Vita Magicis (HP SI-WC)

Chapter 38: Back to Hogwarts

Seeing the girls about to cause a scene, I stepped forward, breaking through the human-made barrier formed by Rin, Sakura, and Illya, and stood in the middle—a nice, neutral ground.

“Hermione,” I said, turning to her first. She was watching the other girls with confusion and a hint of jealousy, though she didn’t look too surprised considering my popularity back at Hogwarts.

“Allow me to introduce you to Rin Tohsaka, Sakura Tohsaka, and Illyasviel von Einzbern. They're friends I met during my vacation this summer and will be attending Hogwarts this coming term with us. Well, Illya and Rin are—Sakura will be a year behind us.” I introduced them properly, and the girls offered somewhat stiff bows to Hermione, who returned the gesture with an awkward wave and a hesitant smile.

“Oh, they’ll be joining us?” Hermione asked, her earlier thoughts forgotten as she now looked at the trio with hundreds of questions lighting up her brown eyes. “Wha—”

“Whoa! Hold your questions for a minute—at least until I finish the introductions,” I cut in with an amused smile, gently reaching out and poking her forehead. Hermione blushed in embarrassment.

“Ahem, r-right. Sorry, continue.”

“Hmhm, now Rin, Illya, Sakura—allow me to introduce you to one of my closest friends at Hogwarts, Hermione Granger. If you ever have a question about almost literally anything, she’s the girl to ask. She’s our resident little genius~” I said, hyping up the poor girl and causing her blush to deepen.

“I-I wouldn’t say that…” Hermione tried to deflect, turning her head to the side and highlighting her red cheeks. “You’re much more knowledgeable than me, Aether. I haven’t been able to beat you in a single course yet.” She glanced back at me with a slight pout.

“Hahaha, I was born into this world, Hermione. You weren’t—but despite that, you’re quickly catching up, so I wasn’t lying,” I said, shaking my head fondly.

“Anyway, we’re getting off track. What are you doing here, Hermione?” I asked curiously, noticing her bag filled with school supplies. “I thought you’d be shopping with the Weasleys and everyone else.”

Blinking at the change in topic, Hermione’s blush faded as she faced me properly, ignoring the girls who had once again surrounded me on all sides.

“Change of plans. Harry told me this morning that the Weasleys are staying on vacation for a few more days—they’re visiting Charlie in Romania before returning. Ooh! Do you think they’ll have pictures when they get back? Of the dragon reserves?” Hermione finished, her eyes practically glowing with excitement.

“…Dragon reserves?” I heard in a low voice behind me—right before a strong, feminine hand gripped my shoulder and all but shoved me aside as Rin stepped forward, planting herself right in front of Hermione with a focused gleam in her eyes.

“You have dragon reserves here? Tell me everything!” Rin demanded, grabbing Hermione by the shoulders.

Retreating back a few steps with Illya and Sakura, I watched in silent amusement as Hermione was bombarded with question after question by Rin.

“Hmhm, looks like Rin found a new friend,” I said with a smile, thoroughly entertained watching Hermione get a taste of her own medicine—someone else bombarding her with endless questions for once.

“What’s so funny, Onii-chan? I want in on the joke too,” Illya said, pouting as she poked my ribs with her finger.

“Hmhm, you’ll find out soon enough once you get to know Hermione better. I don’t want to spoil it,” I replied with a shake of my head, earning a playful “boo” from her.

And just like that, one more person joined our shopping trip. I spent the rest of the morning and afternoon trailing behind the group, smiling as—despite a rocky start—the girls began to bond.

Hermione was endlessly curious about wizarding culture and the magic system (which we had made up) of Japan, and in turn, Rin was flooded with questions about all sorts of things that popped into Hermione’s head.

Before we knew it, it was getting late, and it was finally time to say goodbye. We stood off to the side in the Leaky Cauldron, saying our farewells for now.

“Well, I’m really happy I got to see you again before term started, Hermione,” I said with a smile, pulling the brunette in for a quick hug that was immediately returned with enthusiasm.

“Me too,” Hermione murmured into my chest before pulling away, smiling with a small blush on her cheeks.

“Now that I’m back, if you want, you’re more than welcome to visit my manor anytime. If you don’t have transportation, you can always call out to Ilulu—I’m sure she’d be more than happy to bring you along,” I offered with a warm smile.

“Really!? I can!? Alright, it’s a deal then!” Hermione declared, all smiles again now that she knew she could visit whenever she wanted—though I had a feeling her excitement was also due to the prospect of getting access to my library.

“Of course,” I said with a nod.

Right after I said that, Rin, Sakura, and Illya stepped up beside me to say their own goodbyes.

“Until we meet again,” came Rin’s calm nod, her tone cool and composed, though the excited smile tugging at her lips betrayed her real feelings.

“You’re not as bad as I first thought,” Illya added with a shrug, earning an eyeroll from Rin.

“Until we meet again, Hermione-san,” Sakura said politely with a bow and a perfectly practiced smile—genuine at a glance, but lacking warmth. Sakura, it seemed, didn’t care much for Hermione one way or another.

“See you, everyone! I’m sure you’ll love Hogwarts~” Hermione said with a bright smile, clearly happy to have made more friends her age. With that, she turned and walked out of the pub, her parents waiting at the door.

“Alright, let’s go home. I’m tired and famished,” I said, stretching and cracking my back.

“Let’s go! I can’t wait to start practicing spells with my own wand~” Illya chirped excitedly, already stepping toward the fireplace without waiting.

“If you want, I can give you a massage later, Senpai,” Sakura offered sweetly as we followed behind the gremlin.

“Forget that. The first thing I’m doing when we get home is ordering every book we didn’t manage to grab. The magic here might be weaker, but it’s a lot more versatile, and I want to see what I can do with it,” Rin said, already lost in her own world as her mind spun with ideas.

I laughed quietly to myself. There was one little thing I had deliberately left out—and I was very much looking forward to their reactions when they discovered that underage magic wasn’t allowed outside of Hogwarts.

‘I wonder what sort of faces they’ll make?’

=====

1 September, 1993

More than a month had passed since our trip to Diagon Alley, and once again it was time to return to Hogwarts.

During the days leading up to the start of school, I had been kept busy catching the girls up on what they had missed—which thankfully wasn’t much. Just two years for Rin and Illya, and one for Sakura.

Rin and Illya had not been happy at all when they discovered that students weren’t allowed to use magic outside of Hogwarts. Even Sakura looked a little crestfallen at the news.

It hadn’t taken long before I crumbled and told them that, much like myself, they were exempt from that rule. The girls, because they weren’t originally from this world—and me, because any spells placed upon my younger self had broken when my consciousness took over on my thirteenth birthday.

I got a few pouts and more than a few not-so-gentle punches from Rin before the girls finally started experimenting. And once they did, it became almost routine to hear random explosions coming from outside at all hours of the day.

At first, they experimented in their respective rooms—until Ilulu quickly put a stop to that when those two idiots blew up half of Illya’s room one day. Honestly, the only reason they didn’t blow themselves up along with it was due to their improved bodies: Rin now having Ishtar’s powers, and Illya being protected by Ruby.

That was another thing—aside from wand magic, they’d also been practicing the new powers I had granted them, and were slowly getting the hang of them. It wouldn’t be long now before they had full control.

Unfortunately, neither Hermione nor Rose had been able to visit me the past month. Something about needing to talk to each other and Ginny about something.

“Rin, Illya, we really need to leave if we want to find an empty compartment to sit in,” I called out, standing in the entrance hall with Sakura beside me.

Sakura, ever the diligent girl, had been packed and ready to go since we woke up this morning. The same couldn’t be said for the other two. At this rate, Sakura was quickly becoming my favorite of the three—if only because she gave me the least amount of headaches.

“I already told you to wait a minute! Being impatient is not a very nice trait for a boyfriend, you know?” Rin yelled back. Her voice was barely audible from her room.

“You said that thirty minutes ago!” I shouted, my eyebrow twitching slightly.

“I’m done, Onii-chan~!” I heard Illya’s voice from above, spotting her white hair over the railing as she quickly made her way down.

“Don’t run on the stairs, Illya! That’s dangerous! You could fall,” I warned, feeling more like their guardian than their boyfriend at this point.

“Don’t be such a spoil sport, Onii-chan. I’ll be fine~” she waved off my concerns—only to immediately prove me right when she missed the last step and face-planted straight into the ground.

“…Owwieee.”

“See? I told you,” I sighed, walking up to help her. She had comical tears in her eyes and a red bump on her forehead.

“Haah. Hold still.” I raised my hand and cast Cura, watching as her forehead glowed briefly before the bump disappeared entirely.

“Hihihi Thank you, Onii-chan! You’re the best~ Now here’s your reward~” Illya gave me a tender smile and pulled me down into a soft kiss.

We only kissed for a few seconds before we were pulled apart by an irate Rin, scowling down at us.

“What the heck are you two doing? I thought we were going to be late, and yet here I find you all over each other!”

“Hihihi Don’t mind the gorilla, Onii-chan. She’s just jealous that I got my morning kiss and she didn’t~” Illya teased, sticking her tongue out at Rin and only making her angrier.

“Alright, alright—we’ve wasted enough time. Let’s go,” I said, grabbing their hands and pulling them forward before they could start bickering and waste even more time.

Making my way to Sakura, I suddenly felt a weight on my back before two soft hands—lightly scaled in red—wrapped around my neck. A head of red hair popped over my shoulder.

“You surely weren’t forgetting me, were you, Aether?” Maya asked with a smile just a bit too wide for her face, her snake-like features slightly peeking through.

“Hahaha, as if I could ever forget my first lover?” I replied with a fond chuckle, shaking my head. “Aside from the earful I'd get from you, I’m more afraid of what Luna might do if I left behind one of her first friends.”

“Good answer~” Maya said with a soft smile before planting a kiss on my cheek—much to Rin’s further annoyance—then suddenly transformed into a small bird and settled onto my shoulder.

“Well, is everyone ready?” I asked, glancing at Rin, Sakura, and Illya. After receiving nods in return, I turned slightly. “Good. Ilulu, would you mind?”

The moment I said her name, Ilulu appeared at our side with a warm smile. “Of course, Master~”

In the next instant, we disappeared from home under Ilulu’s power and reappeared at King’s Cross Station.

=====

King’s Cross Station — 10:40 A.M.

We arrived in a quiet section of the station, away from the Muggles. Rin and Sakura leaned on me for support, clearly affected by the teleportation.

“Ughh… Even though I find it astonishing that the magi here managed to make teleportation accessible to everyone, did they have to make the process so nauseating?” Rin groaned, burying her head into my chest.

“It could be a little better,” Sakura agreed, doing the same on my other side.

“Again!~” Illya shouted happily, throwing her arms up like she had just gotten off a rollercoaster.

“I agree with you two,” I said, nodding and taking a deep breath to ease the lingering nausea. “Don’t worry, I’m already working on developing my own form of teleportation.”

“If you need help, let me know,” Rin offered, also steadying herself.

Sakura, meanwhile, didn’t pull away at all—snuggling even deeper into my chest. I let it slide. She deserved a reward for not causing me any headaches this morning, after all.

“Noted.”

“Sorry, everyone. I tried to make it as gentle as I could,” Ilulu apologized with a sad smile, genuinely remorseful.

“Don’t worry, Ilulu. It’s not your fault,” I reassured her, patting her on the head. She practically melted under the gesture, her frown vanishing instantly.

“Thank you, Master. Well, I’d best get back home. I still need to leave some instructions for our new maids before heading to Hogwarts myself,” Ilulu said, giving us a wave before vanishing with a soft pop.

“Come on, girls. Let me show you how to get onto the platform,” I said, leading the way.

“Ooh I bet it’s another secret entrance, what with their society being hidden and all~” Illya exclaimed in excitement, her head swiveling left and right like a cartoon detective.

Chuckling silently, we walked for a minute before reaching the space between platforms 9 and 10.

“We’re here,” I announced with an amused smile, watching Illya pout at failing to find it herself.

“So where is it?” Rin asked, arms crossed—but not quite able to hide the gleam of excitement in her eyes.

“Hahaha, it’s right here,” I said, stepping forward. I placed my hand on the wall, letting it pass right through. The others gasped.

“It’s invisible!” Illya shouted, attracting a few glances from nearby Muggles before they quickly moved on.

“That’s right. Now come on—we’re a little early, so we might be able to find an empty compartment.” I extended my hands.

Illya and Rin each claimed one, leaving Sakura to silently pout beside me.

Luckily, our trunks were shrunk down to the size of matchsticks, so we didn’t look too ridiculous walking toward the pillar. As we reached it, we passed through and were met with the loud, familiar sound of the Hogwarts Express and the chaos of students boarding the train.

“Whoaaa~” Illya gasped, wide-eyed as she tried to take everything in.

“…Amazing,” Rin whispered to herself, eyes sparkling.

Sakura smiled softly, holding the back of my shirt. “This is incredible, Senpai~”

“It sure is. That’s our ride, girls—the Hogwarts Express,” I said with a smile, genuinely happy to see them enjoy the moment.

“Aether!”

Unfortunately, I couldn’t enjoy the scene for long as I was suddenly greeted by several classmates—most of them girls.

Rin, Illya, and Sakura all narrowed their eyes.

The moment a new pair of girls calling my name came into view, the three of them had enough. As one, they pulled me onto the train, each of them pouting like they had just been personally betrayed.

“I see. Looks like I’ll have to stay on guard for hussies. Ruby, we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us,” Illya huffed.

A pink wand wiggled out from beneath her coat. “Of course, Illya-san~ A magical girl must fight for her true love, after all~” came Ruby’s cheerful voice.

“Tsk. I’ll just have to put those nobodies in their place,” Rin said, her eyes briefly flashing divine red.

“Senpai is ours. I won’t let some randoms get in the way of our love~” Sakura added, voice calm but eyes… unnerving.

‘Crap… What have I unleashed upon Hogwarts?’ I thought nervously.