After making sure that, no, there were no other gods in this world (aside from the goddess of magic, brought to 'life' by the belief of humans and as such both weaker than ‘Death’, a force of nature(?), and myself, representing a concept) I allowed myself to relax more.
Right now, we were floating down onto the world lazily, towards France. Harry had expressed an interest in seeing Paris, and while I would trust him enough to make the trip, he a) was not willing to leave my side and b) was also not willing to fly the whole way. With me carrying him, it was just simpler.
I gave a snort of amusement.
We landed in the middle of the bustling city, still fully invisible, and after finding an unobserved corner, two spells made us visible again and allowed us to understand and speak French. They weren't too complicated, but Harry didn't learn them yet.
We started to explore the city, eventually ending up in a district where for some reason there were only magical humans. I just laughed at the absurdity of a medieval-looking shopping street in the center of Paris.
I also had made sure the anti-tracking spells on my person were still working. I wasn’t willing to allow magic to find me, and I was unsure if ‘Death’ had found me because they weakened, because I wasn’t in my home, or because they were broken; luckily it seemed a combination of the first two options.
Sighing, I looked around again.
“I need a coffee,” I decided, going to a small café I spotted to the side, ordering one.
Watching the busy street, I chuckled, deciding that I was interested in this world's magic. They might be much weaker than those I knew individually were, but they were far more efficient.
Efficiency was the one problem I had with my spells. (Not really, but for anyone else but me it proved problematic, especially for those that do not have a horn as a natural focus.)
“Mom! What are they?” Harry asked, and I turned around, spotting a family of four (two adults, two girls, one older and one younger than Harry by about two to three years each), standing in front of a bookstore.
Fueling more than a bit of magic into my eye, I looked at them, finding that they had some sort of non-human magic… no, not just magic.
Blood.
Excluding the man, they were descendants of some sort of magic creature. The magic inside of them looked warm, almost hot, and ‘airy’, like it would flow around obstructions instead of pressing against them.
“Miss?” I called out to them, making sure to project my voice so that they could hear me. The woman turned around, meeting my gaze.
“Oh! Can I help you?”
I looked at Harry.
“Actually, yes,” I deadpanned, ruffling Harry’s hair.
“This brat here can sense you’re different and wanted to know what he felt,” I added in a cheerful voice, and she blinked, chuckling.
Five minutes later, we all had some sort of drink (coffee for the adults, some tea for the children), before they introduced themselves.
“We are family Delacour.”
“Family Moon,” I responded in kind, and she blinked.
“It seems we both do not know of the other… my family is a bit well-known for holding creature blood. My mother is a Veela,” she explained, before gesturing to me.
“Well, we, too, carry creature blood, but ours is probably a bit rarer. I inherited a lot of abilities from my predecessor, who in turn had been created by magic alone. She was a manifestation made by magic.”
“Oh, that’s very interesting. I am curious which titles apply to you?”
I shrugged.
“Probably not too many. Two, I would expect, but I haven’t verified that yet,” I said, guessing that magic said I took on Harry’s family name and the one of that knockoff dark lord by right of conquest.
“While my predecessor did hold titles, they were all self-given. I don’t think those count,” I chuckled, getting a nod from the man.
“I see. On the topic of family, whom might your child be?”
“Depends,” I responded, chuckling.
“On the person asking?”
“Nah. On your timing,” I said, pointing to Harry.
“That’s Harry,” I said, before flaring up my magic and flinging it at Harry.
“And that’s Nebula,” I deadpanned, the now-girl looking down at her fantasy-like clothes before whirling around to me.
“MOM!”
“What?”
The magic wore off, and he was Harry again.
“Was that wandless magic? Did you force him… to transform, wandless no less?”
“No, I forced him to take on an alternate form he already had. Transformations are much more difficult, and I would not dare cast them with a wave of my hand. What I did was throw the tiniest speck of magic at him, and he reacted much like you would when touching something scalding hot – reflexively, without thinking.”
Cur wry smile.
“To be fair, I told him to train this ability of his and he should be able to block me doing this, would he have done so properly.”
“Says the goddess with anger issues,” Harry stage-whispered in return.
I glared at him, and he glared back before we both burst into laughter.
“We’re doing this song and dance for years now,” I explained, grinning at him fondly.
“It is nice to see that you’re so close. Many powerful wizards and witches are only concerned about how they appear in public,” the woman said, and I shrugged.
“Let them come at me, I say! This is my life, and I will stay polite, but besides that, I’ll not let anyone tell me what to do!”
I took another sip of my coffee.
“Now that I think about it, how about we stay in contact? I’m a very powerful caster, as you might have noticed. People like you who are friendly because they can be, not wishing to further their goals, are rare too.”
“Sure. Can you give me your address?”
I shrugged.
“I could, but your mail wouldn’t reach me. Instead, use this,” I responded, pulling out a small book.
“It’s linked to another copy I have. They became really widespread in another country some years ago, and I bought a few,” I explained, and she nodded. I paid and went to leave, but the smallest of the Delacour’s stopped me, holding onto my leg.
“Something the matter, little one?”
“Your wings are beautiful!”
“Why thank you,” I responded, looking into her eyes, searching for something but only finding curiosity. Could she see my real form?
Eh, whatever. I don’t really care.
“Then, you are still young… do you wish for me to show you how to fly?” I asked, and she eagerly nodded. With a shrug, I put my hands to my temple, carefully forming and materializing a dream.
It contained the ‘experience’ of flying masterfully, and once it touched the little girl’s hands, the orb dissolved, much to her dismay.
“It’ll make sure you know how to fly once your wings come in,” I said, getting a pout in response.
“Can we go flying?!” she asked, but I had to shake my head.
“I cannot do that, especially not if you are so young. I could transmute you wings, but they could not lift you, instead, they would hinder your growth. I’ll think about it if you’re nine or older,” I explained, knowing the dangers of those spells on young beings – luckily, NOT from experience.
Eventually, the topic turned to magic schooling, and I shrugged.
“Haven’t decided if and where I’ll send Harry. I’m teaching him my magic, but I’ll admit that it would be useful for him to have magic that does not rely on having an ungodly amount of mana in your body.”
“Hmm… Beauxbatons is one of the top magic schools in Europe. Why would you consider not letting your child attend?”
“A few reasons, but I’d rather not talk about them.”
“Oh. Sorry, we shouldn’t have asked.”
“Nah, it’s fine, really. Curiosity isn’t a bad thing, but one needs to know when to stop.”
“I guess that’s true,” was the response, and after we realized there wasn’t much more to say, I stood up, having paid already.
We wished each other well, then left, continuing through the bright city.
Even in the night.
Now I’m sad. Light pollution… just, why.