Chapter Five: Dancing Flame

Contrary to what I expected, Flitwick's office wasn't a chaotic and overflowing library, but actually a fairly tasteful decorated office. There was a lot of blue and bronze, the House Ravenclaw colors, and lots of stylish wooden furniture engraved with artistic patterns and runes. His office table was a massive piece even for normal-sized people standards, completely dwarfing him. It looked funny when he took a seat behind it because it made him look like a little toddler that was using the office of his father as a playroom.

Lily Potter occupied the comfy armchair next to me. Her red lips curved up with a smile when she caught me checking out the size of her impressive chest. I may not be my old, adult self anymore, but I died in the prime of my youth. And I was a student again, and she's my hot teacher, so it was natural that I began fantasizing.

"Thank you for joining us, Mister Vegaz," Flitwick began cheerfully after he made himself comfortable. "Again, that was an excellent use of the Dancing Feet Charm. The speed of your spell could rival that of a fifth year. Very impressive. To be blunt, it shows that you are naturally more powerful than your peers."

"But that doesn't mean anything if you cannot harvest that power properly," he added in a lecturing voice. "That is why I have to insist that you study the books I will prepare for you. They will be a good source for you to enrichen your understanding about the element of fire."

"And I will examine your knowledge and abilities when you return from your summer holidays, Mister Vegaz," Lily Potter threatened, smirking when I looked over to her.

The sudden 'friendliness' of the two Professors confused me, to be honest, so I decided to simply ask them what is going on.

"Is there a good reason I deserve all this attention?" I questioned, looking back and forth in confusion between Flitwick and Lily Potter. "Not that I don't appreciate your support, Professors, but all this is a bit overwhelming for me. I just finished my first year, and I didn't do anything besides reading all year long. I don't know what I did to deserve all this. Surely, my trick at the dinner table isn't the only reason I am sitting here with you."

My humble words made the two professors regard me silently with raised brows for several seconds. Flitwick was the first to act, chuckling loudly.

"Mister Vegaz, you are the best student in your entire year," he explained with pride all over his face. "In fact, you are one of the best students I have had the pleasure to teach so far. You are the fastest to learn how to cast a new spell, and your answers to my questions are generally your own. You don't recite from the books. It shows that you truly understand the nature behind each spell. Each of my colleagues has similar stories to report, even Professor Snape, to my surprise."

Well, Potions wasn't that hard at all if one bothered to read about the exact nature of the ingredients and how to handle them properly. Knowing some basic chemistry also helped. Everything else wasn't so different from cooking.

"Ehm… well, I admit that I am doing quite well so far," I muttered humbly.

The perfected Extremis Virus enhanced my brain, after all. Memorizing material wasn't a chore for me. There was also the fact that I wasn't exactly your average twelve-year-old boy. Long story short, it would be surprising if I didn't do well.

"Yes, Mister Vegaz, you do very well," Flitwick chortled merrily.

"Oh, how I wish that my son Charles were so humble," Lily muttered, shaking her head with a sigh.

"He is still a child, Lily," Flitwick said with a soothing squeak. "He will humble down when he comes to Hogwarts and gets away from all the attention. Charles is also the son of James, and we both know that James needed some time to grow up."

Lily Potter just nodded but didn't look convinced. Flitwick shook his head and turned his attention back to me.

"Very well, Mister Vegaz," he said with a growing smile, appearing excited. "Before you go, would you do me a favor and show me your little trick again?"

"No problem at all," I nodded nonchalantly and then lifted my hand before summoning a small flame on my palm. Slowly but surely, the flame took the shape of a dancing ballerina.

Smirking to myself, I made the hair extra red and her body a bit curvier. Lily Potter blushed slightly when she noticed the little detail, and even Flitwick chuckled at my obvious flirting attempt.

Still, both professors were completely amazed and bewitched by the alluring charm of the dancing flame. Gentle warmth spread in the room. The atmosphere became calm and soothing. Magic hummed in delight.

"It's beautiful," Lily Potter gasped, still entranced by the flame.

"She is," I smirked, giving her a roguish smile.

Her cheeks reddened in response, but an amused glint appeared in her emerald eyes. Flirting with the mother of Harry Potter was quite the experience. Fleur Delacour, Hermione Granger, and Daphne Greengrass were my favorite female fanfiction characters in my past life, and while they were still too young, they wouldn't stay like that forever.

But until then, I might as well flirt with Lily Potter. She was the perfect candidate for lewd fantasies since she was a professor here at Hogwarts. Well, I probably wouldn't pick Muggle Studies as my elective, but we would have private lessons together next year, and I planned to show her the really hot stuff if she asked for it.

But I was also patient and had to be careful. Lily was the wife of James Potter. He was a man-child, but one with a lot of power around here. Fucking his wife would probably come with a lot of trouble – if someone were to catch me.

Anyway, I continued my little show for a while more until both professors were fully seduced by my flaming ballerina.

It was noteworthy to mention that by wishing me Azazel's powers, I got the ability to manipulate minds, giving me influence over them. Staring at the dancing flame wouldn't make them my slaves or anything but just amplify the favorable impression they had of me greatly.

That's why I called it a trick - because I was tricking the minds of my audience.

However, I wasn't sure if it could affect the mind of a trained Occlumens. But since the spell wasn't anything malicious since it only made me look a bit better, it might work. My magic trick also mostly strengthened what was already here. It didn't make people that hate or dislike me become friendly all of a sudden.

When the show was eventually over, Flitwick and Lily Potter appeared as if they woke up from a pleasant dream. They looked at me with increased respect and admiration.

"Marvelous, beautiful, excellent!" Flitwick squeaked in joy. "I am not embarrassed to admit that I envy you, Mister Vegaz. Such an artful piece of magic is not something one can learn from a book. This is the result of talent, inspiration, and a great mind!"

"Take 50 points for Ravenclaw, Mister Vegaz!" Flitwick squealed, vibrating with vivid delight.

"Thank you, Professor," I said, flashing a toothy smile.

"Can you teach it?" Lily inquired, her emerald eyes burning with curiosity.

"Well, I am not sure, but we can try to discover it together when I return from my summer holidays," I teased with a flirty wink.

"You are very flirtatious, aren't you, Mister Vegaz?" Lily accused with a huff.

"Only when I see something that I like," I replied with a shameless grin.

Flitwick's reaction was gold. He simply started to erupt with mirthful laughter while Lily was hiding her embarrassment by turning her head to the other side. She took my blatant flirting with amusement, however. I was a twelve-year-old brat, and I knew that Lily wasn't the type of woman that would sleep with a kid.

What I aimed for was to build up a good relationship between us for the time when I was older. She wasn't even thirty, and magicals had a long lifespan – at least 110 even for the weakest of our kind. Magicals kept their youth for far longer if they took care of themselves. Lily would remain pretty much the same in appearance even after ten years.

…

Flitwick and Lily Potter continued to chat with me for a while, mostly about how I liked my time at Hogwarts so far. There wasn't much to say, but I ended up telling them that Dysnomia was really annoying, and that she tried to educate muggleborns with ridiculous rules on how they have to conduct themselves around purebloods.

Lily was aware of the problem but told me that Dysnomia wasn't breaking any rules with her rude behavior. She was annoying, yes, but that was hardly a crime, and she didn't really harm anyone with her unnecessary lectures.

Flitwick even mentioned that her father was in Azkaban for being a known Death Eater, and her mother, while not marked, was of a similar mindset. He advised that I should simply try to dodge Dysnomia if possible and endure her stuff until she grew up and calmed down. Most children with her background acted that way, and punishment would only make them believe that the world was against them, which made them more rebellious.

We eventually ended up talking about my own background as well.

Well, I was an orphan that appeared out of nowhere since no mortal woman could give birth to a frikking half-elemental. Because of that, I would stay at an orphanage during my summer holidays - at least on the paper. Flitwick wanted to know if everything was okay, and I told him really humbly that it wasn't the best life, but it was fine.

Naturally, I wasn't going to tell him that I would spend my time traveling around with my teleportation ability. The caretakers at the orphanage didn't care much, and they cared even less after I used my mind-bending tricks on them.

When I was eight, I started to amass myself a small fortune by teleporting into people's homes, stealing their stuff. When I had enough money, I went to the Diagon Alley and traded my cash for Galleons. Then I got myself some books on basic magics.

Due to my high magical nature, I quickly learned some useful wandless magic tricks like the Summoning Charm, the Door-Unlocking Charm, and the Stinging Hex. And because of my Azazel powers, I picked up the Confundus Charm really fast and could utilize it wandlessly already. I could also use my mind-powers with my eyes to some degree, and by infusing them into my voice.

Just like that, I had a pretty easy life and stole what I needed to survive while traveling around Europe as carefree as one could be.

That said, Lily Potter was shocked when she heard that I was an orphan. She jumped out of her seat and pulled me into a tight hug. I hugged her back and enjoyed the warm softness of her curvy body for a minute or two. Her ample chest felt really nice against my face.

Flitwick didn't hug me but offered me his ear whenever I needed his help.

Our meeting slowly came to an end after that, and I wished them a good night before leaving the office.

"He reminds me of Sirius." I heard Lily mutter somewhat sadly just before I closed the door.

Hearing that, I recalled again that the relationship between Sirius Black and the Potters soured into a mild enmity. The Harry Potter of this world also took the name Hydrus Black as his new one, and he didn't show his face to the world ever since he was adopted.

'Hmm, I wonder what happened to Lupin' – I mused while moving towards my room in the Ravenclaw Towers.

There was nothing in the media about Remus Lupin, and he didn't appear in any articles about Charles Potter's birthdays. But he was also a werewolf with the sense of self-worth of an edgy emo kid, so he is maybe just avoiding the public.

…

When I returned to my room, I locked the door behind me and grabbed the Marauder's Map out of my Mokeskin Pouch.

"Hmm, everything clear," I muttered as I scanned the seventh floor.

My eyes moved to other places, and I spotted a few couples inside broom cupboards or dusty, abandoned classrooms. One of these couples were Nymphadora Tonks and Charlie Weasley. The former was in her fifth year, and the latter in his sixth. They were a couple for months already and enjoyed the company of the other quite a lot, it seems.

Well, Nymphadora was one of my targets due to her Metamorphmagus ability. My hope was that her blood would allow me to gain her special ability, and so I planned to soon ambush her with a syringe and some Blood-Replenisher-Potions. It would have to happen in the next two years before she graduated, or she would be gone, and getting access to her blood would be a lot harder.

However, she spent most of her nights with Charlie Weasley and was surrounded by Hufflepuffies during the day. It was hard to catch her alone in a suitable area where I can ambush her unseen.

That said, her blood was the key to a new awesome ability. My fire devoured magic, but also magical abilities and so on. I was able to cast the Disillusionment Charm almost perfectly with eleven because I devoured a copy of the Invisible Book of Invisibility. It greatly boosted my progress with the spell, allowing me to get a good grasp on it in a short period of time.

So, that's why I was confident in my chance to gain Nymphadora's ability by letting my fire devour some of her blood, and some hair, maybe.

"So many plans…" I muttered, recalling the fact that I wanted to hunt some magical creatures as well, hoping to get their magical abilities by letting my fire devour their bodies.

There wasn't an opportunity for that so far. I had to become stronger if I wished to travel the Forbidden Forest safely, and buying parts of magical creatures didn't help much. Devouring a Mokeskin Pouch didn't grant me the special ability of the Moke lizard to shrink myself, so I concluded I had to go and hunt one myself and devour the subject while it was still fresh and rich with magic.

There were some wands in the Room of Hidden things as well, with cores made of parts of magical beasts, but they were all 'dead' with barely or any magic left.

'Hmm?'

My attention was drawn to the map again when I saw the name Lucious Malfoy appear in Snape's office. Nothing happened for a while until both disappeared through what I assume might be the fireplace. The Marauder's Map didn't show many details, unfortunately.

"Maybe they are going on a date," I muttered to myself with a chuckle before putting the map away.

It was time to explore and plunder the Room of Hidden things again. I also had a nice storage area for my stuff now – the Chamber of Secrets. My newly gained ability to speak Parseltongue would allow me to enter and claim that place for myself. I also planned to change the codeword of the access point, to prevent Harry or other parselmouths from entering, and then rely purely on my teleportation ability to access that place. Just like that, the Chambers of Secrets would become solely mine.

Wards and so on couldn't stop me at all. When I teleported, I opened a door into another dimension. It wasn't the Brimstone Dimension like for Azazel, but the same that had that big Sauron Eye floating around.

That said, I would enter the Star of Extinction Dimension and traveled through it towards the location I intended to visit. The entire process happened automatically, operated by my subconscious mind. Next, I reappeared by opening another door into the 'real' dimension, land perfectly on my feet, and wouldn't feel any discomfort at all.

This ability wasn't even magical, but of a physical nature. Teleporting would exhaust me physically, but my enhanced stamina is great enough, so it never really became a problem that I had to deal with.

"Focus, Johnny." I shook my head when I noticed that I was drifting off again.

*bampf!*

Disappearing in a muffled implosion of golden fire, I reappeared right in front of where the entry into the Room of Hidden Things was. The area had no portraits that could spy on me, and the floor was empty as well.

After summoning the magic door, I entered it and restarted my wild search for treasure.

...