001 - So This Is a Magical World
001 - So This Is a Magical World
July 21, 1991. Early morning. South Kensington, London. 101 Garden Street.
The house was a three-story detached villa set behind black iron railings, with a tall front door and sharp little gables that made it clear the owner was not short on money.
South Kensington had never been a cheap place to live. Barristers, surgeons, and well-paid consultants filled most of its streets. Number 101 still stood out.
The property was nearly twice the size of the houses around it, with a proper back garden tucked behind the villa.
Its owner, Edmund Gaunt, sat in the sitting room, staring down a plump, round-faced owl.
Officially, the surname came from an old birth certificate and a sealed orphanage file. In practice, it had only ever given him questions.
After a full minute of mutual suspicion, the owl dropped the envelope it had been clutching, beat its wings and flew out again. Before leaving, it also deposited a small insult on Edmund's floor, apparently offended that he had not offered it anything to eat.
Edmund picked up the letter and read the address aloud.
"Mr. Edmund Gaunt, in the sitting room of Number 101, Garden Street."
His fingers trembled slightly.
An owl-delivered letter. A pale yellow envelope. A crest formed by a lion, a serpent, a badger, and an eagle.
'Could they possibly make it any more obvious?'
Delight and unease pulled at him in equal measure. Until that moment, he had thought he had simply been reborn in London in 1980. Now it turned out this was the magical world of Harry Potter.
Hogwarts. Hermione. Luna. Fleur. His thoughts drifted for exactly half a second before he dragged them back. No. That was not the point. The point was magic.
For someone reborn into another world, Edmund was painfully ordinary. In his previous life, he had been an overworked office drone who died from exhaustion. Then he opened his eyes in London in 1980.
An orphan with an adult's memories and no useful explanation.
At first, Edmund had assumed some kind of system would awaken and carry him through life. Eleven years passed. Nothing happened.
No miraculous advantage had appeared, but his rebirth had strengthened his mind. His memory had become excellent, and he had discovered a few small abilities he could not properly explain.
Those advantages had been enough. Through a trust administered by the orphanage director, Edmund had used a handful of half-remembered financial trends from his previous life to build a small investment company.
The adults signed the papers; he supplied the instincts. After donating a portion of the profits back to the orphanage each year, the trust still held hundreds of thousands of pounds in his name. Two years earlier, it had purchased this house and moved him in.
He had thought this life might remain peaceful. Wait for a few future market bubbles, invest in the right places, and he could still live very comfortably.
Instead, magic existed.
The thought left Edmund thrilled and wary. He had not been a fanatical Harry Potter fan in his last life, but he had seen all the films.
Time had blurred many details, yet he still remembered the broad strokes of the plot.
This was not a safe world.
It was 1991. If his guess was right, he would be entering Hogwarts in the same year as Harry Potter.
For the first four years, as long as he kept his head down and did not get tangled up in the mess between the headmaster and Harry's circle, he ought to be able to enjoy school in peace.
Most of the early disasters, as Edmund remembered them, came from Harry's heroic talent for running toward danger, helped along by what looked very much like Dumbledore's quiet nudges from behind the scenes.
Fifth year would be different. Once Umbridge arrived, the school would become unbearable. His sixth and seventh years would be worse. By then Hogwarts would practically be Voldemort's territory.
More accurately, the entire magical world would be unsafe. But it was magic.
In his previous life, the films had made that hidden world look impossibly vivid. Now that he had a real chance to study it, to touch it, to understand it, Edmund could not pretend he was not tempted.
Perhaps he could attend until fifth year, take his O.W.L.s, then leave school and hide somewhere sensible.
With that thought in mind, Edmund opened the envelope and read the letter.
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry had accepted him. The headmaster was Albus Dumbledore. A list of required books and equipment had been enclosed.
Because of Edmund's family circumstances, a professor would visit his home on July 31 to answer questions and guide him through the necessary preparations.
The letter was signed by Deputy Headmistress Minerva McGonagall. The moment Edmund finished reading, a clear sound rang through his mind.
[System]
Extraordinary world threshold detected.
Mapping local magical structure...
Edmund froze.
[System]
Mapping complete.
Adapting framework to local magical rules...
Arcane Card System initialized.
User profile linked: Edmund Gaunt.
Welcome.
This system has no independent consciousness and cannot provide strategic analysis.
This system does not issue punishments.
You may use it safely.
Edmund stared at the neat little lines, then almost laughed.
So that was why the system he had expected had never appeared. He had not touched the hidden side of this world until now.
Fine. The system had finally awakened. If he stayed careful, Hogwarts should be much less dangerous.
"System, introduce yourself," Edmund said. "And since you are eleven years late, I assume there is some compensation waiting for me."
[System]
Dormancy period detected: eleven years.
Accumulated energy divided between system reserve and user account.
Account credit: 5,000 coins.
Initial Draw available.
Open Initial Draw?
"Open it."
[System]
Opening Initial Draw...
First card acquired.
Card: Ancestral Legacy - House Gaunt.
Dormant magical inheritance detected.
Gaunt lineage resonance established.
For an instant, it felt as if a volcano had erupted inside him. Heat and force surged through his body, then settled as quickly as they had appeared.
Edmund closed his eyes and reached for the energy inside him.
The energy he had once dismissed as an odd little talent had always been faint, difficult to grasp, more a trickle than a stream. Now it flowed through him like clear water, present and responsive, much easier to guide.
He was satisfied. In any magical world, inheritance mattered. If it did not, half the heroes in fantasy stories would not be born with old family magic, rare gifts, or some other convenient legacy.
With the Gaunt legacy stirring in him, he should be able to develop enough strength to protect himself much sooner.
"System," Edmund asked, "what are coins used for?"
Only then did he notice the 5,000 coins sitting in the corner of the interface. The system had split eleven years of accumulated energy with itself and called the other half compensation.
[System]
Core function unlocked: Card Draw.
Current balance: 5,000 coins.
Initiation pool available.
Proceed?
Edmund looked from the word Draw to the Hogwarts letter on the table, and for the first time that morning, caution lost to curiosity.
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