Replacement Boy That Lived Part 4

"Let me guess, someone forgot to pay the maid, for the last decade? Scarlet asked thoughtfully as she glanced around the damaged cabin that looked like it had been the site of a magical battle then left to rot for a couple of decades, wishing she had something to cover her nose as the stale air was getting to her nose.

Myst pulled his attention away from the pile of water damaged books that had fallen from the collapsed shelves into a pile on the floor and looked at the teenage girl he'd rescued from the dungeon, fairly sure she was somewhere in her early teens but not sure and unwilling to ask her age because that would mean admitting he didn't know. "More like someone forgot to fix the roof, I'm sort of curious why no one repaired it or mothballed the place."

Scarlet turned to look at the slightly shorter kid with messy black hair that had rescued her, surprised that he wasn't cursing up a storm. "Do you have any evil family members that someone wanted to stash you with for mysterious and idiotic reasons?"

"No comment," Myst muttered, unwilling to speculate on people's motives until he had a chance to talk to Dumbledore or find the records in the ministry. 'At least I only had to deal with the Dursleys for about twenty minutes.'

"I'll take that for a yes," Scarlet said, fairly sure Myst was going to have to go on a quest to get justice or at least that was how her mother's stories worked.

"My cousin is a fat whale, my uncle hates anything unusual or weird and my aunt hates me," Myst replied, summoning up what he remembered of the Dursleys. "What about you?"

"I'm thirteen, I like ice skating and driving my parents up the walls," Scarlet replied with a grin.

"Dare I ask how?" Myst asked as he walked over to the shelf on the wall and started moving the books to his inventory, seeing no reason to leave them to continue molding and falling apart, especially when he could use magic to restore them.

"Lots of ways but mostly by slipping out of my boring dresses and showing off my breasts," Scarlet replied cheerfully. "Mom says mine are even larger than hers were for my age but gets a bit annoyed when I show people, which isn't fair because they're awesome. My dad just keeps muttering that it's punishment for something but he won't tell me what."

"I'm sure they mean well," Myst assured her, not sure what else to say. "I'm not sure if the Ministry confiscated the property as a historical landmark or if they just slapped some wards up to keep mundane people from noticing the property and left it to rot."

"They just slapped some wards up and left," the man in the portrait over the fireplace replied with annoyance.

Myst spun and looked at the spider web-covered portrait of a man with wild black hair that he hadn't noticed, relaxing once he realized it was just a painting. "Huh."

"Does this happen often?" Scarlet asked as she studied the magical portrait.

"It's fairly common in the wizarding world," the man in the portrait replied, surprised that he had to explain.

"Which Potter are you?" Myst asked, surprised that someone had left a portrait in the cabin since he didn't remember it from the books.

"Henry, I'm your great grandfather," Henry replied as he studied Harry. "Have you come to reclaim the cabin or to loot the bookshelves?"

"Sorry, I didn't want the books getting worse," Myst replied defensively.

Henry laughed. "Don't worry about it, you're clearly your mother's son."

"You knew Lily?" Myst asked, making a mental note to look up magical portraits when he reached Hogwarts.

"She lived here for a few years after she graduated Hogwarts before Voldemort killed her, damned shame," Henry complained. "She was an amazing alchemist and witch and she made James happy."

"Do I have any family left?" Myst asked, figuring it was something Harry would ask and might give him some idea how close to the books the world was.

"Richard Potter wandered off to America with a red haired Irish lass fifteen years ago so you probably have a couple of cousins wandering around," Henry offered.

"Richard Potter?" Myst asked, not familiar with that particular Potter.

"He's my second cousin, Charlus Potter was my cousin," Henry replied.

"That explains how I ended up at my aunt's house," Myst grumbled, fairly sure he'd need a chart to figure out how distant 'his' remaining family were.

"No idea on that one," Henry admitted with a frown. "You should have ended up with Sirius Black, that you didn't is disturbing."

"Sirius Black?" Myst asked, curious what this world's version was like since some of the things weren't lining up with the books.

"He was your godfather and one of your parents' best friends," Henry explained.

"Something else to look into," Myst said, not sure where to start unraveling the tangled mess of events that had resulted in the house being left in a ruined state. "Do you know why no one fixed the house?"

"If I had to guess, the defensive charms on the property probably twisted the spell the ministry cast on the house to keep people from trespassing so people assumed that someone else had taken care of it," Henry replied. "Or maybe they're even less competent than they were in my time which would be pretty damned sad if I'm being honest."

"That's assuming it wasn't deliberate," Myst replied, not putting it past one of Voldemort's sympathizers to screw him over deliberately. "How do I check to see if the ministry confiscated the property?"

"Considering I have the deed, that's unlikely in the extreme and would have gotten the minister cursed or burned alive by the court and the charms on the property," Henry explained as he pulled the property deed out of the drawer and pushed it halfway out of the portrait. "Just ask if you need it."

"Property tab unlocked!" the voice said cheerfully.

Myst opened his inventory and looked at his new tab, seeing a window that listed 'Godric's Hollow Family Estate (Can't be Sold)' on the left and showed a 3d image of the ruined property on the right side of the page with a number of tabs that looked useful, including tabs for blueprints, overview and dollhouse view under the image. "It's been safe for ten years, you might as well keep it until I need it. Do you know where my family kept their actual library?"

"Fortunately or unfortunately, they left most of the library in the family vault at Gringotts which means you're not getting access to it until you turn seventeen or ask Sirius Black to retrieve something," Henry explained.

"Does that mean we're going to have to kill some cultists for gold?" Scarlet asked thoughtfully.

Harry laughed. "It's good to have a work ethic, but young Harry has a trust fund at Gringotts that should pay for supplies and his Hogwarts’ tuition."

"Good to know," Myst replied, glad that he wasn't going to have to explain where he got his money unless he spent an insane amount. "Speaking of property, did the Potters have a family castle or estate?"

"You're in it," Henry replied with a grin. "While the cabin has been rebuilt countless times, the property goes back nearly a thousand years or at least that's as far as we could trace things."

"How often do people stop by the memorial outside?" Myst asked.

"I occasionally hear people talking outside, that's one of the ways I kept track of the time. We've had less people stop by recently than there used to be but we still get a decent collection around Halloween," Henry said as he put the deed back in the desk drawer, not seeing a reason to hand it to an eleven year old if he didn't have to.

"Do you know why my family kept the property for a thousand years?" Myst asked, curious why they'd hold onto a piece of property that long.

"There's an entrance to a magical dungeon on the property that opens on certain days of the year to a magical realm filled with strange creatures and people, it has been a source of knowledge and wealth for the family for a thousand years," Henry explained.

'Huh, that would be an excellent reason to keep the property in the family and it would explain why they never bothered expanding the cabin.' Myst smiled at the portrait. "Are you going to tell me when the entrance opens?"

"Let me know when you've taken your owls, if you get an outstanding in Defense, I'll let you know," Henry promised.

"Owls?" Scarlet asked, not sure what he was talking about.

"It's a large competency test that witches and wizards take at the end of their fifth year of school," Henry explained. "You normally start school once you've turned eleven, you'll probably get your letter soon."

"Makes sense." Myst turned to look at Scarlet when her stomach rumbled. "We should probably grab some food."

"That would be fantastic," Scarlet replied with a grin.

"If you have more questions, feel free to swing by, I've got nothing but time," Henry admitted.

Myst glanced at the painting which could probably fill in some details or at least give him an excuse for knowing things Harry wouldn't. "Thank you."

"Where are we going?" Scarlet asked.

"Considering all of the shops around here take paper money, we'll have to head back to Diagon Alley," Myst said as he held his hand out, hoping his teleportation skill would let him bring her along.

"Paper money? Why would anyone trust that?" Scarlet asked in confusion.

"No idea," Myst admitted as he pulled up his dungeon menu. "If I vanish without you, I'll be right back." He selected the Madness dungeon and hit the button.

"Do you want to take your party with you?" the voice asked.

Myst hit yes and grinned when he appeared next to the arch outside with Scarlet. "Next stop, Knockturn Alley," he whispered, then teleported with her to the dungeon in the alley.

Scarlet glanced around the alley with a frown on her face, not particularly enjoying the scent of tainted earth and the feeling of eyes watching her. "How dangerous is the alley?"

"In the middle of the day, it should be reasonably safe as long as we don't stick around," Myst replied as he headed for the exit to Diagon Alley, making sure his hat covered his scar.

"Ah," Scarlet replied as she followed Myst, glancing around at all of the obviously magical, if dirty and gloomy shops.

Myst sighed in relief when they managed to escape Knockturn Alley without running into trouble. "Let's find somewhere to eat then we'll see about picking up more magic."

"Sounds good to me," Scarlet replied as she looked around at the magic users wandering around. "Mom would love this."

"It's certainly interesting," Myst replied as he headed for the sandwich shop.

0o0o0

Scarlet frowned as she studied the dark hole in the ground. "When you mentioned picking up more magic, I thought you meant in a shop."

"That requires a wand," Myst replied as he pulled the goblin shaman's firebolt staff out of his inventory. "The dungeon loot lets us avoid that particular trap which is why I didn't want to talk about the dungeons while we were eating."

"How does the staff work?" Scarlet asked, excited at the idea of learning magic.

"You basically point it in the general direction that you want to set on fire then push magic into it," Myst explained.

Scarlet glanced between the staff and Myst. "Sounds simple enough, what's the catch?"

"You're the one supplying the magical energy and you'll probably have to practice hitting your target. If I hand you the staff, are you going to wait to use it until we get into the dungeon?" Myst asked, wanting to make sure she remembered the rules against using magic in the mundane world.

"Don't worry, I'm not my mother," Scarlet replied with a grin.

Myst laughed as he handed her the magic staff. "I'm sensing a story there."

Scarlet examined the carved staff. "Let's just say my mother is a bit of a trouble magnet."

"Fair enough. Once you jump down, you'll end up stepping forward. Try not to lose your balance," Myst warned her then jumped down the hole.

Scarlet jumped down the hole and stepped forward without any trouble, at least until the unpleasant and weird scent hit her nose that smelled like unwashed socks.

Myst reached out until his hand bumped into the staff Scarlet was holding then aimed it towards where the boss was probably standing. He raised his hand and tossed a firebolt down the hallway. "Go for it."

Scarlet grinned as she pushed mana into the staff and it shot a firebolt out of the end of it. She pushed more mana into the staff, causing another ball of flames to jump out of the end of it, splattering on a green skinned monster.

Myst smiled when he saw several weird bubbles in the air in front of the goblin shaman ignite when one of Scarlet's firebolts hit them, causing the flames to wash over the goblin shaman and ignite his robes. "Keep shooting until you run out of mana."

"Yes!" Scarlet replied as a group of goblins rushed into the tunnel, figuring the need for stealth was gone. She pushed mana into the staff, sending out a steady stream of firebolts that washed over the goblins and caused them to scream as their flesh burned.

Myst raised his hands as he mentally combined the fire runes from his firebolt spell with the runes for the spray part of the lightning spay and unleashed his improvised spell, sending out a jet of fire from his hands that cooked the first couple of goblins instantly then washed over the rest of the goblins charging down the hallway, causing them to scream before dying and turning into motes of light.

"How often can we run the dungeon?" Scarlet asked excitedly as she looked at the loot on the ground, glad that the goblins didn't stick around like real people when they died and that the scent of burned flesh vanished with them.

"It resets when we leave," Myst replied as he walked over and started grabbing the rusty swords, crude clubs and small bags of coins that the goblins had dropped.

"Excellent," Scarlet replied with a grin as she kept her sword pointed at the end of the hallway in case more goblins showed up. "How are you doing for mana?"

"Spraying flames like that eats up a decent amount of mana but I should be fine as long as I limit things to firebolts," Myst assured her. "You?"

"I'm not my aunt," Scarlet replied as she checked the weird character sheet Myst's power gave her. "I only have 33 of 50 mana which means I can toss another thirty three firebolts before I'm out for a couple of hours."

"What's your magic stat?" Myst asked as he tossed the last of the loot into his inventory.

"Five," Scarlet admitted, a touch annoyed that it was her lowest score by a decent amount.

"Don't worry, we can probably increase it once we find some evil magic users to stab," Myst assured her, thinking about the magic stealing dagger that he'd found on the cultists.

"Sounds good," Scarlet agreed, not seeing a problem with stabbing evil cultists as long as they vanished like everything else in the dungeon.

Myst held out his hand. "Let's see if I can teleport over the pit."

"Pit…" Scarlet trailed off as Myst grabbed her hand and everything sort of lurched and they reappeared on the other side of a large pit, complete with ramps built into the edges. "Can you teach me to jump like that?"

"No idea," Myst admitted as he picked up the key and the staff the shaman had dropped. "Do you want to shoot the goblins in the pit or do you want to sneak around and grab the treasure chest?" he asked as he stuck the loot in his inventory so he could tap the icon and figure out what the staff was supposed to do. 'Creates poison bubbles, 5 mana per bubble, casting it twenty times will teach the spell.'

"Any idea what the staff does?" Scarlet asked, wishing they had more light.

"It conjures bubbles of poison gas," Myst replied as he headed into the hallway that should lead to the treasure chest.

"That sounds nasty," Scarlet replied in a whisper as she followed him. "Do we need to be sneaky?"

"It wouldn't hurt," Myst replied as he headed down the hallway, trying to move as quietly as possible while still moving at a decent pace.

"Trouble?" Scarlet asked in a whisper when they turned a corner and she saw light coming out of a doorway up ahead.

"Maybe," he admitted as they snuck closer. He sighed in relief when he reached the door and realized that the room was empty of monsters. "Give me a second," he told her as he checked the door frame for strings, glints of metal, or magic.

Scarlet looked over his shoulder at the glowing candles scattered around the walls of the makeshift workshop, glad to have some light. "We need to bring torches next time."

"Probably should," Myst replied as he walked into the goblin's workshop, fairly sure the door frame wasn't trapped but wanting to get into the habit of at least looking for traps when he had the time. He glanced at the pirate chest then walked over to the workbench and started moving the shaman's woodworking tools into his inventory.

"Shouldn't we grab the chest?" Scarlet asked.

"Let me grab the candles first, the chest might be trapped," Myst replied as he stuck a halfway decent knife and metal file into his inventory.

"You're stealing candles?" Scarlet asked in disbelief.

"It's a dungeon, everything regenerates, not looting things is wasteful," Myst replied as he worked on looting the magical candles scattered around the walls.

Scarlet shook her head. "If I wasn't sure you were an adventurer before, I am now."

"To be fair, they're ever burning candles," Myst replied with amusement.

"In that case, loot away," Scarlet replied with a grin, glad that he wasn't crazy enough to steal normal half melted candles.

Myst finished looting most of the candles then walked over and carefully poked the chest with his staff.

"What type of trap?" Scarlet asked in a whisper as she kept watch on the hallway.

"No idea, the last one shocked the hell out of me," Myst admitted as he reached out and shoved the chest into his inventory. "Shit!" he cursed and jumped for Scarlet when he heard the sound of gas moving through a narrow opening at pressure.

"What!" Scarlet blurted, not sure why Myst looked terrified.

Myst grabbed Scarlet's arm and teleported back to the start of the dungeon. "Sorry, I didn't want to deal with poison gas."

"I don't blame you," Scarlet assured him, not seeing a problem with him reacting quickly to avoid a nasty trap. "Do we want to finish clearing the dungeon or find a trap breaker?"

Myst glanced at her expensive looking dress, fairly sure there were better options for running around in a dungeon. 'We can grab some work clothes when we hit Diagon Alley.' He checked the chest in his inventory. "No point, it was trapped so the gas in the other room would be unleashed if anyone other than the shaman touched it."

Scarlet stared at Myst. "Wouldn't that kill the shaman?"

"He's a goblin and the rest of the goblins probably know better than to mess with his stuff so he probably doesn't care," Myst replied as he pulled the chest out of his inventory, dropping it on the ground in front of them. He pulled the key out of his inventory and unlocked the chest.

"Anything good?" Scarlet asked excitedly as Myst opened the chest with his staff after stepping to the side.

"Two books and a pair of gloves," he said as he grabbed the first book and opened it.

"New skill acquired: Cure unlocked," a female voice announced.

Myst handed the book to Scarlet. "See if you can use that."

Scarlet grinned when she opened the book and learned a healing spell. "That should make adventuring a lot safer."

"That's the idea," Myst replied as he grabbed the next book and opened it.

"New skill acquired: Conjure Pudding: Tapioca, Wall unlocked." a female voice announced.

"Tapioca?" Myst muttered, not sure why anyone would want tapioca pudding as it didn't taste good and it wasn't flammable or particularly useful.

"What did you get?" Scarlet asked.

"A spell to conjure a tapioca pudding wall," Myst admitted as he stuffed the book in his inventory, wondering if it broke the rules against conjuring food or if it skirted the issue since no one in their right mind would consider tapioca food. 'Then again, maybe conjured food doesn't have calories. If that's the case, I need a spell for conjuring ice cream, then again I could use some extra calories considering the Dursleys.' He stuck the leather gloves in his inventory and looked at the description. "Huh, the gloves double your strength for the purposes of gardening."

Scarlet shook her head. "Those don't sound particularly useful unless you're trying to deal with a siege or your gardener is old."

"They're useful enough and the cure spell was more than worth the run," Myst replied as he stuck the chest back in his inventory. "Can I have the book back?"

"Sure," Scarlet replied as she handed him the book.

"Let's head back to where we grabbed the staff. I want to toss some of the candles into the pit and see if I can spot some goblins. You still need to learn the firebolt spell and I want to see if I can get the poison bubble spell down so I can make bubbles of tapioca pudding."

"That sounds messy," Scarlet replied, fairly sure her mother would freak if she ever used either spell in the castle.

"It would probably be useful for temporarily blinding people," Myst mused as he walked over towards the pit and started pulling out candles. "Feel free to shoot any goblins." He lobbed the candle, aiming for the other side of the pit.

Scarlet brought her staff up and shot the goblin she could see staring at the candle in confusion then blasted him again when her first shot didn't kill him. "We might need to run," she admitted when Myst's next candle illuminated another pack of goblins that quickly grabbed their weapons and charged for the nearest ramp.

"We'll blast what we can then teleport to the other side and repeat the process when they reverse directions and charge into the depths," Myst said as he continued tossing candles, trying to get some idea what they were dealing with.

Scarlet grinned and started blasting the monsters, trusting Myst to have her back when she ran out of magic.