Christian walked down for breakfast, already dressed for his trip. At breakfast, he saw only Aunt Eleanor and not his mother. Aunt Arielle and Uncle Sullivan did not stay for the night since they wouldn't be home to get to work.
He saw that Aunt Eleanor had already dressed for work and looked as if nothing had happened, but he could tell she was wearing a mask. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. I ended things with William last night; the conversation was somewhat unpleasant."
"It's good just to rip off the bandage," nodded Christian. "What are you going to do now? Restart the search for my real uncle."
Eleanor chuckled, "No, I will focus on my career for now. I have much work ahead of me."
"That's a good idea. By the way, you never told me what name you finally chose for your company?"
"I followed your advice and used Massive Dynamic. I even used the logo you designed."
Christian smiled at these words. Jim was once obsessed with a show called Fringe, which soon became his obsession. He had always loved the name [Massive Dynamic], and since his aunt would soon build a multi-billion dollar corporation involved in countless industries, he suggested the name.
"It's here," said Tiara, walking into the dining room. "Your letter to Hogwarts."
"Really? Accio," said Christian, pointing two fingers with his palm facing up and moving them backward, similar to a motioning movement. The letter flew into his hand.
"Rude," muttered Tiara, but Christian was already focused. He saw the four house symbols of Hogwarts before excitedly opening the letter. The words were similar to what he had seen in Jim's memories. A smile crept on Christian's face before fading.
"By Merlin's beard, I'm such a jerk. How could I forget about Harry?"
"What are you talking about?" Tiara remembered his son only talking briefly about Harry's prophecy and his eventual defeat of Voldemort.
"He's living in terrible conditions. His family is basically abusing him," replied Christian, feeling terrible for the fact that he only remembered now, after more than a month.
"If that's the case, we must move the child from that house," said Eleanor. It did not matter whether Harry was the Chosen One; no child should live in this kind of household.
"It's useless," said Christian. "There is a powerful magic protecting him until he's an adult. So, Dumbledore will not allow him to leave the house until he's seventeen."
"Even so, they should have ensured the child was living properly," said Tiara.
"I know some people in the Department of Education and the NSPCC. I can call them to ensure they protect the child with regular visits and a warning to his family."
[NSPCC—National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children: a charitable organization that protects children's welfare.]
"Please do that," uttered Christian, his voice containing a hint of desolation.
"Don't let the guilt eat you. We are only humans and can make mistakes," Tiara reassured Christian. After breakfast, Christian began his tour of the magical schools. He was still in a bad mood until his first visit to Beauxbatons Academy of Magic.
As a British-Haitian, he despised France, and his encounter with a snotty French man who tried to correct his pronunciation during a visit did not help. However, he hoped the French wizards would leave a better impression.
The school was beautiful, especially the gardens and the surrounding castles. The beauty of this sight eased much of his emotions, allowing him to enjoy the beginning of this vacation instead of burying himself in guilt.
The trip's highlight was when Christian was allowed to sit in one of the classes because his mother was acquainted with Madame Maxime, the headmistress.
The best experience was the Wood Nymphs, who serenaded the children in the Dining Room. Finally, Christian left the school with a complete set of their magical books from Years 1 to 7 and a few other books about Alchemy, which he plans to read later.
He would not visit Durmstrang Institute or the Russian magical school Koldovstoretz because both headmasters refused his invitation, even though Tiara promised them a handsome donation.
The second destination was Ilvermony, located in Massachusetts. Christian found the experience lovely, but the best part was reuniting with the friends he met at Aunt Arielle's orphanage. He wanted to see if he could experience a Sorting Ceremony there, but that was not allowed since he was not a student. The headmaster seemed to insinuate that he should come to their school instead of Hogwarts and even tried to lure him with the opportunity to experience the ceremony.
The third destination was Castelobruxo, the magical school in Brazil that took in students from all over South America. Their school was known for its Herbology, Magizoology, and Potions. One of the most famous potionists in the world, Libatius Borage, graduated from this school. Christian participated in a few school activities and was very satisfied with the open-mindedness of the education system.
After voicing his concerns, his mother told him they had been like this for many years. Many students from Castelobruxo use the foreign exchange program to learn from other schools, and they have a pen-pal program to communicate with students from different schools.
The fourth destination was the Gumleaf School of Sorcery in southern Australia. The school, known for its magizoology and charms, accepted students from Australia and New Zealand.
[AN: This school is not canon and was created for this fanfic.]
Christian's next destination was Uagadou, located in Uganda. The first thing he observed was how large the school was, but he realized it made sense since they took students from the entire African Continent. Christian was thrilled since he acquired books with a more profound knowledge of wandless casting or handweaving, as his mother liked to call it. Uagadou was known for their Transfiguration Magic and Astrology, and Transfiguration was one of Christian's favorite magic subjects.
The sixth destination was the Mahoutokoro School of Magic. He had to use Language Lozenges, a magical herb that allowed him to understand the students' language despite not speaking it. This is a common practice in multilingual or cultural schools.
Christian was very interested in this herb as he thought it could help him learn languages faster. It's a shame it only worked for modern languages.
The best part of Christian's experience in Mahoutokoro was participating in the grueling Quidditch training at this school, even during stormy conditions. Although Christian was not very enthusiastic about Quidditch, he enjoyed himself.
They would not attend the Bharatiya Jadoo Academy in India since Tiara could not even contact the headmaster, and all her letters remained unanswered. Still, she did find a way for them to visit the Longfeng School of Magic in China.
[Neither of those schools is canon.]
Christian was excited because they were the only school besides Hogwarts and Ilvermorny to have a system of houses. Additionally, their school had five houses instead of four: Blue Dragon, Red Phoenix, White Tiger, Black Tortoise, and Yellow Qilin houses.
Sadly, they had to cancel their visit at the last meeting because of a letter from the headmaster. The letter did not indicate the reason but only said something came up and things had to be canceled.
Despite how things ended, Christian was happy and satisfied with this trip. He made countless friends or penpals in different schools, and his library drastically increased as he bought school books from all these regions, even the ones he did not attend. The only issue is that he had to translate them into the languages he did not speak, which would take some time.
After this two-week vacation, he returned home immediately to his strict schedule.
…
Two weeks prior, right after Christian left:
Harry Potter looked at his large room, still dazed by what had just happened. A lady appeared at their door and said she was from the Department of Education. Someone had reported the Durseys for child abuse, and they talked to him privately and asked him questions, which Harry answered truthfully.
Afterward, the lady warned the Dursleys that they would face jail if they continued to treat him as such. She also warned them that she would come for regular checkups to ensure they did not retaliate.
As soon as she left, Uncle Vernon brought him to the bedroom upstairs, where Durdley kept his toys. Since then, no one has talked to or made him do chores. They gave him plenty of food and prevented Dudley from bullying him, but no one said more than a few words to him.
"I wonder who reported them," muttered Harry. He guessed the Dursleys thought it was him, but he did no such thing. "I hope they don't change after a few days."
Harry lay on this large bed, hoping things would continue this way. He did not mind the Dursleys not speaking to him; he had nothing to say to these people.