76. Back Home

Everybody got on the Hogwarts express. Magnus shared his compartment with Sirius and his friends.

"What will you be doing this holiday, Sirius?" Magnus asked.

"Probably get my ass whooped by my mother first, and then hear her scream about me being your friend." Sirius distastefully answered.

Magnus chuckled, "You can always come to my place if you feel like running."

"I don't think that will be possible. I will be kept locked in my home until the start of the next term. They will try to indoctrinate me into their ways of thinking." Sirius said.

"Huh, what else can you expect from Black Family," Snape commented.

But, Sirius did not get angry. Sure, he and his friends sometimes called Snape some names but it was all in fun and games now because of Magnus being their middle link.

"You're right, Snivellus. Ah... I hate my family." Sirius muttered.

"What about you, James? What will you do?" Magnus inquired.

James proudly answered, "Hehe, I will be going to Australia with my family. My dad's friend lives there."

"Cool. I'm just gonna laze around in my home and eat tasty pancakes. I will turn Ragnar into a fine pancake enjoyer this holiday." Magnus claimed.

Ragnar shuddered, "Eh... I think I'll pass. I don't have my head's screw loose like you."

*Knock Knock*

"Anything from the lot, dears?" the food trolly lady came.

Magnus had his eyes shine, "Lady, do you have pancakes?"

She looked confusedly at her trolly and denied, "I'm afraid I don't. Anything else?"

Magnus was disheartened but he cheered soon again, "OKAY... today it will be my party. GIVE ME EVERYTHING!"

*Whistle*

Sirius whistled in affirmation. After that, all of them ate like hungry animals. Except for Snape though, he always tried to act with a standard, though Magnus did purposely give him a chocolate bar that he had molten with his hands. It ended up making Snape's hands a mess.

Besides this, he was also secretly stuffing some food in his magically expanded suitcase inside which Summer and Duck were hiding. Chad was his official pet so he did not have to hide him.

The train reached Platform 9 ¾ at Kings Cross Station 5 in the evening. All the parents were waiting at the platform for their children. Everyone had changed their clothes to non-Hogwarts sets by then.

Magnus dragged his luggage and disembarked the train. He just had to look for a few seconds and found tall Adam looking around.

A big smile grew on Magnus's face as he quickly dragged his luggage towards them with one hand and Ragnar by his collar with the other hand.

"MOM! DAD!" he voiced.

Hearing him, Grace and Adam's faces grew a smile. They looked at him coming closer.

*WOOSH*

The next moment, Magnus found himself in a tight hug of Grace and then Adam's. Contrary to most other kids, he didn't find it embarrassing at all. In his mind, showing love to the family shouldn't be embarrassing.

"Look how tall you have grown." Grace fawned over him. Magnus then got out of the hug and dragged Ragnar forward.

"Meet Ragnar, he will live with us over the holidays," Magnus told his parents, and then went closer to his mother's ears and whispered.

"He has no family," he revealed.

Grace felt sad for Ragnar and gave him a motherly hug, "Of course, little Ragnar can stay with us."

Ragnar shyly smiled after hearing that and thanked her, "Umm... Thank you, Mrs Grant."

Grace patted his head, "Just call me Aunty... no need to be formal with us."

"Mum, Dad, just a second, I need to say bye to a friend." Magnus suddenly ran towards where Snape was.

Snape was with his mother. Snape's mother looked like an extra depressed female adult version of Snape. She had long black hair, though her complexion looked white to the point she looked physically sick. She was thin, hunched, sour-faced and sallow.

"Hello, Mrs Snape." He greeted her.

Eileen Snape (née Prince), had nearly stopped using her magic entirely since she married her husband, even more so after he found out she was a witch. She was not a beautiful woman and in her years in Hogwarts, she was constantly bullied for her bad looks.

So, after graduation, when a muggle actually showed interest in her that she had never felt before, she immediately fell in love. But, she never told him that she was a witch. Although the starting months of her marriage were happy, everything went to waste once she made the mistake of telling her husband about her magical side.

Since then, her husband hated her and blamed her for all misfortunes that would fall on him. Eventually, he turned into a drunkard and abusive towards her. She loved her son initially, but soon due to constant abuse from her husband, she started to ignore Snape too.

She was alone in this as her family had disowned her. She had no good skill to help her earn money in the magical world either. Hence, poverty was her only way of life. Her days went on worrying about the future and her nights went on dreaming about the dark possible future.

That was until she got a letter from Snape about returning to the Prince family. Until then, she had no idea what was going on in the Magical world. After that, she bought a few newspapers and finally found out about the storms going on there.

About the Dark Lord, the death eaters and of course, the descendant of Merlin and the heir to the British Throne.

"Hello, Mr Pendragon." She greeted him.

"Haha, just call me Magnus. Anyway, Sev, I will come to your place in a few days," he said. He was just indirectly telling Mrs Snape about it.

Snape just nodded towards him and left with his family. After that, Magnus returned to his parents and left for home in their car.

"Aw... I missed you, Chad." Grace caressed the black cat sitting on her lap.

"MEOOW..."

"Mum, Dad... how are you two? How's work?" Magnus asked.

Grace and Adam's faces turned serious for a split second but they soon brought back a smile. They thought Magnus did not notice it but he saw it in the rearview mirror.

~What happened?~ he wondered.

"Everything is fine, sweety. You tell us about your school. How was your semester?" They changed the topic.

"It was so much fun. I even participated in a sports tournament and won. I am also very good at my studies. How is Bobby by the way?" He asked.

"Oh, Bobby is very busy with his schools these days. His mother told me that he comes home late due to extracurricular activities." Grace answered.

~Heh, so running a company is an extracurricular activity for him now?~ Magnus chuckled internally.

After half an hour of the car ride, they reached home. Magnus was going to share his room with Ragnar.

"Sweetie, dinner will be ready in 2 hours, take a bath and freshen up," Grace told him.

Magnus nodded and dragged Ragnar and his luggage upstairs. But once he was gone, Grace let out a long breath.

"HAAAH... I felt suffocating when he asked about our work. How will we tell him?" She asked Adam.

"I think you are making it too big of a deal, Grace," Adam said.

"No, I am not. Do you not understand the problem we are in? If we do not find a good job then we won't have enough money to buy Magnus the things he wants. What if he has to buy something expensive for his school?" she asked.

Adam had to agree, this could be a problem in the future.

"We will tell him then." Adam decided.

Grace agreed but with a condition, "Yes, but we will not tell him about someone targeting us."

...

Magnus and Ragnar were actually hidden just a few steps up the stairs. He wanted to hear what the hell was going on in his family.

"Did your parents lose their jobs?" Ragnar asked confusedly.

Magnus shook his head, "I don't know. But we will soon find out. But... I guess I also need to tell them about my bloodline."

Ragnar nodded, "You are probably the richest wizard in existence so them worrying about money is really unnecessary. But, who targeting them?"

Magnus did not reply. He was deep in thoughts and also a bit angry. He had a feeling that all this was related to him and he was the cause of uneasiness in his parents' life. He felt bad about it.

"Whomever it is... I will not let them calmly sleep for the rest of their lives now." Magnus expressionlessly replied and went upstairs to his room to unpack his stuff and also let Duck and Summer out.

Ragnar shuddered, "Remind me of never standing against you."

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