Improvement And Borrowing From The Rich

Nezan POV:

Am I a good person? Many will ask this question, and some will never find the answer, and some would just say that good and evil are about as subjective as the idea of alignments themselves. 

Yet some would just say, "Give someone power and see what happens." I would agree with them as with power, the rules begin to not apply to you, and as such, you could walk into any governmental body and mind control them into doing anything you want.

Consequences only exist if you do not plan for all possible outcomes or mess with the wrong person, but therein lies the problem with this philosophy. The idea is that power rules overall can be used against you if the person you are fighting against is stronger than yourself, whether in terms of wealth, political influence, or magical might and experience. 

Eventually, it just devolves into a cycle of meeting the next enemy and having to deal with them it becomes almost dull in a way.

To me, power is the means by which people can free themselves and do what they want when they want to. It truly depends on the person, as power really shows what one would do if given the opportunity. Some would use it to live their lecherous fantasies, and others would seek to explore to understand the mysteries of the universe. 

I am not unique, I am not special, and I understand that as with the very existence of this jump chain as it is, other jumpers must exist, and as such, my existence is not special.

But that does not matter to me as I was never one to truly think about my place in the universe or the larger Multiverse. That is, I want to do one thing and one thing only: collect knowledge and new experiences. 

The very nature of the jump chain will allow me to do so, and my excitement builds as I think about the various adventures I may go on. But for now, I must focus on more realistic pursuits, such as learning how to teleport.

From when I read the books, the people teaching the technique or spell as it is would place a ring in the center of the room, and a person would need to focus all of their attention towards operating into the circle. I decided to follow the same method as why fix what is not broken? So, setting up the hula hoop I took from a garage sale, I placed it in the center of one of the trunk's rooms.

I also did take some precautions when it came to landing outside the circles as I have lined the walls of this room with softening charms that will essentially make the room a giant trampoline so in case I, for example, apparate into a wall, I will simply bounce off it, and if I hit the floor, I won't feel any pain. Preparation is key for any good endeavor, and it is another thing I have lived by.

Speaking of living, I have been doing some of that myself, specifically when dealing with Priscilla, as this owl has been a blessing for this existence in this world. She was surprisingly very low maintenance; all I had to do was clean her, feed her, and give her ample space to fly, which, thanks to the fact that I was living in the suburbs and it was relatively quiet, represented the perfect space for her.

My only complaint is the fact that I think she enjoys me washing her too much, which does make sense as the person back at the Emporium did say that she had the bearing of a princess, which I do agree, but thankfully, she lacks the high maintenance. 

As if sensing my wandering thoughts about her, she boops me on the nose and stares at me with those piercing yellow eyes, and as I pet her, I say, "Don't worry, I'm only thinking good things about you, my friend, and hey once I figure out how to teleport I will be able to focus my efforts on attempting to learn other spells and even flight." Priscilla then raises her right wing as if saying, "Then make haste as I wish to fly together."

It's odd how in tune we seem to be with each other, but I take it as another blessing from the being that started this jump chain, and I send another quiet thanks to whoever did this. 

So, refocusing on the hula hoop, I stared intently at it as I envisioned myself being forced through a tube of folded space. After a couple of minutes of simply staring at the hula hoop, I feel my existence snap out of place, and I end up flying into a wall. But expecting this, I simply bounced off of it, which Priscilla hoots in rapid succession as if laughing at me.

Giving her a look, she turns away as I snort and return to the front of the room and attempt to apparate again. I think my past self for purchasing Merlin returned as the process began to get smoother after the first dozen attempts. I also thank my past self for putting softening charms on all the walls, as I would have had multiple broken bones. Thankfully it was a weekend and I had all the time to practice.

"Focus, Loken, be present yet fluid," I mutter to myself as I refocus, and in my next attempt, I snap away and appear.

In the center of the hoop. 

Sighing in relief, Priscilla flies over and and perches on my arm as I pet her while saying, "Thanks for the support. Priscilla couldn't have done it without you." As she took the compliment, she placed her right wing on her chest as if saying, "Of Course." Chuckling at my pet's eccentricities, I walk back to the front of the room to retry teleporting into the Hulu hoop again, as that may have just been a fluke.

Priscilla returned to the perch that she was using, which was essentially the desk in the room, and after attempting to operate again, my body folded into itself and appeared in the hoop. 

And so I tried again and again, appearing within the hoop most of the time, with the failures being the times I was not completely focused. Wiping my brow of the sweat that had formed due to the exertion of focusing so much, I look to Priscilla, who had fallen asleep.

Shaking my head, I carefully picked her up and returned her to her cage, which I had lined with permanent softening charms fused into the very middle so in case you were to ever fall, it would not damage her, and I would also be alerted if she ever fell in the cage. Let it be known that Nezan Loken takes care of his pets. 

But the training must continue as well. I have become more adept at the heart of apparition; I need to learn to do it on the fly as well as increase the speed by which I teleport. Based on some of the movies I watched, they were able to do it as quickly as snapping their fingers, so I require more experience in this art. 

Even when I'm sleeping, I am training as I form my mental barriers, which now include not only a rampant battlefield that one must cross similar to that of no man's land but also must assail many fortresses lined with machine gun fire. 

Day after day, I train not just magically but physically as well, and while I may be ten years old, I can still do basic conditioning such as jogging as well as various exercises. Sadly, there were no perks in the jumpchain document that increased my physical attributes other than the body of the jumper perk that gave me normal conditioning. 

But my physical attributes mean much less in this world than my magical ones. I am leaning heavily on modern-day Alexander and dark lord in terms of teaching myself how to duel as well as apply my magic to more varied settings.

 The training sessions are lucrative as I feel myself becoming more experienced with wandless magic, but I do make sure to practice with the wand, specifically the one from the jump chain that is.

In terms of my drawbacks, The bandits are annoying, but they mostly present themselves as schoolyard bullies. There are rare occasions where I have nearly been mugged, but Priscilla allows me to escape most of the time as she scratches their eyes with her claws, which I sharpen on the regular. To be honest, it sometimes feels like I have become more experienced in sharpening her nails than in magic.

The Potters do sometimes appear, but far less often than they did before, and sometimes I just speak up about the progress I have made in terms of my magical studies, with Lily giving advice on charms and James giving me more practical experience. 

Harry just likes to watch. To which I sometimes feel guilty for taking his chance from him via my choices, but the boy told me himself that he does not blame me. In fact, he feels happy to be with his parents again simply.

That piece of his does bring me some levity in this scenario, But I do some things to make him laugh, such as tormenting Dudley, which he enjoys as sometimes I curse him for tripping over his own toes for a period of time. Nothing lasts but it's enough. The Dursleys themselves remain the same, being terrible people, but thanks to my mental alterations, they mostly ignore my very existence. Which I am okay with as they mean nothing to me. They can simply live in their obscurity as is their desire.

Kreacher would also give me updates on his scouting missions to the Malfoy Manor, and thanks to the unique magic of the house elves, he can slip in and out with ease. Based on my analysis, the means by which they do this is that they become one with the magic of the world itself and simply allow it to spit them back out at a certain location.

It is different from normal Wizards as they simply use their magic to fold space in a very basic manner, but thankfully, Kreacher is surprisingly very adept at stealth, most likely due to having to go under the radar with all those racist pureblood families that would sometimes be present. 

As he said himself that sometimes it's better to go unnoticed than to be too noticeable. I would agree with him as he makes the perfect spy as no one would assume a house elf would be able to do all these things at least many of these Wizards don't.

If I were entirely honest, the house sells themselves terrify me as their innate connection to the magic of the world due to them being an offshoot of fairies of all things allows them to use their magic in ways Wizards can't even imagine. 

The reason they don't is because, due to how they have evolved or devolved in some cases, they require Wizards to bond to to supply them with magic to do their various spells. Similarly, goblins' houses have their own culture, with some of their status being described by whom they serve and what family they belong to.

Although it does bring a small laugh sometimes when I speak with Kreacher about it as it reminds me of those who would work at an office trying to one up each other in front of their bosses. Before I knew it 5 months have passed and I had been able to aperate across the city of London. My control over mental magic has become so refined that if I look at someone in the eyes, I can learn their innermost thoughts.

Apperating to the top of Big Ben while placing the invisibility cloak over me, I look down on the city like a certain Dark Knight, and I then jump off the clocktower towards the streets below, but before landing, I teleport into the Durseley home. The rush of having jumped off Big Ben still remains as I breathe in and out with Priscilla, then perching on my shoulder with a look on her face that seemingly said, "You left without me? Didn't you?" 

Desiring not to answer her question, I looked away from her, flew over to my other shoulder, and then did it again. As I looked away again, she flew in front of me. I looked her in the eye and said, "Don't worry, we'll fly again soon. Now, then, take this as an apology." I hand her a mouse I recently made frozen with petrificus totalus, and she then bites into it and eats it while somehow conveying, "This is not over."

Petting her, I return to the trunk and review my collection, which now contains many more potion materials as well as various books on the dark arts that I bought in Knockturn Alley, under disguise, of course, as well as under a different name. 

Things I specifically bought were the vanishing cabinet connected to the room of requirement in Hogwarts as well as various other materials, which I keep in another room in the trunk. They also act as a means for me to practice my potion making, and I may or may not have maniacally cackled while creating some.

You can prove nothing.

The reason I am studying potion making is more of a personal grudge than specifically just to gain knowledge as I remember the scene when Harry meets Professor Snape for the first time and he asks all those difficult questions meant for later years students. 

When thinking of the man, all I can feel is contempt or simply indifference, as he was simply a man who just could not let go and got in with the wrong crowd. 

But sitting on my chair and reading a book on advanced potion making, all I can think of are various means to create new brews and potions, specifically a non-lethal sleeping potion and an untraceable poison. The plan itself is simple: I need to gain access to the Malfoy Manor. The best way to do so is to make it so the residents can't react to my presence as well as cut it off from the outside world.

The latter is as simple as disabling some external alarms, and for dealing with Lucius Malfoy, he will die painlessly as he did turn from the dark lord, even if to preserve his own life and the lives of his family. But he will be a constant thorn in my side if I leave him be, so the plot is simple: 

Kreacher will poison the drinks that the house elves will serve to the family for dinner. The poison itself is set to create an alarm that I can sense when they drink it and I will aperate to the family grounds and walk right in and take the book from Lucius's private study.

If it is locked I will simply take his wand as well as some of his blood as Wizards seals and locks usually require the blood, but while I am no James Bond, my disguise will be perfect in case there are magical recording devices I have altered my voice and face as well as my body structure to be essentially unrecognizable. I have clothed myself in skin-tight material in order to avoid any hair or body fluids leaking onto the floor.

The plan is set. All that is needed is to execute it. As I feel the ping from the poison being drunk, I apparate to the grounds as Kreacher disabled the wards that did not allow it.