While walking down the stairs of the orphanage quietly so I wouldn't wake up the younger kids I briefly debated why I seemed so unaffected by my whole situation.
I went to bed in my old world and suddenly woke up in a new body in a new world and just went along with it.
While I couldn't exactly exclude being mind controlled by the company to just accept my new reality and quickly get to work, I found it more likely that I was just so familiar with the reincarnation genre thanks to reading a ton of webnovels and watching some isekai anime that when it actually happened to me I just found it unsurprising.
Maybe my 13 years of memory from my alternate self also played a role, after all they were perfectly fused with my old self and I just had a feeling like I went to sleep just yesterday in the orphanage and really have been going to Hogwarts for the past 2 years despite also remembering going to sleep and working in my old world.
The real reason might just be a combination of all the factors, but I saw no merit to ponder upon it further, so I moved straight to the kitchen where I heard the two caretakers chatting quietly while preparing breakfast.
This orphanage was run by the church, so both caretakers were nuns. The older one was called Mother Agatha, nearing 70 years of age and a believer in strict discipline, though not in an abusive way.
The younger one was Sister Clara, around 30 years old and quite easygoing. They were the good and bad cop equivalent, the carrot and the stick of this orphanage.
"Mother Agatha, Sister Clara , good morning." I greeted both the same way as I remembered my alternate self doing.
While I never got on Agatha's bad side from what my memories told me, we were not close either, so I just emulated my old behaviour to avoid raised eyebrows.
"Ah good morning Darik, you're a bit early, breakfast isn't ready yet, but I could ..." Clara began but was interrupted by Agatha.
"None of that, we will all eat at the same table, at the same time, no snacks before breakfast. Also good morning Darik, would you be so kind as to help us prepare the table since you're already up?"
I offered Clara a smile for the attempt and began setting up the table immediately. Agatha really did not play any favorites, not that I minded, she was fair in her own 2nd world war general kind of way.
The orphanage, including the kitchen and dining room were just as old fashioned and barebones as my room and the only reason I even had a room of my own was likely because someone edited the memories of the caretakers to make it easier for me to keep the magic hidden from everyone here.
Setting up the table was finished in no time and the first kids began trudging into the dining room, Clara went to get the ones who were still sleeping while Agatha served us the classic English breakfast. Or rather the economic version of it , with less meat and more mashed potatoes. Orphanages were never famous for their luxurious lifestyle after all and that included their food.
Breakfast went over with no major events happening other than a helping of pudding for everyone at the end to celebrate my birthday. Thankfully the cleanup got assigned to someone else and I was about to head back up when I heard Clara calling out my name while holding up a letter with the Hogwarts seal on it.
The caretakers were not told about magic and only knew I got accepted into a prestigious boarding school, all their memories of my accidental magic use were removed for secrecy's sake too.
Which makes sense, after all religious institutions were not exactly on friendly terms with witches and wizards.
Thanks to that, my letter was delivered through "muggle" mail. In addition the letter was charmed to show non magicals only what they expected to see instead of the actual content if they ever opened the envelope.
Thanking Clara and opening up the letter I saw the classic list of books and supplies I would need for my 3rd year and the permission letter for Hogsmeade. The letter also mentioned that I could withdraw the scholarship the school was offering all orphans at Gringots to pay for my supplies.
That reminded me that The Company also offered me a monthly salary that could be paid out in any local currency. I could use that for my shopping too, there was more than just school supplies that I wanted after all.
"The school is asking for a signature from my guardians for a visit to a local village during the next school year, and the list of books also arrived. It's all covered by my scholarship as usual but I'll have to go out and retrieve it all just like last year."
I explained the content of the letter to Sister Clara while handing over the permission page that needed to be signed.
"Ofcourse my dear, just make sure to be home before dinner, do you need some money for a bus?"
Clara asked with a kind smile while taking the letter to the study where she briefly read through it and signed it without fuss.
"It's okay Sister, I still have some money left over from last year, the school is actually very generous."
And it was even true, If I don't waste all of it on sweets , butterbeer or joke products like most students do, I could easily get my own home by the end of 7th year.
Say what you will about the old man Dumbledore, but he was rather generous to muggleborn children, even if I didn't quite agree with the "greater good" philosophy, good intentions paved the road to hell after all.
I couldn't say whether he was truly just a hopeless pacifist or whether he was too afraid of losing a battle and having the elder wand fall into the wrong hands, but his inaction had caused a lot of harm to others.
Not to mention his almost criminal neglect of Harry's wellbeing, so I was not one of his biggest fans.
Shaking myself out of that line of thinking I accepted the signed paper from Sister Clara and headed up to get my suitcase which I would need to transport the pile of books and other supplies.
It was another unexpected benefit of living in an environment where secrecy had to be taken very seriously.
The suitcase was heavily enchanted to be ignored by non magicals on top of having an enlarged storage space to make sure I could store absolutely everything I would need for Hogwarts inside.
I was even strictly warned about not having any obviously magical items lying around in my room by my head of house at the end of my first year when I was about to return.
I was quite surprised by it, as it was proof that wizards could actually be competent with something if they really needed to be, they were just generally very very lazy when they didn't.
Saying goodbye to the caretakers I went out of the door , walking a few hundred meters down the road until I was out of the sight of the orphanage and held out my wand hand.
Not even 5 seconds later the infamous knight bus screeched to a halt out of nowhere right next to me.
It was a purple triple decker bus that perfectly fit into the wizard's weird over the top style. A somewhat young red haired guy with a conductor's hat and a purple wrinkled and unkempt jacket stepped out of the bus, held out a piece of paper and began reading out loud.
"Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard. Just stick out your wand hand, step on board, and we can take you anywhere you want to go. My name is Stan Shunpike, and I will be your conductor this morn'."
Stan, looked back up and watched me expectantly while stuffing the note back into his pocket once he finished.
"Good morning, to the Leaky Cauldron please."
I told him simply, and he seemed disappointed for some reason as if he was expecting a different reaction.
"Getting your school supplies early, eh? Sure, that's eleven Sickles, unless you want some hot chocolate."
He said while I entered the bus and placed my suitcase on a rack that Stan gestured at when he saw me holding it.
"No thanks, just the ride."
I replied with a wry smile and ignored his smirk while handing over 11 Sickles and sitting down on one of the beds, holding onto the handrails tightly.
Stan knew exactly what happened when someone ordered the hot chocolate while the bus was on the move. Most guests would not even get the first sip in before the chocolate splattered all over their face, clothes and the rest of the bus.
There was nobody on the first floor of the bus other than me but I could hear some snoring from the upper decks, how someone could sleep in here would forever be a mystery to me.
"Alright, take 'er away Earn'. To the Leaky Cauldron."
He yelled while putting the money away and knocking on the window to the driver.
"Yeah take it away Earny, it's going to be a bumpy ride!"
Some creepy head in the driver's cabin echoed while laughing manically.
Shaking my head at the silliness of this world I braced myself for the sudden acceleration as the bus took off like a rocket.
Ten minutes of a rollercoaster-like ride later, the bus screeched to a halt before the Leaky Cauldron and I was pretty sure that the only reason I managed to stay on the bed was because of the Body Tune-Up talent. I couldn't deny that I enjoyed every second of it however. I never claimed to be completely sane either after all.
"The Leaky Cauldron."
Stan said nonchalantly while gesturing towards the exit and I was certain he either used some charms or the uniform had enchantments to stay unaffected by the ride.
Getting up from the bed and taking my suitcase from the rack that was likely enchanted to prevent it from flying all over the place, I headed out towards this world's iconic bar, the Leaky Cauldron.
It was much busier than usual and I guessed it was because word got around that Harry Potter would be attending Hogwarts this year, which led many people to loiter around the places that he would likely pass through to get his school supplies soon.
It also looked much cleaner than I remember, presumably for the same reason, but it still had the usual weirdness I started associating with the wizarding world with floating or animated objects everywhere and crooked architecture.
I briefly considered whether there would be any benefit in meeting Harry but discarded that idea.
I was not ready to get involved with the protagonist yet and I did not want to derail the plot. Knowing exactly what would happen was one of the few advantages I didn't want to give up on.
I moved through the bar towards the back while ignoring all people and found myself standing in front of the wall that would lead me to Diagon Alley.
Going through my memories I easily identified the spots I would have to tap with my wand but as I took it out I paused briefly to take a closer look. It was the first time I personally saw my wand in the daylight.
Cherry wood with Dragon heartstring for the core according to my memories from when I got paired with it. Olivander said it was a combination that was very hard to tame without exceptional self control and strength of mind.
So far my alternate self had no issues with it and I was confident I could live up to the same standards.
Going back to the problem at hand, I tapped the bricks in the same sequence I was taught by Professor McGonagall during my introduction to Diagon Alley and watched as the bricks began moving and the wall re-arranged itself before me into a gateway.
Stepping through, I marveled at the iconic shopping street. It was slightly less busy than in the movies since it was still somewhat early in the morning. There were quite a few people walking from shop to shop already despite the time and some shopkeepers levitating new wares into their display windows too as they opened their shops.
Seeing all the people dressed in robes reminded me that I stood out like a sore thumb in my regular "muggle" clothes, so I stepped to the side and took out a robe from my suitcase and threw it over my regular clothes before carrying on.
My first stop was Gringots, I still had to retrieve my scholarship money before I could take care of the shopping.
Strictly speaking I no longer needed it thanks to the company's salary, which would be more than 1300 Galleons each month, but It was safer to keep up appearances and not make people wonder how I bought my supplies without getting the money first.
After walking down the street I saw many stores selling animals too, which reminded me that I actually didn't have a pet. It was mostly a suggestion anyway, nobody enforced whether you had a pet or not and it was just an owl for most people to exchange letters with.
Because of my circumstances I obviously couldn't have an owl, and my past self didn't feel like spending money on a pet that had no practical use, something I agreed with too.
Finally catching sight of the bank I was somewhat disappointed.
Gringots was outwardly just as weird as every other building on the street, made entirely out of marble but still crooked in some places. It was the biggest and most impressive building on the entire street but It was hardly an architectural marvel, at least outwardly.
From what I remembered in the movies the underground area was quite impressive. I didn't own any vaults there so I won't be able to see it during this summer sadly, but with my company salary piling up over the school year there should be no issue of opening a vault next year if I manage to find a plausible explanation for how I actually got it.
The inside was somewhat opulent with chandeliers made of gold and crystal hanging from the high ceiling and lavishly decorated teller stands on each side of the lobby but there were so many spiderwebs in those chandeliers that I wondered how this place has not burned down yet.
Each stand was higher than the average wizard and possibly only Hagrid or others with giant blood could hope to see the goblins manning them eye to eye, every one else would have to look up and be looked down upon by the goblins.
The goblins were as unfriendly and ugly as I remembered from the movies but after some back and forth with a teller that took his sweet time, I was the proud owner of another 200 Galleons, more than enough for every book on the list, a new cauldron if necessary and a new set of clothes if I needed any.
I briefly considered doing an inheritance test, since my parents were entirely unknown and I was found outside the orphanage as a baby one day, but for the upcoming year there would be no benefit of being recognised as a member or heir of a noble house even if the test brought positive results. Something I doubted because of how cheap my origin was in terms of credits.
So like any self respecting Ravenclaw, I headed immediately for the book store after leaving the bank.
Unlike the previous 2 years, I purchased all the books I would need for all of my school years, from 3rd to 7th to get the business part of this trip out of the way.
The store owner just rolled his eyes and muttered something about Ravenclaws after he saw the house emblem on my robe, making me smirk internally since I didn't even have to try and come up with an explanation.
Next up, was the pleasure part. There were many things not covered in the regular school curriculum, like household magic, spell creation theory , rituals , alchemy , enchanting , wards , healing, cursebreaking and of course combat magic , also known as dark arts.
The latter was conspicuously absent from the entire bookstore, but that was to be expected. Thankfully I found a few books on household magic and a single book about some spell creation theory.
Rituals and cursebreaking were entirely absent from the store too and the only book about alchemy was an encyclopedia of various "elements", nothing about how to get started with it.
After nearly going through the entire store, book by book, I found one about basic healing of small wounds and a few wards for securing a camping site against wildlife and ... muggles.
I sighed internally about how arrogant wizards were to put non magicals and wildlife on the same level. Personally I already found the word "muggle" distasteful and depreciating but I didn't care enough to try and steer the world away from an inevitable war between non magicals and magicals.
Shaking myself away from my wandering thoughts once again I went to the checkout with another pile of books, earning myself another weird look from the shopkeeper, who didn't even comment this time. I didn't know what his problem was anyway, he was running a book store and grumbled about people buying books.
I winced slightly at the price of some of those books , but I wasn't too worried about spending half my money on them, next month I would have another 1300 Galleons to spend again.
After the bookstore I decided to go through my shopping list as fast as possible and was left with only one more stop before I was ready to leave Diagon Alley, which was "Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions".
I needed some clothes that offered a bit of protection or at least offered some more convenience. All I had were bog standard school robes.
As I walked in through the door I noticed that I was not the only customer and to my surprise I immediately recognized the bushy hairstyle of Hermione Granger, accompanied by both her parents and Professor McGonagall.
In hindsight it was hardly surprising that Hermione would not wish to wait and went to Diagon Alley immediately after getting her letter.
"Can we finally go get the books please, why do we have to go there last?"
I heard her complain to her parents while Madam Malkins disappeared into the workshop after getting her measurements.
"Because we know you my dear and if we went to the book store first we wouldn't be able to get you out of there before lunch and I'm sure Professor McGonagall is a busy woman and can't accompany us all day."
I couldn't help but snort in amusement at that, which drew their attention to me.
"Mr. Night" McGonagall simply said in greeting, her expression was professional but I could tell she was amused by the situation as well.
"Good morning Professor, it sounds like you are introducing the school's latest Ravenclaw to our world?"
Despite knowing Hermione would most likely end up in Gryffindor I couldn't help but tease McGonagall a little, she was surely trying to encourage Hermione to join her own house subtly and out of school was probably the only time where I could get away with a little cheek.
"That remains to be seen, Mr. Night, whichever house Miss Granger ends up in will be revealed at the sorting ceremony. We shouldn't speculate about it beforehand."
She lightly reprimanded me but it lacked conviction, she was likely doing some speculation herself but had to keep up appearances.
"You're right Professor, sorry."
I apologized, not wanting to push my luck, she was notoriously strict afterall.
"Sorry for interrupting your shopping, I'm Darick Night, a 3rd year student at Hogwarts, I also found out about magic 2 years ago, so I know it can be a bit much if you had no knowledge about it beforehand."
I apologized to the Granger family too while cringing internally at my name. They were watching our interaction with interest, likely seeing another student for the first time as I hadn't seen any run around Diagon Alley this morning yet.
"And don't worry about the sorting ceremony, it's nothing bad, it's simply tradition not to speak about it before you find out on your own." I added quickly when I saw Hermione still had questions about houses.
She didn't have her know it all attitude yet, I guessed that it came to be after she read all the books.
"It's no bother at all, nice to meet you Mr. Night, I'm Daniel and these are my wife Helen and my daughter Hermione Granger." Hermione's father introduced the whole family, emulating McGonagall's way of address.
"Do you already know some spells? What is the school like? Are there a lot of students?"
Hermione could no longer hold back and started asking questions as soon as her father finished the introductions.
She was evidently still excited about the entire affair, finding out that magic was real and finding out that she would soon be attending a school where she could learn it.
"Just Darick is fine, Wizards and Witches like formality, but I'm just 13, being called Mr. feels weird to me." I replied to Daniel Granger, slightly surprised to learn their names as they were never mentioned anywhere.
"And yes, I do know a few spells, but I can't show you unfortunately, students are not allowed to use magic outside of school. The School is a really big castle, but almost everything inside is magical, and there are between 20 to 30 students each year in total, so not that many."
I rattled down the answers to Hermione's questions, there was no harm in entertaining her a little.
After processing my first set of answers she was about to ask more but was interrupted by Madam Malkin returning with Hermione's finished school uniforms and got dragged away by her Mother to try them on and see if they fit.
Something that annoyed Hermione and Madam Malkin alike, for different reasons though. Madam Malkin was already used to people without magical background not understanding that the robes were magically adjusted to fit perfectly but it still annoyed her to have her work questioned.
While Hermione was busy trying on the clothes in the changing room I placed my own orders, unfortunately with McGonagall around I couldn't casually take out hundreds of Galleons for enchanted clothing, so I just got two more sets of regular school uniforms.
Thinking about the lack of books on enchanting despite the presence of enchanted items in nearly every shop I decided to simply ask McGonagall about it while she was still around.
"Professor, I've noticed that every shop is selling enchanted items, but I could not find any books about enchanting in the book store earlier. Are there some conditions for learning it?"
"The reason why you can't find books about it is because what you call enchanting is simply a different way of applying charms, the technique is taught in 6th year because most students simply don't have enough magic reserves to use it and it requires another technique only learned in 5th year as a prerequisite."
McGonagall doesn't go into much detail, so I'll just look it up in the books once I'm home and stop annoying the poor woman with even more questions.
"I see , thank you Professor, you must be tired of questions for today so I won't bother you any further."
I said with a smile while Madam Malkin returned with my order, which I put in my suitcase without trying it on. It was better to leave now before I got sidetracked even more or end up derailing the plot with careless remarks.
After saying goodbye to McGonagall and the Granger family I beelined towards the exit of Diagon Alley, changed back to normal clothes and left for the non magical parts of London.
Without proper ways of disguising and protecting myself I wouldn't risk going to Knockturn Alley, so I decided to visit a regular hardware store to arm myself for the Bloody Palace mission.
Company missions would change every day and I was not sure whether I would be directly transported as soon as I accepted the mission, so I had to finish my preparations before the end of the day and lock the mission in.