Elias explored Little Whinging with his hood up, shrinking into his too-big jacket, trying to pretend he was a normal ten-year-old boy.
But magic throbbed faintly in the air around him.It made streetlamps flicker.Made his breath fog when others' didn't.Made animals glance twice before scurrying away.
Even so, the neighborhood was painfully ordinary.
Hedges trimmed.Lawns neat.Cars identical.
No magic here.
Or so he thought.
A gray cat sat on a hedge, staring.
Elias paused.
The cat's eyes narrowed.
A pulse of magic brushed his senses—familiar, quiet, sharp.
Before he could speak, the cat leapt away.
The system chimed:
[MAGICAL SIGNATURE DETECTED:]Minerva McGonagall (Animagus)Action Recommended: Do Not Engage
Elias nearly choked.
"Why is she here?"
The system only pulsed:
[Because you are.]
He walked faster.
He didn't want attention from Hogwarts professors.
But he wasn't the only one the neighborhood found interesting.
A girl sat on a bench near the corner shop—
Bushy brown hair.Knees tucked together.A thick book open across her lap.
Hermione Granger.
Elias froze.
Something inside him warmed, settled—a resonance he didn't understand.
The system reacted sharply:
[ARCANE RESONANCE DETECTED]
Target: Hermione GrangerCompatibility: HighAnchor Potential: OptimalWarning: Do NOT initiate emotional link yet.
He forced himself to walk away.
He didn't trust himself near anyone yet.
Especially not her.
The Wand That Rejected Him
A dusty side-shop carried secondhand magical supplies—a place barely on the edge of the magical world.
An old witch behind the counter stared at Elias longer than was polite.
"What do you need, boy?" she rasped.
"A wand."
She brought out a box.A temporary wand—nothing special.
"Try it," she said.
Elias picked it up—
CRACK.
Blue sparks exploded up his arm.The wand split cleanly in half, smoking.
The witch stumbled back.
"What are you?" she whispered.
Elias's voice shook.
"I don't know."
Nightfall
That night, rain drummed softly against the window.
Elias sat on the bed, hugging his knees.
Then—
A shift in the air.
A pressure he recognized.
A whisper sliding through the walls:
"…found you…"
The system chimed:
[DEMONIC PRESENCE APPROACHING]
Rank: FStatus: Hunting
Elias's stomach twisted.
"The first one wasn't enough?"
The demon drifted through the neighborhood, invisible to Muggles—drawn to him like a moth to flame.
It wasn't after Hermione.Not yet.
But she lived close enough to be in danger.
Elias swallowed hard.
"I have to deal with this."
Outside, rain softened the world to gray.
Elias stood in the drizzle, holy senses prickling, and whispered:
"System… guide me."
The demon slid along the wall like a shadow given hunger.
He didn't want to fight.
He didn't want to burn again.
But Hermione Granger was two streets away—
And he would rather face a demon than let it slip into her home by accident.
He stood straighter.Let a sliver of holy power leak into the air.
His eyes glowed faintly gold.
The demon turned toward him.
And the hunt began.