NOVEL NEXT Chapter 4: Chapter 4: Signs of a Breakout
'Today's actions were risky, but now it seems they were entirely worth it.'
After Scrimgeour and Tonks, along with a few other Aurors, had finished dealing with the scene and left, George lay on the dark wizard's luxurious bed, letting out a sigh of satisfaction.
Aside from the life savings the old wizard had stored in Gringotts, just the potion shop and its collection of ingredients were already a sizable fortune.
While this might not compare to the true wealth of the wizarding elite, for a young wizard, it was more than enough.
It was like an adult having a million in savings—not necessarily impressive. But for a middle schooler, a million in pocket money would surely make them stand out among their peers.
With this sum of money, many things would become much easier.
He had briefly considered whether, for the sake of safety, he should sell the potion shop after inheriting it and move into the Leaky Cauldron.
But after some thought, he decided against it.
In the future, he would definitely need a private space like this to study magic he didn't want others to discover.
Moreover, the potion shop might prove useful in the long run. Selling it would be easy, but buying it back later could be near impossible.
'This body is way too weak. I'll have to eat well and recover.'
Standing up, George took a walk around the bedroom before moving to the mirror to examine his reflection.
Since waking up, he had been too preoccupied with planning the old wizard's demise to really look at this body.
Blond hair, blue eyes, a straight nose—his features were decent. However, years of malnutrition and abuse had left his frame thin and frail.
That wasn't a problem, though. Proper care and nutrition would solve that.
'At least my inner strength isn't this weak.'
George bent his knees and jumped, effortlessly leaping three meters to touch the ceiling.
This wasn't due to his wizarding heritage—wizards might have greater resilience and healing compared to ordinary people, but their physical strength wasn't exceptional unless they had unique bloodlines, like Hagrid.
The real reason for his abilities was that this body not only inherited the mutant powers of his Marvel counterpart but also its physical strength.
In essence, he now possessed the combined strength of his current eleven-year-old body and the eighteen-year-old artificially engineered mutant body from the Marvel world.
Though the mutant powers he inherited weren't ones that enhanced physical strength, like Beast or Wolverine, his body had undergone rigorous training, making it stronger than the average eighteen-year-old.
To quantify it, if his current body could punch with 50 pounds of force and his Marvel body could deliver 200 pounds, now they both delivered a combined 250 pounds of force.
For the Marvel body, the extra strength wasn't dramatic. But for this malnourished wizarding body, the difference was night and day.
Especially since this eleven-year-old body weighed only 50 pounds—suddenly gaining the full physical benefits of an adult's training made every movement feel light and powerful, like a cat's.
'I might just be a super kid among kids now.'
After examining himself, George began rummaging through the old wizard's bedroom, hoping to find hidden banned books or notes on dark magic to learn some powerful spells in advance.
However, his search was fruitless. All he found were ordinary magic books that could be bought at any shop.
In hindsight, it made sense. Knockturn Alley shops underwent monthly inspections. Even if the old wizard had such items, he wouldn't have kept them here.
'Forget it. Let this body rest—it's been a long day.'
Failing to find anything useful, George washed up quickly and lay down on the wizard's luxurious bed, letting his body slip into sleep mode.
Meanwhile, his main consciousness returned to his Marvel body.
Over there, it was daytime again, and time for his daily training.
'It's almost time. I'd better focus on learning some practical spells first.'
During lunch after the morning's training, George ate his food expressionlessly, keeping an eye on the group of mutant children nearby.
Earlier, while walking down the corridor, he had seen the head nurse berating a female nurse.
The nurse had prepared a cake, intending to celebrate a collective birthday for the mutant children, who had never had such an occasion.
If his memory was correct, this incident was the turning point. Shortly after, that nurse would come to her senses and lead the mutant children in a breakout.
In the afternoon, training proceeded as usual. At night, when his Marvel body rested, George's mind shifted back to the Harry Potter world.
It was morning there.
After freshening up and preparing a hearty breakfast for himself, George retrieved the Daily Prophet from the owl at his door. He read the old wizard's prepaid subscription while savoring his meal.
The food at the experimental base in Marvel was nutritious but bland. And previously, when living under the old wizard, he could barely get enough to eat, let alone enjoy the taste.
"Internationally renowned figure and author, recipient of the Third-Class Order of Merlin, honorary member of the Anti-Dark Arts League, and five-time winner of Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile Award, Gilderoy Lockhart, will be signing his autobiography, Magical Me, at Flourish and Blotts on August 21 from 12:30 PM to 4:30 PM."
Seeing the flamboyant wizard in his forget-me-not blue robes in the Daily Prophet, George couldn't help but sigh.
'If only I had arrived a year earlier, I could've been in the same year as the Golden Trio. Maybe we'd even end up in the same house or dorm.'
Yes, it wasn't 1991 but 1992, meaning Harry Potter had already started his second year at Hogwarts. George would be entering a year behind him.
Being with the Trio had its pros and cons.
The downside was getting swept up in their chaotic adventures, which might interfere with his magical studies.
The upside was knowing the events ahead of time. If handled well, they were relatively safe and could even bring unexpected benefits.