Chapter Seven: Get Rich or Die Tryin’

Time passed quickly. Tomorrow was the last day at Hogwarts and the end of a fairly successful first year, I must say.

Especially after I found myself a fortune of more galleons that I could count in such a short time, appearing to be at least 20000 coin big. I discovered the mountain of gold stashed away in a bunch of magical trunks hidden below a wonky mountain of old furniture. And around the area, I noticed tiny footprints on the ground belonging most likely to house-elves. Baffled to no end, I assumed that the house-elves were simply not aware or didn't care that they are hiding away a vast fortune. Becuase I doubted they were hoarding all that gold like some wannabe dragons.

Of course, I also discovered even more trunks bursting with silver Sickles and bronze Knuts.

But this wasn't the end of it. For some reason, I found an enormous fortune in the form of sparkling, flawless gemstones in a small section that housed all sorts of potion ingredients, from creepy stuff like eyeballs to weeds with exotic colors, some rotten, and some still pristine and fresh. These gemstones were at least walnut-sized, perfectly cut, and polished professionally.

I transported everything into the Chamber of Secrets, and after yelling a mocking…

"Be sss-silent, you ruddy sss-snake!"

…towards the giant and furious Basilisk that bashed its head against the mountain of heavy boulders that blocked its way out, I teleported on top of the Statue of Liberty to scream from atop of my lungs for an entire minute, unleashing my joy, before returning back to school for the traditional Leaving Feast.

Every top student of each year was congratulated during the leaving feast. We got an enchanted box with a ton of sweets as a reward, sponsored by Honeydukes. The most successful students of the seventh year received sweets and the honor to have their name immortalized on the so-called 'Wall of Fame' located in the trophy room.

Tom Marvolo Riddle had his name on that wall engraved too, right below Augusta Francisca Longbottom.

That said, the fact that a muggleborn ended up being the best in the first year caused some discontent amongst certain students. One must remember that muggleborns started with barely any knowledge about magic. Purebloods had the advantage in the beginning, and still losing to a muggleborn was a big slap in the face for the children of the more traditional families.

However, they all shut up when Dumbledore requested if I could show him my flaming ballerina. The other students that were rewarded for the academic performances returned to their seats, and I ended up being the center of attention.

"Everyone, be silent so I can focus," I rebuked the murmuring mass of students, causing Dumbledore to chuckle softly.

When silence finally descended across the Great Hall, I held both my hands in front of my chest and closed my eyes, inhaled a deep breath, and then exhaled towards my palms, giving birth to a little flame…

…that grew larger and larger, from a little girl into a large, vivid golden flame that shaped a beautiful young woman with flaming-red hair, appearing like a graceful ballet dancer. She started jumping and spinning around, dancing to silent music as everyone observed the spectacle with an awestruck expression.

This version of my flaming ballerina was much larger. She was about my own size and danced midair above my head, emitting bright, warm light that drowned the area around me in a brilliant aura of mystery.

And it wasn't a mere illusion that was overwhelming my audience, but real fire shaped into form and animated to move and dance with smooth, gracious moves, mimicking a living being.

When I thought that it couldn't get more impressive, Fawkes appeared in the Great Hall with a burst of fire. He swung his feathery wings and began to triller his legendary phoenix song as he soared in wide circles above the dancing flame.

I pumped more fiery energy into her and allowed the ballerina to grow in size a bit as she performed her last act. And when she bowed forward to her audience, I let a pair of beautiful gold and red wings sprout from her back.

Then I made her look up and jump into a bright future as she beat her fiery wings to ascend like a glorious angel, slowly fading out of existence when she approached the ceiling that portrayed a starry night sky.

McGonagall started sobbing for some reason. And after a moment of wonderstruck silence, the Great Hall thundered with booming applause. Even the Slytherins were clapping along and forgot for a moment that I was a muggleborn. Everyone stood up and praised the stunning display of magic that they just witnessed.

I gave each table a humble bow and patiently waited for the mass of excited students to calm down again.

Around five minutes later, Dumbledore offered his arm for Fawkes to take a seat. He stepped forward to stand next to me. The Headmaster gave me a respectful nod as if he acknowledged me as an equal before turning his attention to his students.

"In my many years, I have seen plenty of world-famous masters, mages, and sorcerers perform magic beyond the capabilities of an average person," he stated jovially with twinkling eyes. His tone was that of an old but powerful man. "Thanks to this, it takes a truly exceptional event to inspire a man of my age…

He let the words sink in and continued, smiling widely. "And it amazes me to find myself inspired today. Not by a master, not by a mage or sorcerer, but by a student that just started his first year of magical education."

Dumbledore turned back to me and offered me his free hand. I accepted it with a wry grin while thunderous applause flooded the Great Hall again. Fawkes flattered his wings and hopped over to me. I lifted my free hand and allowed him to land on my forearm. The legendary bird sniffed at my hair before nodding his head in approval.

"Does that mean that I can I keep him now?" I asked shamelessly, causing Professor Sprout to choke on her drink. Hagrid panicked and slapped her hard on the back, causing her to headbutt the table.

Dumbledore laughed in reply. "Nobody can truly own a phoenix, Mister Vegaz. They are very free-spirited birds. But you might be able to win the friendship of one and gain a loyal friendship that lasts for life."

Fawkes trilled a small tune and used his golden beak to pluck a vibrant crimson feather from his plumage. The phoenix pushed it into my free arm, completely catching me off guard with that rather generous move. He then squeaked something at Dumbledore and vanished in a ball of fire.

The old headmaster examined me with raised eyebrows, his eyes twinkling with unmasked surprise. "It is a rare honor to have a phoenix gift you a feather from its plumage, Mister Vegaz. Phoenixes are beings of fire, and the feather you are holding is formed from pure, elemental energy. It will serve you well in your future endeavors."

"Yeah," I replied dumbly, staring down at the feather-shaped piece of treasure resting on my palm in complete astonishment.

The feather was pure and raw, concentrated magical energy that was extremely hot without actually harming or burning my skin. It felt as if I was staring down at a gentle burning miniature sun.

"Mister Vegaz, I think it is time for us both to return to our seats and enjoy the rest of the evening with our friends," Dumbledore chuckled softly. "And thank you for your sensational performance today. It was a splendid way to conclude another great year at Hogwarts."

Regaining my wits, I nodded with a grin and returned to the Ravenclaw table to sit next to Paulina, who looked at me as if I was some kind of supernatural being.

"That was…" she stammered, blushing heavily. "You were…"

"Johnny, my young and amazing friend, that was bloody brilliant!" Louis interrupted with boisterous laughter. "It is an honor to have you as a part of our House!"

His words made the entire table nod in approval. My fellow eagles started to bombarda me with a volley of questions about how I got such an awesome skill, and what book they needed to open if they wanted to learn how to do it, too. The intense questioning continued for a while until the Quidditch and House Cup was awarded to the respective winners.

Ravenclaw took the House Cup this year around. Slytherin always won it ever since Snape started teaching, but the greasy-haired ghoul couldn't deduct any points from my house since there weren't any lessons anymore in the last week, and my housemates were smart enough to completely avoid him. And Snape couldn't just pump up his house by 120 points for no good reason without causing a massive outrage – only Dumbledore had such power.

However, Slytherin won the Quidditch Cup, and so they didn't complain much in the end. They had the best and most expensive brooms since their players were all offspring of important and wealthy families. And Quidditch wasn't all that hard either if you didn't care about whether you are going to survive the match or not. So, if you got the money, you could literally buy yourself a genuine advantage over your opponent team. In some way, that sport was a pay-to-win scheme.

Skill and talent were naturally still important, but none of the more accomplished individuals in the other Houses were amazing enough to solo their team into victory.

That said, the Leaving Feast continued in a fairly jovial manner. Almost everyone except the Gryffindors was happy. The Weasley Twins were in their first year too and slowly started to take on their mantle as pranksters – and were currently bombarding the Slytherins with peas.

I enjoyed my evening too, and spend most of the time teasing Paulina, tickling her with my phoenix feather. That made some students gasp in disbelief when they saw how casually I handled such a precious magical item.

…

...

Sitting in the Hogwarts Express back to London, I couldn't help but feel happy as I gently stroked my Mokeskin Bag that contained a small fortune composed of Galleons and even more Sickles. That money would come in handy because I planned to use it to buy myself lots of dragon meat.

Expensive, but bloody delicious dragon meat.

That said, Paulina and I had a compartment just for us and were currently discussing the benefits of Occlumency. She was completely dumbstruck after I offered her a book on it and informed her of the benefits.

"Keep the book a secret and maybe change the cover to fool curious eyes," I advised with a serious tone. "Books such as this one are very rare and even more expensive. Some unpleasant individuals will try to take it from you if they become aware that you own an exemplar."

"But how did you get it?" Paulina muttered, lifting her head to narrow her blue eyes at me. "Did you rob Professor Flitwick's office?"

I snorted. "Robbing the office of a Charm's Master and former Dueling Champion is probably a lot harder than to obtain a book on Occlumency."

"So, where did you get it then?" Paulina pressed, eyeing her new books with some hesitation. "You are a muggleborn, like me. And if what you say is true, then you can't simply buy it at Flourish and Blotts."

"Captain Barbossa, have you already forgotten about the room full of treasure that I found?" I reminded her with a smirk. "That's where I got it."

Paulina huffed and kicked my shin. "Be honest with me!"

I shrugged my shoulders and grabbed my mokeskin pouch before picking my favorite gemstone out of it, an absolutely stunning sapphire or the size of a mandarin.

"WHHAAAAT?! Paulina gaped with bulging eyes, closing and opening her mouth a few times before practicing breathing exercises to calm herself.

"Do you believe me now?" I said with a smug grin, and then continued to fish a handful of galleons out of my mokeskin pouch while placing the gemstone back.

"Y-you-…you really found a room full of treasure?!" she stammered, blinking at me in utter disbelieve.

"Hey, I am not just totally awesome, but also extremely lucky!" I bragged in a not so modest way.

Next, I grabbed her own Mokeskin Bag and tossed the Galleons into hers. Paulina froze in shock and wanted to fish them out to return them, but I stopped her.

"I got them for free, so don't worry about owning me anything," I explained with the grin of a greedy pirate. "You are Captain Barbossa, after all. See it as a tribute from your underling."

"Johnny, but it sooooo much money!" Paulina exclaimed with an expression of shock, gesturing wildly at her mokeskin pouch.

"Oh, so you want more?" She punched and kicked me when I threw several fistfuls of Galleons into her pouch. "Stop being stubborn. Accept my gift, or I will throw even more money at you!"

"You can't do that!" Paulina screeched, scandalized.

"Why not?" I argued, pushing another handful of Galleons into her Mokeskin bag.

"Stop it!"

"No!"

"Please, stop it!"

"Don't you want to be rich?!"

"You stupid boy!"

Paulina eventually grew exhausted from punching and kicking me. She calmed down and accepted my 'little' gifts when she saw that I would stubbornly continue to throw more gold at her no matter what she did or say.

"Use it to buy yourself an owl, some nice books, and these overpriced potion kits you talked about," I suggested with a smirk and watched Paulina pouting at me in silence while hugging her Mokeskin Pouch.

"You didn't have to do that," she muttered, biting her lower lip. "We are friends, but we are not that close!"

"So vicious," I breathed, gripping my chest as if I was in pain.

"Be serious!" Paulina huffed cutely.

I stopped fooling around and schooled my expression. "Well, I decided to share a part of my newly acquired fortune with you since you are my only friend."

Paulina's eyes began to slowly water after hearing my words. She knew that I was an orphan, and she really was my first friend in this new life.

"Oh-Johnny!" she sobbed and leaped at me before pulling me into a tight hug, promising me that she was my friend and that she would never leave me. I patted her on the back and blew her long, wavy blond hair out of my face.

After sharing our hug, we started talking about the treasure I found, and so I told her that it was mostly books, gold, and a bunch of precious stones. She didn't receive any important details, only that I discovered some money, books, and gemstones. Even if someone were to ask her about it, she couldn't give any vital information. Without proper evidence, it would mostly sound like the blabbering of a delusional child.

It felt good to open myself a bit, to share a small secret with someone I could call a friend. I was basically a lone wolf for twelve years, but I began to really dislike the loneliness that accompanied me during that time.

When I was done with the story behind my newly acquired fortune, Paulina put her book on Occlumency away, thanking me again, and we began discussing the content of the books on fire magic once more. I also gave her the phoenix feather during the ride so she could draw inspiration from it.

Naturally, I would devour the feather and hope for the best. Phoenixes were one of the most magical creatures, forged from pure elemental energies, and they had wondrous legendary abilities, too. At the very least, one feather from such a legendary creature, freely given, would definitely improve my affinity, skill, and natural ability to handle the element of fire.

Speaking of freely given, I hadn't the opportunity to test that theory out, but it was common knowledge that freely given ingredients from magical creatures – such as unicorn blood, phoenix tears or feathers, and so on – were more potent. Forcibly taken unicorn blood even cursed the one that stole it, causing one to suffer from some kind of bodily rot that turned you into a living zombie, slowly but surely. Your life would be prolonged greatly, but you would feel the agonizing pain of slowly rotting away. It was actually possible to get freely given unicorn blood, but these magical horses only donated it very rarely under special circumstances.

Paulina and I ended up discussing that topic as well, about magical beings that offered ingredients for potions and crafting possessions.

…

...

The Hogwarts Express approached London in the evening.

Paulina gave me a last hug before she was picked up by her aunt – Sheila, a sunkissed woman with short black hair, icy blue eyes, and an athletic physique. Before leaving, the older woman made my female friend blush heavily when she made a comment about how fit I looked for a boy of my age, and that her niece has a good eye for quality.

Before I had the chance to say anything embarrassing, Paulina shoved me away, wishing me a nice summer, and then pushed her aunt into their car while the older girl was laughing merrily at the behavior of her young niece.

My feet then carried me away from the station into a secluded alley from where I teleported back to Hogwarts, into the Chamber of Johnny.

It was too late to start searching the country for Little Hangleton because I planned to visit a post-station or whatever and ask for the location of the small town. There was no internet yet, and no Google Maps. My best shot was to simply ask around in places that could provide me the information I required.

…

When I arrived at my hideout, I planted my ass on one of the ancient leather armchairs that I plundered from the Room of Hidden Things.

"Alright, let's see what kind of magic you can offer me," I mumbled while inspecting the feather that Fawkes gifted me.

Without further ado, I simply heated up my hand until a bright, golden fire began to dance on my skin. It reacted to the phoenix feather like a starving dog to a chunky piece of meat and swiftly coiled itself around it like a fiery snake, devouring the feather whole.

Moaning, I shuddered in bliss and delight when an intense surge of euphoria rushed through my body, filling every inch of me before slowly fading away.

"Fuck, this is the good stuff!" I exclaimed with a toothy grin.

An influx of instinctive knowledge popped up my mind the next second, and I was suddenly aware of the fact that my saliva of all things received a powerful healing ability. Not as potent as phoenix tears, but still. It wasn't what I hoped for, but a welcomed gift nevertheless.

"Excellent, now I have the ability to make people feel offended and grateful towards me at the same time," I concluded with a satisfied smile, chuckling mischievously.

Aside from the healing ability, I also received a small boost for my affinity to fire. The feather was a different kind of fire from my own, one that heals, and adding it to my collection would increase my general understanding of that element. Not in a direct way, but as a supportive factor when I tried to develop new fire-based spells, for example.

I already had some ideas for a few spells and already created my Roaring Fart Jinx, which the incantation being: Flatuladfremo.

Creating such simple spells was fairly easy. You needed to have the right amount of inspiration and motivation, work on the idea in your mind until you had a clear picture in your mind, and then bind that idea to a magical incantation. This was the most basic technique that existed since people began to practice magic.

There existed other techniques, too. Some people preferred the complicated but safe way and used Arithmancy to 'divine' the success of their endeavor. Creating new spells was dangerous since they could backfire and seriously harm, or even kill you.

Speaking of the dangers of spellcrafting…

When I was eight, I sent an anonymous letter to Luna's mother, Pandora Lovegood, warning her that she should be extremely careful when meddling with magic, and avoid potentially dangerous experiments, or her daughter would grow up motherless. Ever since then, Luna's parents started working with the Scamenders and turned their Newspaper into a magazine for magical creatures enthusiasts.

Changing the original timeline didn't bother me at all since this version of Harry Potter wasn't like the one that I knew of anyway.

That said, I decided to take a power nap just because I felt like it, and teleported into a luxury hotel that I once sneaked into and secured myself an empty room.

*bampf*

My Extremis Virus enhanced body didn't require any sleep at all to function. Even so, I still enjoyed lazing in a comfy bed in a half-dormant state and daydream or ponder about future plans and aims.

It was also noteworthy to mention that my mental capabilities increased greatly after I devoured Ravenclaw's Diadem. It didn't magically make me smarter or anything like that but increased my focus to a level that enabled me to daydream with super-realistic clarity.

That was a great boon for my creative spirit and allowed me to play around with ideas for magics that I planned to develop in the future.

Anyway, I jumped out of my clothes and made myself comfortable in the oversized bed of my luxury apartment.

Tomorrow I would go hunting for my next Horcrux snack!

…