the two dark lords to fail. Ymir thought to himself. Though, he could understand the feeling.

When planning something that has a high chance of failure, or was too difficult to be trusted upon others, he'd much rather do it himself.

"I suppose you haven't heard of it... After all, it is very dark magic-" The professor began, eyeing Ymir for any undue reactions. "Horcruxes."

"Horcruxes?" Ymir furrowed his brows, trying to recall if he'd read about it before.

"Yesss..." The professor spoke lowly, his voice trailing into a hiss. "It iss a ssspell which sseparatess part of your ssoul and placing it in an object for ssafekeeping."

Ymir seemed to remember reading about it briefly in a collection of incomplete dark spells written by... Helbo..? He can't remember the name but, the book should still be somewhere in the library in the Beschutzer Fortress.

"Since that soul piece also contains your memories, in a way, it is also another you." The professor explained seriously, but Ymir was already busy creating theories in his own mind to notice.

"Hmm... The premise does sound promising, but splitting the soul is too risky and often leads to madness and unstable magic." Ymir muttered thoughtfully to himself, not seeing the irritated twitch in the professor's face.

But, that did give him another idea.

Instead of splitting the soul? How about creating a complete copy of his memories and thought process?

Anyways, he had all these soul orbs lying around in his closet, and all he needed was to transfer his memories and thoughts to a soul, then place it in another body, thus, creating another him.

It's not like he's aiming for immortality anyway, and all he wanted was a helper who perfectly understood what he needs to be done.

"Well, thank you for your time, Professor." Grabbing his packed bag, he bid the professor goodbye, eager to start right away. "Please excuse me, I have another project to work on."

But, before he left the office, the professor stopped him with a complicated look.

"That thing you sent-" He muttered with a grimace. "It was..."

"Helpful." He spat out the word as though it physically pained him to do so.

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September 28, 1991

02-Gaia

Observation Entry #62

There are 26 hours per day in Gaia, 396 days per year, 2 moons, and one sun.

After dividing the days into twelve months, there were roughly 33 days per month.

Spring in Gaia lasted for 4 months, Summer with 2 months, Autumn also with 4 months, and Winter with 2 months as well.

Entry End

❄️❄️❄️

[FIRST YEAR GRIFFINDOR, GRANTED PERMISSION BY DUMBLEDORE TO PLAY FOR THE QUIDDITCH TEAM!]

[As of the 18th of September, a memorable event has happened in Hogwarts that not many know as of yet. Harry Potter, the boy-who-lived, had just become the youngest Quidditch Seeker in the century!

How did this happen, you ask? Well, it all began during the first flight class between the Slytherin and Griffindor first-years, where, after the bad luck of Mr. Neville Longbottom falling from his broom on accident, Professor Hooch had to escort him to the school clinic after asking the students to stay put until her return.

But, during the time she was away, Mr. Draco Malfoy of Slytherin, and Mr. Harry Potter of Griffindor, had challenged themselves to a seeker battle, in which, Mr. Harry Potter won.

Being a witness to this battle, Professor McGonagall quickly confronted the two students for their reckless actions. Though, according to the statements of several students at the scene, they claimed to have seen Professor McGonagall pull Mr. Harry Potter aside while Mr. Draco Malfoy was told to return to his class.

It is only later when we found out the reason for this as, on that night, a witness, whose name was requested not to be revealed, stated that they had overheard a conversation between Mr. Ron Weasley and Mr. Harry Potter wherein Mr. Harry Potter was made the Griffindor's Quidditch Team's Seeker upon the recommendation of Professor McGonagall herself, with the approval of Headmaster Dumbledore.

Note that the participation of first years in Quidditch activities are not allowed, as stated in the Hogwarts rules, first years cannot bring their own brooms to school.

Though, it is a noteworthy achievement for the house of Griffindor, it is not the only incredible event that happened on the first flight lesson of the first years.

Here, we present a critical comparison.

On the 17th of September, the day before the flight lesson between Slytherin and Griffindor, a surprising event happened during the flight class between Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff.

On that day, much like Mr. Neville Longbottom's accident, Hufflepuff student, Ms. Susan Bones also experienced a similar broom malfunction where she had dangled dangerously nearly 20 meters up in the air with only her hands gripping on the broom saving her from severe injury.

According to witnesses, Ms. Susan Bones had actually hung on for around twenty seconds while her broom was bucking wildly before she inevitably lost her grip and fell, but, before she hit the ground, in an impressive show of skill and heroics, Mr. Ymir Schreiber of Ravenclaw, quickly dove in and caught her on his broom.

In response, Professor Hooch, who was at the scene, awarded Ravenclaw with fifty house points.

Breaking the rules vs. Saving a life.

Now, here we ask, which feat is more impressive? And, which one is truly worthy of praise? Does the difference in Hogwarts House really affect how the Professors treat the students?

-Written by Daphne Greengrass]

Spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, and proper punctuations. On Saturday evening, he finally corrected them all, and on Sunday morning, they'd begin printing the papers.

Thanks to the generous donation from Draco's father, they managed to acquire a magical newspaper printer right on time for the first issue to be released on Monday morning.

For now, they have made several copies by wand which could be sent to their parents in advance.

Ymir looked down at his own copy and contemplated whether the school's owls would be able to send it safely all the way to Nurmengard.

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Each of the Astral Dice is unique.

With each of them being connected to only one of the many Star Heart Crystal fragments scattered all over Gaia, this signifies that the location where their holder would be transported to would be different as well.

Like, if two people who were right beside each other got a hold of an Astral Dice each, they may be transported thousands of kilometers apart in Gaia depending on the location the Star Heart Crystal fragment their Astral Dice was connected to was buried.

But, that wasn't all the Astral Dice was capable of.

As a semi-portkey which only transports the astral body, Ymir made it sure that it would only activate when the holder was asleep. It would be problematic after all if it suddenly pulled them into Gaia while they were in class.

A group of students suddenly fainting collectively would be sure to attract unwanted attention.

And, since there was a possibility of losing the dice or purposely throwing it away, he cursed the dice to turn into a thin, bone ring that can never be taken off from their holder's thumb.

So, that means, one holder can only possess a maximum of two Astral Dice. Unless they had more than two thumbs.

❄️❄️❄️

"What..." Blaise looked at Ymir's plate hesitantly. "What is that?"

"..." Ymir looked down, eyeing his own food before meeting Blaise's eyes. "Eyeballs."

The Ravenclaw table was silent. At this point, they were already used to having Slytherins eating with them frequently.

"Yes, I can see that." Blaise's eyes twitched. "I just want to know what they're doing in your plate."

Is there something wrong with his food?

"It's obvious, isn't it?" Ayato grinned mischievously and speared an Eyeball from Ymir's plate with his fork. "It's his dinner."

Then, he shoved the eyeball into his mouth with no hesitation. "Tastes a bit like crab if it had the texture of grapes."

Ymir furrowed his brows. Why do other people keep stealing his food?

"Are those like..." Draco scrunched his face upon seeing Ayato clearly enjoying the eyeball. "Real eyes?"

Ymir was taken aback. Does he look like someone who partakes in eating real eyes?

"No." He said monotonously. "In fact, they're a type beans that grow in my manor's garden."

Although they were originally variants from another planet. But, they don't need to know that.

"Wait- So, you mean to tell me that those..." The three Slytherins looked at the eyeballs on Ymir's plate in disbelief. "-are vegetables?!"

Why are they making such a big deal out of this? They're perfectly fine drinking potions made from frog innards. What's wrong with eating a bean that looks like an eye?

"More or less." Ymir shrugged. "Quite tasty actually."

"Still looks weird though..." Draco averted his eyes, playing around with his mashed potatoes.

On another hand, Pansy had her own concerns. "Are you just going to eat those eyes for dinner?"

Ymir looked at his eyeballs to see if there was anything wrong with them. There wasn't. "Yes?"

"You eat the heaviest breakfast and lunch that I've seen in my life, yet barely eat anything during dinner when you should." Pansy pointed out.

Ymir blinked slowly. "It's abendbrot."

'Chii!'

From under the table came a familiar chirping sound, and Ymir's hand immediately stilled, wondering just what it wanted from him now after not showing up for days.

"Oh! Isn't this Noir?" Anthony peeked under the table to greet the... cat. "Hey there, kitty? How are you?"

Slowly, Ymir lowered his fork, concluding the end of his short dinner.

And, exactly at that moment, Noir ran out from under the table and jumped onto Anthony's lap, heading straight for Ymir's plate.

Then, the next thing they knew, a black afterimage was seen running out of the Great Hall and Ymir's plate missing an Eyeball.

Ymir sighed.

"You know, if it wanted food, it could've just meowed cutely for it." Ayato muttered in confusion.

In a place where they cannot see, a black cat creature pranced into the owlery with its prize in its mouth, carrying it towards a certain shed where a snowy owl nested.

'Hoo?'

'Chii!'

The cat placed the eyeball before the owl and the owl pecked at it gratefully.

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It was a strange feeling.

This was obviously not his physical body, but, somehow, he was still able to move around normally as he would in his own body.

But, he knew that this body wasn't actually real, even though all his senses were still the same and he could touch any rock and be able to feel each dip and edge with his fingers.

No, what he was inhabiting right now was his Astral body which was pulled out and dragged into Gaia by his first successful Astral Dice.

Looking down upon a still lake, Ymir studied himself, noting that his Astral self, while still bearing resemblance to his physical body, actually had enough differences that separates them from each other.

Such as, unlike his more boyish features in his physical body, his Astral body took on a more genderless approach, though he kept his silver hair. His eyes, on the other hand, turned from stormy grey to a brilliant silver, so now, his hair and his eyes matched colors. The tips of his ears elongated and sharpened at the end, much like an elf's.

Looking at his body like this, there was only one thought that coursed through Ymir's mind.

He looked exactly like the description he made up for his DnD character, Casimir.

He huffed in amusement.

When he was planning on using the game to promote Gaia, he didn't think it would have this much influence.

He could almost envision the riot this would cause on some of the players.

❄️❄️❄️

It was a freezing evening at Nurmengard today, but still, the self-appointed guards were as dedicated as ever, standing guard at the tallest tower of the castle.

Usually, they would spend their shifts in silence, but, today, something else was happening.

"Che! Of course, it's Dumbledore! What else would you expect from someone like him?!" From the other side of the wall, the muffled voice of the current representative of the Kraus family could be heard scoffing.

"But, Salomo, your kid really is something else!" The descendant of his once trusted advisor, Vogel, praised the descendant of his other trusted advisor, Schreiber. "You must be really proud."

"Ja. Ymir is mein shatz. So, it is only natural that I am a proud father."

Idly flipping through the pages of a book that was published recently yet already had aged yellow pages, he couldn't help but overhear the conversation outside his prison cell.

"Ah-ah! Go tend to the owl, Kraus! It's about to die!" Vogel exclaimed.

"Nein, just needs some bread and water!" A sound of shuffling and the clanging of something metal. Perhaps a bowl. "Must be tired and hungry from having flown all the way from Hogwarts."

He frowned, different colored eyes glimmering in recognition. "...Hogwarts?"

Seemingly taken by surprise when he spoke, there was a burst of shuffling and stumbling sounds on the other side of the wall as the men straightened up and made themselves presentable even though they knew their Lord wouldn't be able to see it.

"My Lord! Is there anything you need?" Vogel asked in a militaristic fashion.

"You mentioned something about Hogwarts?" He found it hard to speak with his rough, unused voice.

"Yes, my Lord! It was a newspaper sent from Hogwarts!" As Vogel answered, a roll of newspaper was pushed into the slit on the door, which he tentatively grabbed.

"I see..." He trailed off, chuckling in amusement upon reading the title. "Did your daughter send you this, Salomo?"

Yes, she should be having fun at Hogwarts around this time. He recalled her long silver hair and calculative grey eyes.

"No, it was my son, my Lord." Salomo said hesitantly. "Ymir just started attending Hogwarts this year."

He blinked in confusion. "Your... son?"

Well, that wasn't supposed to happen. Of all the things that could change, it was this one?

He might have to see it himself.

"I have waited enough, my dear." He whispered, trailing his fingers gently on a certain name in the paper.

...

"Open the door, Schreiber."