Chapter - 003
-----------I don't own anything and any semblance to any character is a coincidence-----------
---May 15th 1966---
---Diagon Alley---
Today I came to Diagon Alley along with Theo, Lily, and Cynthia to buy both of their necessary books and equipment.
Petunia didn't want to come and started throwing a tantrum, and because of this, Gerald had to stay behind and look after her. Ever since both the kids got their letters, they have both stopped holding back in showing the magic they learned to everyone in the family.
Petunia was beyond jealous and started calling them 'Freaks'. Everyone was angry with her that day, especially Gerald who scolded her a lot. Lily and Theo have stopped talking to her since then and it's not like they were before.
Anyway, I took the three to Gringotts because, without wizard money, there was not much they could do around. So like a mother duck leading her chicks, we made a beeline towards the bank.
Stopping in front of the goblin, I clear my throat to get his attention.
He eyes me while fixing his monocle before his eyes open wide, "Ah.. Miss Williams! I was wondering why you looked familiar."
"Ricbert." I give him a nod, "How are you doing?"
"Good. Good. Now tell me what can I do for you?"
Ever since, Stephen brought me here with him, these goblins have become very polite towards me making them more tolerant otherwise they would just grunt most of the responses.
"First of all, I would like an inheritance test done for my nephew, Theodore Strange, here and also a will reading for my sister, Helena Strange, and her husband, Stephen Strange."
As soon as I finished speaking, I saw every goblin suddenly stop whatever they were doing and turn towards me. Ricbert looks around at the goblins before coming down from his tall seat.
"Follow me, please." I nod at him and we follow him to a more private setting.
"Please wait here as I call the head goblin."
Just as he leaves, both kids surround me.
"What was that about?" I see even Cynthia was interested in hearing it.
"Well, your father helped the goblins by providing them with some extra security from mind arts because of which they treat him with respect."
"Enough to act like that?!" Theo asks but before I can, a voice answers him from behind us.
"Yes." Turning around, I see the head goblin who few have the chance to meet.
"The help your father provided protects my goblins and my gold which is a lot for us goblins. Now he did tell me his circumstances which is what confuses me as to why the kid is still here." The head goblin says as he takes a seat in front of us.
"The magic pulled him back at the last moment. From what I can guess, people of this world could not leave with Stephen but Helena was spared because of the Unbreakable Vow the two shared."
"How unfortunate but at least he didn't get thrown back midway."
I nod at the implications his words brought to me. Imagining Theo with a broken body did give me a chill.
Turning around, the head goblin looks at Ricbert. "Bring the materials for the test and ritual.", looking towards," What else can I do for you?" He asks.
"I want to open up a new vault for Lily here. She is going to attend her first year in Hogwarts and she is family." I speak the last part with stress so he can understand Lily is to be treated with the same respect Theo will be getting.
The door opens and Ricbert walks in with another goblin who puts the tray he was holding on the table in front of us. The tray had a ritual knife, my sister's and Stephen's will, a crystal ball, and a small wooden box.
The head goblin whispers something to the other goblins who give one look towards Lily before quickly exiting the room.
"Mr. Strange, if you will please." The head goblin says while giving the ritual knife to Theo and passing the crystal ball toward him. I give him a small nod when looks at me then quickly takes the knife from the goblin.
Nicking his finger with the knife, Theo lets the blood drop on the crystal which flashes brightly before showing words on it.
'Inheritance Test for Theodore Strange
Date of Birth: March 26th, 1955
Parents: Stephen Strange and Helena Strange nee' Williams
Official Title of Lineage:
The House of Strange - Direct Descendant - Father'
"With the test done, you are entitled to this head of family ring. Your father had troubled us a lot for this thing because only the most ancient and noble houses are eligible for a family ring to be created by us using goblin steel.
Now, the will of your parents gives you the ownership of 16 properties your father owned plus 80% of all businesses both your father and mother owned. The rest of the will gives Miss Williams here the 5 properties owned by your mother with the other 20% of the business.
Also, before you turn 18, your guardianship is to be handed to Miss Celine Williams as stated in this will, and from what I can see, she is doing it remarkably."
I smile at Theo as he shows me the ring on his finger. It had the design of the eye of Agamotto etched as a symbol on its surface.
Giving me two cards, the head goblin gets up. "Please let Mr. Strange and Miss Evans register these cards themselves. Miss Evans' vault has already been opened, just depositing the money is left which Ricbert here can help you with. Now, if you will excuse me." With that, he ups and leaves.
I give the cards to kids and let them drop their blood on them. These cards were provided to only important and very rich clients of Gringotts. Even I had one of these. They act as a wallet with a direct connection to the vault and with these, we could withdraw small amounts of money anywhere and anytime.
----------
It took us half an hour more to complete all our work at Gringotts. After that, we went to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour to eat ice cream before continuing our supplies shopping.
Getting the clothes, an owl for Theo(because Ariel had got permission to stay at Hogwarts), a cauldron, and other equipment didn't take as much time as took to get the books.
As both the kids had already completed the syllabus for the first two years at Hogwarts, they were very excited to get started on learning the advanced subjects.
Our last stop was the Ollivanders'.
Entering the shop, I turned around quickly knowing Garrick's tendency to surprise his customers by appearing behind them.
"11 and quarter inches, Ebony with a Phoenix feather as its core. A wand only for wizards who stay true to their beliefs even under pressure. I hope it has proven to be a great companion."
"Yes, it has." I smile while talking out my wand and giving it to him.
"Well maintained and properly polished but...." He trails off as he eyes the wand some more. "Fascinating! The wand seems to have grown stronger somehow. The core is as bright as if the feather was still on a Phoenix. But it seems its usage has lessened a lot."
He gives me a side glance to which I just smile. I knew about the wand growing stronger with all the Eldritch magic going through it but it is also true that it is seeing less usage. I can do most of the magic wandlessly now but I still use the wand sometimes because I have grown attached to it and also because it has become a habit to do magic with it.
"My nephew and his friend have come to get their wands." Changing the topic, I shift his attention to the children while taking back my wand from him.
"Are you left-handed or right-handed?" He asks the kids who promptly reply with 'right-handed'.
Garrick goes back and brings out two boxes. Taking out the wands from them, he hands them to the kids.
With the wave of their hands, fireworks and waterworks start. Garrick quickly takes the wands back and gives them another pair to try and the same thing happens. This goes on for a few more rounds before Garrick gives up.
"Fascinating indeed! It's like the wands want to be chosen by them but they are not compatible together. Every wand is somehow trying to impress you both by putting up this light show. But it seems we will have to make your wands now. Come on now, follow me."
Following Garrick, we reach a deeper end of the store where woods and cores of all types can be seen.
"Now go around bring the wood and core your magic reacts the most."
Both Theo and Lily run off and come back a few minutes later with only wood in their hand.
"This reacted with me the most but I can say the same about the cores," Theo says.
"Me too but I can feel the same feeling with Ariel's feather so can it work?"
"Then even I remember something like that. I saw it in my father's study. It was an animal scale, I guess."
Looking towards Garrick, I see him shrug and quickly apparate home and bring the things they were talking about.
Upon returning, I give Garrick the feather and scale which I remember belonged to some Great Protector Dragon. I had seen Stephen working with it once.
"A thunderbird's feather. An excellent core that warns its wizard of any danger. I have only worked with thrice and all three of the wands had gone to the best of my creations. Now what intrigues me is this scale. I sense great magic and from its design, I guess, it belongs to a dragon but none I know of possesses such great power."
Garrick for once takes a serious look as he looks towards Theo, "Are you sure you want to use it? I do not know how a wand made of this will come out."
Theo too takes on a serious expression and nods firmly after a minute.
"OK, Come and collect the wands in a week. As you provided the cores for your wand, I will charge you less."
---June 15th 1966---
---Cokeworth, England---
Sitting in the cellar of our home, I look at the two kids lying on the ground as their souls experience the different aspects of the multiverse.
It had been a terrifying experience for both me and my sister when Stephen had done this to us. Who knew the soul we knew almost nothing about was made to experience those things in the magical community of the other world to make the people understand what 'reality' really is.
It had been almost a month now since Theo and Lily got their wands.
Lily's wand was a 10 and a quarter inches long, Alder wood with Thunderbird feather as its core. According to Garrick, it was a perfect combination as the wand would only choose wizards with helpful, considerate, and most likable nature while also protecting her by warning her of any dangers. He also said Alder wood wands tend to choose wizards who go on to achieve greatness.
In Theodore's case, it was an 11 and a half inches, Cedarwood with the dragon scale as its core. Though Garrick did not know much about how the wand came out to be, he did say, that he was sure that Theodore would become a frightening adversary to anyone who harms him or those he was fond of because that is what the wands with Cedarwood symbolize.
"Go and rest in your room. From tomorrow onwards, I will start teaching you about Astral Plane and Astral Projection." I say when I see the kids awake and leave them there.
---July 22nd 1966---
"You both are grounded and no learning magic for the next two weeks!" I shout while looking at the both of them and see Celine beside me nod her head, agreeing with me.
On the previous full moon, Celine had started making them both go through some process to become an Animagus or something. They both had kept a mandrake leaf in their mouth since then and they had stopped doing magic, in case they swallowed the leaves. Even while eating, they took extra care.
Oh.. if only Gerald and I knew how much we were wrong.
Yesterday, both of us heard Petunia scream which startled us awake. We ran to her room and saw her huddled together screaming 'ghost' while looking at the curtain. After checking, we found nothing wrong so thought she was imagining it but she said she was sure she saw two ghosts sitting by the window and laughing together.
It had taken us a lot of time to calm her down before she fell asleep. And now lo and behold, when I talked to Celine regarding it, she had straight up led to these two trouble-makers here and told me how they were learning some Astral thingy which lets them act as ghosts.
That explanation then led to this lecture.
I do admit Lily and Theo brighten our mood every time they try to show us something new but their trouble-making tendencies which have started showing up should go down a bit as it has started giving me a headache.
---August 14st 1966---
"'Amato Animo Animato Animagus'"
Seeing the two kids chanting the spell to become an Animagus one last time and gulping down the potion, I heave a sigh of relief.
It had taken two weeks for a natural thunderstorm to appear in an open and secure place and the kids had to wait and keep chanting the Animagus spell every day during the sunrise and the sunset.
Stephen had done special research in Animagus forms after he learned about them and the results he got led him to discover a way to get a 90% chance of acquiring a magical beast Animagus form instead of the common 5%. Too bad it doesn't work on people who have already become Animagus otherwise I could change my Raven form too.
Looking at them, I see them transform, and the forms they take remind me of the place I saw in Stephen's memories.
Lily had transformed into a beautiful crimson nine-tailed fox and Theodore into a powerful-looking guardian lion. They both roam around each other as they check each other's forms before running towards me and transforming back.
""Auntie!"" They both hug and tackle me in a hug as I start smiling seeing their happiness.
With a powerful trill, a dog-sized blue-colored Thunderbird lands beside us with electric sparks coming out of its feathers. Ariel though still small had started generating small bits of electricity around it. If she was a bit more mature, we could have used her to create a natural lighting storm and not wait for around two weeks.
"Now only around a fortnight is left before you go to Hogwarts. There is something related to Stephen I want to show you both." Taking their hand, I side-along apparate to our home and take them to my room where a pensieve was placed.
"Is it his memories?" Theo asks expectantly. They both knew what a pensieve was as I had already taught them all about it.
"Yes." I remove the necklace around my neck and show them a vial holding memories connected to it. Stephen had given me all his memories because I could not come with them. I had been hesitant about it but he had laughed it by saying it did not matter.
I had seen them after he had left and they had been an eye-opener. Especially that purple madman, talk less about how the future muggle world looked.
"Is it OK for me to be seeing them? Shouldn't they be like a family secret?" Lily asks as she fidgets around. Seeing her like this, I feel like teasing her.
"No. No. No. Don't think like that. With the way you both behave around each other, you are as good as family to us." She blushes at that and I see Theo smile a bit. "And don't tell me you both forgot about the kisses you two have started sharing. I mean, who uses the same excuse of wanting to experience what it's like to kiss someone every time they want to kiss the other person?"
"W..We..er" They both stammer and blush even harder.
"No, I understand what you were feeling. Kids in magical society mature faster that is why you both already look 13 when you are 11 but you should stop at that. Kissing I can overlook considering you have been together since you were children and magically maturing faster can lead to those things. But don't step further than that until you are at least 14 because that is the age a wizard or a witch is physically mature enough to handle those types of things. Do you understand?"
They both give me a slight nod as I pour the memories into the pensieve.
"Now come."
They both come forward and dip their heads into the pensieve as they see the life of Doctor Stephen Strange, one of the most powerful Master of the Mystic Arts to ever live.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Support me on:
https://www.patreon.com/Whitewolf0782
My discord: https://discord.gg/5Rr3B3Zjw
Author's note:
Hey dear readers,
How's the chapter? I had some difficulties writing this chapter so I hope you will ignore some problems in it.
Please give me reviews.
Ciao~