''Damn! Damn! Where am I?'' Leon''s panic started anew at the sight of the corpses.
The room was covered in sawdust; once neatly arranged numerous wooden crates were damaged and were carelessly thrown on the ground.
Multiple lamps were affixed to the walls, some were broken, some were not and one such broken light flickered with light, dimly lighting the room.
''An old fort and an armory,'' Leon concluded from the rocky walls, beams that supported the roof, and bullets that littered the ground.
Shaking his head, he observed the corpses, deciding he was forcefully apparated instead of getting isekai''d as he felt his wand sheath strapped to his arm and his magic reacting to his emotions as he analyzed his surroundings.
The three corpses wore military attire- bulletproof vests, and basic helmets(ECH) that didn''t cover their eyes and pads along with other myriad things.
Two corpses had similar attire, different from the remaining dead body.
The two similar corpses, likely allies, were at the end of the room whereas the other corpse was near the entrance.
Multiple bullet wounds littered their bodies, and blood pooled around them, staining their rifles, comm devices, and the floor.
As he moved towards them, he was assaulted with a putrid smell, courtesy of something called rigor mortis.
Every muscle in a corpse loosens, even the sphincter, after people die, so sadly battlefields like these were filled with horrid stench, not valor or bravery.
Thankfully, the smell wasn''t strong if you stand away from the corpses.
He stared at the corpses for some time before snapping his wrist, making his wand appear in his palm.
The familiar presence did wonders to calm his roiling mind.
''I will tear Dumbles a new one, maybe involve Skeeter, the bug. I only wore the ring because Hogwarts was supposed to be the safest place in the world- magical-wise- and no one should be able to duplicate a Gringott seal. And the goblins themselves can''t harm wizards using the bank name.''
Both Greengrass and Susan explained some of the checks and balances the wizarding world and the goblins, who held their finances, had.
It seems some intricacies of Goblin''s magic, hidden from younger wizards and witches, made them trustworthy and it was one of the reasons wizards still used the bank even after multiple rebellions, during which the bank still worked like normal.
Leon played with his wand, making it disappear and appear again with a twist of his wrist.
He regretted believing in the white beard, he dearly regrets his carelessness.
''I should at least have Flitwick monitor me with a spell if not directly.''
But as they say, hindsight is 20/20 and regret has no medicine, Leon gritted his teeth and tried to think of his options.
After he got memories of his past life, this was the first time his stress and anxiety levels were at their peak.
Even when he faced the troll he wasn''t stressed, and anxiety was the last emotion he felt.
Firming his will, he decided to wear the military vests and helmets on top of his PJs.
After all, extra protection won''t hurt.
But before that, he levitated a small piece of lamp shard that was lying on the ground and leaned against the door''s entrance.
He quickly positioned the shard to observe the hallway. A small orb of light drifted from his wand and illuminated the corridor.
A dead end, the room he was in was at the end of the hallway.
The said hallway was covered in darkness as it lacked proper ventilation.
''Am I underground?'' Leon wondered, the absence of windows, even ventilators, in his room and the hallway hinted that he was underground.
Suddenly, lights were switched on in the hallway and a single pair of footsteps rapidly approached his room.
With a practiced ease, he moved his wand in a pattern before whispering a spell.
Leon flickered before disappearing under the cover of shadows in the dimly lit room.
As the footsteps neared him, the lamps came alive, lighting up the room he was in.
Adrenaline filled Leon''s veins, slowing the time.
''Too many lamps for Nox to work, assuming it works as intended. No objects for me to hide behind or under..'' he concluded- his thoughts as quick as lightning.
He picked up a knife strewn at his feet, ignoring the heavy AK-47 resting beside the corpse, and waved his wand along with a whisper.
The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
The floor beside him turned into a trampoline.
His wand didn''t rest as he jumped on the magical trampoline; he whispered another spell just as he was tossed into the air.
With a thump, he stuck to the roof.
The perfect maneuvers Leon performed may look elaborate, but they took less than three seconds.
He repeatedly practiced this in the Hogwarts abandoned classrooms.
In some of his escape scenarios, he had to reach the roof quicker and … because it was cool.
But the Hogwarts classrooms have higher roofs than this cramped room he was in, so it wasn''t one of his best.
And because of the small size of this room, both width and height, and the bright light, he had to resort to sticking to the roof in his PJs which now he thinks about it, won''t bear his weight for long.
The room wasn''t even 2.5 meters in height, if someone enters the room right now and looks up, they will see a large uneven surface, poking outwards on the roof.
With a quick wave of his wand and a mutter something around Leon changed.
It''s like his presence was erased.
A notice me not spell.
With Leon casting the spell, no one would notice him.
At least, he hopes so.
The notice me not spell long disappointed Leon with its capabilities.
It seemed to work better on objects and only gave satisfying results when used on a person if they weren''t too out of their element.
Like with his spell, you are invisible in a crowd even when an inch away from your target.
But not so invisible when someone is actively searching for you or keeping an eye out for anything odd.
The book especially mentions that a wizard can''t go into public without wearing pants because others will notice.
Ignoring why people needed that reminder the book was explicit about the limitations of the spell.
You can hide 9 oranges in 10 apples and convince people that they are looking at 19 apples as long as they don''t touch them.
But you can''t even become less noticeable among a crowd of four while wearing bright or ridiculous clothes.
It seems this discrimination between humans and objects occurs only when another wizard is searching for you.
When it comes to muggles the author just glossed over them.
Leon thought that the author was either elitist or just plain lazy, he didn''t mention muggles in more than one line.
But it makes sense, with muggle repelling charm and even better charms present, no one bothers with little old notice me not charm. He did some research but there was no wizard-repelling charm.
And as much as Leon re-read the book and its funny do''s and don''ts, he was still in the middle of experimenting with this spell''s limits. So, he didn''t know whether the alert soldier whose mind is more disciplined and stronger compared to civilians could see how bad a chameleon Leon makes.
The door creaked open and there wasn''t movement from the outside for a couple of seconds before a soldier came in, following his gun''s muzzle and examined the room.
''Same dress.'' It was the first thing Leon noticed, the soldier was wearing the same attire as the corpse near the door, different from the two corpses deeper in the room.
The soldier checked the room before kneeling near the corpse wearing the same uniform as him.
With his rifle on the floor, he started to search the corpse, looking for something.
He was directly below Leon.
''Go away! Go away!'' Leon prayed in his mind.
He didn''t want to know what the soldier who was fresh from the battle, would do to a child who looked like he was from a different country.
Leon couldn''t exit the room even if he wanted to as the door''s arch blocked him. His device can''t scale vertical walls, only horizontal ones.
As he was anxious about whether he should fight the man or start a conversation with him so that he could know where he was, the man took a cigarette pack and exited the room with a grin.
The footsteps faded away making Leon relax.
He quickly used Nox to shut down the lamps.
Whether the lamps were short-circuited or the bulb''s filament lost the ability to shine, the lamps stopped working, casting the room into darkness.
If he hadn''t somehow been kidnapped from Hogwarts, Leon would have thought deeper about the interaction between the Nox spell and electric lamps. But sadly, other things were on his mind.
''Is assuming that Hogwarts have anti-portkey wards too much?'' Leon shook his head ignoring the temptation to jabber about irresponsible goblins and his one with too many jobs headmaster.
While he knew this was most likely the work of his house, a heads-up from his all-powerful headmaster or the keepers of his house vault would have been nice.
Leon detached himself from the roof and slowly descended onto the floor.
The levitation spell came in handy for that, but it took an immense amount of concentration to lift his weight via the spell after the first three seconds.
So, he wouldn''t be flying with the levitation spell soon.
Even then he would at most be moving in the air slowly, like a dandelion.
After waiting for another couple of minutes, Leon peeked from the room after recasting the notice me not and camouflage spell.
He quickly stripped the corpses of their military outfit.
Vest, knee guards, elbow guards, and helmet, he took everything that could protect him.
Satisfied with his haul and consciously suppressing the thought that he was wearing a deadman''s items he methodologically scoured his surroundings.
The ethical and eww feelings of wearing things with a dead man''s blood and more can be thought of when he is somewhere safe.
When he can afford those thoughts.
Leon slowly entered the hallway and surveyed it, clutching the walls.
He found ten rooms similar to the one he woke up in, all filled with wooden crates of rifles, ammo, and grenades.
Cursing himself for not learning some type of shrinking spell he longing glanced at the rooms filled with rifles as he stood below a cellar door.
Two rifles that looked the coolest were strapped to his back charmed with feather-light spell.
And of course, even though he chose rifles based on their looks. He accounted for their personality compatibility.
He took what looked like a shotgun- and a rifle that looked like an AK-47.
He planned to slip away from here unnoticed but grabbed the rifles and grenades just in case.
He knew he wouldn''t forgive himself if he needed them down the line and didn''t have them.
''Let''s hope, it won''t come to that. Gunshots and grenades tend to be noticeable.'' He cracked a wry grin.
If anything, Leon was more liable to use the knife as he didn''t know any spells to immobilize or knock out someone silently.
As his knife glowed sinisterly under the lamp''s illumination, Leon took a shaky breath and pushed aside the ideas of how to effectively use the knife to remain unnoticed.
Just like that a 14-year-old wizard, the age when a half-giant is supposed to burst into his room to tell him that he is a lizard(in this AU) and present him a cake only the T-rex, the alpha lizards, can chew, was standing below the trapdoor that will lead him out of this basement, decked with weapons like he was in some mobile game.
Shaking his head, he cast the unlocking charm, Alohomora, after pasting himself across a wall.
A metallic thud followed.
Leon let out a sigh and tried to push the trapdoor up.
It didn''t budge.
Not believing his spell didn''t work. He took a deep breath and pushed the hell out of the trapdoor.
It rose an inch before he couldn''t bear the weight anymore.
''Something heavy is blocking the trap door from opening.'' Leon swore and tried to lift the door one more time, and the same thing happened again.
Suppressing the irrational urge to try again, he hugged the basement wall, disappearing from the world.
''Now! What?'' he thought, calming down as he was safe, at least for now.
.......
I wasn''t able to allocate much time to edit this and the prev chap. Hope, they aren''t too bad.