Nick Kane

Chapter 37: Interlude

Ikkaku Madarame

He guided the men carrying Alex to the 4th’s barracks. He usually wouldn’t bother, but since the Captain had removed his eyepatch during the battle, a high enough seated officer would be needed to explain things when they reached there.

And wasn’t that a surprise? Ever since his sudden appearance, Alex’s spiritual pressure was unusually high for an outsider, just around lieutenant level. But from the way he dealt with Yum...

Gateway 36

We instantly launched at each other, clashing in the middle of the training ground with a small shockwave, the bells in his hair ringing as if in joy.

Zaraki’s violent one-handed swing was strong. More on par with Doni than I’d like to admit. So much so that I was caught by surprise and almost let him overpower me in the first moments of the struggle.

But I held on, and after a few more moments of both of us trying to push the other’s sword back, Zaraki glanced...

Gateway 35

I stood in the middle of the training ground, the shining sun and clear blue sky making for a pleasant morning as I waited for the minor scuffle between the three men who were apparently competing for the 20th seat position to finish deciding who would fight me, noticing Zaraki had laid down sideways on the ground to watch the fight, with the little girl sitting on his side as she ate some candy.

According to Ikkaku, ‘The Gauntlet’ was a tradition of the 11th that happened whenever ...

Gateway 34

The man’s smile dimmed, and his gaze on me became more focused upon hearing me while the others around us started whispering to each other.

His face contorted into a confused frown, and with a scream of “SHUT UP!” he silenced the room.

His confusion was quickly replaced by something serious and dangerous, and I suddenly felt a strong pressure coming from him.

“Where did you come from?” He asked while slowly getting up, his hand hold...

Gateway 33

Preparing everything for me to leave the next day didn't take long. I left Luna at Hogwarts after breakfast and made sure everything that I needed was inside my pocket. After that, I tried to see if there was a difference between opening the Door from my world and Luna’s and found out that opening it from Luna’s would increase the cooldown to almost two years.

I wondered why that was, considering both worlds shared a ‘permanent’ connection, but I figured that I’d need to trave...

Gateway 32

After much teasing from everyone, I let them finish their dinner while I showered.

I still felt Luna’s heartbeat through the locket, so I let my worries wash away with the water.

As I did so, I checked to see how much time, if any, was taken out of my cooldown to Luna’s world and I almost slipped when I saw the answer.

Ten seconds. That’s all that I needed to go there again, thirty minutes if I didn’t use the incantation, and two hours if I didn’t use a physical do...

Gateway 31

The next day I went to Severus’ office after lunch.

I had spent the entire morning with Luna. First to check in on her and see if her locket had changed like mine (it did, hers was also rose gold now, but with a detailed A in its front), and after that to see if there was anything else that changed about it (no such luck, although we had fun testing it).

But I was getting antsy. I had already finished the Hogwarts curriculum that dealt with active magic, and the thought that the...

Gateway 30

We spent most of the next day hanging out and having fun, it was only after dinner that I went back to Xeno’s place to prepare for the break-in.

I found Xeno reading a book about my world’s magic in the living room.

“Enjoying the gift?” I asked, sitting down on the couch.

“Immensely,” he said, marking the page and closing the book. “But the rest of your gifts… They were a bit much.”

“How so?” I questioned. “I know you like the weird and unusual ...

Gateway 29

After breakfast, we met with a procession of hungover Gryffindors outside of the Great Hall. I got a few high-fives from the least affected, but most of them looked at me with either jealousy or anger.

“They don’t seem happy to see you,” Luna said while still pressed to my side as we walked.

“Considering what the twins said, it’s probably because I skipped whatever lecture they had to endure,” I shrugged. “So, what do you want to do today?”

“Oh! How about a...

Gateway 28

I opened my eyes as we slowly separated, our foreheads touching as I let my hands fall from her face to her waist.

Her arms curved around my neck, and her radiant smile and glimmering silver eyes stood out in the low light the faeries surrounding us produced.

I felt like my own smile would split my face in two, and as her eyes lowered to my lips, I couldn’t help but lower mine to hers.

We looked back up simultaneously, intent clear in both of our gazes. We pulled each othe...

Gateway 27: Valentine's Day Special

A/N: I fucking did it!

___

The village the tavern was located in was quiet, probably due to Christmas dinner. Something I still found somewhat weird having Christmas dinner on Christmas instead of Christmas Eve.

As we rounded a corner, I finally saw it, the place every British wizard or witch I’ve met sees as a second home: Hogwarts.

It was… magical. No other word could do it justice; the way the castle seemed to almost glow in the mo...

Gateway 26

“It all started when I was a child,” Xeno started, leaning back in his seat after we relocated to the living room part of the office. “Differently from most magical children, I didn’t take magic for granted, I always wanted to know more about it.”

He frowned before taking a sip of his tea, “My father encouraged me at first, he even pushed Lucius to do so too!” He snorted, “But he quickly realized that I had no interest in the Dark Arts and that he couldn’t take advanta...

Gateway 25: Interlude

So, I got pretty sick these last few days, I managed to start the next chapter but my head is too foggy to write all of the important bits right, so to avoid leaving y’all hanging, I decided to write the interlude early instead.

___

Luna

The first month of classes was normal-ish. Beyond the training with Professor Snape and her rekindled friendship with Ginny, her month with Alex put her ahead of her class in every subject...

Gateway 24

Doni left the next day, saying that it’d be pointless to keep sparring with me until I at least mastered the Runes I’d been using with my Authority active and that I’d already learned what he could teach at this point.

I took it to heart, spending only a few more days enjoying the beach before returning home to train.

So, for the following weeks, I trained and learned to the best of my abilities. The Runes with and without my Authority active, the limits of my Doors with...

Gateway 23

“So, how do I start on the sword?” I asked Doni the next morning during breakfast.

“First we’ll have to find the type of sword that suits you best,” he said, taking a sip of his coffee. “Then, we’ll need to start looking for a way to get one on our level.”

“Fuck, I’d forgotten about that,” I groaned.

Considering how I was still looking for more parts for my wand I really shouldn’t have, especially with how useless my temporary wand is against thos...

Gateway 22

I held back a sigh at Doni’s presence. I’d been warned of his interest on the second day of my vacation, but I imagined once he found out I wasn’t in São Paulo he’d get bored and leave as he’d been known to do, not track me down 2500km away.

“So, how did you find me?” I asked, giving him a cursory glance before taking a drink of my pina colada.

“I just asked Andrea,” he said, waving in the direction of a man wearing a black suit and glasses sitting down at the b...

Gateway 21

Odin’s Authority over Runes was exactly what I needed.

Even without activating it, the passive knowledge it gave me pushed my studies to new heights, and the biggest improvement was my wanded magic.

The basis for wand movements was a mix of Ancient Runes and Arithmancy, I didn’t really understand how or why it worked the way it did until I looked at it with my new Authority.

It was fascinating. It looked like they took what were completely mortal and non-magical runi...

Gateway 20

I completely forgot to say it in the last chapter, but Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all of you!

___

I woke up with a start. Memories of strident screaming, a flash of violet, and green eyes quickly put on the back of my mind in favor of noticing my surroundings.

I was alone in the back of an ambulance, and a quick self-check showed that I was in perfect condition, although my clothes were pretty much ruined. Hopefully, the Mending...

Gateway 19

Pain.

That was all that existed for me, and that was all my existence revolved around: sheer, neverending pain.

Time became meaningless and my body became immaterial before it.

I was stuck in a limbo where only it remained, and it was agony.

But slowly, so very slowly, I started to feel something other than it.

Cold, all around me.

Soreness, I couldn’t place where, although I wouldn't doubt if it was  2024-12-26 18:56:41 +0000 UTC View Post

Gateway 18

Thanks to the storm expanding, I was still a few minutes away by car, so I tried running the rest of the way there.

It didn’t work.

Just as quickly as I started I passed some threshold where the thunderstorm turned into a snowstorm. I could still hear the rain behind me, but up front, all I could see was a sea of white.

The snow had a much higher amount of divine power in it, working much better than the rain at holding me back from going at my full speed, especially c...

Gateway 17

The days after my visit to Carlos revolved around finding a new normal, I didn’t have a garden to tend to or school to go to in the mornings nor did I have just a few magical subjects to study and train in the afternoon.

More importantly, I didn’t have Luna and Xeno to goof around with throughout the day.

My parents were great, but they’re not the kind of people who would do that. Our family’s vibe was completely different and that was great, but I was missing the dyna...

Gateway 16

The feeling of waking up in my own bed after an extended period away from it was, honestly, pretty great.

Being greeted by a warm cup of coffee made by my mother after that? Almost magical.

Then sitting down with my father to smoke a cigarette and watch the news? Perfection.

As I fished a cigarette from my father’s pack and lit it with his lighter, I finally felt like I was home.

Of course, I forgot one crucial detail.

“What the fuck are...

Gateway 15

After my parents had calmed down, I quickly used my mother’s phone to give Carlos a call to tell him I was back and for him to send someone to pick up the materials Severus had given me.

I had just hung up on him when his people arrived. They were apparently close by as security for my parents, which I was grateful for, but now that I was back they could dial that down a notch or two.

I gave them a basic explanation of what they’d be transporting, warning the...

Gateway 14

The return to The Rook was weird.

Instead of the gloomy mood I expected would come with Luna’s leaving, Xeno was almost hyperactive when we reached it, running straight to his office to write letters with a frenetic energy that I’d never seen in him before.

I knew he could be overly excitable when it came to his paper, sometimes even obsessive depending on the subject, but this was just too much.

I waited for him to finish his letter bef...

Gateway 13

Apparition was incredibly interesting.

It didn’t conform to any of the magical theories I’d been exposed to previously. Xeno freely admitted that barring ‘Unspeakables’, almost everyone who used it had no idea how it worked. By the melancholic look he had when he said it, I figured his wife was involved with that particular discovery, he only really looked like that when something related to her came up.

This raised some flags in my mind, as the books on ...

Gateway 12

The next day, before Luna’s combat training began, Severus and Xeno did what they call a ‘light’ demonstration for us to see how magicals fight.

It was…  pretty damn impressive, all things considered.

We were on a field some distance away from The Rook, the Lovegood home, and after casting some spells in the area to avoid notice, the men faced each other.

Both kept a steady rate of spells going toward the other, with minimal movements to...

Gateway 11

The first part of the day was the usual from the time I’ve been here: wake up, have breakfast, tend the garden, and practice magic.

Apart from Conjuration, Luna and I are mostly focused on 3rd-year spells, with the general counter-spell, banishing charm, and freezing spell being the standouts for that year.

One of the things that grabbed my attention was the knowledge of animagi, the ability to turn into an animal, but I left reading into it for later when I no...

Gateway 10

We spent our time practicing the spells we learned in the World Cup. It was a good distraction, as learning something new often was, especially since we started with the easiest ones so Luna had a constant stream of accomplishments by the time the Weasleys arrived an hour or so after lunch.

They didn’t come in a big group, though. It was just Mr. Weasley, Bill, and the girl with the weird name that I couldn’t remember.

“Arthur! Willian! And even little Gine...

Gateway 9

I want to preface this chapter by thanking every one of you who subscribed, y'all are awesome!

___

I kicked off to the closest source of chaos I could find and arrived almost instantly, although I may have to avoid going this fast in the future if possible, considering the crater I created and the fact everyone surrounding it fell down when I arrived, I might hurt someone by accident if I don’t.

When I started to look around, I barely paid attention...

Gateway 8

I didn’t stay there too long, I still wanted to fetch Luna so we could explore together and by the time I left, she should already have been awake for a few minutes.

When I reached the tent I came upon a familiar sight: Xeno and Luna sitting on a table, animately discussing with a mess of parchment in between them.

I rolled my eyes and loudly clapped my hands.

“All right you two! We came here to see and experience different cultures while having ...