Vaughan Weasley

A summer morning in Devon.

The cool morning breeze swept across the fields outside Ottery St. Catchpole, passed over Stoat Mountain, and sent the lush reeds behind it swaying like waves.

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

But the wind knew that a wizarding family lived in hiding among those vast reed beds.

They had a sizable garden, where a pond rippled in time with the swaying reeds.

The main building was a towering house that looked ready to collapse. Only the first floor seemed sturdy and orderly. Its paint was old but well maintained, and a wooden sign bearing the words "The Burrow" hung by the door.

It seemed to tell of how, more than twenty years ago, a young couple had chosen to settle here, placing all their enthusiasm for life and hopes for a warm home in that little cottage.

But clearly, life had thrown them far more surprises than they had expected. As their family grew, they kept adding floors to the cottage.

Until it had become the peculiar sight it was today!

The attic at the top of The Burrow, which had been occupied by a ghoul a few years ago, had since been renovated. Rows of shelves lined the walls, piled with boxes, bottles, and jars, making the space look cluttered and cramped. Only a patch in the center of the attic had been cleared.

A simple workbench stood there, with all the equipment needed for brewing Potions neatly arranged around it. A fire burned beneath a cauldron, where the potion bubbled away.

In front of the cauldron, red-haired Vaughn Weasley finished preparing the ingredients, then carefully checked the heat of the potion.

"Cloakgrass, African Tree Snake skin... Hmm, just a little more fairy wing..."

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

"Finally, Fluxweed, to give the beauty potion the body's capacity for change..."

He murmured as he watched the potion closely. As the Fluxweed dissolved, the temperature fell steadily, until the final bubble burst and a wondrous reaction took place in the cauldron.

The thick, black potion quickly cleared, becoming like melted rock sugar that hadn't yet been caramelized. A sweet fragrance wafted from it.

"It worked!"

Vaughn hurriedly found a box of bottles among the seemingly disorganized shelves. He waved his old wand, levitating the potion and filling one small bottle after another.

Then he carefully applied handwritten labels:

[Vaughn Beauty Potion (Wrinkle-Removing)]

[For external use. Apply with a massage to banish wrinkles and restore healthy, firm skin.]

Once everything was done, Vaughn stretched out with a satisfying crackle of his joints. He gazed out the attic window at the reeds swaying like waves in the morning breeze and the steadily brightening sky. For a moment, he felt dazed.

He had been in this world for eleven years. Ever since he was born, he had known his surname was Weasley and that he had five older brothers: Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred, and George.

And he had a twin younger brother, born five minutes later after Vaughn kicked him during childbirth. He had been named Ronald Bilius Weasley, or Ron for short.

How could Vaughn not know what world he had been reborn into?

Harry Potter...

It had been eleven years since he arrived. Though he often recalled his past, his memories of his previous life were still fairly clear.

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 his thought, a panel that no one else could see appeared before him:

[Host: Vaughan Weasley]

[Magic Level: 370 (Average adult wizard: 500)]

[Talents: Charms 7, Dark Magic 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), Petrification Charm LV2 (0/4), Fire-Making Spell LV2 (1/4), Wand-Lighting Charm LV2 (0/2)...]

[Potions: Elixir to Induce Euphoria, Pepperup Potion, Blood-Replenishing Potion, Hair-Softening Potion, Hair-Growth Potion, Beauty Potion (Master level, with formulas for various types)...]

[Reputation Points: 12]

The system had awakened when Vaughn was born.

He had read the books and watched the movies. Knowing that the world would grow increasingly dangerous, Vaughn hadn't simply given up the moment he was born. The system's existence had given him a great deal of courage!

Vaughn glanced at the [Potions 10] listed under his talents on the system panel. Even though he had seen it countless times, it still gave him the satisfying feeling of having scratched an itch.

All his other talents had come with him from birth. Only Potions had been a reward from the starter pack he received when the system awakened: max-level Occlumency, and one randomly selected talent raised to its maximum!

Over the past eleven years, as he gradually explored the system, Vaughn had also begun to understand how the so-called "Reputation System" worked. So far, it had given him no quests, no shop, and no lottery.

Its core function was just as the name suggested: it awarded him Reputation Points each month based on how widely his fame had spread!

Reputation Points could be used to raise spell levels. The numbers in parentheses in the system's spell list showed how many points were needed to raise each spell to the next level.

The number of points required varied according to the spell's difficulty.

Of course, he could also improve his spells by practicing them himself, but that required a great deal of practice and talent.

Once he understood how the system worked, Vaughn was glad that the randomly maxed-out talent from his "starter pack" had turned out to be Potions.

There was no denying that Potions was a profound field, but the barrier to entry was low. Any wizard could get started as long as they had ingredients, a recipe, and a cauldron. Some simple recipes didn't even require a wand.

Of all the branches of magic, none suited a little wizard without a wand better.

Vaughn was a cautious person.

He knew that both his identity as someone from another world and the system's existence were huge secrets. When he was young, he had never tried to draw attention to how unusual he was.

It wasn't until he was four that Vaughn began to cultivate his image as a "genius," thoroughly outperforming Ron in basic subjects like recognizing words, writing, and drawing.

Then, at seven, he began to gradually extend his "genius" image to his loyal "Potions"!

Starting with the simplest potions, he had spent four years progressing from asking Bill and Charlie for help as a clueless beginner to improving recipes himself. Vaughn had become a somewhat well-known potion maker.

He had even published several papers on beauty potions and improved potions of various kinds, making him practically the wizarding world's "beauty master" and "friend to women"!

As for why he specialized in beauty potions...

It was simple: they were easy to make a name with, and they sold well!