Chapter 36 - 36. Newspaper
Magnus was taught some potions by Snape and Ragnar last night. The next morning, he woke up happy. He looked at Chad, who was soundly sleeping on the leg side of his bed. He wanted to get comfy on his body but he was so fat that Magnus felt like suffocating.
He got up and got dressed quickly. He glanced at the portrait of Arthur. In it, he saw him and Merlin playing chess together.
"Where did you find it?" He asked.
"Heh, Arthur took it from some painting. We'll return it later. Good luck with your flying lessons. Us two were born flyers, so you better not shame us." Merlin spoke without looking at him.
Magnus shrugged at them and went out of his room. His two roommates had already left. He went straight to the Grand Hall for breakfast. That was also when the newspapers arrived and he had subscribed to one. Well, there weren't many newspapers in the British magical world that covered all the news. Choices were very limited.
A random owl came and threw the package down onto his empty plate. Magnus quickly took out a piece of meat from the other plate and threw it masterfully in front of the owl.
"HERE YOU GO, BOY," Magnus said smilingly. The owl happily ate it and flew away, making sure to remember this human's face as he was a good human.
Everyone just stupidly looked at him do it, while Magnus heeded no mind to them and unfolded the newspaper.
"Okay, let's see what's happening around us. 1st page is supposed to be very important. Hmm... fire in a chocolate factory, the owner, Charlie, got arrested by Aurors. Charged with enslaving dwarf squibs and torturing them to sing songs."
"What kind of news is this? Okay, let's try the next one. Ah, something serious. Wait... this isn't serious. A broomstick accident, two people collided in mid-air. One survived by apparating and the other died." Magnus was shocked.
Ragnar was also shocked. "How did they collide in the vast sky."
"That's not the point. What kind of newspaper is this? This isn't news. These are gossips." Magnus muttered,
"LOOK, your photo," Snape exclaimed as he was facing the back end of the newspaper, which could also be considered the front page.
"God, when did they take my picture? Hmm, Return of Merlin, after nearly a thousand years, the bloodline of the great Prince of Enchanters has returned to the magical community. Not only that, but he has also inherited the muggle king, Arthur Pendragon, who helped Merlin in defeating Morgan Le Fey. We wish Mr Pendragon great success in his life going forward." The article said.
Magnus sighed and turned the pages. He read every news item. But then he found the most important news in parts most ignored by readers. In small columns in the lower middle-centre of the inner pages.
~Muggles and Half-blood wizards attacked and killed. Suspicion is directed towards Death Eaters. Is this the return of some Dark Lord?~
~Ministry of Magic under strain, the death of wizards are unacceptable.~'
~Last Night's deaths. Dark Mark cast in the night sky.~
All these headlines were hidden so dutifully that if one was not reading the paper attentively, they would have missed it.
~Hmm, so there is someone who wants to kill all Muggles and half-blood wizards? I guess I need to get serious in my training. Otherwise, by the time I complete school, it'll be too late.~ He decided.
"What is it?" Ragnar asked.
"No, nothing. Let's eat and go to our first class. Charms are going to be fun, don't worry, Ragnar. I will help.
"Eh, I'm feeling dizzy," Ragnar complained.
It was the Charms class first thing in the morning. They were supposed to sit together with the 1st years of Ravenclaw. In the Charms class, they as expected were to practice levitation spell.
"I heard about your marvellous explanation behind the creation of levitation spell in yesterday's history class." Flitwick gave Magnus a compliment the first thing in the morning.
So, the first charm of the class was the levitation charm. Magnus was able to fly the feather around so fast that it created a mini-tornado, which was also making all the other feathers in the room fly.
Flitwick clapped crazily, "AHA... just what I would expect from an up and coming prince of enchanters."
Magnus did it very easily and got 5 points for Slytherin. Professor Flitwick was very excited to see him and excel. He was nonstop pouring praises on him. Ravenclaw students could only look at him in envy.
"Of course, this was expected off of you. Merlin was after all the best in Charms" Flitwick said the same thing for the third time.
Till now, all professors he had met were saying this same thing. Compare him to the old Merlin on every corner. It made him a little nervous. Everyone had such high expectations off of him.
~I guess to come out of this, I need to surpass that old man too. Hmmm...~ He fell into deep contemplation.
After his own task was done, he helped Ragnar at least make the feather fly a little to pass the class. Snape didn't need any help as even in subjects he was bad at, he was above average.
Next came the class Magnus had been anticipating. The class of flying along with Hufflepuff students. It was taught by Madam Rolanda Hooch, the Hogwarts Flying Instructor and Quidditch referee.
They came out to the open fields which were the training grounds for the Quidditch teams. There, they gathered in two lines with their brooms in their hands. These were pretty standard brooms.
Then like a hawk, Madam Hooch came with a whistle and spoke quickly, "Well, what are you doing? Those broomsticks aren't gonna fly themselves out of boredom. Now, Stick out your right hand over your broom, and say 'Up!" She instructed everyone.
Magnus, with a big smile on his face, put his hand forward and put it over the broom. He passionately wanted to fly on it, it was a dream of most humans, to fly in the air. Flying in aeroplanes doesn't count because you can not feel the wind on your face.
*WOOSH*
Without even speaking, the broomstick came to his hand, as if a child returning to its father.
"Stunningly done, Mr Pendragon. Ah, you have done it too, Ms. Vanity. Good job, 5 points to Slytherin for being so good at this." She praised them.
Magnus looked to see who it was, it was a girl with long black hair, but her eyes were the most striking features. As they appeared so differently. Her irises were sparkling light blue in colour while the pupil being dark black.
She smugly looked at him and showed her tongue to tease him. Magnus chuckled and ignored her. He was not doing this for a competition, he really wanted to fly.
Madam Hooch showed everyone how to mount the broomstick and how to hold it so as to not fall from it. Magnus felt so at ease once he was on it.
"Okay, now we will practice basic liftoff and Landing. Kick off the ground hard and try to rise a little. Then try to maintain that height. Then slowly proceed to come down to the ground. Ready?" She instructed them.
All students were able to do it. Ragnar had prior experience and Snape was average. But Magnus, well, he was not a normal kid. He as told, pushed the ground hard, a little too hard actually.
He ended up being thrown at least 50 feet in the air. Magnus' heartbeat got faster as he felt a tingling sensation in his stomach. It was amazing, he loved the view from this thing. For as far as he could see, beyond the Hogwarts, there was just jungle.
"YES... THIS IS LIFE... THIS IS WHY I CAME HERE..." He shouted so loud that people could hear him on the ground too.
"FREEDOM..." Magnus shouted and suddenly moved forward on the broomstick by pressing it forward. It was very easy for him to get a hang of it and he felt he was a natural too. He manoeuvred like a champ, making rolls, making drift turns and faints. Sudden sharp turns. He could do it all.
Madam Hooch smiled from the ground.
"NOT FAIR, I wanna go up there too." "The same girl from before, Vanity, complained.
"His case is different, Ms vanity." Madam Hooch argued.
"What? He's the second coming of Merlin? That's not fair, I wanna fly too. If he's the second coming of Merlin, then I am the second coming of whoever invented the broomsticks." She defiantly said and kicked off the ground. She also expertly flew up to the sky to intercept Magnus.
"I'll teach you who's the boss." She muttered to herself with a smirk.
[You can see the time-table of Magnus on my Discord - https://discord.gg/DgHkrAn OR see them on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/mister_immortal_novel]
______________________________
You can read 20 advance chapters or my Naruto fic on -patreon.com/misterimmortal.
Special thanks to *Douglas Flower* *Umar Latif* *Julian Rocamora* *Darrien Steely*
Thank you for your support!