Chapter 4: Hat and Train ride

Months before the beginning of Hogwarts, Klaus spent his time either studying enchantments or researching the history of magical Britain and the world in general with his parents.

They discovered quite a few disturbing facts, as well as a few positive ones. The magical world didn't seem to have much discrimination based on gender or skin colour.

Klaus's dad theorized that it had a lot to do with magic being an equalizer. However, same-sex relationships were not seen as something allowed. This might be connected to the magical community's concerns about population numbers, especially after the last war.

(AN: This is something they learned from the books they bought. In reality, as long as a magical person marries and has children with someone, they can love anyone they want. Of course, this is not openly discussed or written anywhere. There are two reasons for this: magical people place great importance on bloodlines, and there aren't many of them. There are maybe two muggle-borns each year, and magical people have a harder time getting pregnant due to their longer lifespans. The Weasleys are an exception; most magical families don't have more than two children.)

The only reason Dumbledore gets away with not having children is that everyone is too scared to say anything, or they don't want someone as powerful as him to have more children. "Even who your parents are doesn't have anything to do with your magical power," Klaus thought.

However, the magical world seems to have an issue of discrimination based on blood. Interestingly, this phenomenon started in the younger families who gained power after the Statute of Secrecy was created. Apparently, they were quite wealthy but didn't initially have much political power, which was held by the founding families. They weren't a problem in the beginning, but as the first generation of magical individuals began rising in the ranks of the guilds and accumulating wealth, they gradually became an issue.

During the last war, even members of some of the founding families joined their ranks.

Lastly, they tried to figure out the Wizengamot. There doesn't seem to be any official factions that follow the same political views, but there are some divisions. The guilds usually vote for what will benefit them, the ministry heads seem to strive for minimal work and maximum wealth in their respective departments, and the founding families, who one would expect to fight for their own interests, seem to be the only ones fighting for what is best for the country. They were also the ones who created the country when Merlin organized the first magical council, so there might be more to it than the public is allowed to know.

(AN: In this story, there are no wizarding oaths; they don't exist in this context. However, there is a specific form of blood promise between two people.)

After gathering as much information as possible about the British magical community, they moved on to important facts about the world. The first thing that caught their attention was the so-called magical zones.

These are areas that produce a high amount of mana. It is unknown why these areas exist, but their effects are well-known. In these areas, animals, plants, and even some inanimate objects undergo mutations. For example, a wolf in a magical zone would be born as a direwolf, and many trees become treants.

It is the responsibility of the Adventure Guild to prevent these beings from leaving those areas. The most famous area in Britain is actually the Forbidden Forest, located right next to Hogwarts.

...

While doing research with his parents and practicing magic was important, the most important thing Klaus did during this summer started the day after the orientation.

[Today we will start with the most important thing any mage should do. We will start the creation of your grimoire. We should have the vessel prepared before you start Hogwarts.]

"Wait, a grimoire isn't that a book of magic?"

[Yes and no. A grimoire doesn't need to be a book.

A grimoire is the next step when it comes to your personal mind magic. Normally, someone without a grimoire would create a mindscape, and inside of it, they would sort their memories. But this process has a big flaw. A mage needs to sort their memories every day because they get new ones every day. A grimoire allows you to skip this step. Once you create it, it will grow with you and sort your memories. It will also learn and develop something of a personality.

It will supply you with knowledge of spells or magical knowledge when you need it, as long as you have learned it previously. It can do the same for your other memories as well, but it won't be perfect, mostly because memories degrade over time or change based on human perception.

Now, a grimoire isn't a cheat. It will allow you to recall a spell as long as you have learned it, but you still need to practice those spells if you want to be able to cast them.

As for its form, it can be anything: a book, a necklace, a cape, a hat...]

"A hat! I will use my new wizard's hat!"

[As you wish.]

...

Klaus only managed to learn all the enchantments needed for the grimoire a few days before he was supposed to go to Hogwarts.

The day he made it, he went to his grandmother's house where he already had a stone prepared for performing the ritual.

The creation of the grimoire is a two-part process: applying enchantments and performing the ritual.

First, he prepared the stone by carving a triangle, and on each point of the triangle, he inscribed runes.

On the top one, he inscribed:

Rune of Connection: Raido ᚱ - This rune symbolises travel, movement, and the journey of the soul.

On the right side, he inscribed:

Rune of Memory: Ansuz ᚨ - This rune represents knowledge, wisdom, and communication.

And lastly, on the left side, he inscribed:

Rune of Growth: Jera ᛃ - This rune signifies harvest, cycles, and the natural progression of time.

Before he started the ritual, he had to apply the enchantments. This had to be done right before the ritual so that the enchantments wouldn't wear off because there aren't any runes anchoring them on the item.

Next, he placed the hat in the middle of the triangle, and then he poured the blood. This was probably the most annoying part. He had to draw a lot of his blood during the summer to have enough for the ritual.

After pouring the blood, he placed his hand on the stone and channelled some mana into it. This started the ritual, and the runes lit up in the colour of his mana, a golden hue matching his eyes.

The hat started floating.

All the blood seemed to take the shape of the runes first, and then it was absorbed by the hat. This seemed to change the hat a bit. First, it acquired something that looked like a mouth and eyes in a golden colour, and then it seemed to increase in size a bit.

After a few seconds of floating in place, it suddenly moved and flew straight at Klaus, settling on his head.

Klaus felt a connection the moment it did, and he knew that the grimoire was connected to his very soul. His grimoire was now a part of him, and the only way it could be destroyed is if he died first. Soon enough, he felt it start organizing his memories.

Once it was done, he could simply think about what he wanted to do, and if he had learned a spell for it, his grimoire would push it to the forefront of his mind.

...

Daphne Greengrass was excited; finally, she was going to Hogwarts. She would get to study magic and prove herself.

Daphne is the oldest child of Mister Greengrass, but she isn't his heir. Mister Greengrass had Daphne with his Hogwarts sweetheart, but he couldn't marry her.

Mister Greengrass was the heir of his father, and he had to do his duty and marry a woman that would benefit the House Greengrass, which is one of the founding families of magical Britain.

This is the unfortunate reality of being born in one of the founding families. Nation and family come first; love is a luxury of the commoners. (AN: There are no marriage contracts in this world. That doesn't mean that families like the Greengrasses let their members marry whoever they want.)

Now, all this left Daphne in a not-so-good position. She has a younger sister who is to become the next head of the family, while Daphne, whose mother is from a common family, is seen as a youthful mistake of her father.

This is why she is excited for Hogwarts; she is here to prove to everyone that she isn't just a mistake.

Daphne was moving down the train until she finally found a compartment that wasn't full. Instead, there was only one boy. She couldn't see his face because of the big wizard's hat he was wearing, but the rest of his clothes were Muggle.

This was good for Daphne; it meant he was either a half-blood or Muggle-born, which meant he wouldn't know about her. Most who know look down on her, and she would like to have a nice trip.

She entered the compartment, pulling her trunk inside. "Can I sit with you?"

The boy looked up from the book he was reading and looked at Daphne from under the brim of his hat. Daphne noticed that he had golden eyes.

"Yes. Do you need help with your trunk?"

Daphne looked at her trunk and then at the shelf above the seat where she was supposed to put it.

"Yes, please."

The boy smiled, and then he seemed to concentrate. Just when Daphne was about to ask what he was doing, he clicked his fingers, and Daphne's trunk seemed to come to life as it flowed onto the shelf.

Daphne looked at the boy in shock; he didn't use a wand. Daphne knew wands weren't necessary for magic, but that kind of magic wasn't taught anywhere in Western Europe.

"Nicolaus Ectorius, but everyone calls me Klaus. You are?"

"Daphne Greengrass, nice to meet you."

She sat on the opposite side of Klaus.

"Did you learn magic outside of Europe?" She finally asked after a few seconds of indecision.

Klaus put his book down and answered her. "No, but my grandmother was a magi from the Balkans. I learned from the books she left."

Daphne looked a bit confused after his explanation. "You learned just by reading books?"

"Well, my parents aren't magi, so I didn't have much choice."

"Oh, I am sorry."

"Don't worry about it; my parents are happy with their life. With how rich they are, they don't need magic..." The last part came out so softly that Daphne couldn't hear it, but she decided to ignore it.

Klaus continued in a normal volume. "Would you like to learn?"

Daphne looked surprised. "You would teach me?" But then her look of surprise turned into a suspicious one. "What do you get out of it?"

"A loyal friend, and who knows, maybe in the future, you will fall in love with me." The last part was said while he wiggled his eyebrows.

"Jerk. How do you know that I would be loyal to you?"

"Ah, that is easy; I read it in my tea this morning." It was even true; he has been learning to read different signs for fun since last year. It isn't always accurate, but most of the time it is.

Daphne snorted at that but accepted. "OK, you teach me, and in return, I will be your friend."

"Great. Let me just get something." He did the levitation/animation spell again, but this time, to his trunk that flew from the shelf to him. He seemed to search for something for a while but finally came out with a book that didn't have anything written on its cover. It wasn't even that thick, maybe thirty pages.

"Here, first you need to learn this. It explains how to meditate and learn to feel your mana. You should know it takes a while to learn this."

"I will do it." This was said with conviction.

"Great. Once you do, I will teach you enchantments."

"Is that what you did when you moved the trunks?"

After that, the conversation between them turned to the magic they both knew.

...

Nobody joined them for the entire ride until the compartment doors were opened by a bushy-haired girl, familiar to Klaus.

"Hey, Hermione."

Hermione looked surprised, probably by someone knowing her, but then she noticed it was Klaus when he pulled the hat to uncover his face.

"Hey, Klaus. You really are going to wear that hat everywhere." She started with a cheerful greeting but ended in a deadpan.

Still, she decided not to get into that discussion again. She and Klaus had debated the merits of wizards and witches wearing hats during their shopping time in Diagon Alley.

Just as Klaus was about to say something, Hermione pulled a boy inside the compartment who had been hidden by her hair until then.

"This is Neville; he lost his toad. Did you see it?"

"Toad?" Klaus said. "Ah, you must love potion making!" He finished as if he had just realized something.

Hermione and Neville looked confused, while Daphne's eyes widened in realization.

Hermione was the one to finally ask, "What do toad pets have to do with potion making?"

"Well, I read that toads, rats, and other small animals are usually raised by potion makers on special diets so that they are perfect ingredients for their needs." As he finished, Hermione looked scandalized, while Neville seemed to turn slightly green.

Klaus, though, burst out laughing. "Sorry, I couldn't help myself. Your faces were priceless."

"You... you... you made that up!" Hermione said with red cheeks.

"Oh no, that is totally true. Potion masters do raise small animals for ingredients. As for your toad, did you ask a prefect? I read in 'Hogwarts: A History' that it is their responsibility to help students on the train. There is probably a spell or something for finding lost stuff."

Hermione looked like she just realized that she had overlooked the obvious. "Of course. Thanks, Klaus. Let's go, Neville." And with that, she pulled the poor boy out of the compartment the way they came from.

"Well, that was interesting," Daphne said questioningly.

"Hermione is nice, but I don't think she is used to having friends."

"Well, I can understand that." Daphne muttered quietly so Klaus couldn't hear.

"Anyway, where were we?"

Klaus and Daphne continued talking until they heard the announcement that the train was approaching Hogsmeade. While they still talked about magic, they also talked about their hobbies and many other things.

Once the announcement was made, Klaus stood outside the compartment until Daphne changed into her robes, and she did the same for him once she was done. Together, they exited the Hogwarts Express, ready for whatever was waiting for them at Hogwarts.

(AN: That bit about toads, I read in a fic a long time ago. It stayed with me, but I can't remember which fic it was. If someone knows, please tell me so I can mention it here.)