Population Boom, Hogwarts part 19

"I can't believe you're leaving," Vicky complained, a touch annoyed that her sister was running off to learn to be a witch without her.

"I need a break before I snap and it's not like I won't be around," Amy replied without taking her eyes off the busty blonde stripper on the stage. "The mirrors should let me travel back and forth and Michael waved his hand and healed everyone in the city, the hospitals can handle everything that comes up or they can leave a message."

"Mom is going to flip," Vicky pointed out.

"This is the first time I've taken a vacation in years, she can deal with it," Amy argued, feeling better than she'd felt since getting her power.

"All work and no play makes a grumpy mage," Starfire offered.

Zatanna pulled her attention away from the waitress that was flirting with Clark and looked at Vicky. "She has a point, sometimes you have to take care of yourself before you take care of other people."

"I'm aware, that doesn't change the fact that Mom is going to freak out about you getting paid for healing people," Vicky replied, not looking forward to listening to her mother complain about Amy's new job.

Amy pulled her attention off the mostly naked stripper as the woman left the stage and focused on her sister. "I'd rather donate my time, but I'm going to have expenses and learning alchemy isn't cheap, which means I'm going to accept the money."

"There's nothing wrong with making a profit off your abilities as long as you're not hurting people doing it," Clark offered.

Constantine snorted. "Says the boyscout."

"I paid for most of my college with gold from old shipwrecks that I recovered and I've replaced a couple of appliances over the years by selling diamonds that I made," Clark admitted.

"Seriously?" Zatanna asked as Michael and Taylor walked over.

"My folks didn't exactly have the money and I donated the rest to charity," Clark replied with a smile, knowing the money had helped a lot of students go to college that year.

"You can make diamonds?" Vicky asked, wondering if she could talk him into making one.

"It took a decent amount of practice," Clark replied with a smile, remembering some of his less successful attempts back in highschool. "How did your project go?" he asked the angel as he walked over with Taylor, a touch surprised that Michael was glancing around with amusement rather than annoyance since they were in a stripclub and he was an angel.

"Dealt with," the angel replied as he walked over and sat down in an empty chair, not seeing a point in ruining Eidolon's reputation since the man was only indirectly responsible for influencing the endbringers' targets. "If someone spots me a drink, I'll give everyone a lift back to your worlds."

"Deal," Mist replied as he held his hand up to signal a waitress, knowing the gold coins he'd tossed the manager would easily cover everyone's drinks and still give the girls a generous tip.

"Thanks," Michael replied.

"Aren't you supposed to be an angel?" Vicky asked, surprised that he wanted a drink.

Michael turned to look at Vicky. "There's nothing in the rules against enjoying a drink now and then and if anyone tries to change that, I have a flaming sword. Joking aside, I can't get drunk unless I'm drinking in Valhalla so it's not really a problem. As for the location, I don't have a problem with dancers or strippers, it's some of the corruption that goes along with the profession in certain locations that I object to."

"Drugs and sex?" Vicky asked.

"Excess and malicious influence actually," Michael replied as the topless waitress walked over with a smile. "Dark ale."

"Coming right up," the waitress replied then focused on the masked girl next to him. "Do you want anything?"

"Root beer," Taylor replied, trying not to stare and relieved that no one could see her face or her ears since they were most likely red.

"Not a problem," the waitress replied then headed for the bar with a spring in her steps.

"Are you going to get in trouble for helping?" Amy asked Taylor as the other cape sat down.

"I'll be fine," Taylor assured her, knowing the local angels weren't particularly dangerous, at least compared to some of the things she'd fought over the last couple of years.

Vicky glanced between Diana, Kal, and Michael. "Can you take care of the rest of the endbringers before you leave?" she asked hopefully, knowing they'd managed to deal with Leviathan by tossing him into space.

"Sorry," Clark replied with a sigh. "As much as I'd love to help, there's enough lead in the ground to make it nearly impossible to find Behemoth unless he's moving around."

"Behemoth shouldn't be a problem," Michael told Vicky. "Taylor fixed the shard that was giving the endbringers their marching orders so he'll probably just wait in the mantle for orders that will never come and Kal already destroyed the Simurgh."

"Seriously?!" Vicky blurted out, surprised that no one had mentioned the Simurgh being gone.

"It tried to stop me from throwing Leviathan to Mars," Clark replied, glad that he'd decided to toss Leviathan into space rather than destroying it in the city since the Simurgh had exploded with enough force to level a large city.

"Thank you!" Vicky blurted as she reached over and hugged Clark, happy that the bitch was dead and that they'd never have to deal with another city being walled in again.

"You're welcome," Clark replied as he returned the hug. "No one deserves to live in fear."

"I can think of a couple of people," Constantine muttered, causing Zatanna to give him a look that said knock it off.

"This is going to make everything better!" Vicky squealed, causing some of the people in the crowd to glance over before they went back to drinking, celebrating the fact that two of the endbringers were dead or at least gone, something that had never happened before.

"It's certainly a start," Clark agreed, figuring he could justify taking a couple of days off to help clean up the worst of the villains.

0o0o0

"In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight," Mist sang as he playfully used Amy's bottom as a drum, giving her the ability to fly with his new power granting ability.

"Don't quit your day job," Constantine told Mist as he walked back into the living room.

"No shit," Mist replied with amusement, well aware that his ability to carry a tune was a bit suspect. "Do you want anything else?" he asked the healer that was currently sprawled out on her couch.

"I'd love the ability to see in the dark," Amy replied, looking forward to testing her new flight ability and her ability to quickly learn alchemy like a video game character since the interface looked pretty neat.

"Sure," Mist replied then went back to singing the first part of the "In the Jungle" song, relieved that he didn't have to remember the entire song or sing it particularly well for the power to work.

"It's unfortunate that you can't share the power granting ability," Vicky complained, wishing she could give her sister a copy of her force field.

"I’ve seen what happens when I have the ability it doesn’t end well," Taylor warned her, having seen the result of a version of her that had gained the ability to hand out powers, things had spiraled out of control within a couple of weeks thanks to one of Coil's moles in the PRT.

"What happened?" Constantine asked.

"A bond style villain killed my alternate's father and the PRT decided to push her buttons, it didn't end well," Taylor admitted, trying not to think about the government stooges that her alternate had trapped in time loops.

"I can imagine," Zatanna said, knowing she'd go ballistic if someone killed her father.

Mist finished singing the bit that he needed to in order to give Amy a copy of his dark vision then turned to look at Vicky. "As much as I'd love to be able to trade powers with the Justice League or some of the more impressive capes in your world, it's probably just as well that the ability can't spread like the plague. It just takes one jilted ex or villain with mind control and now you have a bunch of villains running around that can hand out powers for money."

"Or you have a couple of thousand doctors that can heal people and you can give everyone mental defenses, they shouldn't have to worry about mind control," Vicky argued.

"What about good old fashioned threats or bribery?" Mist asked. "Just imagine what would happen if various people in the government learned that you could hand out powers, they'd want to control you or at least make sure you didn't end up in the hands of any foreign powers or criminal organizations. Best case, you'd have a team watching you twenty four seven and they'd be throwing money at you to keep you happy, worst case, you'd be drugged up or dead. It's not like they'd need you around after you gave everyone they considered important a copy of your abilities."

"I can't put it past some of the idiots not to try," Vicky admitted, thinking about some of the idiotic laws that basically forced parahumans to be criminals and the various people that had tried to get Amy under their 'protection' for various reasons. "It's still annoying."

"Yep," Mist agreed, not seeing a point in mentioning that Amy would probably rack up enough credits working for the company to afford some type of power sharing if she actually wanted it. "Does anyone else want extra powers while I'm feeling generous?"

"I'd love the ability to see in the dark and I want a copy of your mental defenses," Starfire said cheerfully.

"Good choice," Mist agreed, fairly sure everyone would end up getting a copy of the mental defenses before they headed home.

"Have fun," Amy said as she floated off the couch, finding her flight surprisingly easy to control.

Vicky grinned at her sister. "We're going to have to race."

"You're going to win, she’s not that fast," Mist told Vicky as Starfire took Amy's place on the couch.

"That's half the fun," Vicky teased.

Mist shook his head then started singing as he started playfully spanking Starfire's bottom like a drum, making a mental note to thank the eldritch abomination that had created the power.

Taylor glanced at Michael and sighed when he laughed, knowing there wasn't a point in missing the chance to pick up more powers without having to buy them from the Company. "If you're handing out extra powers, I could use better mental defenses, dark vision and flight."

"Sure," Mist replied, not seeing a problem with helping Taylor out, especially since her friend was willing to give him a lift back to Hogwarts with one of the mirrors so Amy could go back and forth. "Do you need anything else Starfire?"

"I wouldn't object to getting a copy of your alchemy power, your inventory and your Observation power if that's not asking too much," Starfire replied with a grin, curious if it would help her with cooking.

"Same, but Raven should probably go first," Zatanna said cheerfully, looking forward to picking up additional mental defenses.

"Fine," Raven muttered.

"Not a problem, I'm happy to help," Mist replied then started singing again as he continued playfully using her bottom as a drum.

'I bet,' Constantine thought, figuring he'd wait until the girls were done before asking about picking up a copy of the mental defense powers. "Before you get completely carried away, you should probably conjure the set of mirrors so I can hide Amy's copy, I'd rather not give anyone that can sneak into her room access to Hogwarts."

Mist finished giving Starfire the last of the powers she wanted then focused and used his spell to conjure two large mirrors that would let Amy travel back and forth from Hogwarts. "Done and done and yeah no, let's avoid that."

"Thank you for playing my zarbnof like a drum," Starfire said cheerfully then hopped off the couch so the next person could take their turn.

Raven shook her head then sprawled on the couch, fairly sure Starfire was being weird on purpose. "Ready."

"And that's my cue," Constantine said as he picked up one of the mirrors and headed for the hallway. "Do you have a closet?"

"Second door on the right," Amy replied without taking her eyes off Raven, glad that she was wearing what amounted to a swimsuit as she had a nice butt.

Vicky glanced between Amy and Raven then shook her head and followed Constantine. "I'll show you."

"In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight," Mist chanted as he spanked Raven's behind as the door opened and Clark and Diana walked in.

"Bad time?" Clark asked with a straight face, having heard most of their discussion.

"No, I'm just handing out powers," Mist replied then continued singing and spanking Raven, doing his best to remain at least somewhat professional.

"Good, I'm going to want a copy of your mental defenses, unless it's too weird?" Clark asked.

"Nah, we're good, Kryptonians and mind control don't mix well," Mist replied, rather amused by the fact that he'd be able to honestly say that he'd spanked a Kryptonian and survived with all of his limbs intact.

"I'm going to want the same," Diana stated, wanting to make sure she didn't get mind controlled even if her resistance was pretty good, it could always be better.

"Not a problem," Mist replied, trying and failing to keep the smile off his face as he continued giving Raven extra powers.

0o0o0

"This feels like the start of a bad isekai," Amy complained as she glanced between the empty shelves of the magic shop that Mist had picked up for a handful of gold coins and the alchemy lab that they'd spent the last couple of minutes setting up.

"Probably," Mist agreed with amusement as he watched Twist wash the front window, appreciating the view since her dress was translucent and didn't hide much of anything, especially the way she was reaching up to reach the top of the window with her squeegee.

"Is there a reason you picked Knockturn Alley rather than Diagon Alley?" Amy asked.

"Several," Mist replied as he pulled his attention off his elf and focused on Amy, a touch surprised by how much her witch's hat and black robes they'd picked up in the second hand store helped sell the image of her being a proper witch. "It was dirt cheap since the previous owner was sent to prison for poisoning a ministry official and the minister owes me a favor. The fact that the Ministry generally ignores Knockturn Alley except to collect bribes, means our complete lack of official qualifications to run a shop or sell potions should be cheerfully ignored."

"You realize that I'm a hero, right?" Amy asked in exasperation.

"I'm aware," Mist replied.

"Then why are you trying to pull me into questionable business practices that would have my mother screaming bloody murder?" Amy asked, trying not to laugh about the entire thing.

"We have an alchemy system," Mist pointed out. "We can literally see any side effects or negatives of using the potions we create or modify, thus I'm not worried about getting a stamp of approval from the Ministry."

"It still feels a bit dodgy," Amy admitted.

"It's basically just a smokescreen to keep everyone distracted while you check people's genetics for glitches and issues and so we can hand out the cure for lycanthropy without the ministry noticing or writing down names," Mist explained.

"Do you actually have a cure yet?" Amy asked.

"No but I gave the recipe to my mother who happens to be an expert in the field, we should have a decent supply by Monday," Mist assured her.

"What about the fact that I don't have any experience running a shop?" Amy asked.

"Relax, it's not like we actually have to make money," Mist assured her. "It's just a place to brew potions and gives you easy access to a bunch of dodgy ingredients which should make it easy to level up your potions skill until you can make insanely complicated potions in a fraction of the time that it should take."

"Assuming someone doesn't try to kill me and toss me in a cauldron because they want to rob me or because I look tasty," Amy complained, thinking about the hags that she'd seen as they walked into the alley.

"That's why I'm leaving Twist here, she'll make sure you don't run into any problems until I can talk to Hagrid's clone," Mist assured her, knowing she'd be able to teleport her somewhere safe if they ran into trouble and most people would think twice or even three times before starting trouble with Hagrid.

"Don't worry, I'll keep you safe," Twist assured her.

"Or you could stick around for a couple of hours to make sure we don't get murdered," Amy argued as she walked over to the table where they'd set up a cauldron, not particularly comfortable being left in the shop with a complete stranger, verses a mostly complete stranger that had saved her from the Nine.

"Just lock the doors and I'll be back," Mist glanced at his watch, "actually, on second thought we should probably play with our new alchemy power for a couple of hours then grab some dinner, unless you want to head back home?"

"Yeah, no, I'd rather not deal with Carol right now," Amy admitted as she pulled up her Alchemy interface so she could get started making potions.

"It can't be that bad, she gave you permission," Mist pointed out.

"Only because she realized that I'd signed a contract and that I'd be making a lot of money and that I probably needed a break from healing, she's still finding things to complain about," Amy complained.

"To be fair, if I had a teenage daughter, I'd probably have a lot of questions if she wanted to spend time in another dimension running a magic shop," Mist pointed out.

"Like can I tag along and are you going to be back for dinner?" Amy asked with a grin.

"Probably," Mist agreed as he opened his alchemy window so he could get started playing with his new power. "Okay, start with the first year potions and work our way up the list, the system reduces the time from minutes to seconds so it shouldn't take all that long to increase our alchemy skills."

"Sounds good," Amy replied, looking forward to getting to the point where she could brew proper healing potions so the hospitals wouldn't need her all the time.

0o0o0