[1990 Pt.2]

A|N:  As I have stated the book will now slowly move away from the heavy magic building I have been doing in the fic until now.

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Nathan's conversation with his mother regarding his charms work and runecraft had been a success, leaving her deeply satisfied with his progress in both areas.

Anticipating the praise he received when sharing that he was close to completing the practical aspects of sixth-year material, Nathan felt a sense of accomplishment. He had also made significant strides in post-NEWT arithmancy and runes, staying on track with the ambitious three-year mastery timeline he had set for himself.

His mother expressed her delight at his rapid progress, tempting him to share achievements from his other more secret endeavours during this time. However, he decided against it, prioritizing common sense over his whimsical thoughts.

His interest in dark magic, space, time or rituals would not be well received by any of his family members, except probably by his grandmother who despite being a muggleborn was fairly competent in the dark arts.

Nathan's repertoire of newly created spells had expanded from one to a total of six as he focused on mastering spatial and temporal manipulation of the local environment. While he had briefly considered a modifier aimed at temporal reversion, he had to discard the idea due to the predicted spell's visible instability.

These spells allowed him to cut, fold, and shatter space-time, providing him with skills that made him exceptionally challenging to defeat. Although spells like the Avada Kedavra remained potent due to their unique nature, Nathan knew that two of his creations could protect him against the killing curse, albeit at a significant cost in terms of stamina. He decided to reserve these as trump cards while using physical barriers to block the curse more economically.

The Avada Kedavra belonged to the realm of soul magic, one of the most obscure branches of magic. Nathan's mastery over time and space would level the playing field in his impending confrontation with Voldemort, rendering him nearly invulnerable, just as Voldemort's Horcruxes made him immortal.

Nathan's strategy involved dealing with the Horcruxes and ultimately defeating Voldemort. However, he was also considering the role Dumbledore might play in the equation, recognizing that the old wizard's assistance could expedite Riddle's downfall.

As Nathan rapidly bridged the gap between himself and Voldemort, he began exploring methods to gain additional advantages. He believed that by 1994, he would be well-prepared to hold his ground against Voldemort. Nathan was also aware that he would not be rag-dolling Voldemort like Dumbledore had done in the battle for the prophecy anytime before 1996. And thus to reduce the estimated time, Nathan had also started to look into rituals and runic arrays that would allow him more advantages against the Dark Lord.

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[Same day.]

[Kitchen, Grey Manor]

Nathan and his family were having dinner and it was then he decided to give them a small explanation about the Summer Crafts Club

"What do you mean there is a secret club that you have joined at Hogwarts?!", Nathan winced at his mother's shrill voice.

"It is a Hufflepuff thing mum. I am not sure how much I can tell you," Nathan had decided to tell his family about the club since it would be pretty stupid to try and lie to them for six years about why Nathan would have to frequently go to a stranger for magical lessons but he had still tried to keep the description as vague as possible.

"So it is a house secret? And Professor Sprout recommended that you take it?" His father asked him the question calmly. Nathan nodded in affirmation.

His father smiled and with a pointed look towards Nathan's mother said, "Then it should not matter really, Professor Sprout is a respectable teacher and I trust her to have your best interests at heart. Now tell me what you will be learning in this club son."

Nathan grinned before he started telling him about how he had decided to take lessons about magical combat and employing transfiguration in battle.

His father kept his face impassive throughout his explanation waiting for him to finish, and when Nathan was done talking he said, "So you will learn how to defend yourself using magic? That is a useful thing to know. What I am curious is what you mean about employing Transfiguration in battle. Battle transfiguration isn't a skill that can be taught to a first-year. Unless you have bragged about how good you are at magic to your friends."

Before Nathan could defend himself, his mother said, "I sure hope you did not end up bragging Nathan."

"I did not brag, mum," Nathan gave his mother a glare before facing his father and saying, "We will be starting these lessons five days from now and they will last for the next six years. They will first teach us the basics of magical combat followed by the more complex stuff, at least that is how I imagine it happening."

His father gave him a look that was amused and proud in equal measure and said, "Whoever teaches you will probably have to teach you some basic charms like the disarming charm or the petrification hex which you already know, I don't see why you want to spend four hours a day doing stuff you already know. Unless….you have a friend who is attending this class too?"

Nathan grinned before nodding, "His name's Alan Waynewood, muggleborn, he wants to learn to fight and I decided that it would be a good idea to see how good other people are."

His father nodded at his words before exchanging a look with his mother and with a frown on his face, said, "Look Nathan, will this summer club last the full summer?"

Nathan shook his head and said, "Well no, this year it will only last ten days. Next year, it will be for about twenty days. But when we finish our OWLs, then we will have to spend our whole summer in it if we want to continue and it will be like a NEWT class and we will also need an EE in Transfiguration and Charms to take it."

His father smiled at the answer before saying, "That is good because we will be going to Rus somewhere around August."

Nathan nodded before asking, "So why are we going to magical Russia?"

"A friend of mine got us VIP tickets to the Quidditch World Cup being held in Russia," his father answered back with a grin.

Nathan unwittingly smiled back because even though he was not that invested in Quidditch he still liked the idea of travelling to magical Russia.

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[6th July, 1990.]

[Grey Manor, London.]

Tsar, the raven, flew towards the window of the second floor of Grey Manor. Tsar's arrival broke the focused look of Nathan who had been practising wandless magic by transfiguring several stone pebbles into various animal shapes. The rocks stopped mid-transfiguration and looked like the mixture between an elephant and a giraffe.

"Tsar? You are back?" Nathan was surprised by his Raven's early return due to the fact that it was only yesterday that Nathan had sent a letter to one, Judas Watson about joining the lessons about magical combat and battle transfiguration.

He was an auror during the first rise of Lord Voldemort and retired in 1982 after Riddle's fall from grace. He had published his first book, 'The Rise And Fall Of The Dark Arts', which was a history of dark magic in the British Isles.

His second book, 'The Dark Lord's Ascent To Power' perhaps the most controversial piece of literature published in Wizarding Britain after the war, came out in the summer of 1985 and even the Daily Prophet had to print multiple articles about the book, most of which were aimed at fueling the controversy of the book.

Judas had depicted his one encounter with the Dark Lord in the most vivid work Nathan could find in the literature available on Voldemort. The man had referred to Riddle as 'Voldemort' in his book several times and even went as far as to say that the Dark Lord had only been able to get such power over Britain because the ministry along with the wizengamot had been too corrupt, incompetent and compromised even before the fighting had begun.

Nathan had to admit that the man had balls of steel for even going on to drag Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy through the mud by saying that it would be a good idea if Malfoy matriarch was interrogated by the aurors due to her being a member of the House of Black.

Nathan had chosen Judas Watson for his knowledge of combat, ministry politics and how the auror office functioned. After all, Nathan planned on committing quite a few crimes in the future, wouldn't it be better that he did it with the help of a former auror?

Nathan opened the letter excitedly and started reading, "Dear Mr Grey, I received...."

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