"So, the walk with friends didn't go well," I was forced to sum up the sad result of my meeting with the Marauders... We never managed to buy our school supplies, deciding to leave Diagon Alley through the personal Floo of the bookstore owner. He himself offered this option to all the random travelers who had ducked into his shop, escaping the ongoing riots.
And we didn't refuse, deciding that we could meet up sometime later, and right now walking around the main shopping district of Magical Britain was not a very reasonable or attractive idea. The magical civil war flared up stronger every day, Death Eater raids were becoming an almost regular occurrence, and many Muggle-borns and half-bloods were trying to flee the country...
I knew about all this, reading the newspapers and sometimes listening to Lyall's disgruntled lamentations, but until recently I hadn't felt the full tragedy of the situation. After all, my father's and my house was located quite far from large magical settlements, and its defenses were not bad. My father, after the fateful werewolf attack on our house, had become a very paranoid person in this regard...
Because of this, I wasn't too worried about the problems of the outside world, worrying more about my own future. In the end, right now I couldn't influence the general situation in any way, which is why I tried not to clutter my head too much with unnecessary worries.
"It's just that I won't be able to turn a blind eye to everything that's happening anymore," I sighed to myself, remembering the recent riots and Sirius's words that his older cousin had already joined Voldemort. "I need to come up with something..." I set myself a goal, however, still having no idea what could be done in such a situation.
Knowledge from my past life about the possible future of this world made it clear that no one would do anything with the Dark Lord in the coming years, and the situation would most likely only escalate over time... And so it would go until Voldemort killed himself on a one-year-old baby, which even sounds like complete nonsense.
In this world, of course, there are all sorts of prophecies and other such nonsense, but you can't believe in all of them. As a rule, any prophecy is very difficult to interpret unequivocally, not to mention the highly abstract concept of fate in general...
"Besides, that prophecy hasn't even been spoken yet, and my actions should have somewhat changed the fates of all the Marauders anyway," I perfectly realized this simple truth, biting the thumbnail of my right hand in displeasure.
No matter how much I thought and what options I considered, at the moment everything led to the fact that I had only one way out—to forget about that nonsense shown in the Harry Potter movies and proceed from the fact that no one would deal with the Dark Lord so easily... And while this problem doesn't really concern me directly right now, except for periodic skirmishes at Hogwarts, after school...
"Sirius and James won't sit on the sidelines. Their families are already involved in all this, and knowing the characters of these Gryffindors... they'll throw themselves on the barricades on their own," I rubbed my temples with effort, realizing that the plan to leave the country after school would imply a complete break in relations with the Marauders.
"Which I wouldn't want, but if push comes to shove, I could probably take such a step... right now. What will be in my head in a couple of years—I won't presume to guess," I sprawled on the bed, already starting to curse my recent desire to meet the guys in Diagon Alley.
Coming out of my training binge turned out to be not very pleasant, forcing me to suffer for hours from not the most pleasant thoughts... Which, however, I decided to end very soon, agreeing on the thought that it was useless to struggle right now anyway.
"Since I can't influence the situation in any way yet—there's no point in trying. I will continue my training and studies, gain strength and knowledge... In the magical world, they decide a lot. And then we'll see which side this life turns to me and what to do with all sorts of Dark Lords," I decided for myself, finally casting unnecessary thoughts aside.
Or so I wanted to think, because for the next few days I was constantly drawn back to my less-than-cheerful thoughts. I also started reading the newspapers more often, periodically talked with my father about whether our family could become a target for the Dark Lord and his Death Eaters, and simply... felt out of place.
Only training helped distract me from those ugly truths and things that I had so diligently, but unconsciously, ignored until recently. Because of which, at some point, I decided to completely deprive myself of free time... And even though it was hard—to train constantly—I gradually got into the rhythm.
Physical training, practicing spells, each of which I tried to consciously empower or weaken, controlling the amount of energy put into them, mental magic, and brewing potions... All this required a lot of time. If I started alternating such workouts in a continuous stream—it felt bad.
Morally bad, because even though I was used to training, spending all my time on it... it was exhausting like nothing else. And only a fairly active correspondence with friends and a couple of Gryffindor girls, with whom my communication didn't end after a few exam weeks, helped me distract myself a little.
However, my overall condition still left much to be desired. Even Lyall seemed to start worrying about me, but there was still a result. And I'm not talking so much about my successes in training, as about my own moral calmness.
The two-week training marathon helped me get rid of unnecessary thoughts and worries. After some rethinking, I was once again able to look into my own future with cold determination to solve future problems and fight for a place under the sun... Actually, with roughly this mindset, I decided to organize a new meeting of the Marauders. True, this time not in the magical world, but in the Muggle one.
After all, Peter and I were not only half-bloods, we also lived in two worlds, knowing the life of ordinary people quite well... Which previously hadn't particularly interested the pureblood part of our company. But they still didn't refuse the idea of taking a walk around ordinary London. Which ultimately resulted in three more walks during the last week of the summer holidays.
James and Sirius liked the ordinary world, and even though they behaved somewhat wildly in it, like village boys who somehow ended up in a real metropolis... Which London of the seventies was only by a stretch of the imagination. But the behavior of my pureblood friends didn't become a particular problem.
On the contrary, it was pleasant and fun to introduce them to the everyday life of ordinary people, talking about how cars or motorcycles work, which both guys got quite interested in... And also, surprisingly, such a walk had a rather good effect on Peter.
For once, this plump and slightly intimidated boy felt a surge of courage and enthusiasm, realizing that he was superior to us in at least something. And he really knew the Muggle world and London in particular perfectly well, living just an hour's drive from our country's capital...
In short, it turned out to be fun and interesting, and life returned to its usual rut... Just a couple of weeks before leaving for Hogwarts.
"Right on time, what can I say," I snorted mockingly under my breath then, but I didn't feel any particular displeasure. On the contrary—I was already looking forward to returning to Hogwarts.
Because Potter and Black had already managed to tell me so many interesting things about their own successes in magic and learning new spells... It was terrifying how much I wanted to study all this as soon as possible, and simply clash with the guys in a training "duel." I had seriously improved in strength and technique too... Even if almost no new spells were added to my arsenal, the power and speed of execution of the old ones had improved almost exponentially.
I even learned to use my favorite Depulso—the Banishing Charm—non-verbally... Which a couple of books on non-verbal magic, lying around in the Lupin family library, helped me with.
"And it seems I'm not the only one anticipating it," I whispered quietly, finding my friends on the Hogwarts Express. They were just too loudly discussing who was going to beat whose neck. "Hey, guys! And you, I see, still can't calm down?"
"Moony! You're just in time!" Sirius quickly greeted me. "Tell this ram already that Protego Duo has no chance against Dul-Bao."
"Dul-Bao—is that the spell the Chinese invented as an alternative to our Bombarda?" I clarified, somewhat taken aback by such a frantic onslaught from my friends.
"Yeah, but the power of the spell turned out to be frankly mediocre, Bombarda would be stronger," Potter snorted, looking at Black with superiority.
"Who cares about power! Dul-Bao is almost impossible to block with purely energetic shields. It destabilizes them and still creates an explosion!" Sirius insisted, seemingly starting to forget about me.
"Yeah, you guys are having fun here," I sighed, not getting involved in someone else's argument. I simply didn't know all the nuances of the spell the guys were discussing. "Where's Peter?"
"Hasn't arrived yet," Sirius simply brushed it off.
"Okay, then I'll go for a walk for now," I sighed, dragging my trunk into the compartment. "Just let me throw my things in. I don't want to run around the train with a trunk."
"Going to look for someone?" James got distracted from the argument.
"Just going to say hi to some acquaintances," I brushed off the guys, being slightly insincere. In fact, I had a small arrangement with a couple of Gryffindor girls. In her last letter, Lily bragged about successfully purchasing some Potions magazines from a junk dealer, promising to lend them to me in exchange for my Transfiguration notes from last year...
Which could be considered a profitable deal, which I intended to carry out as soon as possible. Anyway, Sirius was unlikely to share the literature he brought before we got to Hogwarts. So I want to get myself a couple of extra magazines for light reading... Because we have a long journey ahead, by the end of the road, I'm sure, all the zeal to talk will run out, and I don't really want to just sit and be bored.
I had already lost the habit of idleness and didn't want to get used to it again just yet... So I only have two options to choose from—either go and trade with Lily Evans for Potions magazines, or play with mental magic, trying to catch the superficial thoughts of my friends... And even though both options will, by and large, suit me. But it's better to have an alternative anyway.
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