Chapter 91: Who are you

"He's just that kind of person. You'd live longer if you stayed in opposition of him than being on his side. So, don't ever get swayed by his words. You just have to pretend to be swayed."

After hearing all this about Dumbledore, Camille couldn't help but ask her again, "Why won't you simply go to Beauxbatons? They don't have such strict rules about home visits. Dumbledore won't be able to do anything there too. And, you'll have Fleur there."

I sighed. Such a tempting offer. But alas, it isn't meant to be. "Because, I have a few things I need to take care of in Hogwarts. Besides, if you just exclude Dumbledore, Hogwarts is a very nice place; I still haven't explored all of it. Don't worry about Dumbledore. He'll infact want to give me VIP treatment if he wants me to stay in Hogwarts for the next year as well."

Camille still looked worried. Well, that's what moms do. My mom in my previous life was also always worried about my extreme sports habbits. Used to say she won't forgive me if I died due to these stunts one day.

Well guess what, mom? Your son died while being hit by a white board marker. Soooo extreme...

Ah, pain!... I don't have the face to return to that world even if God gave a chance now. My bro there should be able to take care of mom.

The point is, it's not worth to live in fear of death, cause if you're hot, lady death would find a way to pick you up, even for reasons as ridiculous as sleeping in your classes.

I got up and hugged Camille.

"Mom, don't worry, ok ? I'll write often and come back as soon as I can. Just believe in your smart and awesome son, alright?"

Camille hugged me back tightly as she for a few seconds before letting go reluctantly.

"If I lost you a second time, I won't forgive you, you understand?"

"....." Well, that sounds familiar... and ominous. Did she raise a flag for me?

No promises this time. I picked up Esmée to take her to her bed. Esmée, being the sensible girl she is, had understood that I won't be here with her from tomorrow. As I tucked her in along with Nyxie, she didn't let go of my t-shirt she was clutching. I saw that her expression was really heartbreaking.

I wordlessly got into the bed and hugged her.

"Big brother is here tonight. You can sleep peacefully."

Esmée hugged me tightly as slowly seemed to calm down, before gradually falling into the real of dreams.

'Well, I guess I can skip the training for today.'

Just as I was about to fall asleep myself, I heard the door open slowly. I activated my dragon's senses, to find out that it was mom.

Wait, Is she crying?

With my dragon sense, I could hear her quiet sobs and sniffles. She usually doesn't cry and always try to show a smile on her face. But as I have observed, she's actually the one who's most emotional.

I turned around and opened my eyes. Only to see her quickly wipe away her tears as she smiled at me again.

"Y-You did not sleep, honey?" Her voice was also cracking a bit.

"....Come." I beckoned her as well.

Mom didn't need to told twice as she came to lie on the other side of Esmée and hugged us both, and Nyxie who was stuck between me and Esmée.

A few minutes later, Durant also came by, but I didn't offer him to sleep on the bed and pretended to be asleep. A few seconds later, he closed the door.

Poor guy. But it's not my fault he wasn't crying.

After I was assured that Camille was also peacefully asleep, I also decided to sleep after once again resolving myself to break this rule of separation.

****

The next morning, after breakfast, we were ready to leave. I had to go to the platform urgently. And there was one more thing I had to do before going to the platform.

The Delacours also came to see me off. Fleur would also be portkeying to Beauxbatons, but since there's no train tradition here at France, she can use the portkey in the evening for the welcoming feast.

I wasn't the only one leaving to London right now, Durant was also going. He'll visit Dumbledore before bringing back with a thing which I'm going to buy for home.

We all gathered in a clearing outside the wards for the portkey. And I began bidding my farewells to everyone.

"Sebastian, I'm extremely grateful for everything, you've taught me, and for that, to return the favour, check out the thing I'm going to be sending back with Dad. You'll love it! I just hope it's still there."

The plump man patted my shoulder enthusiastically. "Chris, first of all, I'd like to give you all my praises for the invention you made. I just checked it after yesterday after coming from work. Using the shrinking enchantment which I'd taught you in passing, for the application of maintaining constant pressure in a space-extensioned storage? You're brilliant! There's a lot of potential in this. If we somehow store enough pressure—"

"We could potentially make it strong enough to blow through anything. Though I was quite afraid of the consequences if the extended space suddenly gets unstable and cause a big blast." I finished.

'Someone finally understands!'

I was quite happy. Yesterday, no one showed interest in the mechanism. Everyone was only focused on playing.

"You're good. You'll go far in enchanting. And, I'm looking forward to whatever it is that you're sending." said Sebastian, patting my shoulder again.

"Well, they're very rare. One of the last of it's kind, so of course it's something to look forward to. Just hope that it's still there. And once I send it, please check it's condition and see if it's still alright."

"Will do, Child, will do."

Then, I went to stand in front of Appoline.

"Appoline, thanks for being such a great hostess every time I've visited. Being at your place feels no different than being at home."

She gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"Yesterday was the first time in years I laughed and enjoyed playing like a child. Thankyou, Chris. We'll all miss you a lot. You've been a great influence for the last two months, for everyone, especially for Fleur. We'd always been worried about that child's suffering at her school."

I smiled a bit bashfully, "Well, if you think so, then it's worth it."

Then it was Fleur's turn, "Fleur, I wish you luck on becoming the dark lady of France. Follow my instructions and gather your followers."

Fleur snorted but smiled and gave a hug. The Delacours weren't shy when showing their appreciation or gratitude. I got a kiss on both cheeks. Well, it's more like la bise. It's a common greeting for French people to greet each other. But if I started to monologue about French customs, my train might leave already.

"You should come to Beauxbatons. It should be a lot better than Hogwarts."

"Well, we'll see. This year, I have some important thing to do... secrets to discover... and adventures to venture." I said mysteriously.

Fleur rolled her eyes and I looked down at Gabrielle who looked quite subdued today, compared to her usual energetic self.

I crouched down in front of her. "Hey, Gabby. Don't be sad, alright? You know Harry Potter is my friend."

Gabrielle's eyes widened at that, "Really??"

"Of course. But... he's quite different from those books that you have your mom read to you. He's completely different in real life. So, would you like to talk to him through letter?"

Gabrielle nodded excitedly. "Then, I'll have to leave, won't I?"

She turned sad again.

'See? Even her story books idol can't be compared to this young master.'

I felt a bit happy about that, but Gabrielle is still sad, so I could give her a hug and pat her head. "No need to be so down, Gabby. Fleur can still visit monthly, right?"

Only Hogwarts didn't allow it. In a world where you can travel to places instantly and can return after a spending a few hours, you should be able to visit your home at least monthly, but maybe the Hogwarts staff is too lacking to allow that. I mean, the whole castle has only one person hired for cleaning it. So, how can they have people keeping tracks of who returned and who didn't?

I hugged mom and Esmée one last time. Before it was time for the portkey to activate. Just as I was about to leave, I saw Esmée and mom. Mom was trying to smile, but there were tears in her eyes, and first the first time, I saw Esmée crying; Her big eyes had tears dropping from them.

Ah! So painful!

I hadn't let her cry even once during this time, so this furthered my resolve of coming back before the Christmas.

Before I could do anything, the portkey activated and I felt a tugging sensation on my stomach. The world around me spun rapidly as I was sucked into the space along with Nyxie and Durant. This was my first time taking the a portkey, so I eagerly tried to sense everything that I could feel about this magic. As soon as I sensed something tugging at my stomach, even as everything started to blur, I still brought my hand in the empty air in front of me to sense the magic that was tugging at me. It was like a cord, and the magic was quite different than anything I had sensed before. And then we were sucked into a portalfull of magic.

'Wow.' I was enraptured by the sensation of this new magic. It couldn't be felt due apparation. This was... space magic.

.

.

.

Damn, the things I could do with this magic if I mastered it...

Nyxie also felt it. During this time, I had trained her enough so that she doesn't try doing whatever magic she senses. Especially this and Apparation.

Apparition I'd quite different though. It's near instantaneous and you're basically forcing your body into a small tube connecting both spaces—not opening a portal that contains space magic.

We appeared on the portkey point—which was a clearing in a forest with a booth set up—but it was totally desert at the moment.

"Dad, before we go to Kings Cross, apparate to Diagon Alley."

I need to buy that thing from the Alley and send it with Durant.

Durant had at least seen Diagon Alley if not the Kingscross, so we apparated directly to the Alley.

As I led Durant towards the Knockturn Alley ,I said, "Dad, can you please disillusion us? What we're going to buy is illegal and we're going to use illegal methods to get it."

We didn't stop walking even as we all turned invisible. Durant's magic didn't work on Nyxie but it looked like it did to Durant because Nyxie disillusioned herself at the same time.

I drank an aging potion and took out a black cloak and a plain black mask that hid all.my face except my for my eyes. I changed my eye colour to black. I would have used a skull mask, but I have a feeling that Durant won't react well to seeing the death eater masks.

We stopped in front of the shop— Borgin and Burkes. On a completely unrelated note, it's quite pitiful to have the name— Borgin, because even when typing that name on a computer, it autocorrects it to "Virgin." Just... don't ask me how I know that.

"Cancel only my disillusion and stay back, please." I asked Durant.

I need to do some necessary stuff before I simply buy it. Durant shouldn't be able to see what I'm about to do next.

I entered the store with a ringing sound of the bell. The only thing that could be seen about me were my eyes, which had black pupils right now.

A stooping man was behind the counter, brushing his greasy hair off his face.

"Who are you, and what's your business?"

"...."

Is guy's checking if I'm a noob? Asking for identity in Knockturn Alley?

Well I have perfect answer for this one. I cleared my throat.

Then, copying a certain someone's deep and raspy voice, I said....

"I'm Batman."

...With the black mask and black cloak, I really couldn't help myself...

A.N.: I wish you all a happy new year!

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