Capítulo 2: Chapter 2 - Money Problem?
"A Different World…one without Shinra…and Sephiroth and a different sky," Aerith watched the sky, the white clouds drifting, the sun, "It's the same sky…and the same sun. A Parallel World?"
The past week they had been here, the ones who lived here tried to keep them away from others as much as possible. To not mix with the wizards and magic community. Although, it wasn't hard to mix in once they, or rather she said that the three of them familiar with magic.
Once she said those words, it put everything in motion, and the Headmaster, through some magical artifact, checked something called the Book of Admittance, and they got their letters of Admission.
Usually, it would be a bit much to take in, but it was almost fun, being in a new world and becoming a wizard, learning. For now, they had no money in their name, but Dumbledore decided to lend them some for the first years until they got settled.
Today, the three of them were being taken by a teacher to someplace where they could get their wands, books, clothes, and everything else they needed.
"You two, are you ready?"
"Yes…although…I don't like these clothes; they give no protection," Cloud walked up to her, wearing a long white t-shirt and shin-length denim shorts with two pockets near his knees.
He looked over at Tifa, who wore a white sundress, looking around, "It feels strange…being a child again."
Aerith swirled around, tucking her hands behind her back, chuckling softly, "Mmhm. Still, it's fun, right? Away from all the fighting?"
"I guess," Tifa held the hem of her dress in slight embarrassment, waiting for whoever came to pick them up. Then she felt the earth beneath her shake, making her blink and lookup.
A hairy giant was walking towards them, and Cloud appeared before her, holding Aerith's hand, protectively standing in front of them.
"Haha, no need to act like that; I will not eat you," The Teacher, "I am Hagrid, and Dumbledore asked me to take the three of you to the Diagon Alley to get your supplies."
"Amazing, you are tall!" Aerith widened her eyes, observing him. It was no wonder that Cloud acted protectively; only a monster in their world was so tall.
"Hahaha, I get that all the time," Hagrid said, patting Cloud's head, pushing him forward with a pat on his back, "Come on, boy. You too, girls."
"Yes!" Aerith hopped on her feet, chuckling at Cloud's annoyed expression. Her eyes went towards Tifa, who held Cloud's hand to pull him forward.
"Sir Hagrid."
"Don't call me Sir; just call me Hagrid," Hagrid liked the sir part, but he wasn't a stickler for rules.
"Ok, Hagrid," Aerith watched him with a shine in her eyes, "How are we going to travel? Are we taking a flying carpet? Or maybe a broom? Or are we going to open a portal?"
Hagrid laughed, "Hahahaha, you won't find flying carpet around here, although those things exist. And we are not going to take a broom. We are going to take something much better."
"What, what?" Tifa glanced towards Aerith, hiding the look of admiration in them. She admired how Aerith could be so open-hearted and talk to anyone in a strange world like this.
Tifa glanced towards Cloud's face, the hand that she was holding. On the other hand, she was clinging to Cloud, the one support she had.
Hagrid took them to a hut on the outskirts of Hogwarts and pointed at the chimney, "Tada!! We are going to use this!"
"Hm?" Aerith tilted her head in confusion, looking towards Hagrid, confirming, "That?"
"Yes, that!" Hagrid puffed his chest out as if it was a great thing, and Tifa couldn't hold back her curiosity. She inched closer, leaning forward and trying to look up the chimney. Her eleven-year-old body was helpful when it came to this, "There is nothing there…is there a secret passage?"
"Oh, you don't know?!" Hagrid nearly jumped up with his giant body, "This is my fault! All my fault! Let me explain!"
He walked around the house, causing a few things to fall here and there, trying to find something, "Wait, I kept it right here…it should be somewhere here."
The three of them cautiously took a step back, worried that he'd take a wrong step and crush all of them, turning them into a meat patty.
Hagrid pushed a few things away, taking a sack with powder, "Here it is!! Floo Powder!"
"Flu Powder?"
"No, It's Flooooo Powder," Hagrid corrected Tifa, walking towards them, patting their backs to push them forward near the chimney.
"Now, step inside, take a bit of powder, and shout, clearly, Diagon Alley! Understand? Say clearly. Repeat after me."
"Diagon Alley?" Tifa and Aerith repeated after him, and he gave them a pinch of Floo Powder.
"You too, boy, come here, repeat after me, Diagon Alley."
Cloud looked away, not wanting to, but he gave it, muttering, "Diagon Alley…."
"Right, right, good enough. Slow aren't you, boy," Hagrid said, pushing him forward too, "Now, who will be the first to go?"
Cloud glanced towards the chimney, his eyes darting between the two, and he stepped inside, throwing the powder down, "Diagon Alley."
A burst of green fire covered him, filling him with the feeling of rolling down the tunnels before coming out into an alley.
He was pushed forward, away from the chimney, and he turned around to wait for the other two. It didn't take long before Tifa came out, and he caught her, "You ok?"
"Mm," Tifa lightly nodded, "I think I scarped an elbow or two."
There was another flash of green light, and Cloud looked at Aerith, who nearly fell. Both he and Tifa moved, catching her before she fell.
"That was something!" Aerith grinned, and Cloud hastily pulled the two of them to the side, confusing them.
"If Hagrid got pushed forward too…."
"Oh," Tifa let out a soft laugh, stifling it, looking away when Hagrid walked out after the green flash.
"Gosh, you three are safe and sound. I worried if you went to the wrong place," Hagrid patted his chest in relief, pushing them to the main street.
The street is filled with wizards, witches, children, and the wonders of the magical community. Ordinarily, it would be hard for someone to take in, but the three of them had lived in a society filled with magic. They had to compare things with magical items available in their world, which helped them understand this world better.
"It's incredible!" Aerith put her palms together, putting out her hand in front of Hagrid, "Gimme!"
"Give you?" Even Tifa and Cloud were confused, even Hagrid, who scratched his head.
"Money, of course, so that I can spend it all!"
"Oh, no," Hagrid patted her head, "I will be the one guiding you forward. To take you to all the shops and all. Buy everything you need!"
"What do we need?" Tifa looked up, wondering what all they had to get.
"Oh, yeah," Hagrid scratched his beard, trying to find a paper inside his clothes, taking it out. It was barely bigger than his two fingers, "Here is the list. Let's start with getting you the uniform, the books, then other things."
"Hm," Cloud slowed down his steps, looking at the shops; some were of books, the others were of things like brooms, "How can we earn money?"
"Earn what?" Hagrid scratched his head, "Why do you want to earn money?"
"Of course, to buy everything needed."
"But the schools will provide you with those things," Hagrid scratched his cheek in confusion.
"Right, they are providing what is necessary…what if we want different clothes?" Cloud pointed towards the shops, "This is a magical world, right? What if there was something we came to like? Or something useful to us?"
"Right…Hogwarts won't pay for that…but you can get jobs when you get older," Hagrid tried to explain, but Cloud started walking forward without paying attention.
Tifa initiated the party chat, talking to Cloud and Aerith, 'He isn't wrong. We don't even know for what purpose we are here. If we want to be prepared for whatever the System decides to throw at us. We might need money for equipment and information. If we hadn't been turned into children…then I might have been able to open the bar, but getting investment for that would have been a problem too.'
'Hehehe, I already have a plan for that,' Aerith pushed her chest out, walking side by side with Cloud and Tifa, scanning the shops, ignoring Hagrid.
'Really? That soon?' Tifa raised her eyes with curiosity, asking her.
'It's simple! The herbs used in the healing potions and plants with medicinal values. I can grow them, and we can make money from that!'
'Isn't that going to take a while?'
'Maybe a few weeks, depending on the plants and how much of my abilities I can use, but nothing more than a month. Once we do that, we will be rich!!!'
'Yeah, no. It's going to take too much time; once we go back to Hogwarts, we might not be able to come out as easily,' Cloud outrightly denied it, thinking of ways he could use his strength. Even after being turned into a child, his powers had reduced, but he was still physically stronger than most.
He could fight even without a weapon; there didn't seem to be much scope for earning money through fighting, let alone the questions it would raise.
Usually, he didn't think so much, things were much more straightforward, but his body had changed ever since he entered this world. Maybe it was because of the voices he was hearing.
[It would be much simpler if you were to use the powers that I am willing to share with you.]
[Genesis, leaving the boy alone.]
[Angeal, you are a stickler as usual. What will the boy get by living in this dangerous world without knowing the treasure trove he is sitting on?]
[Let him think on his own, it's a good thing that he is thinking more than he thought before.]
[It should be her ability, making his mind and senses sharper, without the fog of mako covering his mind…What do you think, $&#$? You knew him before, right?]
Cloud's footstep stopped in place, feeling a sharp pain in his head. He shook it, leaving the voices alone for now.
'Abilities….' Cloud ran his eyes over the digital screen; there was a limit and a magic tab, but there wasn't an ability tab. He wasn't even sure what the difference was between them or what ability those voices were talking about. He stared at the screen for a moment before pushing it to the back of his mind, 'It doesn't matter…they are just voices.'
"Cloud?"
"Mm? Tifa?" Cloud raised his head in confusion, seeing the worried look on her face.
"Don't make a face like that, Cloud," Tifa held his palm, "If anything is troubling you, we can solve it together. If the problem is money, we will think of a way together."
"Right…" Cloud looked away, parting his lips, closing them. He was starting to wonder if he should tell them about the voices he was hearing; maybe then he could make heads and tails of what they were saying. But it worried them if they thought that he might have gone crazy.
When he was hesitating, a loud voice brought his attention, making him raise his eyes to look at a couple coming over, greeting Hagrid with twins behind them.
The man had red hair and green eyes, and his wife had brown eyes with red hair.
"Hagrid, what are you doing here?"
"Mr. Weasley, I am here to help these children buy their supplies! Dumbledore's orders," Hagrid slapped Cloud's back, making him want to retaliate, if not for Tifa and Aerith stopped him, stifling their laugh.
"Dumbledore's orders? Are they?"
"Dunno, Dumbledore asked to get things," Hagrid shrugged, looking towards the twins, "Are these two joining this year too? Bill graduated this year."
"Yes," Molly put her hands together, warmly smiling, "These two boys are joining too. We have most things from Billy's time, so we are here to get the wands for them."
"Mom, we need new clothes too," Fred pulled on his mother's clothes.
George, his twin brother, tried to butter their father for new items, all to no avail.
"You three are in the first year too?" Molly kindly asked with a smile on her lips.
"Yes," Aerith gently smiled, answering her question.
"Then you'd be in the same year as us," Fred and George said simultaneously.
"I am Fred!"
"And I am George?"
"Or maybe it's the other way around?"
"Even our parents don't know."
"Oh, we know," Molly pulled their ear, whispering to her husband, "Right dear?"
"Ahaha," Mr. Weasley let out a hollow laugh, taking his boys and moving towards the shop when Cloud looked over his shoulder, watching them leave, hearing the voices in his head.
[That family was poor, using second-hand things. Even though they are wizards and one of their children has graduated. Boy, are you sure you want to wait for years to pass by and realize that you cannot earn money?]
Cloud tightened his jaw in annoyance over the voice, trying his best not to physically show it. They bought things they needed, and Cloud ignored the voices he heard, trying to make sense of things.
Tifa and Aerith might have noticed that something was wrong, but they just thought that he was worried over the money and trying to find some way to earn it.
Instead, Cloud wondered when he should talk to them about the voices. He was indecisive before, but after seeing the red hair family, he decided that doing it the usual way might take too long.
Going back to Hogwarts wouldn't work since that would affect their freedom to do anything, and so, when Tifa was buying the books, he took Aerith's hand, pulling her out of the shop, going into the first nook or cranny that he found, away from the crowd.
"Aerith."
"Cloud?" Aerith leaned against the wall, with a slight blush on her cheeks, "Did you finally realize how hot I am?"
"No," Cloud broke all of the fantasies that were starting to pop into her head with one word.
[Oh, poor Aerith.]
Cloud felt a sharp pain, and even though he saw the words, he didn't hear the voice for some reason.
He put his palm on the wall beside Aerith's head, gasping for breath. He wiped the sweat off his face, narrowing his eyes, peering into hers, "I have been hearing these voices in my head…."
"Oh," Aerith rested her face on her hand, "Did rejecting my sexiness make you go crazy? You should hear the voices and accept them."
"They are telling me that I should use my abilities…or borrow theirs… to make money faster…I can't block them."
"Abilities? What abilities?"
"That's the thing…I don't know," Cloud looked away, "There is nothing on that screen."
"The voices…" Aerith gazed at him, raising the palm of her hands, wrapping around his head, and pulling him into a hug.
She closed her eyes, thinking back to the other timeline she knew of, the history, the future, and Jenova. The first thought popped into her mind when she heard the voices, and she whispered in his ears, "Fragments of SOLDIER'S. Leave Cloud alone for a while. There is no need for him to hurry and grow up, right?"
Cloud finally felt the voices, the presences that he had been feeling in his head, disappear one after the other. He let out a sigh of relief, resting his forehead on her shoulder, "Fragments of SOLDIER?"
"You two…what are you two doing?"
"Tifa," Cloud looked up in surprise and panic, with weakness visible in his eyes, which he hid.
Aerith pushed out her chest, "Cloud finally couldn't hold back his desire for me anymore and attacked me."
"As if," Cloud stepped away, wiping his sweat, "It was nothing."
Tifa watched him, tucking her hands behind her, nodding, without asking anything, "Ok. Hagrid is worried about you two getting lost, so come back inside. Ok?"
"Yeah," Cloud nodded, following after her, stopping to look at Aerith, "You coming?"
"Yes!" Aerith raised her hand, chuckling, rushing over to take his hand and walking with him.
Cloud awkwardly glanced towards Tifa, who only sweetly smiled at him, and Aerith, walking with him, back into the shop.
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