"Now, be a good system and tell me everything."
[Host, you can't slander this system's innocence. How can I hide anything form you?]
"You… are getting more and more dramatic."
"Just tell me exact location of real world tree and get out of my sight."
[That...]
"What? was all that talk for nothing?"
[It's not that this system is hiding it, but I don't know where World Tree is.]
"Tsk..tsk… you really are the sole and unique creation of that world will."
[Host, you don't need go out of your way to praise this system]
"BASTARD, that was a sarcasm…A…Sarcasm."
"Do you really have any useful information in those crappy records of yours?"
[…]
[World Tree's exact location can't be determined as it has been hidden in spatial space by elves.]
[Host, you should calm down. This system really can't locate elves and World Tree…. Why do you look even more angry?]
"System…"
Alister forced out a smile on his mouth despite his body trembling in anger.
"Since when did you plan to tell me that there are elves in this world."
[…]
"…"
[…]
"…"
"…"
"Hey! come back here! don't run away now."
[...]
"Sigh! Why can't anyone spare me some peace of mind."
After exiting the Mind space, Alister laid on his bed calmly watching the light, filter through the lake and make slow green-grey patterns shifting across the ceiling of the Slytherin dormitory.
Then he slowly sat up and stood beside the bed.
'Even if my mind is absolutely safe, I still need to fabricate false memories to look like a normal wizard. Editing those memories will take some time'
'Sigh!! I should be the first wizard in the world to set up a mental defense to protect the attacker.' Alister thought with a wry smile.
'No use sleeping now. Let's get this body moving.'
He quickly changed his cloths and headed toward Hogwarts grounds to spend next two hours of his life exercising.
…
Hogwarts at five in the morning was a different Hogwarts entirely.
Not the midnight Hogwarts of portraits pretending to sleep and torches burning low. Five in the morning was the castle genuinely resting, even the ghosts seemed to have found somewhere else to be.
But Alister's focus wasn't on observing his surroundings. He was lost in his own thoughts.
'It was just my first day of this year at Hogwarts and I've got a fiancé for myself, a suspicious professor and a damn tree in my mind.'
'Oh, how can I forget that greasy bat who's acting weird'
'Even I am impressed with my ability to manage these situations I somehow find myself in.'
'I have got your back, future me. You can do it'
He breathed in the cold air to get rid of all the thoughts going through his head.
Then he rolled his neck and shoulders to began the stretching.
He was halfway through the second set when the door of Hagrid's hut in a distance swung open.
Hagrid who came out was slightly uncoordinated as stood at the doorstep, constantly yawning.
Seeing Hagrid still didn't notice him, Alister raised his hand to wave at him.
Hagrid's eyes, still adjusting to the outside, found the motion in the distance after a moment's searching.
He went still for a second. Then a broad grin spread across his face, visible even across the distance, and he raised his enormous hand to wave in return. And began crossing the ground toward Alister who got back into stretching.
Hagrid was still yawning when he got into conversational distance with Alister.
"Uhhhhh… You're early, Alister. I Didn't expect to see anyone out here at this hour. Thought I was the only mad one to be up at this hour."
"Good Morning, Hagrid. Mad? hahaha… And here I thought we might be the only sane people here."
"So. Wanna join me for a morning session, Hagrid."
"Hmmm, I only need to follow in your steps, Right? I'm in."
"Yup. Come on."
If this scene were visible to any other human, from a distance they would see a weird scene of giant and a dwarf doing all kinds of stretching exercises.
…
In between stretches, Hagrid grunted as he reached down, attempting to touch his toes, but his massive hands only made it about as far as his kneecaps.
"I Didn't realize how stiff I was gettin'. Usually, wrestlin' with the Hippogriffs and luggin' feed sacks keeps me limber enough."
Alister fluidly transitioned into a one-handed plank, his breathing completely even.
"There's a difference between them, Hagrid. If you only move the way your daily routine requires, your body forgets how to move any other way."
Hagrid squinted at Alister and lowered himself to the grass to mimic the plank using both of his gaint hands.
"You are a strange one, Alister. Forget about children who must still be snoring away at this time even adults in wizarding world never do these things."
Alister exhaled slowly, pushing up and springing lightly to his feet in one continuous motion.
"Everyone forget that body is the foundation of everything. Even for magic to be cast, mana needs to flow through body."
"HaHa…suppose you've got a point there."
Hagrid sat back heavily on his heels, wiping a bead of sweat from his forehead with the back of his arm.
"Right then. I think that's enough torture for an old man. I've got to get the ferrets sorted for Buckbeak's breakfast anyway."
He pushed himself up to his feet, towering over Alister once more.
"You fancy a cup of tea before you head back up to the castle?" Hagrid offered, gesturing toward his hut with a massive thumb. "Got a fresh batch of rock cakes just out the oven."
Alister paused his cool-down routine.
He saw those cakes that could genuinely shatter the teeth of a normal human last time he visited Hagrid, but he wasn't able to eat them even with his tier 1 physique. But with his upgraded tier 2 body, they actually provided a rather satisfying crunch.
"Can't say no to that, let's go."
…
An hour later, having eaten Hagrid's freshly baked 'special' rock cakes, which genuinely tasted good.
Alister made his way back to the castle as he as he slipped into the Slytherin dungeon to shower and change into his school robes before heading up to the Great Hall for another breakfast.
The hall was still relatively quiet, populated only by the early risers. Alister claimed his usual spot at the Slytherin table, enjoying the wide perimeter of empty chairs around him.
With a tap of his finger against the table, a glass of deeply chilled cold coffee floated into his other hand.
He had barely taken his first sip when he smelled the delicate scent of a girl beside him which was Artoria who gracefully took the empty seat to his immediate left.
"Good morning, Alister," Artoria said, her voice when talking to him was clearly more cheerful and gentle after everything that happened last night.
"Morning, Artoria," Alister replied, setting his coffee down. "Sleep well?"
"Seriously! are you asking me that? You are the reason….."
Before she could finish her sentence, every single nerve ending in Alister body suddenly screamed in unison. A violent, icy shiver shot straight down his spine.
His hand paused halfway to his goblet. He slowly turned his head, sweeping the Great.
Sure enough, marching straight across the center aisle with the terrifying, unstoppable momentum was Cho Chang.
She marched directly up to the Slytherin table which was enough to draw stares from the few students present, but Cho completely ignored them.
She reached his section of the table, pulled out the heavy wooden chair to his immediate right, and sat down squarely beside him.
Artoria didn't even turn her head. She simply picked up a silver spoon and began delicately stirring a cup of tea. "Were you expecting her, Alister?"
Cho folded her arms across her chest, leaning forward slightly to look past Alister. "He's very busy nowadays, he doesn't even have the time to have breakfast with his 'friends'." Cho said, her voice dripping with a sickly-sweet cheerfulness. "Isn't that right, Alister?"
END OF CHAPTER
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