Days went by slowly. Nothing much occurred in Magnus' interesting life. His magic stayed stuck to the level it was when he learned to produce smoke from his palm. It had been 6 months since then.
Little Magnus did not know about reaching the magical maturity age which was 11. He tried hard to produce fire from his palm but all he got was farts. For now, he was just a strong, smart walking microwave. And he absolutely loved it. His food never got cold now no matter where he was.
Also, he never got tired now so he was full of energy all the time. He was now learning Karate, learning 7th-grade syllabus from his dad in the evening, then he would read some book or try to make a fire and then go to sleep.
The school was pretty easy for him so he didn't find any challenges there. The award ceremony for George Cross was going to take place in 3 days. As going to Buckingham Palace was already decided, he could not ask his parents to take him there before that.
Life went on for him. That was until two guys came to his home. Both had dark black hair and were of nearly the same height. It was Sunday so his family was at home.
"MAGNUS... YOUR FRIENDS ARE HERE." Grace's voice came from downstairs.
"Friends? Who did Bobby bring along?" He questioned himself and went downstairs.
When he reached the place, he saw the same boy he met in front of the dark building months ago when he went to ride his bicycle.
"Hey there, Magnus." The taller, curly-haired boy waved his hand. The shorter one, possibly his brother, seemed confused.
"Mag, invite them in. I just baked some cookies for you. Take them to your room if you want, I will bring them there." Grace warmly welcomed them.
Magnus nodded to the two boys, suggesting that they follow him. The two brothers silently followed him. Soon, they were in and he closed the door, but he did not lock it.
"How did you find my place?" Magnus asked.
The two brothers looked at each other's faces as if he had asked something ridiculous.
"Mate, your face was plastered on the newspaper nearly a few days ago. It's not that hard to find you." The taller one said.
Magnus nodded, and there was nothing to worry about anyway. "I went to your house some months ago but couldn't find you there."
"Yeah, muggles can't access it. Even wizards can't access it unless they have permission." The tall boy answered.
Magnus was not able to understand all these terminologies. "Wait... Muggles? What is that? By the way, I don't even know your names."
The tall boy smacked his head for forgetting this, "Haha, I forgot. I'm Sirius Black and this is my little brother Regulus Arcturus Black. We are from the so-called The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black. Anyway, muggles are folks who can't do magic and are usually kept away from the knowledge that magic exists in our world."
Magnus' mind exploded with that. "Magic as in, my making my hands hot? Or making falling glass hover in the air?"
"Wait... you're a muggle too? Of course, it explains everything now. Do they know about your magic?" Sirius asked.
"No, they have no idea and I'm not telling them anytime soon." Magnus firmly said. He'd rather not make his parents worried because his abilities were too mysterious, and when they won't be able to find any answers they would get worried and tensed.
"No problem, you'll get your letter from Hogwarts when you turn 11. Oh, you don't know. Hogwarts is a school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. All children with magic when turning 11 go there, well, most of them. There is a whole secretly hidden magical world out there, Magnus. There are dragons, goblins, magical creatures. Magic is a wonderful thing, though I can't really perform much at the moment. Before turning 11, our magical powers stay in their infancy." Sirius explained.
The more Magnus heard, the more excited he got about the future. The magic was real, the magic school was real and so much more.
Sirius continued speaking, "I'm a fan of yours now, Magnus. The way you saved all the kids and your teacher on that bus. You are one hundred per cent Gryffindor material."
"Gryffindor? What's that?" Magnus inquired.
"It's one of the four houses where one can get shorted into. Gryffindors are known for their courage, chivalry, and determination. Slytherins are the nemesis of Gryffindor as they are known for being ambitious, shrewd, cunning and simply bad people, they are bad folks mostly. Then there is Ravenclaw, they are just bookworms and then the Hufflepuff who are just known for being loyal but they are very secretive." Sirius gave him a crash course of Hogwarts.
*KNOCK KNOCK*
Grace came in with a place full of cookies. She gave it to them and left. Although she had never seen the two kids before, she still refrained from asking him about them.
Once she was gone, Sirius requested something. "Hey, I brought my brother here because he wouldn't believe that you can make flames. Show him will you? That will shut him down."
"You dragged me here, Sirius," Regulus argued meekly. There was actually a reason for why he was like this. It was all thanks to the abusive family with which he grew up with.
One time they had brought an injured bird to their home, hoping to secretly nourish it back to health. But, as it got better, its chirping was heard by Orion, their father.
Orion decided to take this opportunity to teach his sons an important lesson about how certain emotions can make a person weak. As Blacks, they were not meant to be weak, but superior to all other things. So, Orion broke the bird's wings one at a time to urge a reaction out of the boys.
Sirius watched his father destroy the bird, maintaining a cold stare throughout the incident, slowly starting to hate his father and mother to the point he felt disgusted. But Regulus, only being 6 years old at the time, began to cry as the bird whimpered in pain. Orion yelled at Regulus to get his emotions in check before snapping the neck and ultimately killing the bird.
Regulus tried to swallow his cries to avoid further punishment. As the bird lay mangled and lifeless on the table, Orion turned to Sirius. Enraged, Orion slapped him across the face with his bloody hand, reprimanding him for bringing the creature into the house and for teaching Regulus attachment. That was the point that made Sirius hate his family and Regulus fear them.
Magnus didn't know this. If he did, he would have tried to make the two happy. "I want to make flames but I can't. Only smoke comes out of my body."
He showed them a demonstration and soon, his palm farted out some smoke.
"No no, you produced fire from your mouth that day." Sirius pointed.
"Then maybe it was accidental?" Magnus shrugged and ate.
"By the way, Sirius. What should I do to prepare for Hogwarts?" Magnus inquired.
"Ummm... we are premature so we can't really perform magic. But we can learn the spells and their correct hand moments before school so we can have an edge. All right, I will bring you some old books, Magnus. Because my family likes to act like kings, they never let us reuse the books. They just get thrown in the basement. Two of my sisters are about to complete Hogwarts so I can get you their books." Sirius suggested.
"That would be amazing, Sirius. I have an excellent memory, so I think I can memorise most of the common stuff before school." Magnus was excited.
"WOAAAH... WHAT IS THIS?" Regulus suddenly exclaimed.
Magnus turned to look and saw him fiddling with the radio. "That is a radio, you can hear music on it."
"How does this work?" He asked.
Magnus went to him and switched it on. "It works on radio waves. We can't see them but they are around us."
Immediately a song started playing. It was Honky Tonk Women by Rolling Stones.
Regulus looked at it in shock as if this was some kind of forbidden magic. "This... is so... magical..."
Magnus laughed, "Haha, no, Regulus. This is technology. With each year, it gets better. Humans never stop improving ourselves."
"Only if wizards were the same," Sirius said with a sigh. Then he picked up a cookie but it was cold now and not as much fun to eat.
"Wait, let me heat it up." Magnus offered.
He used his hand to heat them. Soon, they had cookies like fresh out of the oven again.
"That is so damn convenient," Sirius exclaimed seeing his ability.
"Why? Can't you do it too?" Magnus asked.
Regulus quickly spoke, "Of course not. We can't even control our magic yet."
"He's right. We're as weak as any other 9 years old right now. You can probably break our necks easily if going by the fact that you bent metal on the bus." Sirius said.
Magnus didn't ask anymore. He didn't want to end up speaking too much. After a bit more chatting, the two got up to leave.
"Our mum would kill us if she found out we were here. We need to return now. See you later, Magnus. I will bring the books the next time." Sirius and Regulus waved their hands and left.
As soon as they left, Magnus turned to his mother. He knew what she wanted to ask. "They are my friends from the park."
"You should have told me earlier. Anyway, get ready to go to the Police Station today. They said that the Police Chief and the Mayor want to award you." Grace told him.
In the past 6 months, he had given some interviews and had saved nearly £1,151 (£16,350 today).
"Mummy, are you sure they are not just using me for their election?" Magnus asked smartly.
"Mag... but that's not important. You should get these awards. When you grow big and go for a job interview, just an award certificate will hold a lot of weight. They will hire you even if you are unqualified because they will expect good work ethics from you." Grace advised him while combing his hair.
"I'm sure it will be very boring. They will give their long speeches. I don't wanna go." Magnus threw some childish tantrums.
Grace looked at him seriously. "Are you sure? So I should tell them to give the cheque prize to someone else."
Magnus' eyes shot open and all his defiance vanished. A smile of a true businessman appeared. He ran to the main door and put his shoes on.
"MUMMY, what are you doing? We'll be late. I can't reject them honouring me, or else it will make them sad." He rushed.
Grace laughed, "Haha, yes yes, let's go."
At the ceremony, Magnus was given a fake gold medal, a certificate calling him a hero and a huge cheque for £750(£10,653). Only the city could have given away so much money.
Magnus thanked everyone as a happy child and returned home with his mother. They were going to cash the cheque the next day. Now, he had a total of £1901(£27,003).
"I can finally help Bobby." Magnus thought happily. But then he suddenly realised something that made him sad.
~Bobby does not have magic. We will be separated soon. I need to teach him to stand up for himself.~ He decided.
[Discord - https://discord.gg/DgHkrAn]
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You can read 20 advance chapters on -patreon.com/misterimmortal.
Special thanks to *Douglas Flower* *Umar Latif* *Julian Rocamora* *Darrien Steely*
Thank you for your support!
3rd July 1969.
It was the day Magnus was going to be awarded the George cross. Grace had specially bought a nice new formal suit for him for this day. Even his Grandparents were coming. Just from his mother's side though as his father's parents had passed away.
It was a moment of happiness and excitement at the Grant family home. The neighbours were also very excited for some reason and many aunties from around would come to have small talk with Grace. One even proposed that in the future Magnus and her daughter should marry. Grace kindly ignored her words and didn't answer.
They were to go to Buckingham Palace. This was something out of the ordinary as in normal circumstances, these award ceremonies were not planned on such a scale and the queen doesn't give it personally. But maybe because the recipient was 9 years old, everyone accepted this reasoning.
"Where is my handsome Grandson?" Martin Lewis, Magnus' maternal grandfather, asked.
He was just a wounded retired World War 2 veteran. His face had a long stitch mark going from the right side of his forehead to the left bottom side of his chin. It had occurred when he was caught in a barbed wire during some covert mission. It honestly made him look badass but also scary to some. Magnus remembers that when he was small he would start crying by even looking at his face.
Magnus heard the voice of his grandpa so he ran downstairs. Most kids loved their grandparents, that was the general rule.
"Grandpa! When did you come?" Magnus was delighted and ran to hug his grandma and grandpa.
"Here comes our little lion... look at you, so strong." his grandpa said while ruffling his hair.
Magnus giggled for a while and then turned to his grandma. As always, she had brought chocolates for him. "Come here, my little soldier."
"Hehe, thank you, Grandma." He took the chocolates happily. Such small things did make him happy. He may be developing faster but that can not make him stop acting like a child.
*CLAP CLAP*
Adam clapped to get everyone's attention, "Okay everyone, it's time to go now. Mum and Dad, you two will go in Grace's car with her. I will bring Magnus and Bobby with me."
After that, everyone got out, Grace locked the home and they left in two cars. Magnus, though, stayed silent because something very important was going on in his young mind and it was keeping him on edge.
"What are you thinking, Magnus?" Adam asked.
"Nothing Dad, just feeling strange. Is me getting this award too abnormal?" He asked.
"No, Mag. You are a brilliant, intelligent and good kid. You are not normal, you are the best. I'm sure all the parents of your classmates you saved think the same about you." Adam cheered him up.
"If you say so, I will believe you," Magnus muttered. Soon they came to Bobby's home and picked him up. He was wearing a green suit for kids. Magnus also jumped to the backseat to talk to his friend.
"Since when did you have this new suit?" He asked Bobby.
Bobby proudly lifted his chin, "Hehe, mum bought it just for today."
~They must have taken money from their strict budget to keep him happy.~ Magnus thought. But, he could understand that a simple boy like Bobby wouldn't understand such a thing.
Magnus then whispered something into his ear, "I will get you the money today, take it to your home. Do as we planned, okay?"
Bobby's eyes widened. He was obviously happy that with this help he wouldn't have to move away from here. He quickly put his arm on Magnus' shoulder, "Magnus, you are my brother."
"Heh, I know I know... now don't spoil my hairstyle. I need to look handsome on live television." Magnus said.
"What about the queen?" Bobby asked.
"Oh, who cares about her?" Magnus shrugged. Adam's brows twitched hearing his such sharp words.
"Dad, will they come to get my interview again?" Magnus inquired.
Adam smiled wryly, knowing where this was going, "They will, but I recommend you stop thinking so much about money. You are still too small for all that."
Magnus protested, "Come on, dad, it is strictly business."
After a while, they came to the Palace where the ceremony was to take place. Magnus wasn't the only one getting this award though because then it would have been too much. Instead, there were 5 more recipients but all of them were at least 30 years older than Magnus. Some of them were from the military and some were ordinary people.
Their car was allowed into a special parking zone. They regrouped with the family and entered. They were given seats in the front row. The big hall was the throne room. The queen would sit at the front, at the centre along with her husband.
The crowd was slowly increasing. There were mostly the family members of other award recipients and some more high-level nobles. All of them looked as Magnus expected them to be. Overly spoiled rich people who probably held common people with disregard for being common. Most of these people were still able to afford this luxury lifestyle because of the money and land taken from the commons and they still get to spend the tax money every once in a while.
Magnus didn't understand the bigger complexities, but all he knew was that these people were up to no good.
After waiting for a while, an announcement was made and the Queen and prince entered with prideful faces.
Soon, another man who was supposed to be the announcer started to tell the stories of the bravery of each recipient one by one as they were called to get the award. It was a medal that the queen would put around the recipient's neck. For that, men would have to kneel and there was a small cushion left there to place the knee on it.
She would come, give the award, get her pictures done and send the man back. This went on until 5 awards were sent out. Then finally it was Magnus's turn. He looked too out of place with his little size.
"Next is the last awardee of today. A child who showed adults what it means to be a true British hero. A child who set up a milestone of bravery that not many would be able to break easily. His deed was so great that along with the recognition from the government and the monarch, he has also been awarded with his name being written in the Guinness book of records.
"Now, let's give Magnus Grant a big round of applause." As soon as the voice stopped, people clapped.
Magnus went to the queen and kneeled on the cushion. But he was too small so the queen had to bend a little to put it on his neck.
She lightly placed it around his neck. Then when he got up, the queen patted his head and got many pictures taken. These pictures were a lot more than any other award winner. Magnus quickly had an idea in his mind, ~So I was indeed a tool for her.~
Soon, he returned to his seat as an announcement was to take place.
"We have clearance from our side that from now on all George Cross recipients will be granted an allowance of £1000 each year as living expenses. These numbers will also change with inflation." The announcement came. It was very relieving for them. Especially Magnus, who was now on cloud nine because he now has enough money to help Bobby easily.
After this was dinner night. Everyone was busy talking with each other. So Magnus took Bobby to the side and asked.
"Bobby, you know the plan, right?" he asked
"Yes, I remember it. Just as we planned," Bobby answered confidently.
"Good, we are going to get that talking portrait out of here back to my home. There we will be able to talk to this portrait forever and learn about magic. You will stay at the door of the exhibition and be my distraction.
I will go in and get the painting. It is invisible for people so we don't have to worry about getting caught. But, it is too big and lifting something that big means my hand will be in air which will make me look too out of the ordinary. We need to come up with a plan quickly." Magnus explained.
"Umm, why don't you tie it to your back or something?" Bobby asked.
"Because only the painting will be invisible, not the ropes that will touch it. Maybe I can just hold it under my arm. All I need to do is make sure I don't drop and don't raise my hand. Okay, I am going in now." Magnus decided.
"Do you know the way?" Bobby asked.
Magnus smirked, "My memory has become good, Bobby. This is the way, I'm sure of it..."
He took a long breath and started moving sneakily.
[Discord - https://discord.gg/DgHkrAn]
______________________________
You can read 20 advance chapters on -patreon.com/misterimmortal.
Special thanks to *Douglas Flower* *Umar Latif* *Julian Rocamora* *Darrien Steely*
Thank you for your support!
1 Stone = 1 cookie, reheated by Magnus. (Effect: Fire resistance 100%)
GIVE THEM STONES TO ME. IT'S GLOOMY MONDAY.
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