He watched the tiny Pokémon as it shook its damp body before lifting its blue eyes and staring at him again.
Magnus had expected to feel a lot of things when he saw his Pokémon for the first time. There should have been excitement, maybe awe—yet right now, there was only confusion.
He wasn't certain what he should feel.
'You wanted something unique,' that mocking voice said in his mind.
That was true... he hadn't seen a Zorua yet. Maybe he had finally gotten his wish, but then again, he hadn't seen all the Pokémon in the school.
That however wasn't his concern.
When he had first learned about Pokémon's existence in this world and the serious lack of knowledge as well as the wrong training methods, Magnus had realized how much opportunity fate had presented to him.
He had planned to train his starter Pokémon so well that—even with Hogwarts' size restrictions—it would still be able to beat the crap out of even tanks like Machamps.
Maybe he would have even been able to rent it out to professional league teams. I mean, with the way their Pokémon battled, even a well-trained Ralts would still be trouble for their huge poorly trained lot.
But could... could a Zorua?
I mean, as far as he knew, even in Pokémon GO, Zorua had one of the worst defense stats. Even at its best, it mainly relied on deception to confuse opponents.
Zorua were practically illusion kings. In battle, they assumed the shape and form of the last Pokémon in an opponent's party.
At first, this gave it a massive advantage since the opponent would likely use ineffective move sets against the Dark-type, misreading its actual typing due to its Illusion ability.
But once an opponent became aware of this, its poor defense became a real problem.
'But this is not the modern world…'
All the things he was worried about—none of these people knew about them.
'Don't you see the opportunity you have?' that voice resurfaced. 'You have something that could become anyone without even needing Polyjuice Potion. Heck, it could become anything—even inanimate things.'
A slow but warm smile crept onto his face.
He lowered his hand and touched the Pokémon's damp fur.
He felt a small purr rumbling inside the hatchling as it nuzzled his hand.
They had bonded. He knew.
Then, without warning, the Zorua leapt.
Its front paws clung to his robes, right on his chest—but the grip was weak. He hurried to support it before it fell, but before he could touch it, it jumped again and settled on his shoulders.
"Oof, that was—" he wanted to say fast, but he settled for, "Amazing."
Maybe he was worrying too much. The voice was right—this was not even the actual Pokémon world, where there were great gyms and elite trainers. Here, anyone with even a little knowledge of Pokémon stood a good chance with any Pokémon.
And he… well, he had a lot of knowledge.
As for battle training, even with poor defense, his Zorua was a Dark-type. It could learn even the most complex movesets of its kind. And when it evolved into Zoroark, it would be one of the most formidable Pokémon in this world.
One of, because… well, he had also promised to train the Eevees.
The hatchling suddenly nibbled at his ear, and Magnus stifled a laugh.
"That bloody con—"
Hagrid's furious voice boomed across the room, muffling all the murmurs of excitement that had begun to fill the place.
Magnus felt his hatchling jump in shock, its tiny claws digging into his robes.
"Sold me a bad egg, didn't they? The bloody lot better not come back to Hogsmeade ever again, aye… They'll be getting some tellin' from me!"
The half-giant's voice sounded so depressed that Magnus—who was the closest to him—stepped closer and peeked into his compartment.
"What the—" Magnus exclaimed, taking a sudden step back and bumping into Hagrid.
Inside, sitting in the remains of its eggshell, was something….too big for a hatchling
Its body was covered in rough, blue-black fur that hadn't fully dried yet. Its head was wrappe in a thick, dark mane that completely covered its eyes.
Its mouth was slightly open and he glimpsed a set of razor-sharp teeth.
even now, it was biting at the air, snapping blindly at nothing.
Hagrid steadied Magnus but was too furious to even care that the boy had stepped into his compartment.
"So you see it too?" He gestured toward the Pokémon's covered eyes.
"I tried to move the damn hair but" He stopped "Not only is it the wrong egg, but it's..."
Hagrid's voice broke once again —like he was afraid that saying the words would make them true.
"Blind," Magnus finished pushing against Hagrid, who was in turn pushing him forward as he moved to his hatchling .
"Yes..." Hagrid groaned, and Magnus thought the huge guy was dangerously close to breaking down.
"Hagrid… what—what were you expecting it to hatch into?"
He knew he was probably pushing it. The half-giant could very well shove him out of his compartment for asking.
But that didn't happen.
"Doesn't matter now," Hagrid said hesitantly. "That cheat said it would have three heads… but it was all a bloody lie. I spent all me Galleons on this one."
Magnus could have laughed at Hagrid's ignorance—were it not for the fact that he did not wish to look away from the creature in front of him incase it came for him.
"Then he didn't lie... Hagrid, this is—this is a Deino," Magnus said, as if the words should have meant something to the gigantic man.
"Didn't lie?" Hagrid spat. "What do yeh mean, kid? See here—can't see no three heads, can yeh?"
He poked his finger close—and Magnus was too late to stop him.
The huge hatchling lunged blindly—but found its mark.
Magnus recoiled instinctively and smashed against Hagrid once more.
Now him and his Zorua were sandwiched between a murderous Pokémon and a half-giant.
The sound Hagrid made, however, was not what Magnus expected.
The man's index finger was bleeding—but instead of anger, he sounded... amused.
"See that?, Poor thing's got the right spirit, ain't it?"
Right spirit?
Magnus wasn't even surprised. I mean… this was Hagrid. What else did he expect?
He was, however, trying to find a way to make the giant believe what he was about to tell him.
Now that Hagrid had lowered himself, Magnus didn't have to speak loudly.
"My uncle has a fully grown one."
That got his attention.
"Blimey, does he? What are they, then? It ain't blind, is it?"
"This is a Deino, Hagrid. And no—it couldn't see either... not until it was fully grown".
Hagrid's excited face shifted back to a crestfallen look.
"Didn't ask for no blind Pokémon... I wanted a three-headed beastie, as promised," he muttered.
"They all start with one head. My uncle's did… but now it has three."
Of course, there was no uncle. Magnus was making that part up to sound more credible. No one would believe a first-year otherwise.
The information, however, was the plain truth.
As soon as Magnus had laid eyes on the huge, blind hatchling, he had known.
There was no doubt that this was a Deino.
"Merlin's beard… so it's true? Did yer uncle's look like this?" Hagrid asked hopefully.
Magnus nodded.
"At two months, they develop a second head," he explained. "By three, they grow a third begin to see. "
The half-giant almost broke the bones in his hands as he clasped at it in pure thrill.
"Merlin... that's what the smug... the breeder said... he said the egg came from a three-headed beast."
Magnus knew he had been about to say smuggler but checked himself on time.
"So it's all true then?"
"Yeah, it's all true."
Hagrid brought the same bleeding hand to pat the Deino once again.
This time, the Pokémon sank its jaws into his wrist. He did whimper a little but almost forgot it as soon as the hatchling freed his hand.
Magnus winced. He really didn't envy Hagrid
He hadn't told him that due to the Pokémon's blind nature, it employed its strong jaws to find its way around... that was also how it bonded with its owner.
He however doubted whether there was anything he could say to stop the Hagrid's joy.
Magnus felt his shoulders for his Zorua as he watched the half giant receive a couple more bites
These two would get along great, but God have mercy on the rest of the castle when that thing evolved into a bloody Hydreigon.