Mist of Shadows
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Hogwarts Teacher, Myst style part 3
🕑 Added 2023-07-08 07:15:00 +0000 UTCDawn studied the old fashioned house that looked a bit on the small side. "How many bedrooms does it have?"
"Three if you include the attic," Albus replied as he handed the group their keys. "I was only expecting one teacher."
"We'll figure it out," Myst said cheerfully as he headed towards the door to the wooden house where they'd be staying for the next eleven months. 'Worst case, I'll just upgrade the house.'
"I'll let you get settled in." Albus sighed when the dragon gave one of the townsfolk a tooth filled grin then darted after Myst. 'Fudge is going to cause problems.'
"We'll let you know which books we're going with tomorrow," Xander assured the headmaster then followed Myst.
"I'd appreciate it," Albus replied then apparated home to grab a nightcap.
Myst unlocked the door with the key then walked inside and looked around. "So much for having the place wired for electricity."
"Are you surprised?" Dawn asked as she slipped past Myst. "I doubt they've changed anything in a couple of hundred years, it looks like something straight out of the dark ages."
Myst glanced between the old fashioned wooden paneling that covered the walls and the old fashioned carved wooden furniture that looked uncomfortable. "I'm going to set someone on fire if they expect us to sleep on straw mattresses."
"I wouldn't mind a pile of straw or maybe coins," Dawn mused, fairly sure she'd tear a bed apart in her dragon form.
Xander laughed as he walked in and shut the door behind him. "I don't remember anyone complaining about the mattresses at Hogwarts so we're probably fine."
"Hopefully," Myst muttered as he headed for what looked like a kitchen, curious what they had to work with. "Can I talk you into enchanting some magic lights?"
"Sure, just give me a couple of minutes to look around," Xander replied as he headed for the hallway to check on the bedrooms and the bathroom.
Myst scowled when he walked into the kitchen and saw what amounted to a rusty camping stove sitting on a wooden counter. "This place is a death trap."
"What's the matter?" Dawn asked as she poked her head into the kitchen.
"I'm not a fan of grease soaked wooden countertops or stoves that look like they haven't been used in fifty years," Myst complained as he walked over and checked the ice box. 'At least the cooling charms work.'
"They're probably expecting us to get meals at Hogwarts," Dawn pointed out as she glanced at the mismatched wooden stools scattered around the kitchen table. "You also have the ability to conjure food, how often are you planning on actually cooking something?"
"Never," Myst admitted after taking a couple of seconds to consider the question. "Sorry, I'm still a bit on edge."
"This isn't the first time I've gotten kidnapped, you get used to it," Dawn said as she walked over and hopped up on the wooden bench that passed for a couch.
"Is that a good thing?" Myst asked as he walked back into the living room and sat down on one of the chairs. "Don't get me wrong, I'm happy about picking up magic but I have some people that are going to freak out if I vanish for a year."
"Same," Dawn agreed, thinking about Willow and her sister. "Especially if they can't find me."
Myst glanced towards the hallway where he could hear footsteps getting closer. "Hopefully Xander has something in his bag of tricks that we can use to send a message."
"Hopefully," Dawn agreed. "It's weird thinking about Xander as the magic man."
"Could be worse, we could have ended up with a hyperactive teenager that doesn't understand responsibility," Myst replied, thinking about some of the stories he'd read over the years about teenagers and magic.
"Let's avoid reenacting the Sorcerer's Apprentice," Dawn suggested.
Myst laughed as Xander walked back into the living room. "Probably for the best."
Xander glanced between Myst and Dawn. "What's up?"
"Not much. Any trouble with the bedrooms?" Myst asked.
Xander glanced at the ceiling. "The attic feels like an oven and it's probably an ice box in winter which means we're going to have to upgrade it if we want to use it."
"Or we could give Myst the quest room and share the master bedroom," Dawn suggested.
"Your sister would kill me," Xander pointed out.
Dawn rolled her eyes. "Buffy isn't going to kill you for sleeping with me."
Xander shook his head. "As Genie once said, it's surprising what you can live through."
Dawn glanced at Myst. "Help me out here?"
Myst glanced between Dawn and Xander then focused on Xander. "In the interest of avoiding a bunch of pointless drama, she's old enough to make her own choices and you're using Buffy as an excuse because you don't want to screw things up. If you're actually not interested in having some fun with an adorable and amusing magic user, just tell her or hand in your man card and keep making excuses."
Xander glanced at Dawn and noticed the hopeful look on her face. "Fine, we'll take the master bedroom, you can have the smaller bedroom with the bathroom."
"Works for me," Myst agreed as he opened his upgrade menu and spent most of his mana to increase his mana pool.
"How long do you think it will take until you can upgrade my mana pool to a reasonable level?" Dawn asked excitedly.
"That depends, can you cast Lend Energy?" Myst asked Xander.
"Of course," Xander replied with amusement as he cast the Lend Energy spell and gave Myst enough mana to refill his mana pool.
Dawn glanced between Xander and Myst. "Did you just refill his mana pool?"
"Yep," Xander replied smugly.
Myst spent all of his mana to increase his permanent mana. "How many times can you cast the spell?"
Xander glanced at his mana pool that was already starting to regenerate then recast the spell, refilling Myst's mana pool. "I have a bit over ten thousand mana and I get a hundred mana back every minute."
"If you burn through your mana, I'd get a thousand mana which would let me give Dawn a hundred mana with ten cookies," Myst mused as he spent all of his mana to increase his mana pool.
"Or we could just cheat," Xander replied as he snapped his fingers and conjured a mana restoring twinkie. "If we're both regenerating mana, we should be able to push your mana up to something reasonable in a couple of hours."
"I don't think that word means what you think it means," Dawn teased.
Xander smiled at Dawn then recast his Lend Energy spell and refilled Myst's mana pool. "I don't care, I have infinite twinkies." He started eating the twinkie, looking forward to seeing how much they could boost their magic.
Myst spent the mana to increase his mana pool. "I appreciate the help."
Xander finished the twinkie then recast his lend energy spell and refilled Myst's mana pool. "We're in this together. The more mana you have, the more you can afford to toss some upgrades our way."
"That's the plan," Myst agreed.
0o0o0
Myst glanced up from the golem construction manual he was reading when Xander walked into the living room. "Morning."
"Morning," Xander replied as he sat down in the other chair. "How are you awake?"
"It's nine o'clock, I've been awake for a couple of hours," Myst replied as he conjured a mug of coffee and handed it to Xander.
Xander took a sip of the black coffee, instantly feeling more alert and awake. "Thanks."
"You're welcome," Myst replied as he went back to reading the golem construction notes, figuring it would take Xander a few minutes to properly wake up.
Xander finished his coffee, causing the mug to vanish. "Now that I'm properly awake, do you have any plans for the day?"
Myst glanced at the less than comfortable wooden bench. "I wouldn't mind hitting the alley and doing some shopping, we need clothes and cushions."
"Do you have any wizarding money?" Xander asked.
"Yeah, I found an enchanted coin purse in my inventory," Myst replied as he pulled a coin purse out of his inventory and emptied it on the table.
"Can I get a loan?" Xander asked hopefully, knowing they were going to need some basic supplies.
"Don't worry about it," Myst replied as he started splitting the pile into three piles. "I upgraded the enchantment so that it refills every day rather than once a year, we'll be fine."
"Shinies!" Dawn squealed from the hallway.
Myst turned to look at the girl with wet hair that was wearing a fluffy white bathrobe. "Coffee or hot chocolate?"
"Hot chocolate," Dawn replied as she walked over and sat down next to Xander.
Myst conjured a cup of hot chocolate and handed it to Dawn.
"Thanks." Dawn took a sip of the hot chocolate and sighed in relief as all of her sore muscles instantly stopped complaining because of the health regeneration. "When are we hitting the alley?"
Xander cast Create Object and burned the extra mana to make the t-shirt permanent then did the same for a pair of shorts that should fit Dawn. "As soon as you get dressed."
"I'll be right back," Dawn said as she set her hot chocolate on the table, grabbed the clothes and headed for the hallway with a spring in her steps.
"How much of a problem do you think Fudge is going to be?" Xander asked.
Myst considered the question as he went back to dividing up the pile of coins. "Considering his personality and previous actions, I have a feeling he'll push things until someone decides to remind him that actions have consequences."
"He wouldn't be the first politician that I've killed," Xander mused.
"Oh?" Myst asked.
Xander shrugged. "The mayor in my home town was a giant snake."
"Wilkins?" Myst asked absently as he finished sorting the coins.
"Yeah…" Xander trailed off as he realized that he hadn't mentioned the mayor. "How did you know that?"
"My world has an amusing television show that lasted seven years about a slayer and her friends," Myst explained.
"Seriously?" Xander asked.
"I'm not sure how well everything lines up but if the show is accurate, you've saved the world at least three times," Myst replied.
"Three?" Xander asked.
"At least," Myst agreed. "You stopped a bunch of zombies from blowing up the hellmouth, you grabbed the rocket launcher that took out the Judge and you stopped Willow from destroying the world when no one else could. Not to mention you saved Buffy after she fought the Master and drowned, which means you get partial credit for all her actions after that."
Xander shrugged. "The Judge was a team effort."
"Never said it wasn't," Myst replied as he dropped his pile of coins into his inventory.
"How much did they show?" Xander asked, thinking about a couple of embarrassing moments over the years.
"Bits and pieces. I think most of the seasons had twenty two episodes which gives you a look at everyone's lives but only really gives you a glimpse in a lot of cases. If we find a pensieve, I'll see if I can record the episodes for you," Myst offered.
"Sounds amusing," Xander agreed as Dawn walked back out wearing the t-shirt and shorts that he'd conjured for her. "Nice."
Dawn flashed Xander a smile. "Ready?"
"Sure," Xander replied as he headed for the door, making a mental note to ask Myst for the details later.
Myst followed Xander outside and froze when he noticed a man with a nasty smirk and an axe over his shoulder walking towards them. "Can we help you?" he asked as he used his Upgrade ability to check the man's name. 'Walden Macnair, I shouldn't be surprised, someone probably saw Dawn and called it in.'
"I got a report of an unregistered dragon on the premises and several noise complaints," Macnair replied snidely.
"Fantastic, she's inside," Myst replied as he turned around and walked inside, wondering which one of their neighbors had sold them out or if he had to have a long and very painful conversation with Snape.
Dawn glanced between the man with an axe and Myst then stepped out of the way, figuring he had a plan since she obviously wasn't in the house or in her dragon form.
'Fuck it,' Myst thought as he mentally opened his inventory, grabbed the cast iron frying pan that he'd grabbed so that he could practice a scouring charm on it and slammed it down on the back of Macnair's skull as the man pushed past him into the house. He brought it down on his head a second time then a third time to make sure the bastard wasn't getting up.
"Macnair?" Dawn asked thoughtfully, hoping her roommate hadn't gone crazy on a random ministry employee.
"Yeah," Myst agreed as he tried and failed to drag the man into his inventory. "So much for the nice method," he muttered as he twisted the frying pan then slammed the edge into Macnair's neck, snapping it in a single blow. He sighed in relief when the now dead body offered no resistance to being pulled into his inventory.
"He was probably already dead," Xander pointed out.
"No, I couldn't stick him in my inventory," Myst replied, fairly sure he'd freak out once the adrenaline stopped flooding his system. “Remember wizard’s bodies are reinforced by their magic, letting them survive a surprising number of things.”
Xander gestured and used a cleaning spell on the area just to make sure there were no traces of the Death Eater left behind. "You could probably fix that with Upgrade, your inventory I mean."
"Probably," Myst agreed as he opened his Upgrade menu and burned mana to upgrade the percent of the house that was clean, wanting to make sure there wasn't any evidence of Macnair for the ministry to find on the off chance that the aurors weren't completely clueless when it came to forensics. "If anyone asks, he showed up and said something about an unregistered dragon. We showed him around, he didn't find anything so he vanished with a crack because someone had wasted his time."
"Works for me," Xander agreed, not particularly worried about the dead cultist.
"Sounds good," Dawn agreed, planning on leaving this part of the story out when she told her sister about their adventure. ‘I need to learn silencing charms.’
0o0o0
Myst set the stray hairs on the table that he'd discreetly lifted from the transforming rabbit in the pet shop and used his skill book ability to look at the options for the rabbit. 'Inanimate Transformation: Hat? Thank you,' he mused as he spent half of his mana to drop the required time to make a skill book from five minutes down to a minute. He spent most of the rest of his mana to drop the required time to create a book from a minute to thirty seconds.
"Close enough," he muttered as he selected the transformation ability and his power conjured a blank book and a fountain pen. He did his best to relax and let his skill guide his fingers as they moved the conjured pen over the page, printing words that no one would ever actually read since the book would vanish the second it was opened and someone accepted the skill.
He sighed in relief when he finished the last page and the cover flipped closed without anyone touching it. 'And we're done.'
He opened the book and read the message on the popup, 'Safely transform into a top hat while keeping your intelligence and awareness of time and the area around you. This ability also comes with the ability to safely turn back to your normal form.' He hit the accept button and picked up the ability, causing the book to vanish.
Myst pulled the tissue paper he'd swiped from the trash bin after the assistant had wiped the fire crab's nose out of his inventory and set it on the table. He focused on the snot on the tissue and used his Skill Book ability. 'Gem Creation: This ability allows the user to create or grow gems in their shells by spending mana. Hopefully, I can upgrade that so I don't need a shell.'
He tapped the accept button and started scribing the new skill. He waited until he finished writing the book, then opened the cover and double checked the description of the new skill, wanting to make sure it hadn't changed. 'That should be fine.'
He hit the accept button then opened his Upgrade menu and looked at his new skill, noticing that he had several options for upgrading the ability. 'Mana gems, faster growth, not sure what the point is when I can just burn mana to increase the size. Oh, I can increase the durability of the gems and where I can grow them, that's probably worth keeping.'
'At least it's a nice day,' Myst mused as he started working on eating his conjured sundae so he'd have enough mana to upgrade his new ability. 'I wonder what would happen if I gave Crabbe or Goyle a copy of a Kneazle's enhanced intelligence, would that help or hurt their intelligence?'
Myst weighed the risks against the benefits as he finished his sundae. 'Screw it, I can always boost their intelligence up to something reasonable on the off chance that the ability damages their intelligence. Hmm, I should probably check the teacher's contract before I start experimenting on the students, I'd hate to end up cursed.'
'Not to mention you'd feel bad if one of the monsters flipped out and hurt an innocent student,' Myst reminded himself. 'Yeah, point, it shouldn't be too hard to find a couple of Death Eaters to test things on.'
Myst glanced at his mana pool. 'Okay, let's see what we can do with a thousand mana,' he mused as he started upgrading his new skill, figuring he might as well get something done while he waited for Dawn to finish her shopping spree.
0o0o0
Dawn scowled when she noticed the Daily Prophet office. "Do you have a spell to force people to tell the truth?"
"Sure…" Xander trailed off when he noticed the building that Dawn was glaring at. "I'm not cursing the entire building."
"Why not?" Dawn asked with a pout, thinking about the front page story she'd seen while she was grabbing clothes that was trying to drag Harry's name through the mud. "They're basically a tabloid without any journalistic integrity. If they're going to drag a hero's name through the mud, they should expect consequences."
Xander shook his head. "I don't have any moral issues with wrecking their shit, the spell is designed to work on individual people, which means I'd have to basically enchant the entire building so that everyone in it gets affected by the spell, which is far too much work."
"How long would that take?" Myst asked as they continued walking.
"At least eight hours and I'd have to place a decent sized ritual circle on the roof and clean everything up when I'm done which would take at least twenty minutes," Xander mused.
"That just means we have to come back later, right?" Dawn asked, looking forward to crippling the Daily Prophet's ability to lie.
"Sure," Xander agreed, not seeing a problem with teleporting in during the middle of the night now that they'd been there. "We should probably check in with Albus and let him know that we're going to be going with Lupin's collection of books."
"Not Moody's?" Myst asked.
"Nah, Moody's collection was a bit more technical and geared towards straight combat. We can always use them for supplementary reading, but we don’t want to focus just on combat or we’ll attract too much attention from Fudge’s administration."
“We could just buy another frying pan,” Dawn suggested.
“I’m not wasting a single knut on that nut,” Myst said firmly. “If it comes to it he can simply share Macnair’s frying pan.”
“Eh, that’s fair,” Dawn conceded.
0o0o0
Comments
Arafel
they[scouring charms] aren't strong enough
Mist of Shadows
That's what scouring charms are for.
Bable Zmith
Scum is so hard to get off frying pans... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...!
