Vaughan Weasley

A summer morning, Devon.

The cool morning breeze swept across the fields outside Ottery St. Catchpole, passed over Stoat Mountain, and set the vast thriving reeds beyond it swaying like rolling waves.

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

But the wind knew that a wizarding family lived in seclusion among those vast reeds.

They had a fairly large garden, and the pond within it rippled as the reeds swayed.

The main building was a tall house that looked as though it might collapse at any moment. Only the first floor appeared solid and properly built. Though its paint was old, it had been well maintained, and a wooden sign engraved with the words "The Burrow" hung by the door.

It seemed to speak of how, more than twenty years ago, a young couple had chosen to settle here, placing all their passion for life and hopes for warmth and comfort into that little one-story home.

But clearly, life had brought far more surprises than they had anticipated. As they had more and more children, the house had been built higher and higher.

Until it became the strange sight it was today!

On the top floor of The Burrow, the attic that had been occupied by a ghoul a few years ago had now been renovated. Rows of shelves for potion ingredients stood against the walls, piled with boxes, bottles, and jars. It looked messy and cramped, with only an open space cleared in the center of the attic.

A simple workbench stood there, with all sorts of potion-brewing equipment arranged across it. The fire burned beneath the cauldron, and the potion inside bubbled away.

Standing before the cauldron, red-haired Vaughan Weasley carefully finished preparing the ingredients, then checked the heat beneath the potion once more.

"Cloak grass, African tree snake skin... hmm, and just a little fairy wing..."

Vaughan lowered the flame and waited for the cauldron's temperature to drop before adding the last ingredient in his hand.

"Add fluxweed last, to give the beauty potion pliability..."

He muttered as he closely watched the changes in the cauldron. As the fluxweed dissolved, the temperature fell steadily. When the final bubble burst, a marvelous reaction occurred within the pot.

The thick black potion rapidly changed from murky to clear, like melted rock sugar syrup before it had caramelized, giving off a sweet, fresh fragrance.

"Success!"

Vaughan hurriedly dug out a box of bottles from the seemingly cluttered ingredient shelves beside him. With a wave of his old wand, he levitated the potion and poured it into the small bottles.

Finally, he carefully affixed handwritten labels to each one:

[Vaughan Beauty Potion (Wrinkle-Removing Type)]

[Apply externally and massage gently to banish your wrinkles and restore healthy, firm skin.]

Once everything was done, Vaughan stretched hard. As his bones crackled pleasantly, he looked out through the attic window at the reeds swaying like waves in the morning breeze and the sky gradually brightening at the horizon, momentarily lost in a daze.

It had been eleven years since he had transmigrated into this world. Ever since he was born, he had known his surname was Weasley, and that he had five older brothers named Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred, and George.

And there was his twin younger brother, who had been kicked by him at birth and was born five minutes later—Ronald Bilius Weasley, Ron for short.

How could Vaughan possibly not realize what world he had transmigrated into?

Harry Potter...

Eleven years had passed, and although he often revisited them, his memories of his past life remained relatively clear.

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

Vaughan shook his head and stopped dwelling on it. Instead, he silently called out, "System!"

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

[Host: Vaughan Weasley]

[Magic Power: 370 (an ordinary adult wizard has 500)]

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

[Spells: Occlumency LV5 (MAX), Shield Charm LV3 (2/8), Disarming Charm LV2 (2/4), Levitation Charm LV2 (0/4), Petrification Charm LV2 (0/4), Fire-Making Spell LV2 (1/4), Wand-Lighting Charm LV2 (0/2)...]

[Potions: Elixir to Induce Euphoria, Invigoration Potion, Blood-Replenishing Potion, Hair-Softening Potion, Hair-Growth Potion, Beauty Potion (Master Level, includes multiple types of formulas)...]

[Reputation Points: 12]

This system had awakened when Vaughan was born.

Having read the novels and watched the films, Vaughan knew full well that the future would only grow more dangerous. The fact that he had not simply given up the moment he was born was largely because the system had given him tremendous courage.

Vaughan glanced at the words [Potions 10] in the talent section of the system panel. Even though he had seen them countless times, they still gave him the satisfying feeling of having a compulsive itch perfectly scratched.

All his other talent levels had come with his birth. Only "Potions" had been a reward from the starter gift pack granted when the system awakened—a maxed-out Occlumency skill, and one random talent raised to its maximum value!

Over the past eleven years, through gradual exploration, Vaughan had also come to understand the functions of this so-called "Reputation System." So far, it had issued no quests, had no shop, and offered no draws.

Its core function was exactly what its name implied: it calculated Reputation Points every month based on the extent to which Vaughan's reputation had spread.

Reputation Points could be used to raise spell levels. The numbers in parentheses in the system's spell section indicated how many Reputation Points were needed to raise a spell to the next level.

The more difficult the spell, the more or fewer Reputation Points it required accordingly.

Of course, spells could also be leveled up through practice, but that required extensive training and talent.

After figuring out the system's functions, Vaughan had been very glad that the random max-level talent from his "starter gift pack" had landed on "Potions."

There was no denying that Potions was vast and profound, but its entry barrier was not particularly high. As long as one had the ingredients, formula, and a cauldron, any wizard could get started. Some simple formulas did not even require a wand to be waved.

Of all the branches of magic, none suited a little wizard like Vaughn—who did not even have a wand—better than this.

Vaughn had always been cautious by nature.

He knew full well 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.

It was not until he was four that Vaughn began building his "genius" persona, utterly outclassing Ron in basic subjects such as word recognition, writing, and drawing.

Then, at the age of seven, he gradually brought his "genius" persona into his beloved field of Potions!

Starting with the simplest brews, four years had passed. From initially asking Bill and Charlie for guidance in confusion to improving formulas on his own, Vaughn had already become a somewhat well-known potion maker.

In the field of beauty potions especially, several papers he published and the various improved beauty potions he developed had practically made him the "beauty master" and "women's best friend" of the wizarding world!

As for why he specialized in beauty...

No other reason—it was easy to make a name for himself, and the products sold well!