Man of Archives

Chapter 21

Tamara desired carnal pleasures, but I did not. For some reason, after rummaging through her mind and working on her personality, my desire for sex vanished entirely. Not just the desire, but the interest and arousal as well.

"Somnius," I cast a sleep spell on her.

Her body slowly relaxed and fell onto the bed. Let her sleep, and we'll figure out what to do later. I don't know, maybe someone else would've taken the girl to bed in this situation. But right now, I had absolutely no desire to do so.

For the following days, until the departure to Hogwarts, I focused on my own studies, as well as tutoring Justin. The boy was really making progress, quickly grasping the basic concepts of the magical world. To him, the magical world was something incredibly fascinating, straight out of a fairy tale.

I didn't get a chance to meet with Maggie, even though she invited me on behalf of her daughter.

On the last day of working with Justin, I received a check for seventy thousand pounds and immediately deposited it in the bank. Let it sit there until the time comes when I need to use that money.

On the 31st of August, I was already seated in the Hogwarts Express, waiting for it to depart. Looking out the window, I immediately noticed several familiar faces, as well as some others that drew attention due to their hair color. The Weasley family was all there, along with a dark-haired boy with large glasses. The boy looked somewhat downtrodden.

There was a knock at the door.

"Come in," I said calmly.

The door opened, and a blonde face with slicked-back hair appeared in the corridor. With him were two stocky boys with dumb expressions on their faces.

"Excuse me," said the blonde and quickly shut the door, though it didn't stay closed for long.

Isolda and Dorsani entered, and shortly after, Nymphadora joined them. The girls shrunk their bags and took their seats in the compartment. After a while, the train started moving, gradually picking up speed. London still flickered by outside the window for a bit, until the private homes were replaced by forested areas and green hills.

"Last year," sighed Isolda. "Yeah."

"That's why I decided to take the train to Hogwarts instead of Apparating straight to the door," I said calmly.

"By the way, have you heard that Harry Potter is starting this year?" Nymphadora asked.

"Yeah, I know," Isolda nodded. "Rumor has it he was seen recently in Diagon Alley, shopping for school supplies, accompanied by Rubeus Hagrid."

"The Keeper?" Nymphadora asked with slight surprise. "That's odd."

"I think so too," Isolda exhaled and shrugged. "I thought Professor McGonagall would be handling something like that."

I only knew about this boy from books. Harry Potter was a hero in Magical Britain because the last Dark Lord, a terrorist with blatantly racist views, died because of him, with the support of other wizards, magical creatures like vampires, werewolves, and many others. This boy is also called The Boy Who Lived, as it's said he survived the Killing Curse. If that's true, then any belief that there's no defense against that spell would be shattered.

"That's what everyone thought," sighed Isolda. "But no, he was accompanied by the half-giant. And by the way, we're getting a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."

"A new one?" Nymphadora asked, slightly surprised. "What happened to the old professor?"

"He retired," said Marigold.