Playing With Magic

by H0Olig4n

Summary:

I wasn't brought here for a reason. I wasn't brought here to save lives or hunt evil, not even to just explore magic. That doesn't mean I won't though.
Join our protagonist as he makes his way through a darker version of the Harry Potter universe so unique it might as well be a brand new story.
New magical ideas, Old mythologies and constant exploration combine with a healthy dose of luck, skill and sheer stubbornness.

Notes:

Author here,
This is an idea my brother and i cooked up. I've never written anything outside of a text before so I would love any help, comments or ideas along the way. the story's not to fleshed out but i do have a rough idea of where i want it to go and what i want to include, kinda like the skeleton of a skeleton.

Chapter 1

Magic

Noun

The power of apparently influencing events by using mysterious or supernatural forces.

 

Magic, I’ve come to learn, tends to surprise people. To come with extra, unintended side effects. Sometimes these side effect are good, like a spell that’s used to till the earth accidentally watering it at the same time. Sometimes the effects are inconsequential, like a spell meant to bind an enemy using rope, instead binding them with bolts of fabric. Sometimes these side effects can be… bad, like a potion meant to cure burn wounds healing the wounds by melting them off.

My first experience with magic was a strange mix of all three. For some reason or another, rather than being sent off to the ‘next great adventure’, I was instead yanked into the dead body of Charles, a boy with no friends or family. Not even a surname to call his own. For Charles, it probably wasn’t an ideal situation, to have his previously lifeless body puppeteered by myself. Me on the other hand, I’m quite appreciative. Not being dead and all. I guess the inconsequential side effect would have to be the mind numbing agony as my soul was shoved into a space it had no right being in, as the body fought against its new host, and as whatever was forcing me into this situation moulded my essence to suit its needs.

And that is how this story starts, not with a bang, but with a screaming 19 year old stuck in a 10 year olds body, found curled in the foetal position at the base of the stairs by the head matron of the orphanage.

Welcome to the story of Charles Nite

 

 ---o-o-o------------

 

When I woke, it was to the smell of antiseptic and the sterile lights of a hospital. While not the most normal of situations, as of this moment I find myself more occupied with an immense headache and a brand new set of memories. 10 years’ worth of memories, to be exact. My name is… was I guess, Alex. I was a second year mechanical engineering student. I had friends, flatmates, family. Hopes and dreams too. And now all of that is gone.

Because Alex died. The victim of an ill secured drill bit and a lack of eye protection led to a near instant and mostly painless death. The key word there being mostly. Now due to some quirk of the universe my memories, memories of a completely different life, reside in the body of Charles No-Surname.

On one hand I’m angry. I have lost everything that I have ever held close, everything I have ever loved. All of my life’s work was for nothing.

On the other hand, a much larger hand, I can’t help but feel excited. See, I have Charles memories, thank goodness for that. And thank goodness I’m the dominant personality, having not just Charles memories but his personality kicking around in my head would make this a hell of a lot harder to adapt to.

For some reason I wasn’t just shoved into the first random body that came around, no no no. I was shoved into a child who could do the impossible. Not always, and not consistently. But sometimes, Charles would want something so badly, it would just happen. On those nights when for some or the other reason, Charles heard noises outside and he would be just so scared, his teddy would just… appear in his arms. And that one nasty old bat of a matron who used to constantly insult the children, just on and on she never stopped. Well, when she insulted Charles, he’d get so angry, and somehow, someway she would be punished. Hair that was once blond, now a putrid green. And her cigarettes suddenly disappearing. Her car windscreen cracking and so much more.

In my previous life I was a massive Potterhead. I have the series near memorized, i read a good deal of fan fiction too, and let me tell you. This is a hell of a lot like the self inserts I liked reading.

 

---o-o-o------------

 

The week that followed was a blur of bed rest and information gathering. The doctors hadn’t found anything officially wrong with me, but head wounds are always fussed over. Fortunately for me, an overworked and understaffed hospital couldn’t spare the extra bed for a kid that was fine according to all the tests. So, after a last check in I was sent back to the orphanage.

Not just any orphanage. Wool’s orphanage. Otherwise known as the cradle of Tom Marvolo Riddle, one of the most one dimensional villains I have ever read about.

I really wanted to see this as proof of being in the Harry Potter universe, but realistically I could be a mutant in marvel at this point and I wouldn’t know any better. I’m trying not to assume anything off my own knowledge, mostly because even if I am in the Harry Potter universe, it doesn’t mean it’s the cannon universe. I just really hope its not one of those Lord Hadrian Potter-Slytherin-Gryffindor-Black_... universes.

After getting back, not much happened. I was instructed to get some bed rest and mostly was just left alone. This let me gather some quick information. Firstly, its 1984, 7 years before cannon starts. Also, a good few years before google is released which makes this place infinitely worse than my old world and newspapers my new best friend.

Second, and most important, the orphanage isn’t a hell hole. The matrons aren’t abusive, just mildly neglectful, and even then, it’s not on purpose, there’s simply to many children to look after and not enough adults to help. The other orphans aren’t mean to me either. It seems more like everyone just ignores each other unless your friends, and as we’ve already covered, Charles wasn’t really a friends guy.

Other than that, I confirmed I’m not in marvel, dc or, thank God, worm. It’s hard trying to figure out what universe I’m in without bias. All I really know is I have some form of power and it’s not common to have powers. Luckily for me there’s a fairly easy way of checking whether I am indeed in the Harry Potter universe. All I need to do is head to bulls head passage in charring cross road. Its not even far from here either, only about a 15 minute walk. Hopefully, this will lead me to finding the leaky cauldron and not an optometrist like it is in my old world.

I once won a pub quiz with that knowledge.

 

---o-o-o------------

 

Sneaking out was a lot easier then expected. The matrons don’t really check on me and I don’t have to go to school due to the whole cross universe migration thing (and wont reliving primary school be hell) so I quite literally just left through the front door.

It took me nearly thirty minutes of walking, a hell of a lot of wrong turns, and asking kind old lady for advice but finally, here I stand. Never before have I been as happy as I am looking at this dingy old rundown pub. It actually is quite a smart hiding place. Pubs are fairly common around this area and the cauldrons entrance is just rundown enough that most people would prefer to go to a more put together one nearby, but not bad enough that you think it would be weird for people to enter. That’s before you add magic to the equation, then it goes from impressive to scarily effective. An older couple glaring at a man dressed in a pink and green polka dot suit suddenly get this blank expression on their face as he disappears into the entrance, after they just turn and resume glaring at something else.

Now stood in front of the door, I take a deep breath and square my shoulders before opening it. Immediately I’m overcome by it all. The books never really described what walking into the leaky cauldron for the first time is like. Harry was more worried about the attention then anything else, but all I can focus on is the sheer, overwhelming magic of the scene. It’s use is just so casual.

I have to fight myself to walk like I belong, to not gawk at the man whose robe sleeves look like shimmering purple fire. Not on fire but actual fire given form. To not stare at the lady casually stirring her drink, a ghastly, bubbly green concoction that kept on forming tentacles to fight off her spoon. Not even staring at the pale man at the bar sheathing a sword, a bloody sword, into a tattoo of a lion that just gulps it up and wonders off his hand up his sleeve.

The entire scene was insane. Not just the casual uses of magic but the magical clothes and items and drinks and photos and… not a single object in here was normal. Hell, that man just reached into a toad on his shoulder to pay his bill. He pulled coins from a toad. And this isn’t even Diagon alley, just a pub at the entrance!

At this point I’m not even trying to keep the grin off my face, just trying not to look manic about it. Seeing a man walk through a door into a closed off alley near the back I remember why I’m actually here and scramble to follow him. I open the door as he opens the alley and I watch as the bricks fall not down, but to each side, splitting the wall in half. And then I take my first steps into the magical world.

And that’s a damn sight more impressive than the cauldron.

Chapter 2: The Temple

Notes:

I've edited the previous chapter. The mc is now a full 7 years older the harry potter. He will graduate hogwarts in 1990, the year before harry starts. i do have a reason for this.

‘… deities are strange yet necessary evils. From the Greek, roman, Shinto, etc, pantheons, to the Christian God, they all exist, however they are technically two different types of being, this entry is focused on the former.

It is unknown where deities originated, or how, and if known by themselves they refuse to share.

Deities are entities that are powered by belief and acts of worship. They exist in the space between this universe and the void, where they protect the universe from ‘The Olde Ones’.

When temples are built, when prayers are made, and when stories are told they grow in power, feeding off the spiritual energy generated. All efforts to measure this energy has failed.

Deities are fickle creatures. The only guaranteed way of gathering their attention is through the use of their priests. Priests are beings who have sacrificed their magic in service of their chosen god in exchange for a greater connection. This leads to a feeling of unease near true priests. Outside of the priesthood it is possible to gain the attention of deities, however this usually is in the form of curses and trials, and should be avoided outside of very specific circumstances.

It is generally considered good social etiquette to give some form of worship on days of magical significance, such as Yule or Beltane, for the deities sacrifice in their eternal defence against ‘The Olde Ones’…’

 

-excerpt from the updated ‘A Hunters Guide: How to not die stupidly’ by an unnamed Hunter.

 

It’s almost impossible to explain London’s magical district. Yeah, it’s not just two alleys, it’s an entire city within a city. I’ve spent most of my time here just exploring the place and trying to get a basic understanding of where to find everything. I’ve only really managed to explore Diagon alley, but there’s a city square that has a map of the districts that was quite helpful.

From what I’ve discovered, Diagon is basically the Highstreet. There's a little of everything, from bookstores, where the walls are made of parchment with flowing words, and the books and scrolls form the fruit and bark of towering trees, to apothecaries, where the ingredients float isolated in bubbles above your head until you speak their name, and they float down to you. Diagon doesn’t have one speciality or theme like some of the other areas do.

I have to say that it’s one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen, and the casual magic that was so prevalent at the cauldron is just as common in the streets. Wizards calling their hats to themselves with a flick of their hands, witches with hair made from flowing water, hell, there’s a man walking down the street with a trunk that has thick legs like an elephant following along behind him. Every time you turn your head you see some new, impossible sight.

After exploring nearly the entirety of Diagon I looked at my watch and realised I don’t have much time left, so I headed back to the orphanage. Whichever way you look at it, I’m definitely in some variation of the harry potter universe. And I’m also seven years older than potter. And I’m completely screwed when Voldemort comes back. Just looking at the casual displays of magic on the street there’s no way in hell I’m ready for a wizard that brought this country to its knees.

So right now, I need a plan. I need to prepare for Hogwarts. I need to be ready for the inevitably dodgy defence teacher. And to do that I need to start learning. So, the next time I manage to get back here, my best bet is finding a library and trying not to die before I’m ready. Again.

---o-o-o------------

It was a while before I managed to get back to Diagon. The caretakers decided to check on me while I was away and found my bed empty, its funny that the only time they decide to care is when I’m away. I know that’s unfair on them, but it would make my life a lot easier if they just ignored me. Upon discovering my jaunt into London, they decided that I was obviously ready to go back to school, let me tell you, year 6 is a hell hole. Luckily the original Charles didn’t have any friends, so nobody noticed any changes in my behavior. And while I could ace all the classes, except for history, I decided the best thing going forward is to fade into the background. To get good enough marks people ignore me, but not brilliant marks. Don’t speak up in class, keep to myself at lunch, etc. its just not worth the extra attention, especially when I’m going to be spending as much time as I can at the alley.

With my days taken by school it was harder to sneak out, but luckily kids are given free reign on the weekends as long as they’re back by curfew. So, the next Saturday I once again found myself in Diagon, this time at an earlier hour. During the week id managed to get a little notebook and pen to detail any notes, luckily my nerdiness from my past life came in clutch again.

Obviously, I can’t just write down my notes in English, so I needed a code. What I decided on is a simple code where you make three, three by three grids like a tic tac toe board and write out a letter in each space. Then when you write words each letter is written as the border of the grid they’re in. if they’re in the second grid you ensure there’s a dot somewhere near the letter, and the third grid there needs to be two dots. If this seems over complicated and unnecessary, that’s because it is, but I really don’t want to risk muggles seeing notes on magic, or more importantly, anyone seeing notes on the future.

Early on I decided not to make assumptions based on book or fanon knowledge, but there must be some little grain of truth in there, things like potter being a parselmouth or the location of the room of requirement. Things that I can’t risk forgetting. Even just general things I should know that might be obliviated. So, the overly complicated code stays, I’m just going to have to get used to writing and reading it.

Back to the point, I’d used my time stuck at school to come up with a list of things id need. Number one on that list being occlumency. I need a way to guarantee my mind is safe. Not only is my future knowledge dangerous, if unverified, but the idea of being obliviated or having my memories altered terrifies me. Hell, its cannon that Big V used to torture people by planting fake memories in their head. I need a way to stop that from happening to me. As a side note, a lot of fanfictions used to talk about occlumency helping with memories and thinking speed and much more depending on how OP they wanted potter to be.

Next on the list is some form of wandless magic. It looks possible from everyone doing it on the streets, but I could be mistaken about that. I just really want some way to defend myself for when I start actually exploring the district. While Knockturn alley isn’t a hell hole like the books said it was, more of just a lower-class area than anything else, I have heard rumours of other places that could be quite dangerous. I also wanted to learn It because I don’t want to spend the next year and a bit just reading over everything that’s possible. I have access to magic now, I want to use it.

The last, and probably most important thing I want to do is make money. The orphanage gives allowances on curfews for jobs if you keep your grades up. The reason I haven’t filled out a fake job form already is because when you do get a job, they cancel your allowance. The allowance isn’t a lot, but its more then nothing and should help me buy one or two things while I look for a job. Also, it’s a magical job, maybe I’ll learn something cool.

So now I do the arduous task of asking strangers where I can find a library, luckily being a cute 10-year-old, most strangers don’t mind answering my questions. After a little bit I’ve managed to find three libraries surprisingly. One is a rather well-known name. flourish and Blotts does a library program, where you pay a fee of 1 galleon monthly and your allowed to read any of the books in their shop. You aren’t allowed to take any out of the shop though. Theres another library in Horizont alley, the residential area of the district, but it only lets you in if you have family staying in the alley. The final one I’ve managed to find is in another alley, Unkan alley. Unkan alley, from what I’ve found, is the international trades section of the district. It hosts everything from tombs magic to magical items to unique and expensive familiars. Also, familiars are really common here, and apparently an exception to Hogwarts pets’ rules because familiars are bonded to your magic? I need to do more research on that.

Anyway, the library in Unkan is my best bet. Not only is it free but its not technically a library, even though people seem to consider it one. It’s simply called The Temple of Knowledge, but most people call it the Temple, and it’s a combined area of worship for lots of different knowledge gods. Yeah, discovering that gods are real and actually have effects on the world was a trip, but that’s a whole other barrel of fish to get into, I’ve just added it to the research list. Because the Temple is a place of worship, they do accept donations but they’re not strictly necessary, so now, lets try and find Unkan alley.

---o-o-o------------

The magical world, I’ve learnt, loves to over complicate things.

See because Unkan alley is kind of a hodge podge of international trade, some fool decided that it should be in a different dimension. To be fair, the reasoning behind it all, once I found it, was quite clever. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t frustrating to find though. Because the alley is in a different dimension its technically not on British soil, so a lot of normal international trade laws, or even national trade laws, can’t be policed. Instead, there’s a building in Vertic alley, which is basically just a continuation of Diagon alley as more high street, that acts as the only entrance and as an embassy. The aurors can only ensure you don’t leave the embassy with anything overtly illegal. Unkan alley is not only for international trade but also houses a street called Spritule Alley, which holds a temple for nearly every pantheon or god you can think of, and some you cant. Because Unkan holds such Spritule and isn’t policed by the aurors, instead an offshoot of the temple of Themis, the Greek god of justice, polices the inside to ensure no funny business. You really don’t want to commit crime in Unkan, Themis held to the eye for an eye type of justice.

As you can see, it took me a lot of investigating to actually find this place. Its one of those things that all the local wixen know about so it never really comes up in conversation. And even then, trying to find the entrance and then actually finding the Temple was awfully hard. It took me nearly three visits to find everything because nobody can just give you a straight answer, and exploring Unkan just isn’t in my capabilities right now.

Its not dangerous, per say, but its definitely not the place an unattended child should be. With the lax laws, you’re just as likely to be escorted out by a well-meaning adult as you are to being given directions, and until I’m capable of defending myself I’m not ready to explore a place this dodgy yet.

On the upside, after a lot of searching I eventually found the Temple. And by merlin, its beautiful.

As a side note, swearing by merlin is more of a safety thing for people. Swearing in a specific gods name is dangerous and can often get you cursed in some way where the severity of the curse depends on the god and the circumstances. Swearing on a god, or group of gods is a lot less dangerous but can often lead to the closest temples deity taking offence. This has led to swearing on merlin, as the near universally accepted best wizard so far, or creating some creative explicative. Or just saying fuck. That works everywhere.

The Temple is in fact a collective temple to a variety of gods dealing in knowledge, wisdom and magic. Like most temples, the outside is a grand affair. White marble columns frame a truly massive entrance, with large heavy wooden doors and silver filigree. Two large statues stand outside, glaring at everyone that walks past. The inside, if anything, is more impressive then the outside. The entrance is a massive area with a domed ceiling. the back of the area, directly in front of the entrance lead on to the area of worship. Along the sides of the hall were doorways that lead to different areas, a smaller shrine for each god or goddess and the library. Standing larger than life, each private shrine had a statue of the deity it belongs to, each statue standing 3 meters tall. Other then the expanded space within there wasn’t any overt magic. After days of seeing magic constantly its absence was definitely noticeable.

Upon entering I was approached by the most stereotypical wizard priest you could imagine, shaved head and beard included. He asked me why I was there, and upon answering he took me to a specific door. I was warned against abusing the books or trying to steal and told how to ask for help, and that as long as I was looking for knowledge id be welcome here.

Something about the priest made me weary. It wasn’t anything obvious, nothing about him or the whole interaction was wrong. It just felt ominous. Like there was something happening, or some type of test that I passed that I had no clue about.

Shaking away my thoughts I turned to enter the library proper. Its time to learn magic!

---o-o-o------------

Magic is amazing. At 10, magic is also way to overly complicated. Keeping to my list the first thing I looked for was mind magic. Occlumency to be exact. what I eventually found a hefty tomb labelled ‘A Comprehensive Guide to The Mind Arts’. Inside was a detailed explanation of the various mind arts, as well as the first stages for the main three.

The main three branches of mind arts are occlumency, which is the art of hiding the mind, legilimency, the art of reading the mind, and augeromency, the art of augmenting the mind. And I can’t learn a single one of them. Not yet at least. The main three branches of mind magic all require you to be more in tune with your magic. 17 is the age majority mainly because with a proper education, 17 is the age your body is ‘stained’ by your magic. Before this happens, you can use magic just fine, but anything related to the body or mind can cause irreparable damage. This unfortunately includes rituals dealing with the body. There are ways around this, and ways to ensure your body is saturated by your magic quicker, but all of them require expensive potions and routines. The safest way is just casting magic constantly, and even after all this effort you can’t speed up the mind’s saturation, only the body, so not even most purebloods bother trying. The damage of practicing the mind arts before majority include emotional instability, emotionally stunting yourself, and an inability to form meaningful attachments. It’s a sure fire way of creating psychopaths like Big V and Snape.

There is one way around this. If a minor is repeatedly assaulted by a legilimens that they do not trust, over a long time period the mind can form its own reactive barriers that prevent its viewing. This does stunt someone’s ability to learn mind arts however, and quite obviously is akin to abuse. Its also what was done to Potter in the 5^th year.

While I could learn it, I don’t see the point in crippling myself. After my majority I have roughly 4 years until Big V gets resurrected, and if I interfere with canon that could be longer. That’s plenty of time to learn to defend my mind. So, with my ability to use the mind arts at an absolute zero until I’m older, my next search was into wandless magic.

Wandless magic works differently to what I expected. So firstly, there’s multiple types of foci. Wands are the most common because they’re the most neutral. Wands don’t have anything they excel at, but they’re not restricted from any magic so they’ve become the mainstream focus. Other foci give marginal benefits but also have downsides and its all lead up to wands being the main tool for casting for 90% of the world, unless you start getting into extra esoteric magic.

What that means is, ‘wandless’ magic is actually ‘focus-less’ magic, it’s just called wandless cause wands are so common. Wandless magic is an actual branch of magic. Through the consumption of materials, chanting and the correct gestures you cast wandless spells. The problem is you must teach yourself how to feel your magic and how to channel it properly, luckily you can find tools to teach you channelling. Channelling is even taught in your third year of Hogwarts, its important for some of the spells learnt from then on, especially if you must form complicated patterns or layers in the air with your wand. Hell, herbology, potions and divination all require channelling your magic in certain ways to boost your efficiency and control, 11 year olds just aren’t expected to have the patience to sit through the meditation and exercises required. Divination also looks interesting; it runs off some sort of a belief system. I make sure to scribble a note in my journal.

Looking at the time it’s getting late, and I still haven’t transferred any of my savings into magical currency, nor gotten a job. So, my next step in my 100 step plan to godhood requires me getting a toy to help with channelling my magic, learn wandless magic, and find a job.

Chapter 3: An Expected Meeting

Summary:

charles learns his first spell and meets dumbledore.

Notes:

ive changed the timeline one last time. charles is now 10 years old. hes still 7 years older then harry and still graduates the year before harry joins hogwarts.

‘Let us now talk about the different classifications of magic.

There are many different magical systems, each system defined as a ‘school’ of magic. It is very rare that a school of magic is universally agreed upon, for instance, Greek elementalism states that fire, water, earth and air are the base elements. Eastern elementalism states that fire, metal, water, wood and earth are the base elements.

So how is it possible that both schools are correct?

This stems from the very nature of magic. By trying to define magic, rules are introduced that start to shape it in unexpected ways. Magic is affected by how we ourselves think of it. Whether this is simply due to mortal minds trying to comprehend the incomprehensible or a quirk of magic itself is unknown.

This leads us to the commonly held belief of light and dark magic. During 100 AD, with the Roman Empire’s increasing influence over western wixen and the spread of wands new magic was constantly being developed.

This led to the light and dark magical system, discovered by Marcus Gaunt, in which light magic consisted of emotionless magic, dark magic consisted of magic that requires strong emotions to be cast or have an effect, and grey magic to describe spells that are affected by emotions but do not require them to be cast.

Despite common belief, the Patronus charm is one of the darkest charms that exist, while the blood boiling curse is technically a light curse.

Dark magic is no more evil then light magic. The perpetuation of the idea that dark magic is wrong comes from the misinformation that dark magic is the same as black magic.

This is false.

Black magic and white magic are part of the few isolated magic systems that all wizards agree upon.

White magic is the invocation of a god’s power. For good or for evil white magic is not inherently wrong.

Black magic is the invocation of an Olde One’s power. Any who call upon the Olde One’s deserve a fate worse than death.’

 

 -Exerpt from ‘Magical Theory’ by Adalbert Waffling

 

‘Calling out to hallowed tomb,

Come forth to receive my boon,

Anchored to stolen bone,

Come forth to serve mine throne.’

 

At the word throne I breathed out on to the skull in my hand. Following this the skull crumbled, forming a cloud of dust that floated to the space in front of me. Slowly the dust cloud collapse into itself, and in its place, a pigeon. A ghostly black pigeon.

Now as I’m sure your wondering, yes, I have just cast magic. My first ever successful spell in fact. Let’s rewind a little to see how I got here.

 

---o-o-o------------

 

The day after finding the Temple I made good on my list. Charles wasn’t the most frugal of 10-year-old's, but he was a damned sight better at saving then I was at that age. From what I remembered he was saving up for an Atari 5200, however between the meagre allowance and the fact that my boy used to regularly dip into the funds he never managed to raise more than roughly £30. What that means however, is that I had £26.77 to convert into galleons.

The issue with galleons is, even though it’s roughly a 1 to 5, galleon to pound ratio, the magical world is essentially its own country, and the cost of things reflects that. Magic makes lots of muggle expenses unnecessary, but at the same time, personalised or hand-crafted items become much more prevalent.

This leads to an economy that I don’t understand, nor do I want to try understanding. The important area for me, different items can cost wildly different prices in the magical world compared to the muggle world, such as lunch being much cheaper in the magical world. With my money exchanged I had roughly 5 and a bit galleons and no clue how much that is worth.

 

---o-o-o------------

 

After some exploring, I eventually found a store in Knockturn that sold magical training devices. These help people to train their magical control, magic permanence, shaping magic, and more. You name it and there’s a way to train it.

Originally, I had thought these things toys, but the store owner was quite happy to help, shall we say, dispel that theory. By calling me dangerously stupid. And a few other flattering remarks.

These tools weren’t just for children, they can be tailored for whatever level of expertise someone needs. Controlling your magic helps for everything from potions to duelling or casting obscure magics. The one that I ended up buying, for 5 galleons, is a model that’s specifically made to help with wandless magic.

It’s essentially a transparent glass cube, roughly the size of my fist. Once you pour magic into it, one of the sides will turn opaque. Upon that side turning opaque you need to be able to hold that magical flow for 10 seconds, upon which it will stay opaque. From there you move to the next side that requires a different flow rate. Once you can turn the square opaque, you do a similar exercise where you have to turn the cube transparent again.

There's 5 different levels to this cube, and upon completing all five you should have what the store owner called ‘passable’ control over your magic. When prodded he explained that you should be of similar control to a pureblood child at the end of their first year.

Id like to say I breezed through the entire block in the following week, but the truth is at the end of the week I had barely gotten one side to become opaque for even 2 or 3 seconds. It’s difficult. For some reason my magic seems to fight me. It doesn’t want to stay in one place, instead wanting to dance around within me and evade my commands.

Feeling magic for the first time was strange. I can only feel my magic, no other magic. I can’t feel where it comes from either, just a vague hint that its somewhere inside of me. Magic is… impossible. Trying to put it into words is like trying to describe colours to the blind.

My magic doesn’t like to listen to me. It’s playful and light, it likes to flow. Trying to get it to work with me is incredibly difficult. This led to me stubbornly bashing my head against a wall until the weekend where I managed to do some research.

The Temple has a lot of sources on trying to control magic, and that’s where I found some good news. Not on controlling my magic but on the actual cube itself. Once I can light up one side of the cube, I should be able to start learning wandless spells. They’ll be a bit on the weaker end, but the chants and gestures are a method of channelling your magic as well, which helps ease the mental burden.

I also managed to find a spell. It’s a form of necromancy actually, which dropped me down the rabbit hole of what is and isn’t illegal. Long story short, dark magic isn’t bad it just has a bad reputation among the uneducated. But black magic is very illegal, and I shouldn’t touch that ever.

Also, any magic ending in ‘-mancy’ is a form of divination. Mancy comes from the Greek word manteia which literally means divination. So necromancy isn’t illegal, it’s actually used in law enforcement some times. Infect the Bones are famous necromancers, but more on that later.

The spell is called the spirit bone. Its cast by chanting a spell, gesturing, and channelling your magic into the skull of a dead animal with the intent for a servant. It summons an apparition of the creature whose skull you use to do your bidding.

The apparition isn’t the soul or spirit of the creature, but magic forming a tangible shell of what the creature looks like using the magic within the bone to ‘remember’ its original form. The spell is fairly versatile. The summon can be used as a messenger by tying a message to it like an owl, or in a pinch, can be used as a form of attack or defence. The problem is unless you’re using a magical creature’s bone, even strong non magical creatures will only be able to do the equivalent of a punch before being used up, and magical creature remains are so useful nobody in their right mind would use them as a reagent for a spell this weak. The spell also has a time limit depending on the amount of magic used, usually five or less minutes.

With that, I went back to the orphanage and decided that until I can light up one side of the cube I wouldn’t bother going back to the magical district.

 

---o-o-o------------

 

Fast forward three weeks and I’ve finally managed to consistently activate one side of the cube. From here I needed to find the spells reagents.

It was difficult getting access to an animal skull. I lucked out one day on the walk home from school and managed to find a dead pigeon on the sidewalk.

From what I’ve read, magic is very reactive, so I didn’t want to risk any blood or flesh contaminating the spell. This led to me creepily twisting the pigeons head off in the street and trying to subtly clean it at the orphanage. needless to say I need to work on my stealth, the matron who caught me stewing the pigeon skull wasn’t… thrilled.

This all leads up to now, with me staring at a shockingly normal pigeon, if a bit see through.

As if to show me magic wasn’t that simple, the pigeon warped from any regular bird to a gruesome mimicry of the one I found lying on the street with its guts hanging out and its neck snapped. As its broken wings trailed behind it, it’s cold lifeless eyes still stared at me, asking for its task.

The spell warned of this. The apparition’s appearance is influenced by the caster’s thoughts. As soon as I thought of its mangled body rather than a normal bird it shifted into its current state, and now I can’t get that state out of my head, and with no use for the bird I dismissed it. That was disgusting.

That did give me a way of defending myself though. Even just the shock factor of a spell being cast and that awful thing appearing should shock someone enough to let me run, especially if I have it fly at them. Most people would be at least a little shocked at a disembowelled pigeon flying for their heads. Onte of the problems with this type of spell is that it consumes the reagents used when casting it, so I need a supply of skulls for it to be reliable.

In the end however, none of that really mattered. I ended up breaking my promise and exploring Unkan while I’ve been learning the spell. It’s not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. The biggest problem is well meaning adults trying to send me back to Diagon or find my parents. While Unkan isn’t very dangerous, it isn’t the type of place for children. I kept up with learning the spell mainly out of boredom then anything else. Luckily my birthdays soon.

I appeared in this body on June the 24^th, currently its august the 3^rd. the orphanage doesn’t know my exact birthday, but they do know its sometime in early august, and eventually they decided to just call it august 7^th and left it at that. I should get my Hogwarts letter soon. Dear god, do I hide my magical knowledge? If its Dumbledore that comes it could become a massive problem if he realises what I know? What if he I lied about it and he realises? That’s going to be complicated.

 

---o-o-o------------

 

It’s august 10^th and Dumbledore's here. He walks in dressed in an old but still classy velvet suit. Long beard down to just below his waist and hair slicked back. He knows how to dress. The matron knocks on my door, introduces him as a professor and leaves us.

I’ve decided it isn’t best idea to try and play with him. Dumbledore is a political powerhouse. He holds positions of power in both the local and international governments, he’s the headmaster of the most prestigious wizarding academy in the UK and he’s the man who fought two dark lords and defeated one of them.

I won’t be able to manipulate him, I just don’t have a chance. Instead I’ve decided that my best bet is to simply be honest, be myself and try not to make eye contact. The most I can hope for is him not forcing me to talk about topics I’m clearly uncomfortable with.

He takes a quick look around the room before zeroing his focus in on me as he steps into my room and gestures toward my chair.

“May I?” he asks. I nod and he sits before looking at me, content to let me start the conversation.

“Your Albus Dumbledore.” I speak.

He leans in with a kind smile, “Indeed I am Charles. May I ask how you know of me?” Instead of answering I grab my journal and pull out his chocolate frog card. Wizard chocolate is better than muggle chocolate by far.

“Yes, that would do it I suppose.” He chuckles and gestures for me to continue.

“I found Diagon by accident. I wanted a lunch and saw a couple of people with strange clothes enter a pub. It was the Leaky Cauldron”’ He nods.

“Ah yes, that is one way to discover magic. I feel that I must warn you. Following strangers is not very safe Charles. Do you know why I’m here then?” At my nod he continues, “Well then, it is my joy that I am able to give you this letter.” I reach out and hesitantly take it.

I try to figure out a good way of asking a question. He must see me struggling and gestures for me to ask.

“Dumbledore sir, could you show me some magic? Real magic. I’ve wondered Diagon but I was trying to fit in and-“

“No need to say more my boy. What is your favourite animal?”

It may seem strange to ask, after all I can cast a spell and I’ve seen tons of casual magic. This is different though. A chance to see wand magic from someone like Albus Dumbledore is huge. I’d also feel cheated if I didn’t get the standard experience. I’m pretty sure every muggleborn gets to see a spell from whoever is introducing them to magic.

“Pigs sir, teacup pigs. the ones that stay small forever.” He nods and waves his wand at my journal. Before my eyes my journal shifts and changes, morphing into a baby pig. Its adorable. I grin and start scratching its head as it nuzzles me.

“That’s fucking awesome. How long until it turns back?”

Dumbledore gives me a stern look, “Language.” He says, before easing his expression, “You’ll find that Hogwarts has a low tolerance for curse words. Your journal will be back in due time, no longer than an hour. I suggest you enjoy your pet until then. Now, do you have any questions? Maybe something you haven’t been able to discover in your little adventures.”

“I don’t really have money sir…“ I trail off a bit at that. I’m starting to get comfortable around him, he really does seem like a kind person. He’s trying.

“You need not worry about that. The ministry has a fund to help young wizards in your position Charles.’”

“And will someone take me shopping? I know where Diagon is but-“

“Again, my boy, don’t worry on this. A professor will come by to collect you for your trip. There you will receive a bit more information and some advice on Hogwarts.”

“Huh, that’s pretty cool. I guess that’s all for Hogwarts sir.” Dumbledore nods at me and we stand up to say our farewells. Before I can reach to shake his hand he says one last thing.

“if you’ll excuse my curiosity, why wont you meet my eyes Charles. You’ve been staring at my beard this entire time.”

My words come more forced then intended, “I’ve heard about legilimency. I didn’t want to risk it, I think someone’s mind should be private sir.”

He gives me a sorrowful look, “You’ll find that I believe the same Charles. I assure you that I, nor anyone at Hogwarts, will attempt to enter your mind without consent. This I promise you.” I can’t really think of anything to say to that. And truthfully, he’s been nothing but kind to me so far, so after a mental struggle I decide to give him an olive branch. Call me stupid but I don’t think this is dark lord Dumbledore, I could be wildly wrong of course, but I have this gut feeling that he means me well. I lift my gaze and look him in the eyes. His eyes twinkle and he grins.

“It has been most wonderful meeting you young man. I do look forward to seeing you at Hogwarts.’ And with that greeting he turns on heel and leaves my room.

I stare at the door he left through and I can’t help but think that went well. Better then I thought it would go. Let’s hope I’m not wrong.

 

---o-o-o------------

 

POV Dumbledore:

 

The day’s events weighed heavily on my mind as I returned to Hogwarts. The boy’s suspicion is worrying, never mind the information he already holds. No normal boy should be worried about legilimency. Luckily, he hasn’t started learning occlumency. My mind drifts to two other children that had learned of occlumency far to soon. Once started the damage is nigh impossible to remove. I’ll have to ensure he is warned of his fate should he attempt the discipline. Given his knowledge of legilimency, it bodes well that he hasn’t already started occlumency, but it is unnecessary to risk that he just hasn’t discovered it yet.

The fact that he already knows about the magical world is incredible, but not worrying. The way he found out is. Charles had lied to me about how he found magic. Whatever he’s hiding, the fact that he feels the need to hide it, doesn’t bode well.

I look up as Fawkes trills out before letting loose a heavy sigh. Whatever ever the reason, whatever the future may hold, I will not fail this boy as I have failed so many others. Britain has already paid for my mistakes, I fear that this cost will be far to high.

Notes:

first ever dialogue and point of view. please give me feedback i have absolutely no clue how to do any of this.

Chapter 4: Onward we go

Summary:

Charles does his years shopping and heads on to the hogwarts express.

Notes:

sorry for the late post. between uni and socials this is really just a side project. it should be updated once a week ish but more likely to be once a month until next july.

‘… wand bonds are a fascinating phenomenon that is still not fully understood.

Wands themselves are a recent magical invention. Popularised by the roman empire. Swiftly spread throughout most of the western hemisphere and some of the eastern, wands have become a staple for every witch or wizard.

They are unique in their ability to help cast most every magical school, and indeed enabled the creation of some magical schools thought before to be impossible.

Where once druids cast mass spells with the use of staves and the Pictish used their mazes to create ward-like effects spanning entire regions, wands themselves allow a fine degree of control over ones magic.

The process of creating a wand bond is unique among magical aids. When correctly crafted by a wand smith, wands have the ability to form a bond with a wixen’s magical core, allowing easier transfer of magic.

The process of creating this bond leaves the bonder with an intense feeling of ecstasy, followed by a period of extreme fatigue as the magical core stretches to accommodate the new bond, similar to bonding a familiar.

This bond grows with the wixen, strengthening as time passes, adapting to the bonders preferred magic style. This adaptation can be inherited, which has led to prominent families developing specialisations over time. An example being the most noble and ancient house of Nott’s predilection for string magic and warding…'

 

An excerpt from ‘wand lore for the uninformed’ by Recrim Ollivander.

 

‘… the magical world is rife with creatures of all shapes and sizes, however the most interesting of creatures to roam the world must be those that are sapient. Sapient creatures, or magical beings, are non-humans capable of complex thought and emotion.

An oft made mistake among those of muggle descent is to interpret intelligence with humanity. Magical sapiens do not think like humans. They do not feel emotions like humans. To lay human qualities upon a magical being is among the highest of insults.

These beings have evolved in far different conditions to humanity and attempting to rationalise a non-human as human is an exercise in stupidity.

An example is the goblins. Goblins are a warrior race. During their infancy they grew as warring tribes in the under-earth before inter breeding with the fey, leaving the goblins we know now.

Violent tricksters and bloody combatants.

After many hard-fought wars in which the victor is up to debate the goblins have moved their battle grounds from blade to gold.

Never think a being to be human due to shared tongue, take care to learn of there customs as much you can before interacting with them…’

 

Excerpt from ‘magical beings for the misinformed’ by Cedric Selwyn.

 

Early in the morning, a week later, I once again found myself lounging around my room as a new visitor arrived. This time a short, heavy looking lady with wild grey hair. She wore sensible trousers and a large overcoat made from a thick fabric.

This professor looked very cheery. A happy smile and a bounce in her step as she walked into the room gave way to an absolute flood of words.

“Hello young Charles, and a very happy birthday to you. It’s wonderful to be able to finally meet you. I am professor Sprout, the herbology professor at Hogwarts. I’ve heard about your special circumstances from the headmaster. Now quick quick, we have much to do today but before we leave-“

“I’m sorry professor,” I quickly interrupt, “It’s nice meeting you too, but did you say it was my birthday?”

“Why of course it is Charles. Today is the 17^th, did you forget?” she says with a worried tone, flabbergasted someone could forget their own birthday.

“Uh, no professor.” I say sheepishly, “I didn’t know today was my birthday. The orphanage has my birthday registered as the 7^th, not the 17^th. I was dropped on the doorstep, no one really knew the real date, you know? Can I ask why you think its today?”

“Oh, you poor dear.” Before I can react, she envelops me in a hug. Its… nice. I haven’t been hugged since I’ve come to this world.

“Hogwarts records all children’s birthdates and times when they’re registered to attend. It’s an old magic dear. I can assure you that today is the day you were born.” She steps back and looks at me with a strange expression, not quite pity but something close. She continues in a quiet, gentle voice.

“As I was saying Charles. Before we go to Diagon we need to decide upon a surname for you. All your possessions will need to be labelled. I’m happy to help you all day long if necessary dear, I’ve made sure that I’ve nothing else to do today.”

“Nite.” I say, no hesitation in my voice, “Charles Nite.” Ive thought on a name since I’ve come here and id settled on Nite a while ago.

“A wonderful name deary. Is there a reason?”

“Well, its Latin for shine. It’s also like the word night, but spelt wrong you know? And it sounds cool.” I mumble out the last bit as she lets loose a hearty laugh.

“That dear, is a perfect name Mr Nite.” She chuckles again, “Now, if you’re sure you’re happy with that, why don’t we head towards Diagon. I’m told you know the way, so instead I’m going to introduce you to apparition. Do you know what that is?” At my nod she gestures for me to continue.

“Um, it’s like teleportation, right? And it’s supposed to make you sick along the way.”

She beams, “Excellent Mr Nite. You are a hundred percent correct, though with practice you feel less and less sick. You see it really is a convenient way to travel. Now grab my hand Mr Nite, we have places to be!” And with that she took us to Diagon.

 

---o-o-o------------

 

Apparition isn’t as bad as described. It is like being squeezed through a pinhole and spun around but outside of transit the feeling disappears and your left just a little nauseous. No vomiting necessary.

Professor Sprout is an absolutely amazing person. Throughout the entire day she was bubbly and cheerful and constantly used my last name to try and help me get used to it.

First, she took me to Gringotts to collect the orphans fund and taught me about the goblins.

“Now Mr Nite, you must remember that goblins aren’t humans. We are completely different species. We don’t have the same ethics or thoughts. The goblins are a warrior race that came from vast caverns underground. Don’t be polite, don’t smile and above all, don’t waste time. Be short and concise. The goblins can make your life very difficult if they decide to. Do you understand?”

Following this she told me not to speak unless addressed and walked into the bank. We waited in line for roughly 15 minutes before reaching the teller.

“Business.” It said in a gravelly voice.

“Hogwarts orphan fund collection.” The professor stated before plopping a letter and a series of files on the desk.

The goblin bared its teeth at Sprout before reading the letter and skimming the files. Eventually it nodded and called out to another goblin. After another 5 minutes a purse was dropped onto the table in front of us. Professor Sprout took the purse and led me out immediately.

“That was quick.” I said, “Everything I’ve learnt about goblins says they take ages to do anything?”

“It usually takes so long because while wizards understand that goblins don’t work like we do, they don’t attempt to accommodate the goblins Mr Nite. The goblins take this as a challenge and respond in kind. I however, act as I told you to and in respect of my attempt, they help me faster.” At this professor sighs, “remember Mr Nite, a little bit of compassion can take you very far in any world.”

After that we stuck together in search of my supplies. Some things, like a cauldron and gloves needed to be bought new, for everything else Professor Sprout showed me areas in Diagon and Vertic where you can get things for cheaper second hand. She gave me tips on looking for certain texts that have notes to make studying easier and how even though the robes need to be new you can get them a couple of sizes bigger with a fitting charm so that they last longer. She helped me through the entire process so that in the end I still had money for the train and next summer.

And that leads us to the final stop, Olivanders: makers of fine wands since 382 bc. She stopped by the door and addressed me.

“Alright Mr Nite, this is our last stop. Your first wand is special, and the process of bonding to it is unique and deeply personal. I’m going to leave you here, Garrick is an expert at this, you’re in good hands. When your done I’ll be right outside.” I gave a firm nod, and she watched me as I entered the shop.

The interior was clean but cluttered. Towering shelves, filled to the brim with wands. This shop seemed to have a presence like no other place besides maybe the Temple. it almost seemed more real than anywhere else I’ve visited.

“I don’t believe I recognise you.” Came a voice from behind. I jumped, startled and turned to stare at the man. Large spectacles sat upon a crooked nose, with wild silver hair framed his wrinkled face. Not quite grey, almost like his hair was naturally silver.

“Garrick Olivander, at your service. You are a muggleborn I believe, yes. Yes, it must be.” He said.

“yeah, uh, I am, Charles Nite. Nice to meet you?” It came out more as a question then anything else as the old man muttered to himself walking around the store as a tape measure proceeds to measure every inch of my body.

He reappeared with a box in hand. “Here we go, 9 and a quarter inch, unicorn hair, oak. No particular specialisations but no struggles either. An exceptionally loyal wand.”

I grasp the wand and give it a wave. Immediately smoke starts expelling from the end and Olivander steals the wand from my hand.

“No, not unicorn hair, definitely not unicorn hair. Hmm, try this. Hawthorn, phoenix feather. 11 inches and rather supple.” As I reached for the wand, he pulled it away from me shouting in the negative.

And so began the mission to find a wand suited for myself. It took nearly an hour. We tried every type of wood and every type of core, from apple wood to ivy, Olivander really struggled to help me.

Wand cases were blasted off of shelves, his hair set on fire, the floor exploded and colourful sparks of all types rained through the air. Strangely the more he failed to find me a wand the more excited he got. I tried to ask questions while waiting but he ignored me, getting more and more lost in his own world.

Until eventually, “Now try this Mr Nite. 13 and a half inches, unyielding. Aspen wood, collected from a particularly young tree in a forest of very old growth. This particular tree survived a lightning strike during its sapling years. A dragon heartstring from a peculiar Hebridean black. This dragon never grew past 20 feet, rather short for its species, yet was feared by most of the colony. Even stranger it was never aggressive unless provoked.”

Before even seeing the wand, I knew this one was mine. As soon as Olivander opened the box the wand flew straight into my hand as if summoned and shot out an enormous array of black and silver sparks. The sheer warmth I felt coming from the wand, almost as if it was alive in my hand, was incredible.

“It would appear that we have found your wand Mr Nite. That is the wand of a warrior. A powerful wand, best suited for martial magic and those who seek adventure. Take care of it and you will struggle to find a more loyal wand.” I nodded, numb from the feeling of completeness the wand gave me.

While paying for the wand I also used some of my funds to buy a simple holster made from cow leather and a wand care kit before thanking him and leaving. The entire experience was incredibly tiring and at this point I just wanted to sleep.

Outside I found professor sprout waiting for me.

“Well that took an awful lot of time deary, did it go well?” at my tired nod she smiled before leading me to a new area. It turns out it was Florean Fortescue’s ice cream Parlor. As a happy birthday gift she bought me ice-cream. Professor Sprout really is wonderful.

After a busy day Sprout took me back to the orphanage and gave me the last of the orphan fund. Once she’d left, I collapsed in bed, for some reason today took a lot out of me.

 

---o-o-o------------

 

As I made my way onto the Hogwarts express, I thought back on what happened at the orphanage. The head matron used some of the savings to buy me a brand-new hoodie. Getting anything new that’s not a donation is rare, and usually you have to fight for that right. The matron decided that getting a scholarship to a prestigious school was worth it though and bought me a hoodie out of her own money. It’s the perfect hoodie for me as well, made from a thick material, autumn colours with a ufo picking up a cow painted on the back. The tractor beam is psychedelic and the whole think looks like you’d find it on Esty. Its just a thoughtful gift and I really appreciated the effort.

So here I was, struggling to get an oversized trunk onto the train in my fancy hoody and faded jeans. As much as I would love to be super strong, I’m only 11, and this trunk is nearly half my weight even with feather light charms. It has a solid metal cauldron in it after all.

While struggling two gingers walk up to me, one looks like a first year, the other older.

“Can I help you there mate?” asks the older one.

“If you wouldn’t mind, this thing’s bloody heavy. The names Charles, you?”

He chuckles, “no worries, the firsties always need help. I’m Bill Weasley and this is Charlie, I’m third year and Charlie’s in your year.”

My smile strains a little. How I’ve managed to meet the older two Weasleys before I’ve stepped foot on the train, I don’t know. We end up finding a compartment and chatting a bit before Bill leaves to find his friends. A little while after settling down Charlie breaks the silence.

“So, uh, what’s it like. Finding out about magic I mean.” After a thinking for a bit, I decide to just be honest about finding Diagon. Theres no real point in lying, no benefit at least.

“I mean, professor Sprout was really nice. And I got to meet Dumbledore. I actually knew about magic before the whole ‘you’re a wizard’ moment though, discovered Diagon by accident one day.”

He leans in, “That’s pretty cool, how’d you manage that then?” after telling him the same story I told Dumbledore he laughed. “Core, that’s brilliant mate. Did you go back?” At this point all the prior awkwardness had faded. Charlie seemed to be a pretty cool guy.

I smirked, “Of course. Mostly just wondered around. Ended up exploring Unkan and Knockturn too.”

“No way! That so cool, mum never lets us down there!”

At this the door bursts open and in comes a girl with bright pink hair. She attempts to rush into the compartment but trips at the doorway and lands face first into Charlie’s lap.

He jumps and shoves her off with a yelp. She groans as she hits the floor.

“What was that for!” She yells at him from her spot on the floor.

“What do you mean what was that for, you’re the one that burst in here!” he yells back. The girl seems to remember something at this. Her hair turns a vibrant shade of red and she hurries to close the door.

“Hide me.” She hisses out before climbing under the bench by my feet. As Charlie and I look at each other confused the compartment door bursts open for a second time and in walks a pissed off Slytherin prefect.

“Where is she! Ill skin her for what she’s done!” he shouts.

Almost perfectly in sink me and Charlie say “Who?”. Somehow, we keep perfectly confused faces as the prefect stops for a second and scans the compartment. With a blank face before saying,

“If you see a girl, about this big,” he mimes the height, “with pink hair, come tell me immediately.” And walks out.

After he closed the door there was a tense silence for a few seconds before the girl bursts out laughing and crawls out from under the bench, this time with bright canary yellow hair.

“What did you do?” Charlie asks, still a bit angry from earlier.

Still laughing the girl manages to say “I hexed him while he was kissing his girlfriend. He didn’t appreciate the boils on his bits if you get me.” At this I let out a laugh and Charlie looked slightly awed.

“why’d you do that?” I ask.

“oh, he was insulting my mum.”

She looks at us and then seems to realise something before introducing herself.

“I’m Tonks by the way. Just Tonks. Nothing else. Definitely nothing else. Who’re you then?”

After introducing ourselves I sit back in silence while Charlie and Tonks talk. How is it I’ve managed to meet both the Weasleys and Nymphadora Tonks on the train ride? It’s pretty awesome to be honest. Tonks will become a great auror and a member of the order, while Charlie ends up working with dragons and bill as a curse breaker. At least they’re interesting.

I’m paying enough attention to hear Tonks tell Charlie about her being a metamorphmagus.

“That’s so cool. I wish I could do that.” He says.

“It’s pretty great. It makes me super clumsy though. Mum says its because my legs keep changing shape, but dad says its cause I’m always running everywhere.”

After a bit of this Charlie gets a confused look on his face before blurting out,

“Wait, how did you know hexes?” Charlie asks.

 “What d’you mean? Haven’t you tried anything yet?”

“What?! No! It’s illegal isn’t it? Mum said…”

“’Mummy said’” Tonks parroted. “The trace is only put on when you walk through the gate. Even then if your parents have wands or your house is warded your basically ok.”

At Charlie’s shock she laughs before turning to me.

“Have you cast anything yet or did you also listen to ‘mummy’.”

“Well, I’ve got no mom to listen to so...” Her hair turned bright yellow, and she started stammering out an apology before I cut her off. “It’s cool dude don’t sweat. Being an orphans cool sometimes you know? no bedtime. Yeah but nah I haven’t tried wand spells. I have tried a wandless spell that’s going pretty good though.”

With Tonks still looking mortified Charlie jumped in.

“Wandless? Isn’t that supposed to be like, really hard. I know you found magic and everything but.”

“It’s not too difficult. I mean I found this cool library called the Temple-“

“”The temple!”” they both shout.

“mums never even let Bill-“, “I’ve never been allowed near there-“ they both start. I chuckle as they try and shout over each other.

“I mean like, ye its not easy to find but it’s not that bad.” They both look at me with awe.

“I mean I don’t really see the big deal? It’s basically just a large library.”

“Just a large library my bollocks!” shouts Charlie.

“Yeah it’s a pretty big deal Nite. Visiting the Temple is a rite of passage for most families. After you’ve done your owls, you know?” continues Tonks, her hair shining a vibrant pink.

“Mate its bloody cool that’s what it is. The Temple is where you go to learn a bunch of stuff that Hogwarts doesn’t teach. Bill won’t stop talking about how excited he is to visit it. No kids are allowed, how’d you even get in?”

“Ah well, I think that’s my secret isn’t it.” I snicker. Theres no way I’m telling them I just walked in, that’s not nearly impressive enough.

After a lot of badgering, they ask me to show them my spell. With a bit of effort, we manage to haul my trunk off the rack and pull out one of the rat skulls I have.

“That’s a bit grim Nite.” Charlie says looking at the small pile of skulls I managed to scavenge and bring with.

“Nah, that’s awesome.” Tonks says staring at the pile, “Plus it’ll be dead useful for messing with people.” Charlie and I both give her look. I turn back to the skull in my hand and start the process, chanting the spell and channelling my magic. After blowing on the skull a relatively big, greyish black rat forms in front of us.

At their looks I make it move around a bit before diving at Tonks. She jumps in her seat as hits her leg and dissipates.

“you wanker! Why would you do that?!” she shouts as Charlie laughs at her.

I smirk at her before packing everything up. At least I’ve got friends in this shitshow.

Notes:

as always, please point out any mistakes. the dialogue at the end was a bit weird to get out. im struggling with balancing the whole telling the story and trying to include all of the lore ive thought up. alot of the time stuff comes out wooden and i have to rewrite it. eventually things will be explained or exposed, whether its the top exerpts or little bits of conversation.

Notes:

id love if people could help me out with tag ideas as the story progresses.