Chapter 8: 3 Years at New Leaf

Waking up the next day after a long night of magic training. I felt as though my magic reserves had been boosted quite a bit compared to when I started. The light at the tip of my finger when doing the ET spell would now linger for a couple seconds longer before dimming. It was a small improvement however it was proof enough that the routine I had was working. I was also getting use to magic power exhaustion doing this method.

As the sun climbed into the window of Melony's room I picked myself out of bed and headed towards the door. Just as my hand grasped the handle the door swung open on its own. Staring down at me was Melony wearing her pajamas. In her hand was a bowl of porridge and she looked at me angrily.

"Sick people should stay in bed!"

Even though I felt fine I was forced back to bed by Melony and made to eat porridge. It seemed that I wouldn't be free until the doctor came today that Nana had called. Sighing I decided to get some more shut eye. This was going to be another long day.

.

When the doctor arrived a commotion brewed in the common room. I of course couldn't go and see as I was told to stay in bed. I basically awaited my fate as eventually Nana entered the room and the doctor followed behind her. Seeing me on the bed, the doctor approached me and sat on the chair next to me. His gaze trained on my arm that had multiple lacerations.

"Dearie me… you really cut yourself up young man"

Grabbing my arm he brought it closer to him. Melony had don't a sub-par job of cleaning the wounds and stopping the blood flow. By the doctors standards though it seemed as though it wasn't enough as he started to tend to the wounds gentler than Melony would have. After an hour of cleaning and disinfecting the wounds on my arm he looked at me questioningly.

"Your Nana tells me that you passed out whilst meditating correct? What cause you to pass out?"

I feigned ignorance responding to the doctor basically stating I had no idea what happened. He looked at me with a frown, bringing his stethoscope to my chest and listening to my heartbeat. He then continued to check my health in multiple areas. Finding nothing amiss, he turned to Nana with a smile.

"Besides the damage to his arm I can't see any reason why he passed out. Maybe it was just exhaustion after a long trip. As for that room being in tatters it could just be coincidence…"

The doctor told us the logical synopsis of events. I immediately agreed with him however Nana seemed to still be questioning towards everything. Chasing the matter though would be silly, so instead she decided to just place her doubts aside and thank the doctor for his time. Seeing the doctor ask for pay I noticed a difficult expression on Nana's face whilst giving him the money for the checkup.

Seeing this happen I felt the desire to repay Nana back for my selfishness as soon as I was able to…

.

Days rolled on by after my maturity, followed by weeks then months and eventually even a few years passed in a blink. During that time I kept myself occupied, strict to my schedule I had for myself.

In the morning I would wake up, eat breakfast, help with chores and then exercise outside. When I was done I would come back indoors, shower and then retreat to my room for some magic practice. Spamming the ET spell over and over. As time passed by the spells duration increased and now I was 8, the spell was able to last a minute before dimming instead of a couple seconds like when I just matured.

Speaking of my age, I didn't actually know my own birthday in this world. Nana and Melony one day rushed in and wished me happy birthday randomly and I asked how they knew. They responded that they didn't know however apparently we always decided my birthday to be on the 1st of January. I remember their faces seeing as though the previous 'me' was obviously the one who chose that date and now the 'me' right now had completely forgot. I managed to play it all off with some honeyed words.

During the evenings I would either continue magic practice or I would read some books. Honestly it was a shame I couldn't get any books from the Lovegoods to read about magic or magical creature however considering the price of such books, it would have been far too selfish asking for such things. In 3 more years though I would be of age to start Hogwarts, then that's when I could get my hands on the juicy books.

For now though, I had to settle with the books the orphanage had to offer. Honestly reading in this world felt strange at first as my mind told me I should be training at all times however eventually I realized I can't change who I am. Leo in the past read as an escape. I in the present reads as a way to gain as much knowledge as possible. Whilst Leo shared the same desire, my desire was more so considering the situation I'm in now in this world.

Before I knew it, three years passed in this orphanage called 'New Leaf'. I still didn't interact with the other kids however I interacted everyday with Nana and Melony. Looking over at the draw in my desk I smiled knowing what the contents held. It was money, all money saved from doing chores around the orphanage. Nana would give me an allowance whenever I helped out despite their money difficulties. I had not spent a single penny. Sometimes I felt like I wanted to give it all back seeing their financial struggles however I realized that was a hollow mindset. With the knowledge I have, I could turn this money into 100x the amount. At that point I can not only save the orphanage from financial crisis, but also make it thrive.

Looking in the mirror next to my desk I looked at my 8 year old self. Due to exercising daily I had a lean physique with muscles even present on my body. My jet black hair fell just over my ears and my dark brown eyes peered back at me underneath the bed of eyelashes I had. Looking at the me right now and remembering the me 3 years ago, I was clearly able to see the fruits of my labour.

I headed downstairs to the common room in which Nana and Melony were sat waiting. Melony had grown a bit, now 21. She still treated me the same however a lot of her child-like tendencies started to disappear as the 'real world' was thrusted in front of her. As for Nana she hadn't change at all personality wise. Still being the same loving old woman. Appearance wise though, the grey hairs on her head were starting to multiply. Seeing this, I felt a little sad.

"There you are Oz. Come over and help Nana will you?"

Calling me over Nana directed me towards the mess of dishes next to her. I wordlessly started helping, cleaning the dishes as best I could. Looking up at Nana a question escaped my lips.

"Why doesn't any of the other kids have to do this? Seems like I've got the short end of the stick here"

"You are just imagining it~"

Nana seemed to completely dodge the question humming to herself as she cleaned another plate. Looking over at Melony sat on the couch, I saw her snicker for a moment before pretending nothing happened. I glared coldly before going back to cleaning dishes. I continued on dish after dish with a good rhythm going. My mind started to think about Hogwarts and the future I had ahead of me. As the thought crossed my mind, the rhythm I had was broken as words appeared in front of me in my field of view. Looking at the words that appeared that plate I was holding nearly fell out my hands.

[Canon Shift – Due to Oz's interaction with the Lovegoods, Hogwarts has caught wind of Oz earlier than normal]

The shift wasn't anything bad, nor was it anything good. It just proved that it worked. I was confused though reading the words in front of me. Judging by the wording, the 'Leo' that was originally here ended up going to Hogwarts. After all it would omit the part about 'earlier than normal' if Leo was left out of the selection process or something.

Another question arose also within my mind. How was this related to the canon story? I thought these sorts of messages would appear when the canon truly started, not now for something like this. Unless [Canon Shift] operated when a 'being' in the canon made a move that was different. The 'being' here would be Hogwarts collectively. Honestly it was a little confusing however maybe this was better for me. I started to recall when the messaged appeared and realized another thing about this ability of mine.

It only showed when I thought about Hogwarts. This meant that in order to catch a [Canon Shift] I had to actively think about a 'being' and then it would be exposed to me whether the canon of that being had shifted or not. I wanted this ability to be simple however it seemed it couldn't be all powerful, it had conditions of use.

Nana looked down at the dazed me who seemed to be just staring ahead at the wall with a concerned look. Putting her hand on my head she confirmed I didn't have a fever. Feeling her wet hand touch my head pulled me back to reality.

"Ah sorry… I zoned out there for a moment"

"As long as you're okay~"

Although I was caught off guard. My mood improved seeing as though [Canon Shift] actually worked, although it was a little different than what I intended. Grabbing the sponge on the side I started to clean the dish in my hand with a bit more vigour than before.