Rise

Rose startles as she feels something swell up from deep inside of her soul. Feeling the magic energy flood her entire body, she almost collapses when she has her awakening. She tries remembering what he was doing. 

“Wasn’t I dying from being betrayed by those Weasleys?” One part of her asks, looking down at her torso to search for damage. She specifically remembers having her chest blown up with Bombarda.

Shaking her head, another memory pops into her mind. “No, I was on my way to the Dursley’s house from school.” She says as another part of her argues against what she has just said. 

“Actually, wasn’t I supposed to be meeting with bankers soon?” She asks with utter confusion.

“Wait! I can’t go to the bank, Petunia stole my identification papers and locked them up…” Feeling slightly dizzy, she leans against the nearest wall, which happened to be the one just outside the playground. 

Looking up at the sky, she huffs a little in desperation. “Death, if you can hear me, could I please have some sort of guided system?” She mutters to herself briefly before jerking backward as a screen appears in front of her. 

[Welcome to the system, Player 1! Please be patient with the system while updates are going on.]

Wincing in pain, she realizes that she has been reborn on another version of Earth. Taking a quick dive in the Gate that appears a few feet away, she is greeted by a wolf. Staring at it for a brief moment, she moves at the same time it does, automatically casting the cutting hex as it lunges.

A splat is heard as the wolf doesn't even have the chance to howl for the rest of the pack. Knowing that she can sell the mana core, she quietly uses the accio spell, causing it to jump out. As soon as it is in her hand, she takes a few moments to breathe before slowly exiting the gate and starting a trip to home.

Thankfully she knows that she might have something that can get her away from the Dursleys. Especially since she can go ahead and get a High School Certificate if she wishes to. Deciding to start with that, the next day she arrives at school, she heads straight to the secretary’s office and asks to take a highschool assessment. Finding it amusing to have a student that just started her first year of highschool taking a placement test, she decides to allow it.

Over the course of a week, she proves to know much more than a highschooler is supposed to. If it wasn’t thanks to her former self dying at 43 years old, and having taken his muggle education seriously, she wouldn’t have college level knowledge. Of course, they just had to call the Dursleys to the school to show them the results with her. Before they can see a single thing of it she snatches it up before glaring at the lady. 

“Are you trying to get my abusers to kill me?” She asks in a frigid tone, causing Petunia and Vernon to seize up, though Vernon does reach toward it again. “I want them out of here, they are not my family and I’d rather live in an abandoned orphanage then put up with these freaks. What sane and normal family would decide to house a child in a cupboard because of their parentage?” Vernon’s fist reaches out, grabbing her wrist and dragging her out of the room while his face is a purple puce color.

As soon as she is outside, she wrenches his arm so badly that his bones creak. His eyes widen, realizing that the girl in front of him is a Hunter as she gives him a cold glare. “I don’t tolerate child abuse or neglect. Nor does the law or citizens of this country. You will leave me alone entirely, give me all my family records, and drop the stupid rumor mongering, or I will drag this before the parliament.” He pales nastily, before nodding in a hurry. They drive her home, with her High School Certificate before Vernon hurries into the house. She forces Petunia to sit down at the kitchen table, ignoring her pale face as she recites her warning to her as well. As soon as all of her paperwork arrives, she hums, noticing the large amount of missing funds. 

“You will both pay back your robbery before the end of the month unless you want me to press charges. I’m sure it will be easy enough to get the records from the bank from the day my parents died. Seeing how you have spent your hard earned cash on me, then none of my money should be missing. Am I wrong?” They both pale, realizing that she is serious before they reluctantly agree. Going back up to her room, after using an accio for all of Dudley’s hidden cash, she realizes that he has several thousand cash just here. 

Nearly an hour passes before she decides where to spend the money. She has also removed both Dursley’s from her account claiming that she doesn’t have relatives named Dursleys. Knowing that will put auditors on their tail, she decides to go ahead and go shopping, after robbing all the money stashes in the entire building, finding almost all her money in various vases and shit around the house.

Arriving in the middle class shopping district, she makes her way toward a specific shop for a specific reason. Taking a few minutes to go through their materials, trying to feel for things that resonate with her for a wand at the very least. After a few minutes, she spends money on a few different materials that accept her. First of all, a small diamond, which is going to be the tip, resonates with her easily enough, though it is far from the only thing. Among the best conductors for her is a slender stick of holly, a vial of dragon blood, and a bright red, very, very toasty-warm feather, supposedly coming off of a phoenix. After purchasing the materials, she goes to the workshop part of the building and asks to use their station. 

After paying the standard self-craft fee, she takes the feather, soaking it in the blood as much as possible, before infusing magic into the two. Then she drills a really long, very tiny hole into the tip, putting the feather inside tips first. The rest of the blood is soaked into the hole, filling it up before she uses a drying charm, causing the feather and blood to dry out. Infusing the new state of her materials with her mana, she carefully uses a spell to cause some growth to form a thin cage around the diamond. Then she takes to carving runes of different kinds, including amplification, control, reinforcement, strength, courage, and victory into the side in a specific pattern. 

Once she is done, she picks it up, giving it a simple swish. A sharp whistle is heard, alongside clapping, as she realizes that she has drawn a small crowd. Looking over the group she sighs as she realizes most of them have only picked powerful materials. “Okay, first of all, my wand is powerful because my materials sync with me. More than half of everything each of you is holding is among the powerful and doesn’t sync with any of you. I’ll help, but I want the crafting fee.” They quickly line up, watching her follow the first person around, as she carefully hovers her hand near the materials, with her focusing mana into her hand without effect. One item starts jumping and gets worse the closer she is to it before it flies right at her. 

“That’s a very strong sync. Let’s continue, just having wood amplifies spells and magic, but having a core or other materials can refine the control you have over it while boosting certain traits. Most dragon materials amplify the power behind spells, and not just a general amplification, for example.” Secretly glad that she studied wandmaking in secret, she is extremely pleased that she is able to make a bit of pocket change. 

It takes her about twenty minutes to make each wand, without more than basic runes. That includes helping them select materials, finding their purpose for their utensil, and then explaining which of their materials are best for what and letting them choose which ones to make. She spends almost the whole afternoon here, sometimes even teaching the staff what to look for and the associated abilities of different material types, beasts, ores, gems, magic plants, and more.

Finally, after some time, the shop is about to close. Taking a few minutes to quiet the room is barely managed. “We’ve got about thirty minutes, I will gather the material for six of you, then I will make your wands in my freetime. I’ll be here on Saturdays, easily enough. Though, since I’m going to have to use some of these tools, I need to know where to purchase them, especially the carving knives and the drills.” To her surprise, a rather famous A-Rank mage enters the shop, causing a group of whispers to echo over the room. 

Walking up to Rose, he observes the wands he sees among the group Rose has done. “I’ll pay you to make me a staff. My sister bought the materials for a wand before explaining that some upstart figured out how to make more powerful wands. Said something about the materials syncing with the user. For now, I just expect a Wand, just as a test.” He explains gently before Rose sighs and tells him how to control his magic without using spells. 

He carefully covers his hand in his mana before she follows him around. She raises her eyebrows in thought. “You have a speciality and at least one secondary art, are you primarily a Mage, healer, or Support?.” Her assessment earns her a wide grin from him. Observing her for a few more moments, he goes into detail.

“I’m strongest with the Mage and somewhat weaker with the Support. I’m barely capable of healing and I’m pretty great at barriers and elemental attacks. Though I’m working on improving my support abilities.” Nodding in acknowledgement, she gathers the materials for a general wand, a mage wand, and a support wand. 

“This first one is a generalized wand, good for just about every type of spell without a major specialization. These two here have specializations, but the third has a stronger focus on barriers and lasting barriers. This one here is a mage ability based wand, like elemental techniques. Last one is good for buffs, debuffs, traps, and barriers, with a focus on the last. To make that more effective, try experimenting with the barriers. if you can place a barrier that cuts things from the inside off from the outside, then you could essentially kill monsters with a barrier. Plus, a barrier that could heal while shielding a patient would likely be in your capabilities.” His sudden thoughtfulness has her realizing that she may have inspired him a little bit. 

“I’ll pay for my materials now and be back on Saturday for the finished product. I’ll definitely bring a few friends.” Her eyebrows twitch at the sudden thought before she reluctantly agrees. After spending a few minutes getting everyone’s materials, she is surprised when the A-Rank mage comes back with a wicked grin. He places a box in her arms, peering inside she smiles with gratitude. “These are only yours now, take care of them.” Nodding curtly, she takes half the crafting fee payment upfront, for each wand, before taking her things to the nearest three star hotel. 

After she is in a room of her own, she begins working on the eight or nine wands she is ready to make. 

After preparing for the day, Rose makes her way back to the foci material shop. Upon arriving, she is surprised to find the rather famous S-Rank Hunter that just so happens to be the counterpart to Voldemort. The clerk turns toward her, perking up a whole lot at the sight of her. 

Riddle turns toward her as soon as the clerk perks up. “Good morning, Focus Tool Craft Mistress. I am the owner of this shop, many know me as a famous S-Rank Mage but I am also a lord of minor nobility. My name is Thomas Marvolo Riddle, but I ask that you call me Tom.” Knowing that he is essentially providing her with a rare privilege to be friendly with nobility, she pauses. After a moment of debate, she decides to be friendly with him in return.

“Good morning Tom, I didn’t realize that this shop was owned by a hunter.” He gives her an affable smile at her response. 

“Not many do, considering how few awakened are interested in gathering rarer parts for different tools.” Knowing a bit about the fact that some people only use weapons and not foci, she nods in agreement. 

“That is definitely true, I’ve heard of cases where awakened miners don’t salvage nearly as much as they could. Though to be honest, I’m kind of curious if there is anything like mythril in those. From what  I understand they may be buried deeper in the walls inside dungeons if they did exist. If they exist then it is possible they can be detected with magical scanners. Though the scanners would have to be able to detect stronger areas and beasts within dungeons to be useful like this.” Rose tells him honestly as she actually remembers reading a report on the miner mishaps. The hum of consideration makes her wonder if she has just given him a random idea. 

“I will give the suggestion to my guild for them to research. Would you want credit if that were to be accurate?” Looking at him in surprise at the offer, she realizes that this version of him is genuinely kind. 

“While that would be appreciated, I would likely be hounded for other ideas. Then that would spiral out of control with people demanding visits with me due to my skills. I woke up as a hunter several days ago and instantly knew how to craft stronger foci on an individual basis. That alone would have many people trying to rush me to do things for them, which I also want to go into dungeons one day, even if I am there as a miner or a pack mule.” He chuckles dryly, definitely aware that there are very dangerous creatures that she could run across. It would be rather easy to kill a weak hunter who is underprepared. 

“I could put a word in for you with my guild, if you wish for me to.” He tells her encouragingly, knowing that she wants to do more than mining and carrying things. “If you’d wish to participate in a raid, I suppose that I could offer a few favors to allow you in with supervision. Though you would start in a dungeon with a slightly weaker rank than your own.” Flushing scarlet, as she realizes that she has forgotten to get registered to begin with. Hiding her face in her hands, she whines in embarrassment. 

“Ah, I see. I have the authority to call for someone to come scan your mana, if you wish. Though they will only come to my shop or somewhere I am familiar with.” He tells her with amusement in his tone, almost like she is not the first one he has seen such things with. Slowly lowering her hands, and trying to force her face to return to a normal hue, she takes a deep breath. 

“I would greatly appreciate it. If I am going to be staying for a while, there is something I would like to do. When I gained knowledge on foci materials, I didn’t realize that people would need to use the knowledge to get proper gear.” She starts shifting her feet nervously since she is aware that she needs to get some kind of support for her. 

Looking up at him, and wondering when she started looking toward her feet, she gives him a shy smile. “So I am asking for permission to negotiate a business alliance with your shop.” His eyes shine with mild amusement and appreciation. 

Knowing from the way he is letting her get her figurative feet under her, she decides to continue. “Since I am fairly certain that I will be hounded about my knowledge, there is only one thing I can do to avoid that. The first thing that pops into my mind is to train other awakened in this knowledge. Another thing I could do is start writing a thesaurus to help others figure out what kind of focus they have reagents for.” Well aware that she has a point, he nods in agreement with her thought. 

Gently chuckling at the prized offer he is receiving, he decides to take it. “I can definitely hire you to train a few retired hunters to make proper foci. Though, if you are willing, I want you to be here long term as a manager of sorts over those you train. Of course, I am aware that you will need help managing your team and more. Most of all, you certainly need assistance figuring out what your worth is due to this knowledge.” Her eyes widen as she realizes that he has a very good point. 

She feels herself tearing up, as the instincts of worthlessness, self loathing, and bitterness try to surge up in her. “If I make a focus for you, could you do me a favor?” She asks, knowing she is likely speaking in a small tone. 

Wiping at her tears, she is surprised when he pulls her in a side hug and gently pulls her toward his office. “As long as it doesn’t hurt anyone, then I would be delighted to do a favor to have a wand attuned to me.” His tone is so sincere, that she decides to tell him about her home life. She tells him about the abuse, about her hidden fear of hurting innocents if her magic reacts to her relatives possibly continuing treatment of her. She tells how they take things from donation boxes to give her, making the excuse that they paid for her stuff as charity on their tax forms, and more. 

After several moments, she realizes that they have a voice recorder and have been recording what she has said thus far. She bursts into absolute tears at this point, knowing that they genuinely care more about her than her own blood. Tom gently lifts her in his arms, moving to sit on the couch and settling with her on his lap. 

After a little while, she feels herself drowsily snuggling up against him with her tears drying on her face. He is gently caressing his hand through her hair, flustering her a tiny bit. Slowly sighing, she doesn’t realize that her brain to mouth filter has broken for the day. “Can you adopt me?” She murmurs sleepily, causing his hand to pause in his administration. 

Slipping into a comfortable and restful sleep, she subconsciously nuzzles her head against his hand with a small plea filled whine. Thankfully his butler, who has assisted him for the last ten years places a soft, fuzzy blanket over her. “I apologize, Master Thomas, but it seems like she genuinely needs comfort. It is possible that she crafted those wands out of charity, to help others. According to the clerk, those she made the wands for only paid the store for her tool usage. She never took the money herself.”

“Check her things for a name, if it is fitting for a female, look up the person. Hopefully we can track her relatives so we can hire a detective to gather evidence.” After giving him a curt bow, and pulling a corner table near him for his personal paperwork, the older butler complies. The two men are both eager to get her out of the abhorrent home as quickly as possible.