34 Return to the small garden and legal problems

I won't dwell too much, this Christmas break will have a maximum of 3 chapters before returning to Hogwarts.

Chapter 31 – Return to the small garden and legal problems

Upon entering the house, Simon looked around trying to identify what had changed over 7 years. He was somewhat surprised to see that little had changed. Although many pieces of furniture had been replaced with new ones, everything was exactly the same.

"Come on, Simon, we have to see the headmistress," Heloise suddenly woke Simon from his little reverie, and both went to the dining room.

He heard voices coming from the room even before entering, easily creating an image in his mind of children, teenagers, and adults all talking and playing while helping themselves. Heloise left her suitcases on the floor before waving for Simon to do the same and follow her.

In the dining room, a group of almost 40 people gathered in front of a sumptuous dining table, and in the central chair sat a beautiful middle-aged lady with blonde hair, some already turning white, and small wrinkles on her beautiful face. Obviously, she was the matriarch of this large family and the director of the orphanage, Victoria Leblanc.

Beside her was another acquaintance of Simon, Anna, who served as the housekeeper and helped take care of the children with Victoria. If there was something different about her, it was that she wasn't beside her husband but rather a little girl of about 7 years old.

Simon quickly realized that she was his daughter with old Thomas. Remembering him, he looked around and saw that the old caretaker was nowhere to be found. He wasn't one to be late for dinner; in fact, he was always the first to be at the table with the children, albeit new ones.

Seeing that he wasn't there, there was no need to think much about it. Simon knew that the old veteran had health problems, so if he wasn't here, it could only mean one thing, that he had passed away.

A certain sadness momentarily took hold of Simon, but he soon set it aside as he and Heloise were finally noticed by the headmistress.

Victoria gave a happy smile upon seeing Heloise, but before she could say anything, her smile stiffened before beginning to fade as she noticed Simon. Instead, a confused look passed over her face before turning into shock and finally into what seemed like a mixture of relief and sadness.

With tears in her eyes, Victoria rose from the table, almost knocking over some things on the table, and ran towards the two guests in quick steps, and before Simon could react, he was embraced.

"Simon... Simon," Victoria hugged the boy tightly while saying his name repeatedly. Everyone else looked at the scene with some confusion. They recognized Heloise, and many children at the table stood up and ran towards her.

Anna looked at Victoria and then at Simon, an expression of shock and surprise also appearing on her face, while small tears welled up in her eyes.

As the younger children and some older ones, who were still at the table, wondered who Simon was, he just stood there as the headmistress hugged him. He could feel all the worry and anguish of the headmistress draining from her body as she hugged him.

He didn't know how Victoria had recognized him; even Heloise, although at first she suspected he was her brother when she saw him at Hogwarts, it wasn't until she heard his name that she could be sure.

"A mother's love maybe?" Simon thought in his mind as he felt Victoria's embrace.

Family love was something Simon wasn't accustomed to. He was never very close to his family in his previous life. His egocentric mother, crazy for control, dictated every step of his life, making him nothing more than a doormat to her desires until he could finally escape from her.

His sister, unlike him, had always been stronger and had a fierce personality and never gave in to their mother's control, so she ended up leaving home and going to live with their grandmother.

As for his father, Simon knew him, but he had no consideration for him. In his view, he was just a sperm donor and nothing more.

Because of this, there was a side of Simon that genuinely sought the life of an ordinary person. He wished one day to meet a nice girl, date, marry, have children, raise them properly, and see them follow their own path.

After an unknown amount of time, Victoria finally stopped crying and looked into Simon's eyes. The little boy from before had grown up. Although still young, Simon was a bit tall for his age, measuring 1.63m (5'34").

"Simon..." Victoria seemed to want to say something, but in the end, she didn't say anything and just looked at her precious son.

Heloise, who was beside them, just smiled at seeing her mother and her brother before settling the children back at the table.

Shortly after, Simon and Heloise managed to find a place at the table, and although some children were still puzzled by their presence, Victoria was all smiles as she began the dinner.

XXXXX

In the following days, Simon woke up early and had breakfast with Anna and Victoria. At no time did they ask anything about how or why he had disappeared.

He also had no interest, or even courage, to tell them about the magical world or anything he had done, however, to alleviate some of his concerns, he ended up talking about Stephanos and how he had lived for the past 7 years.

In these few days, he was living a good life, away from Hogwarts, away from his laboratory, away from alchemy, even when he slept, he avoided reading the books that contained Al and Ed's knowledge and just rested. For the first time in 7 years, no, for the first time since he arrived in this world, Simon lived like an ordinary child without problems. At least until he received unexpected news.

"Contesting?"

"Yes."

Simon looked at the man in front of him with some displeasure. He was a lawyer representing Stephanos and was supposed to deliver his inheritance to him. However, here he is saying that there were people contesting the will.

"Who is responsible? The government? I know that 40% of the value will go to them, and really that doesn't matter much to me."

"No, who has been contesting and demands a large part if not all is a woman named Sophia Stargrove. She claims to be Mr. Stephanos's daughter and wants a share of the inheritance."

"She?" Hearing the lawyer's words, Simon was a bit surprised. Never in his wildest dreams did he imagine that Stephanos's daughter could come to him for his money.

"What did she say?" Simon asked with a slightly unpleasant expression.

The lawyer seemed not to notice Simon's expression as he began to dictate Sophia's demands, which Simon didn't even pay attention to, besides that she demanded at least 80% of the assets.

Instead, he had already begun to plan how to get rid of this little setback. It wasn't a matter of money; he could make as much gold as he wanted; it was just that he didn't like someone taking his things or interfering with his plans.

Were there simpler ways to solve this? Yes. But why waste time with conversations when you can simply kill whoever is bothering you. Besides, Simon could use this opportunity to see how he and Envy would fare in a fight against wizards and, in the process, get some bodies for experiments.