Settling Down

"You never told me your name," said Nagini.

"I don't remember," Kenneth was going to going play dumb, "I don't remember anything, I just woke up here. It's weird, I know how to speak and what magic is and what Maledictus curse is, but I can't remember anything of my origins and how I ended up here. I don't know what I should do now."

Nagini smiled as though she was expecting the answer. She knew he knew more but did not chose to say anything to her. She did not mind, after all, to him, they only just met, so, she played along with the scenario he proposed, she said, "Well, since you have been sleeping so long, I knew the situation would be complicated. After the curse was lifted, I was free, I did not need to fear living among normal wizards and witches, so I used my spatial abilities to open a spatial item shop in Diagon Alley, oh, it's a shopping alley in the magical Britain, anyway the shop is called Nagini's spatial items. I sell items like spatial rings, trunks, briefcases, pouches, tents etc. why don't you follow big sister to settle down, I will take care of you." She had a smile that made Kenneth have goose bumps. He could tell that she was having a hard time trying to keep her eyes focused on Kenneth's face.

"Why am I naked?" asked Kenneth, really confused by the women.

Nagini blushed and said, "Well, it's easier to clean you."

His expression sank and asked, "I though you said magic was taking care of my body."

She turned a deeper red and said quickly, "Sometime it's good to clean yourself without magic, its more comfortable that way! Anyway! Are you coming with me or not?"

She was his only legitimate connection back to the magical world so he refrained from screaming "pervert", he thought, "Isn't she supposed to be a gentle, quiet and shy type? Did the connection with me influence her so much? Or did being a successful store owner for 6 years make her confident?" He then said, "Sure, it's not like I have a place to go anyway, but I have no identity. How do I get one?"

"That's easy, in the magical world, your wand is your identity, that and you will need a witch or a wizard that already registered to testify and guarantee for you. Albus Dumbledore testified and guaranteed for me, he is the head of Wizengamot, he said I fought with him against Grindelwald with him. we will get you a wand and I can testify and guarantee for you," said Nagini.

"Alright, we will do as you say, hmm how did you transform into the serpent?" asked Kenneth.

"Just think about merging with the avatar in your mind space, and you will naturally transform. Normally, wizard and witch Animagus will have to search for a feeling inside them to transform, you can also do that, but for some reason, there is an avatar of the creature we transform into in our mind space. So, it's easier for us," answered Nagini.

Although Kenneth somewhat trusted Nagini because of the connection they shared, he was not sure yet on how much he wanted to share with her, perhaps after they become closer, he would share more. Nagini who knew Kenneth is hiding a few things, but she did not push him at all, she had absolute confidence in him, mainly due to the connection but there was a part of her telling her that she should.

Thanks to Voldemort, He had a multitude of creatures in his mind space, some he did not even know the names of. When he thought of merging with the black cat with silver eyes and he felt his body transform. He opens his eyes to see the entire room had become bigger, when he looked down, he felt a bit weirded out at first, because he was not looking at his hands but a pair of paws. He took few awkward steps before finally getting use to his form, then he telepathically said to Nagini, "Let's go."

He looked at Nagini and she was looking at him weird, and ask, "you are a cat Animagus? I thought it would be a serpent as well."

When Kenneth did not reply to her, she took the hint and picked him up and hugged him saying, "okay, let's go."

He wanted to protest at the hug, because he felt bit suffocated, but before he could say anything, the rune belonging to the serpent manifested under her feet and with a silver flash they left the lab and appeared on top of a building, Nagini said, "We are in Germany, give me a sec to re-adjust my magic," few seconds later, the same thing happened and Kenneth found himself in an empty alleyway.

Nagini explained, "although we could directly teleport into Diagon Alley, this is not the same as apparating so I wanted to keep it a secret from anything else."

Kenneth struggled out of her hug and jumped on her shoulder and took a seat. She chuckled but did not mind, after walking for 5 minutes, they came in front of the old inn called Leaky Cauldron. Kenneth remembered the place from the books. Although clean and tidy, the old inn had a dark and depressing look, the internal walls were grey, with dark wood tables and chairs place around the hall. The bar was made of the same wood with different type of drinks being displayed on the selves behind it, there was a staircase at the corner, heading up to give access to the floors above, there were many different types of people hanging around. Some smoking pipes and some drinking even though it still the middle of the day.

"Miss. Nagini, good to see you again," said a bar man.

"Good day to you George," greeted Nagini while adding to Kenneth telepathically, "George Pensworth, bartender at the Leaky Cauldron."

"You got a new pet?" asked George.

To Kenneth's displeasure (or secret pleasure), Nagini scratched behind his ears while saying, "yes, Isn't he cute?"

"Magnificent creature Miss. Nagini, those eyes really do draw attention," the bartender complemented.

While they were heading towards the back, there were few people who greeted Nagini and she telepathically introduced them to Kenneth. Kenneth replied telepathically, "You seemed to be popular."

"I have been here for 6 years now, most people will remember a store owner, besides because of my innate spatial talent, our product are a cut above the others in terms of quality. Anyway, were do you want to head to first?" said Nagini.

"Cloths first please, I don't want to sit on your shoulder all day, it will draw too much attention. Then a wand, then to register with the ministry," replied Kenneth.

"I don't mind, but okay. Do you want to register as a Animagus too? I did," asked Nagini.

"You showed your serpent form to the ministry?!" asked Kenneth in shock. As far as he knew, that serpent never existed in the magical world. He wondered what the ministry did when they found out. The answer he got was equally surprising.

"I actually can transform into two snake forms, the smaller and normal form just like when I had the curse on me and that mythical serpent form. As to why I can do that, don't ask, I don't know either. The ministry only knows that normal form, I'm not stupid to show them the other," she explained.

"Okay, I'll register as a cat then," said Kenneth.

"Which mean, you can also turn to more than one form? Your other form of a bigger version of a cat?" asked Nagini, when Kenneth did not reply, she took it as yes.

"Speaking of cloths, why does witches and wizards where such old-fashioned cloths?" asked Kenneth.

"We live longer, so some of the old clothing styles stick around, I liked the fashion in the 50s the best, do you want to get a suit from the 50s?" asked Nagini

"Urm, no thanks. Couple of normal shirts and pants will do, jogging shoes is a must," said Kenneth.

Diagon alley was just like what Kenneth remembered in the movie. The street was packed, with odd and crooked looking buildings that looked like they would collapse at any given moment at both sides of the street.

After a while, they came in front of "Nagini's spatial items". The shop stood out from the rest as it had a white finish, besides the double door in the middle was two display window's showcasing rings, trunks and folded tents.

"Here we are, my shop," said Nagini happily.

The interior was cozy wooden setting with different items of display, the interior was about five times larger than what it seems on the outside. There were neatly dressed workers attending the customers. Nagini telepathically said to Kenneth, "This is one of the reasons my shop is well known by now. Spatial magic of this scale is rare, which tells people the something about the quality of my products. I'll take you upstairs to one of the rooms."

There was a fully fitted apartment on the second floor with few rooms attached to it. Each room was bigger than the shopping area downstairs, Kenneth was impressed at how spatial magic worked, it was overlapping each other without disturbing the other space.

"It's very impressive," complimented Kenneth.

"Thanks! Even Dumbledore said the same, he did offer to have me teach a special spatial magic class at Hogwarts, but I declined, I did not know when you would wake up," said Nagini.

After Kenneth pick random room, Nagini went to pick up cloths for him, for some reason, she felt that she should buy shirts and pants that matched her cloths. She was also obsessed with suspenders and insisted that Kenneth wear them, telling him that it would give a fashionable old and stylish feeling. If Kenneth knew that she was trying to match him with her 50s style cloths, he would have been speechless.

"Very handsome, now let's do something about that long hair," she took out her wand and waved it. Kenneth's hair went from an over grown to a 50s faded haircut, "now even more handsome."

"Thanks for all the help, Nagini, I would not know what to do if it weren't for you," commented Kenneth.

"No problem, you are my savior after all," she replied happily.

"Let's get the wand and register tomorrow, for now I want to spend some time familiarizing with myself. There is a lot of thoughts I need to organize and process. It has been an overwhelming day," said Kenneth truthfully. He was feeling a bit insecure, he still doesn't know what so special about his body, he was not familiar with magic and had no control over it, he felt he was too dependent on Nagini. His lack of strength was affecting his confidence and he needed to plan what he wanted to do in the future. Attending Hogwarts was out of the question as he had an adult's body.

After Nagini left, he sat on his bed crossed legged and started to contemplate everything that was going on with him and started planning.