A Sad Story and Playing with Magic

"The Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century..." Devlin said interrupting his mom. "Sorry mom, can I check out something?"

"Sure thing here..Why the panic though?" Ester handed him the book. Devlin opens the book looking at the table of contents and finds what he was looking for.

"Here it is." Devlin said out loud. "The Boy Who Lived..page 1,985." Devlin read it out loud.

"Oh? That sounds interesting Dev, what is it about?" Ester asked in curiosity. Kate opened the door from behind Devlin.

"What's interesting?" Kate asked with curiosity.

Devlin flipped through the pages and started reading it out loud for everyone. "Harry James Potter was born on 31st of July 1980...."

"Oh younger than both of you." Ester said entertainingly. "Then this happened pretty recently."

Devlin continued reading the basics of Harry's past and his parents. "It became clear that 'He Who Shall Not Be Named' marked the Potter family for death. The Potter Family went into hiding with only sharing the location with best friend Sirius Black. On the Hallowe'en Night 1981, Sirius betrayed the Potter family and notified 'He Who Shall Not Be Named' the location of the Potter family. Rubeus Hagrid arrived at the scene only finding the young baby Harry Potter still alive with a lightning scar on his forehead. Sirius was found afterwards attacking fellow best friend Peter Pettigrew resulting in his death as well as twelve muggles in the process with only his severed fingers left behind from a Blasting Curse."

"Whoa that's crazy." Kate said "We were still babies when this happened! Do you remember anything from the news mom?"

"Not that recall, wait, what is this "He Who Shall Not Be Named" business? That's an odd way to refer to a villain. But what happened to him?" Ester asks

"There's more to the chapter." Devlin continued to read. "It has been reported that 'He Who Shall Not Be Named' has killed a lot of people, but he couldn't kill the little boy. Somehow his power has broken when he tried to kill little Harry Potter only leaving a lightning shaped scar on the baby's forehead. He Who Shall Not Be Named disappeared afterwards never to be seen again. The Death Eaters lost their leader and fell apart. Peace was restored thanks to this miracle child. The Boy Who Lived. No one knows where the child is currently located, but one thing is for sure. We are all thankful to that boy."

Devlin closed the book now convinced that Harry Potter and Voldemort exists too. He was worried for the future. He convinces himself that he's no hero. He just wants his family and himself to be safe and live a safe and accomplished life. He'll need more information about this current world, but one thing is for sure. His past knowledge will be helpful at least. "I may not be an over-powered superhero with a system, but I can use my information as an advantage and work hard to be a successful wizard!" Devlin thought to himself.

"What a sad story. To be betrayed by their best friend. That Sirius Black! What a villain!" Ester commented on the article.

"A name like Sirius Black! That sounds like the big boss villain indeed!" Kate replied as well.

"At least he's in jail and whoever that guy was that murdered that Potter family is gone." Devlin already knew the truth. But he will not reveal that truth at this moment. He has not made any connections or gained anyone's trust. If he were to mention this to anyone right now, they would brush him off.

"Okay that is enough story time." Ester said "I would like to read more, but I need to get dinner ready. Get ready for a feast tonight! I feel like cooking big." She always liked a good story and this one tops it all. A magical story that seems like a fairy tale but more it's a non-fiction story.

Everyone went to do their own thing. Devlin sat at his room processing the information he just read about Harry Potter.

"The history matches the novel. I'm not sure how much would change with my influence, but I have already befriended the Weasley family. No doubt not just me, but Kate and my family will gain friends in the magic world. I'm not willing to withhold any information if I can help them. I also can't be careless. I say anything now, they might bring me to a mental institute, or I could accidentally inform the enemy. I need to prepare properly and also prepare myself. In order to prepare for any situations, I need to work hard get ready for anything."

Devlin decided to ask Kate to see some of her schoolbooks to see if they can practice more spells. As he walked into the room, he saw Kate concentrating hard making her pen float in the air with her wand.

"You are already getting the hang of it?" Devlin said.

"It's just like you said Devy." Kate said making the pen now rotate in the air. "Visualization and feel the magical energy, and then like giving it to the wand with the command will make it happen."

Devlin nodded. "Yes, I was thinking the same thing. I felt the same thing when I borrowed your wand, although I felt a little resistance. It might be because of that wand."

"But you are able to make things float without a wand or spell?" Kate remembered Devlin showing Mrs. Sprout his ability.

"So, the concept is the same, but I did it without a wand and it took almost a month for me to figure it out. At first nothing happened at all, and I was thinking maybe the whole thing was a coincidence. Then I found that it requires strong visualization, intent, and willpower. I got somewhere with a lot of trial and error. I broke a lot of toy figures in the process. I thank them for their service." Devlin explained play pretending for his toys.

"Willpower...so if i want to increase the power..." Kate took a breath and grabbed her wand. "Lumos!" Kate waved her wand in motion and a bright light shined throughout the room blinding everyone in the area.

"Argh! Okay Kate yes now turn it off!!" Devlin said covering his eyes.

"Nox!" Kate said with authority and the light turned off. "Devy, magic is amazing and fun!"

Devlin smiled at Kate "Right?" Devlin thought of a good idea for practice and grinned mischievously. He took a piece of paper from Kate's desk and crumpled it into a ball and then made it float in the air. "So how good is your levitation spell?" Devlin pointed his finger towards Kate and the crumpled paper ball flew towards Kate and hit her on the forehead.

Kate was shocked in reaction but then fired back in reply. "Wingardium Leviosa!" Kate did as swish and flick motion at the paper ball and it flung itself towards Devlin. Devlin quickly dodged and the paper ball flew past him.

"Too slow grasshoppa!" Devlin said playfully. Kate didn't say anything just smiled and waved her hand slightly. Devlin standing proud all of a sudden felt something hit the back of his head and was shocked to find it was the paper ball he dodged.

"You let your guard down Wizard Boy!" And thus began the magical battles of siblings in the Delwyn family household.

***

A few weeks have passed and Devlin and Kate learned a few things. Through playing with magic, although obvious, the more you use the spell, the better you become at it. For Kate, after using the levitation spell so much, she was now also able to use that spell without saying the incantation or use the specific wand movement. With enough willpower and concentration with intent, all she had to point her wand in the direction she desired. By this time after endlessly playing with magic, she was able to command many paper balls to attack Devlin at different angles to try to corner him just by a simple flick and gesture from her wand.

Secondly, when they get tired, the more difficult it is for magic to control. It wasn't due to losing magic power or anything of the like, it was mentally and physically draining to run around and cast spells. The more tired you get, obviously you lose focus more and as a result, less command of your spells.

Kate also had some level of success with wandless magic, only with the levitation spell and nothing complicated as well. With a wave of a hand, she can push things aside, but there is no control. When Devlin flings a paper ball at her, a way of defense was to swing her hand and the paper ball would fly violently towards the direction of where she swung. She could not do anything with elegance like making the paper ball pause in mind air, and let it float down softly without the usage of her wand.

Kate also discovered because she hasn't used Lumos or any of the spells as often, she still says the incantation. By muscle memory of the wand patterns, Kate could actually cast some of the basic spells without incantation, but it takes time and concentration. It was easier and faster just flicking her wand and just saying the spell. Devlin and Kate figured with time it may come easier, but convenience wise, she never really bothered to try hard enough to do without.

Devlin had better results in wandless magic with at least in levitation type spells. Even with no wand and inspirations from Star Wars by using the 'force', Devlin now and the ability to make things float just by gesturing his hand. This also could simply be a result of him training this longer.

Devlin also didn't bother with other spells at this moment. He did try other spells, and through Kate's wand he had some level of success, but without it, he didn't succeed. He didn't have many opportunities to use Kate's wand either. First, Kate wanted to practice and have fun with magic so she didn't always let Devlin use the wand, and also, Devlin just didn't feel comfortable using her wand. It could be because it wasn't his wand. Mr. Ollivander did mention that her wand was a faithful wand.

Kate and Devlin decided that this would be a fun way to achieve a good measure of their capabilities physically and mentally. They made some simple rules of the game where one attacks, and one defends and dodges. Once hit five times with the paper ball then they switch. They were only allowed to play this game between their bedrooms as their base. They once played this game throughout the whole house, but after some accidents of breaking picture frames or ruining their mom's cooking, they got lectured and decided to limit the this to only the upstairs.

In Kate's bedroom, Devlin and Kate sit across from each other throwing and catching a tennis ball casually using the levitation spell.

"So are you excited for Hogwarts? Few days left." Devlin waves his finger towards the tennis ball as it flies up in a curve towards Kate.

Kate pointed her wand towards the ball as it stops in midair floating by her face. "Excited and scared. Not sure what to expect!" Kate replied flicking her wand casually making the tennis ball spin in the air and go towards Devlin.

"What class are you excited for the most?" Devlin catches the tennis ball with his hand then balances the ball on his finger.

"Probably transfiguration! Can I grow wings on myself and fly? I'm curious." Kate and Devlin laughed and continued their conversation when suddenly their mother's voice could be heard.

"Devlin, Kate, I received an owl from Mrs. Weasley. She has invited us over on the day we send Kate the Hogwarts. Offering to come show us the way to 9 3/4 Platform in the train station."