Shocking Harry, Ron, and Hermione with Magic

The purple, demonic rings around Kai's hazel, reptilian slits pulsated with pure wrath.

Some 10 minutes ago, he had lost contact with Black. It wouldn't have been much, but even the two Ad Infinitum, who had never gone out of sync since their division, had also failed to share data among themselves.

Kai had still been in Darcie's form then.

At first, he had thought the Order of Immortal Lotus had somehow related Black's existence to an Outer One, finally acting against him. However, he had also realized soon enough that even the Order wasn't capable of actually causing desynchronization between the AIs.

At best, the Order could have set up a Bounded Field, trying to keep things quiet.

But Kai had already confirmed that Bounded Field couldn't prevent him from sharing data with Black's AI. Moreover, even the Reality Marble couldn't prevent the two Ad Infinitum from contacting each other.

Regardless of the case, Kai had found it best to not act out, letting Darcie stay put at her place for the time being.

But then minutes went by, showing no sign of Black's return.

There was no force Kai knew that could keep the AIs out of sync for so long.

It was then his Ad Infinitum had concluded that there could be only one possibility by the method of elimination.

Using D-Mail could and had caused Kai's and Black's AI to go out of sync for a brief moment, he remembered. So, the only way it could have happened again, was if there was a time-based entity had been the cause behind all this.

The Timeline…

Coming to this conclusion, Kai couldn't keep waiting anymore.

He had stayed put because he didn't know the problem. Now that he had found the problem, it was natural for him to also have found the answer.

Reality Marble…

At that moment, Kai had already decided to use his Reality Marble and bring the entire Hogwarts Express within it. Sure he wouldn't have been able to maintain such a Reality Marble for even half a minute, but it still would have done the trick, pushing out the Timeline.

Kai hadn't waited anymore once making up his mind, directly heading to the bathroom and taking on his original form, using Identity Period ahead of time.

However, in that exact moment, something happened that had made him lose all his bearings.

…

[

Black: Quality 99% (-1%)

]

…

Crack!

Ethereal bolts of yellow lightning oozed out, snaking over the train and around it.

Kai's bloodlust was so thick that all the students in the nearest compartment passed out, despite him trying his best to hold it back.

And he would have erupted with Mana, layering the Reality Marble over the reality around him, if it hadn't been for the sudden appearance of an Item in his Inventory.

A Heroic Item!

*

*

Black blinked away the drowsiness lingering over his eyes.

The hints of Conqueror Haki and the heart-palpating bloodlust he had picked up seemed to be just aftereffects of an avoided doom.

Both Ad Infinitum had already exchanged all the data, excluding the Bitterness and Sweetness Black had been forced to taste as a price of obtaining the Heroic Items. The two tastes had already dropped Black's Quality by 2%, when they didn't even know if his Quality could drop, too. Who knew what kind of abysmal changes the tastes would result in if Kai were to experience them?

Even the AIs failed to calculate the possibilities of those scenarios.

Black sensed Kai returning to Darcie's form and nodded to himself.

With so many events happening just in the Hogwarts Express, they couldn't afford to miss out on anything. The first journey to the school mattered the most, anyway.

Still… Black thought, remembering the Heroic Items, … I've already got too much out of this journey than I planned for. I guess I really am luc…

When did I say it's your Luck that has poisoned you?

And the Bitterness returned to Black's mouth, making him gag.

"Hey, you alright?" Harry Potter asked, seeing the young, black-haired boy hunched over.

Black straightened his back and chuckled, mustering up all his Calm. "It's alright," he nodded. "First time traveling through train in years… Anyway, let's see that magic, Ron."

It seems Neville had come and gone while I was with the Timeline… Black reflected, seeing the events of the original storyline fast-forwarding to this moment. Or he hasn't showed up at all? Hmm…

The original storyline could follow either the Books or the Movies, so it was hard to pinpoint some events. More often than not, it remained a combination of both.

Ron rummaged around in his trunk and pulled out a very battered-looking wand. It was chipped in places and something white was glinting at the end.

"Unicorn hair's nearly poking out…" he muttered, blushing.

It's still better than mine. Black frowned, looking at Ron's wand.

According to the Hogwarts Student Standalone Title, Black could obtain a growth-type Wand from the Wand Shop. However, the moment he had held a wand a few days ago, the Yellow Sign on Kai's forehead had flared up, resulting in all wands rejecting Black, too.

The Ad Infinitum had already predicted such an outcome given Kai and Black sharing the same source.

So, Black had instead taken an Uncommon-graded False Wand out of Kai's personal sea of Items.

With his Luck going beyond 50, every time Kai used Loot on an Order's Contestant, it resulted in him getting at least two Items. By now, there were so many Easy and Common Items on him that he had to store them outside his Inventory.

"Anyway —"

Ron had just raised his wand when the compartment door slid open again and a girl appeared. She was already wearing her new Hogwarts robes.

"Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one," she said. She had a bossy sort of voice, lots of bushy brown hair, and rather large front teeth.

Ron and Harry shared glances with Black and shook their heads.

"Switching to the Movies' storyline…" the Ad Infinitum beeped.

"Oh, are you doing magic? Let's see it, then."

She crossed her arms. Ron looked taken aback.

"Er — all right."

He cleared his throat.

...

Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow,

Turn this stupid, fat rat yellow.

 ...

Ron waved his wand, but nothing happened. Scabbers stayed gray and fast asleep.

"Are you sure that's a real spell?" the girl said, smiling. "Well, it's not very good, is it?"

Ron made a very nasty face toward Harry and Black.

"I've only tried a few simple ones myself…" the girl said, reaching into her robes and taking out her wand, "… but they've all worked for me. For example…"

The girl barged into the compartment and came to stand between Harry and Black.

Black immediately got a deja-vu as the Timeline had also barged in like this and stood at the same spot.

"Hey…"

Black looked up and found Hermione looking back at him. "What…"

"Move over," she said.

The boys smiled wryly as Black scooted over and let the girl sit on his seat.

Hermione pointed her wand at Harry Potter and chanted, "Oculus Reparo!"

The bridge of Harry's glasses rolled, getting cleaned with a mirror's shine on it. "That's better, isn't it?" the girl said, as Harry took off his glasses and awed at them. "Holy cricket, you're Harry Potter! I am Hermione Granger."

She then looked at Ron as he had already leaned over Harry's shoulder to take a look at his glasses.

Ron gulped down the chocolate in his mouth. "I'm… Ron Weasley."

Hermione made a face at that and then looked to her left.

"Arlen Black," Black introduced himself. But before Hermione could move the storyline ahead, he added, "I know a bit of magic, too, you know."

There was no way Black could let go of this opportunity. He had been waiting for this moment since they had boarded the train.

"You do?!" Harry and Ron exclaimed together.

Hermione felt skeptical. "Let's see it, then."

"First, I am feeling a bit off," Black said, leaning over Hermione's lap and making her eyes go wide. "Let's open the window."

Cool, fresh breeze entered the compartment, sending empty boxes flying under the seats.

Hermione was still shocked, a blush rising on her cheeks.

Black ignored all expressions and looked at Ron. "Give me Scabbers," he said, smiling.

"What you gonna do?" Ron asked, a bit concerned.

"Don't worry," Black answered, chuckling. "It's pretty much harmless."

"Give it to him, Ron," Harry added, excited.

Hermione also shook her head before narrowing her eyes at the black-haired boy.

Ron, though reluctantly, handed over the rat to Black. "Careful. It bites."

Black didn't fear the bites. Not from this rat. "Now," he said, giving each of them a mysterious look, "watch carefully."

Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger planted their eyes on the rat simultaneously.

Black didn't take out the False Wand, though.

He caressed the rat's furs, getting a good hold of it with his right hand.

Then, under the stunned and stupefied gazes of all, Black threw Scabbers out of the window.

*******************

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