Eccentric Wizard Chapter 10: Preparations (Patreon)

Beta read.

News: I won't be updating my Snafu fic this week as I'm taking a small break and taking some time to write the chapter which will be big so I wouldn't have been able to rush it this week. A special someone will be making their debut, and y'all won't guess who it will be! And yes, it's a dxd character, a popular one.

More edits and content will be added later on.

Edit 1: Beta read and added more parts.
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-Draco PoV-

His brother was odd.

No, weird would be the best description.

For as long as Malfoy remembered, Jarius was born to be his opposite. With a personality that tilted towards the extreme more often than not, something which differed heavily from himself.

Father and mother treated his brother with a lot more leeway compared to him—like if they didn't know how to handle him in the first place. Jarius was born with more talent in magic, and with far more control over it. Draco still recalled the days when cups would break daily and how his brother splash their parent's faces with tea. Even now he felt mortified over thinking of doing anything remotely similar against his father and mother, but Jarius didn't seem to care—nor did he fear them.

In a way, the boy was jealous of his brother… At one point, he even resented him.

He had had showed that dissatisfaction to his twin a lot of time. Not bothering to hide anything from the beginning.

Jarius didn't care though.

He'd stick to him like glue, rarely leaving his side and always indulging with "fun" games and reading him books about magic, wizards and other tales during bedtime. Whenever he screamed, insulted or even treated his brother badly, the latter never seemed to care. This made Draco feel even worse, he felt horrible and disgusted. Jarius never once looked down upon him for his weaker talent in magic, always praising the young boy and treating him like a little brother—even though Draco was born first.

He also has a keen interest in the Muggle world's creations. Especially those weirdly drawn characters Jarius called anime.

"Draco! Come watch with me the latest episode of Hokuto no Ken! You're gonna love it!"

Much to his chagrin, on more than one occasion, was Draco forced to watch an entire season of a particular anime that Jarius somehow got his hands on. Even father was beginning to suspect some of the house elves to be in cahoots with him, leading the former to conduct a week-long inspection which he came empty-handed. Even mother was getting headaches with dealing about this whole fiasco.

"Hey look, I stole our father's wand! Let's play with it a bit."

That incident nearly made father lose his temper beyond reason, when he found Jarius picking his nose with our ancestral want. It was the first time Draco had seen his father run while shooting curses at his brother. It took the combined strength of mother and all of the house servants to calm him down… only to have his wand snatched once more and for the chaos to begin anew. Mother laughed about this event till this day while father looked just about done with life. Those were one of the few times where his fear towards the man would be forgotten, turned into a child just laughing at his father and brother's antics.

Draco once again marveled at how fearless and stupid Jarius could be at times.

Unfortunately, his shenanigans didn't just stop with torturing father at a daily basis.

"Hey, what do you think if we secretly opened a howler in the middle of Diagon Alley while it shouts Voldemort non stop?"

"Don't you dare!"

It was at that point had Draco decided to just stop his brother from further endangering their lives any longer. Granted, he barely cared about the lesser wizards and half-bloods out there, but this was too much. These howlers could be traced back to them and might even get the ministry involved; which meant their father would come after HIM as well!

But aside from his strange behavior, Jarius was oddly overprotective of him. From unhesitatingly threatening his father and mother if they tried scolding him or being hit by a cane. Even the other kids they met when young, he would get physically violent with those he'd deemed unworthy; like that time Crabbe and Goyle visited their estate.

"Get the fuck away from my brother you soon-to-be leaches!"

He punched one of them in the face while kicking the second one in between his legs. Again, even after a stern scolding from their father and a very close promise to curse the boy, Jarius didn't back down and just said that he didn't want scum near his brother.

Maybe it was then that his father finally decided to quickly throw both of them in Hogwarts as soon as possible and have Dumbledore deal with the 'gremlin' as he called Jarius. At one point, he even tried enrolling them a year early but was stopped by mother who didn't want them to leave so soon.

Draco respected his brother, but he also barely knew him at times.

There were moments where Jarius' cheerful attitude would vanish and be replaced by a blank face, becoming unaturally silent whenever he gazed at the sky. During those moments would emerge a calm yet unnatural attitude which chilled his bones. Not because it felt evil, but rather die to how odd and wrong it felt at times. He hated this version of his brother, and feared it as much as he feared his father at times. It made him wonder at times, which one was the real Jarius?

Another thing which he despised currently was Granger hanging around a lot with Jarius. A mudblood like her really should know her place and not meddle with their affairs. He wouldn't try anything, Jarius knew him far too well to try and hide any schemes behind his back and what happened to Pansy was another deterrent as well.

He wouldn't become friends with her, Draco decided to tolerate the girl's presence for now… though if she tried to take advantage of Jarius' trusting nature—then he'll teach her a lesson for sure.

These kinds of people were not worthy.

Aside from all of that, he did enjoy his time in Hogwarts. Especially when they stole Longbottom's Remembrall, the fury on Potter's face was hilarious, to say the least. One might think that Potter and his brother were similar with their inclination with the Muggle side, but they couldn't be any more wrong. In Draco's eyes, his brother was far superior than 'The boy who lived.'

One side acted like a Muggle and barely paid any reapect to his lineage, or else he would have gone to Slytherin. The other side knew who he was, a true wizard with a prominent future in the Wizarding World. His fascination came more for the entertainment the muggles provides and nothing else.

At least, that was what he hoped it to be.

"Hey Draco, I forgot to bring my underwear! Can you throw me one inside the bathroom?"

At that shout, the oldest of the Malfoy twins couldn't help but glance at his brother's clothes, which mostly consisted of anime themed underwear.

Yeah… superior to Potter…

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Sigh

"Alright, I'm coming. Just don't start walking around naked in our dorm room."

{Break}

-Potion Class-

-Jarius PoV-

"I expect all of you to remember the exact components to brew a Forgetfulness potion. An undemanding potion with simple ingredients that even the most dull of minds can grasp. So, do not. Disappoint. Me."

The chilling voice of Snape made everyone sweat from fear and stress, neither willing to miss a single one of his words.

Not to mention, that this class necessitated a high amount of memorizing and general understanding. One needed to perform at their best to have the slightest chance of passing their end of year exam.

"Every one of you leave, class dismissed." In his words, everyone left class.

There were no incidents today, fortunately. Mostly because Snape didn't have us prepare any potions and we spent all hour taking notes and answering questions. It was a simple day, with no students getting their faces melted off by a freak accident. As everyone left class, I remained behind, having some few things to discuss with the teacher. I was making up my plans for getting that stone and I needed to make loads of preparations in advance.

"Professor Snape, may I speak with you for a few moments of your time?"

The hardest part of the conversation would be to not lie and not reveal my intentions at the same time. Johnathan—my wand—had the requirement to be true and honest with myself and others. The worst thing I could possibly do was start a single lie and grow into something horrendous that will lead me to my downfall in the future. It wasn't like I couldn't ever lie, but I just couldn't revolve my life around a lie too much. Some may argue that I could just change my wand and get another one, but I rather liked my current one and became quite attached to it. It also benefited me to not turn into someone I may regret becoming in the future.

Snape gave a disinterested look, my past actions of speaking in favor of Harry didn't go well with him, I think. "What do you want, Malfoy? I have a rather tight schedule and do not wish to waste any unnecessary time on trivial things."

Ouch, way to say that you didn't want to talk to me.

"I wish to brew a certain potion and require your aid."

That caught his interest.

No matter what grudge he may hold against anyone else, the man still was an enthusiast in the art of potion making.

"What would this potion be? A solution to prank and bully one of your classmates? A useless need to attract the attention of someone you desire? It better not be something stupid."

"Hahaha, unfortunately, it's none of that." We were supposed to be eleven, I didn't think anyone would be interested in a love making potion, until a few years later when they hit puberty. "I want your help to brew several batches of Draught of Peace potions for personal use."

Snape didn't react to my choice of potion, the man stood silently for a few seconds before addressing me, "An interesting choice. Why do you require such a brew?"

The Draught of Peace held the effect of relieving anxiety and stress. I needed it for my future endeavors and to experience its effect as an experiment. I knew what challenges awaited me in the future this year. Trying to put to sleep a bootleg Cerberus, testing out the forbidden forest, trying to speak calmly in front of Quirrell or possibly face him in a deadly duel. All of these challenges needed for me to have nerves of steel since I'll be most likely facing them on my own.

Contrary to some people's beliefs, I wasn't fearless. I was a normal human in my past who died and spent years speaking with murderers in the void. At no point did I make myself believe to become like the main protagonist to fearlessly face the most dangerous of creatures and wizards without having my hand shake and my knees turn to jelly. Lucius did not count as I genuinely saw him as my father and not an enemy.

I couldn't take a stupid risk and go against all of these obstacles with the mentality of 'I'm not afraid.' because it wouldn't work in most situations and I could indeed become afraid in certain cases. I was human just like anyone else. Mistakes could happen, but unfortunately, when it involved the world of Harry Potter, these mistakes easily led to death.

"I need the potion to keep myself under control and not freak out during crucial stages during the potion making process and for my other classes, Professor."

That wasn't a lie, some of Snape's potion making sessions required absolute focus and attention for a long period of time. I want to experiment if being under the effect of the draught would help me improve tremendously or not. As far as I knew, the only side effects of such a potion were minor and temporary, even at a large dosage.

"You certainly look and behave as someone who has nothing to fear." he remarked.

"I do, but that does not mean that I'm incapable of it. I'm not putting up an act, I genuinely feel joy and happiness interacting with some of my classmates and learning all about magic. But I can feel my anxiety rising with some of the things I'll need to do this year, so I did some research and found this option to be the best solution."

Snape looked at me for a while longer.

"And why should I help you? Miss Granger has shown remarkable knowledge and experience with potion making, including yourself. Why don't you two get together and make the potion yourselves? You would certainly be doing me a favour by not wasting my precious time too much."

He really was a frank person.

"Because you are the teacher. True, it's easy to follow some simple steps in a book, but we barely learn anything about the potions and their side effects unless taught by someone specialized in such a field."

"You're after something else." he stated, not showing the slightest hesitation as he said those words.

"Am I that obvious?"

"No, you're just not attempting to hide it."

True, coming up with another convoluted story would only cause me more problems in the future if he were to find out. Might as well just tell him from the get go, but of course, without the details.

"Hahaha, you really are amazing, Professor Snape. But I did not lie about its use, I really need it to keep my cool. You are an amazing teacher and probably the only one in this castle with the talent and knowledge in such a domain of study."

I hope I stroked his ego enough times to accept my request.

"Fine," he said while sighing. "Come back an hour before dinner time to my office. I'll give you a simple explanation and demonstration. If you can't learn anything from it, then I don't care and you won't disturb me again. Also, if I find out that you've used these potions for ridiculous activities which break the school rules, then I'll have you reported to the headmaster and even expelled."

Yeah, like if Lucius would ever let you do that and that was merely a threat and not a promise... Then again, I couldn't be so arrogant to think that he couldn't do it. Lucius had a lot of influence, but he wasn't above certain people—like Dumbledore. Whether that old man would let Snape expell me or not was not a risk I was willing to take.

Better play safe than being sorry.

"Got it!" With a smile on my face, I left the classroom to join the others.

{Break}

-Slytherin Quidditch Club-

After talking to Snape, I still had some matters to attend to before retreating to my dorm for the day.

I had to visit some of the older students, including a fifth year student by the name of Marcus Flint. If I had to physically describe him then he would be tall and relatively muscular. Gemma also mentioned that he looked like he might have had troll blood in him. However, this may simply have been an insult toward Flint's appearance. Those buck teeths really didn't do him any favor and living in a world of magic; I wondered why he didn't fix them.

"You want to join the team?"

"For the third time, yes."

I came to him because Marcus played as a Chaser on the Slytherin Quidditch team and was the Captain.

"Now why would we bring a little turd who barely learned magic in our team? That's basically asking to become a laughing stock from the other houses."

A valid point, but I came prepared.

"Because Harry Potter will be Gryffindor's seeker this year and trust me, if you lose against him then that's going to be a bigger humiliation. So why not have me? I can keep him busy and if I'm lucky enough, might even catch the snitch."

It wasn't like my chances were zero, I practiced playing the game and riding a broom for a longer time than Harry. Not like that would guarantee me catching the darn thing, but it certainly increased my chances by a lot.

"Pft-hahahahahaha!" Marcus burst into a fit of laughter at the mention of me catching a snitch. Like if I mentioned one of the biggest jokes of the year.

His face was a bigger joke in my opinion.

"You? Catching a snitch? Get real, Malfoy. I don't care who you are and who your daddy dearest is, but if you're here to waste my time then don't bother. Word is also passing around about you hanging around a mudblood, Hermione something, if I remember correctly. You're just ruining our house's reputation."

I wasn't surprised by that retort, thought that didn't stop me from sighing on the inside.

"Is me hanging around with a friend who just happens to be Muggle born, that important to you?" I asked, only to have Marcus snort and turn around.

"You know our answer, those people are beneath us."

One of the other members answered that question.

"Ignoring Hermione and her lack of heritage, I'm also quite capable with a broom. Draco and I would constantly travel outside the Muggle world without issue and not even get caught by anyone. Surely that counts for something and will make you reconsider." I said while looking hopefully at Marcus.

"Fuck off," he snarled, while going back to maintaining his broom. "Go play nice with the other kids and don't talk about nonsense with us."

Well, that was sad, my first attempt at talking him in on letting me join didn't workout as well as I thought. And on top of that, I even got insulted with my affiliation with Hermione, how sad these people were. Changing their mentality would indeed be a major challenge.

Though I know one characteristic of Marcus Flint, one that I specifically remember from the second movie. One of the few memories that remained intact.

"Well that's unfortunate," I acted disappointed and picked up my stuff while slowly walking to the door. "I asked my father to send a small gift of a few dozen Nimbus 2000 for my team. But guess I'll wait for next year."

In 3, 2, 1…

"Wait!"

Gotcha!

I turned around acting all innocent when I saw the entire team of the quidditch team gather around and look at me with disbelieving eyes. "D-did you say, N-Nimbus 2000? For all of us!?" Asked one of the keeps of the team, Miles Bletchley.

"Well yes, those things are quite cheap, so buying out a few stocks won't cost much."

I saw the eyes of everyone bulge out in surprise at my clear dismissal of buying a few high quality flying brooms like it was nothing. Because it really was nothing for me, Lucius wouldn't even bat an eye if I asked him double the amount. Even with the minuscule chance of him declining, I could just challenge his ego or just threaten the man to come back home because I missed my mother.

"Anyways, since I can't join your team then I guess I'll just come back next year. See y'all ne—"

"—Woah, Woah! Where are you going, Malfoy!" Marcus stopped me in my tracks and dragged me back to the main room. "Listen, I was told hastily before and didn't pay attention to your words, so forgive me for that." Yeah, not even Luna would believe those words, and she was quite a gullible gal, according to some of the students.

"So, can I become a seeker?"

"Seeker? Of course! Seeker, Keeper, Beater, anything you want! Since you're a first year, it is our duty as your seniors to help you find your ideal position. So take your time and pick any position you'd like or keep the seeker one." Wow, he was also quite shameless this guy—I approved.

"Alright, alright, just drop the acting, bud. Since you let me join the team, I'll keep the end of my promise and have these brooms delivered here before our next match." I gave him a slight glare and channeled my inner Draco Malfoy. "But if you go behind my back and remove me from the team after getting the brooms… I'll have my father know of this matter. And trust me, it's not you, but your family who will pay for this trick; heavily."

Some of the people grew tense at that mention. They must have realized that even if I was a first year, I still had more power than even Snape with Lucius backing me up. In their eyes, the potion master was just another puppet to our family.

"Do-don't be ridiculous, Jarius." Oh, so you finally remembered my name. "We won't go behind your back. I promise."

I grabbed my books and belongings before leaving the room for real. "I sure hope so, Flint."

Time to get some rest before brewing some potions later on in the evening.