How It All Began
Childe was spending a wonderful evening catching up with Zhongli, walking side by side down a trail in the mountains. When suddenly they started glowing gold.
It was unexpected, and Childe didn’t even manage to feel shock before his mind started to swirl. The last thing he saw was Zhongli’s surprised expression before everything went dark.
No, not dark. Flashes of colors so fast, he can barely make them out. Was it even colors? Or was it a scene? Maybe it was just pictures his mind conjured up randomly. Perhaps it was- what was it called again? Life flashing before your eyes? Whatever it was, it burned his eyes despite his eyes being closed.
It was unpleasant to say the least, and nothing made sense.
Was Zhongli experiencing this too?
Then suddenly the colors ended, and he felt himself land somewhere warm. Comfortable.
Almost like a bed.
Wait…
What?
Childe shuffled around. Yep, it was a bed alright. Though it lacked the velvety quality of his bed. Meaning that he was not dreaming.
Shame.
He could hear, distantly wind whooshing, and wood creaking. An old house, he figured.
Cautiously he opened his eyes. Childe almost wished he didn’t.
Surrounding him was a tiny bedroom, a tiny crooked bed, and it was orange. Filled with orange things. Disgusting.
Childe's favorite color is and always will be red, maybe blue, but mainly red. Saying that red is similar to orange is a disgrace.
Amber was alright, as that color really does fit Zhongli very well. Maybe a little too well. Sometimes, Childe just wants to pet that chocolate fading amber hair.
Anyways, the room was completely orange, and extremely messy. Whoever this room belongs to, Childe was going to fight.
Everything around him looked poor as well, though there were some weird posters of mens on a broom. What in the archons?
Whatever, he needed to find Zhongli. Childe figured that they'd been captured.
However, as he rose up, he realized, horrified, that his hands looked different.
No, his whole body looked different. He felt different.
At first, he had decided that their kidnapper must have changed their clothes when he was unconscious, but…
He literally transformed into his younger self.
Before he fell in the abyss. Before he got his scars. Before everything started going wrong.
He was pure again.
Childe just stared at his hands, staring at the unscarred flesh, so different and small.
How old was he? No, what the fuck happened. No, Where was he? And Where’s Zhongli?
“Ajax, come down! Your letter arrived!” A shrill but excited voice shouted, startling him out of his thoughts.
Ajax? Only his family members called him that. Only his family members knew about that. Not even Zhongli, who Childe considers his closest friend.
Ajax died when he became fourteen. What was he doing here?
The warm voice had called him again to hurry up, so he decided to play it safe, and changed into a red sweater that looked extremely low quality, and a pair of woolen gray shorts.
Childe decided that he hates his life, as he went down the weird stairs that were connected to the room, which was somehow also the ceiling? What the fucking hell was happening.
Then he was greeted by a more absurd scene that almost made Childe cry.
The living room, or was it the kitchen, was a complete mess, and very orange. It radiated business.
A bunch of gingers were sitting around a gigantic table that looked crooked, munching on a pile of mushy things. One of them, a plump and cozy looking woman, was stabbing a stick in the air, and the other hand was holding a letter.
Childe watch in bewilderment as she jerked the stick, muttering to herself and another fucking letter appeared.
Vision people? No, he sees no vision on them.
Wait, where was his vision? He touched the place where his belt was supposed to be, and unsurprisingly, found nothing. Childe already knew his vision wasn’t there, but probably instinct made him check again.
He let out a groan accidentally, pulling the attention of the gingers, but most of them just waved at him, and kept munching on the mushing thing.
Which brings up the next question.
How do they know him?
“Ajax! Took you long enough. Look, your Hogwarts letter came in the mail today.” The woman excitedly chattered.
The seemingly youngest ginger, muttered something under her breath, crossing her arms.
One of the other gingers, one of the twins, grinned lopsidedly at her,
“Don’t worry Ginny! It’ll be your turn next year. Until then, expect some unexpected letters~”
Childe suddenly noticed that they had a thick accent. It was a bit like Snezhnaya but more deeper and noticeable.
The oldest male of the family, maybe the dad groaned, “Fred, George, please stop with those pranks, Severus sent enough letters of complaints already.”
The two merely snickered.
Childe blinked, nothing was making sense right now. They seem as if they know him. Like he has always been here. Like he belonged in the cramped house. Like he was part of this family.
He wasn’t though, whatever happened, he needed to get back. Back to Teyvat where he truly belonged.
Childe looked around to find the woman's concerned eyes on him, “You feeling alright, sweetie? You’re not talking as much as usual.” She asked, coming towards him.
Childe let out a fake grin, “No everything is fine, I think I just slept too much.” He lied.
He was always good at lying.
Her brows furrowed, “Your voice sounds different.”
One of the twins gasped dramatically, “He sounds like those wizards in America!”
“Poor Tartarli-gaga! You slept your accent off!” The other twin chimed in, grinning broadly.
Tartarli-gaga? What kind of nickname was that? Even Paimon’s nicknames are better.
“Uh. Could I see the letter now?” Childe demanded, chuckling awkwardly, and the twins went back to eating, occasionally throwing the mushy stuff at each other.
The mother handed him the letter, but eyed him worriedly still. It was weird having someone fuss over him, after all these years of taking care of himself. It felt almost nice.
Zhongli was always kind, and would always comfort him, but this was different, it reminded Childe of his own mom.
He examined the letter, biting the inside of his cheeks, frowning. There was purple wax that was keeping the letter shut, with the letter H stamped on it.
He tore it open, fumbling, grabbing the sheep of parchment that was inside and started to read.
HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY
Headmaster: ALBUS DUMBLEDORE
(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc.. Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)
Dear Mr. Weasley,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July.
Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall,
Deputy Headmistress
Below, was a list of books and supplies that were too complicated. Childe was not going to read it, he barely knows how to read anyways.
But, Hogwarts? School of Witchcraft and Wizardry? What in Celestia does that mean?
Witchcraft…that sounded familiar.
Then it dawned on Childe.
Oh Tsaritsa. Witch.
He had met one in Snezhnaya. They specialize in wand magic. The stick the woman was holding was a wand. Childe was surrounded by actual magic people, and apparently, he was one too.
“You alright, Ajax?” The woman asked, peering at Childe.
No.
The father, fortunately, saved Childe from replying,“Don’t worry, Molly, I’m pretty sure Ajax is overwhelmed. I remember Charlie being like this.”
Childe nodded eagerly, grateful for the excuse, but truly? He was overwhelmed.
Yes, he was good at lying, but emotions are a hard thing to hide.
Molly sighed, “Alright, if you say so,” She said, “Hogwarts starts in a month, you can use Billy’s old books. We’ll buy the rest if anything’s missing.”
Childe nodded again. Use Billy’s old books? Let’s just hope they’re not too ancient.
As he sat down on the creaking wooden table to eat breakfast, he noticed that the mushy stuff was actually mashed potato, and it was actually pretty good.
However, he couldn’t enjoy the flavor as all he could think about is literally restarting life again in another maybe universe. Plus, he's gonna go to school, Childe never managed to finish his education back in Teyvat, falling into the Abyss and all.
Also Childe misses Zhongli a lot. He hoped that he was going to Hogwarts too, maybe they could figure a way out of this place together.