บท 49: Chapter 49: He returned everything?
With the start of the next term approaching, Axel had to go to the Diagon alley to buy some necessities.
Last time, after he had left the shopping with Andromeda halfway after meeting Bellatrix, he was just a weak cripple with no support. Thus, he had simply bought lower quality and second-hand stuff, even skipping some things at the time to save as much as possible.
That day was definitely his black history. The two sisters were both quite the bitches.
Andromeda was trying to use him as a test subject. Axel wasn't particularly angry at her, but he definitely didn't want anything to do with her.
As for Bellatrix, that psycho bitch first had fun showing him the brutal reality, and then she also forcefully got the memories out of him. He's going to have that bitch grovel at his feet while begging for forgiveness.
That's why, this summer, he had returned all the things he had received from the sisters. Accepting those things would mean he's forgiven them.
Since he was already using the space-extended purse and the clothes, he had sent the money for it instead. They were fucking expensive but since Damien Malcolm had been robbed clean at the end of the year, Axel was able to pay for them.
Anyways, now that he was loaded, healed, and able to make money through many ways, he was going to get himself some better things.
The first thing he did was to go to Gringotts.
Axel looked at the white building in front of him. With the development of the Diagon Alley, the Goblins had to keep up in order to not be left behind. And, maybe because they had a complex about their heights, but Gringotts was still the tallest building in the Diagon Alley.
A set of white stairs led up to a set of burnished bronze doors which were flanked by a goblin in a uniform of scarlet and gold.
As he entered, a few words caught his eyes.
"Thief, you have been warned, beware
Of finding more than treasure there."
Axel smirked when he read the warning.
'Is that a challenge? Well, you're on,' he thought with a smirk. He had heard a lot about Gringotts' treasures and security which had gotten him quite curious. So, for future reference, he activated his [Arcane Eyes].
'Damn…'
He thought, looking at the magic around the place. The goblins sure knew their Warding. Anyways, he was just checking so that it might come in handy in the future. Deactivating the skill, he walked up to the teller.
"Yes?" Asked the teller, looking up from his work.
"I need to do some conversions."
"Currency conversion can be done there," said the teller, directing him to a different Goblin.
"What kind of conversion do you need?"
"Bronze and Silver coins to Gold and Platinum ones," informed Axel.
The Goblin grunted, not even looking up from his work,
"Put the knuts and sickles in here," he said, indicating a trolley.
Looking at the trolley Axel shook his head.
"I think I'll need more trolleys for that..."
...
In the end, the amount of sickles and knuts he'd collected turned out to be quite shocking. That's why he got them converted in the first place. After everything was counted, he found that he had around 6000 Galleon worth of coins which is quite a lot, but not too much of his ingredients expenses are taken into account.
"Still better than being broke," he muttered with a shrug. With his skills, he could have gotten a lot more than that. But he only swiped little to negligent amounts from the students so that they don't even notice that there was a thief.
To be honest, money is not really the problem now. The Slytherins were a bunch of fat cows waiting to be butchered. He could butcher them when he really needs money. The problem is not having any legitimate and legal and stable source of income to use as a cover and it's quite clear to a lot of people that he doesn't have any family. So there's no way to explain how he's getting the money without coming to the conclusion that he's Martina's or some other rich girl's toyboy.
But oh well, it was not a big deal. He was sure he'll figure something out.
Now that he was properly loaded, Axel Axel went to the same hair salon he'd visited the previous time. After a year, he obviously needed a haircut, especially since he now has much better ways of hiding his face.
"Sorry sir, but you need a reservation to enter this place,"
The Hairstylist, Paul was his name, didn't recognize Axel at first. But then his eyes widened as he rubbed his eyes, looking at Axel in disbelief.
"Merlin's Goatee! Axel?! Look at you, young man!" He exclaimed.
Axel was surprised the guy actually remembered his name. Following his words, Axel looked at himself.
Well, all he can say is that he's glad that the clothes he had were self-lengthening. A year ago, he was just a short and skinny kid, who hadn't gotten proper nutrition and body care for years. But due to the diet, exercises, potions, and whatnot, he was now quite tall for a 12-year-old, with lean compact muscles that were hidden behind his baggy outfit.
Paul left the client he was attending to his worker as he approached Axel rather aggressively,
"Just what did you do?! Merlin's hair, look at those muscles!" he exclaimed, thumping Axel on his shoulders.
And then he finally checked Axel's hair. "Wait....What the fuck?!... How the fuck?!" He exclaimed, running his hands through Axel's hair, confusing him.
"What's wrong?" Asked Axel, furrowing his brows.
Paul shook his head, still looking like he couldn't believe what he was seeing. He took Axel to a seat as he began to cut his hair.
"Mate, I won't even mention the body. Just tell me, how the hell did you suddenly get such perfect hair? It's like… they've been nourished with the most expensive material and all the damage has been removed!" He exclaimed, his eyes not leaving his hair.
???
Did he change so much?
Axel looked into the mirror as he actually looked at himself objectively. Compared to his previous self from one year ago, he did look like a different person. Aside from all those ingredients, exercises, and potions, there could be another reason as well.
Axel recalled after taking the Healing Potion, he had changed further.
'System? Is there an explanation?'
[Affirmative. Healing is not the only benefit of the potion. Since you took it in a larger quantity than necessary, it also nourished your body and cleansed the impurities. Also, your lifespan has been increased to approximately 400 years. And Astoria got her lost lifespan back with the amount she consumed.]
???
That managed to shock him properly. To make sure that he Healed properly, Axel had taken a generous amount of it, only saving a little for Astoria.
Now Axel was feeling quite perplexed. He'd just gotten a few centuries' worth more time in this world. He wasn't quite sure what to feel about that. Currently, he was really loving his life. But he didn't know how he'd feel after that long.
'Whatever, I'll figure it out when the time comes,' he decided. Currently, his only problem seems to be the fact that his appearance might attract more attention. But that's not a big deal, is it?
...
After the haircut, Axel went on a shopping spree as he quickly bought all the things he needed for the next year along with ordering some new clothes.
In the end, the only thing that was left were books. But...
'The fuck is happening here?'
The bookstore had a freaking huge line in front of it, with hundreds of women jostling around, trying to get in.
Apparently, Axel wasn't the only one who found this situation odd since he could he hear other people talking about it as well.
"Did you hear about the students exchange program this year?"
"Yeah, I wonder what school it'll be."
"What's all the fuss about in this store?"
"Seriously mate, do you live in a cave? Gilderoy Lockhart is signing the copies of his new book."
"Lockhart? That pansy guy who's famous on Magi-hive?"
"Yep, that's him. He's got a crazy huge fan following on Hooter and Magebook,"
"Whatever, most of them are witches anyway."
That's all Axel could hear before he had moved on due to his serious lack of disinterest.
[Presence Reduction]
[True invisibility]
With his skills activated, he casually cut the line and entered the bookstore.
Outside seemed quite peaceful compared to the situation inside though. Witches and photographers were jostling each other to get a better view of Lockhart while two men were fighting on the side as Fred and Gorge Weasley cheered from the side.
Yep, a mess.
Axel had to shake his head at the situation. It doesn't seem like he can civilly get his books any time soon.
So, he decided to simply steal the books he needed. He was just about to leave when another commotion attracted his attention.
"Ladies and Gentleman! may I present you, Rose Potter!" said a man with wavy blond hair who must be Gilderoy Lockhart, forcefully dragging a very annoyed Rose Potter to the front of the cameras.
A smirk appeared on Axel's face,
"Well, this could be interesting."
"When young Rose here stepped into Flourish and Blotts today, she only wanted to buy my autobiography—"
*Crack*
And just as Axel had expected, in the next moment, a knee was delivered to Lockhart's balls, viciously, making the man collapse to the floor in a moaning heap.
"OHHHHHHHH!"
And thus, the place became even more of a mess. Everyone was clicking pictures and recording while the fangirls rushed to help Lockhart.
"What a creep," Rose muttered before storming off, making the crowd part way for her.
Looking at the scene, Axel nodded to himself.
"...That's Rose alright," he muttered, getting out of the bookstore as he went to finish the rest of his shopping.
He could already guess tomorrow's headlines: The Girl-Who-Lived breaks Lockhart's snitches. Fangirls expressing concern about the functioning of Lockhart's Broomstick.
Though thinking about it, Rose can't really be faulted for her actions. After all, only a spineless or clueless person would let someone like Lockhart leech on your fame like that.
....
1st Sept 1993
Axel stood alone at the barrier of platform 9 and ¾.
It was time for the start of his next year at Hogwarts. And this year, is bound to be completely different from his previous one. Last time, he was here as a weak cripple, filled with bitterness. But this time, he's here as a powerful wizard, with enough abilities to handle himself. Just whoever they are, how many they are, they can come at him anytime.
'But still, let's avoid trouble this year,' he decided as he walked through the barrier, entering the platform. Too bad he wasn't aware of the phenomenon called 'raising a flag'.
'What the—?!'
As soon as he had crossed the barrier, he was literally jumped by someone.
His body instinctively reacted as he sidestepped and tripped the person. By this time, his brain had long realized who it was so he caught the person right before she hit the floor.
"Daphne, what the hell?!" He questioned as he quickly put away the knife which he had almost stabbed her with. He let go of her, letting her fall to the floor.
Sitting up, Daphne turned around to look up at him to say something, but her words seemed to have gotten stuck in her throat as she looked at him, her pupils dilating.
At this moment, another girl jumped him, since he already knew who it was, he couldn't trip or dodge and let her fall.
Astoria hugged him tightly like a little koala.
"Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou—"
Axel sighed. What a way to begin a year.
…
Bonus scene: Black Sisters
It was a fine Sunday morning and both the sisters were discussing some new program that was being organized this year.
"Do you think it'll work? The schools are too different in their culture and magical arts." Asked Andromeda.
Bellatrix shrugged, "Well, it had better work. The support of Hit-wizards of that country can be of great help."
Andromeda looked at her sister for a moment. "But...why would we need support? Bella, what are you not telling me?"
Bellatrix looked at her sister innocently but didn't say anything. After all, going against Atlantis, the most powerful magical country, isn't a small matter at all. While she was still debating whether to tell her not, an owl post arrived, addressed to the two sisters.
Andromeda looked at the package that they'd just received.
"It's from Axel!"
Bellatrix, who was completely disinterested moments ago, was suddenly beside Andromeda, already opening up the package.
"What did he send us?!" Exclaimed Bella, looking quite excited. Andromeda hadn't seen her this happy in a long while.
With child-like enthusiasm, Bella opened the box, only to find that the box was a space extension charm and it was filled to with all the things they'd ever given to him.
The smile immediately vanished from her face as she looked back at Andromeda.
"He... sent everything back?"
....
A.N.: He returned what they had given him. Andromeda and Bellatrix had both given him lots of expensive stuff.
Oh well, I forgot that the proper meeting was supposed to be in the next chapter. Add Black sisters to the mix as well.
POWERSTONES!!!
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