12 Chapter 11 - Preparations For The Future (1/2)
”How long am I stuck here?” Vincent asked the nurse.
”If you don't make any sudden moves or actions, then you will be released tomorrow,” the nurse said before leaving.
”Well, this will be boring,” mumbled Vincent as he picked up a book at the side to read.
He was currently in St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. He brought there by Sister An and was told that even though he was even lucky to be alive, the injury could easily be fixed.
”Apparently, a hole in the stomach is a simple matter to fix,” Vincent thought, as he patted his now fixed stomach, the healing didn't even leave a scratch, ”wonder what's serious then.”
Sister An had brought him a large bunch of books on Vampires so he could understand more about them.
”Blessings are given by a bite to the neck, only the King has the power to create Nobles, Nobles construct their weapon with their blood, Knights can be promoted to Noble if the King finds them worthy.”
”Ok, so nothing here explaining what's a King's candidate,” he mumbled as he set the books aside.
”First day at Hogwarts, angering Professor Snape,” a voice said, ”First day back in London, getting your stomach impaled. Your one troublemaker you know Vince?”
Sister An came in holding a bag of grapes. She looked extremely tired from last night.
”Thanks for saving me Sister An,” Vincent smiles as he popped a grape into his mouth.
”You wouldn't need saving if you didn't jump in front of that spear,” she said sighing.
”I can't leave someone to die,” Vincent said seriously, ”it's not in my nature.”
”Well you wouldn't be you without it,” she said, ”we need to talk.”
”Yeah, I've been meaning to ask you,” Vincent said as he frowned, ”what's a King's candidate?”
”One that has the potential to become King of the Vampires,” she said, ”your actions last night must have won that Vampire's respect. Then again, saving the enemy was a really stupid idea!”
”Whatever happened to those two vampires anyway?” Vincent asked.
”The Knight was sentenced to Azkaban on the account of turning a muggle into a vampire which they managed to reverse as it had happened recently,” Vincent nodded as he heard the news.
”Now back to the topic at hand,” Sister An sat down, ”every year or so, the king would send vampires to find a worthy candidate. Those candidates are then tested to see if they're worthy of the King's position. If they fail, they would have the option of going back to their normal lives or becoming a Noble. Not once in these thousand years has anyone passed the King's tests.”
”Can I ask what exactly these tests are?” Vincent asked curiously.
”Who knows, the history has not recorded any of these tests,” she shrugged, ”it could be that the King makes it up on the spot.”
”So why did they reveal themselves last night?” Vincent frowned.
”Must have been a disagreement of sorts,” Sister An said, ”vampires don't usually just attack anyone, much less make a peasant out of a random muggle. Vampires are prideful creatures, they would only give the Blessing those they consider worthy. That Knight last night had broken several laws and has been given the appropriate punishment because of this.”
”And Axel?”
”That Noble was strange,” she said, ”he was probably in the middle of tracking that Knight down, so...”
”I got a hole blown in me for nothing,” Vincent said smacking his head against the bedside, ”I just had to get in the way of that Knight, and now I'm a target of their King.”
”You still have a couple of years,” Vincent looked up, ”your still too young to be tested, but that still doesn't mean you should let your guard down. Be careful in the next few years.”
...
”Ok, screw this!” Vincent thought as he got up from his bed, ”I can't stay still like this forever, I'm going for a walk.”
Vincent changed from his hospital gown to a grey shirt and dark blue pants that Sister An brought over.
”Alright, no one looking this way,” he thought, peeking out the door, ”time to go!”
He wandered the halls seeing all sorts of injuries that he didn't think possible. A man with his face slowly melting, a woman with five ears on her left, a dog that thinks it's a human.
”Or is it a human that thinks it's a dog,” Vincent thought before stopping at the fourth level, ”hmm, permanent damage. I think this is where I should head back—wait, is that Neville?”
Vincent saw Neville Longbottom standing over two beds with an elderly woman at his side.
”Who's on those beds?” Vincent thought curiously, ”Wait, could they be—?”
”Neville, is that a friend of yours?” the elderly woman asked.
Neville turned in surprise before paling slightly as he spotted Vincent.
”Huh, too late to go now,” he thought as he walked up to Neville, ”hey Neville.”
”Vince,” Neville said shortly before turning back to the beds.
”So your Vincent,” the elderly woman said as she greeted him with a handshake, ”I'm Neville's grandma. Neville's told me a lot about you.”
”Hello Mrs. Longbottom,” Vincent said shaking her hand, ”you should be proud of Neville here, he's a hard worker.”
He glanced at the signs at the end of the beds and felt his heart drop.
Frank Longbottom
Alice Longbottom
”They were very respected Auror's you know, those who fight against the Dark Arts. They were tortured into insanity by You-Know-Who's followers.”
”Please stop,” Neville muttered earning a glare from his grandmother.
”You should be proud of your parents Neville!” She said, ”They stood up to You-Know-Who's followers they did. They were heroes.”
”I wish they weren't!” Neville said starting to cry, ”I wouldn't even care if they were losers, I just want my parents back.”
Neville felt a flick to his forehead and turned to see Vincent.
”They're heroes, accept it or don't that's your choice,” Vincent said looking at the Longbottom's, ”but it is an insult for you to outright deny their sacrifice. You can't help them, but think about what you can do to honor them.”
”THERE HE IS, CATCH HIM!” Vincent paled as a nurse pointed at him.
”Got to go, see you at school Neville!” Vincent said as he ran followed by staff members.
Neville and his grandmother both stared blankly as they watched the chase. Soon, it was quiet in the room.
”You have, an interesting friend,” Neville's grandma chuckled.
”Yeah, he is,” Neville said smiling.
...
”So this is Diagon Alley?!” Vincent asked a Leaky Cauldron waiter with bright eyes.
”Would you be fine on your own?”
”Yes, thank you!”
After an intense chase, Vincent was hit with a freezing spell, allowing the staff to take him back to his hospital room. He was reprimanded in the morning by Sister An for causing such a ruckus in a hospital before heading out. He decided to visit Diagon Alley since he was now apart of the magic world.
He saw a variety of shops each selling amazing things. He wandered the streets, gazing through windows at the colorful assortments of items.
”Ok, I've got what, three to four thousand galleons,” Vincent thought, ”wonder if that'll be enough.”
If anyone had heard Vincent, they would beat the ever-living crap out of him. With that money, Vincent could live half his life free of worries.
”Hmm, let's explore first,” Vincent thought as he went into walked into one store called Flourish and Blotts.
After a whole hour of exploring stores, Vincent had only spent five hundred galleons.
”Maybe everything's just cheap,” he thought as he entered a shop that seemed to be for pets.
”Welcome sir, please feel free to take a look around,” said a man with what seemed like a chicken on his head.
”Uh, ok,” Vincent felt it best to ignore such things as he looked around.
”Let's see, Arctic Serpent, Little Giant, Hungry Hippo?” Vincent thought to look at a label, ”wheres the animal?”
All he saw was a box behind the label. He took a quick peep before feeling a large gust of air hit his face.
”Inter-dimensional space,” he thought while gagging slightly, ”that breath stinks, that was its breath right?”
Vincent looked around a bit more before spotting an extremely small cage no bigger than his palm.
”What's in here?” Vincent picked it and raised his eyebrows, ”What the heck are you?”
Inside the small cage sat a tiny pink snake with wings on its head. It seemed to have been shaken awake by Vincent's actions and opened its beady black eyes. Vincent thought it looked rather cute.
”Ah, that there's a Fairy Dragon Snake, an elephant can drop on it and it would still be fine.”
Vincent blinked before he stared at the owner, ”What's it called?”
”A Fairy Dragon Snake.”
”No really, what is it called?”
”A Fairy Dragon Snake.”
Vincent just looked at the store owner with blank eyes, ”Who came up with this name?”
”A Wizard that was called Old Man.”
”Just Old Man?”
”Yep.”
”...”
From this experience, Vincent learned that the naming sense of wizards can be extremely questionable.
”Please come again,” Vincent blinked before he found himself outside the store.
”Why did I buy you?” he asked the little pink snake as it hissed on his shoulder, ”Well, looks like Nyx has a new friend.”
Vincent sighed as he glanced at the two last places to visit. Olivander's wand shop and Gringotts Bank.
...
Olivander's wand shop was extremely cramped with shelves filled with thousands of boxes that contained what Vincent assumed to be wands.
”Hello, how can I help you?”
Vincent jumped as an old man came sliding across the corner on a ladder.
”I'm just here to look around sir,” Vincent said.
”Ah, no worries then, not much to look at around here,” the old man said as he got down, ”the names Ollivander, Garrick Ollivander, but you already saw that on the outside haven't you? Hmm?”
Olivander went extremely close up to Vincent's face, making him uncomfortable.
”Sir, what—?” Vincent asked before Olivander looked at Vincent oddly.
”Ah, so you're a muggle,” he said as he went to his desk, ”I'm sure your already aware that muggles can't use magic?”
”I am very, well aware of that,” Vincent thought glumly in his head before talking, ”I just wanted to look around if that's fine.”
”Oh,” Ollivander said as he brought out a large box, ”unfortunately I can't show you the wands I'm selling, in case they're damaged in any sort of way or cursed? But I'm sure you understand the need to be cautious?”
Vincent felt like the man could see through him and felt extremely uncomfortable.
”However, you can look through these failed wand creations of mine,” Ollivander said as he opened the box, ”not sure why I keep these around.”
Vincent raised an eyebrow as he looked through the box. He was about to thank Ollivander when he noticed that the man had disappeared.
”Odd man,” he thought as he decided he might as well have a look.
Broken wands filled a majority of the boxes. Although some were still intact, there were noticeable cracks on it, it sort of reminded him of Ron's current wand. What he was interested in, however, were the items that were not wands.
He dug through and saw rings, gloves, and even a gun which he looked at in surprise.
”Wand making has been around for centuries,” Vincent jumped again as he noticed the old man beside him, ”when I was a young lad, I thought to myself, what if I could change the look of the wand.”
”I have had some success over the years,” he said as he looked at the gun, ”an umbrella given to a half-giant, a sword forged for a witch. Heh, my personal favorite was a feather duster, ah that was indeed fun to make.”
Vincent saw how Ollivander looked rather proud of this achievement. He then looked at the gun in his hand.
”This muggle weapon was made in the hopes of firing spells off with these bullets here. The idea was to insert spells in the bullet beforehand so that a witch or wizard could fire these off at a moment's notice, but alas the gun would break after two shots. See how the chamber here is cracked?”
”The ring and the glove were created for wizards who don't like to wave wand's about, but for some reason, it required an immense amount of power to use. The glove, in particular, was woven with Unicorn hair and Acromantula web to make it both strong and flexible.”
Vincent was in deep thought before he took the gloves, ”You said that it requires an enormous amount of energy to use?”
”Indeed it does, after one spell, the user would be extremely tired,” Ollivander sighed as he looked regretfully at the items.
”Why not use the bullet idea from the guns along with the gloves?” Vincent said earning a raised eyebrow.
”Whatever do you mean?” Ollivander asked.
”Us muggles have something called a battery, a type of energy source,” Vincent explained as he took a bullet, ”what if, we can power the glove up with a type of battery filled with magic? Then the wizard wouldn't have to use their own.”
”But the wizard would have to use their magic for different spells,” Ollivander said.
”That's where the bullet comes in,” Vincent lifted the item, ”I heard about engravings, you can engrave what kind of spell you want on the bullet, or whatever you're going to use and attach it on the glove. Now that the spells ready, it would only need the necessary magic to trigger the spell.”
”The battery,” Ollivander said his eyes widening, ”but the use of only one spell, that would only be useful for—”
”A muggle,” Vincent said grinning excitedly, ”Since the item doesn't rely on the user as a wand does, even a muggle can use it. Mr. Ollivander, are you able to help me out with this?”
”My good boy,” Ollivander said also in excitement, ”I would do this even without you asking, but what would be the 'battery'?”
”Leave that to me,” Vincent said thinking of a particularly dangerous potion.
...
”Here's your vault Mr. Wong,” a goblin said as he showed Vincent to a large door of sorts.
”This place would indeed be hard to steal from,” Vincent whistled as he looked around.
The small goblin was about to argue, saying that no one could take things from Gringotts, but then he remembered how last year, the Dark Lord himself broke in.
”So empty,” Vincent thought as he looked at his spotless vault.
”Now just throw in whatever you have quick and we'll be off,” the goblin said sourly.
Even though he had a good impression of the boy, he still didn't believe that the boy would have much to put into his newly made vault. He was a muggle after all.
Vincent took out a small bag before tipping it upside down, ”That's all the kid has, what a waste of ti—!”
The goblin's eyes widened as he watched as silver coins started raining out of the pouch, this went on for a good three minutes before the whole floor of the vault was covered in silver coins, and it was still going!
”I should take a hundred galleons just in case,” Vincent thought as he finished pouring the contents out, ”maybe I should have converted these into galleons, would have been easier to count.”
”Ok, I'm done,” Vincent said as he walked out of the vault to the stunned goblin, ”um, mister, you alright?”
”Ye-yes, now come along young master,” the goblin turned before bumping into a wall.
”Goblins are such weird creatures,” Vincent thought amused as he followed.
They came back out to the lobby where a goblin greeted them.
”Mister Wong, did you take a liking to your vault?” he asked.
”Yes, thank you, sir, for helping me register,” Vincent gave a bow, he remembered reading somewhere that if you respect a goblin, they'll return that respect.
”No worries young man,” the goblin chuckled as he walked Vincent out, ”now have a safe trip will you?”
”Thank you!” Vincent thanked as he walked away from Gringotts, ”now I just need some potion ingredients.”
...
”Vincent, are you sure this will work?” Sister An asked feeling uneasy as she watched over Vincent stir a large pot of glowing yellow liquid.
”Don't worry Sister An, this spot is empty for miles,” Vincent said as he threw in Exploding Fluid, ”I've done this one time so you can count on me!”
”...One time?” Sister An asked.