5 Magic?

Magic?

Chapter: 5

The day ends and a new one starts. The sun was slowly rising in a little town on the outskirts of London.

A little boy was sound asleep in a bed inside a house where the curtains were almost completely drawn shut.

Richard was waking up after a refreshing night's sleep and when he was getting off the bed, he heard Sniffy loudly shouting from downstairs.

"Breakfast is ready."

With a sleepy look on his face, Richard was shouting back while he was stretching his body to shake the discomfort out of it.

"Coming." And thinking how good of a timing Sniffy had.

Walking down the stairs he smelled Sniffys delicious food and his mouth watered and only thinking about her cooking almost made him drool.

"Thanks for the meal." Was said as both Snippy and Richard were sitting at the table and they then started eating their food. After the perfect meal, he fell into his thoughts a bit before saying.

"Sniffy, when you have some free time, can you go into a muggle bank and their safe and steal me a bit from every box in there? Not too much, only enough that it does not get found out and do that please while being completely invisible.

After you are done at the first bank, please repeat that on every bank in London and put the money inside our cellar. Sorted if possible.

Richard knew he needed some money soon, therefore he thought that was one of the easiest ways to get some money fast. The muggles should not find out and even if they did, how would they find them. Sniffy would only steal a little of every deposit there and it should not be obvious at first glance.

Sniffy was happy that she could do something for her master and was smiling and answered excitedly while she was cleaning the table and putting the dishes inside the sink where they cleaned themselves magically.

"I am happy to be of some help to you and will go immediately." and vanished with a flicker of her fingers.

'That's done. I should get my daily meditation session running. Though, I hope I will see some results soon.' Thought Richard as he was taking a seat on the couch and focusing to feel his magic like he had done yesterday.

Again, it took Richard more than half an hour to fall into a state of thoughtlessness, and the same scene from yesterday appeared again. Invisible light surrounded the little boy and float lovingly around him in every way. It was like it was welcoming him back. The light was growing denser and denser, and soon, some kind of cocoon formed around Richard. It looked similar to a butterfly cocoon, but was full of golden light.

Richard felt not much different, just whole safe and complete calmness surrounded him. He very much liked the feeling, and he basked inside it cluelessly about what changes that could bring.

What nobody could fathom what that unknowingly his body was slowly changing. It was slowly but surely. Minor changes took place inside his whole body, his malnourished state changed and he got a few pounds here and there. Nothing too noticeable, but changes surely took place. After 3 hours, he looked like he should look better than he ever looked in this tiny body, and the cocoon of light disappeared back into nothingness. Strangely, the light did not fly away from him and it stayed near Richard and surrounded him, but this time not as dense as before.

Another couple of hours passed by and a yawn could be heard from the little boy on the couch. "Ahhhhmmmmm... That was relaxing. I feel much better now. Sleep is much worse than this. That feeling was just too comfortable." Said Richard after he woke up from his meditative state. He started to slowly open his eyes. No light could be seen or felt because it departed the moment he was exiting his meditative state.

Not feeling any different from before and not seeing any changes on his body because he was still wearing his pajamas, Richard stretched himself and murmured:

" That felt sooooo good. If it's like this every day, then I might get addicted to this feeling and I can't wait to do that again. I hope this is the right way to sense my magic. Till now it did not help me. I just will start doing that each morning for the foreseeable future."

Stretching his limbs, he was standing up and hearing nothing in the house, he concluded that Sniffy was not back yet. Richard was curious about the amount of money that Sniffy hat "found" him on her currently ongoing errand and ran excitedly towards the door to the basement.

Opening it and seeing nothing but darkness, he searched for a light switch, but when he switched the light on, it did nothing. 'Oh shoot, no power. That sucks. I need to deal with that. It should not be too hard. A phone call and money to the electricity firm should be enough.

So many things that needed to be his attention.' Thought Richard after he checked the switch.

Searching around the house for a few minutes, he then came back with a green candle and a match to light it.

Richard lit the candle and walked cautiously downstairs, as his scant feet troubled him again. He was not accustomed to his body's height at all.

Swearing at his shortness and he walked downstairs with caution. It would not be nice to fall down the stairs into a completely dark room. Richard reached the end of the stairs in no time and looked around with the candle in his hands.

Walking around he found that there was no dust around, therefore he guessed that Sniffy had already cleaned this place of it. All around stood a few old pieces of furniture that were much older than their new counterparts above, such as two beds, one wardrobe, a few chairs, and a table. Each one looking not that great and smells moldy.

On the other side, he found the central power station and the water heater for the house. All but unused for a few years.

'I hope these things will work again without trouble, or when they do not work. Then surely Sniffy should be able to fix them with some house-elf magic.

Like a Reparo spell, but only with house-elf magic. Hm, to think of this spell in particular. There was never much explained in the books. Could it really repair everything and if it does, does it just repair the damaged goods to their peak state a few minutes earlier, or does it completely overhaul said item to the same state when it was bought. It feels troublesome. How would something like that work?

The logic of this spell gives me a headache, the magic should not be able to know how the item looks "repaired" like it could be older than a few years and minor damage all over would be found and how would the magic know-how said item would look in its best state? Maybe it's intent-based but even then, even if I know how it should work, I don´t know the complete structure of said item and so on.

Like if you repaired a table and it would reset back into just the wood it was built with or something like that, how does the magic know-how of that item should look. Or is it how you imagine it, and the magic fills in for the rest?

A table would be easier at first thought, but when you think about it a bit more, then you will fast see you would need to know where every nail is placed, how many nails there should be, and so on.

There are over 100 possibilities alone with a simple table. If magic can fill such enormous gaps, then it would be completely ridiculous.

But what sounds much more reasonable is:

Maybe it sets the time on said item and if the spell is backed up by more magic power, then the time of the item gets sent back further. This is an experiment worth making in the future. If it sets the time back for an object, then you could do some amazing things with it.'

Were the things Richard thought while he was standing there alone inside the basement with a candle in hand.

Shaking his head and putting the reparo spell in an imagined folder for future experimenting on, he turned his head and walked to the only wall that he did not already see clearly.

A cupboard came into view on this side of the room on which were lined up a few old dusty books and when he looked on the other side of the cupboard, he was shocked still and dropped the candle.

"Crash"

The burning candle crashed onto the floor, and the light was gone.

"Damn"

Richard said as he was awoken from his stupor by the candle which fell on his left foot and caused him some minor pain. Now, seeing absolutely nothing, Richard crouched down onto the floor, hoping to find the candle.

He found it in no time, but he had now had the problem that he forgot to bring more matches with him to light it.

Standing up with the candle back in his tiny hands, he thought about what he just saw. Excitement would have been found on his face if there would have been light inside the basement.

'Damn Sniffy, if no one notices her heists, then she is now ranked as a master thief. There were lying at least a few hundred thousand bucks neatly lined up on the shelf. I did not think that there would be so much money in the safes in the banks of London and this should only be a bit of money from each of them. I can say that I should have enough for the time being.'

Richard was in his head for a few minutes. He was completely immersed in the thoughts that he now had no money troubles at all anymore. Then he heard something behind him, which scared the shit out of him. Who could blame him? He is a 2-year-old in an abandoned house inside the basement with no light? Even if he is mentally older, something like this ought to scare people.

This lasted only a moment, and then they returned light to the room. Some magical flames that floated around the entire room could be found and Sniffy came into view.

"Master, what are you doing down here? If you had said something earlier, then I could have lit this room with some lamps for you. Not seeing anything is never an enjoyable experience." Was saying Sniffy in a bit of a lecturing voice but also a concerning tone.

Richard could not even say anything against it and was embarrassed by this situation. It was his fault that he got scared and let the lamp fall down and now. He was embarrassed about how this went down.

He could just stare down for a bit and embarrassingly scratch his head.

But forgetting about this incident quickly enough and not wanting to dwell on it any longer than necessary. He then turned his head again to the shelf with all the money on it and he exclaimed loudly: "There is so much money here, great job Sniffy, thanks for your hard work. How many banks did you go through, by the way? And did you have any troubles?

Wanting to know more about one heist, Richard asked Sniffy in an eager-to-know tone.

Seeing her master act like this Sniffy and that her master wanted to know how she did what she did, she said: "The security was terrible there, the only real trouble was to find the location of the money on the first run. After finding the safe, it was really easy.

I was only having some trouble once when a dog found me with his nose and he barked loudly, but his owner saw nothing and tried to calm him down but that did not work and he just cursed his dog. After that, I enchanted myself with a not giving off any smell spell, that something like this could not happen again.

And to how many banks I got through till now, that should have been the last one around London. If I counted correctly, that was Nr.32."

Just now noticing that Sniffy seemed to have no problems speaking relatively normally, Richard was really glad that he did not have to waste any time to teach Sniffy an entire language. He was also really relieved and exhilarated that he no longer had monetary problems. Staring with stars in his eyes onto the shelves, he fell into thought.

'The only or almost only reason people work for is now solved by a little house-elf in about 3-4 hours. No more working for hours on end to just getting by and then only having enough to just get by.

Nice one, it's not that I hated my job in my last life, or at least not my last one. That I was fond of, but to get through college, I had to get through tough ones. There were a few jobs I would rather have not had accepted, but I needed the money. No choice there.

Now that I have enough money to not only get by but also be able to do relatively everything. I should now see that I change about half of it into wizarding currency. It would make no sense to not change it. "Muggle" money is good and all, but in this new world where magic reigns, not that helpful. Yeah, a nice mansion would be nice and all but only help will be a warded and enchanted one.'

"Master, can we go upstairs? I don´t want you to become ill because of how cold it is down here and dinner should be ready soon." Sniffy said with a caring voice.

Having looked long enough on the money and "grumble" hearing his belly speak for himself, Richard nodded his head and was walking towards the stairs. Seeing how Sniffy cared about him, he felt much better than before.

'Maybe it is because I am not used to living with other people in such proximity anymore that I have almost forgotten how it feels to be cared for. A really a nice and sweet feeling.'

Thought Richard while he got up the stairs alongside Sniffy.

Sniffy was a lot taller than Richard, who was only 80 cm tall. Sniffy was like a king to him with her 1 meter 30 centimeters. That difference was nothing to scoff at.

Getting upstairs again and closing the door to the basement, Sniffy went towards the kitchen and started cooking. Richard wanted to help and started setting up the table, which was difficult with his height and he needed a lot of help from Sniffy to get to the tableware.

Knowing that she could not change his decision to help her out, she focused on cooking her best meal and helping Richard.

It was a funny-looking picture as a 2-year-old tried to set up the table with little help.

'I am hoping to have a growth spurt soon. Being this short feels so uncomfortable. I can not do many things without needing help.' Thought Richard the moment he tried his best to set the table.

At work to set up the table, Richard spoke to Sniffy who was seen through the kitchen door: "Sniffy can you, after we have finished eating, go into Diagon alley and to Gringotts to change some money that you "borrowed" from the basement and also set up a bank account for me? I will write a letter for the goblins that they exactly know what to do."

Sniffy was cutting some chicken meat right now, and she was attentively listening to Richard's question and replied while not even wasting any time when she was cutting away at the vegetables at the same time:

"Of course, Master. It would be to my delight to help you out. I see to it right after we have finished dinner."

"Thanks again Sniffy, I will get the letter for the goblins ready." Replied Richard back as he rushed into the living room towards the desk and the chair that was standing over there.

Searching through the compartments of the desk, he soon found what he was looking for. A pen, some paper, and an envelope.

He thought for a moment about what to write and then got to it.

It was a simple letter, stating that he wanted to create an account alongside a vault where the changed money should be stored inside.

Writing his full name, he fell into thoughts: 'My name should be enough. What for should goblins need something like my age or address? It should have no meaning for them and if it is required, then money should solve this little trouble.'

Hm. Not knowing how much money he should let Sniffy give the goblin to bribe him. After a bit of thinking, he then settled on about 20 galleons. That should be enough, as the Nimbus 2000 will cost about 100 galleons and that was deemed much in the books, so, therefore, let's go with that amount.

'Richard, also let's see if I can get some pouch with an untraceable expansion charm on it. I wanted such a thing forever. And a huge one. I would not need an enchanted pouch, just with the bigness of 2 pouches. It should at least have 10 square meters inside it. Let's see what I can get.

I would want to be there, but that needs to be delayed for some time because I have no guardian or parents and Sniffy should not get too much attention. I don´t want the attention of anyone on me right now.

Out there are not the best times. Voldyschnorts is running around like a chicken because of the prophecy and Dumbleschnort is planning some bullshit. Yeah, it's all for the greater good. Who are you kidding, old man? Not a good time to be seen alone with a house-elf in a maid outfit. That should let her stand out, but I would not want any less for her. She should be proud to wear something like this.

Some day she will be feared for whom she represents or because she will have made a name for herself. I will not shelter her forever, I guess.

The pouch should be a little worse than a spatial ring, but it is also quite neat to have.'

Richard signed the paper and put it into the envelope, which he then sealed.

'I also need some paper seal. It looks so much cooler if I can seal my letters with my family seal. Another thing to put on my to-do list.' Thought Richard as he looked at the plain letter.

"Dinner is ready." Came from the kitchen and Richard walked back to the table full of good-smelling food.

"Thanks for the meal," Richard said and threw a thankful nod at Sniffy and then ate after he handed Sniffy the letter for the goblins, which she put away with magic.

After the excellent dinner, Richard was saying goodbye to Sniffy, which popped away with them towards Diagon alley. Richard was going upstairs to change his pajamas into better-fitting clothes.

"I cannot wear a pajama all day. It does not matter how comfortable it is, but I should also wear normal clothes. At least for half the day." Was the decision he came up with himself.

Feeling proud of his self-control and his decision-making skill to at least wear something different, which he did not do on many days in his last life.

Going upstairs into his bedroom and getting out of his clothes, he got a look at his body, which stumped him.

'I don´t look like yesterday at all anymore. What the hell, yesterday I could see my bones and now I only see a healthy-looking body staring at me. I look like a normal kid. How is that even possible?

Richard was lost while he looked at his whole body. There was even some baby fat to find on him.

'Weird. How did I change so much in a single night? It could have to do something with my trying to meditate for the entire morning. Or my body is reacting to magic on its own.

Let's get some clothes on and sit in the bed and try to feel and cast magic once more. Maybe I am luckier today.'

With a determined look to achieve something with magic today, he put on some pants and a t-shirt and sat down on his bed.

Sniffy was currently in Gringotts speaking to a goblin handler.