Prismatic Education Begins With A Spark 44 (MTG/Multicross)

Prismatic Education 44

With a murmured word and flick of my hand, I retaliated against the attack with several of my own. To my attacker’s credit, he did try to defend, but my spells shattered his magical shield easily, putting him down in an instant.

Almost too easily… I blinked as I remembered the artifact I received from Theodorus. Yeah, I gotta see how it holds up against a Crystal Mantis next time I go to Orario. Whoops, not good getting distracted in a fight. Especially not when so many interesting spells are being used in front of me.

My time in Strixhaven taught me how to quantify magical phenomena into numbers, and that skill had received a bonus from my brief study in Cloudspire. Even more so when it came to colored magics like the one being thrown about in front of me. And EVEN MORE so when I listened to the incantations of the spells in question, which were variations of words I knew.

The most common red spell had a stunning effect, instantly putting its victim in a state of unconsciousness. Others were just straight up elemental in nature, creating an explosion wherever they hit. Some yellow and orange spells had curse-like effects, like one that caused an outbreak of painful boils. Blue shields of protection, green spells of healing, and more… The magic-using side of me was delighted at the potential of magic in this world.

However, it was very clear which side I would prefer to be aligned with.

A few quick steps took me over to a mustached redheaded man, just in time to intercept a dangerous-looking slash of purple flames. My staff lashed out, scattering the curse apart like sparks.

“Thanks!” He said to me breathlessly.

“Later. Focus on surviving first.” I chided him.

He nodded jerkily. “Right.” 

“Gideon!” The other redhead present called to him, struggling with two more.

“Go. I’ll handle this one.”

While my rescuee dashed away to help the person who must have been his brother, I met my opponent’s eyes through his skull mask. I could recognize the wariness and intent to kill in them, along with derision directed towards my staff for some reason.

Then he moved, his wand flashing with several spells in quick succession. I was swifter, striking each of them down with counterspells cast with murmurs and finger flicks. To his credit, he adjusted his tactics quickly, shifting his body into smoke and charging towards me for close combat. It was certainly fast, but against a Level Three falna?

“Ava- EEEEEEE!” His spoken spell trailed off into a high-pitched squeal.

I raised an eyebrow as I met his bulging eyes, calmly stating what I had done. “Staff to balls.” 

Briefly releasing my weapon, my hands flashed forward. Wrist grip and twist to disarm the wand, chop to the neck to discombobulate, pull the arm to guide the body, elbow and fist strikes to face and torso-!

“MUDA!” My ink-encased fist shattered the skull mask, also leaving his face a crumpled wreck.

My other hand caught my staff before his body even landed on the ground, and I whirled to target the remaining mages before they could react. Between me and the pair of redheads, they were quickly subdued and bound.

“Bugger me, that’s Antonin Dolohov!” One of them said as he conjured ropes to tie up my fallen opponent.

“You-Know-Who’s personal torturer? Blimey, it really is him! What did you do to him?” 

“Whacked him in the balls, then punched his face in.”

He swore softly. “That’s not gentlemanly.”

“Though you have to admit it’s pretty funny,” His brother added, “Dolohov getting beaten like a Muggle.”

Muggle? That sounds familiar. “Well, I suppose you could say I used a nutcracker curse, then finished him off with a spell called FIST.” I clenched my right hand to emphasize the word.

They stared at me, then burst out laughing.

“Gideon,” The one I had saved introduced himself after he calmed down enough, “Gideon Prewett. This is my brother, Fabian.”

“Pleasure to meet you.” Unlike his sibling, Fabian had a beard to go with his mustache.

“Roy Staff. Likewise.” I nodded to the both of them.

“Never thought I’d see a wizard use a staff. Everybody uses wands nowadays.” They directed curious looks at my spellcasting focus.

“Let’s just say my education was a bit different.”

“Where did you study then? Certainly not Hogwarts, I can tell.” Gideon asked me.

“I learned elemental magicks at Aldrheim, then Strixhaven for four years.” I smiled at their clueless expressions. “Never heard of them, have you?”

They both shook their heads. 

“Anyway, what’s the plan to deal with this lot?”

“Oh, that’s right!” Fabian turned and pointed his wand off to the side, shooting some white bolt of light into the distance. “I’ve called for help. They should arrive shortly.”

As we waited, I reviewed what I had just heard. Muggles and Hogwarts… I had memories of those as well. Of a boy who lived in a cupboard under the stairs, until he learned he had magic, and went to a magic school to learn how to wield it. A school that bore the name of Hogwarts.

This isn’t like the Japanese-related ones, but who’s to say I can’t find more clues related to that? 

“So can anyone explain to me what’s the reason for this conflict?” I finally asked. “Assume that I know nothing.”

They looked at each other, before Fabian started to explain. This was the country of Britain, where magic users stayed hidden from the ignorant mundane side, governed by the British Ministry of Magic. 

According to him, the main reason was a Dark Lord who was making moves to claim power, and he had the support of various wizards and witches. Taking the title of Death Eaters as his followers, they launched attacks on the ruling government itself, making use of Dark creatures as shock troops. Trying to respond to these attacks left the Ministry overstretched, and the Dark side became bolder. They started attacking others as well, like the magic users who weren’t affiliated with them.

“They claim they want to preserve the pure bloodlines of magic, but they tried to kill you two because you’re against them. Is that right?” I asked for clarification.

“Yes.” Gideon admitted.

“To be honest, it’s a bit more complicated than that.” His brother added.

“I’m listening.” I gestured for them to go on.

Because of that lack of support, a group of wizards banded together as the Order of the Phoenix, a vigilante group dedicated to fighting against the Dark Lord’s forces. Fabian and Gideon were two such members, and clearly enough of a problem to warrant having the Dark Lord’s personal torturer sent after them.  

However, the group’s efforts weren’t enough to counter the attacks, and this Dark Lord’s power and influence continued to grow over the years. Attacks occurred with more frequency, causing terror and chaos to spread. It was only recently that the Ministry started taking more direct action to turn the tide of the ongoing war. 

I wanted to sigh at the irony. I had left Erathia to avoid getting involved in a war, only to land right in the middle of another. This is some kind of sign, isn’t it? Fine.

“The thing is, we’ve been laying low this whole time, and they shouldn’t have been able to find us. Not unless…” Fabian glanced uneasily at his brother.

“There is a traitor among your group,” I said it out loud.

“As much as I don’t want to admit it, I agree.” Gideon frowned as he looked around the place. “...help shouldn’t be taking this long to arrive.”

I met their respective gazes. “They may be in trouble of their own. If you want to go and help, then let me join in too.”

“We’ll be glad to have you.” They chorused.

They asked me if I could Apparate, which was the version of teleportation in this world, but I obviously couldn’t. So instead, they allowed me to mark them with a magical tracking spell, and I would fly over to where they went. Once it was done, the pair of redheads vanished in a simultaneous crack of air, and I felt the mark appear several kilometers away. 

However, before I left, I took out a small vial, containing a corrosive poison I was very familiar with. Weaving a timed spell, I attached motes of the poison to the group of attackers. Given what I just heard about them, I had no intention of letting them live, not if they would just go after innocents again. Antonin Dolohov appeared to be struggling to breathe with the condition I had left his face in, but whether he died by suffocation or poison made no difference to me.

Hopefully it’ll be taken as some kind of suicide to prevent themselves from being taken prisoner. Anyway, time to get going!

Mounting my staff, I shot off into the air, headed for where the Prewett brothers were. Inside me, I could feel the light urging me on, to save those about to be swallowed up by the darkness.

…

I flipped through the book, feeling a bit conflicted. I had finally found a mention of Japan, and it happened to be in a travel guide in a mundane bookstore. Similar to the Land of the Far East with respect to Orario, Japan was an island nation far to the east of Britain. Clothes, language, and certain locations, they matched somewhat.

There’s some mention of anime, but not the type I’m familiar with. Probably because I’m in the past? It’s only the start of the eighties right now, while my memories indicate it was past the millennium.

But it was still a clue I could follow.

Just not now. And not because my involvement in this Wizarding War had gotten too deep to back out at this point of time.

But because of the variety of magic present in this plane. 

This world was remarkably similar to the one in my past life, with similar continental shapes and country names. I was currently standing in Charing Cross Road of London in England, a place I might have read about, but never visited in my past life. Yet beneath this mundane surface was a second world, rich in magic and possibility.

Shutting the book, I left the bookstore, and found my companions being chatted up by a pair of pretty women. I had to admit, they did look handsome in the mundane clothing they wore, just like the suit form of my shifting clothes. The brothers looked both flattered and troubled at the same time in the face of the female attention, so I decided to lend them a hand.

“Sorry ladies,” I interrupted, coming up to pat the redheaded siblings on their shoulders, “But we have a prior appointment, so we have to go.”

“Yes. Yes, he’s right.” Fabian agreed awkwardly, while Gideon just nodded.

The disappointed women withdrew, and the three of us headed off to our next destination. 

“Did you find what you were searching for?” One of them asked me.

“I did.” My short answer kept him from asking any further.

We soon arrived in front of a dingy pub, one that I could feel an enchantment from. Sure enough, the mundane people didn’t look like they noticed it, their eyes not finding anything odd about the pub’s dirty appearance between the clean-looking shops on either side. We entered the place, where the bartender and the lone customer present gave us wary looks before turning away. 

The effects of the terrorist attacks could be obviously felt, and even though the Ministry was beginning to fight back, things had yet to look up. 

The brothers led me out through the back door, where Fabian used his wand to tap on one of the bricks on the wall, causing it to shift and morph into an entranceway. It was… mildly interesting, compared to what I had seen in Strixhaven.

I suppose the mages of this plane have developed their creativity in a different way compared to Strixhaven if they have to stay hidden from those without magic. 

“Here it is. Diagon Alley.”

I knew about the place thanks to my memories and what the wizards I had interacted with shared with me. It was supposed to be their community’s main shopping street, with shops that catered to anything a witch or wizard could need. So it was quite a sight to see the place with so little traffic, and most of the shops closed. The few people on the streets walked hurriedly, keeping an alert eye out for any trouble.

In order to take my mind off the depressing sight, I focused on something else instead. Just as its name suggested, the architecture of the place was full of diagonals, with crooked structures lining the alley. Magic had seeped deeply into this place, just like various examples I had witnessed before in other planes, and I could easily pick out the patchwork of spells as the inhabitants just tacked on whatever they needed each time.

Deep history and chaotic whimsy… this is so damn Lorehold. I twitched, knowing it would take a lot of effort to form a mana bond with this place. The amount of Blue in this place is lacking. Except…

“What’s wrong?” The brothers noticed I had stopped.

“We still have time, right?” I asked, pointing at the bookshop nearby.

Fabian glanced at his golden wristwatch, which had stars moving around the face instead of hands. “We have about half an hour until the meeting.”

“Alright. Enough time for a quick browse.” Haste. 

I swept into the store of Flourish and Blotts, quickly taking in the books that filled the place to the brim. There were signs pasted all over the place, indicating where each section could be found. I briefly skimmed the section for history, then the subjects related to common factors of this society, like owls and brooms. After I had seen enough to classify the majority of those topics as barely interesting, I finally moved on to the spellcasting books.

Charms, enchantments that ranged from the simplistic and nearly pointless, to the impressively powerful. Transfiguration, a field of magic that dealt in reshaping matter, starting from turning organic objects to inorganic ones, then in reverse, growing in complexity, until it reached the form of conjuration. Potions, not the weak ones I had seen in Orario, but the physical liquid forms of spells I saw in Strixhaven.

This was a whole new paradigm of magic.

“Roy. It’s time.”

I blinked, then looked up from my current book to see Fabian and Gideon waiting. “Wait, already?”

Fabian tapped his watch, which showed that twenty-five minutes had already passed.

With a reluctant sigh, I closed the book and set it down, following the pair out of the shop.

“Let’s hurry then.”

As we strode down the cobblestone street, Gideon teased me for being a book lover, while Fabian inquired if I had seen that many books before. Considering how long I had spent in the Biblioplex, those statements weren’t even worthy of replies.

Turning off the main street, Fabian led us down a smaller alley, finally coming to a stop outside a small pub. He knocked on the thick wooden door, which caused the small slot at eye level to slide open.

“Firebird.” The person on the other side of the door stated.

“Phoenix.” Fabian responded.

The slot closed, and the door swung open to let the three of us enter. 

The room beyond was a dimly lit one, but there were others present already. All of them eyed us with wary gazes, though there was some relief and gratitude in them as well. 

“Fabian, Gideon, glad to see the two of you still alive.” A man with shoulder-length wavy hair greeted them.

“Benjy! I could say the same for you.”

“And I have you to thank for that.” Benjy directed that statement at me.

He was one of those I had saved together with the Prewett brothers, with me having flown in just in time to block a particularly powerful blasting curse from killing him. The other people present had gone through a similar experience; their deaths were narrowly avoided thanks to our interference.

“How many of us are there now?” A witch asked.

“Seven already. We can’t let this continue any further.” Gideon moved over the large table in the center. 

As if it was a signal, the other people present joined him in sitting around the table, including me, with Fabian sitting on my other side from his brother.

“As you all already know, each of us were attacked by the Death Eaters,” Gideon stated, “It was too convenient to be coincidence, and they were well-prepared for us. If not for Roy here, we would have been killed.”

Fabian spoke after his brother did. “Some of you already heard this from us, but we think that we have a traitor in the Order.”

There were gasps and doubtful looks, but the majority of the group was solemn. They had already come to the same conclusion.

“But who?” Another witch asked. “Who would betray us?”

I glanced at Gideon, who pulled out a photo and placed it on the table. I had seen this photo before when he had shown it to me, so I knew it was of the Order of the Phoenix, taken in July this year. In the photo, a group of people stood together, the animation magic making it so that they moved within the image, shifting around, smiling proudly or hopefully. 

“We think it’s one of the people in this photo.” Gideon explained. “One of those who are still alive, and not part of this group.”

“Then Marlene’s out… she died with her family two weeks after this was taken.” Fabian said sadly.

“Same with the Bones. May their souls rest peacefully.” Another wizard echoed.

“I think it’s safe to exclude Dumbledore too.” Gideon pointed at the old man with the long beard in the center.

Albus Dumbledore… the old wizard of this setting, and from what I hear, rather eccentric too. I thought to myself as the gathering of survivors debated who the traitor could be. He was the one to form the Order in the first place, and if you can’t trust the leader, then who could you trust?

“Roy, you aren’t in the Order, so maybe you have a theory none of us have thought of?” Fabian asked me, jarring me out of my thoughts.

I quickly went over what I heard in my memories. “I think what you all said about the married couples being unlikely suspects was right, so you can exclude the Potters and Longbottoms. As for the others… Who are these people?”

Gideon leaned over to peer at the ones I was pointing at. “They’re James Potter’s friends. Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew.”

“None of them are married or dating, that I know of.” Benjy volunteered the information.

The others began adding what they knew as well. “Black… aren’t the Blacks supporters of You-Know-Who?”

“Lupin’s a werewolf too.”

“But Dumbledore vouched for him. Let him study in Hogwarts and all.”

“James considers Black his closest friend. Practically his brother too. He told me how Black stayed together with his family instead of going back to his own.”

“Roy?” Gideon asked me curiously.

My finger had been drifting back and forth over the three, and I had my eyes closed. My memories… I know it’s either Black or Pettigrew, but-

I opened my eyes at the signal my inner light gave me, and saw my finger was resting on the chubby-faced person standing behind the Potters. 

“My hunch says it’s this guy.”

“Pettigrew?”

“Are we really going to trust what this man says?” One of the wizards said suspiciously.

“He saved many of our lives!” Gideon protested fiercely. “For that, I’m willing to hear him out.”

“No, no, he’s right.” I said, gesturing for them both to calm down. “Instead, what you all should do is to verify.”

There was a moment of silence as they all looked at each other.

“Who here knows how to brew a strong truth potion?” Benjy asked.

Afterword: For some reason, it felt like a great point to end this scene. I was surprised at how fast this chapter came out, despite struggling to decide just when Roy should be inserted at in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Clearly, following my muse’s whims continues to pay off.

The fighting scene in the last chapter was on a whim, so I spent quite a bit of time pondering as to who was involved… It’s kind of curious now that I think of it: Purple->Dolohov’s curse->Dolohov->Prewett brothers that Dolohov killed. And that’s how it came about, and after that, it was just filling in the details. Fate’s definitely been twisted thanks to this.

Thanks again to my supporters!