Chapter 29: The Beginning

Bellatrix Black sat in her office with her Magi-mirror his hands. Different screens were flashing around her like computers, all displaying different reports and data. But, there was something common in all the information showing on these devices right now: They were all somehow related to Axel.

Some were playing recorded memories of him while some were pictures of him. And the one on the biggest screen was of him lying in a hospital bed with a certain girl sleeping on his bedside. 

Today was bound to be a hectic day for Bellatrix. Apparently, a troll had somehow managed to get into Hogwarts. Now, this wouldn't have been a big deal if the news didn't get out, but with the existence of the Magi-mirrors, almost all of the Britain and many other parts of the world knew about it. 

It has to be noted that children of various affluent magical families from all over the world have sent their kids to Hogwarts due to its great education and reputation. And now, a troll has been suddenly set loose in the school. So of course, those parents from affluent families would demand an explanation.

And whose fault it was?

That fucker Dumbledore! First, he won't let the ministry help with the security of Hogwarts and now he expects her to take the blame? Fuck no! With the help of mass media, she has made sure that everyone knows exactly who is at fault. That old fossil still hasn't fully grasped the use of modern magic tech yet. 

But, she had been so busy dealing with it all for the whole night and the morning that she completely missed Axel's newest photo. 

This is the first time she saw his sleeping face, and the boy looks so cute and innocent without that annoyed and bored look on his face. If only he didn't have that girl sleeping beside him, the scene would be perfect.

That girl, is the princess of the most notorious mafia family in Italy and probably the whole world. For centuries, that family has been involved with all kinds of criminal activities, managing to stay in power by doing all kinds of illegal activities. So, it would be quite understandable if she didn't want Axel to associate himself with the princess of such a dangerous family. 

For the past two months, she's been trying to search for a way to cure his body and she also informed all the teachers to pay special attention to him and not let him suffer. She had even almost gotten Severus Snape fired.

She had wanted to do more but Axel wouldn't appreciate help from someone he hates with a passion. 

So, she'll help him from the shadows. Without letting him know it was her who helped her.

Like right now. She picked up her Magi-mirror and made a voice-only call. 

*Ring-Ring* *Ring-Ring* *Rin—*

"Yes?" The call was answered quickly.

"Bellatrix Black, Britain's Minister of Magic. I have business with your Boss," said Bellatrix in a cold voice. 

There was a pause as the other side checked her caller Id once again. 

"This is very sudden, but I'll inform the Godfather. Could you please wait on the line?" 

"Make it quick,"

After a few moments, someone else's voice came from the speaker. 

"Well, it's certainly a surprise, Minister. I believe this is our second time talking to each other." 

The voice belonged to Martina's father. But this time, it had quite a sleazy and dangerous edge to it that wasn't present when he was goofily talking to his daughter.

"Mr. Alessandro, I had some urgent business with you," said Bellatrix, coming straight to the point.

"Blunt as always, I see. Well, I'm listening,"

A Blunt and honest approach worked much better with people like Alessandro. So Bellatrix didn't bother beating around the bush. 

"I need you not to take any action against one Axel Hunt. He's under my protection," she said in a dead serious tone. 

That made the other party go silent for several seconds.

"That… is a rather exorbitant demand. But… it can be done… on one condition,"

Bellatrix was surprised. She hadn't thought that the man would give up so easily on making a move against Axel after the incident. Though how could she know that he had already promised his daughter not to hurt Axel? So any requests he was making were for free at this point.

Bellatrix drummed her fingers against the desk,

"Speak,"

"I don't really need much, just give me all the information on the boy,"

Bellatrix instantly denied it,

"Then let me make myself clear: It wasn't a request, Alessandro. It was a declaration. You harm Axel, you'll have a war. Am I clear?" 

Alessandro chuckled.

"Oooh, that's quite an overkill, for an orphan crippled child. It seems my information was indeed incomplete. How curious…. Well, as long as he stays away from my daughter," saying so, he cut the call.

Bellatrix sighed,

"If anything happens to Axel, war would be the least of your concern," she muttered.

*Ding* 

A notification rang on her personal MM (Magi-mirror) and she quickly opened it when she noticed who sent it. 

She had been trying to find out how and why Axel is involved with this girl and why he was in the bloody Hospital wing! And, it would seem that her wait was finally over as she received a reply from Rose. 

"... What?!" 

Axel was injured by the Troll?! And, he seduced Martina for benefits?! 

The things in her office started shaking due to her magic flaring up. 

"No!" 

She had been wrong once again! She had thought that she could simply help him from the shadows until she finds the cure and properly apologizes to him. 

Because she couldn't bring herself to face him, or even dare to contact him after what she had done. She knew from the look in his eyes and that voice filled with cold fury that he wouldn't forgive her. 

``We're nothing but strangers' Were his words. 

She didn't think she could handle his rejection again. That's why, she had been trying to make her apology substantial and sincere enough that something might change.

But, she didn't anticipate that Axel wouldn't settle for a crippled life and would start trying to seduce that girl to get her help in fixing his body. 

And now that her passiveness had caused these events, what should she do? It's almost two months and she's nowhere near finding a way to heal him than before. It would seem that she can't stay passive forever.

And as for the troll? She hadn't given the matter much though, but now that Axel had been hurt… Dumbledore is going to get hell.

***

After dinner, Axel had followed the directions he had gotten from the system to claim his rewards. The directions for a place to stay at Hogwarts.

And the room found was awesome. Well, it was actually several Victorian-style luxurious quarters connected by one common room, plus a big bathroom. It was made for Noble guests and VIP guests whose location had been long forgotten but everyone at Hogwarts, if the system's information was to be believed. 

Which is why he was currently in a luxury suite with a fucking king-sized bed.

On a normal day, Axel would have loved to simply test out that oh-so inviting large bed, but not after today. In the last 24 hours, he's almost died two times and if that wasn't enough, a fucking Mafia family is soon going to have its revenge against him for something that wasn't his fault. 

"There's no time for hesitation… there's no room for laziness… and there's no easy way to choose," he muttered as he looked himself in the mirror. He was currently decked in an all-black outfit. These were the custom-made clothes that had been ordered by Andromeda.

During the past two months, he might have started to have a much better life when he was studying magic along with so many others. And that had somehow given him the illusion that he was one of them. That he could also afford to have a happy and carefree life… just like others.

And Bloody hell, was he wrong! He had forgotten that life would sometimes give him these moments, when everything seems to be going alright, giving him hopes, letting him lower his guard… And then it would suddenly throw a curveball at him, like a sucker punch to the guts, leaving him suffering the aftermaths.

That's why, he's no longer going to hesitate now. What's the point of hesitation when he could suddenly die the next day? Getting into trouble while trying to do something is more preferable than just being a passive pussy AND still getting into trouble anyway.

The thought of Dementors almost taking his life came to him once again. And as he thought about it, he could no longer feel that rejection towards his craft that he had developed after the torture.

If Stealing has brought his downfall, then Stealing is the thing that has brought him so far in the first place. He'd have starved a long time ago without it. 

Axel closed his eyes and took a deep breath as he loosened up his muscles with some stretching,

"Alright system, I think I'm ready now. Tell me everything you can about how to progress my Arcane Thief Class," he said decisively.

[+1% approval rate for overcoming your trauma. 

Since you are ready, you can now be able to see the Steal Points. Every skill needs a certain amount of Steal Points to unlock. These Steal points can be gathered by doing several small thefts, or a low amount of major thefts. 

Stealing would also progress your Class and give more guidance and information on how to steal and what precautions to take when stealing in a magical world.]

"Oh, so that's how it works…" he muttered. So he just has to steal and accumulate Steal Points or S.P.. Then he'll get the skills and also get more information on how exactly to steal in the Magical World. 

But, he still couldn't understand several things.

"But, can you show me the information on the skills and the amount of SP they'll require for me to get them? And if the thefts I've committed during the past years can be converted into SP or not,"

[Currently, you can not choose the skills you unlock. It's set on the systematic progression right now. You'll need to increase the approval rate to open the Skill Shop where you can spend your SP to buy whatever Skill available. But for now, the next skill you can unlock has already been set and will be unlocked when you collect the necessary SP for it.]

"Damn… what skill is it? And how many SPs do I need to unlock it?"

[Ward Breaking: 1000 SP]

[Ward Breaking: It is one of the most important skills for being an Arcane Thief. It is considered too difficult and advanced in the Wizarding World, but not if you're training through the method given by the system.]

"Hell yeah!" 

Axel almost began to jump in joy. He knew he couldn't do much without this one, with most Slytherins actually putting up at least the basic protection at their individual doors.

But this field needs quite advanced prerequisites to even begin to perform the basics. It was a pleasant surprise to know that he could start learning it so quickly using the system's cheat knowledge.

With a newfound enthusiasm, Axel walked out of the secret space and moved toward his very first hunting ground.

: The Hufflepuff Dorms.

Yep, he couldn't just waltz into the Slytherin Dorms and steal their stuff, could he? Even though a Slytherin is more likely to be richer and net him much more money and SP, but many Slytherins are also likely to have at least some kind of setup to prevent intruders, right? 

And he doesn't know shit about those precautions with the magic coming into the equation.

The best way would be to slowly level his Class so that the information on how to steal is available in his mind.

The priority is not to get quick and easy gains, but to 'learn'. The art of stealing needs patience, practice, and perseverance. With magic being real and his body being in a shitty condition, he's going to once again start from level one. 

And Hufflepuff dorms would be the best place for that. Those loyal badgers wouldn't have much precautions against each other since no such incidents happens there. That's why he's starting from there.

And of course, he's not going to steal anything noticeable. He just wants to level up his class, not to make innocents suffer.

After making up his decision to start from Hufflepuff today, he had taken some time to follow a few Hufflepuffs back to their dorms, so he knew how to get in.

Before entering, his custom enchanted outfit morphed into a simple set of dark yellow pyjamas with a sleeping hat covering his head. This will help him blend in. His face had a mask on it since some students do get them from the Hospital wing when they have magical flu or something. 

Now, he was just another Hufflepuff breaking curfew even if someone saw through his powerful Stealth Skills.

"Here goes nothing," he muttered as he proceeded towards the Entrance. 

The entrance to the Hufflepuff Dorms was concealed behind a stack of barrels. In order to reveal the entrance, no password was required. Instead, one had to tap the barrel two from the bottom, middle of the second row, in a rhythm. 

Since he couldn't tap it in rhythm properly due to his hand, he would have to do it using his leg. 

[Be careful, Axel. If you don't do it the right way, you'll be doused in vinegar and barred access.]

"Well… that's kinda dumb, but whatever," what if someone tapped wrong by mistake?

*Tap*  *TapTap* *Tap*...

He managed to hit the barrel rightly and sighed in relief when the lid swung open, exposing a passageway. Not wasting more time, he went in.

In the dim lighting, he saw the common room, which turned out to be a huge, round, earthy, low-ceilinged, and warm place, with kinda welcoming vibes. 

There were lots of yellow hangings, burnished copper, overstuffed sofas and armchairs upholstered in yellow and black, and small circular windows that provided a vista of rippling grass and dandelions. There was also a large, honey-colored, wooden mantelpiece with carvings of badgers on it,  located underneath a portrait of a beautiful witch who must be Helga Hufflepuff.

Since it was the middle of the night, the common room was empty, with everyone sleeping. 

'System, can you tell me the number of Steal points I'll get for each item?' Asked Axel.

[Affirmative, Here's the catalog of some things you can steal and their equivalent SPs per piece.

The Currency conversion:

Knuts: 5 SP

Silver: 10 SP

Gold: 25 SP

Platinum: 50 SP

The price of items can be different based on different qualities and who they belong to. But here's the general price.

Quill: 0.2

Notebook: 0.4

Shoes: 3

Broomstick: Nimbus=20, Cleansweep=10..

….

And the list went on. It was so long that Axel hadn't even heard of several things. 

"What in the world…?"

And… there were several weird things as well.

Used Panties: 10 SP

'What the fuck system? 10 SP?! Why the hell is it such a useless thing has so much SP?'

[Axel, those things have a market of their own. If you sell to the correct buyer, you can gain a lot of profit. The points can even go upto 1000 SP or higher depending on the identity of the person you stole it from since it would have a large value to certain people.]

"...."

For the life of him, Axel could not comprehend what kind of sick bastards would pay for things like that. So what was he supposed to do now? Steal women's underwear? Axel Hunt, the panties Thief. Yeah, how glorious...

But from this, he learned another lesson: Different things would have different values to different things. Even useless things could get him SP and the list of things he could steal was so large that he didn't even bother reading the whole of it.

'Well, it seems I have my work cut out for me,' he thought as he realized just how much he'll have to steal to unlock various skills. 

He can't just steal a lot of galleons from one rich Hufflepuff and be done with it since—

1)He doesn't steal from those who weren't rich assholes.

2)If he went for a big hand, everyone will be alerted of a thief and will get more precautions, thus making things difficult for him in the long run.

Thus, he's only going to use the Daily Life tactic for now. It's a very effective way of stealing, in which you only go for things whose absence would be gone unnoticed and whose absence wouldn't be missed much by the owner. In this way, they'll just think that they either dropped or forgot it somewhere or it is just misplaced and later, they'll simply forget about it.

This way, he won't be harming anyone since they'll barely be bothered and he can continue to steal for the upcoming years without students and authorities taking action while also making progress.

As he began sneaking into the dorms, he began to feel a familiar feeling of thrill and anxiousness. It's not like he hadn't tried stealing in the past two months. Old habits die hard. Heck, he'd even taken a broom from the broom shed. 

But, every time he tried, he just couldn't focus at all and his hands would start shaking much worse and the pain in his body would intensify. He would find himself just delaying it or making excuses. 

But right now, he could no longer feel those things. And instead, a familiar excitement once again began bubbling inside him. He had forgotten just how much he liked this profession. It gives him a thrill that makes him feel more...alive… more special… more powerful.

A feeling of concentration enveloped him as he found himself entering his most focused state. 

These past months, despite living in such a fantastic and magical environment, he had always felt that something was missing. And he realized what exactly it was. 

"It starts here," 

Several things had happened, and he had lost his way. But, the real journey of the Arcane Thief… starts now.

***

A.N.: There's a small time skip again now. Tell me the new skills you want him to learn. He'll heal soon as well.

See the title of chapter 32.

POWERSTONES!!!

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