Chapter 09

"Dumbledore, the dark wizard Grindelwald, Nicolas Flamel, and the twelve uses of dragon's blood," Milo said, counting each on his finger. "Write all those down, they'll be important later."

"Important?" Ron asked. "Important for what?"

"For the adventure, obviously," Milo said.

"Um. Okay, pretend for one moment that we're all not as crazy as you," Ron said, "and elaborate?"

"Oh, another newbie." Milo said, briefly explaining the concept of a PC to the bewildered Ron.

As Ron was about to open his mouth to object, the compartment door slid open again, and Neville's round face appeared again.

"Oh, hey Neville," Milo said. "Neville, this is Harry and Ron."

"Hey, pleased to meet you. Um, so I lost my toad again, I was wondering if you could cast that spell again?" Neville asked.

"Sure," Milo said, but was getting concerned that he'd run out of magic before even reaching Hogwarts. "Spontaneous Search," he cast, this time giving up Mount for the day.

"Your toad's two compartments towards the rear of the cart, nobody ever taught Ron how to fold his clothes properly, and Scabbers is eating Harry's last Chocolate Frog," Milo said, as knowledge of the contents of the area flooded into his mind rapidly. It was dizzying, and he knew, instantly, far more about the contents of twenty-six students' luggage than he'd ever wanted to.

"Thanks!" Neville said, and scampered off.

"That was a mean trick," Ron accused. "Fooling Neville like that."

"What are you talking about? I helped him," Milo said.

"Please. You didn't even use your wand," he said.

"What, this old piece of junk?" Milo asked, pulling out the stick that demon of a man had sold him. Ron blushed slightly and mumbled something about his wand.

"Sorry, what was that?"

"I was just saying, I wish that I was rich enough to afford a brand-new wand and still consider it a piece of junk," Ron muttered angrily.

"Oh, I didn't buy it. Professor McGonagall bought it for me with Hogwarts' Destitute Orphan Fund."

"Oh. Sorry." Ron said, then went silent.

"You, too?" Harry asked.

"Uh, see, the thing about my parents is that… I don't think I'm an orphan. I just can't remember them." Milo said.

"That's terrible!" Harry said. "I'll help you find them, okay?"

"Oh, thanks, but don't worry. It's not important."

"Not important?" Ron asked, surprised. "How could parents possibly be unimportant?"

"Well, they just… I… my back story isn't working. I think it's because I'm cut off from my world," Milo said. Harry and Ron looked at him like he'd said he'd just gotten engaged to a goblin. He briefly explained what happened with the cultists.

"That's… you're a nutter, mate." Ron said.

"Says the person who thinks you need a wand to be a Wizard," Milo shot back. Mordy folded his arms and shook his little rat head at Ron and Scabbers, emphasizing his point.

"Whatever. Want to trade rats?" Ron asked hopefully.

"Not on your life, Weasley."

"Can you really do magic without a wand?" Harry asked. "I don't seem to know anything about anything, but I was led to believe that was practically impossible."

"Oh, sure. Here, take this," he said, passing his wand to Harry. He shook his hands free of his sleeves, to show he didn't have anything up them. "Okay, no wand, right? Dancing Lights."

Four glowing white lights appeared in front of his hands, then flew around the compartment briefly, as the compartment door slid open again.

"Neville said, and of course I didn't believe him, that someone in this compartment could perform magic without a wand," a girl said, then gasped as she saw the lights. She had a bossy sort of voice (one), lots of bushy brown hair (two)…

"And the buck teeth make a winner!" Milo shouted happily and dismissed the spell. "Come in! Who are you?"

"Hasn't anyone ever told you it's rude to comment on other people's appearance?" she asked angrily.

"What? Oh, I'm sorry. Where I'm from it's actually a compliment," he said.

"What, really?" she asked disbelievingly.

"Yeah. Dumping Charisma is a sign of great wisdom and foresight." Milo blushed slightly. He wasn't sure what he'd been thinking, all those years ago, when he'd decided his Charisma should be two points higher than his Constitution. Stupid, stupid, stupid, and now he was stuck with it.

The girl frowned, trying to figure out if she'd been insulted or not.

"Well, I'm Hermione Granger. I've tried a few simple spells for practice and it's all worked for me, but never without my wand. How did you do that?" she asked, sitting down next to Harry. Milo made frantic gestures to Harry to write her name down on the growing list.

"Well, I'm a Wizard, right? So I do what Wizards normally do. I learned the spell, wrote it down in my spellbook, and every morning I memorize it on an as-needed basis. Then I can cast it later, once."

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