Harry Potter: A Real Tale(AU, SI)

I edited the previous chapter again(just some grammar), check it out if you want.

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Leon ignored the hateful squeals and fell from the roof, detaching himself.

A tentacle quickly placed his broom below him which he caught and fled, soaring across the cavern.

The squeals of the magical creatures followed him. Countless paws thundered down the silent cave as the Bondugs crushed everything in their way leaves, branches, bones, and even some rocks.

A disturbance in the air behind him and a consecutive thud on the ground sent chills down his spine.

'They are flying now?'

He answered the jumpy Bondugs by leaving multiple orbs of bright light behind him, hoping to halt the Nocturnal magical creature for some time as he throttled forward at full speed.

He didn't even look back to see the results of his gift. He quickly escaped the cave and transfigured the air into smoke covering the cave entrance to hide his retreat.

Leon skipped across the forest, flying just above the ground, breaking his high-speed records, and brushing past low-hanging branches and bushes.

The sounds of roots being bursting open, and trees destroyed like they were made of cardboard made his heart attempt to tear through his chest.

The smoke wasn't enough to lose the magical Badgers.

'Maybe some went the other way?' Leon was hopeful that at least some Bondugs, the one at the front- the stronger ones- lost track of him due to the smoke.

Not turning back to check his wishful thinking, he flew through the forbidden forest fully alert.

While he knew the Bondugs' speed limit, it didn't mean he was safe, anything in this forest could slow him down enough for the magical beasts to chew threw his bones.

'They aren't supposed to WAKE UP.' Leon wanted to scream himself hoarse.

He read and read. He even didn't cast in their presence as some books mentioned them being sensitive to spells.

The probability of him ending up chased by angry lion-sized badgers was equal to his reserve parachute not working along with his main one. It was abysmal… or not.

'Damn! Will I wake up in another world if I die or is this the end?'

Dread started to creep up Leon's mind, but he suppressed it.

'It's okay, I can still escape them.' He focused on getting away, not on brutal what-ifs, trying to avoid the dread his retinue's trail of destruction made him feel.

The Knock-off Hufflepuff mascots were relentless, any environmentalist would have shed blood if they saw how they weren't bothering to avoid trees.

As Leon flew over a bush- with the badgers still on his tail- that looked magical and served around to avoid a curtain of vines, something long and thick lashed at him.

His rope tentacles took the brunt of it but at the speed was going, it sent him spinning.

Before he could make heads and tails of the sudden turn of events, his e-item caught the broom, and the six tentacles flared covering Leon's body in a tight-knitted sphere before forming another loose one around it.

With Leon in the middle of the two concentric spheres, he crashed onto the ground.

The outer sphere made of ropes deformed as the ropes turned elastic, cushioning the majority of the force. Then, he flew up like an oversized bouncy ball.

Leon wasn't able to keep up with the events as everything happened instantly.

The Sphere of Separation, SOS for short, was one of the functions he enchanted his e-item with. It made for an impressive sight with the outer sphere having a diameter of 13ft and the inner one 7.

But it wasn't supposed to come to this. The SOS was supposed to be his last resort if some magical creature, one that relied on muscle, was chasing him, and he couldn't outrun it.

It efficiently saves Leon from most physical trauma, converting any force into potential energy with its elasticity.

Hovering in the air with ropes extending from his back to form the spheres, he remains unaffected by physical forces. The ropes become less elastic as they approach him, absorbing any residual forces that the outer and inner spheres fail to absorb and release.

He was hoping just like lions that get bored of people in white balls on safari rides, the magical creature would get bored of him.

Or he could use the buffer the SOS creates to run away.

The key here is 'a' curious magical beast, not a hoard of magical badgers who want to tear into him.

As the sphere descended, Leon craned his neck to see how far away the creatures were, only to see a large Bondug bulldozing its way toward him.

Time seemed to slow down as the Bondug showed off its impressive fangs without slowing down.

'Goddamn it!' Leon cursed the tenacity of the magical creatures. They were supposed to avoid light, not chase him down like a group of rabid dogs on drugs.

Time resumed as the Bondug crashed into the sphere in the middle of Leon's descent, sending him flying.

He hurriedly searched his back for his broom. Thankfully it was there- a tentacle made a knot around it, securing the broom.

He didn't even have time to pat himself on the back for his forethought of enchanting a broom safety option as he was sent flying breaking through the treetops.

Leon quickly caught hold of the broom, and as the ball descended, he placed the broom between his legs and soared away from the Hufflepuff terrors.

The forest became less thick as he neared Hogwarts, so Leon picked up speed like the hellhounds were on his feet and sped away.

The sounds of chasing Bondugs disappeared as Leon saw the astronomy tower of Hogwarts piercing the sky.

Elated he flew even faster and exited the forbidden forest.

A grin graced his face as he served around and stared at the forbidden forest, safe in the confines of Hogwarts wards.

The forbidden forest was silent, no oversized badgers were bursting from the trees to chew on him.

Still high from the chase, he slowly gained altitude and stared at the thick expanse of trees that stretched well beyond the horizon.

The forest looked as peaceful as its mundane cousin, not at all looking like it was hiding magical monstrosities in it, except for little bald patches that formed a dotted line towards him.

'The Bondugs really destroyed trees as they chased me,' Leon smiled at the absurdity of it.

Hippogriffs were circling the bald patches like birds of prey, no more than little specks in the sky, flying at heights that boggled his mind.

The smile on his face grew smaller as the rush of his adventure came down, replaced with a severe frown as he descended onto the ground.

'The trip got a little out of hand at the end, but it ended well. I planned it well… how can I account for the nocturnal creatures waking up?' Leon thought, suppressing his memories, but they still bubbled to the forefront of his mind.

....

He clearly remembered the face of his friend- the oldest member of their junkie group- frowning at him as he lay on a hospital bed with broken arms and multiple broken ribs.

"You should have stuck to the plan, Levi. Look at you now- on bed with all of our friends angry enough to not even visit you."

While wingsuiting, they weren't supposed to pull up parallel to the ground until they reached the lake, but he dived down and pulled up early, trying to fly just above the land like a superhero.

His group of friends were all screaming at him as they moved towards the lake in an angled descent- their decided path- while he flew parallel to the ground.

As he wanted to imitate a flying superhero on a whim, he didn't have much time to plan his stunt.

He hit some trees that weren't present in the google earth and his calculations went askew.

He was stupid, he didn't plan thoroughly and wasn't even thinking properly high on his new adult status.

Levi didn't reach the lake to let it cushion its fall, instead, he dropped on some rocks.

Leon aka Levi knew the motto of their group and their de facto group leader, an older guy named Erwin Smith, tried to instill in the youngest of their group- himself.

It was to plan thrice check twice and check twice again.

"Was the stunt- in the middle of nowhere, kilometers from any medical help- boring? Or you didn't care about the amount of work I did to ensure the safety of our group." He took a deep breath like he was trying to control himself, but it didn't help.

"You were supposed to stick to the plan, Levi. OR AT LEAST PLANNED BETTER. DID YOU EVER LISTEN TO ANYTHING I SAY?" The ever-chill laid-back guy vanished as he shouted and glared. "Hope, it was worth it!"

Erwin walked away, leaving Levi to reflect on his actions as he lay on the hospital bed alone.

His friends did visit him after they cooled down, but being alone on a hospital bed with nothing but pain stuck with the newly Emancipated minor- if the plan went awry, it meant they should have spent more time on the drawing board combed through even the outliers and outrageous variables.

That was how Erwin lived until now without any permanent injuries or even surgeries to show for his daredevil stunts.

Fresh breeze tousled Leon as he stood on the ground, lost in thought.

Disappointment surged through Leon, no matter how hard he tried to push away thoughts of his plan's spectacular failure.

He was lucky, the Bondugs would have swarmed him if a Hippogriff had come quicker to check on the chaos and sent him tumbling down for invading their realm when he became a bouncing ball.

The same thing would have happened if he had hit a strong branch on his way up.

Shaking his head, he embraced the feeling and let it consume him and run its course.

'I will have to do better.' He sighed and walked towards his dorm.

......

Leon moved towards the great hall with hunger evident in his steps.

After stashing away his things and the Aedelwryt in his room- he planted the Aedelwyrt in a flowerpot he borrowed from the common room- Leon left for lunch after waiting for some time to see if the glowing words would appear on his roof, acknowledging his success.

They didn't.

As he missed his breakfast, Leon decided to fill his stomach after he waited for some time. 

While Leon knew the task would have been more difficult if the Bondugs weren't nocturnal, he still thought the rewards would be awesome. 

The image of a miser didn't mesh well with Helga Hufflepuff, so he was looking forward to it.

Nodding, at the thought of a magical reward making up for his adventure's disastrous end, Leon entered the great hall.

A large table sat in the middle of the great hall, the house tables and the professors' table were nowhere to be seen.

"Ho! It seems our wayward student will be joining us." Dumbledore clapped his hand, making the great hall inhabitants turn towards Leon.

The only students present were the Weasleys.

The redheads and the professors nodded at him while Flitwick and Sprout were looking at him with different emotions- One with mischievous pride and the other with kind exasperation.

Confused, Leon joined the table after greeting the professors.

'My first Magical Christmas.' His spirits buoyed a little at that thought.

Unlike the Gryffindor Christmas of canon, Hufflepuffs didn't exchange gifts. Susan said people celebrate the Samhain on three consecutive days.

Celebrations on the First day were a private affair. A ball on the second day and they end the celebrations with a ritual to ward off bad luck and malicious spirits.

It was a good thing in his opinion, with Wizards literally using gold and silver for their coins any wizarding gift cost a pretty penny.

'I guess I could buy something in the muggle world and bring them next year.' The Hogwarts celebration was muggle-like, so getting into the Christmas spirit isn't bad.

The Christmas decorations- the large pumpkins, twinkling trees and Weasleys in front of him made him think of Harry's adventures during his first Magical Christmas.

'No Harry i.e, Rose, so no Mirror of Erised, I guess.' He thought before the delicious food on the table beckoned him, taking up his focus.

Leon went into a zone and finished his food.

He was at peace as he savored his dessert after filling his stomach.

Sadly, McGonagall's voice snapped him from his bliss.

"Why didn't we see you at breakfast, Mr Astraeus?" The professor stared at Leon with her unblinking eyes.

He looked away from her and shrugged.

"I was exploring."

'Why don't we just leave it at that, professor?' Leon begged in his mind, he didn't like to lie, especially if the outcome of the truth was inconsequential or mellow.

It was a thing, his grandfather imparted to him. His grandfather had a flexible definition of integrity.

Unfortunately for his housemates, losing house points falls under inconsequential outcome for him. So, he concentrated on his dessert, finding it even more fascinating than normal.

"Oh! What were you exploring?" The professor asked, suddenly curious as a cat.

"Hogwarts Grounds, they are very large. I didn't read Hogwarts the History, but I heard this fort belongs to Slytherin, is that right?"

"Of course not, where did you hear that?" A red-headed Weasely intruded upon their conversation.

"In Hogwarts Express, someone was talking about it."

"You were saying how you were exploring the grounds, Mr Astraeus." Professor McGonagall nudged him again, ignoring the Weasley.

'So, much for changing the topic! Argh!' As he hesitated, the professor showed her hand.

"I think I would have known if you were exploring the grounds, why are you lying, Mr. Astraeus?"

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A/n: Reviews and comments will help the author to write more and write better. So, if you like the fic, leave them behind.

Cheers.