Chapter 14

The train slowly pulled up to the platform, and I couldn't decide where to go. Should I go to London and update my wardrobe, since my seventeenth birthday had not only made me a very strong wizard, but I had also grown up, or should I first rent a room in the magical district? Upon arrival, the dilemma resolved itself. While saying goodbye to the people, what can you do, the bitter fruits of fame. I noticed that Anna was dragging a trunk.

The younger ones were the first to help me, but it's understandable, they missed their family. I would have seen her earlier, but she was lost in the crowd. I pretended to sigh, happy in my soul that there was a reason to shorten the long ritual of saying goodbye, I nodded and went to help the little girl.

 — Hello, little one. What are we waiting for?

 — Huh? Hey, John. I was just...

 — Yeah, I figured. Come on, I'll walk you out.

 — Don't do that, — the girl got nervous, not embarrassed, I could tell the difference all of a sudden. Yes, yes, the by-products of mental magic, you start catching thoughts, emotions, reading information from objects, in general, a lot of trouble and a lot of problems.

 — Come on, let's have a snack, there's no food on the train, and you'll tell me all about it.

 — Alright, — the girl gave up with a frown, and I not understood, her situation was so desperate or if I was that convincing.

The little girl drank her juice and sniffed her nose, thinking how good I was for letting her eat first and then telling her. I knew it. Though, how many stories I've read in my time, and there was something like that in the canon. No shit, Snape is a prime example. The girl just was thrown out the door. Her father was a laborer who died in an accident. Her mother remarried but died after being hit by a car. The stepfather turned out to be a normal man, did not abandon another's child, but did not live as a widower, married.

The stepmother did not like the stepdaughter, maybe she would have get used, especially since she got pregnant almost as soon as she put on the ring, but here everything was one to one. No soap opera can compare to life. What can you do? If they were her relatives, she would still be there and back if she wanted to go to them, too, but not after the girl had lived on the street for two weeks waiting for the time to be sent to Hogwarts. Ambush.

 — Why did you run into the Forbidden Forest? — Who pulling me a tongue, fool.

 — Who needs me like this? — sobbed the child.

What could I say? I had other plans this summer. I was going to make my calculations and designs look normal, make my observation journals look neat, finish the artifacts I hadn't had time to do at Hogwarts, and some of which I hadn't even started. Read some smart books. Finally, get drunk and go to brothels. I'm still seventeen years old, my body is young, and my finances are good. All right, think, head.

 — You can live against all odds, — I said to keep quiet.

 — For what? — if only someone knew the answer.

 — It's philosophy, of course, it's interesting and it's necessary to know it, but let's solve more down-to-earth questions.

 — Can I stay with you?

Uh-huh, such a positive leader, no, of course I realize that she is a naive child of almost twelve years, but... oh, come on, what am I with her as a little girl.

 — I'm actually homeless. No home, no family. I used to go back to the shelter. — Shock therapy shattered the little girl's world.

What would you expect from a girl, not even a teenager, in that situation? I could have imagined a lot of things, but to be comforted.

So much for the ways of magic. Not only does she already owe me a life debt, but when I decided to take care of her, an instant bond was formed. I, with my sensitivity, was able to feel her for once, and when I put the necessary charms on the glasses and found two identical marks in her and my auras, I could only throw up my hands. I guess it's my karma. I'll have to repay my debt to the world for the right to live in it and the happiness I've been granted.

Still, I'm a lucky man. I have not burdened my sister, whom I have decided to consider a girl, with unnecessary information. I'd rather give her the necessary books, she's not stupid, she'll understand. I ordered her to get ready and told her that her brother would take care of it. She liked the idea of her brother, and Anna smiled.