BXBX NOVEL Chapter 196 - 196. Costly Dinner
*DASH*
Magnus jumped left and right, avoiding all incoming attacks of Dumbledore, all the while getting closer to him.
Dumbledore kept on taking steps back, trying to keep a distance between himself and Magnus. He was surprised by Magnus\' physical speed. It was inhuman in his eyes.
He sent a wide-area spell, Incendio, to create a fire. "You still have a lot to learn, Magnus."
"YOU TOO, PROFESSOR!" Magnus replied and didn\'t even stop.
He jumped right into the fire and kept on running. "Hehe, did you forget what my last name is? Don\'t you think there is a reason why it\'s called Pendragon?"
Dumbledore\'s eyes wondered, ~DRAGON!~
It was a surprise to be sure, "That is very helpful, have you tried to check stronger fire?"
"What is the strongest fire?" Magnus asked while still moving.
"It\'s the Dragon fire of course," Dumbledore answered.
Magnus chuckled. He used to play with Duck, where both of them would throw fire at each other. They were both immune to it.
He continued to push forward towards Dumbeldore. But the old man was proving to be very difficult as he had too many spells he could count on. On top of that, it was all non-verbal. In fact, he also used a few wandless spells to push Magnus away.
"TAKE THIS!" He threw his sword directly at Dumbledore\'s head.
*WOOSH*
Dumbledore saved himself by a few inches. This was expected by Magnus as this was all in his plan.
*POP*
Magnus vanished from the spot. It was an apparition. He popped on the sword that he had thrown at Dumbledore and now was plunged into the wall. From there, without wasting time he jumped at Dumbledore.
*THUD*
He fell directly on Dumbledore\'s shoulder. He sat there, his sword on Dumbledore\'s neck and his wand at the old man\'s temples.
"Hehe, I got you." Magnus smiled widely.
*POKE*
"Look behind," Dumbledore\'s voice came from behind him and he felt something touching his ass. [A/N: Lol]
He looked behind, Dumbledore was there, his wand was pointed at his ass. He sighed in frustration, "Illusion?"
He looked where he was sitting, it turned out to be some transfigured piece of furniture made to look humanoid. "When did you make this?"
Dumbledore chuckled, "Haha, you have much to learn Magnus. You may be very good, even better than me in charms, your other techniques are slow. For example, what made you lose today was your apparition. It was too slow and I looked through it and prepared.
Magnus dejectedly came down from the statue. "Well, I was at least able to cut your beard."
"WHAT?" Dumbledore jumped back in shock. He quickly transfigured a mirror and looked at himself in it.
It was indeed cut, from the bottom of it, although the cut was just an inch long, it left his beard looking weird because all hair seemed to be of the same length.
"Don\'t worry, professor, it will grow back soon." Magnus consoled him.
Dumbledore caressed his prized beard, "You don\'t understand, Magnus. To an old Wizard, his beard holds a lot of importance. It\'s is like an identity card for us, it tells how wise we are. It took me years to grow it this much."
"But I saw Nicolas Flamel\'s photo, he did not have a beard," Magnus argued.
"He\'s been alive for more than 600 years, he\'s had a beard for hundreds of years, then he got annoyed and cut it," Dumbledore said.
Magnus laughed, these old wizards sure had weird troubles of their own.
Their duel seemed to have ended on a comical note. They sat down and talked.
"Old man, why did you decide to become the headmaster? You are very talented, you could have amassed a huge wealth with your talents." Magnus asked him.
"Well, after seeing the damage caused by Grindelwald, I felt that the British wizarding world needed more good and powerful wizards. So I decided to stay here as a teacher. I enjoy seeing my students become successful. It gives me a reason to continue on doing this job, to keep on supporting these children. To make sure they don\'t lose their way." Dumbledore replied.
Magnus sighed and said, "Yet some do, Lucious did. Who knows in what condition he is right now. Maybe he has already joined hands with the devil."
"It\'s all due to problematic family values in magical Britain. The pureblood culture should have ended centuries ago, but it remained, and neither did the Ministry try to do anything. But maybe now we will see some changes, with you here, being the voice of a majority of wizards and the ministry being freer." Dumbledore had a sense of hope in his voice.
"Fingers crossed then. Ah, I\'m hungry now. I\'m going to pack my stuff." Magnus got up to gather all the books he had brought.
Dumbledore saw him getting busy and waited to go out together. But then he remembered something, "I nearly forgot, Happy Birthday, son. Here, a present from me."
Magnus was surprised. Nobody had greeted him since morning, except his mom and dad who had sent letters. He took the small present box Dumbledore gave him.
"Hmm, it\'s a book, isn\'t it." Magnus guessed it and opened it.
It was indeed a book. It was called "Secrets of Alchemy," but there was no author\'s name.
Dumbledore cleared his confusion, "This book is written by Nicolas Flamel himself. It\'s not in the market because its contents are not for all to know. I told him about your interest in Alchemy and he got ready immediately. You should give him a visit in the summer holidays, he lives in Devon with his wife."
Magnus\'s face brimmed with a big smile, "REALLY?! That\'s so awesome. I will go there. Thank you for the book, professor. I will cherish it and keep it safe for the rest of my life."
"Haha, sure you will. Now don\'t start reading it, aren\'t you hungry?" Dumbledore stopped him from skipping dinner.
Magnus\' stomach rumbled and he didn\'t read. He headed to the great hall to have dinner with his friends.
He went to his house table and sat between his friends. Emma happily sat beside him, asking about what he planned to do when he becomes the king. He also enthusiastically told her some of the plans.
"Oh, you haven\'t met Bobby, right? He\'s like a brother to me. Although he\'s a muggle, his brain is magical. He\'s very rich too and all of it is self-made, with a bit of my investment." Magnus told her.
Emma noted down Bobby\'s name in her head as a person of importance. After all, if someone is important to Magnus, then they\'re also important to her.
"EHEM..." Dumbledore stood up at the podium before the dinner started. Magnus wondered if something important had happened as he did not really do announcements randomly.
"Dear students of Hogwarts. In our history, there have been many great alumni from this school. But, in history, I am seeing it for the first time, a student so loved and cherished by his fellow schoolmates. Last week, I suddenly received 900 letters from you all, asking me to organise a special feast.
"So, I have agreed upon it. From the whole school, I would like to say, \'Happy Birthday, Mr Pendragon." Dumbledore announced.
Magnus was utterly shocked. Never in history was someone\'s birthday celebrated like this. Forget a student, not even a teacher\'s birthday was celebrated like this.
*CLAPS*
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAG!" Emma, closest to him, hugged him for a split second in excitement, only to blush and let go.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MAGNUS" Ragnar also wished.
One by one, all students came to wish him, making a big hoard of gifts on the table in front of him. He couldn\'t understand why they were all doing this. He didn\'t even know most of their names.
But then he focused on what they were saying before wishing him, "Thank you, Magnus, because of you my Dad has a job now."
"Thank you, Magnus, because of you I feel safer."
"Thank you, sir, I got free books because of you."
"You don\'t remember, you saved my mum\'s life once, thank you."
"One of the girls kidnapped by Oscar was my sister, thank you for bringing her back. I will forever remember this."
"You taught me how to duel, I was able to save my mum from thieves."
"Thank you for being our voice,"
He heard all of them thanking him for one thing for another. He did not even know when he did all this. He was just living his life and doing his best to help the magical and muggle world. But who would have thought all his actions would start a chain reaction of events.
Just then, he remembered something that Dumbledore had said not long ago when he entered the Room of Requirements. At that time Magnus was wondering if he can fulfil his and Merlin\'s world peace dream.
Dumbledore had confused him by saying, "You have already done it."
Now he understood what it meant. Yes, he had already started to change the world. He was overcome with emotions and felt a lump in his throat. His eyes became watery, though he never let a single drop fall and turn into a tear. He tightened his fist, the joy in his heart was overwhelming.
The mountain of presents in front of him, big or small, each represented that his efforts were not useless. He was worth something. His goals were something to work for.
"THANK YOU, EVERYONE!" He thanked them from the bottom of his heart.
Slowly, all presents were given and the students returned to their seats. Dumbledore continued from the stage.
"Once again, a very happy birthday, Mr Pendragon. Now, LET THE FEAST BEGUN!" He announced with wide arms.
The rows of the table suddenly got filled with tasty food. There was special chicken, cakes for every 5 students, pastries, pies, pizzas and much more.
But Dumbledore had not taken his seat, he added a few more words before ending it, "OH! One more thing, the feast is being fully paid by Mr Pendragon himself."
Magnus, who had already dug into pancakes, in shock, looked at the smirking Dumbledore, "Wait... WHAT?!"
Dumbledore just lifted his glass to cheers him. But Magnus gritted his teeth, ~Is this payback for the beard?~
[Discord - https://discord.gg/DgHkrAn]
STONE IS LOVE!
_____________________________
You can read 20 advance chapters or my Naruto fic, and more at -patreon.com/misterimmortal.
I will be posting my Naruto fic on the 1st.
Special thanks to *Douglas Flower* *Umar Latif* *Julian Rocamora* *Darrien Steely* *Franklin Walley*
Thank you for your support!