iii

As Kazui is already in a presentable clothes, he lead the older witch straight outside the orphanage while greeting everyone they passed by, as well as explaining to the workers that he has the matron's permission to leave.

"So, Professor. Where do we go from here?" Kazui asked.

Professor McGonagall, who had enough time to recollect herself, finally faced Kazui.

"Well, Mr. Kurosaki, most of the time we walk travel there by car and foot, in case the muggle parents would like to come as well-" McGonagall stopped midway as she carefully looked at Kazui, afraid that what she had said might be a sore spot for him.

"Its fine, professor. I've already receive all familial love that I want." Kazui told the older witch as he smiled brightly, indicating that he's seriously fine.

McGonagall can only sigh in relief, and at the same time be surprised and impressed due to the maturity shown by the eleven-year-old kid in front of her. In the end, she could only smile back.

"The second option would be to Apparate to a pub that's connected to Diagon Alley, although the process of Apparition are less to be desired, more so for those who are to use it for the first time. Ah, Apparition is what the muggles would call a teleportation." The older witch kindly explained.

"Oh, then let's use this Apparition. The earlier we start, the earlier we can finish." Kazui decided on the spot.

McGonagall was about to warn Kazui once more, but when she see the inquisitive expression and intelligence glint in Kazui's eyes, she refrain from doing so, and for the nth time, she sighed once again.

"Very well, Mr. Kurosaki. Brace yourself. Now hold my hand." The older witch held out her hands towards Kazui, and he did.

The moment Kazui held her hand, he experience passing through space for the first time in his second life, and he's not impressed at all.

"So they're passing through space in a vacuum-like passage which is causing the discomfort. What a terrible design. I'm getting more and more disappointed, Kazui." Shingetsu said as he appeared besides Kazui, to which Kazui can only smile wryly.

"So, how was it, Mr. Kurosaki?" McGonagall asked.

"Is it the same for whoever cast the spell, professor?" Kazui inquired, somewhat hopeful that that's not the case.

"It is, Mr. Kurosaki. Whoever may be that is casting the spell, you will have the same experience. You just get used to it."

"I see. It is indeed a terrible design." Kazui disappointed by this small revelation, only started to look at his surroundings. They are at a corner of the room, so he can mostly see everything.

It is indeed a pub, with almost every person wearing the same theme as his escort McGonagall – in robes and pointed hat.

Some are grouped up, while some are alone, but when they did noticed the new arrival, they all greeted her all the same. McGonagall returned the greetings, as well as telling them she's on official Hogwarts duty. Kazui clearly noticed the disinterest of the crowd towards him, but most did take a double look towards his orange hair.

"We best be on our way, Mr. Kurosaki."

After some small chat, the older witch pulled the boy towards a door leading to an open small room surrounded by brick walls. Kazui noticed the distortion in space so he concluded that the door lead them to someplace else.

"Now this one isn't so bad, but why the roundabouts?" Shingetsu thought out loud.

Kazui thought so as well, but he didn't really care.

'Maybe it's because of that Statute of Secrecy that the matron had spoken about before. Unlike Shinigami, these wizards can actually be killed by normal means.' Kazui replied through their connection.

Standing in front of the brick wall, McGonagall took out her wand and tapped some brick on the wall, which caused a small rumble. What happens next caused Kazui to whistle, as the brick wall slowly moves and separate themselves, making a passage towards what Kazui considers as a shopping district, but for wizards and witches.

"That was entertaining, at least." Was Shingetsu's comment.

"Mr. Kurosaki, welcome to Diagon Alley. For starters, let's go straight to Gringotts." The older witch said to Kazui with a proud smile on her face.

As they walk towards Gringotts, the older witch pointed out the stores that Kazui was required to go to acquire various school supplies, and by the end of it, they reached Gringotts.

Gringotts is a large, white-colored building supervised by goblins. From what Kazui heard from the matron, goblins are money-grubbing, arrogant little critters who made it their life's work to take money from someone. Of course, Kazui recognize the bias and anger in her voice, that's why he'd wait until he sees them for himself before giving the final verdict.

Kazui had created a superficial image of the physical appearance of goblins, considering he did live in Japan in his first life. That's why he's somewhat excited to compare what's different between imagination and a real one, and the result is underwhelming.

"So aside from being not green, holding pens instead of clubs and wearing suit instead of rags, there's nothing much of a difference." Kazui murmured.

"Did you say something, Mr. Kurosaki?" The older witch asked.

"Nope." Kazui replied with a bright smile.

The older witch was sure that she heard something, but decided to let go since they are nearing the podium, where an important-looking goblin was busy signing papers.

"Good day, mister goblin. Mr. Kazui Kurosaki wishes to open an account, and has brought a letter from his sponsor." The older witch go straight to the point, and as if on cue, Kazui held out the letter.

The goblin stopped what he was doing and looked at the young man, to which the young man stared back. The goblin doesn't understand himself, but he felt like the young man in front of him is looking at him with disappointment. Disregarding the stupid notion out of his mind, he took the letter from the young man's hand and read it. After reading the letter, the goblin smirked, called another goblin, and gave the newly arrived goblin some order.

"Bring the professor and Mr. Kazui Kurosaki to Room M, and bring me Ironfang." Then the goblin returned to his work.

"Certainly. This way, please."

The little goblin brought them in a rather luxurious room, filled with expensive furniture and decorations. In the middle of the room is a low rectangular table. At both sides of it are sofa of the same design, while a rather small chair is situated at the head-part of the table specifically made for goblins.

"Please take a seat, and wait for whoever master goblin will come to process your business." The goblin curtly said and left immediately.

Kazui went ahead and sat at the right side of the table, while McGonagall positioned herself opposite of him. There was a few seconds of awkward silence before McGonagall broke it.

"So, Mr. Kurosaki, I take it that Jasmine has told you some events that had happened in our world according to her perspective?" The older witch asked, feigning calm in her heart. She was glad that Jasmine was able to do something after everything that had happened and had somewhat able to move on, but she knew that Jasmine was one of those that had lost too much.

"Does professor mean the war before my birth? If so, then yes. About how a delusional terrorist was prattling about pureblood supremacy and running around causing mayhem together with his butt buddies, as well as the brain dead governing bodies that let them walk away virtually scot-free up to now." Kazui said, clearly uninterested. His statement provoked an indescribable feeling to the older witch, causing her to probe into it more.

"Mr. Kurosaki, what do you mean by that? Wait, butt buddies? Do you understand what you're speaking of, young man?"

"Professor McGonagall, I may be young, but I'm not naïve nor unaware." Kazui laughed a bit.

"Back to the main topic, I said that this dark lord of yours is no more than a delusional terrorist, him and his cronies. Moreover, the fact that the minions claimed to be under whatever this Imperius is, and then they were proven innocent after that is laughable." Kazui explained as he chuckles while doing so.

While labeling the dark lord as a delusional terrorist somewhat surprised older witch, the second part of Kazui's explanation did not bother her too much. She had listened to the same accusation for the past decade, but this is the first time that someone laughed at it, instead of the usual anger and disgust directed at the ministry.

"Mr. Kurosaki, I think that Jasmine hasn't told you enough. The Imperius Curse is one of the Unforgivable Curses, which lets the caster take total control of the victim, and unless the victim had stronger will than the caster, everyone will fall under the curse. Taking that into account, the ministry trialed and judged them innocent." The older witch explained.

"That's what makes it funnier, professor. These esteemed leaders of ancient noble families, falling under the Imperius Curse and started a crusade about pureblood supremacy, when the leader they are fighting for is not even a pureblood himself. Isn't the irony of it all made it especially amusing?" Kazui explained with a wide grin all the while staring straight at the older witch's eyes.

The older witch, this time, is more than shocked. There is only three people that she knows that should know of this secret, and she knew in her heart that they wouldn't spread this information themselves.

"H-how…wh-where did you obtained that information from, Mr. Kurosaki? Did Jasmine told you?"

"Of course, not. I don't think you could obtain that kind of information anywhere. It was an educated guess based on the stories the matron grumbled when she's drunk." Kazui laughed, remembering the drunken mess his matron at those times. That was after Kazui had an accidental magic, and Jasmine had been drinking for a few week due to it. Kazui was forced to listen to her grumble and rage on about her experience during the war, and Kazui was able to piece some important details due to it.

"Educated guess? You guess the dark lord's identity from a drunkard's ramblings?" McGonagall's voice raised by a pitch.

"Not his identity, professor. I still have no idea about the identity of this supposedly dark lord is, nor do I care. I was only able to piece together some information and uncovered this secret."

"But…how?" The older witch dejectedly asked.

"Well, for starters. He calls himself as Volde-" Kazui was about to start when McGonagall cut him off.

"Don't speak his name!" The older witch realized that she had raised her voice too much. "I'm sorry. It's just that…we do not speak his name." Kazui, though, did not mind it one bit.

"Very well. Like I said, he calls himself Moldywarts, which is clearly isn't his name." Kazui took this moment to lighten the mood by making fun of Voldemort's name. The older witch, surprised by the audacity and courage shown by the young man in front of her, has the side of her lips twitching.

"So why would he call himself Moldywarts, if his name doesn't carry a secret? If his mother is a muggle or Muggleborn wizard, he could still use his father's name. However, if it is his mother that is a witch, or worse for his position, a squib, and his father is a muggle? Of course, the only course of action left is to have another name. Either the cronies that followed him didn't know of this, or maybe he still has another secret up on his sleeves. Regardless of this secret, I still believed that he is not a pureblood himself, since he still pulled this Moldywarts card."

The logic behind the simple reasoning given to her by the young man more than impressed McGonagall, and she's feeling excited that another bright child will be entering her school. But after that small time of excitement, the older witch frowned due to the current amount of information the young man in her front of her has towards their secluded world, and worries that he might have a strong bias against them due to the fact that he had also lived for a decade with which McGonagall considered as a bitter woman.

"Mr. Kurosaki, I know you've heard a lot of things from Jasmine, but I assure you that-" McGonagall was about pitch in another speech, but Kazui cut him off.

"It's fine, professor. I plan to enter Hogwarts even after hearing the matron's bias view of the wizarding world. While the matron had indeed help in raising me up, I am my own person, and I am free to have whatever opinion I have." Kazui smiled kindly at the older witch.

McGonagall sighed in relief. She wouldn't want such a bright student to have a bad impression of the new world he's about to enter, even if whatever it is that was told to him was true.

It was at that moment that the door opened, and another goblin entered the room.

"Sorry for the delay, let's get to business."