Skipping School

Modern Day Britain, London, Ministry of Magic, 1993

"Ma'am, ma'am!"

A female Auror with was panting as she ran, her high heels clacking on the black, marble floor. A middle-aged woman turned around to look at her, and almost jumped in shock at the state of her.

Her hair was dishevelled, flopping around seaweed and her wide eyes were being dragged down by deep, dark pits beneath them.

"Elena, what happened?" the middle aged woman asked, failing to disguise her shock.

"Head Auror, I think I've figured something out about Judgement," she panted.

The Head Auror, Amelia Bones, looked at the poor woman and placed her hand on her shoulder.

"You've worked hard."

Elena continued to speak as if Amelia's words went straight through one ear and out the next.

"It seems that the man in the silver skull mask (Edward) only participates in Judgement's escapades during June to early September."

"That's all?" Amelia frowned.

"Do you not see? What else happens during that time period?"

"Listen Elena, I think you need to just rest-"

"No! You listen to me!"

It was now impossible to tell whether the woman's eyes were red with fury or fatigue.

"Summer holidays are during this time!" Elena exclaimed.

Amelia frowned and looked down in thought for a moment.

"What? Do you not think it's possible?"

"Unbelievable..."

The fatigue seemed to start kicking in as Elena's shoulders drooped and her voice started to trail off.

"...but not impossible."

Elena's eyes brightened.

"You've worked hard," Amelia reiterated, but this time with more sincerity, "We should conduct interviews with all the students and teachers at the start of the school year."

"Yes, yes. Why didn't I think of that! It could be a teacher as well! Well let's get going!"

However, the moment she said this, her vision started to become blurry and her eyelids slowly dropped. Exhausted, she began to fall to the floor, but Amelia caught her.

"Silly girl."

***

"You know that's generally not how it works Edward."

A frustrated Dumbledore sat opposite Edward, staring at him with a whirl of conflicting emotions.

"I told you I'm going out whether you like it or not," Edward stated, not angrily, but as if it was an undeniable fact.

Dumbledore sighed as he looked at the boy. On one hand, he was a walking hazard and he was also strong enough to protect himself - easily defeating a troll 2 years ago. However, on the other hand, Dumbledore felt obliged to protect him as a student under his care and worried that the outside world would corrupt him.

Eventually, Dumbledore gave in.

"I guess I have no say in the matter anyway."

He shook his head as he watched Edward turn to leave.

"Be careful out there. There's always someone stronger than you."

Unknown to Dumbledore, Edward was grinning stupidly as he muttered.

"No there isn't."

***

"Right guys, I'm going away for a bit, so you all have to play nice with eachother and just keep doing Judgement proud."

Immediately, voices were raised in disagreement.

"Why can't I come Master?"

"I can blow stuff up for you!"

"We can always help you Master."

"..."

Anna and Richard, despite technically being the youngest, were the only ones who understood Edward's intentions and didn't complain. They were almost like parents for the rest of them.

"You guys have got to hone your skills and spread the name of Judgement."

Although there was some grumbling, everyone eventually settled down.

"Now Richard and Anna, I want you to look after the others, ok?"

"I'll try to handle this lot," Richard lightly smiled.

"They'll be good as gold, won't you?" Anna asked them.

Only Jason agreed as the only other response was a couple of mischievous giggles from the girls and silence from Luke.

Anna's aura suddenly changed as visible flame came from her hair and eyes and her wand expanded into a cane.

"Won't you?"

They all quickly agreed, even Luke forcing out a slightly higher pitched, "Mm-hmm."

"And Jason, you watch over your family."

Jason just gave him a thumbs up.

'Then off I go,' Edward thought.

***

Modern Day Turkey, Istanbul, 1993

A sweltering heat swept across the crowded Turkish streets, the oppressive sun beating down on the people below. Its golden glow was retreating as shade crawled up the colourful buildings and market stalls.

Currently, Edward was scanning for any signs of magic but was having no luck.

"Jesus, British weather has not prepared me well for this," he groaned as he marched his sweating body.

"Don't you have anything to help me System?"

[No. Sweating is a basic human function and required for your current body to function. In this world there are no skills or abilities to improve your body defense against this]

"Does that mean even if my defence is high, I can still burn to death?"

[You can still burn to death from temperatures like the Sun's but your defence stat protects you from damage from heat. You'll still sweat though]

"Do you seriously not have anything to help me?"

[Wait a second host...]

"Oh, you actually have something! Thanks System-"

Suddenly, a tiny fan with purple plastic and yellow blades.

Edward could only sigh as he shoved the fab in his pocket.

"I went on this adventure because I thought it would be fun, so far there's been no adventure or fun."

However, his luck seemed to improve as when he turned the corner, he detected a small magical signal at the end of the street.

He walked towards it and saw that it was coming from a small building with a golden sign on it that said 'Constantine's Retreat' in cursive black letters. Beneath the sign was a stone square which had carving of a man's face next to a spraying bottle on top of it.

He also noticed that the whole building had a ward on it that caused Muggles to subconsciously ignore the building.

"Interesting," Edward mumbled as he opened the door to the building.

Inside was a small bar and a couple of tables around it. Behind the bar was an old, bearded man, drying a pint glass with a cloth. It looked completely average.

"Can I help you, sir?" the man asked, a small magical signature emanating from him.

Edward placed his elbow on the bar.

"I just saw the ward outside and wanted to check the place out," he answered.

The man's demeanor changed, and his expression became serious.

"Come with me."

Edward followed him behind the bar as a shelf of alcohol lowered underneath the floor to reveal another room. He made light conversation on the way.

"So where does the name come from?"

"This was originally a small tavern built in the reign of Emperor Constantine of Byzantium to refuge any Wizards or Witches," the man spoke with no emotion.

They arrived at what was seemingly a dead end, just a black wall.

The man kneeled onto the floor and pulled out a wand. He then began tapping on the floor and drawing patterns with his wand, until the ground started rumbling.

The floor opened and revealed below was a weird, distorted image that kept swirling around.

"Well, go on then," the man said.

"What do you mean?"

"Jump in."

"Come again?"

The man frowned as he looked at Edward as if he was an idiot.

"Jump. Now."

"What do you mean jump? I'm not jumping in that. Just tell me what it is."

"Don't you like surprises?"

"What? What's that got to do with any-"

The man pushed Edward backwards into the mysterious portal.

"Fuck yoooouuuuuu"