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Ratty Apartment, Ratty Apartment Building, London
–Damian Hawthorne–
He perked up, the block of tungsten that was rotating around him freezing and wobbling in place before it resumed its smooth orbit around his head, as he felt the same energy signature of William enter the building once more.
He cranked his neck upwards, the rotating block of tungsten that was now a sphere, moving alongside his head, as he saw the time. It was 7 AM!
He groaned, the block of tungsten liquifying around his head, a direct reaction to the change in his emotions as he used that block of tungsten as his magic practice, because, for some reason, tungsten was very hard to manipulate using magic.
Also, the more volume of tungsten, the harder it is to use magic on it. It also used a decent amount of his magic, so he used it as practice. As a result, when he used his magic to influence the environment around him, it felt exponentially easier and smoother to do so.
He shook his head as the tungsten block took its cube form and was slowly placed on the desk. His final goal with this type of training was to emulate the scene of total environmental control that the Ancient One displayed in her battle against Kaecilius.
It was one badass way of displaying your dominance. The ability to just alter the terrain around you at will. It would work phenomenally on wizards who were weak and the ones who were strong, but never really looked beyond wizarding magic or pushed its boundaries to find what was possible or not.
Sure, most wizards could cast the Protego spell, creating a one dimensional shield around themselves, and that worked against the majority of wizards. But how could one use that if they did not know the direction of the attack? If the environment itself was attacking them from all sides? How would they survive that?
It was an intimidation tactic, a Mass area of effect attack, and an overall cool thing to learn, all in one. It also doubled as an effective training tactic, which is why he had been steadily increasing the mass of tungsten that he could manipulate. By his estimates, he should be able to emulate what the Ancient One did, at least in terms of city blocks, within twenty years, if he stuck to the same route.
He was hoping that learning Sorcery would shorten that time period drastically, but only time will tell if he was successful or not.
By the time he managed to hide stuff that was not supposed to be seen, William was already at his front door, knocking on it since the bell did not work anymore. Stupid, cheap apartment!
Grumbling to himself, this family stuff was really souring his mood in record time for no discernible reason whatsoever, he walked to the door and opened the door.
"Good morning, Damian!"
Whatever was on his tongue remained there as William stood there, with a smile on his face, as if they had known each other for years, instead of just meeting last night. He should have really clarified that last night, but it was just so disorienting to meet a family you never thought you had, that he completely forgot about it, or rather, ignored it because he did not want to create an awkward scene.
Well, no time like the present.
"Morning," He replied, if only to be polite. The next words were definitely not polite, though,
"What do you want?"
William's smile turned strained as he replied, "Look, I know yesterday was abrupt and inconsiderate of me to do so, but you must come back! The rest of the family will be thrilled to meet you once more. Don't you want to meet Mary, Rose, Ben–"
"Wait," he raised his hand, stopping William from naming every single member of the Hawthorne family, "I didn't say anything last night, and I can see now that it was a mistake on my part."
He waited a moment before dropping the bombshell, "I have amnesia. I don't remember anything from before the last three years. I only knew my name then, that's it." No need to tell him about the meta-knowledge, which was anyway, partly invalid because of the amalgamation of the two universes that he was living in right now.
"The fact that you guys even existed was news to me. So, I am sorry, but unfortunately, I am no longer the Damian that you know of." With that, he closed the door on the man's face, which made him feel horrible inside. It was as if he kicked a three legged puppy. He felt the man pop away a moment later, his magic in shambles due to the emotional shock.
Teleporting while being emotionally disturbed was not advised, but he supposed that the man was an Auror, so he knew what he was doing. Still, the fact that the news evoked such intense emotions in the man likely meant that William was not involved in whatever that misplaced him.
He still had no idea how he ended up in that forest. If it was simply on part of the ROB or if he just gave him the abilities in a body that was already dying because a child was somehow kept in one of the most remote forests of the world, hostile to both magicals and non magicals.
He took a deep breath and shook his head, no point in dwelling on it now. Best to get back to training. Even as he juggled multiple blocks of Tungsten, his mind went back to the short encounter he had first thing in the morning.
It bothered him more than he cared to admit. It was as if he felt some sort of connection with that man, despite not having met him even once before yesterday.
His brows furrowed as the blocks of tungsten fell one after the other around him, as a disturbing thought took hold in his mind. Could it be?
Could the original Damian, the one who grew up in a magical environment, with a presumably loving family, still be present in his mind, hidden somewhere? Could that remnant be influencing his mind, emotions, and decisions?
It just brought all his previous actions into question, the thought of which he violently quashed because going down that route was nothing but mental ruin. Frantically running to the fridge, he took out the one thing that had been with him, nearly from the start, and just gulped it all down.
Somehow, that single act of drinking that entire bottle of milk calmed him down, the thoughts that were about to spiral halting as his mind relaxed, recognising the familiar and perhaps, safe experience.
He sighed in relief as he leaned against the fridge, not knowing what to do. He didn't even know if anyone from Hogwarts was supposed to arrive or not. After all, they only did that for children who did not have any prior interaction with magic, i.e, muggleborns.
He was not even a Half-Blood. He was full magical blood, mixed with something else, something that he had a hunch was partly the fault of his birth parents. The ROB could be responsible for his entire powerset, but the whole thing reeks.
He grunted, the bottle of milk back in the fridge, as the fridge itself was covered in multiple security measures, and then moved back into the living room, to resume his training.
The familiar goal of getting to manipulate the terrain all around him kept him grounded for now, as he began training once more.
__xx__
It was later in the day, just after he was done with his lunch, a heavily greasy Chinese takeout from a nearby place, when he felt it once more. He rolled his eyes as the man, instead of just popping in at the front door, chose to take all the stairs for some reason.
Seeing that he was not training at the moment, he just chose to wait for the man, sitting on his bed, facing the door.
William arrived a couple of minutes later, knocking on the door. He snapped his fingers, opening the door, deadpanning at the smiling man, though he noted it to be far more nervous than the one he was subjected to in the morning.
William's eyes moved to the dishes being washed in the sink, as he offered, "So, had lunch?"
Confused at his actions, he nodded, "Yes, it is lunch time, after all."
"Right," William said, still staying outside the apartment, which suited him just fine, "Ofcourse, you already had lunch. Um, since you don't…remember anything, I was here to escort you and get your shopping done. The mandatory stuff. It is all inside the…letter."
William's words trailed off as his strained gaze roved over to the windows, as did his. He sensed that slightly magical signature minutes ago, as he deadpanned at the man before moving to the window, taking the letter from the owl's leg with ease, snapped his finger as a cabinet opened up in the kitchen, and Owl treats floated towards the Owl, whose eyes lit up at the sight.
He kept the window open as the Owl feasted himself on the treats, waving the letter in front of Wiliam's sheepish gaze, "You mean this letter?"
"Um..Yes."
He rolled his eyes at the man before opening the letter, a dream of millions from his home reality, who lamented the lack of any letter on their 11th birthday. He read through the entire thing, if only for the novelty factor.
There was the standard Hogwarts logo at the top, as the letter read :
HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY
Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore
(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)
Dear Mr. Hawthorne,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.
Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by 31 July.
Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress
And surely, as the letter said, there was a list enclosed with the letter, listing the mandatory stuff that one needs before attending Hogwarts. It was a basic list, with a list of uniform(s) required, a standard books package already available at Diagon Alley. That was it.
Unexpectedly spartan. Then again, nobles must have a whole other list for their students, which must include fancy stuff like enchanted robes, and maybe flying brooms.
"So," William spoke once more, drawing his attention to the man who was still not entering his apartment, "Shall we go?"
He nodded, folding the letter and snapping his fingers as the window closed, and the half eaten treats were thrown into the garbage bin. Stupid, ungrateful bird!
He then deadpanned at William, "Are you going to watch me change now?"
"W-What? Oh, no. Sorry!" Flustered, William turned around, as he reached out with his magic, snapping the door shut. He did that as a joke, but as it turns out, William, the star Auror, was not capable of understanding one.
With a single flex of his will, his enchanted clothing came to the forefront, the pajamas having been discarded, magically, as he was ready in less than ten seconds.
Now, if he were a woman, that would be a miracle.
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