"Yeah a personal dimension, similar to one of those bigger on the inside tents or suitcases that have rooms in them."
I told Lysandra while reaching for my phone and calling up the store entries. While I did so I was inwardly lamenting the fact that Nicolas was not skilled at spatial magic, being able to create such suitcases would have been really useful.
Pocket Apartment (Cost: 10)
A 75 m² extradimensional residence, for when you need a place to crash. It has all the basics: two medium bedrooms, one bathroom, a living area, kitchenette, and closet space. All characters with alternate outfits, shown in any official source, will find them stored in their room or closet. This includes phone, TV, internet, and other network access to any worlds visited after, but not before, rebirth. Be careful not to mix up separate networks; URLs may not lead to the same place from one world to the next.
You may access your apartment through portals. These are procedurally generated in each world, generally appearing near locations that are important or useful to you or your purchased and captured waifus. Portals must be on reasonably flat surfaces.
Portals will activate automatically when approached by a valid user. At first, this will only be you. Your subjects can only enter or exit your apartment if they can travel within a local multiverse (bypassing the door entirely) or you hold the door open for them. Only one portal may open at a time and it will automatically close when not in use.
Valid users can sense the nearest portal's location even without a map, and more precisely the closer you are to it. This is no replacement for a true map. Neutral, hostile, and uninvited eyes will not notice a portal's presence, activation, or use, and cannot pass through. Independent multiverse travelers who are not your subjects may also enter your universe directly, provided they spend dedicated and deliberate effort and have a beacon to follow.
Your inventory becomes a sealed vault inside the apartment. You may open the vault while in your Pocket Apartment, but doing so subjects its contents to the passage of time. If you or a resisting or unwilling subject is inside the vault when it is sealed again, time will continue to pass.
A second purchase of this perk will double the floor area to 150 sq m. Whether the additional space is a loft, basement, or just a larger main level is your choice.
Requires : [ Pocket Space ]
This had some benefits over a regular extended space, it would essentially be hidden by a company equivalent of a Fidelius Ward and only I would be able to perceive or enter this Pocket Apartment. But it also had some downsides, we had no control over where the entrance might appear and it might not be very convenient to reach. Not to mention that if Lysandra wanted to enter she would always have to rely on me to hold the door open for her.
Thankfully there was a way to fix some of those problems.
All Roads Lead to Home (Cost: 10)
Your purchased and captured retinue members are now valid users for your apartment's portals, with all of the same benefits as you. You may now keep multiple portals open simultaneously, though the basic apartment only has so much room to fit them.
Requires 1 of: [ Pocket Apartment, Nomad ]
"That is quite convenient, but it still does not guarantee that the portals would appear in places we can reach easily." Lysandra pointed out after reading through the second description too.
"Yeah and it's not exactly cheap, unfortunately the best option for Pocket Apartment access is quite expensive and requires a few other purchases and would require us to either complete a mission or sell a Death Eater to the company, so it won't be available for quite some time." I told her and felt as she lightly tensed up in my arms when I mentioned selling someone.
"Don't worry, I would rather die than sell you. You don't have to worry about that ever happening." I tell her reassuringly and place a kiss on top of her head while patting her back.
"Yeah sorry, I believe you, just intrusive thoughts…" She sighs and relaxes again.
We continued chatting about different options for expanding the Pocket Apartment and other things I planned to buy from the catalog eventually for a while longer before we finally got up and out of bed. There were still things we had to do today as usual, the busy days seemed neverending.
While Lysandra was busy with her morning routine I consulted my crystal ball about a store that had various recipe books. I did promise her to get some for asian cuisines yesterday after all.
The trip barely took 20 minutes with a combination of divination and apparition and I made sure to pick up more than just Chinese recipes, there were various Asian and Oriental recipes and quite a few European and Southern American ones too.
Since Lysandra genuinely enjoyed cooking I made sure she would have many options to experiment with. The description of the Pocket Apartment did mention a kitchenette so she'll be able to explore some of the recipes even at Hogwarts without having to sneak into the kitchen, something that might be impossible under the watchful eyes of the house elves.
While I was there I also picked up various Fantasy books for entertainment and possibly research, after all we had the option to reach some worlds mentioned in fiction through The Company's store.
We didn't try any of the new recipes for lunch because Lysandra didn't have most of the spices or ingredients required and buying them now would only force us to take them with us in the rather limited area of my Pocket Space, but she was still very happy that I remembered my promise and was quite intrigued by the fantasy books too.
After lunch I went down into the basement to set up the alchemy array so Lysandra could get started with condensing the perishable or bulky ingredients into easy to store forms.
It wasn't overly complicated, just a little costly because I had to make the entire circle out of gold, so I converted what was left of my salary for this month into simple gold coins.
I had forgotten I could do that when making my alchemical accessories, thinking I had to use Galleons because I was a wizard. Gold coins were a real currency in the UK too and were still being minted, so they could be used for exchanging my salary regardless of whether people would accept them for payment in regular shops or not.
Once the array was set up and tested I simply let Lysandra operate it. It would be a good practice for her when it came to direct magic manipulation and thanks to gold not degrading when magic was pushed through it, it could be used as often as one liked.
This was actually the most common way of teaching someone Alchemy and even Dumbledore was taught the same way by Nicolas.
Since Lysandra now had Soul Talent too it shouldn't be that difficult for her to reach a basic proficiency in wandless magic manipulation, but it would still take some time for me to teach her alchemy in its entirety. It was not just about operating alchemy circles or manipulating magic after all.
She was eager to learn however. It was after all something nearly every student at Hogwarts wanted to learn but unfortunately there were rarely enough students skilled enough at wandless magic to qualify for the course and reach the required quota for the course to be held at all.
While she was practicing on the cheaper ingredients first I collected the last ingredients for our Animagus Potions, which was simply some of our saliva and a strand of our hair and combined everything into two finished Animagus Potions, or more accurately, Animagus Elixirs.
I made sure that the elixir would work as intended and even found a clue about where to find a thunderstorm through my new favorite information gathering method.
The crystal ball weather forecast told me there would be a storm above a forest in Germany sometime this evening, just perfect for finishing our ritual. We only had to break some laws to get there. But we would be breaking laws anyway since Lysandra and I had no intention of registering our animagus forms.
Traveling abroad had to be registered and approved by the ministry and the creation of unsanctioned portkeys was forbidden, but thanks to Nicolas's skills I knew how to make them and I got started on that immediately.
I simply turned a few copper beads into a small ring and enchanted the ring into a Portkey that would take us to that forest right before the storm would begin. I briefly wondered whether using Portkeys could be a viable way to get into the Pocket Apartment at Hogwarts.
There were anti-apparition wards at school, but Harry did get kidnapped by the Triwizard Cup Portkey so it was evidently possible to use a Portkey for leaving Hogwarts.
On the other hand, Death Deaters did not use Portkeys to invade Hogwarts so there were clearly some measures in place to prevent the castle from being a viable destination for a Portkey.
Unless directly created by Dumbledore himself as he did make a Portkey to return some students back to Hogwarts during the attack on the ministry in Harry's fifth year at Hogwarts.
I would have to personally check the ward scheme at Hogwarts to find out for sure so there was no use speculating about it too much.
Snapping out of my train of thought I double checked whether we would end up in the correct place and made sure nothing went wrong for the return trip either through another divination. It would be embarrassing to get busted by some Aurors for illegal Portkey travel today.
I spent the rest of the time guiding and helping Lysandra with converting ingredients and storing the finished ones in the pocket space. We managed to finish about half of the entire shop's inventory by the time we had to get ready to head out.
I even finished some preparations for making another healing ring for myself. I was only missing gold now, which I would take from the array once we were done with the rest of the ingredients.
"All right, ready to break some laws and become animals?" I asked with a smirk, holding out my hand for Lysandra to take.
We were standing in front of the table with the Portkey that would take us to the thunderstorm where we would finally complete the Animagus ritual by drinking the prepared potion and transforming for the first time.
"Could have phrased that a little better… and it's only against the law if you get caught." Lysandra shot back with a derisive snort while taking my hand. She could be considered a dark witch and naturally didn't like the ministry's strict rules, even if she wasn't one of the pure blood supremacists.
We reached out for the copper ring at the same time while holding hands and the Portkey whisked us away.
Rain had already started and I could hear distant rumbles of thunder when we arrived, only stumbling a little from the rough ride through space. There would be no point in delaying this any further so I just directly handed Lysandra her potion and gave her a good luck kiss.
After taking a calming breath she took off the stopper and downed the bottle in one go. We already talked about what to expect from the potion and Lysandra only clutched at her chest for a bit before her form started shifting.
I was half expecting to see a panther or lion, I didn't watch any visions about our forms because it was already impossible to change and there was no point in spoiling the surprise.
Thankfully Lysandra's form was not a huge wildcat but some sort of black house cat. I would have to look up the exact breed in an animal guide but her fur was short and completely black and she had beautiful golden eyes with typical cat eye slits.
She looked up to me and let out an adorable meow before walking over and rubbing her head on my leg as cats often did to show affection and mark people with their scent.
The regular symptoms of going berserk when shifting for the first time thankfully didn't happen. I was not entirely certain whether it was thanks to the company seal or because we used a highly refined elixir rather than a regular potion. Maybe it was just because of the soul talent but I was glad about not getting scratched up by my wife regardless of the reason for my good fortune.
I couldn't resist and crouched down to start petting her, giving her scratches under her chin and running my hand over her silky smooth fur. She actually started purring soon but caught herself and jumped back a little before transforming back into her human form.
"That felt so weird, I had all those instincts like very strong intrusive thoughts about marking you with my scent and your hands felt so good… in a non sexual way." She shot me a glare when I raised my eyebrow suggestively at her description, making her add the last part.
"Alright, I guess it's my turn, gotta finish it before the storm ends." I said and took out my potion bottle. Lysandra nodded at me and watched expectantly as I took out the stopper and downed the potion too.
My body started to heat up to an uncomfortable degree immediately and my heart started hammering in my chest. Soon I could feel a second heartbeat and the animalistic presence in my mind became clearer with every beat.
I clutched at my chest and closed my eyes trying to reach out to the presence.
My view shifted and I found myself looking up at a huge woman who had a familiar scent that put me at ease, she smelled like herbs and spices, very distinct amid the scents of this forest and I walked closer to inhale even more and imprint it in my memory so I could find her anywhere in case our pack got separated.
She bent down and gave me the best scratches ever while I was trying to lick her face to show my appreciation but she kept pushing me away so I licked her hands instead while my tail was swishing back and forth excitedly.
The fog in my mind started clearing gradually and I suddenly realised that the woman was Lysandra and I was in my Animagus form, likely making a fool of myself. I quickly jumped back a little and thankfully knew instinctively how to change forms back, doing exactly that a moment later.
My form rightened itself and my view shifted up to my regular height again without any discomfort. Lysandra also got up from her crouching position and started laughing at my embarrassed expression.
"You are so adorable, your tail kept wagging the entire time." She said with a huge grin.
I just did the mature thing in this situation and stretched out my tongue in reply, making her laugh even harder, but I was quite amused about it myself. Thankfully my instincts took over my thinking for just a brief moment and this phenomenon should only happen for the first transformation as far as I knew.
I briefly focused on the presence in my mind and could clearly see it this time. It was a medium sized dog with pointy ears and medium long brown fur with a white patch that started at its snout and ran down the neck and chest. If I was not mistaken it might be a border collie with brown fur, but I will have to look it up too to be completely certain.
While focusing on my animal side I noticed that my senses improved a lot and I could hear Lysandra's heartbeat pick up. She was looking at me wide eyed and slightly worried.
"You suddenly grew dog ears on your head, is everything alright ?"
I reached out with one hand to touch the top of my head and felt them, they were ticklish and sensitive but no doubt real.
I had a suspicion about what might have caused that and focused on the presence in my mind again. This time I paid closer attention to the dog's tail and I could feel my tailbone elongate and shift until my human form also had a tail. Even my clothes shifted along to allow it to come free and not be confined in my pants making me chuckle when I saw it wagging again behind me.
"Yeah everything is allright, I think I just figured out the difference between Animagus Potion and Animagus Elixir. Our version gives us a much higher control over how we shift and we can do partial transformations too, you just have to focus on the animal in your mind and focus on the parts you want to bring forth."
I focused again and canceled my partial transformation. It was all very intuitive and easy and when Lysandra saw me cancel the transformation she breathed a sigh of relief and also started to test it out.
Black cat ears suddenly appeared at the top of her head and I had to hold myself back not to immediately reach out and start petting her, she looked really adorable. A black tail soon followed and Lysandra walked around a bit. Her movements seemed to have gained a feline grace and her eyes shifted too, gaining a golden color with cat-like pupils. She shot me a grin while her teeth also shifted and grew some fangs.
I couldn't resist anymore and walked up to her, pulling her into a hug and giving her a kiss but flinching back when I felt her barbed tongue.
"Ouch, don't shift your tongue please, everything else is fine but cats have some wicked tongues." I tell her with a wry smile.
"It was you who suddenly kissed me while I was testing things." She shot back while rolling her eyes and canceling the transformation completely.
"My bad, you just looked so cute I just wanted to hug and pet you but couldn't resist stealing a kiss." I told her sheepishly.
"I wonder, is that what people talk about when they say 'cat got your tongue'?" She asked me, smirking playfully and I couldn't help but snort at the silly pun.
Since we have confirmed that we could adapt some animal parts into our human physiology at will I wanted to test if the reverse was possible too, shifting completely into my dog form and focusing on my human voice.
"Hello? Oh nice it works, we won't have to shift back and forth just to talk then." I say with my regular voice while still transformed into a dog, making Lysandra stifle a giggle as she noticed my tail wagging again. That thing would probably never stop wagging as long as I was around her, but I wasn't really embarrassed about it.
Lysandra also shifted completely and tried talking just like I did.
"Thats great, I was afraid we wouldn't be able to communicate at all while I was pretending to be a pet. Now we just have to be careful not to get overheard."
She said as she nuzzled into my neck and I could clearly smell it as she marked me in this form too. It was nearly the same smell as I remember from earlier when she was petting me during my first transformation but more feline in nature. I wasn't even sure how I could tell that it was feline, but somehow I was able to distinguish the difference.
I briefly considered whether we should run around a bit but the forest was wet and puddles started forming in places, the rain was still going too so I decided against it in the end. Seeing how Lysandra was hiding below me to avoid getting her fur wet we probably should return home for now.
"Well, I think we are done here for now, let's return home. I doubt you like wet fur and I certainly don't want to smell like a drenched dog either."
I stepped away a bit to avoid accidentally hurting her and transformed back, Lysandra followed suit and nodded in relief at my suggestion. She was not a fan of bad weather in general, but then again, it was called bad weather because nobody liked it.
We walked back to the spot where the copper ring dropped on the ground and reached out to it while holding hands again, making it whisk us away to Lysandra's attic where I set the destination for the return trip to avoid crashing into any furniture.
I stumbled a little on arrival again but Lysandra caught herself with perfect balance and I noticed her giving me a smug smile as a cat tail swished back and forth behind her. I snorted, casting a quick drying spell over us and pulled open the trapdoor to get down but Lysandra was faster, shifting into full cat form and jumping down directly, landing lightly on her feet and shifting back with a big smile.
"Im starting to really like this, such a useful ability." She tells me happily as I take the conventional way down by climbing the ladder, dogs were not good at jumping from high places. Maybe I could have made the jump and landed safely but I wasn't going to experiment with that before I got myself a healing ring too.
When I finally get down she hugs me happily and places a quick kiss on my lips.
"I'll make us dinner, could you help me finish up refining the ingredients meanwhile? I left the most valuable ones for you, my control is not good enough to risk them yet."
"Of course, I'll try to finish the rest of the ingredients today and maybe make a Healing Ring for myself too. Speaking of the Healing Ring, do you think you can use the size change enchantment while in cat form?"
We already talked about the additional functions of the ring but Lysandra didn't really have a reason to use them yet so they went untested until now. But being able to transform into a bigger cat would certainly be useful, even if it was just a house cat. Maybe she could re-define the term house cat by transforming into a house sized cat eventually.
While I was thinking Lysandra transformed into a cat and her cat form suddenly started increasing in size until we were standing eye to eye again, making me snap out of my musings. She was even bigger than a tiger and even the floorboards started creaking under her weight.
"It actually works! This ring is really amazing, though it's a little taxing on my magic. I can keep this size for a few minutes at most but with it I won't be defenseless even as a cat." Somehow she managed a smug smile even in cat form.
Her voice sounded the same and had a gentle tone to it but it also echoed with power that sent shivers down my back, though that might also be an instinctual reaction caused by standing in front of an enormous predator.
Even if the predator looked like an ordinary house cat. I knew she would never harm me so I reached out without fear and started petting and scratching her the same way as earlier when she first transformed.
She hummed contentedly for a bit and closed her eyes in bliss as I scratched below her chin but shook her head eventually and carefully stepped back a bit to change back to normal size while the floorboards creaked under her weight again each time she placed a foot down.
Once Lysandra was back to normal house cat size she shifted back to human form and gave me another hug.
"Thank you so much for making me this ring, it looks like I won't even have to get hurt to make good use of it." Lysandra told me while leaning in for a kiss, which I returned.
"I hope we will never even have to make use of the healing option of that ring. It does have one more function though. Theoretically you could walk on walls and ceilings in your cat form by making use of the sticky enchantment or if you remove your shoes in human form too."
Hearing my explanation Lysandra's eyes lit up and she shifted back into cat form while we were still hugging, landing in my arms.
"Lets try, can you hold my feet against the wall please?"
Like a good little servant I did exactly what my cat mistress demanded and carried her over to a wall with an amused expression. Though I inwardly hoped she would not develop any dom fetishes as a side effect of becoming a cat animagus, I really disliked being ordered around all the time.
I held Lysandra up and placed her feet vertically against the wall, gradually letting go when she gave me a nod.
Her body sagged down a bit because of the gravity but her feet were still firmly in place. She eventually managed to right herself and take a tentative step upwards towards the ceiling. Just when she was taking that step all other feet also lost traction with the wall and she had to use her claws to hold herself in place.
I was prepared to catch her again but apparently it wouldn't be necessary.
"This is much harder to control than the other enchantment. Activating and deactivating it is easy but keeping it active for all other feet while deactivating it for one foot is going to take some practice."
She said while trying to take another step on the wall and having to catch herself again.
Eventually she gave up and jumped off the wall, landing on her feet and transforming back to human.
"I think I'll practice that tomorrow or at Hogwarts, I'm getting a little hungry so I'll get started with food for now."
I nodded and gave her a quick kiss in thanks for always making me delicious food.
"I'll head down and try to finish the ingredients meanwhile." I said while watching her sway her hips as she walked towards the kitchen.
Somehow she noticed or maybe it was just bait in the first place but she threw me a look over her shoulder and caught me looking, giving me a smirk to which I replied with a shameless smile of my own before heading down the stairs. I saw nothing wrong with ogling my own wife and she didn't seem to be upset by it either thankfully.
Once I reached the basement I sat down next to the array and got straight to work.