Inside the stronghold, Ethan opened his panel, and as expected, an achievement prompt appeared. To his surprise, three achievements had been unlocked simultaneously—a true windfall.
[Unscrupulous Merchants]
Blinded by greed and devoid of integrity, these merchants forsake morality, passing off inferior goods as premium quality.
Achievement Goal: Cheat customers (1/1)
Reward: A random black magic
[Deceiving the Teacher and Destroying the Ancestors]
A teacher's kindness is like the warm sun, but the disciple repays it with betrayal.
Achievement Goal: Rebel against the teacher and cause harm (1/1)
Reward: A random ancient magic
[Brave]
When light and darkness collide, the brave wield their swords, sending the wicked fleeing.
Achievement Goal: Defeat the Dark Lord (1/1)
Reward: A random talent
Ethan smirked. Not bad—this fight against Voldemort was worth it.
Last time, the talent he received was Parseltongue—utterly useless to him. He hoped this time he'd receive something more powerful.
As familiar information surged into his mind, Ethan briefly blacked out. When he regained focus, he assessed his new rewards.
The first was a Possession Spell—Voldemort's very own dark magic. This spell allowed one's soul to forcibly leave the body upon death and attach to another life form. However, Voldemort's case was unique; he wasn't dead, just unable to die, which let him endlessly possess other beings.
For Ethan, though, this magic was of little value.
The second was an ancient spell—Gungnir.
It was a perfect complement to Mjolnir, which he had previously obtained. Both originated from medieval Nordic magic. While Mjolnir was a massive lightning hammer with widespread destructive power, Gungnir was a lightning spear with pinpoint accuracy. The spear carried a must-hit effect—though it could be blocked, it was impossible to dodge.
Along with this spell, Ethan received a deeper understanding of Uruz, the runic symbol of fate and destiny, further expanding his knowledge of ancient magic.
With Ethan's recent focus on ancient magic and alchemy, this was a timely acquisition.
The last reward was exactly what he had hoped for—Lightning Affinity.
Similar to the Fire Affinity he had previously obtained, this talent enhanced his ability to use lightning-based magic. Now, both Mjolnir and Gungnir would be even stronger, and he could also seek out Cassandra to learn advanced weather magic.
After sorting through his gains, Ethan was ready to return home. Traveling the Muggle way wasn't an option—Wales was quite far from London.
Following Dennis's earlier hint, Ethan found an old drunkard—one of the few wizards in the area.
This wizard frequently worked with Dennis, offering his fireplace and a handful of Floo Powder in exchange for money to buy alcohol.
After paying ten Sickles, Ethan stepped into the fireplace. With a precise location in mind, he vanished in a burst of green flames.
Floo Powder was cheap, and setting up a fireplace network was straightforward if one had the proper credentials. The real difficulty was constructing wizarding homes everywhere.
Portkeys, on the other hand, were harder to come by. Dennis and his group had only one, used solely for emergencies. They could teleport to Wales but had no means of returning with it.
Upon arriving at his Knockturn Alley base, Ethan found Dennis and the others had returned ahead of him.
"Boss, here's your dragon egg."
Dennis handed him a large, heavy egg, its shell covered in intricate patterns.
Ethan frowned. How do you even hatch a dragon egg?
In the original book, Hagrid had studied several books before hatching his own dragon by placing it in a fireplace. While it worked, Ethan found the method questionable.
"How do you hatch this?"
Dennis, being an experienced magical creature smuggler, answered quickly.
"Fire spells. Normally, dragon eggs require dragon fire to hatch properly. Ordinary fire works too, but the dragon will be weaker."
Ethan considered this. "What about other flames? Like Fiendfyre?"
Dennis visibly flinched. "That's… incredibly dangerous. No one's tried it. Fiendfyre doesn't just burn—it destroys even souls. If you throw a dragon egg in there, it might not even leave ashes behind."
His warning made sense. Dragon eggs were valuable; no sane person would risk such an experiment.
Ethan dismissed them and moved to Bruno's potion lab.
"How's the potion-making going?"
Bruno, who had been working on large-scale brewing, nodded. "Everything is on track."
Ethan let out a sigh of relief. He had invested over 1,100 Galleons in ingredients. A failure would have been disastrous.
"By the way," Bruno continued, "about that potion shop idea—you still interested?"
Last time, while shopping for ingredients, Bruno had suggested opening a potion shop. Potions were profitable, but only high-end ones. Common potions weren't worth selling, as most wizards could brew them themselves.
However, Polyjuice Potion and Wolfsbane Potion were valuable—especially Polyjuice, which was always in demand on the black market.
Ethan also had alchemy products to sell, making the business even more promising.
"I found a shop," Bruno added.
Archibald's Alchemy Goods Store had been run by an alchemist who died in an explosion. His son, lacking his father's talent, wanted to sell the shop.
The location was good—just 200 meters from the entrance of Knockturn Alley.
"How much?"
"1,200 Galleons, but 1,500 would be better for stocking up."
Ethan didn't hesitate. "Fine. Here's 1,500. Get the shop and buy extra materials."
With that, another achievement was unlocked:
[Spend a Lot of Money]
Gold slips through your fingers like sand, all for fleeting joy.
Achievement Goal: Spend 1,000 Galleons in a single transaction (1/1)
Reward: One random magic
Ethan had spent over 1,000 Galleons on potion materials before, but since he had purchased them in separate transactions, it hadn't counted.
This system is so arbitrary… but whatever.
His new reward was the Fidelius Charm.
This powerful spell allowed a secret to be hidden within a person's soul. Unless the Secret Keeper revealed it, no one could discover it. However, if the keeper died, everyone who had previously known the secret would become a new Secret Keeper.
In the following days, Ethan focused on alchemy, crafting goods to stock the newly acquired Bruno's Magic Potion & Alchemy Shop.
The store's location was excellent—close to Borgin and Burke's. The first floor served as the storefront, while the second floor could be used as living quarters.
By the time September 1st arrived, Ethan had finally finished preparing.
At King's Cross Station, he passed through the barrier to Platform 9¾ and boarded the Hogwarts Express.
As he walked through the train, he overheard familiar voices.
"Lee, did you finish your homework? Lend me a copy!"
"Homework? What homework? Oh, Mike, lend me yours!"
"You think I did it?"
"Sorry, I misunderstood you."
Ethan smirked. Classic Gryffindors.
It suddenly occurred to him—I haven't done my homework either.
Soon, he found Cassandra, Hermione, and cho chang in a compartment.
"Can I borrow someone's homework?"
Hermione frowned. "Ethan, you need to do your own homework. Copying is—"
Cassandra cut her off, tossing her notebook onto the table.
"Just take it."
Ethan grinned. "I knew I could count on you."
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