Travels IX

The time had come. It was time to close the strange, deformed circle I took to travel the world. I have come so very far since the day I woke up in Norway. I have become stronger physically, and more knowledgable magically and in many other studies. I learned how to fight armed and unarmed, I met many people who influenced my path slightly. And most importantly, I have grown so much more magically powerful since I started my journey. 

I had mastered all the Charms and Spells that I could from the books of Harry Potter and the movies. I created spells of my own and with each day, the more I practice, the more powerful I become. I am constantly thinking of new spells to create or existing ones to change. 

The amount of magical creatures I had in my home dimension was extremely high and every once in a while, I would add another one. My skill in wand-making had reached an unbelievably high level, where I was certain that no one would be able to compete with me. I even created a special room in my house that had limitless space, where I stored the wands orderly. I found out that I can have the house do the sorting for me. I just have to define, how I want them sorted. 

My potion-making skills are impressive and unparalleled in the world. I have invented potions that can achieve many things and I changed my view on having to rely on a ritual, to possibly extend Nuna's life. A powerful potion can do something similar, I am sure. My basically limitless supply of ingredients serves me well and allows me to make any potion at any time. I have the 'Home' collect these ingredients whenever possible and add them to the storage room.

I will make a lot of money in the future, that's for sure. 

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I started to explore Europe starting from the South-East, meaning Greece. Greece was a country that I stayed very long in. And I mean very long. I had to because one day, when I was walking through the streets of Athens, I heard a man speak to the crowd. He was talking about philosophy and what he was saying was ... very familiar to me. He was rather ugly, having a flat turned-up nose, bulging eyes and a large belly. 

I knew this man ... Socrates. 

So I had to be between 420 and 399 BCE, I guessed. Or maybe a bit before that. Because he didn't look 70 years old to me. I saw that he liked what he was doing. Although Socrates was attracted to youth, as was common and accepted in ancient Greece, he resisted his passion for young men because, as Plato describes, he was more interested in educating their souls. Socrates did not seek sex from his disciples, as was often the case between older and younger men in Athens. 

I stopped for a moment and listened to him. I found it hilarious that I was listening to a man, who would shape the future like he and his students would. Socrates believed that people should scrutinise their views and ideas. People should act justly and, in his opinion, it was better to suffer injustice than to do injustice. 

I sat down that day and listened just for the fun of it. His idea might seem revolutionary now, but in the future ... well people would do well to scrutinise their views and ideas because it is a mess honestly. Saying something is immediately offensive and racist or sexist. So I guess, I can find joy in listening to Socrates speaking. 

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I spent many years listening to Socrates. And while some say that I was one of his students, Plato would later write: 'He was there and yet he wasn't. Like the wind that you could feel but didn't really see ... you only saw the effect he had on the leaves.' 

What did that mean? Who knows. 

I thought it would be funny to also write something which I would be remembered by in the future. Something that philosophers could argue about and be angry over. And I did. But we will see more about that in the future. I won't spoil it now. 

Apart from spending time with Socrates and Plato, I also searched for magical creatures and plants. Greece had a lot of them and a lot of dangerous magical beasts. The magical side of Greece was very big and active compared to the rest of the world. I was impressed about that and used my powerful Leglimency to gather intel about the locations of various magical beasts. 

Some of them were the Centaurs. A centaur was a magical creature whose head, torso, and arms appeared to be human and were joined to a horse's lower body. They were, however, their own individual species, and thus were not half-breeds. They also had a rich history and were known for being naturally talented in archery, healing magic, divination and astronomy.

When I found them, the centaurs didn't want me close to them. They thought that I was here for my greed, which I kind of was. But I told them that I only came to learn from them. They laughed at me when I told them. that. 

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(Flashback)

"We don't teach outsiders and especially not the untalented two-legged ones.", a young centaur said. 

"Untalented huh? Haha, well then I guess all we can do is try it out, then. How about it?"

"How about what?"

"How about a test? A trial of sorts, to see whether I am truly as untalented as you claim. If I lose, I will leave immediately, but if I win, you will have to teach me everything you can about divination and astronomy."

"Divination is a talent you are born with. It can't be taught.", an older centaur said. 

"Yes, I heard that before about Parseltongue. And yet ... SSSHHISSSS ... I can speak and read it now.", I demonstrate. 

"You speak the Snake tongue!"

"You are gifted then, youngster. But Divination is still different. You won't get far if you don't have the gift for it."

"Then why don't we try it out? You don't have anything to lose then do you?"

"You are correct, we don't have anything to lose. Very well, then. We shall hold the competition to see whether you are truly as gifted as you claim."

(Flashback end)

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I was challenged in archery by the very same young centaur who had claimed, I was untalented. Needless to say, I obliterated him. I was far better than him and all my skills never degraded. So it was decided that I would get to learn their magic. They taught me astronomy and divination. My healing magic was far more advanced than theirs was and this surprised them.

I offered them a recipe for a rather powerful healing potion, I had created a few years ago and they were very thankful. To their utmost shock, I was able to learn Divination. I really enjoyed this ... for a time and then it got very annoying. I would space out for a time and forget the present, which was not something I enjoyed. 

I wanted to live in the 'now' and not always know what's coming. It is useful, true, but right now, it is annoying. So while they were teaching me, I made plans on how to advance this skill of Divination. I didn't want to have sudden flashes of the future. I didn't want that. I wanted to see very specific and important things that concerned either me or those I cared about, and only ... only if it was truly important. 

And my Essence of Humanity Unchained came in clutch there. 

'As Humanity Unchained all limitations are lifted from your body, mind, and soul. No matter which quality of yours you are trying to improve, you will always find new ways to advance yourself a reasonable amount in a reasonable timeframe. Ultimately all it takes is you being willing to put in the effort, and you will always be able to muster sufficient willpower to be able to push yourself to improve or encourage others to do likewise'. 

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Before I left the centaurs, I offered them to live in my home dimension and while they liked the idea, they couldn't fathom living in a place where they didn't see the real stars for them to use their Divination and astronomy. The centaurs also told me about where I could find some truly interesting and dangerous magical beasts in and around Greece. 

Another community that the centaurs told me about where the Merpeople. Similarly to the centaurs, the Merpeople didn't want to be close to me and were afraid at first. But things changed when I spent more time with them. Unlike the centaurs, however, they were instantly on board with coming to my home dimension and living there, where no one would ever hunt them down, except other magical creatures.

Nuna instantly befriended the Merpeople. She had a magical gift and that was that people just seemed to like her. Not only people, but animals magical or not, as well. She spent a lot of time with the Merpeople, getting to know them and just spending time together, playing games and the like, while I looked for other magical creatures that were quite dangerous ... to others. 

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One of them was the Chimaera, a type of hybrid animal and a violent magical beast. It was a vicious, bloodthirsty beast with a lion's head, a goat's body and a dragon's tail. It was classified as an XXXXX-class magical beast and it was indeed worthy of that class. I knew that it would be a bother in the home dimension and so, I had to discipline it. 

I gave the Chimaera a beating that it will never forget. I did that multiple times because it was just so stubborn. I used Knockback Jinxes, Transfiguration and many more things to beat humility into it. And after a few weeks of repeating this, I finally started to see some progress. 

Ironically, I did the same exact thing to the Manticores that I found later on. The Manticore was a magical beast and one of the wizarding world's most dangerous creatures. There were two breeds of this magical beast; a feline-like mainstream breed and an insectoid breed.

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The mainstream breed of Manticore had the head of a human, the body of a lion, and the tail of a scorpion that would kill anyone instantly with its sting. A Manticore's skin repelled all known charms, so it was extremely difficult to subdue a Manticore with magic. It was known to be capable of human speech and had intelligence comparable to a Being, however, due to its extreme aggressiveness towards humans, it was considered a sentient beast. The Manticore sang softly as it ate its prey.

The insectoid breed of Manticore by contrast, resembled a monstrous scorpion with a crimson body covered in quills, two pairs of pincers, and a pair of flexible antennae whose ends split into three parts to reveal thin tendrils to sense and grab elusive prey from a distance, and three stingers where the middle one being larger. The middle stinger could shoot fire in a manner, not unlike the Fire Crab or the Blast-Ended Skrewt. Juveniles of this breed, on the other hand, sported reddish colouration as well as only had one stinger and lacked quills. In addition to being sensitive to light, this breed could grow to the size of dragons

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It took about one month until the Chimaeras and Manticores were 'docile' enough to let them into my home dimension. I ordered the home to keep an eye on them and make sure to protect Nuna, just in case something happens. But I was very thorough when 'disciplining' these magical creatures. I even used Leglimency to manipulate and change their thoughts and instincts when it came to me or my loved ones. 

Finally, we come to the final and also one of the most dangerous creatures on the planet, the Basilisk. I found a truly dark wizard that had managed to hatch one. When I found him, he commanded the Basiliks using Parselmouth to attack me. There was of course only one thing that I could do in that moment ...