33 Ch 33 HP 10

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"Why are we going to the ritual room, Carl?" Hermione asked as they stood in front of the door he had requested of the Room of Requirement the next Saturday morning.

Carl looked at the two girl's faces. Hermione looked a bit impatient because he hadn't told her just what he was dragging them away for. Luna only looked mildly inquisitive, like usual. Luna was pretty good at reserving judgment until she'd heard all the facts, or all the sides.

"Well, I never really explained this room very well before. Let's get inside first, then I'll tell you." Carl ushered them inside.

He was amused to see their expressions at the room they got instead of a ritual room. It was set up to be a comfortable lounge, with a large fireplace and a couch in front of it. In the middle of the room was a table with chairs around it, and a pensieve on the table. There were doors for bathrooms off to the side.

"Welcome to the Room of Requirement." Carl said after he closed the door behind them. "This room will become whatever you require of it. The only thing it can't do is create food for us, or create something that can be taken outside its borders."

Luna clapped in excitement. "Oh, this has so many possibilities!" She gushed, while Hermione seemed a little lost in thought.

Carl smiled back at Luna. "It really does. I'll tell you about what I've done with the room later, but for now, let's sit at the table so I can tell you why we're here."

Once everyone was settled, Carl looked back and forth between the two girls, thinking of how to start.

"So, I've got a really big secret that I've never told anyone in this world." Carl began. "Ever since we started to get closer, I've been planning to tell you two eventually. But when you practically demanded dates, I felt I had to disclose the information early." Carl was grinning to let them know he was teasing the two girls.

"Like we had to twist your arms to get you to agree to the dates." Luna airily stated while Hermione frowned at him.

Carl held up his hands in surrender. "Yes, it was such a huge sacrifice on my part." He said in a pretend suffering voice.

"Well, if it was such a hardship, I'm sure there won't be a repeat performance anytime soon." Hermione grumped at Carl in retaliation.

Carl just chuckled back at Hermione, not willing to be baited. "Well, it's about that I really needed to share this secret. It's only fair that you know about it before we get any more serious. This might get a bit deep, but to understand about my secret, I need to explain it in depth."

"There's this thing called Multiverse theory. It's the idea that there are infinite permutations of the universe out there somewhere. That each time we have a decision to make, whether to turn left or turn right on a path; whether to go to Hogwarts or Beauxbaton to study; whether to ask someone out or not, a universe is created or split off or whatever for each of those decisions."

"Well, all of those universes created out of different decisions floating around are only for one world. For this world. That's basically the multiverse. All the possible versions of this world, this universe."

"Somewhere further out there are universes that greatly resemble the fiction stories here on this Earth. So somewhere out there is a universe where Jedi are real, and there is a galactic empire. And that universe has its own multiverse."

"The collection of different multiverses lead to a metaverse. A collection of different metaverses lead up to, well, it's all theory really." Carl stopped and scratched the back of his head as he chuckled. "So, basically, the idea is that everything, everywhere, and everywhen adds up to make up the the Omniverse, if it can be imagined, and even if it can't, somewhere out there it's real."

Carl paused for a bit to let Hermione and Luna digest what he'd said. He could see that they understood his explanation, but soaking up the idea usually took people a few minutes. It certainly took quite a bit more than a few minutes for Carl when he started living it.

"Keep in mind the understanding that everything is possible somewhere out there." Carl waved vaguely as he continued his explanation when he saw the two girls were ready. "Now I need to tell you about a little something called a Jumpchain, and how I got stuck on one…"

And Carl spent the next few of hours, telling his story to Hermione and Luna. He answered their questions, and showed them some of his memories in the pensieve. Carl was pleased they seemed to be taking it well.

However, he noticed that Luna's eyebrows were scrunched up, indicating she was thinking about something. Carl just sat back and waited for her to verbalize her thought.

"You mentioned that the stories we have here are reality elsewhere. Were we a story to you before you came here?" Luna eventually asked. Hermione perked up at the question, looking at Carl for an answer to the question.

When he heard the question, he could only grin wryly at the too smart for his good girls.

"Yes." He answered. If he was coming clean, he had to be honest. "It was a seven book series, made into eight movies. And your lives were very different. Are you sure you want to hear about it?" Carl asked. He wasn't sure about how much they wanted to know.

"Ooh, ooh, yes!" Luna cheerily answered. Hermione nodded agreement.

Carl winced. "Okay. The first book was called Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. The book started when Dumbledore, Hagrid, and McGonagall met on a dark street to drop off a baby Harry with the muggle sister of his mother. Over the next ten or so years he would not be treated with love or kindness. He was burdened with a very large number of chores, and his bedroom was the cupboard under the stairs. One day…"

Over the next several hours, Carl related the tale, only pausing for tea, food, and bathroom breaks. He could see that Luna was sad that she wasn't even in the story until the fifth book, and the little she could tell, her life would have been miserable alone in Ravenclaw. And when she heard about her time in Malfoy manor being tortured, she shuddered in relief. She knew from old issues of the papers exactly what kind of treatment she could expect from Death Eaters.

Hermione felt great relief that she wasn't stuck in Gryffindor with a friend like Ron with whom she obviously didn't get on with and a repressed Harry that didn't study. She was also happy that she didn't have to get involved in the "adventures" each year that nearly killed them. She was happy when she thought about the effort Carl had gone through in their third year to make sure she stayed rested while messing about with time.

"…19 years later, on platform 9 and ¾…and that's how the story ended." Carl finished.

"I would have married trash compactor Weasley?" Hermione asked disbelievingly.

"Well, he's gotten a lot better lately. And that was a very different you, in a different universe." Carl responded.

"Okay, fine. He's gotten better. But I still can't see me ever getting close enough to him to marry." Hermione scowled.

"So, that ritual we did to get rid of Harry's scar curse?" Luna asked.

"Yup, we transferred the horcrux from him." Carl nodded in affirmation. "I later used the horcrux as the link with a version of the ritual I'd used back in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer world to basically suck up all of Tom Riddle's magic and soul pieces and place them in some storage stones. I've since cleansed them of any taint of dark magic or any hint of Tom Riddle. He's never coming back. I just didn't expect that the Dark Marks he placed on his followers would yoink all of his followers magic too and put them in comas. Not that I'm sad about that. Not having to put up with Snape is a godsend, really. I mean, we're actually learning about potions without being insulted."

Eventually though, Hermione brought up her biggest concern. "So what does this mean for us?"

Carl very carefully didn't shrug in response. He maintained eye contact, switching between the two. "I'm a bit older mentally, even if I am 16 physically. I don't really go into these worlds with plans to seduce gorgeous women like you two." A little bit of honest flattery never hurt, judging by their faint blushes. "I like hanging out with our friends, and you two lovely ladies especially. When you all but demanded dates, I figured it was time to let you know about me so you don't go into a relationship with me blind."

"I leave each world after 10 years. But I've been told that time for this world will freeze while I'm gone and that I'll have the opportunity to come back after a certain number of worlds so that I can 'recruit' people into my jump. So the decision is yours to make. Are you interested in a relationship? And are you interested in eventually joining me in the Jump Chain? You have all the information. The choice is now yours."

"I'm telling you this to be completely open and transparent about what our relationship would entail. How far or fast we take our relationship, or even if we even have a relationship at all is up to you to decide. I won't pressure you in any way." When he saw their hesitation, Carl tried to reassure them. "I know it's all a lot to take in. Do you need time to consider things before answering me?"

Carl watched as Hermione chewed on her lip, thinking deeply about her answer. Luna mostly watched Hermione while she thought about it.

"Why don't you go do something and let us girls have some time to talk about it, Carl." Luna finally jumped in when Hermione was taking too long. Luna gave Carl a reassuring grin, then continued to look intently at Hermione

Carl nodded. The girls had some things to discuss. He stood up and hugged Hermione and Luna before making his way to the door. "No matter what you decide, it won't change the fact that we're friends, and will always remain so." Carl offered with a grin before departing the Room of Requirement to let the girls work it out.

'That went well.' Carl optimistically thought as he went on his way to find something to occupy himself with that didn't involve brooding. Brooding was baaaaad.

Telling the girls the original Harry Potter story had reminded Carl about something that he should have taken care of back in first year. He wasn't sure just why it had slipped his mind for so long.

'Probably because Neville is so used to not talking about it, that I just forgot.' Carl thought as he made his way into St. Mungo's in the middle of Saturday night.

The single healer on duty at the desk didn't even look up as Carl ghosted past him. He had applied the sight, sound, and smell blocking charms on himself to sneak in easier. There weren't even any alarm or security wards, since there really wasn't anything worth stealing.

After checking what floor the long term care ward was on, he climbed the stairs instead of using the elevator. Peeking out into the hall, he saw the coast was clear. The hospital was very quiet at night with no one wandering the halls.

He started checking the rooms of those who stayed on the floor, and eventually found the Longbottom room. Looking in he saw two beds occupied by a man and a woman. He quickly checked to see if there was an alarm spell to alert the nurses if the occupants wandered. There was no alarm, but the door was locked to prevent them from leaving.

Carl quickly and easily unlocked the door, slipping inside and closing the door behind him. He looked over the sleeping forms of Neville's parents, frowning at their wasted look.

'Man, I wish I had done this earlier.' Carl thought. 'But better late, then never.'

He opened the portal to his warehouse and saw that Rover was perched just inside, looking at Carl inquisitively.

"They are the parents of a friend that's going to get a round of healing in the bed, Rover." Carl replied to his familiar's look. Rover chirped encouragingly.

Carl levitated them to the medical bay. He placed Alice in the bed first, and had the medbay scan her. When the diagnosis was complete, Carl hit the button to heal her. A short time later, she was just starting to open her eyes, when Carl stunned her. Even though he was wearing a different face, he didn't want them to see him or start asking all kinds of questions. Let the whole thing be a mystery when they woke up in the morning.

He levitated Alice off the medbay bed, and moved Frank over. A quick scan and heal later, and Frank was also healed and stunned.

Carl then levitated his friend's parents back to their beds in St. Mungo. It was an easy in and an easier out operation.

"Hey Rover, how about a ride back to Hogwarts?" Carl asked his familiar. With a light hearted little chirping, Rover flamed them back to his room. Carl spent some time thanking his little dog turned bird for the taxi ride before starting his evening's study and meditation routine.

Neville had visitors show up Monday morning. His grandmother and parents took him out of class for a few days so they could catch up and get to know each other.

When he returned, Neville seemed was really happy, and shared the good news with his friends. Luna gave Carl a knowing look. Hermione had still been wrestling with the issue of whether or not she wanted to get involved with Carl due to him being so much older than she thought. But when Hermione saw Luna's reaction to Neville's news of his healed parents, she realized that Carl had been the one to heal the Longbottoms, and she made her decision.

That night Hermione dragged Luna and Carl to the Room of Requirement for a talk. Usually Carl would think that the phrase "we need to talk" would be a precursor to a break up. But he cheated a bit with his Sherlock ability and could tell that he wouldn't be getting the "it's not me, it's you" talk.

"I realize it must have seemed bad for me to hesitate so much after I demanded a date." Hermione took the lead. "It's just the unusualness of what you shared had me questioning everything. I thought I knew you, Carl, but then I found out you had such a big secret, it made me wonder if I really knew you." Carl nodded attentively, showing Hermione he was paying attention.

"But then, when I realized you were the one to heal the Longbottoms over the weekend, I realized that I did already know you. You are still the good man I got to know over the past four plus years. And I realized that there was no need for me to hesitate anymore. Knowing that there was even more to you than I knew, actually made the idea of dating you more exciting."

Carl smiled warmly at Hermione, reaching out and holding her and Luna's hands. "I'm glad you feel that way. I'm also honored to be accepted by two such lovely ladies."

"I was just waiting for Hermione to clear out the Wrackspurts so we could have some threesomes." Luna piped up.

"Luna!" Hermione gasped in shock. Carl just grinned, enjoying the idea.

"Yes, more dates with the three of us. Why? What did you think I meant?" Luna innocently asked. The little glint in Luna's eye told Carl that she was teasing Hermione.

Hermione apparently realized it too, if the firming of her jaw was any indication. "I thought you were talking about sex." Hermione bluntly retaliated, hoping to out-embarrass Luna.

"Oh, are you offering? I wouldn't mind a taste of two. I wonder how the taste compares to my favorite pudding?" Luna almost purred.

"A different flavor, to be sure. But no doubt just as sweet." Carl added, enjoying the red flush running down Hermione's face and neck.

"Oh, you two!" Hermione grumped, but Carl could tell she wasn't really upset. She still wasn't ready to move beyond a bit of snogging, but Hermione was enjoying the heavy flirting they engaged in.

After some time, Carl took the girls on a tour of his Warehouse and Farms. The two girls acted suitably impressed, especially when Rover flamed in and sung them a song.

They were very happy when they found out about Carl's very large library. Until they realized that Carl had been keeping the library from them for several years. Then he had to make it up to them by making his library available to them on demand. Carl didn't have a problem with that, he was mostly amused that the two Ravenclaws were so excited about his library.

Carl also showed them the Chamber of Secrets and what he was working on as far as breaking into Slytherin's vault. The two girls took a look at his Arithmancy calculations and dove right in to helping him do the work. He was glad that he had a couple of brilliant witches as girlfriends to double check his math.

It was times like those that he kind of regretted not getting the Brilliant perk from the BtVS world that would have made him a prodigy at maths, physics, sciences, and inventing. But at the time he had been more worried about surviving, and magic had offered the best bet he had to do so.

Thankfully everything worked out in the end. And if he had to put a lot more work and study time in to attain the same knowledge base as he would easily have gotten with the perk, then it just meant his accomplishments felt more like accomplishments.

Not that he would turn down perks that would boost his abilities, he wasn't that dumb. And at least he did have a wit boosting perk from entering Ravenclaw that helped him learn Arithmancy, since he was previously piss poor at maths.

The following weeks of Carl's fifth year proceeded without any outstanding things happening. They didn't have an evil toad teaching DADA, there was no Dark Lord hiding in the shadows while plotting the subjugation of society, and they didn't have a sneering bat with a bullying problem teaching potions.

The curse on the DADA job had long been broken, so Remus and Sirius were still teaching the subject, and Professor Slughorn seemed determined to stick around until Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, graduated from school.

All in all, Carl was very happy to be having such good instruction in his first time attending magic school. The only teacher he still had that was subpar was Binns, the ghostly broken record.

Sometimes Carl wondered if he should put some thought into getting rid of Binns, but he eventually decided not to do anything for the time being. He liked having a self study slot that he spent reading History books, especially the diaries of Professors that lived through the time periods they were ostensibly studying. The snarky comments about the questionable intelligence of certain ministry individuals that had shining reputations in the official history books amused the hell out of Carl.

Carl also thought that if he got rid of Binns, it may finally get Dumbledore to start seriously investigating and make it more difficult for Carl to move around unimpeded. He didn't need that kind of attention while he was still in school. Binns at least was tolerable. Unlike Snape, Quirrell, or Lockhart would have been. He didn't regret their absence one bit. Carl didn't feel like he was missing out on the "Authentic Harry Potter Experience" by not having to put up with the bastards.

One of Carl's goals was to combine his use of magic with his martial arts skills into a coherent fighting style. It was a difficult prospect and would require plenty of work, because most of the combat spells presumed that the caster would be staying at range. They didn't expect for the caster to be fast enough to beat his stunner spells downrange.

Another problem was the reliance on incantations, wand movements, and even having a wand. The flimsy stick of wood that was a wand was amazing for precision magical work. But using such a fragile tool in high speed combat was almost asking for it to be broken.

When Hermione and Luna saw just how fast Carl was when practicing his martial arts, they were quite impressed. The two Ravenclaw girls strongly expressed interest in learning some martial arts too in order to gain such a significant advantage in any encounter they may have.

At first Carl was very hesitant to teach them, because he didn't think he could be as cruel to them as Akisame Sensei was to him in order to teach them. When Carl showed his hesitation, Luna was able to cajole the reasons out of him.

After seeing some memories of the Devilry that Akisame Sensei thought up, the two girls agreed that they didn't want Carl to treat them like that. But then the two girls tag teamed him in arguing their reasons for wanting the lessons, and how they would be safer the stronger they were, and wore Carl down until he gave in and promised to teach them in a less sadistic manner.

The therapeutic massages that Carl gave the girls after each workout was a greatly appreciated bonus for the girls. And Carl finally got to utilize the martial medical knowledge he'd gained in the HSDK world to help the girls adapt quickly to the stresses of Martial Arts.

By the time OWLs rolled around, Hermione and Luna were still only low level disciples on the martial front, but with the unconscious direction of magic to boost their abilites as well as their animagus instincts and senses, they would handily win against mid level disciples and give high level disciples a run for their money.

Carl had already gone through the whole of the Hogwarts curriculum. He could cast every spell with a wand and the incantation. He knew all the Runes and Arithmancy formulas and charts. He could brew every potion the curriculum required, so he was more than ready for his OWLs.

But once he was finished with OWLs, he planned to start working on casting all his spells without words or wand movements. He wouldn't consider the curriculum fully mastered until he could cast every spell wandless, and have it integrated into his fighting style. He may have to spend some time reworking spells via Arithmancy to better utilize with high speed combat.

Hermione and Luna spent a lot of time with Carl in independent studies, and they too were eager to advance their craft beyond the curriculum. They did have the disadvantage of not being able to stay up all night with Carl studying and practicing, so their progress was somewhat slower. But with how smart Luna was, she was already prepared for the OWLs. She received a huge disappointment when she petitioned the professors though. They rejected her request to take the OWLs a year early.

"The old fuddy duddies said something something, social peers, something something, wouldn't want to deprive you of a childhood, blah blah." Luna grumped to Carl and Hermione while folding her arms and pouting. "But all my friends are a year ahead of me and will leave me alone here in a few years." She complained.

Carl noticed Luna conspicuously didn't mention Ginny. Apparently they were still on decent terms, but they weren't as close as they might have been if they both had no one else to be friends with.

"I'm sorry Luna. You know we'll still sneak in to the castle most of the time, yeah? No way are we leaving our Little Moon alone for a whole year!" Carl enveloped Luna in a hug, and Hermione joined him a moment later in smothering the girl in affection.

A smile appeared on Luna's face. "You will?" She asked hopefully.

"I daresay it would actually add a bit of excitement, if we were breaking the rules in order to be with you." Hermione commented with a bit of a sexy smile of her own, thinking of how much more fun selectively breaking the rules had been since the three occasionally snuck out when they shouldn't, especially when they were gaining knowledge in those jaunts.

"We will." Carl promised Luna, enjoying the bright smile full of feelings of love, and the subsequent kisses he and Hermione received from her.

The OWL testing was generally considered extremely stressful for the students. Many of the fifth years could often be seen frantically cramming at the last minute, afraid they would get a poor grade, get scolded by their parents, or not be able to take a NEWT course that was required for their chosen profession.

Which is why Carl's WDS group was quite an odd sight as they relaxedly passed the testing period with hardly any stress. Their occlumency skills ensured they knew the material forwards and backwards. They hadn't wasted their time throughout the five years of schooling, so they didn't need to cram at the last minute.

Carl was somewhat amused at the almost angry, bitter, and jealous gazes of the students that weren't part of his group, or peripherally attached to it. Padma Patil wasn't a key member, but she was at least friendly with them. As a result, Padma had been gifted a book on Occlumency to help her. She had then shared it with her sister, Parvati, and Parvati's best friend Lavender. Which mean that those three at least were also amongst the few students not stressed out.

But many of the rest were currently acting salty. It amused Carl, because while he had sought out specific students that seemed quite bright and interesting to join his group, they weren't insular or unfriendly. If any of the currently bitter and jealous students had made the effort to fit in and be a proactive member of their group, they would have given them a chance.

But since they had been content to drift and not apply themselves for five years, Carl felt absolutely no guilt in not going out of his way to help them.

Once the school year was over, Carl spent a few days at the orphanage, chatting with Miss Edith and getting reacquainted with the kids that lived there. Most of the kids his age or older had their own things going, so he didn't see much of them. He was only there a couple months a year, after all.

But there were plenty of younger kids that were running around the grounds, not old enough yet to have summer jobs or friends outside the orphanage to hang out with. And Carl enjoyed playing around and helping those kids adjust a bit. The smiles Miss Edith gave Carl let him know his efforts were appreciated.

A week after summer began, Carl walked into Gringotts to make his annual payment. Carl smirked at the scowls he got from some of the Goblins. While it was true that Goblins would stick to the exact letter of their agreements, it didn't mean they couldn't make the agreements as beneficial to them as possible.

One of the stipulations of his contract was that if Carl failed to make each annual payment and pay off the balance at the end of 10 years, then the goblins would confiscate his blade and he would still owe 90% of his annual income for the next 50 years.

Carl knew it was a harsh penalty, and normally he would have avoided a contract with stipulations like that like the plague. Especially because the Goblins knew that his money came from hotels and farms that were notorious for having variable incomes, and that it was likely, in their minds, that Carl wouldn't be able to keep up the payments. Sometimes drought and famine, acts of God, or terrorism prevented those kinds of businesses from staying in the black for 10 straight years, let alone produce the massive payment needed to buy a Goblin made blade.

But what Carl knew, and what the Goblins didn't, was that after leaving the Farmville world, his farms never experienced drought or insect swarms, or any drop in productivity whatsoever. They always produced the maximum goods. And his selling perk let him always sell exactly what he wanted at the best prices. So he would never fail to make his payments to the Goblins. Especially because his income had greatly risen ever since he started producing and selling potions ingredients on the HP markets. They were very profitable.

As a result of Carl making his payments for the sixth year in a row, certain Goblins were beginning to get nervous. They were beginning to wonder if he was going to be able to fulfill the contract, be the first wizard in a thousand years to outright own a Goblin made blade, and "cheat" them of 50 years of his hard earned money.

They had been bragging so much to their rivals about their accomplishment of getting an 11 year old wizard to sign away nearly 60 years of his money to them, that if Carl actually succeeded, they would be mocked mercilessly in the future. But they couldn't do anything to prevent or obstruct him from making payments, or get anyone to do it for them. It was in the contract. And they were bound to the letter of the contract.

Carl smirked once more at the image of the faces of the Goblins he'd contracted with when he successfully made his sixth payment as he left Gringotts. They looked like they had sucked on lemon juice concentrate, they were feeling so bitter and uncertain. If that's what they looked like now, Carl couldn't wait to see the Goblin's faces when he actually paid off the contract in full.

Putting his amusement to the side, Carl started getting in the proper mindset for the coming conflict. This would be one of the two most important meetings this summer. He was meeting his girlfriend's parents.

It was very important Carl didn't laugh in her father's face if the man did his overprotective father routine. It would ruin the man's dignity and sour their relationship.

Carl was pretty sure his meeting with Luna's dad in a few days would be much more relaxed. But for now, Carl was to meet the Grangers.

Carl left the Granger's house late at night. It had been a surprisingly successful meeting. Hermione's parents, Nathaniel and Bridgette, had been surprisingly welcoming. Hermione's father was an average looking bloke at 5'10". Carl found out Nathaniel hadn't previously been in the military, which somewhat disappointed Carl that the fanfic idea of a militant SAS Dan Granger, dentist torturer wasn't present in this world.

While Nathaniel did take Carl to his study, it was more like an interview than an excuse to interrogate and threaten Carl to treat his daughter right, "or else".

Carl ended up sharing his ideas with Nathaniel about the company he was going to build soon that would sell magic powered runic batteries. Carl was at first surprised that Nathaniel offered to help him network with some people that would be helpful in establishing his company. But then he thought about the broad spectrum of people a successful dentist couple was likely to run into and make friends with, and it made sense.

It also made sense that Nathaniel would want to ensure that the man his daughter was dating was successful so that his princess could have a good life.

So Carl was left with a great impression of the supportive parents that Hermione had. Thank goodness a wizarding war wasn't about to break out and cause their daughter to alter their memories and send them into hiding so they couldn't be used to target the Boy-Who-Lived through her.

Carl's meeting with Luna's dad a couple days later went just as smoothly. Xeno seemed to care a great deal about his daughter, and since Luna was happy, Xeno was happy.

Over the course of the evening, the topic about the animals that Xeno and Luna hunted in the summer months came up. Carl was interested in the man's obsession with finding all the hidden animals and documenting them before they became extinct. Xeno was very knowledgeable about what was going on in the muggle world, and how much the muggles were changing the habitats of the world.

Many of the animals that were dying out were so elusive that even the magicals thought they didn't exist. Which is why Xeno was working so hard to find evidence of the animals to present to the magical world. Xeno was hoping to bring the endangered animals under the protection of the Magical Ministries.

Carl was very interested in Xeno's stories and ideas. Even among the muggles, as common as activists were, they were often looked at as strange. So it was no wonder that the majority of magicals thought Xeno daft.

But Xeno had made a great many friends and contacts that helped him in his work. Carl didn't see any immediate way he could help the man in his crusade. Maybe in the future he would be able to help him accomplish his goals.