Chapter 2: My Early Life
Chapter 2: My Early Life
He had been waiting for this day for three years.
Three years, it really was a long time.
Felix leaned back in his chair, lost in thought as the aroma of tea seemed to transport him back ten years.
Back then, he was an 11-year-old boy, full of dreams and aspirations, much like a newcomer eager to make a mark in the city.
Felix admitted that he was highly ambitious. Anyone with a mature mind and foreknowledge of certain plot points would naturally have the drive to achieve great things. Thus, it was only natural that he was sorted into Slytherin House.
However, this house, known for its ambition, blood purity, and glory, was not particularly welcoming to him. The fall of the Dark Lord had been less than a year prior, and the remnants of "Pureblood" ideology still held sway. As the stronghold of Pureblood families, Slytherin was a hotbed of intense internal conflicts.
At that time, a student from a Muggle orphanage being sorted into Slytherin (even though one of his parents might have been a wizard, which was not entirely impossible given the circumstances) was a significant shock to the system. In fact, cases like Felix’s were not unheard of, but they were extremely rare.
If Felix had been an ordinary person, or even an ordinary time traveler, his seven years at school might have been marked by "bullying", "persecution", and "indifference", and these experiences could have shaped his entire life.
But Felix was no ordinary person. He was a boy with a golden finger—a unique ability that allowed him to enhance the power of certain practical spells through repeated practice, surpassing his current theoretical magic level.
Of course, this wasn’t unlimited enhancement.
For example, if his theoretical magic level was 1, he could, through extensive and repetitive practice, push a specific spell to a 2 or even a 3 level. The higher the level, the more difficult it became.
Although this golden finger wasn’t overwhelmingly powerful, it helped him navigate the initial awkward period. Looking back on his first three years at school, one could call it a masterpiece of turning the tables:
Before starting school, driven by his curiosity about magic and certain adult delusions of persecution, Felix spent most of his time mastering two spells: the "Petrifying Spell" and "Armor Shield." One offensive, one defensive, reflecting his balanced mindset from his previous life when he played games.
Relatively speaking, the Petrifying Spell was simpler. After thousands of tedious casting sessions, Felix managed to force it to a 2-level, while the Armor Shield was barely at a 1-level.
For someone with a theoretical magic level close to zero, this was nothing short of a miracle! The magical world should have awarded him an Order of Merlin.
Thanks to his 2-level Petrifying Spell, in his first week at school, Felix took down the entire first-year Slytherin class and even defeated a second-year student who had cast a curse at him, leaving the boy hanging in the bathroom all night in the cold.
This act had a significant impact, causing no small headache for Professor Snape, who had just become the youngest Head of Slytherin House in history.
Snape had to deal with external pressure from other Slytherin parents while managing the complex internal conflicts within the house. Fairly speaking, this was a significant test of the new Professor Snape’s management skills.
And things got even more challenging for Snape. At the end of his first year, Felix humiliated the entire second-year class, leaving many seats empty at the House Cup celebration.
Naturally, Felix spent the entire summer break performing mandatory labor at the school—precisely what he wanted.
Otherwise, he suspected some parents might have tried to curse him!
In that environment, this wasn’t just a paranoid thought.
By his second year, under Snape’s pressure, Felix became more restrained, avoiding large-scale incidents that sent Slytherin students to the infirmary—instead, he did it one by one.
By the end of his third year, Felix had become the de facto strongest student in Slytherin, an unofficial king. This had a significant effect; no one in the house dared to be disrespectful to him. Of course, there were still some people outside the school who made threats, vowing to teach him a lesson.
Yes, Felix had spent three full years at school, venturing out only to Diagon Alley to buy textbooks, and never going anywhere else.
A pitiful school life...
Of course, every story has a turning point, and Felix's turning point came in his fourth year.
During the fourth-year holiday, Felix finally left the school and, in a single holiday, defeated seven adult Wizards who had attempted to attack him, sending them to Azkaban.
This was a big news story at the time, but an even bigger one was yet to come. At the start-of-term feast in Felix's fifth year, a member of the Sacred Twenty-Eight Pureblood Families, Shafik, challenged Felix to a Pureblood Family Duel.
Felix still vividly remembers the wide-open mouth of the usually composed Professor Snape and the wide-eyed expression of Dumbledore. It was quite amusing!
Felix’s face broke into a childish smile as he reminisced.
A Pureblood Family Duel is an extremely ancient form of combat where family members fight on behalf of their family until one side is completely defeated or wiped out!
Even in the most chaotic and disorderly times, such duels were extremely rare. However, it must be acknowledged that this form of duel does exist and has not been abolished.
When Felix stood before the sole Shafik from Slytherin, he slowly and methodically performed the ancient duel etiquette, humiliating the Shafik family (a necessary step in a family duel). The sixth-year Shafik collapsed on the spot, his body shaking.
Even after Headmaster Dumbledore tried to dissuade him after the feast, Felix did not retract his challenge. He remembered what he had said to Dumbledore, “Headmaster, Shafik attacked me twice during the summer! Four people in total! One on the first occasion, and three on the second. Do you know what spells they used?”
Dumbledore, with his silver hair and deep, wise eyes, remained silent.
Felix calmly replied, “They used Unforgivable Curses. All except the Imperius Curse. Of course, they didn't succeed. It’s hard to imagine that, four years after the Dark Lord's fall, someone would still do such a thing.”
Dumbledore sighed, looking weary. “The Shafik family are not Death Eaters—well, not all of them. They just hold Pureblood ideals… a very stubborn family.”
“But it doesn’t make a difference to me, does it? They sent four people after me during the holidays. As far as I know, the Shafik family is not very numerous. Four people… do they even have ten members left, including the elderly and minors?”
...
The Shafik family couldn’t afford to fight. Felix’s combat skills had been recognized during the summer, and after the four Shafik family members were sent to Azkaban, the remaining combatants were fewer than four!
They could only use their influence to try to find other ways, but to little effect, for in the eyes of Pureblood families, family honor is paramount.
This unfinished duel sent shockwaves through the entire British magical community. After several months of various complications, it ended with the Shafik family’s permanent withdrawal from the British magical world. The nearly thousand-year-old tradition of the Pureblood Family Duel was also formally abolished by law due to the influence of some individuals.
This event became known as the Eight-Seven Duel Incident, and its impact was as profound for certain stubborn families as the fall of Voldemort!
During the fifth-year holiday, Felix visited some Pureblood families, summarizing it as a series of friendly meetings where they reached mutual agreements on certain issues.
Felix was relieved; the Pureblood families were reasonable after all!
In his final two years at Hogwarts, Felix was harmless and delved into the mysteries of magic. When he graduated, he requested to stay on as a teacher, but Dumbledore rejected him, citing his young age. Otherwise, he had a very pleasant time, and the little snakes were well-behaved.
Summarizing his seven years at Hogwarts, he found it quite enjoyable.
Of course, Professor Snape might not agree. According to the latest Hogwarts gossip, a certain professor’s foul temper is linked to a particularly troublesome student he taught in his early years!
(End of Chapter)
Chapter end
Report
