Chapter 10: Christmas break
Klaus was sitting in the train compartment with Neville and Hermione as they traveled back from Hogwarts for their Christmas break. Klaus was preparing himself for the many parties his parents would be taking him to.
Although Christmas wasn't really celebrated by his family, as his mother came from an Orthodox background(At least her father, her mother was a witch, which is a whole another can of worms.)his father's family worshipped money more than any god, they still had to attend many parties hosted around Christmas by their friends and colleagues. Klaus knew he would have to spend time with the children of those same people, and from his experience, this was never fun. At least he would receive some good presents from his parents.
The days at Hogwarts after the Quidditch game passed without anything out of the ordinary for a school that taught magic. Klaus had moved on to the next step in his spellcasting. It happened just after he finally managed to cast his fire bird spell perfectly. His assistant spoke to him,
"[Your understanding of casting has progressed far enough that you can move on to the next step, making your spells more potent. Until now, you have come to understand that if you feed a spell more mana, it will usually become bigger. For example, your fireball would become bigger with more mana you put into it, and your enchantments would affect a larger area.
Now, you will learn to condense mana inside your spells. This will make your enchantments last longer, and your attack spells will be more potent. Your fire will burn hotter.]"
Since then, Klaus had spent his time trying to condense mana inside his spells without having them blow up in his face. He also worked on his buff spells, managing to get the speed buff and strength buff to work.
During this time, his Gryffindor friends had progressed enough to start learning enchantments. Unfortunately, the holidays were about to begin, so only Harry and Ron would be able to practice. Klaus wasn't sure if the trace would detect the magic if it was applied to students when they entered Hogwarts or if it was only on the wand, although he was pretty sure it was only on the wand.
...
A few days before the train, Klaus also had a meeting with Daphne. As always, she found him practicing in an abandoned classroom.
"Hey Daph!" He said happily. He was sweaty and a bit agitated by his failure in condensing mana in a spell, but meetings with Daphne never failed to bring a smile to his face.
'She is probably my best friend. I like hanging out with the Gryffindor group, but being with Daphne is just something else?' He himself wasn't sure what that was, but he knew that Daphne had quickly become an important part of his life.
"I told you not to call me that; it is embarrassing," she said with a huff and a pout. Only her little sister called her that when she wanted to annoy her. Still, she couldn't help but return his smile with her own.
She had been visiting him more often since she started learning enchantments. There was always something new to ask, and Klaus seemed to have an infinite amount of answers. Truthfully, Klaus had to ask his assistant a lot of times for answers to Daphne's questions, but it also helped him improve his knowledge of enchantments.
Daphne and Klaus sat opposite each other in the chairs left unbroken in this classroom. Daphne looked a little nervous. "Klaus, you said that you could prepare the ritual for elemental magic?"
Klaus had a serious look on his face as he answered, "Yes. You would have to come to my grandmother's house to do it, and afterward, I would have to train you to control the magic."
Daphne nodded in understanding, then nervously said, "I really wish to do this, but I would have to get permission from my father." Klaus nodded for her to continue when she paused to see his reaction. "I would have to explain to him what you have been teaching me," she explained and then waited as Klaus closed his eyes and started thinking.
'Hell, what am I thinking? I really want to agree to let her tell her father just so I can spend time with her during the summer. This is really dumb and selfish of me, but what is life if we don't take any risks? I was put in Gryffindor for a reason!'
Finally, Klaus spoke, "What can you tell me about your father?" Daphne looked hopeful after his question but also a bit proud. It was smart of him to first try to find out things about her father.
She was becoming worried that Klaus was a bit too free with sharing his knowledge. She knew he was teaching a group of Gryffindors that included the famous "boy who lived." 'At least he is nothing like Malfoy describes him, based on Klaus's impressions of the boy.'
"That depends on the situation. My father is the head of the Greengrass family; we are one of the founding families, which means we have a lot of duties. When he is working, father has cultivated an image of a cold, calculating man, but when he is with us, he is the best father in the world.
My little sister Astoria is sick, and dad has spent a lot of time searching for a cure for her. He cares for my mum and me too, even if we are supposedly his shame. Well, that is what some of the other family members call us." This last part was said with a hurt and angry look on her face.
Klaus, seeing this, decided that he should probably hug her, so he did. He slowly stood up from his chair, moved to one next to Daphne, and gave her an awkward hug.
"Ok," he slowly inhaled and exhaled. He still wasn't sure this was smart; scratch that, he knew it was stupid, but he still did it. "Tell your father."
Daphne turned towards him and threw herself onto him, giving him a big hug while saying, "thank you! Thank you!...."
"Ok, ok, calm down. I didn't know you could be this excitable." Daphne blushed at his words, but Klaus decided to change the topic.
"You said your little sister is sick. Sorry for prying, but can you tell me what it is? There aren't many sicknesses that affect magi."
Daphne looked sad but still answered, "She has a curse. Well, it is a family curse. One of our ancestors had given his blood willingly to save his wife." Klaus's eyes widened as Daphne talked. He had read a bit about blood curses after McGonagall expanded not to give his blood to anyone; blood curses were discussing things and extremely hard to cure.
Just then, Klaus's eyes unfocused for a second. Daphne had seen this before when she asked him something; usually, after it, he had an answer for her.
He did this time as well. "I think I know a ritual that can remove that curse for your bloodline."
...
The train finally reached the station, and Klaus, Hermione, and Neville disembarked. Their first stop was meeting Neville's grandmother, as she was the only one on the magical side of the station.
Augusta Longbottom was an old woman with a weird fashion sense. If the pigeon on her hat had anything to say about it, but to Klaus's newly developed mana sense, she felt like an immovable mountain or a stone that had withstood thousands of storms and would withstand thousands more. (AN: I am going with the idea that she has a bunch of hats with different birds on them.)
"Neville, hurry up! Are these your friends? Go on, introduce me. What are you waiting for!?" Neville looked nervous, but he gathered the confidence he had been cultivating throughout this month as he studied magic with his friends.
"Gran, these are my friends Hermione Granger and Nicolaus Ectorius. Guys, this is my grandmother, Augusta Longbottom."
"Nice to meet you, ma'am," both Klaus and Hermione said.
"Well, I am happy to meet you too. It is nice to see my Neville making friends," she said, this time with a soft smile.
Then she asked, "Did you have a nice year at Hogwarts? How are the classes?"
Hermione answered first, "It is great. I can't believe I am learning magic. My favourite is transfiguration." Madame Longbottom nodded at the girl's answer and then turned towards Klaus. "Most classes are fine, although a few teachers aren't that good?"
Augusta looked intrigued, and Klaus continued, "Well, history is taught by a ghost that puts half the class to sleep, the DADA professor seems to be scared of his own shadow and stutters, and then the last is Professor Snape. I have no idea why that man works in Hogwarts; he obviously hates teaching. Can't he find a job as a potion maker? He is a master in the field."
Augusta Longbottom became a bit angry after Klaus's explanation. While Neville nodded in agreement and even Hermione looked like she agreed if grudgingly.
Then Augusta spoke, "They are still keeping Bins; my Frank complained about him when he was in Hogwarts. I can't really say anything about DADA; it is supposedly cursed, so Professors never stay longer than a year. As for Snape, I can't say anything about that either. I never met him, although he is known for improving a few potions."
After a little bit more small talk, Klaus and Hermione left the platform, and Neville went with his Grandmother.
...
On the other side, they were met with Klaus's and Hermione's parents; the rest had left while they were talking with Neville's grandmother.
Just as Klaus exited the wall that separated Platform 9 3/4, he was glomped by his mother. "Oh, baby, I missed you so much!" She continued babbling while she held Klaus close to her chest.
In the background, Mr. Ectorius just looked on with amusement, while Mr. and Mrs. Granger were looking at the interaction in shock. The elegant lady they were just talking to was nowhere to be seen, replaced with an extremely doting mother. Hermione was similarly shocked when her friend was glomped by the beautiful woman.
After a few seconds, Klaus managed to free himself from his mother's grasp. "Mum, you almost suffocated me!" He said in what sounded like a whining voice.
Nevertheless, he returned his mother's hug, and then he hugged his father. Hermione was doing the same for her own parents.
It is an interesting thing when Klaus awoke memories of his previous life; nothing actually changed in his interaction with his parents. They were still his parents, and he loved them a lot. Maybe it has to do with him dying at the age of sixteen and not having experienced a lot of life. He didn't even have parents in his previous life. Add to that memories of growing up with them until the age of four that he assimilated, and the result was that instead of a sixteen-year-old in a four-year-old's body, Klaus was just a mature four-year-old.
When parents and children had enough of greetings, Hermione and Klaus said goodbye to each other and went their separate ways.
...
Stephen Greengrass once again listened to the elders of his family as they continued to try to persuade him to promise his older daughter to some rich European magi for "the good of the family," of course.
"Honestly, they could try to be less transparent with their intentions." The elders of his family hated his older daughter and her mother, calling them his "shame." They had been trying to get rid of Daphne for the longest time. It's not like he didn't know why, either. His wife didn't like what Daphne represented, and she had the elders on her side.
Daphne was healthy while Astoria, his younger daughter, wasn't. Daphne was talented in magic, while Astoria could barely do any due to her sickness.
The biggest problem was that he knew that if he didn't find a solution soon, he would have to promise Daphne to someone, and he didn't want that for his daughter. But, as the head of the family he knew, that the family could not function without its other members, and he wouldn't be the first one to be "replaced."
Finally, the elders left. Not long after they were gone, there was a knock on his door. "Come in."
"Dad, I am back!" Daphne said as she ran to him and gave him a hug that he returned.
"Hey princess, how was school?"
"It was great..." he attentively listened to his daughter when she said, "and Klaus started teaching me how to do magic without a focus..."
'Could I be that lucky?' he thought.
"And, Dad, there is something I have to tell you and something I have to ask you." He gave her a nod to continue, and she did. "Klaus thinks he might have a way for us to remove the curse on our bloodline." Stephen's eyes narrowed; 'this is even better than I thought.' Out loud, he said, "and what is the other thing?"
"Klaus has a ritual that will allow me to connect to the best element for me, but for it, I would probably have to spend a major part of summer with him."
After Daphne was done, Stephen spent some time thinking before coming to a decision. He spoke, "I will allow you to go, but I must first meet this boy. I am also curious about the cure you mentioned, although I don't lay too many hopes on it working."
Daphne nodded happily and hugged her father again.
After Daphne left, Stephen called a house elf to him. "If someone asks, I am resting. No one is to disturb me until I say otherwise." The elf nodded in understanding and left.
Stephen moved towards a portrait of his grandfather and said something to it. The portrait opened, and Stephen retrieved a green cloak from it. After putting on the cloak, he whispered something, and a Phoenix appeared in a burst of flames on his shoulder. Then, both he and the Phoenix disappeared in another burst of flames.