章節 16: •Are you an animal?

Extimum entered the Leaky Cauldron and ordered a breakfast, he had already been doing his shopping all morning and decided to take a break before leaving.

The food he ordered was some Cornish patties and a pumpkin juice, given his age, Extimum did not use to drink any liquor, although I would not say that he has not tried them when he has given the opportunity, his favorite was a drink called floating infusion , it was a strange drink that in a meeting he had the opportunity to try, if you described the flavor it was a combination of coconut and pineapple with some cherry nuances, in addition, its alcohol content was high, it had the side effect of literally making you lighter for a few seconds, You might as well try to jump and you'd jump almost double, pretty dangerous for drunks, that being said, although Extimum described the taste like this, it was made of a strange fruit similar to a pineapple but blue in color along with some herbs that gave it its cherry flavor, the true wonders of the magical world.

After finishing his breakfast Extimum paid his bill and went out through the entrance that faced London, once outside the atmosphere seemed to have changed, inside the Leaky Cauldron the atmosphere was warm and a bit dark, there were some suspicious figures but the atmosphere was lively But when you left you were faced with a city like thousands of people walking from one place to another and a somewhat cold environment while the morning sun was barely warming, there was also the noise of some vehicles that circulated on the road.

This was the first time that Extimum took the time to observe the Muggle city, the few times he passed through here were on quick tours. It wasn't exactly the best view from where he stood, and in fact, Extimum found the noise of the city to be a bit annoying, but it wasn't difficult to get used to.

Immediately afterwards, Extimum could be observed walking down the street and looking at everything as the child that he really is, each new thing attracted Extimum's attention and if it were not because he was currently transformed with the image of another person, Extimum might have been embarrassed by his behavior, he even got some curious looks from the people who were sitting in some commercial premises, not every day you saw a 20-year-old walking down the street and observing everything around him as if it were the first time They saw, you could even see that their amazement was real.

Even Extimum didn't realize that he had broken his usual serene face as his inner child pried around, honestly speaking, although Extimum had some memories of the world from his previous life, but Extimum didn't know what country he was from, at least he knew he didn't. It was British, plus the architecture and technology are quite distant, so this was quite a new experience for Extimum .

Extimum : "Ahem". Extimum got organized when I finally noticed his behavior and the strange looks he was receiving. ' Damn, I think I got a little carried away by my excitement. '

Returning to his previous stoic face, Extimum ignored the people who were looking at him and continued on his way, he was not looking for a particular place, he was only interested in seeing the muggle world.

...

Arriving at a park after walking for an hour around the city, Extimum sat on a bench and observed the people around him.

Extimum : 'The muggle world has a lot of interesting and strange things, although maybe if I remove the magic from things, some might make sense, but others are just weird, and they say wizard clothing is weird, but I clearly saw a man dressed as a jester in the middle of the street. '

Extimum could identify most of the things he saw from his memories or logically thinking about the answer by taking into account that they did not have magic for some things, however he did not have all of his memories and some were fragmented so Extimum did not understand that the strangely dressed man was advertising for a certain company by dressing like this.

While he was there thinking about what he had seen, Extimum caught a smell that caught his attention, looking in that direction, there was a man selling hot dogs at a nearby stand.

Tempted by the smell and curious to try something different, Extimum approached the stall.

???: "good morning sir, do you want to buy a hot dog?".

Extimum : "Mmm, of course give me one." Extimum thought about it a bit, but decided to give it a try. Of course Extimum had money, since he knew that he would go out to the muggle world, he did not forget to change a little in case something caught his attention, it is not as if he could not steal it with his magic, but he would avoid committing such acts if possible, Furthermore, his magic was limited in the muggle world since his wand still had the trace due to being underage, so he could only wield magic without a wand unless he wanted to be chased by the aurors or summoned.

After paying and getting the hot dog, Extimum returned to his seat that was a bit far away and began to eat.

While consuming his food and observing the surroundings, Extimum felt a sudden jolt and stopped eating, set his food aside and quickly ran to the area of trees behind him.

Arriving there, Extimum vomited what he had eaten.

** bleurgh **

Extimum felt ill for the first time in his life and his nausea only subsided a little after throwing up everything.

Extimum : 'the taste was clearly not bad, ugh, and it didn't seem like there was anything out of the ordinary, so why is this strong rejection of my body?'

Extimum : 'was there something wrong with the hot dog and I didn't realize it?'

After removing his vomit from the floor with a wandless spell and cleaning his mouth with water, Extimum returned to his seat and inspected his food.

Extimum : 'clearly nothing wrong'. Extimum took a good look at his food and even inspected it with a spell to see if there was anything wrong, but nothing.

Extimum : 'wait, now that I'm concentrating…'.

** snif, snif **

** cough cough **

Extimum sucked in the air and smelled food; A foul smell filled her nose, it wasn't strong enough to vomit, but it did make her face pale a bit from the sudden invasion of bad smells and she couldn't help but cough to expel the feeling.

Extimum had not felt the smell before, somehow his mind had only felt the common aroma of food and not the hidden smell in food that seemed only to be perceptible to him.

Extimum : 'the smell is clearly from the food, but it didn't seem to come only from there'.

By focusing his senses, he was actually able to tell that the foul smell was not just coming from the hot dog in front of him or the ones at the stall, the smell was coming from most of the food they sold in the park.

Extimum : 'the smell comes from all the food, but how could all the food be bad? And why is it that only I react so badly to eating it? '

Extimum couldn't understand it, the food was clearly fine and the people who ate nearby enjoyed it and didn't show any discomfort, it was only the one who felt that the food was bad.

Extimum had no way of knowing currently, but since the previous meal had left a bad taste in his mouth and a little sick, he decided to go to a restaurant and eat something there.

Extimum : 'I will eat in a better place, maybe the food here was spoiled by the atmosphere.'

After that, Extimum looked for a restaurant that looked good and addressed him, however, before Extimum could enter the restaurant he felt the disgusting smell again and quickly left and decided to find another.

...

The search for Extimum was doomed to end badly, no matter what kind of restaurant I looked at, from food from different cultures and high-class restaurants to common, the only thing that changed was that in some the smell was better but still not entirely healthy .

Extimum : 'It can't be that all the food is bad, am I cursed? Don't wait, rather, was I cursed?'. Curses were very real things in the magical world, however, it was a knowledge that was generally lost in the time and only some methods were preserved, naturally they were a dark and illegal practice, in addition, they were more on the path of ritual so they could not be thrown directly into battle, and unless you had a great hatred for another you were unlikely to investigate the subject.

Extimum : 'no, I don't think that's it, maybe it's just me.'

Extimum was sitting on a bench near a bus stop, he was thinking about his situation and trying to meditate a bit with himself.

Sure enough, although he didn't have a real answer, but instinctively he knew it was related to him and his lineage.

Extimum : 'maybe I should try to meditate or focus on myself more often, the result was unexpectedly good, on the other hand, that solves the question of food, but what is the difference from the magical world? They are not very different, some Muggle dishes can even have more sophisticated procedures if we ignore the magical extravagance, so that leaves only the food itself. '

Extimum : 'well I'll think about it later, I don't think I come to the muggle world that often or need to eat here.'

Extimum spent the rest of the morning and afternoon touring the city, he decided not to eat for today and would eat when he returned to the mansion.

It was already getting dark when Extimum decided to end his excursion in the muggle city, today he visited different buildings, parks, establishments, even visited the cinema and the subway, with his magic of illusion he even entered restricted places that he wanted to see personally without problems.

Now, Extimum was crossing an alley that would lead him to a lonelier road to call the night bus, the way to call it was very easy, you just needed to carry a suitcase of luggage, be a magician, make a lumos with your wand and your call would be sent to the bus.

As Extimum walked towards the road, halfway there he was stopped by two men in dark coats and hats.

Mugger 1: "Hey, stop there." As the first man spoke and crossed the road, the second man stopped Extimum's retreat path .

Extimum : 'is this what is supposed to be a robbery? How interesting'. Extimum was surprised to be detained and although the men hadn't said anything yet, given the situation, it wasn't hard to guess. Extimum was not afraid, either because of his ignorance of danger being so young or because they were just simple men against a wizard and a physically strong one at that, so Extimum did not find the situation very threatening and on the contrary found it interesting.

Assailant 2: "you'd better hand over all your valuables calmly or don't blame me for what might happen to you." the second assailant who was behind Extimum threatened while pulling a knife from his pocket.

Assailant 1: "don't be a tough guy, just hand over your things and we'll let you go."

Extimum : "oh, okay." Extimum just replied naturally and even smiled a little.

The men relaxed a bit when they saw that Extimum was cooperative.

Extimum reached into his pocket and pulled out the bag with the galleon coins and as he approached to give it to the man in front of him, his hand reached out quickly and flattening his hand he directed it to the man's neck.

Extimum did not plan to use magic for obvious reasons, so he would only use his physical strength which had not had a chance to show his brilliance until now.

Assailant 1 was surprised by the change in the situation, he thought that today's robbery would be an easy prey seeing how young he was and that he was alone, on the other hand, when Extimum responded cooperatively he had lowered his guard a bit like that that when he saw Extimum's rapid movement he could only raise his arms in defense, although since Extimum was faster it didn't do much good.

Assailant 2 on the other hand, had not dropped his guard that much and pointed his razor at Extimum's lower back area upon seeing his sudden movements, however, his concentration stopped midway upon hearing the muffled sound of his friend. and watch him back off while holding his throat.

** ahhgg **

Extimum had directed his hand to the neck of the first assailant with the intention of hitting him and causing him to lose balance by hitting his windpipe, however, he did not expect that when his outstretched hand approached his neck, his nails would lengthen of their own accord and end up skewering the man

Extimum knew it was strong, but did not know that it had reached the point of piercing people and much less hope that its nails could lengthen and be surprisingly hard at the time of attack as to cut the man's throat, moreover , Extimum did not intend to kill him, he only planned to hit them a bit, so he wasn't the only one who was surprised to see the result besides the raiders that were next to him.

Extimum was alarmed by his imminent murder of the first assailant, although it was not something he had not been mentalized to do before, after all, his sword practices were not only to know how to wield it elegantly and his magic practice was definitely not only to do surprising tricks, however, he was still affected by his first involuntary murder.

Thanks to his oclumency , Extimum was able to control his emotions and focus on the current situation even as his emotions started to turn chaotic.

Fixing his attention on the second assailant who had also recovered and again directed the dagger to stab him, Extimum quickly dodged his razor by moving backwards.

Assailant 2: "You, you killed my partner. I did not think that you would also hide a razor in your coat, but that does not mean that you will easily get out of here; you took my friend by surprise, but I won't fall so easily. " The man thought that Extimum was hiding a razor since he did not see how it cut his friend's throat.

As they spoke, Assailant 1 had already bled on the ground and was now lying there dead, however, neither of them distracted their attention to look at him, they were both focused on the other and gazed at each other cautiously.

Although Extimum was stronger and had training in fighting, but he had never participated in a real battle, in his sword classes at most the danger of getting hurt was real, but it was not a real threat to life.

Extimum in an act of illumination transformed his face into that of the dead companion and while the second assailant was horrified at the scene, Extimum charged him and pointed his hand at his throat to try to finish it in the same way as the other.

The second assailant was horrified to see how Extimum's face was now the face of his dead comrade and lost focus for a moment, however, when he saw Extimum charging at him, he concentrated again and dodged Extimum's claws .

Extimum did not expect the assailant to dodge his attack, he had become a little confident and had not used all his strength, it seems that he needed to put all his strength and not belittle the assailant who seemed to have a bit of experience in close battles.

Assailant 2: "You, are you an animal? How can you expect to hurt me with your nails? Do you think you are some kind of beast? maybe in your next life you should try to fix your nails a bit hahaha". The assailant had been surprised in the previous exchange when he noticed that Extimum was not attacking him with a razor but with his nails and was reassured a bit when he knew that he did not carry any weapon, in turn he also tried to provoke Extimum to distract him, in addition to vent a bit of his frustration over his friend's death.

Extimum, on the other hand, was outwardly unfazed, yet something within him felt particularly annoyed by the words of the man in front of him.

Extimum : "well, we'll see if these simple nails can rip your neck or not."

After Extimum finished speaking, he did not hold back anything and with all the strength of his physique he approached the man and pointed his claws at his neck again, this time instead of sending his hand in the form of a shovel, he sent it in the form of claw to catch his neck directly. In reality, Extimum had only held back because he didn't expect to need so much strength and even though he had some chaotic feelings regarding the whole situation he still wanted to use the moment as a combat experience.

Now that Extimum had used all his physical strength, the man could only see a sudden movement before he felt his neck grabbed by Extimum's hands and saw Extimum's face (the 20-year-old adult form) before he felt a hard tug and his vision spun before darkening.

Extimum had grabbed the man by his neck and only gave him a slight breath before directly ripping his throat, causing his head to drop from his neck.

Now that it was all over, Extimum gathered the bodies and all evidence of them and incinerated them with a simple controlled fire spell, although the spell was not very powerful to incinerate people, but with a little time and effort the bodies were transformed into ash, then cleaned up and fixed her clothes and the blood on her hand.

After disposing of the bodies, Extimum walked to the end of the alley and looked for the bus stop, when he got there, Extimum sat on a bench and closed his eyes.

Now that there was more calm, Extimum was processing all the mixed feelings he felt with what had just happened.

It was a mixture of interest, fun, surprise, horror, guilt and sadness until finally nothing, just nothing, killing for the first time was certainly not an exciting experience, but in addition to the feelings of guilt and others that he felt for committing the act, no It was so terrible, or maybe it was his lineage helping him in an imperceptible way to make him feel more natural or indifferent to such events, in fact, somewhere in all those chaotic emotions he felt, there was a little spark that said that they should die for offending him and that they were just Muggles.

Extimum wasn't that disinterested in life or that ruthless, so even if he thought a little less of Muggles he wouldn't despise them to such an extent, so that last thought was quickly dismissed.

After Extimum made sure to assimilate all the feelings of the events and with his more stable mood, Extimum meditated for a few minutes with the oclumency and freed his mind from such feelings.

Extimum : 'Aish, this isn't exactly the way I expected my day to end, but my regret or guilt didn't change the facts, I should just be more mindful and careful on future occasions.' Extimum sighed.

Extimum : 'on the other hand, I did not know that my nails could be lengthened, nor that they were so hard and sharp, I suppose that I should definitely take time for an introspection'. Although Extimum could lengthen his nails like metamorphmagus, but it was a different story that they automatically lengthened when they felt that Extimum was going to attack, it was something rather similar to his fangs.

Extimum got up and looking that there were no more people nearby, he took out his bag and put it in his right hand and with his left he took out his wand and waved it slightly making a lumos under a layer of illusion, after that he dedicated himself to waiting.

Although the wand had a tracker, but since magic did not detect that any Muggle saw the spell and Extimum was not that close to the few who passed, there were no problems about it, on the other hand, the lumos was used for various things so that he would not be punished for wearing it in the middle of London.

After what seemed like 5 minutes, an elongated purple 3-decker bus came speeding and braking hard in front of Extimum .

The bus door opened and a pale young man got off the bus, with many pimples on his face and large ears, had brown hair and looked a bit unkempt, wearing a purple uniform as a bus attendant.

The man looked at Extimum and after making sure that he was the one who had requested the bus, he took out a paper and read some commercial lines.

???: " Welcome to the night bus, emergency transport for the witcher left to his fate. Extend your wand, get on board and we'll take you wherever you want. My name is Stan Shunpike. I will be at your disposal tonight". The man spoke apathetically, iit was obvious that he had read the paper with his lines many times to the magicians he was carrying, however, it seemed that the quote had not yet been learned.

Extimum : "a pleasure". Extimum replied simply and showed his wand, after Stan confirmed, he got on the bus.

The night bus was a bus that transported wizards who needed transportation and had no other ways to travel, it was invisible to Muggles and when he reached his destination he wrapped a small area with his enchantment so that the magicians could board without being noticed, the Muggles would just ignore the area.

After entering the bus, Extimum looked inside, it was more spacious inside than it seemed outside, it probably had an expansion charm, there were several beds arranged on the first floor. The driver was an elderly wizard with very thick glasses , his head was bald and he had hair on the sides.

After sitting on a bed, Stan came over and asked.

Stan: "welcome, you can call me Stan and the driver's name is Ernie, now tell me where you want to go."

Extimum : "take me close to xxx ...".

(I do not know England as such, so I do not know in which town I could put the area near the Shadowless mansion, I had mentioned that it was near a town, if anyone has a suggestion for the location, comment it here)

Stan: "the trip there will cost you 15 Sickles."

Extimum : "okay".

After hearing his confirmation, Stan approached the driver and yelled the address, it seemed like he didn't have very good hearing.

After Ernie found out about the location, I hit the gas fully and Extimum who already had an impression of the bus held on tight to a bedpost before the inside of the bus shook a bit; Extimum could see through the window how the place was quickly blurring and looking ahead he could see how the bus was going at great speed, at one point the bus seemed to blur and when he could see clearly again, they had reached another place further away from London, only to keep driving at full speed until reaching the destination of Extimum .

If we had to relate the event from another perspective, it would be like the car going back to the future, the bus accelerated and then disappeared and appeared in another place. The bus had the ability to make great leaps in space when the place they were going was too far away and when it was in the same city it only accelerated at full throttle, in this way it could reach all the places where a magician was in need. Naturally, the bus only circulated in England, otherwise it would be impossible for it to easily reach other remote places, however, in other places there were other buses or similar services.

Extimum looked around and then paid and got off the bus which after a moment accelerated at full speed and disappeared into the distance. Extimum felt that the ride was a bit strong but the feeling was despite his jumble much better than his first apparition experience, the bus jumping method must be based on a different form than apparition.

Speaking of where Extimum asked to be taken, the place was the town near the Shadowless mansion, Extimum had never been here, but he knew the name of the place and in which direction the mansion was. Since Extimum was mentally exhausted for the day, he decided not to explore the town.

Extimum went to a secluded place and undid his transformation, his body shrunk again and his features changed, after that he prepared to run in the direction of the mansion.

Extimum : 'it's a bit liberating, to feel the wind in my body as I run home.' Extimum could feel the breeze as he ran almost in a blur through the streets of the town and quickly got out of it. With Extimum's speed , it took him about 15 minutes running to spot the mansion in the distance, after a few more minutes he finally arrived and entered.

Upon entering the house he was greeted by Bob.

Bob: "Bob greets the teacher, Bob hopes that the teacher Extimum enjoyed his day."

Hearing Bob's words, Extimum couldn't help but remind the men that he murdered, although it no longer weighed so heavily on his mind they were still in his thoughts.

Extimum : "Yes, for the most part it was a good day, make me dinner, this time serve me a little more than usual."

Bob subtly felt Extimum's spirits dim a bit after he said his words, but he didn't say anything.

After saying his words, Extimum went to his room and after entering there he went to the bathroom, took a long shower, after which he arranged himself with comfortable clothes and he go down to the first floor.

...

A sumptuous dinner awaited him in the mansion's dining room, which Extimum found especially delicious after not having eaten all afternoon.

While Extimum was enjoying his dinner, Bob approached with a small glass that was only slightly full, in it was an amber liquid with pink ramifications.

Bob: "Master Extimum , Bob took the audacity to serve him this little glass that he hopes will improve the teacher's spirits a bit".

Extimum could recognize its content, it was the floating infusion, an alcoholic drink with a particular flavor that Extimum enjoyed, however, he had only tasted it once and was surprised to know that Bob knew about it, it seemed that Bob was more attentive than what it seemed.

Extimum accepted the glass, after all, the content of it was little and it would not be a problem to drink it.

Extimum : "Thank you."

Extimum finished his dinner and enjoyed the little content of the glass for a while.

Extimum : "Bob".

Bob: "yes, Master Extimum ".

Extimum : "take this bag, in it you will find several gifts packed and with a recipient, please send them with Nocturn". Shadowless's mansion had a special magical creature that they sent mail with, it was very special and efficient, however, you could only send it if you were in the mansion or were the head of the family, so I could use it to send all the gifts and it would be faster than an owl, especially for Extimum who hadn't bought one for himself and needed to send quite a few gifts.

(me and my originality with the names: v)

Extimum did not know what kind of creature Nocturn was, he only knew that it was the family's emblem pet, it was similar to a dementor only that it was not so terrifying or gave depressing vibes, also, unlike this, the creature could move through the shadows and clinging to them so he was especially fast at night, on the other hand, he had a very weak presence and was quite tame as long as you didn't judge him by his appearance.

Extimum would dare to say that he was the friendliest intelligent creature in the house after Bob and it had to be said that Nocturn could not speak, however, somehow you could understand what he meant, it was a slightly disturbing feeling, on the other hand, to Sometimes you could play with him when he changed his shadow form to other things like animals or objects.

Bob: "yes, Bob will notify Nocturn to make the shipments, I'm sure he will be pleased to leave the mansion."

After making sure to send the Christmas gifts and letters for everyone, Extimum went to his room to rest, tomorrow he would make his own trip as a Christmas present for himself and he would take time to do introspection, he had to take advantage of his time, the holidays would only last a week and then he had to go back to Hogwarts.