Aeragon fell asleep soon afterwards. Maybe the infant body couldn't handle that much excitement and just plonked off after getting tired. He finally opened his eyes the next morning and found himself lying on the bed swaddled in some clothes while his mother was already dressed in some black and crimson robes, talking to the healer. He whined a bit due to his hunger and his mother obliged while still talking to the healer. He kept an ear out hoping for some more juicy titbits of information about the magical world. He also needed to figure out the time period of his birth. Being born during Voldemort's glory days wasn’t his idea of fun. It would be best if he was born somewhere around Harry's time of birth so that he could be in a familiar time period.
"Have a safe trip, Kaela. Take the Knight bus back to Hogsmeade. It would be safer than any other way. Especially since you are travelling with young Darius. The death eaters are not too active near Hogwarts but you never know."
This single conversation gave Aeragon several clues as to the situation. One good news was that his home was in Hogsmeade. Being the only all-wizarding village in Britain, he was sure to find out lots of magical secrets. On the other hand, active death eaters but the lack of them near Hogwarts meant that it was before the first fall of Voldemort. It was a bad time to be around and he hoped it was not too far from the fall of Voldemort.
Also, he had apparently been named Darius while he slept.
"I will Karen. It was lovely getting to know you and thanks for all your help. I will leave now and send an owl when possible. Bye."
She took me in her left arm, levitated the small trunk tucked away under the bed and walked out of the ward. We went down some flights of stairs before we reached a reception with a number of patients hanging around sporting a variety of ailments from a bloated man floating a few inches of the ground to a draconian looking man with scales and horns. Several healers wearing the customary lime green robes and the crossed wand and bones sign of the hospital were also bustling about with clipboards and strange contraptions and potions.
Walking past that we finally exited the hospital and stood on the pavement in front of a derelict shop named 'Purge & Dowse Ltd' and hanging a condemned sign. His mom set the trunk down for a bit and held out her right hand holding the wand and promptly took a step back before a violently purple triple decker bus sprang into existence narrowly missing the lamppost next to them. The bus stopped as if it had just hit a wall and he could see the people thrown forward and sprawling all over the place through the windows.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
"Welcome to the knight bus, emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard. Just stick out your wand hand, step on board and we can take you anywhere you want to go. My name is Lear Eldridge, and I will be your conductor this fine morning."
We climbed aboard, took a fancy looking comfy chair on wheels and sat down.
"Well, I'll be taking a ticket for Hogsmeade please."
By the time my mother asked for the ticket, the bus had started and was jumping from area to area and narrowly missing several people and structures. The conductor was different but the driver was the same Ernie Prang from the original series.
"That will be a galleon, and would you like any accompaniments, perhaps some hot chocolate."
"No, thank you. That will be all. Please let us know when the stop is about to arrive."
My mother was keeping her sentences short and looked rather queasy. Guess the rattling around and the continuous motion was getting to her. We had three more stops with a variety of witches and wizards getting on and off before finally stopping on the snow-covered streets of Hogsmeade.
They got off and made their way to the shop named J. Pippin's Potions. Aeragon was unfamiliar with the name, it being never mentioned in the books but liked the look of it anyways. The shop was a normal looking one with a wooden façade and archaic furniture inside. There were long racks of labelled boxes of medicine and stoppered bottles of potions in a variety of hues. There was a staircase at the back of the shop that lead up to the second floor and the attic.
They went up to the second floor and it was everything he could imagine of a wizarding home. There were quills and parchment rolls on the worktables, a roaring fireplace with a cauldron hanging over it, books with all sorts of outlandish names on various magical subjects. He did notice that a majority of them were on the subject of various ingredients and potions and also noticed a few cauldrons kept in an inner room. Seems that he won't have to suffer under Snape if he could get a good head start here.
Another major goal of his was to pull the wizarding world into the next century. While magic was a useful answer for almost any need the wizards had, it couldn't substitute for plain creativity and innovation and they had a lot to learn from muggles on that front. Their communication systems, means of entertainment and general lifestyle was too medieval for his liking after having lived in the 21st century.
Look at him, two days in the wizarding and he was already plotting out his future and assumed he was going to Hogwarts. He was going to fit right into this world. The next few years would be fun. He would try to ferret out all the behind the scenes secrets of the wizarding world which weren't mentioned in the books and movies. He had a lot to look forward to.