A Web Of Magic - Volume 1 Chapter 79 Hidden
Magnus put the thoughts of Harry Potter out of his head once he reached home. Despite earning 50 points just by meeting him, he had better things to do. First one being the repairing of the vanishing cabinet from Hogwarts. He read the books he bought from Borgin and Burkes thoroughly. Then he used [Comprehension mode] to understand everything well. Once he was done, he had a good grasp about some of the intricacies of the vanishing cabinet. While it isn’t enough for him to make one, he can easily repair and maintain one.
The next week was spent repairing the cabinet. Despite knowing what to do exactly, he still had to spend a week to finish everything. The vanishing cabinet was a complex object with plenty of charms, enchantments and even runes involved in making it. There were different levels of repairs he could have done to restore different levels of functionality to the cabinet but Magnus wanted it to be perfect. For example, he could have just restored its functionality to allow just one person to pass through, but he wanted it to be able to handle multiple people using it for multiple times just like a new cabinet could. Thus, it took him the extra time. It was time well spent for between this and reading some of Merlin’s knowledge, he reached Lv3 in Enchanting. There’s still plenty more to learn from Merlin’s book.
Once he completely repaired the cabinet, he even received 100 impact points. ‘Hmm, so this cabinet is worth more points than meeting Harry Potter? I wonder why?’ Magnus mused. But repairing the cabinet wasn’t the only thing he had done with his time. He continued working out every day and kept up with his own studies and experiments. He would occasionally meet Fred and George to play. He kept in touch with all of his other friends through letters. Newt was still in Brazil studying some fire frogs and will probably stay there for a while. He even took his grandson Rolf Scamander with him there. Rolf graduated from Hogwarts this year just like Tonks and Charlie. Magnus only interacted with him a few times at Hogwarts.
Speaking of Tonks, she got accepted into the Auror program and will have to undergo training for three years before she could officially join the Aurors. Apparently, the training was pretty hard and there weren’t many recruits. Magnus didn’t understand why she wanted to go through all of this trouble just to work in the Ministry. It’s not like they get paid well and there’s always the risk of getting hurt. ‘To each their own I suppose.’ Charlie mixed well with the Dragon Tamers in Romania who worked in the Dragon sanctuary there just like he always wanted to. Unfortunately, Mrs. Weasley was very disappointed when he didn’t join the Ministry like his father. Despite Mrs. Weasley being a nice lady, Magnus thought she could be very controlling sometimes. While grateful, he’s glad he doesn’t have to depend on them anymore. He highly suspected Charlie simply wanted to run away from his mother’s control while also fulfilling his dream, just like Bill did.
His fellow Ravenclaw friends Roger and Noah just want to talk about quidditch all the time. Apparently, Roger’s brother got them all tickets to the matches between the quidditch clubs so that’s how they spent their summer. Roger invited Magnus too, but Magnus declined. He didn’t want to go to Ireland just to watch some quidditch match.
Magnus also met Mundungus a few more times under his disguise. After failing to escape the third time, Mundungus finally gave up trying to escape or hide from Magnus. Magnus had him gather information for him both from the Ministry of Magic and from Egypt. Mundungus also dealt with many items and ingredients that are very rare or downright illegal to trade. Magnus found his new supplier of rare and shady ingredients in the form of Mundungus. Sure, it’ll cost him slightly more but it was worth the money as there was simply no other way to procure them.
From Mundungus Magnus also found out about who blocked his funds. It was Lucius Malfoy. Evidently, Mr. Malfoy wanted to put pressure on Arthur Weasley for trying to pass some law and Magnus was just caught in between. Magnus didn’t think it was that simple. The Malfoys and his family had a history after all. ‘If Mr. Malfoy really wants to deal with me, it’s better to be prepared. I should keep an eye on him. I don’t know if he’s just bold or plain stupid. His son will start attending Hogwarts this year. Does he think his son won’t be affected if he tries to deal with me?’ Magnus could only shake his head at this evidently stupid move.
With the help of Mundungus, Magnus found all of the ingredients required to do the Black Star Ritual to hide himself from divination. Just as required he laid the ritual circle in his backyard on the night of “no stars and no moon”. He was lucky the day came just a week before school started once again. The day only comes once or twice a year usually. Magnus sat in the middle of the ritual circle as he slowly drew a circle on his chest with a star at its center. He muttered obscure incantations once in a while as he did so. As the ritual proceeded, he soon entered a trance and the ingredients he placed in different corners of the circle ignited. Soon the light from ignition spread to the other parts of the circle which now seemed to glow with an eerie blue light. Runes lit up at the circ.u.mference of the circle and pulsed with power.
In his trance Magnus saw himself rise through the clouds and the atmosphere. He passed through an unknown distance and entered a sea of stars. There he saw a star that called out to him. He knew what it was as soon as he laid eyes on it. It was his Host Star. He didn’t know where it was or what it was called, but only that it was related to him. He uttered the final incantation as he got closer to the star. He fell back in an instant and found himself in the ritual circle. The runes around the circle contracted and settle on his chest around the star. They turned black and then vanished all together as if they were never there. Magnus felt a veil cover him for a moment before the feeling disappeared. ‘Hmm, this should hold for a year. I will have to do it again later. Better keep the ingredients collected in advance.’
Magnus checked the effectiveness of the ritual by doing a divination on himself and he was pleased with the result. It was working flawlessly. He spent the next few days at home. He also spent two days in his Hampstead house and cleaned everything up. Soon, it was time for school once again. Magnus left his house as usual and flooed himself to the Burrow. ‘I’ll have to find an alternative. The Weasleys are a large bunch as it is. It’ll only get more congested as Ron and Ginny start school. Too bad there’s no floo point near King’s Cross station. I should learn Apparition soon, I guess. Hmm, or maybe learn how to make Portkeys? That’d make life much easier and more convenient. It’s just the knowledge to make them is pretty hard to come by due to the ministry regulations,’ Magnus thought as he travelled to the station along with the Weasleys. On the way Mr. Weasley wanted to know how cars worked and the traffic rules regarding them from him. So, Magnus had to entertain him. As he reached the station Magnus looked at his interface once to gauge his progress.
[Magnus Webb
Title: Seer Descendant
Traits: Beast Blood (Magic), Blood Curse (inactive), Beast Blood (Transformation)
Body: 4
Mind: 24
Magic: 52
Impact Points: 2180
School: Divination Lv5 (10%), Healing Lv5 (20%), Charms Lv5 (10%), Transfiguration Lv5 (20%), DADA Lv5 (10%), Potions Lv5 (40%), Herbology Lv5 (10%), Astronomy Lv5 (10%), Magical Theory Lv6 (30%), Mind Arts Lv5 (90%), Care of Magical Creatures Lv4(30%), Runes Lv5(10%), Arithmancy Lv5(30%), Ritual Magic Lv3(10%), Enchanting Lv3 (10%)
Skills: Wand Magic Lv5 (30%), Wandless Magic Lv5 (10%)]
There were improvements in all aspects. Most of his schools reached Lv5 which brought him a wealth of knowledge. His mind and magic stats increased due to his constant training with the mind enhancement techniques and continued use of his magic. His body stat finally made progress and reached 4. He felt stronger and healthier than ever, but he knew the real effects will be more visible when he crossed 5. ‘Not bad at all. Now all that remains is that Blood-Curse.’