Time flowed like water, and in the blink of an eye, six years had passed.
Lauren and Hermione had already graduated from primary school.
Lauren had grown increasingly handsome, with the calm and steady temperament that came from years of reading, combined with his outstanding performance at school, making him very popular among the girls.
Hermione, too, was looking more and more like how Lauren remembered her from the original story, still with slightly large front teeth.
But unlike in the books, Hermione hadn't grown sensitive or insecure, hiding behind a shell of arrogance to protect herself.
Instead, with Lauren's help, she had become more confident—but not arrogant. She lived by the principle of not causing trouble, but also not fearing it, and her way of dealing with people left nothing to be desired.
Over six years, Lauren and Hermione's relationship had developed by leaps and bounds. In the eyes of outsiders, they were the perfect golden boy and jade girl, and both families approved of their closeness. Their parents had even prepared to arrange an engagement once they turned sixteen, followed by marriage at eighteen.
Neither Hermione nor Lauren cared much about the subject of marriage. They had already chosen each other; no certificate could change that.
For the first four years, Lauren's main focus had been on reading and practicing his skills. With Hermione at his side, the days weren't boring.
In the following two years, most of the library's books had already been committed to memory, and his skills had reached certain bottlenecks. So Lauren devoted more time to Hermione.
The progress he had made in these six years was all reflected on his system panel.
"System Panel
Name: Lauren Angus
Class: Wizard Apprentice
Life Skills: Martial Refinement (Beginner), … click to expand
Professional Skills:
1. Mana Control (Advanced): Advanced mastery of mana allows for wandless, silent casting, though slightly weaker in power.
2. Mana Release (Advanced): Release mana to surround yourself; any magic trying to affect you must first pass through your mana's permission.
3. Alchemy (Advanced): An alchemy master who has touched the edges of the divine realm.
4. Spellcraft (Intermediate): Can freely use simple household spells.
5. Mana Detection (Intermediate): Outward mana can detect objects within a certain range.
Talents:
1. Strange Knowledge: (omitted)
2. Chaotic Mind: (omitted)
3. Universal Language Mastery: (omitted)
4. World Feedback: (omitted)
5. Disciplined Person: (omitted)
6. First-generation Wizard Talent: (omitted)
7. Reader: (omitted)
8. Body Modification: After six years of sunbathing and constantly supplementing nutrition, rigid shields, enhanced vision, and mental space have been preliminarily developed. (ps: Kid, you've got a long way to go. Body development is a lifelong task.)
9. Presence Concealment: A talent from assassins, it hides your presence and blocks others' detection. To others, you are just another ordinary person. (ps: Who says presence concealment is just for assassinations? Don't assassins just go berserk and kill every witness anyway?)
System Evaluation: A wizard apprentice capable of taking down most wizards in the magical world."
The skill Martial Refinement (Beginner) was a fusion skill.
It had originated from the skill Martial Arts (Advanced), a gift from the world of *Fate*.
Lauren had triggered this during a museum visit with Hermione, where a projection of artifacts left behind by the Knights of the Round Table appeared.
After obtaining Martial Arts (Advanced), he fused it with the martial arts skills and sports techniques he had studied from books, ultimately creating Martial Refinement (Beginner).
To advance Martial Refinement further was no longer possible through personal training alone. He would need to defeat strong opponents or push his limits. In this world, however, such chances were slim.
The second world gift Lauren obtained was from *Assassin's Creed*: the talent Presence Concealment.
This was triggered during a visit to St. Paul's Cathedral with Hermione.
The ability came at the perfect time—only with it did Lauren feel safe enough to study magic openly.
After all, London was the place where wizards appeared most frequently in the *Harry Potter* world. If his mana leaked out uncontrollably, there was no telling what might come of it.
Lauren's magical research had borne fruit, most notably his advancement of Mana Control to Advanced. He could now cast spells wandlessly and silently, which greatly aided his alchemy and spellcraft.
Alchemy didn't come from the *Harry Potter* magical world but from Lauren's research into Nicolas Flamel's alchemical manuscripts found in the library, combined with his past life's memories.
At first, alchemy was only Beginner. It rose to Intermediate after Lauren fused his self-taught engineering skills and his high-level culinary skills. That was already his limit at the time.
Alchemy broke through to Advanced after an experiment in which he recreated the Homunculus in a Bottle experiment he had once seen. By channeling mana, he truly created one—but it turned out twisted, trying to manipulate him. Lauren destroyed it, and the related research was abandoned.
Spellcraft came from Lauren's memories of *Harry Potter*, consisting of daily-use spells like Levitation, Lumos, Accio, Scourgify, Reparo, and so on.
He also developed his own spells, such as one modeled after the Telekinesis skill from *Diablo II*, which allowed him to bring objects directly into his hand within his detection range. It was a fusion of Accio and Mana Detection. This spell had been a great help.
As every transmigrator knows, one must earn money to support the household. But Lauren had no idea how to make money in 1980s London.
With this spell, he became a "junk scavenger." Whenever he and Hermione went out, he would use mana detection to search underground for discarded jewelry and ornaments.
Each trip yielded great rewards. The valuable ones with artistic worth were handed to the adults to be sold for money, improving their lives.
The rest Lauren melted down with alchemy into gold ingots for storage. Much more gold and silver was consumed in alchemy itself. Drawing on his past life's memories and his now Advanced alchemy, Lauren succeeded in creating "Pure Gold."
This was the same "Pure Gold" from *One Piece*, capable of extending life. Lauren's greatest masterpiece, inspired by the Eastern myth of gold's immortality, refined from ordinary gold using silver as fuel.
Now both the Angus couple and the Grangers wore rings coated with Pure Gold. Lauren had told them never to take them off.
The adults had long noticed Lauren's abnormalities and naturally followed his words.
After all, a child who could constantly "stumble across" jewelry and artifacts couldn't be considered normal.
Thanks to Lauren's fortune, Mr. Angus had sold their inn in town and moved to London to reunite with Mrs. Angus, free from financial worries.
As for Hermione, after her magical outburst at age eight, Lauren had told her about magic and helped her control it.
Lauren himself had been affected during that incident, as his talents were linked to Hermione's. His mana also surged but was quickly brought under control.
Now Hermione could already perform wandless magic. But Lauren hadn't taught her spell incantations. Currently, she could only move light objects with mana.
It wasn't that Lauren didn't want to teach her, but rather that his abilities were self-developed, not part of the official *Harry Potter* magic system. He had his system as a safeguard, but Hermione didn't.
So for now, he only helped her build a foundation. Structured learning would have to wait until she entered the magical world.
Lauren also told Hermione about the magical world, not mentioning his past life memories but instead claiming it came from his talent for prophecy.
After six years of growth, Lauren was eager to step into the wizarding world.
His development had hit a bottleneck; he needed new knowledge to push forward.
Still, he held back his excitement and didn't recklessly approach the magical world. Six years had passed—he could wait a few more days.
…
After Mr. Angus moved to London, Lauren bought the house next door to Hermione's and usually lived there.
His parents were deeply in love, and he himself was more of an accident. Besides, he needed a quiet space to study magic. After buying the house, he immediately began modifying it.
The upper floors were shared by Lauren and Hermione, with personal studies, bedrooms, and storage rooms for their belongings. Cleaning was usually done by Lauren's magic.
The basement, however, had been transformed through alchemy into Lauren's private secret base, where he could research magic without restraint.
Both families approved of their arrangement, though the Grangers insisted Hermione return home at night since they were still young.
From his past life memories, Lauren couldn't recall the exact date the Hogwarts letters arrived, but he knew it was in July. There had even been a newspaper report about owls swarming the Dursleys' house.
So once July began, Lauren read the newspaper every day. Hermione found it odd, but Lauren only told her, "You'll understand soon."
One day in July, Hermione was reading in their shared little house while Lauren sat nearby, scanning the news.
Suddenly, there was a tapping sound at the window. Lauren looked up. Two plump, round-faced Scottish owls were knocking on the glass.
They had arrived—the invitations from the wizarding world.
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