Healing and Training

I kept a keen ear out throughout the night waiting for both Nana and Melony to go to bed, when I knew the coast was clear I started to sneak out of my room, something that was a trend at this point, and headed down towards the common room area. One glance over at the door I noticed the door was fully locked and unlike last time, the keys were nowhere to be seen.

It's clear Nana had hidden them just in case I decided to just head off again, not that I would do that though…

Heading towards Nana's room I slowly opened the door and walked over quietly to her bedside. Looking down at her, I looked at her pained and withered expression. Her breathing was rough as she slept, and it was as if her chest was congested. Seeing her like this made me realise that when the doctor's visit had happened she had forcibly made herself seem peaceful whilst I spoke to the doctor. She didn't want me to worry despite the doctors words so she held in this display and probably told the doctor to not tell me how she really was.

Taking out the wand in my pocket I pointed it at Nana. I was unclear whether this spell would work however since I had been grounded to my room I had tried it out along with some other simple spells to see if it was possible. This would be a temporary relief for Nana, something I'd have to do every couple of months, until I concocted the thorough fix.

Pointing my wand towards Nana, I saw her pained expression reflecting in my eyes. With slight anxiety I casted the spell.

"Sana"

It wasn't a spell that was in the canon at all because of how simple it was in its nature. It literally meant 'heal' in Latin. The spell would enter into the body that the caster casted it at and would flow through them healing them internally. This sort of spell was just a temporary relief though as stated before, to give it an analogy it was like putting a plaster over a cut. Whilst the cut was covered it could still fester. With a potion brewed for the occasion it would be different, instead of just covering the cut it would be like cleaning and disinfecting the cut before putting a plaster on it.

As the spell landed softly on Nana, the slight green glow seemed to emanate from her momentarily before subsiding. I watched on with anxiety wondering if I had succeeded. Looking at her originally pained expression, it started to subside and her face began to relax. She began to sleep more peacefully. Seeing this result I was extremely happy. With something like this it was possible to keep Nana going long enough until the potion was made.

Seeing that my work had been done, exited Nana's room silently and headed back up to my room. Arriving in my room I flopped onto my bed, tiredness overwhelmed me as I felt my eyelids grow heavy and soon after I found myself in a deep sleep…

.

Waking up the next day there were no dreams this time. Unlike the last couple of days, it seemed as though since I was relaxed here at New Leaf those sorts of dreams didn't arise anymore. I felt refreshed knowing this fact as I got up out of bed and grabbed the wand on my bed side.

It was still really early so I decided to go through some simple spells again. I particularly liked 'Lumos' as it made me feel giddy about how far I'd come. Originally I was able to use the 'ET' spell to make my finger glow when I was just 5. I spent years looking at that little glow. Now I had a wand and knew the process of 'Lumos', seeing the light at the end of the wand emit a powerful light illuminating my entire room made it happy as it was a clear sign of progress.

Soon the time came for me to go downstairs, I hid my wand away in the box and then placed that box into my pouch and put that on my waist. Heading downstairs, I saw breakfast had been put on the table for me. Melony seemed to wear a difficult expression however Nana who was in the kitchen seemed jubilant.

"Nana, are you sure you are fine to cook all these meals? Why won't you let me help?"

"Nonsense Mel! I'm on fire today! I feel as though the collapse and illness never happened~"

Nana seemed to stubbornly ignore Melony's honest concern as she worked at 200%. I chuckled a bit with an honest smile on my face as I sat down and began to eat my breakfast. Melony didn't utter a single word to me, seemed to she was giving me the silent treatment. Sadly for her that sort of treatment didn't work on me.

I ate my food quickly and calmly. As the plate was finished I took it over to the kitchen, washed it and then thank Nana for the meal. Usually I imagined Nana would be like Melony, being cold due to my recent actions however It seemed her health getting better had made her happy as she gave me a smile asking me if I wanted extras. I declined of course as I started to head upstairs.

Just as my foot reached the first step though, a resounding knock came from the Orphanages door.

*knock knock*

"I'll get it!"

Melony rushed over before Nana had the chance and answered the door. The person knocking seemed to be a man in a nice black suit, it looked expensive. He smiled as he looked down at Melony.

"Is this New Leaf orphanage?"

"Yes sir it is, is there anything we can help you with?"

The man took out a few documents and gave them to Melony. Nana soon closed in on Melony as well and read through the documents. Shock started to rise in their eyes as they read over the words on the papers. They looked up at the man who returned a smile and started to explain.

"My 'manager' saw it fit to leave this place a donation after hearing about how it was faring financially. He himself was once an orphan so he highly respects orphanages and the people who run them. This money is all a gift to get you up and running properly again"

Nana looked like she was about to faint as she heard these words. Melony also looked overwhelmed as she looked at the £40,000 check in her hands. Seeing that number, the odd situation in its entirety and this man who seemed to have a familiar 'feel' to him I already knew what was happening. The man looked over to me on the stairs and give me a knowing smile which felt like he was confirming my thoughts.

I had to admit, that Gringotts really does have a good turnaround time. Guess with magic everything can be done in good pace…

After signing some paperwork, the man left. Nana and Melony stared down at the check on the table in sheer disbelief as to what had happened. They asked the man constant questions of why, how, what and he answered them all perfectly and professionally. Enough to convince them both at the very least. With the check in front of them, both of them seemed to grow emotional as they realised the place they called home would actually stay open instead of needing to be closed up or sold off. I looked down the stairs at them with a smile on my face.

It felt nice to repay kindness.

.

The orphanage began to flourish once again with the donation brought in. The children were happy to stay and both Nana and Melony were glad they didn't have to abandon this place. Due to this happy event, the punishment on me was alleviated greatly as we all celebrated for a while. However I found myself shutting myself in my room more often recently as the days passed by.

Soon those days turned into weeks, then months. I spent this time abiding by a schedule planned out for myself. I would start off with a run around the orphanage to keep my physical fitness up, I'd have breakfast and then I'd stay in my room to train different spells alongside practice making the potion for Nana. I had 20 attempts to make the potion with the amount of materials I had so I would give it a go once, make sure to memorise each step and then recall the process if there was any mistake somewhere.

I made great strides in potions due to my memory being as strong as it was already. I could recall any slight slip-up and the second time around avoid that slip-up. This potion though was said by the shopkeeper to be dangerous and difficult to the point where it would take him a couple of weeks to produce one so I was in no rush. I took my time absorbing my experiences.

Eventually the room I was in at the orphanage became too cramped to practice magic in. I decided instead to head out into the large field out the back of the orphanage, into a little forest of trees within eyesight of the orphanage itself. I made sure to tell Nana and Melony I would just be outside and they still worried greatly at first, wondering if I'd vanish again. However after a few days of doing it and returning in the end they realised that the vanishing overnight was just a one-time thing.

My magical training started to diversify when I went out to the small woods nearby the orphanage. I would use the trees as targets for my spells and I spent a lot of time improving my overall control. It was a steady incline to say the least in regards to my knowledge of how to cast magic and being able to cast magic whilst running, sliding etc. As night fell on these days I would return, eat dinner and spend the rest of the time in my room mulling over the more difficult topics and practices I had in my arsenal.

The first was Occlumency. Whilst it was something that would be easier for me that didn't make it completely easy by any means. All the books I had gave me baseline knowledge on how to start Occlumency but none of them actually guided me. I gathered this was because Occlumency at its core was a practice deemed in high regard so only the ministry, a few big wigs and some noble families would actually have access to guides on how to pursue this weird magic.

Again though as time passed since I returned from Diagon Alley I found my proficiency rose. It was an extremely slow start, almost like wading through a torrent of water. However as I passed by that first torrent I started to understand where I needed to go. I started to layer defences on my mind slowly and surely. With each layer slowly crafted I felt a sense of calm overcome me knowing I was protecting myself further and further.

As for the second course of action during the night, I would spend my time using wandless magic like before to increase my capacity. The same excruciating routine of exhausting and then using that weird breathing method to absorb magic from the surroundings quickly. If any other wizard saw me they would think me crazy but I wanted to grow faster and stronger as soon as possible. This sort of training also had the added effect of improving my wandless magic as a whole also, allowing me to begin being able to cast the simplest of simple spells, although my magic would be sapped majorly in the process.

Just like this, months passed with ease. I kept my head thinking about the canon and the characters involved however no canon shifts occurred despite news of the Descendant of Merlin spreading. I guess I could count myself as someone lucky that the news was being contained to the upper echelons for now however it would eventually trickle down to certain people I believed. Eventually before I knew it I was turning 9 and I was one year closer to going to Hogwarts.

Looking at the vial on my desk, I smiled with glee. It had been a year, a long time to be sure however I had managed to concoct the potion needed to help Nana.

I just needed her to drink it.