Chapter 3

"Hi Charlie," I said back at the station.

I noticed Draco limping toward his father and looking around. I quickly ducked using Charlie as a shield.

Charlie was a rarity in the wizarding world - a butler. With a house-elf, I considered it kind of redundant but also oddly responsible.

You see, since my parents were never around, I would either be left to my own devices or to the care of Hoopy. So, having Charlie was actually oddly responsible for a pair of rarely present wizarding parents.

"Hey there young man," Charlie said in a pleasant tone. "Have a good term?"

"Yeah, sure", I said trying to guide the man toward the exit. I peeked over his shoulder. Lord Malfoy was not looking pleased.

Had I inadvertently started a blood feud? Honestly, I didn't really care, but I would feel a little guilty if Peabody's parents were murdered because of me, even if I could undo it all the next reset.

I managed to steer him into the crowded station and sighed in relief. I waited patiently in the back seat as he drove us to one of our properties in London. Charlie wasn't comfortable with apparating. There were, unfortunately, no floos connected at the station.

I reached in the fridge for a bottle of soda and popped the cap off. "So, tell me about Hogwarts," Charlie said as he drove the car.

He tried. He really did.

"Great. Failed to cast half the spells despite knowing the material. Hounded by Slytherins. The usual." Stuck in a time loop. Killed a psychotic woman then was tortured by an OP madman. And now I got to repeat it all...yay.

"Even if your magic isn't the strongest, there's more to life than that," Charlie said.

He had a magnificent mustache. I wondered if that was a requirement for butlers. This was a template conversation. There wasn't any more to my life, though. Just the loops. And getting stronger.

"You have your runes. I think there's potential there. You just have to believe in yourself," Charlie said.

This guy. So cheesy. "Sure, Charlie. I'll be the unicorn." Charlie must have been a muggle-born because he actually bought me a motivational poster that said just that.

"Any plans for the summer?"

"Oh, just working in my lab, I think," I said. Charlie always made me feel like a broody teenager.

"You should really get out more, Master Peabody. Meet some girls," he said.

That was really the last thing I ever needed to do unless I could find some cougar somewhere with strange tastes. He always worked hard trying to cheer me up, but I wasn't a broody teenager. In my case, saying no one really understood was true. How many people transmigrated then ended up in a time loop?

"Go out with your friends," he continued.

I grunted noncommittally.

I heard a rasp. It sounded like the last gasp of a dying man. I looked around for Hoopy. I mean, he was pretty creepy, so on sheer principle.

"Do you hear something, Charlie?" I asked.

"Hear something?"

Like a creepy, breathy, rasp of a dying man. If I said that, it might sound crazy. The sound went away. "Never mind. I think I just need some rest," finishing off the rest of my coke.

"Very, well sir."

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I hovered in the sky above the World Cup grounds. I covered my firebolt in a camouflage solution. It would only last a few hours, but in the night it was more than enough to conceal the broom. Also, I wore my 24-hour invisibility cloak.

The summer months went by in a blink. Good to my word, I spent the time in my lab or training. At the end of my last run, I was able to cast ten stupefies in a row. At the beginning of this run, I managed five. Down from my peak, but an increase from when I originally started.

But throughout the runs, I really did seem to be getting stronger.

In the beginning, I couldn't even cast the spell at all. It just sputtered out.

My first run, I didn't know I was in a loop at all. I avoided the Battle of Hogwarts altogether.

I always figured I would be like the characters in the books I read, leaping into the thick of things. Of course, I also had hoped if I ended up in another world, I'd have some kind of cheat. I bought a plane ticket to America.

The wizarding fight wasn't mine, after all. I had already died once. I'd rather just make the most of this new life, even as a near squib. Any amount of magic was more than I'd had before.

I thought of going somewhere different. I could go to Asia or a tropical island. The truth was I was just homesick.

I reset mid-flight.

My second run I had a few ideas about what was happening. After all, I'd seen Groundhog Day and The Edge of Tomorrow. I'd read Mother of Learning. I already had gotten a second life when I took over William Peabody. This was, what, a third chance?

I spent my time much like before, but I stuck around for the Battle of Hogwarts, mostly hiding. I ended up getting drawn into the fights, if not just to help people in need. I didn't accomplish much. Iris still died. I still reset.

The third run I ditched school altogether. The library was a great resource, but other than that, the school was too limiting. Plus I was sick of it.

Dying was purely an accident. I was already obsessed with runes at that point, but I thought potions might be another path to power. As long as you were a good brewer and had the right ingredients, magical power didn't come into play much at all. Even with my parents' wealth it wasn't enough when I needed rarer and rarer potions ingredients. I took it upon myself to go adventuring in magical wildlands.

I, unfortunately, didn't make it back.

My fourth run, I decided I needed a goal. I knew the Battle of Hogwarts was pivotal so I decided to make an appearance there. I trained harder than ever. I would go in, wands blazing and beat back the death eaters in true protagonist style.

I found out that the death eaters in this world were far more capable than their book counterparts.

The fifth run, I decided by hook or by crook I would take down at least one high profile death eater. A boss battle of sorts.

Surprisingly I managed to defeat Bellatrix. She was a nasty dueler. She had the speed and power and sheer fearlessness. I took advantage of the element of surprise and some dirty tricks to win. The only downside was that kind of tactic probably wouldn't work in the long run. I'm sure it wouldn't work on Voldemort. I would need more than parlor tricks to overcome that sheer power.

I'd spent an extra eighteen years or so in this world.

It really didn't seem that long.

I'd always dreamed of how cool it would be to be able to repeat a day. To get a really perfect day. I got to repeat several years. It made it harder in a way. It was hard to take advantage of any specific fore-knowledge, especially when every time things ended up being slightly different.

Major events happened but with slight alterations.

In the world there are just so many variables at play in any given moment, I guess the world is bound to change ever so slightly.

Occasionally I contemplated just going berserk. Maybe start stealing everything I could get my hands on. Or beating Malfoy to a pulp. Or just winning the lottery and living a loop in depravity.

I wasn't quite there yet. I liked the idea of the loops. But I didn't like the unknown factor of the reset. If I was right, and Iris survived, then what? Could my loop continue? Would the reset move?

Or would my loops end?

I couldn't know. As it was now, I could better myself. I could at most have short-lived fun. I couldn't really live a real life, though. It's not like I could start a family or something. Do things normal people do.

I only had a sliver of life. Not a full life.

If anything, if I got sick of it, I might just go travel the world. The snake did have quite a few scales left, after all. I counted once. There was definitely something like two hundred scales on the snake.

So for now, I focused on what I could accomplish. Little goals. Changing little things. Like saving Molly Weasley.

Like stomping on death eaters at the World Cup.

I pulled a thermos from my moleskin bag and poured myself a cup of coffee. I had to come early before they stopped the port-keys. I'd been flying since nightfall. I really had no idea when the attack actually happened.

This loop was actually the first time I'd come here. The sound of a rasping man made me freeze. I suddenly felt cold.

The rasp sounded again right next to my ear. Hot coffee scalded my hand.

"Shit," I cursed as I steadied myself on my broom, my cup falling to the ground far below. I didn't think anyone was under me. I didn't hear any cries of outrage.

The wind blew ruffling my invisibility cloak. It was probably just the wind. The wind blowing the car before, and now the wind blowing my cloak. Or I was losing it. Maybe I really did need to go on a break this loop.

In the camp below, fire shone in the distance even as I began to hear the screams.

I just had to complete this next project, then I would take a vacation. I sighed. I'd never tried facing such a large group at once. The riot was the same as in the book, but also much different.

For one, Fleur and her sister were never the same after.