40 Passing Time
A/N: [Finally! I figured out how to do the thing! Now I can generate art for my shitty fanfic.
[Danil Khromov – Pic here]
That's how I imagine Danil looking in his armor. Of course, it's AI generated, I don't know a thing about how to art. Can fanfics be called an art form? Meh, who cares.
And below is Luna!
[Luna Lovegood – Pic here]
She's holding the little Slime!]
-=-=-=-=-=-
After Halloween, Dan's days surprisingly fell into a routine. He expected a lot from a world full of magic, gods and secrets, but certainly not routine. But life was a cold bitch, and reality was even worse.
For the monster boy, a typical day went like this: get out of bed; attend professors' classes and read books; spend time with Luna or occasionally help the Weasley twins with the escape route. Usually, by being an escape route.
His lessons went surprisingly smoothly. After McGonagall realized exactly how he could use his unique transfiguration method, the old woman made it her goal to drive into him all the magical security measures that ever existed. Although considering that his transfiguration magic was very different from that of wizards, he didn't know how much it would help.
But what his transmigration knowledge did help with, is his understanding of the inner workings of the crafting table. The artifact operated quite simply: it allowed the user to create a permanent transfiguration of anything, as long as there were enough necessary materials on its surface and the user had an idea of what he wanted to create.
Dan got his chanse to thank Hagrid for his help in creating the crafting table, the giant now had a new stylish coat.
Flitwick, seeing his stalled progress with stronger spells, focused more on expanding Dan's arsenal. If one of these spells was used to prevent pregnancy, no one needed to know.
Every day he learned more and more useful little spells that made life better. After all, what does a person do when they cannot continue to increase strength? They go into polishing their technique.
He brought the spells he had already studied to perfection. Some of them – the ones he used more often – he could already cast without a single word. Of course, hand movements were necessary to direct spells, but over time, Dan planned to get rid of them as well.
How cool will it be to cast with just the power of the mind?!
Flitwick theorized that Dan's inability to cast stronger and more magically draining spells was due to his young age. After all, the boy was only fifteen years old! And his race could get in the way of magic casting, Flitwick knew this like no one else, after all, there was a reason why he became a Charms Master.
Also, Flitwick advised Dan to find books about Occlumency in his free time. So far, his searches have given him nothing, but he hoped to stumble upon at least a mention of this branch of magic in one of the books of the Hogwarts library. At the moment, all he knew about Occlumency was that it could help with organizing his thoughts, so it wasn't high on his priority list.
Snape… Snape was becoming a worse teacher every day. Dan, although he had nothing personal against the man, was at the end of his rope, trying not to respond to the taunts of the greasy fucker. Snape's method of teaching was quite simple: give Dan a potion recipe and make him cook in a couple of minutes.
There was a feeling that after the first month of teaching, Snape expected Dan to suddenly show some hidden years of skill. And when he, of course, couldn't provide, endless tirades and questions of the Russian teenager's intelligence began.
Dan has already found a good place for a grave in the Forbidden Forest. Snape ruined his own reputation in the eyes of the boy that much.
Unfortunately, right now he didn't have any blaze rods or a potion station to start cooking something from Minecraft. For now, he had to be content with what Snape was teaching him.
Classes with Pomona after a while became something calming for Dan. He could get lost in methodical work and not think about much. At the same time, he could perform several Advancements related to agriculture. God only knew why that old Enderman had put those few in his head.
In his spare time, he returned to the library to deepen his knowledge, or descended to the first levels of the Catacombs. He didn't consider himself skilled enough to dive lower.
Speaking of the Catacombs, Dan was able to learn about the nature of the red key from Flitwick: it turned out that he was magical in nature, at least partially. So the half-goblin wrote to one of his old friends and promised to return a repaired key in a couple of weeks.
But even with all of Dan's routine, strange events continued to haunt him.
Standing in a room full of books, scattered clothes, and scrolls of parchment, Dan and Luna looked at each other. The girl was holding a small green slime cube in her hands. He, in turn, only looked with interest at the Enderman.
Mantis stood on Dan's shoulder and looked back at his new potential friend – who somehow managed to hide from everyone for two whole days.
"I'd like to say I'm not surprised, but that would be a lie." Dan muttered. "When I said that you can make a friend out of any animal, it was a joke."
Luna just tilted her head in confusion. "When did you say that?"
The little green cube of slime sat in the girl's hands, not even looking out of place, as if it was supposed to be there. Although this was most likely because the young Ravenclaw had already taught almost the entire Hogwarts to ignore the oddities around her.
"It doesn't matter." Dan waved his hand. "Where did you even get the little guy?"
The girl pointed her finger under Dan's bed, causing him to sigh in exhaustion.
What were the chances that the slime balls that were in his backpack merged together and gained self-awareness while he wasn't looking? Dan had no idea if that was possible, but he had no desire to test his luck.
"Right." He sighed heavily. "And what did you decide to name it?"
The girl held the slime up in front of her like a proud parent showing her child to the world. To Dan, this was somewhat reminiscent of the scene after the birth of Simba, when that baboon raised the lion cub to the sky and hundreds of animals rejoiced at his birth.
"His name is Billy no bones!"
Billy nodded, pleased with his new name. Dan looked at the slime with interest, seeing that he seemed to be much smarter than usual.
That could either be a problem, or an opportunity. Dan definitely did not want the appearance of hundreds of intelligent slimes on the planet, humanity would simply be doomed.
"Why?"
"Because Billy wants to be a diplomat, and in politics you have to be slippery. And who could be more slippery than a boneless slime?"
Dan didn't even blink when Billy nodded again. Wisdom poured out of the little slime in waves. It felt like this guy had lived for hundreds of years on the peak of some Mountain, cultivating his wisdom.
-=-=-=-=-=-
So, a new friend appeared in the life of Dan and Luna – a master cultivator diplomat by the name of Billy no bones.
Billy was one of those companions that you could pick up at any moment and start stroking, he would not even protest, as long as he was not forced to get into the water. The little one was chill like that.
Routine helped Dan to spend time productively. With each week, he became more confident in using both magic and weapons.
With the handling of the ax, it was Flitwick, who helped him. Dan of course knew that he was a duelist in his youth, but he had no idea how good the half-goblin was with a battle ax in his hands. The man only continued to reinforce the title of the best teacher in the mind of the boy.
But because of the size difference between Dan and Flitwick, he just couldn't teach the boy everything he knew. Even the difference in arm length was critical for a weapon master, not to mention height.
Luna laughed more than once when she saw the little professor teaching the art of the blade to a student three times his own size. For the first time in a long time, Dan felt like he was taking control of his life.
Magic filled his life with hope, giving him constancy in his changed circumstances. The axe, which had now become a permanent addition on his belt, was a source of confidence. No matter how new to these things Dan was, he still considered them positive.
He wasn't even upset that his new birthday passed him unnoticed. After all, it was hard to keep the changed dates in mind after being thrown into another universe.
Luna, on the other hand, was upset. But the girl gust said that he would get his celebration along with hers. He didn't know what to think about that.
Unfortunately, after a while, Dan began to feel… more looks at himself. It wasn't something obvious, no one was pointing fingers at him or screaming in horror, no. He just had a inkling that more people knew about his existence than there should be. Someone knew and kept looking for him.
Only Luna knew about his new conundrum, but she just gave him a sly smile and told him not to worry. That before the new year it will pass.
Dan believed her. If everything is resolved in the next couple of weeks, he'll be better for it. It didn't mean he liked it.
December crept up almost imperceptibly. The snow that had long covered the ground around Hogwarts severely restricted Dan's movement. Of course, he could dress warmly and go outside, but snow inevitably got under his clothes and melted right on his skin.
It was unpleasant even before water became acid for him, and now? Now he preferred to sit in a random secluded corner of the school and draw views from the window under invisibility – bless Luna for a free set of brushes and paints.
His newfound free time allowed Dan to start working on a gift for the girl earlier than he had planned.
Life was good.
-=-=-=-=-=-
A/N: [The next chapter will be about how the golden trio tried to solve the mystery of the "unknown monster" that haunts Hogwarts. Fortunately for everyone, I plan to dial up the comedy aspect to the maximum, so wait for Wednesday!]
