Chapter #16

Eleanor's P.O.V,

Eleanor yawned slowly and lazily as she observed Grace and Leo sleep on Al's legs, completely immobilizing him. She gave him a smug grin which he returned with a laugh that was unlike anything she had ever heard from him before.

It was carefree, full of joy, amusement, content and warmth. Almost all the emotions she had ever felt off him towards them. It lit up the room with his magic; it curled around each and every single one of them possessively.

She was happy to see it so casually directed towards them. He… wasn't the most emotive person in public or even otherwise. He would happily converse with them but to see him so carefree was a rare treat that she had only had once before.

She smiled fondly at him while casually thinking about Elea's lack of presence in her mind. She had expected some form of possessiveness from her older self. She was feeling it right now and its absence from the mind link was suspicious…

She groaned lightly as she shifted in her place… her body was still exhausted from last night. She was almost completely magically exhausted due to his sudden turn in mood. He seemed to be doing great for the entire day at the mall… and then suddenly as soon as they arrived home, he had made an 180 degrees turn from relaxed to paranoid and alert.

She had intended to go upstairs to unpack what she had brought and burn his robes but he immediately took them all to the garden and went over survival tactics.

It was baffling at first and she wasn't really able to focus much on what he was saying. She had a long day and just wanted to sleep. He didn't take the hint and continued with teaching them all magical survival charms and different advanced transfigurations and alterations.

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Switch to 1st P.O.V

(Apologies… I didn't realize that I had changed perspective till I was 500+ words in. (*Laughs*))

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At that point, I had decided to cut my losses and just do what he was asking us to. He took over an hour to go over the entire thing. He went over how to create an artificial temporary abode to reside in. Instead of ending there, he began talking about how alteration and transfiguration could further be used to improve that location to even becoming a home.

He started going over proper utility charms that were helpful. We further went on to discuss how to make water in large quantities instead of wastefully converting it from air. I wasn't an expert in looking underground for sources but I was pretty close now.

He went on to further discuss the personalization of our abode, and began teaching specific ways to conjure and transfigure furniture. He began with simple wood which he conjured, any of us could do it and he turned it into a bed by slowly transfiguring it to a close equivalent. Then he taught all of us a specific charm that would fix and solidify it.

He asked Leo to jump on what he had created and the bed did not even move! He then started on a mattress. This was more conjuration and little transfiguration but I got the charms and spell down and was easily able to conjure a small one. Conjuring sheets was easy as well and he simply went over it once.

Most of what he had taught had strong connections to transfigurations which I was close to mastering from what he privately confided so it was going pretty well for me. The issue started when he started teaching specific charms for specific furnitures and I had to engrave them in my memory for later research…

He then moved onwards to space expansion charms that were simply utilizing free space available somewhere. It was harder to get down but I still managed to do it. The trouble started when we started with a kitchen. He first had us all create a fire that did not emit smoke and then it did not burn the surroundings.

This part for specific dishes were just spells that anyone could learn but I knew how to cook and with the presence of raw materials, I could pretty much make anything. I still had learned from Ariana about a variety of different charms for different dishes and so I was able to get by as well.

From what I was able to understand, warding was just runes mixed with a specific intent as well as your magic supplying it with power. The entire thing was complicated to properly research and creating your personal ward that accomplishes something that can be tested was the mark of mastery.

There were many ways to go about it, one could use their own personal runes but that was simply too difficult at this point… I had no intention of using those yet.

Al began teaching us about a few specific wards… some of the most basic ones. It was less teaching and more revising for all of them if I was judging from the exasperated sighs. Al was more amused by them than annoyed. His emotions were ranging from slight worry to amusement as well…

I was aware of many runes due to my advanced lessons however I had not yet started on wards yet. After our mutual confession to one another over the similarity between our runes… he decided to postpone it to next year for learning warding.

I was in agreement so I had learned most if not all of the famous runes throughout the ages but even then, carving them now to form a ward was too advanced a topic… I didn't know how to balance them yet and that was barely the basics…

He simply went over the basic 'notice-me-not' charm and then translated it to how we could use it in runes. I was learning Arithmancy so I was able to understand the process and procedure he used. It was quite a simple method, and was applicable on most charms.

He went over the defensive wards as well while making us all revise the charms. I had to learn more than a quarter on the spot and was almost magically exhausted by the time I finished going through them.

I was starting to think that this was it for today but he smiled, slightly sadistic which send shivers down all of our spines from everyone's collective wince. I wanted to reach out and rub their arms in comfort and shared misery. We had to start transfiguring what he had taught us to until we became adequate in their use.

He nitpicked over everything!!! Nothing, not even the slightest flaw was ignored for anyone. Even Grace and Leo were not able to whine out of this. When he started criticizing Ariana's sense of artistry for her conjured and transfigured equipment, her annoyance was visible on her face while Ab was just grinning on the side.

By the time I was done, I was completely exhausted. Mentally done from the day, physically and magically exhausted by the practice… I glared at him as I left to sleep because Al, the bastard that he is was enjoying my torment and exhaustion!

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End 1st P.O.V

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She blinked as she was pulled out of her thoughts by Grace (and Leo). They (she) seemed to be attempting to strike up a conversation with everyone but Al was content simply sitting there while rubbing their heads gently, whereas Ariana and Ab seemed to be sleeping on one another.

She must have been distracted while it happened because they were still having some minor quarrel in the morning when they all had planned to come and sort the clothing. It was a cool anger that she was expressing towards him while he was just resigned. Grace immediately recommended seeing a couple's therapist which made them both choke at the joke. Naturally she was scolded by Ariana who… didn't seem all into it.

She was not getting into that so she began separating her clothes from the pile while trying to sneak away Al's stupid and unpleasant robes! It didn't work too well when Grace started to happily rummage through the basket to find them.

She asked Grace to turn the lights of his room on while finding a way to keep checking whether he is awake or not. She dragged Leo with her so she placed the robes in front of Ariana and Ab while asking them what to do with them. She wanted to burn them!

She also wondered why Grace was so… obedient…? Nice? … Respectful?

Ab looked it and blinked silently before he picked one of them up to examine it. He had some scalding and scorching things to say about them. "It looks like an old man's garment."

"It is an old man's garment!" [Ariana]

The look of appalment on his face would forever be saved in her brain, "… we have to hide it so that it never sees the light of the day…"

Ariana laughed alongside her, "Oh you. Stop being so dramatic! It is the norm for most elder wizards to wear this! Even Nick occasionally dons one!"

He gave her a look, "… No. Just…no."

They didn't burn it unfortunately, just settled in for hiding them in the storage in the store room. It had many things there and too many space expansion charms layered within, all of which were easily accessible.

They were being slightly shifty for some reason with her but she couldn't fathom why. Eventually she decided to just put in the pile of them fighting.

Eventually, they started preparing food and as they were just about to wake him up, he woke up himself and they immediately entered. Watching him under the birds was a scene she would always treasure for the sheer originality!

The day gradually passed slowly as she settled in for spending some quality time with her family. The thought itself made her positively gleeful as she had one now and she had always wanted one.

They all settled in for a lazy day, at one point Al was so done with his position as a pillow that he started whining… not actually whine but very close to whining.

She even quizzed him a little on some of her doubts regarding some magic as well as clarification and insight into different fields. It was somewhat of a shame that she didn't have any books regarding the advanced fields so she was going very slowly.

They had dinner as they skipped lunch for just having some tea while Al looked pained while he kept shaking his sleeping legs. I yawned as I hugged Agrah tightly. He was spending much of his time with me, especially in my free time as apparently Al was boring.

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Elea's P.O.V,

Elea who is sitting cross legged blinks silently while exhaling due to the sudden inflow of her younger self's memories. She has finally confirmed her conjecture. It baffled her yesterday when she went for days without getting any memories or message from her younger self and then suddenly gaining her memories of only one day. The time dilation was absolutely messed up in this dimension. She had estimated that 1 hour outside equaled 20 hours in this dimension.

It explained much about why she gained her younger self's memories so late. She huffed in fondness as she lived her day in moments. She had been in this dimension for almost an entire month. Her first day was spent researching the books that came with her and starting Occlumency in the next. She was naturally suited to the mind arts it seemed as she could now stretch her mental awareness away for miles.

Around the 3rd day came the realization that she couldn't mope around and remain angry for such a long time. She began exploring the place and not for the last time thanked her paranoia regarding food as she had been eating the food she had stored in her ring. She was planning on conjuring a message to send to her younger self in a few hours and communicate the scenario they had found themselves in.

Her progress was rapid as she had only time for magic and was enjoying this strange calm that she had found herself in. The memories compounded that by not letting her feel lonely at all. Her memory had increased rapidly and now she could easily claim to learn things in a single look or at least memories them.

The memories she gained after a period of almost 13 days were the most helpful as she had created a humble abode for herself where she had landed but had no sense of any wards or the charms that worked to hide or make someone's presence unnoticeable.

As soon as she gained them, she wanted to kiss Al silly as he had literally been her life saver. She now had an actual bed to sleep on as well as proper rooms with proper food stuff that she could eat. She was well on her way to creating a self-sustaining home for herself. She already had started a garden while planting some seeds that she had saved while working with Ariana and Ab. She was one of those people who saved everything they were given; she was given some seeds for no reason and was now grateful to her habits.

She began training her magic again, using it most efficiently and using it with higher levels of strain was an important aspect of the training she was doing. She didn't know who it was that expelled their own magic so far all the way until it arrived at Hogwarts but she would reach that level at the very least.

Currently she was attempting to create an armory for no reason other than practicing. Expanding her humble abode was a simple but efficient way of practicing her charms, transfiguration and warding as well.

It wasn't going too well for her but she had managed to replicate the 'notice-me-not' ward scheme using her memory. She overpowered it through her magic and was now happily content to stay here and leave for exploration purposes only.

She had explored the surroundings after it became clear that the pages she had were only useful for the upper levels beyond 7th. She was quite far from the 8th Level despite her efforts to become powerful faster. She had fully released her magic during her 5th day and it had reached far but she had no control over it at such a great distance. Her progress was slow but she was slowly gaining more control and her magic was also increasing.

The surroundings were filled with nature, stale magic that was finally beginning to gain some life… she estimated it was due to her own magic. She had also found a baby dragon once when she ventured pretty far. It was adorable and cute until she saw the mother. She could probably take it out but she saw no reason in doing that.

According to her estimations, she would reach the 8th Level within a year. She was talented and hardworking as well. It was truly possible for her to become so strong. At the peak of her current level, she could easily take down nations.

She snorted as she went over Al's pained grimace as he winced from moving his sleeping legs. It was revenge well served for making her feel exhausted despite not even being there. Her eyes, unknown to her were incredibly fond as she went over her memories of them all in Eleanor's day.

She finally made some tea while conjuring a paper and writing the specifics of her scenario. Eleanor needed to know she was well and that they would communicate once a week to ensure contact and details are clear. She was almost grateful for this as she could gain strength and battle experience in this dimension by fighting against the many creatures residing here.

She had also come to a realization in her early days here. She would be stuck here for years. It would take a long time to actually leave if what she had found from the notes are true…

End Elea's P.O.V

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Eleanor's P.O.V,

Eleanor woke up lazily as usual. The day was brighter than usual and she willed the cooler to maintain the temperature some more. For some reason she felt very lazy today…

She thought about skipping breakfast but she enjoyed seeing Al being an absolute mess too much… she unfortunately had to get up to see it. He could not get up for breakfast at all.

She sat down in front of her window while calmly conjuring a small desk on which she made all the contents of her ring show up. It wasn't one of her habits and she didn't do it too often other than once a week. She checked what she had saved and whether she had the essentials for a month.

She absentmindedly went through her stuff and found most of her things lacking.

It was like someone poured a bucket of cold water on her and she began going through them again. It wasn't supposed to be so less? Her mind kept comparing her essentials to what she had saved… it was incredibly weird how she was simply unable to properly count them. After a few moments, she found a paper with her own signature on it.

The first thought that came to her head was Elea. She sighed in relief as that explained everything before reaching for the paper to go over what she was saying.

The first thing that came to her own notice was how the letter was written very neatly and how weird it was to see her own writing on a paper she didn't even write anything on… she couldn't wait for them to become one again.

The contents of the paper itself were… interesting. She had apparently been sucked in by some magical portal from the chamber which led her to an entirely different dimension! Right… she read through the entire thing and the part about time dilation was very interesting… but she was about to dismiss this as a prank of sorts until she found a vial next to where she had picked the paper.

The paper elaborated that this was a replica of her own memories from one of her days in that dimension. Eleanor needless to say was fascinated and immediately used her magic to absorb the memory. The memory itself casually became part of her, like it was meant to be there which was literally and objectively true.

She blinked as she realized that her older self was not lying and that this wasn't some bad joke.

She sat down feeling lost as the memory played out in her head. She was walking down a path of trees. Dense, populated natural area filled with trees… she was smiling because she could feel herself smiling as she wandered around. She found herself making her way to a small looking house that looked like a flat of sorts.

She happily looked at the mini-garden that she had used some quick growth and soil fertility spells on and entered inside to find herself in an alright environment. It wasn't the best, but it was what she could make easily… she had some of the food she had stored while finally making her way to bed after meditating for around 2 hours…

Eleanor came back to her younger body calmly. She wasn't panicked for any reason as that was simply one of her own memories and nothing she could do about it. She wrote a letter back to herself and promised her support and prepared herself to store 2-3 months of rations… just in case as well as potions that were helpful and multiple useful books that could teach her magic.

She had to up her magical learning or who knows how Elea would learn…

She put all her stuff back in the ring with a careless wave of her hand while stiffly getting up to stretch in preparation of the day. She happily has her usual workout and enters to get ready for the day! She looks forward to learning magic today.

She finishes brushing her teeth while fixing her hair all while cursing Al's cheat ability to keep or fix his own in a few moments… she will definitely ask him for the self-caring spells that he uses regularly. Give him a few moments and he will look like he just took a bath 20 minutes ago, fresh and bright for the day!

As soon as that engagement is over though, his head will fall back on some surface and he will try to sleep again. He hasn't succeeded in quite some time due to her. She believes in people sleeping at night while working in the day. Al… doesn't disagree but his agreement is nowhere to be found either.

She tried to debate this with him but the annoying man that he is, he laughed with her on how silly he was being before fondly smiling at her. That look was… just cheating…

She finally stepped outside to find everything somewhat dark. She carefully stepped out while calmly keeping herself still in order to hear something but… she heard nothing. This… was not something she was accustomed to… the home always had something going on. At one time she woke up at 3AM in the morning and when she went downstairs, she found Al tinkering on the sofa while blinking rapidly.

This complete silence was not real here at all. Making a move that she would call herself hotheaded over later, she headed downstairs to Al's room. She wanted to know what was going on and he always seemed to know what was occurring.

She rushed down the stairs in a slight panic but as soon as she stepped down on the floor, all the lights seemed to immediately light up! They were weirdly colorful and that made her stop in slight… bafflement. She was picked up by someone before they started moving her around at high speeds in circles.

It was Ariana so she calmed down but she was speaking too fast for her to understand anything. Finally, she was put down before she was hugged by the children. Leo and Grace hugged her in succession for a few moments before Ab did the same expect he carried her again. She was unfortunately resigned to her brother, and how pleased it made to say it, doing that to her…

He had been slowly increasing that daily. She let him as she enjoyed the easy platonic affection. There was no expectation of anything and it pleased her immensely.

She was slightly taller is his grasp and that made her ridiculously happy because she was finally seeming to grow taller…

They all rushed ahead before Ab didn't let her down which made her slightly angry but more resigned at this point. She saw Al smiling warmly at her and she shook in Ab's arms to let her down. She would not be carried in the arms of someone she was romantically interested in like a child…!

She smiled as he grinned at her while kneeling on the ground before warmly hugging her tightly. His words were, "A very Bright and Happy Birthday to you Eleanor!" His hug tightened and she firmly enjoyed the feeling of Possessiveness-Love-Resolve-Promise from him towards her, the second made her slightly teary, "And let it be a precursor for more to come for eternity."

Al smiled at her warmly while he slowly leaned back and rubbed her back. She was just… emotional again. Every time she thinks she can't possibly love any of them more, they have to prove her wrong! She doesn't not like it…

Al passes her a knife for her to cut the cake. It is utterly delicious and quite similar to what she makes for them occasionally but it has a different personal taste which Ariana usually adds… she can feel the sheer care they hold for her and… she somehow manages to hold back whatever she is feeling for now.

They all energetically sing her the Birthday song while Grace keeps trying, in vain, to claim the first part of the cut cake. She laughs as she makes Al take a bite while dodging Grace's attempt to steal eat it.

They all laugh as she herself takes a bite before they happily sit down to have some conversation.

"… Dad! That's so not fair! I am the youngest! I am supposed to have the first bite!" [Grace]

Al gives her a deadpan look which she echoes but surprisingly, or not surprisingly everyone seemingly agrees with her. She remembers it's one of those magical things about your position in the family.

"… And Aunt Eleanor! I thought I was the favorite?!" [Grace]

She grins as she speaks to her, which makes Eleanor realize why none of them can say 'no' to this one. She has that innocent, lively charm that shows how she has no bad feelings and even her tantrums just turn to one sided complaining which Al fondly listens to.

Leo is no help in stopping her tirade against this injustice! (What?! It clearly is c'mon!) He just gives her a kiss on the cheek with happily listening to her go.

Ab and Ariana seem to laugh at her who is now stuck listening to the kid mock whine. She enjoys it, she is realizing, conversing with Grace who is so open with her.

Ab coughs, "If everyone is done… we now have the gifts! Speaking of which here is mine!" He proudly presents a box to her. She opens it to find the book she has been trying to order for months! It supposedly is the first edition of the book that Arceus asked Al to write.

She thanks him while he bear hugs her again. She likes them too. Ariana proudly goes next, "Here you go sweetie… it took me a while to gather these together but I have done it! Feast your eyes upon the self-charm guide manual!" Needless to say, the ceremony is postponed for a few moments while they all, Grace, Ariana and her go over the book quickly. It works!!!

Grace and Leo jointly present her with a small card holder. It has multiple IOUs in it that make her realize that she is apparently an Aunt to them now. They all hug her as well and she finds the similarity that Leo shares with Al. He has that same look in his eyes and posture. Grace is quite literally her older self without restraints with Al's dedication regarding some things.

Finally… it probably says something that she anticipates his gift more than most but she isn't willing to psychoanalyze herself yet. He gives her one of his soft smiles that makes her heart beat twice as fast but she ignores it as he passes her an amulet.

She holds it and it seems to take some of her magic in and bonds with her. She can immediately sense the books, notes, magical artifacts and potions along with many different things all ordered and organized within. He smiles at her warmly again and asks her to enjoy it while elaborating on the amulet.

She is happy with it until she realizes it only emits his energy and then asks him where he procured it from.

"I made that for you Eleanor." [Al]

His nonchalant answers making her deadpan slightly but also laugh…

She spends the rest of the day in their presence again, this time discussing different magical creatures as well as some scenery to visit for the week. The first thing they all can easily agree on is taking her to the magical equivalent of a zoo.

She enjoys days like this more and more as time passes. Especially with some of the bleed back from her older self. It is most likely unconscious but it is likely that there is some effect on her for being alone. She sighed in resignation as she realized that he had forgotten to pass her Ella's gift.

She happily went to it while opening it to find one of the clothes she remembered telling Ella she liked. She smiled at her thoughtfulness while reading her letter. She was apologizing for not being able to come to her for her Birthday but it was too short notice and they were in another country…

Eleanor understood as they were both simple facts and it helped her smile from the mention of the invitation by her family.

Al smiled warmly at her while asking her if she wanted to have some pizza for dinner. She agreed in a heartbeat. Pizza was available in the magical world but they rarely had it due to Ariana and her loving their own home cooked food. Even they all preferred the home cooked food.

She went upstairs early so that she could rest up. It had been a rather long day and she was tired. She quickly penned a note to her older self while placing the amulet within and warning her to not empty everything… just the majority as Al would like to see her actively use it.

She placed both inside the ring while calmly covering herself with her sheets for a good night's sleep.

She would deal with everything tomorrow…

End Eleanor's P.O.V

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A/N: So… the last part is literally me rn. But it was bound to happen. Children get tired easily not to mention that she is still pretty exhausted from her previous days ago magical enlightenment.

Anyways, comment if you like!