The Traveller and the Dark Lord
Chapter One
I left Lord Gringrass feeling lost, clutching the scroll with the results of my research in my hand. Who knew what it would cost me... But here was the result: it turned out I wasn't a Muggle-born.
I had suspected this for a long time, and in my third year at Hogwarts, I found the money to get tested at Gringotts, and nothing, the green-skinned ones gave me a report saying that I was a Muggle-born orphan, NOT gifted. And as for my power, which is like that of a half-blood from a good family... That's just a mutation, it's unlikely to be passed on to my children! A funny coincidence, nothing more.
And so I lived for a little over forty years in two worlds. In the world of magic, I was dissatisfied with my low status... I could have improved it by becoming a vassal of one of the most noble families, but... Dark Rituals are forbidden! And the worst thing is that I used to believe that myself — that they were concentrated evil.
But then, after Malfoy became head of Hogwarts, after a series of books exposing the evil (light, but evil!) Dumbledore, I thought about it — and here I am... Although I could have passed the test... At least among the Slavs or in America, in Eastern Europe. But no — I believed (!) in the Light Dumbledore!
I suspect that this belief was reinforced by mental magic and potions, as it was for many Hogwarts students. But honestly... ordinary propaganda about the Old Families always being Dark and Darkness being Evil played no less a role.
As a result, I seriously neglected my development. For example, I only started practising Occlumency after Hogwarts, and Legilimency after graduating from the School of Witchcraft and Wizardry — before Hogwarts, I didn't even suspect that such branches of magic existed!
Although, as it turned out, my family's ancestral gift is precisely mentalism. And I could have been practising it since I was about seven without the slightest harm to myself — at least Occlumency. But now the time has been lost... just as the time for studying wandless magic has been lost, and my limit in it is no more than a dozen or so of the simplest spells and charms. I also missed out on the family rituals, which will ultimately come back to haunt not only me, but also my descendants, right down to my grandchildren.
Alas, I am to blame for many of my misfortunes. Who prevented me from checking myself with someone other than goblins? Who prevented me from checking my blood, consciousness, and other "trifles" after I began my training as a spell doctor? Fortunately, I could have done it myself...
I can't even blame Dumbledore and his Order of the Phoenix for everything. Did they put a mental block on me? They couldn't have been that powerful — I am a hereditary mentalist, after all. Or could they?
So I have no special excuses for my stupidity, and I have to conclude with regret that I am simply... not very smart. But the main reason is not even intelligence, but the peculiarities of my psyche — I am very susceptible to the opinions of others, the opinions of very specific people.
An orphan who grew up in an orphanage, where there were no special ties to anyone, ended up in the World of Magic, where there was a universal Grandfather Dumbledore... And then a kind of "imprinting"** took place on him, on Gryffindor, on the ideals of Light... Nonsense! But the Light Spider outplayed not only me, but also Tom in his time, so I won't beat myself up too much...
Shaking my head, I apparate back to my farm, protected from Muggles. I bought it a few years ago... Rich? No, I just don't have anything to spend my decent wizard's income on, I'm not married.
I'm not a great wizard, by the way — a solid professional, but nothing more — I have no gift. But mentalism, if I had taken it up as a child... Hmm...
I devoted the next five years to... cleansing, I guess... I don't know what else to call it... I stopped working double shifts at Mungo and trained as a psychologist at a Muggle college. I had to forge my school leaving certificate... And then I actually went through the programme – it turned out to be quite useful, I wasted my time back then...
While I was studying, I dealt with my complexes and fears. Not all the procedures were pleasant, but I got through it and now I can say with confidence that my mental balance and psychological health are fine. Well, and I learned how to manipulate people a little, even without mentalism... So now I'm the senior shift supervisor in the emergency department at Mungo and I earn significantly more. And, by the way, the efficiency of the department has increased quite noticeably since I started, so I'm not just taking up space.
I figured it out... partially... with the Legacy. It turns out that my name is not Jeffrey Uri Smith, but Robert John Tally, a pure-blooded magician in the ninth generation. How I could be pure-blooded when it was believed that the line ended with my great-grandfather is completely beyond me... Especially since the line supposedly ended with my great-grandfather, but my grandfather and parents... or someone else (?) performed all the necessary rituals, so I'm not just pure-blooded, but "properly" pure-blooded.
There were many possible intrigues... Dumbledore, for example, who did not shy away from "crossbreeding" genetic lines of wizards with properties that interested him... And he was not the only one who "dabbled" in this... My ancestors themselves could have gotten carried away, what the heck — they weren't the first, and they won't be the last.
By the way, I may be pure-blooded, but I am far from being a Lord, let alone a Grand Lord. I am just a pure genetic line with a penchant for mentalism and rituals, the latter being rather weak, and the former not so much...
Upon learning about the Ancestral Gifts, albeit not very pronounced, I began to study mentalism and rituals intensively — fortunately, the latter gradually became permissible, and I already had some foundation, as every wizard does.
If anything, spellcasters are generally "cool guys," as my Muggle police officer friend puts it. Well, imagine HOW MUCH you have to learn to be allowed to poke around in the human body... If you didn't have an OWL with honours in Charms, Transfiguration, Potions and Herbology, you weren't even considered for Mungo. And then you had to learn at least a little bit of "Dark Magic" in order to treat the effects of its use. Blood magic: the basics, rituals (this is pretty weak, a set of templates designed for the average mage), curses, artefact creation (advanced user) and a whole range of other areas.
No, cool combat mages were rare among spellcasters — their reflexes weren't up to par. But we were extremely unpleasant opponents and, even when dying, could almost guarantee taking down our enemy — if only with tricky spells that pierced shields or a Posthumous Curse.
But that's just by the way — even though I managed to take part in combat, defending myself from gangs during the Time of Troubles, I never had any desire to become a cool fighter. As I said, I didn't have the reflexes; fighters have a completely different skill set. For example, casting something tricky... even from the most extensive medical arsenal... I can do with incredible speed, like any spellcaster, but putting up a shield is already more difficult, and dodging is out of the question... As is competently assessing the situation from a tactical point of view.
Although I can kill easily — it's been proven, and not only in "fair" combat, but also by striking from behind — with a spell or a knife, or by slipping poison into someone's drink... What did you expect? Wizards, between you and me, don't train on frogs like Muggles, but on Muggles themselves. Many "miraculous healings" are our work. But each of us also has a considerable "personal graveyard"...
So, I trained, improved my skills, volunteered in another war against the goblins on the side of the Celts — I didn't forget to tell them, "You're a Muggle-born, Mr. Jeffrey Uri Smith!" I didn't forget... I mainly participated as a healer, but I had to work on the battlefield more than once, and the green-skinned creatures have no concept of "non-combatants" or "civilians." To them, we are all "hateful little people," food, livestock. So my combat reflexes kicked in, where else would they go... I didn't become a master of combat magic, but I did reach the level of a good Celtic militiaman. And that, between you and me, is quite an achievement — they've been trained since childhood, and I started well after forty.
During that time, I never got married — sometimes the family of my potential bride was against it, sometimes something else happened... I had a romance with a Muggle-born woman, but the goblins killed her during a raid...
My "crooked" upbringing prevented me from finding a wife — I never learned to think like a pureblood. But I also stopped thinking like a Muggle-born. To be honest, I didn't just want to get married, I wanted to have feelings for my potential bride... It didn't work out, so I decided to turn to a professional matchmaker and entrust her with finding me a wife.
But then, during one of the rituals designed to somehow compensate for the lack of such experiences in my childhood, I received some unexpected information. My ancestors came and... told me... not with words, but with images and emotions... In short, I have my own world, or rather, the embryo of a future world that my ancestors created. Strictly speaking, that is why I came to be considered a Muggle-born orphan, because they did create it... But they themselves died in the process. Only I survived, but how and why is unclear. It is also unclear why the family line seems to have ended with my great-grandfather... Did they go "underground" to create the World? Something else? It's unclear... Alas, I am not a necromancer or a spirit speaker, not a shaman, not... And it is impossible to turn to the honourable representatives of these professions — the new World has not yet received a full binding, and it can be appropriated. And I, between us, have no close relatives — they perished during the war with Grindelwald and Dumbledore's reign. There is no one to watch my back.
Somehow, I quietly acquired a solid level of knowledge not only in magical medicine and mentalism, but also in rituals, artefact crafting, runes, arithmancy... In short, my level of knowledge became equal to that of my peers from pure-blooded ancient Houses. This is no small achievement, one of which I am very proud — they have been studying these subjects since early childhood, while I took up the study late in life, after forty, and my knowledge was not imparted by skilled teachers, but scraped together, sometimes by very dirty methods. But when it comes to the level of Power and skills, alas... it still has a strong impact that I did not go through all the necessary rituals in childhood.
And the absence of these rituals prevented me from opening a passage to my World. Let this word sound funny for now, because its area hardly exceeded a dozen square kilometres... But, considering all the growing madness of the Muggles with their nuclear/chemical/climatic/bacteriological weapons, the destruction of forests and other "nice" things, I really wanted to have a safe place in case of another End of the World.
The option with children... was questionable — if I hadn't made it to the World, it would be even more difficult for them to discover it for the Clan, and I would have to prepare my offspring from childhood. That seems fine too... but in such a matter, I would definitely need the help of a truly ancient and powerful clan. And considering that the world is still not bound... the chances of a favourable outcome are close to zero. Of course, in theory, you could demand an oath and so on, but in practice, it's practically impossible to interest an ancient and powerful clan enough to make them give it. Even if I manage to get a spouse from such a clan, the best I can hope for is the education of a younger branch headed by me. I don't really want that...
In the past, I would have jumped at such an opportunity, but with age, my priorities have changed significantly, and most importantly, after learning about Dumbledore, goblins, and how I and a good half of Magical England were led by the nose, I swore that from now on I would never pay homage to anyone. in any form.
There were plenty of ways to fix the situation... probably... But the only option I came across was the "Ritual of Retraction," where the wizard surrendered himself to the Court of Magic, which purified and "corrected" his magical core to optimal levels. No, there were other options, but either I simply didn't know about them, or they were unavailable to me. So I got busy preparing.
In this case, independent calculations are required, because this ritual is quite rare even in Scandinavia, where mages have not yet turned into "Muggles with wands." Knowledge was required... But am I a magician or what? After all, even without an "optimised" magical core, I can confidently expect to live an active life for a hundred and twenty years.
And again, study... Somehow, without even noticing, I passed my Master's degree in healing, and Apprentice in Runes and Rituals... I won't say that these are extraordinary achievements for a seventy-year-old, but they are quite respectable even for a member of an ancient Clan, for whom these disciplines are ancestral and therefore come intuitively.
I did not disdain Muggle knowledge, obtaining diplomas (thanks to Oborotka!) as a geneticist and virologist — the latter without going into detail, but very important, as Muggles, even if from the other side, have come quite close to understanding human beings. It turned out to be useful.
Constant self-improvement has made me a rather peculiar personality: I have become sarcastic, extremely cynical and paranoid. Not to the extent that psychiatrists would take an interest, but close. However, "If you're paranoid, it doesn't mean they're not after you."
Even the next goblin war would have passed me by. I was saved only by my friends, who either dragged me to family events or forced me to save them by participating in various adventures. For example, developing an "anti-goblin" virus in the company of equally half-mad scientists. And they did it almost on their knees.
Interestingly, we developed it, and quite easily. But, alas, the goblins had long had contacts with Muggle scientists and "tame" magicians, so they lost less than a third of their population. But they opened a hunt for us...
In general, the situation with the goblins and the Statute of Secrecy was quite dire — the little people were a serious enemy, and the Muggles with their technology were a major hindrance. Things were steadily moving, if not towards the disclosure of the Statute and the ensuing Great War, then towards serious trouble for the entire magical world. Especially for those who did not have their own Domains... and no way to wait out the trouble.
The green-skinned little people offered large rewards for the heads of the "Executioners," as the virus developers were called. And I feel that they are closing in... Frankly speaking, I don't want to die, so I didn't even double my efforts to obtain the Legacy — I focused solely on it, abandoning all other matters. After all, the opportunity to outlive the Troubled Times means a lot, and when I have my own Domain, even the beautiful Eliza Malfoy will look at an old bachelor with interest...
Yeah, I'm old (relatively speaking — I look about thirty-five at most), but as the owner of a Domain, I'll live much longer, and it's not out of the question that I'll become a Lord by right of Strength. And that's a big plus for any woman — the First Lady of the Family also gets a lot from the generosity of Magic.
So, there's no time to delay, and it's simply dangerous... On the farm, which I turned into a real manor, everything has been ready for a long time, all that remained was to wait for the right position of the Earth/stars/planets/sun and make a few minor adjustments. Done. I exhale...
"Mother Magic, I call upon you!
Noticeably higher than a Muggle**" In "Llewellyn," I expressed the theory that the average mage is smarter/healthier/more beautiful than the average Muggle, if only because mages live in harmony with nature. That is, they eat healthy food, choose their spouses more carefully, have better medicine and, finally, rituals with which Magic corrects random flaws.
"Imprinting" is an interesting psychological phenomenon. For example, a newborn gosling will accept as its parents the first moving object (even a toy car) that it sees after birth. Similar, albeit more complex, mechanisms exist in humans, with certain social groups (such as children in orphanages) being particularly vulnerable to them.
Homage*** is one type of vassal oath. Here, mc means that he, like many others, was effectively a vassal of Dumbledore.
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