Vaughn Weasley

On a summer morning in Devon, a cool breeze swept across the fields.

It passed Ottery St Catchpole Village and crossed Weasel Mountain, setting the vast reeds behind it swaying like rolling waves.

The villagers of Ottery St Catchpole had always believed there was nothing out there but reeds and wilderness.

But the wind knew a wizarding family lived hidden among those reeds.

Their home had a sizable garden, where ripples spread across the pond as the reeds swayed.

The main building was a tall house that looked ready to collapse. Only the ground floor seemed sturdy and properly built. Its paint was old but well maintained, and a wooden sign by the door read "The Burrow."

It was as though, more than twenty years ago, a young couple had poured all their enthusiasm for life and hopes for a cozy home into that little cottage when they settled there.

But life had clearly brought more surprises than they expected. As more children arrived, they kept building higher.

Until the house became the strange sight it was today!

The attic at the top of The Burrow, occupied by a Ghoul until a few years ago, had since been remodeled. Racks of ingredients lined the walls, crammed with boxes, bottles, and jars. Only a patch of floor in the center remained clear.

A simple worktable stood there, with the equipment for brewing Potions arranged around it. A fire burned beneath a Cauldron, and the liquid inside bubbled away.

Before the Cauldron, red-haired Vaughn Weasley finished preparing the ingredients with a look of concentration, then checked the heat beneath the brew once more.

"Dittany, African Tree Snake Skin... Hmm, and just a little Fairy Wings..."

Vaughn turned down the heat and waited for the Cauldron to cool before adding the last ingredient in his hand.

"Fluxweed goes in last to give the Beauty Potion the ability to reshape the body..."

He murmured as he watched the liquid closely. The Fluxweed dissolved, the temperature fell steadily, and when the final bubble burst, a remarkable reaction took place inside the Cauldron.

The thick, black liquid rapidly turned clear. It looked like freshly melted sugar, before it had begun to caramelize, and gave off a sweet scent.

"Success!"

Vaughn quickly pulled a box of bottles from a seemingly chaotic ingredient rack. With a wave of his old Wand, he lifted the potion into the air and filled the little bottles one by one.

Then he carefully affixed his handwritten labels:

[Vaughn's Beauty Potion (Wrinkle-Removal Type)]

[Apply externally and massage in to smooth away wrinkles and restore firm, healthy skin.]

With everything done, Vaughn stretched hard. His joints cracked pleasantly as he gazed through the attic window at the reeds rolling in the morning breeze and the brightening sky beyond. For a moment, he felt dazed.

He had been in this world for eleven years. After his birth, he had learned that his surname was Weasley and that he had five older brothers: Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred, and George.

He also had a twin brother whom he had kicked at birth, causing the boy to arrive five minutes later. That brother had been named Ronald Bilius Weasley, or Ron for short.

How could Vaughn not have realized what world he had come to?

Harry Potter...

Even after eleven years, his memories of his previous life remained fairly clear because he revisited them so often.

But after living in this world for so long, the past had inevitably begun to fade.

Vaughn shook his head and stopped dwelling on it. Instead, he thought:

System!

At that thought, a panel invisible to everyone else appeared before his eyes:

[Host: Vaughn Weasley]

[Magic Power Level: 370 (average adult wizard: 500)]

[Talents: Charms 7, Dark Arts 6, Transfiguration 7, Potions 10, Herbology 6, Divination 2 (maximum: 10)]

[Spells: Occlumency LV5 (MAX), Shield Charm LV3 (2/8), Disarming Charm LV2 (2/4), Levitation Charm LV2 (0/4), Petrifying Charm LV2 (0/4), Fire Charm LV2 (1/4), Light Charm LV2 (0/2)...]

[Potions: Draught of Joy, Energy Potion, Blood Replenishing Potion, Hair Softening Potion, Hair Growing Potion, Beauty Potion (master level, including multiple formulas)...]

[Reputation Points: 12]

The system had awakened when Vaughn was born.

He had read the books and watched the films. He knew how dangerous life would become. The fact that he had not simply given up the moment he was born owed a great deal to the courage the system gave him.

Vaughn glanced at "Potions 10" in the talents section of the System Panel. Even after seeing it countless times, he still felt the satisfaction of a perfectly filled-out score.

His other talent levels were innate. Potions alone had come from the welcome gift he received when the system awakened: maximum-level Occlumency and a random talent raised to its maximum value!

Over the past eleven years, Vaughn had gradually worked out how the Reputation System functioned. So far, it had issued no missions and offered neither a shop nor a lottery.

Its core function was exactly what its name suggested: each month, it awarded Reputation Points based on how widely Vaughn's name had spread!

Reputation Points could raise spell levels. The numbers in parentheses beside each spell showed how many points it needed to reach the next level.

The amount varied with the difficulty of the spell.

Of course, he could also raise a spell's level through practice, but that required a great deal of work and talent.

Once he understood the system, Vaughn was glad his "beginner's gift" had chosen Potions as the talent to maximize.

Potions was undeniably a vast and complex field, but its barrier to entry was low. With ingredients, a formula, and a Cauldron, any wizard could get started. Some simple formulas did not even require a wave of a Wand.

No other branch of Magic suited a young wizard without a Wand as well as Potions did.

Vaughn was cautious by nature.

He knew that both his identity as a Transmigrator and the existence of the system were enormous secrets. When he was little, he had never tried to draw attention to anything unusual about himself.

Only at four had Vaughn begun cultivating his image as a "genius," thoroughly outshining Ron in basic skills such as reading, writing, and drawing.

Then, at seven, he had gradually extended that "genius" image to his trusty field of Potions!

He had started with the simplest brews. Over the next four years, he went from asking Bill and Charlie for help while barely understanding the basics to improving formulas himself. Vaughn had become a potion-maker with a modest reputation.

His papers on Beauty Potions and the various formulas he had improved had even made him something of a "Beauty Master" and "Friend of Women" throughout the Wizarding World!

Why had he focused on beauty products?

Simple. They were an easy way to make a name for himself, and they sold well!