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London[1998]
––Damian Hawthorne–
"This doesn't make any f*cking sense!" He exclaimed, in the safety of his tent, having run all the way here, to get away from that Sanctum Master, despite knowing how futile it was.
"What doesn't?" And there he was, Sanctum Master Corven, who, despite his mad dash through the city, kept up with him and arrived at his Sanctum, which was just a stolen campsite, with some wards to ward off(heh) any would-be intruders.
"This!" He shoved the book towards Corven, who gingerly took it from his hands. It was one of the three books he got from that store, hoping that it would be comprehensive enough to give him an idea about the state of the Wizarding World and what to look out for, because he'd read enough fanfictions about people getting shanked in the back by stuff they did not know, simply because they assumed that stuff would be the same as it was in the books or movies.
Not to mention the fact that he only had half assed knowledge about the Harry Potter and just decent enough information about the MCU, instead of the broader Marvel world, which meant he would be in for a double whammy if he did not just educate himself.
"The Adventures of the Boy-Who-Lived: The Boy Wonder Strikes Again! Huh, I thought you picked up books related to history? This seems like a fantasy story to me. Dragon hunting? Werewolves defeated? Ancient Treasures recovered?" Master Corven, a man most probably in his 70s, someone who must have been a witness to many magical horrors and wonders, was left confused after reading through some of the early pages, and those weren't even the worst parts.
It increased in ridiculousness in proportion to how deep one was in the book.
"Yes, of course I did," he said, snatching the book out of his hands and closing it shut, its size returning to its original large, unwieldy dimensions, as he threw it in a corner, and took the second book, hoping to any god that would listen that at least it would hold some actual history.
Before he could open it, however, Corven opened his mouth, "So? I assume this is all stolen, then? All of this camping gear? On top of the trespassing? On top of casting wards on public land? All of which is highly illegal and incredibly risky."
He winced as the crimes mentioned kept on increasing, as he raised his hands in surrender, "Alright! Alright! I got it. I'll move first thing tomorrow morning, after I am done going through these books."
"No."
He looked up at the man who was looking down at him, despite sitting cross-legged in the already cramped tent, which did not make for an intimidating sight, "No, you will not move tomorrow. You will move now. I have half a mind to just report you to the authorities and let them take care of your housing, but you," Corven took a deep breath here, "You are not normal, not even by wizarding standards, so I am willing to give you the benefit of the doubt. Come, we will go to the Sanctum."
With that, Corven stood up, moving out of the tent. He sat there for a second, mulling over Corven's offer, when his head snapped up, his body up and out of the tent within a second as he saw Corven's hand, lit up in molten orange, moving about in the air, creating a complex pattern.
His hand outstretched, the word wait on his lips but before he could say anything, the circle detached from Corven's and washed over his form, making his clothes glow for a minute before it reached the tent, and he winced as he felt his connection to those particular wards pop before he felt the wards breaking apart.
Fortunately, the same did not happen to his clothes, which were precious to him at this point. He could create the same quality enchanted clothes with high quality material, but he preferred these ones over anything else he could create, at least for now anyway, since they were of the highest quality.
If in the future, he found something better, he would switch over, however reluctantly.
"Let's go," Corven said as a portal formed in front of him, with all the camping gear neatly folded by a snap of his finger. Man, he couldn't wait to do that on his own.
___xx___
[1 Week Later]
He beamed up at Corven, who, looked impressed, however reluctantly, as he bit out the words, "Good enough," as he presented his work to the Master of the Sanctum, someone who had graciously allowed him to stay here for far longer than either one of them had intended to do, after a word from the Ancient One anyway.
He nodded at the shred of appreciation he received from the old man but that was enough for him, for in front of him stood his very first new enchantment, which was a support type ward, meant to isolate the wards within from the normal magical wavelength, effectively making the spell that Corven used from a week ago, useless.
That single spell had remained in his mind for over a week and with some rudimentary knowledge gathered from the Enchanting for Dummies book that Corven had here in the Sanctum's Library, he had been able to whip up a quick enchantment, allowing his works to survive repeated onslaught of that particular spell, stopping the enchantments within from unravelling in the face of that deadly spell, powered by just Dimensional Energy.
According to Corven himself, there were Patron Deities, whose name could be invoked, to get special anti-magic energy, capable of dismantling most magical constructs with ease but they were few and far between. Also, to become capable of stopping attacks on that level, he himself would have to reach the level of low level reality warping, which was not in the cards at the moment.
Someday in the future, then.
"Now, against my best wishes, I have been informed to let you go with a warning. Also, you are to periodically check in with any Sanctum Master about your status, as per the Ancient One's recent orders. Despite me not understanding the madness that is letting you go, I wish you all the best and this is something I hope will be useful for you." Saying so, Corven handed him a small pouch and walked-no, stomped off deeper into the Sanctum.
In the week that he had been here, he had not been able to make a map of this place, with endless corridors, windows that led to multiple rough terrains of the planet, stairs that seemed to collapse in on themselves, and rooms with no end in sight. All of which culminated in him giving up on making heads or tails about the Sanctum's spatial ward structure.
Now, just because he could not understand the complex, centuriesold spatial expansion ward structure, did not mean he did not have some very fruitful returns on his very brief periods of study here.
He couldn't wait to go out and begin practicing on his own, now that his most burning question was answered.
Harry Potter was the Boy Who Lived. Dumbledore or someone had intentionally inflated his lifestyle, painting him as the Messiah of Wizarding Britain, for some purpose.
Most likely, to make him the poster boy of Dumbledore's political faction.
Voldemort was not dead, most likely, because the fear of his name in Magical Britain was prevalent, not to mention what he knew from the movies being true right up until now.
So, with that in mind, he negotiated some leeway with Kamar Taj as a whole. They would not call the magical equivalent of Child Services on his ass and in return, he would keep all of his activities on the down low, and adhere to a total ban on summoning & demonic energy experimentation.
He thought those warnings to be fair enough, so he agreed, signed a quick magical contract, which was a little freaky because he could actually feel its existence every time his mind drifted to summoning weak magical creatures to experiment on, as long as they were either feral & non sentient or just evil demons.
Ah, there, he felt it, a slight buzzing in his mind before it went away, subtly reminding him of its existence. The contract was only for another 5 years, for some reason, so he did not mind agreeing to it.
He had more than enough stuff to focus on in the next few years, chief of which was getting so OP that no one in Magical Britain should be able to force him to attend school again. He had been through that experience once, and not even the Ancient One herself could force him to sit through hour long lectures and do tedious homework once more.
Donning on the now properly washed clothes, he took the books he was allowed to take from here, which were just two books on Eldritch Shape Summoning & one on terraforming warding, which was basically the advanced subject of enchantment, allowing one to terraform a particular area according to their needs, on top of the three books he'd already purchased from Flourish and Blotts in Diagon Alley.
Waving at Master Corven, who just deadpanned at him, he walked out of the Sanctum and into the busy shopping district once more.
Time to make his evil lair.
~Muahahaha~
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