Chapter 139: Wotcher

*Creak*

In a luxurious room, the sound of a door creaking open was heard, and immediately one little girl stood up from her seat excitedly.

The girl had light-brown bob-cut hair, chubby cheeks and greyish-blue aquamarine eyes. Her usual passive expression was gone as her big eyes opened fully and her face broke into a happy smile, causing dimples to form on her chubby cheeks. If she had a tail, it would be wagging very excitedly right now.

"Big Brrodar!" She called out as soon as she saw the one who came out from the other side. Esmée ran towards her big brother with all her might.

The person who came out on the other side was, of course, Chris. He smiled and quickly bend down to catch Esmée before lifting her into his arms.

He'd been unable to come last weekend because he had to quickly learn the remaining wards for updating his villa basement ones. He even had to experiment how to overpower them, so that no one can break them. Along with this, he had other projects as well. He knew that his progress would be inevitably slowed down and he'll slack off when he see this cute and adorable face. Thus, he'd been overworking for the last two weeks.

"Sowy Esmée, big brother couldn't come last time. But now that big brother is here for two months, I'll definitely make it up to you!" He said, lightly tapping her on her little nose.

Esmée already misses her brother when not seeing him for a day. So Chris decided to make it up to her. Esmée nodded her head happily and Chris carried her downstairs with him.

"Where's mom and dad?" He asked.

"Daddy's in the study. Mommy's in liba-ry."

"Library? Why's she in the library?"

"She's going there many times after Christmas," Esmée also didn't know why so she told what she knew.

The study was nearer, so they went to meet Durant first.

"Hey Dad, I'm back!" Said Chris as he burst in.

Durant looked up from the pile of documents and smiled at him,

"Welcome home. Did you practice well?"

See that? Even Durant is changing little by little. He can now smile naturally.

Chris nodded, "Yup! I mastered everything." Durant had given him some school work to do, in order to prepare him for the tournament. Chris could already do it all, but he had to draw a line at how much he had learned.

"You did it all?" Durant got surprised, but outwardly, he only raised an eyebrow. Chris wasn't supposed to be able to do it all. He had just given it all so that he won't slack off.

Durant looked proud as he patted Chris on the shoulder, "Well done, son. Go meet your mom, she'll be happy," he said before going back to his work.

Chris and Esmée then went to library. In the massive circular Library, they found Camille sitting among a large pile of books, with her back turned towards them.

'It looks like she's asking to be pranked.'

Chris gestured for Esmée to stay silent as he snuck up to her.

*Snap*

But Camille calmly snapped the book shut, as she turned around, her light brown hair swinging back her, and smiled as she looked at her children.

"You're back honey? Come give me hug!"

"?!"

'How did she know?!' Wondered Chris. There's no way she could could have heard them. His sense of smell was the strongest among humans even without activating his dragon senses, so he could tell that they weren't smelling anything in particular.

She doesn't have eyes on the back of her head, and neither was there magic involved.

But now that he gave it some thought, how come she didn't detect his presence the very first time he'd sneaked into their dining room in their first meeting?

"Mom! How did you find out?!" Asked Chris, not hiding his surprise as stepped into her waiting embrace.

Camille smiled mysteriously as she stroked his head, "You'll also learn to do it in due time, if you have the talent."

'Uh... I can already do it.' was what he wanted to say, but he was also curious what she'd teach him.

'Was it some kind of magic afterall?' He thought.

'No way.' But he immediately rejected that option. After so many years of studies and research under his belt, along with his Magic Sense, he's confident in at that much.

Well, since his plan to sneak up and prank her her failed, he decided to do something else.

"Mom, are you alright? Do you feel unwell? He asked worriedly as he put the back of his hand on Camille's forehead.

"... I'm alright honey, why are you asking this?" She asked, looking puzzled

Chris shrugged his shoulders, "Well, you usually spend your time lazing around, but you're actually reading books today, so thought— ouch! ouch! I was kidding, mom! Just kidding!"

While Chris was pretending to be in pain while Camille pinched her ear. And Esmée looked at her big brother in admiration. In this house, only he could get away with saying to those things to mom. No one else had the audacity.

A few moments later.

"But seriously, what were you reading today? He asked while rubbing his reddened ear.

He casually read the covers of some of the books.

'Theories on Blood Evolution.'

'Blood Inheritance: An Advanced Thesis'

Before he could see more titles, Camille sent the books away with a wave of her wand.

"I was bored, so I decided to read whatever comes up," she replied.

"...." Chris looked at her for a moment with an 'are you serious' exasperated expression, but then he just nodded.

"Alright, I'll believe that lie," he said, totally stealing Luna's line.

'Damn, Luna is rubbing off on me,' he thought as he saw his mom's speechless reaction.

Though he felt that this was a great line when he wasn't at the receiving end of having his lie shamefully exposed.

Camille stroked Chris's head, "You'll be participating in the world tournament, so make sure to learn everything that your dad teaches you. He's going to prepare you and Fleur thoroughly."

Chris just scoffed, "What's the need to prepare? I'll win anyway."

Camille shook her head, "It's not that easy honey. World tournament is very different from normal tournaments. France and Britain have almost the same magic spells. But in the world tournament, many countries' representative would use their country's unique magic. At that time, if you aren't prepared, it's very easy to get hurt badly," she explained patiently, glad that for once, there was something that her son didn't already know.

Chris's eyes shined, "Oh different types of unique magics?" Well, this was definitely something to look forward to.

Camille nodded, and then she tried to look stern, "Yes, and that's why you have to practice diligently. If you get injured, mom will have you forefeit," she warned while pointing her finger at him while resting one hand on her waist. But she didn't look intimidating at all.

'Well, there goes my ingenious idea of getting hit by a few unique spells to feel and copy the magic,' thought Chris. He was confident in taking it safely with hidden Corpomency, but his mom would get needlessly worried.

"Go get into your dueling attire, the Delacours are coming and you and Fleur should practice." said Camille as she also got up from her chair.

As soon as she said this, they heard sounds coming from outside,

"Gabby! Don't run around like that! It's rude."

"But, But Chris is here! He was supposed to be back today right? I want to meet him!"

Camille smiled, "Looks like they've come early."

They walked out of the massive Library to find the two veelas in a tug of war. Gabrielle was looking around while Fleur was trying to stop her from running around like this in someone else's house without permission.

"Chris!"

But then, Gabrielle saw Chris and sprinted straight towards him. Unlike Esmée, Gabrielle hadn't met Chris for months, so the girl really missed him, and would talk a lot of the online chatting diary.

Chris already had Esmée sitting on his arm, so he lift Gabrielle into the other one while Fleur looked at the scene sullenly. She was returned just yesterday, but her sister seems to miss Chris more.

Fleur bowed her head apologetically to Camille,

"Sorry for coming early, but Gabby wasn't willing to wait at all," she explained.

But Gabrielle was back at her job of exposing secrets, "Hey! You were the one who asked me if I wanted to go early! Not fair!"

"Pfft," Chris suppressed his laughter. Gabrielle and secrets don't mix well. That is the reason why he hasn't told the Delacours about the Vanishing Cabinet being able to cross Hogwarts wards.

But! He really doesn't want Gabrielle to change. She's too adorable when she tells him all the things that she isn't supposed to tell, just like how told him about the Christmas prank beforehand.

"Aunt Camille, mom, and dad won't be coming today," Fleur said, trying to change the subject.

"Oh," Camille was still a bit disappointed but she could understand. Everyone was a busy person with high status, this is the reason the two families meet up whenever they can make time.

"Then, since you guys are already here, first have dinner, then you can go play around," said Camille, knowing that they won't come back once they go out now.

Camille called Durant for dinner as well, and then personally served the five of them with food. But...as soon as she removed the lids an especially delicious aroma filled the room.

*Deep Breath* x 6

Everyone involuntarily, took a deep breath when they caught the whiff of the dishes. Today's food looked especially appetizing.

"H-How..." muttered Camille, clearly surprised. This food wasn't something their elves had cooked. On the other hand, Chris smiled satisfactorily. He can recognize Andromeda's cooking anywhere.

"So, you only made it today, Jilly?" He asked the empty air beside him.

Jilly, upon finally being addressed by her master showed herself, smiling happily upon seeing him.

"Yes, master! Master should have the first taste of Jilly's new cooking."

"Oh, I'm touched. Thank you, Jilly," said Chris while patting her head. While at it, he also gave her small amounts of pure magic. She'll react too strongly if he gave her more.

"Thank you, master!" Jilly said as she closed her eyes in ecstasy.

Chris looked at the dishes in satisfaction. Roasted meat (beef, chicken, lamb or pork), roast potato, Yorkshire pudding, stuffing, vegetables and gravy.

*Slurp* he slurped back his drool.

This was cooking made from Andromeda's recipes. Jilly has been trying to learn them for all these months, even draining her magic to go to Andromeda for guidance if she couldn't get something right.

Just when they were going to dig in, they heard the sound of a doorbell ringing, while at the same time, Chris's Dora Diary gave him a message notification.

Opening it, he saw two words.

"Come out."

Thump-Thump, Thump-Thump, Thump-Thump,

His heart suddenly started beating faster as he finally guessed the thing was feeling excited about.

Blue sparks were already lighting up his eyes.

He hurriedly stood up.

"I'll see who is it," was all everyone heard before they saw him jumping out of the window the next moment.

Camille got surprised when she saw him behave so frantically, "What—" she began, only to see Nyxie following him out. Seeing both of them go out, Esmée also ran out to chase after them.

"Veeee!" Gabrielle also followed and jumped out, thinking that this was a nice game.

"Gabby?! Wait! Don't go!" Fleur shouted after her to stop her, but Gabrielle was already gone. Fleur looked apologetically at Camille and Durnant before she stood up as well,

"I'll see what this is about," she said as she too went out of the window.

Camille felt like crying, "Why can't anyone use the door?"

...

Chris had never run this fast in his life. And when he realized just how fast he was going, it was impossible to stop without completely ruining his shoes and the ground. He was going that fast.

The only good this was that his brain was also working fast. Right before he crossed the grounds to reach the front gates, he took out his broom and jumped onto it. Now, he can easily stop. Just when he was about to stop, the gates became fully visible, and he could see a figure standing on the other. The person was completely cloaked, but that's what confirmed her identity.

'That's the cloak I gave her.'

Instead of slowing down, he accelerated.

...

Dora found the Martin manor, and she had to say, it was huge. She landed down right in front of large gates with a grin.

She rang the doorbell. Taking out the diary, she wrote,

"Come out."

Dora was still expecting Chris to ask what "come out" meant.

But, just after a few seconds, suddenly—

*BAAM!*

Something landed right in front of her, making her take a few steps back in surprise and causing the wind to peel away the hood of her cloak, revealing her beautiful face.

Within the dust that was blowing up, she was pair of blue eyes glowing as they looked straight into her own eyes.

"Wotcher."

She heard the person say in the voice she had been dying to hear.

***

A.N.: Wotcher is the greeting that's common between MC and Dora. MC greeted her with the very same words when he met her for the first time.

People get addicted to strange thinks. By the way, give me my dose of POWER STONES!!!

The next chapter: The Long Awaited Reunion!

Let me make several things clear.

MC's mental age is already quite older than Dora, and she knows it.

The biggest factor that show the teenagers' physical age is their body and face. MCs body is lean but muscular. And his face is sharp with no excess baby fat. Thus, if you make stand group of 18 year olds, he can blend in even with his short height (about 5'7 which is average for 13-14 year olds) since there are real 18 year olds who look much quite young.

Dora's height is also about 5'7, which is considered tall for women.

I'm making this clear since there ARE several people who worry about such useless stuff. So no age difference bullishit from the next chapter please.

And leave if you're not old enough for the romance.

There's going to be a vote for Fleur pairing soon on P atreon.

pat reon.com/Snollygoster for 8 extra chapters.

It's a new month