A Year In A Blink

Finally resting after a job well done, My parents and I first constructed our family library and study. The books purchased recently, taken from wizard vaults, properties, and all of the books from my family vault were taken out and cataloged before organizing them upon the shelves.

When we were finished, my father sighed, "Too many empty shelves. We need more knowledge, especially in law, politics, and history. As for you, we need more magic. For us, we need books on how to countermagic."

"Dad, we have the money. These shelves will be full in no time. And witch-hunting is something you and mom should take up. It would be best. Right now, our estate is hidden. Income is sent directly to the Hollow Family vault." I told him. "We're well hidden. But when school starts…"

"Yes, the problems will come. We should prepare." My mother spoke.

"For now, I have created a sort of curriculum centered around Hogwarts. They, I'm sure, have a wealth of knowledge. You should spend your time using that wealth rather than struggling on class subjects." My father explained.

" Astronomy, Charms, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, History of Magic, Potions, and Transfiguration. Electives will be beastology, wand lore, law, and our family archives starting with text from the Hakopa Family." My father instructed. He then pulled the books and set them on the table, "We are going to treat magic as a dangerous weapon and you will understand it before you use it."

"If we're talking about weapons, he'll need instructors." My mother added.

"I'll read up on the education system and find out what we can do. Agnok said we have a Fidelius charm on our estate. From what I understand, once someone leaves, they forget the location."

"Then we need live-in instructors. I'll send an owl to Agnok. Maybe she knows a contractor for background checks." said Mother.

A month passed and I was taking well to my magical studies. My father always had his nose in a book while my mother studied the current wizarding fashion industry and its trends. The Wizarding world leaned more towards fabrics and enchantments than cuts and actual design. My mom had the vision to change that. After the second month, my progress took off as I was used to the flow of my magic and my mind was pretty sharp. Years of suppressing accidental flare-ups were starting to bear fruits.

When I started on Occlumency and Legilimency, it was the hardest thing I had ever taken on. So much so, I would rather not discuss it. I trained hard without pause. By the third month, the first-year curriculum was finished. In a sense that I read all of the material. Now I could move on with practical experience. Of course, I found myself returning to the textbooks for reference and writing down notes of my experiences. But at this point, I was pulling the referenced books named within the school textbooks for better understanding.

My daily routine was simple when my spell casting practice was over, I started potion-making, tending to herbs, exploring the lands for magical creatures, charting the stars, and repeat it all the next day. Naturally, my father stayed with me about philosophy, law, ethics, history, and politics. You are an heir to nobility, he said. I'm a lord regent, and we will learn together, he said. This is not punishment but a privilege so take it on admittedly with diligence and appreciation because I am lucky to receive such education with payment, he finished.

The man was unyielding and I was happy about it. I never had a father and I welcomed everything he offered me. I learned what it was like to be raised by experience instead of self-produced trial and error. And most importantly, I was Warship commander and lucky that a man like Royal Hollow is my father because the bureaucracy wasn't my forte.

This is the downside of retaining memories of a past life. It's hard to break those habits. But I will break mine and create better ones with the help of my parents.

Suddenly, the day came and I received a letter from a large grey owl. Opening the letter and reading the content, I became excited.

"Mum! Would you like to go to a secret auction with me?" I asked.

"I have nothing to wear." was her reply. Thankfully I had a level-headed and responsible father. But for things like this, I was happy she was around. Crafty and spontaneous is the best way to describe Vanessa Hollow.

I simply dragged her along and we stopped at the tailor to pick up our order. We had been so busy that she forgot we had an open order with the tailor. After finding a nice dress that my mother designed herself, I picked a suit and threw everything else in my magical wallet. A blank pocket was then labeled clothing. Our outfits were resized and fit us perfectly.

My mother wore a white satin dress, the front stopped at the middle of her shins and dropped to the back of her ankles. The ends were adorned with black lace as was the upper torso. She wore all black high heels with gold bottoms and her hair was pent up. I wore a three-piece charcoal Shelbey suit with a black overcoat.

Walking over to Madam Menagerie's, I showed my ticket and gained access. Through the shop and an enchanted door, my mother and I found ourselves in a large auditorium with many people gathered in masks. I quickly waved my wand and masks appeared on our faces.

"Nice save," she whispered.

"Thank you, mother," I replied as I held out his arm.

"Oh, my little gentlemen." she cooed, "Come, let's have some fun."

People looked at us and gleamed experience and wisdom. I exuded my natural aura honed over years as a Planetary-class warship commander. My mother, however, was just a very posh person when she wanted to be. I paid them no mind as I noticed a row of men in black robes standing in front of doors that lined the walls.

"Why are you standing here?" I asked.

"I will disappear if you purchase this private balcony." the man replied. "It's also equipped with a Fidelius Charm. No one will know the location of the door beside the Lord host once you purchase it."

My mother looked around and noticed the random balconies and lack of balconies where black-robed men were standing. However, the balconies themselves looked more aesthetic than actual functioning balconies.

"Buy it," she said.

"I wish to purchase the balcony."

"100 Galleons."

I paid the man and received a parchment with instructions to open it only after walking on the balcony... The man then vanished.

"disapparition." my mother gasped. "So that's what it looks like."

A moment later, I sat on the balcony and opened the letter.

"The balcony is really veiled by the Fidelius Charm. This note makes me the secret keeper. If you want to increase the bid by the minimum, simply wave your wand. If you want to issue a direct bid, flourish your wand in a figure-eight and speak your price." Cotton explained.

"Simple enough," my mother replied.

The auction soon started and three items passed when my mother finally asked what they were auctioning.

"Eggs of magical creatures found in ruins. They may hatch or they may not. " I repeated what the shopkeeper told me.

"This feels illegal," she said.

"It certainly is based on my observation. According to the book I read, Magical beasts are separated into five classes. The shop seemed to stop selling before class 4, which means this auction could have classes four and five, hopefully. But if your luck is bad, you may also buy a class 1."

"So, it's high stakes gambling?" she asked.

"Yes."

I pushed my magic out, wrapped it around multiple eggs, and felt life and in others, I felt death. It was similar to how I found the strange box at the junk shop. Time passed and I suddenly felt a great tug. An egg encased in a large boulder then appeared.

"Lot #58. The Boulder of Atlantis. As you all know, Atlantis is a sunken city, venturing here can kill even the strongest wizard. This boulder was pulled from that very city and sold to us at a hefty price. It is by far one of the best treasures of the lot. Bidding starts at 5,000 Galleons." said the host.

"10,000 Galleons!" I shouted and the room went silent.

"Cotton, you are mad!" my mother hissed.

"Mother, be quiet!" I retorted as the auditorium could hear us.

The audience laughed and my mother blushed in embarrassment.

I sighed then focused on the bid. The host ran through the process before announcing me the highest bidder. I then rose from my seat and went through the door of my balcony. We instantly appeared backstage where I paid 10,000 galleons and took the boulder.

The boulder stayed in my vault as I had no idea how to hatch the egg without killing what was inside. Hell, I didn't even know how to reveal the egg to identify the beast inside.

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After the auction, I began to think of the mysterious box. Pulling the box from the magic wallet, I was certain that I knew how to speak Sanskrit now. Reading the words on the mysterious box, it glowed green and opened. The box was truly something magical.

Within was a necklace of wooden balls with a string attached to it. At the end of the string was a small red fruit. In the middle of it all, a note.

I picked up the note and read it. My eyes scanned the paper and I was skeptical as I looked at the contents of the box.

"Fruit of the 10,000 year Bodhi? I wonder how long it's been in this ox Photographic memory, Enhanced comprehension. Hmm, when in Rome..." I reached out, grabbed the fruit, and popped it in my mouth.

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3rd POV

Cotton swallowed Bodhi Fruit then collapsed. Three hours later he awoke and everything he ever read, did, seen, or heard was swirling around his mind, easily recalled. His knowledge of magic seemed to connect text and plug in the missing pieces that kept Cotton from fully grasping concepts.

"This is interesting," said Cotton.

He then reached into the box and put the necklace made of bodhi wooden balls on his wrist. He twisted once and put it around his wrist for a second time. His mind cooled and he achieved what many monks dreamed of, internal peace. His mind was clear and unwavering. He then took the necklace off and his thoughts swirled again. He reequipped the jewelry and internal peace was once again achieved.

"Amazing," he gasped. He then looked at the box and said, "I'll save you for my wand."

After that day, Cotton turned out to be a star as he trained in Legilimency and Occlumency. Without the Bhodi necklace, he really didn't have a talent for the mental arts. Cotton was adamant about the mind arts and learning the first-year content to the fullest and then modifying and theorizing further application of the knowledge.

Another month passed, and two events happened.

First, Cotton dueled with tutors certified by the Ministry of Magic to teach underage wizards outside of an educational institute. And when his favorite tutor was pushed past the level she had suppressed herself to, she was flabbergasted.

"That was a first-year levitation charm on yourself. And a severing charm nearly cut off my arm." Quinn, Cotton's self-defense tutor, gasped.

"What happened to the woman I admired?" Cotton spoke coldly and Quinn was taken aback. "Your ingenuity, creativity, analysis, all of it gone. I know you can do better. You taught me to think out of the box and now I'm thinking further out than you."

Cotton turned away and went back to his daily schedule. Quinn smirked behind his back and thought of the young man as peculiar. Very rarely did she meet first-generation wizards, which she thought he was, with such a talent in magic.

She was one of three tutors and they all communicated about his brimming talent. Quinn then reflected on his words without offense. She then thought of the levitation spell and thought of the wand mechanics to control the spell.

Quinn was a talented Auror who opted out of the corp when her partner was killed by a pureblood. The man then walked away free as a bird because of his connections. Though the world had pureblood extremism, not all purebloods were equal.

Cotton watched from a distance and smiled at his tutor. She was deep in thought and he noticed her wand recreating his movement to control the self-applied levitation charm. He liked the mature beauty, but it was all innocent considering his physical constitution was leagues behind his psyche. But he was still in awe of her power of perception.

Cotton was currently finished with first-year studies and was going through the Analyzing, theorizing, and modifying process. The most progress that he made was in Occlumency.

After going through the Occlumency books he purchased, Cotton searched the family's library for books on the art. The Maori people all practiced Occlumency to protect their minds during war. Chiefs developed what is known as the Warrior's avatar. It was a mental replication of the wizard that protected against mental attacks and mounted counter attacks if the opening was there. The special thing about the warrior's avatar is that it was two-pronged. Its attacks were naturally Legilimency and its defense was rooted in Occlumency. Practicing the technique was strengthening both arts in tandem.

Around the time he received his tutors to help with practical training, the second key event happened when he discovered magical combat arts in his family library. It was the only skill that he practiced without his tutors. Instead, it was practiced with his parents. Even though they weren't wizards, with sufficient combat knowledge, a magical sword, and the skills to use it, cutting through a spell could save their lives. Teaching them to kill wizards was one of Cotton's prerogatives.

As for Cotton's wand lore, he was as good as it could be without hands-on experience. Due to this, he no longer bothered on wandlore text. Two months before his eleventh birthday, Cotton focused solely on the text from the Hakopa Family and came up with an idea that resulted in a spell that his father loved.

"I call it the deboning spell. My magic outlines the protected region and the severing charm cuts away everything else in one continuous cut. It's wonderful to help with magic control but too slow for actual battle. As a result, you have one intact hide, ready to cook flesh, and clean intact unmarked skeleton."

"Genius, son!" His father praised him.

"Thank my forefathers. They didn't use wands until after the British colonization. Before that, their weapons and hands were how they used magic. They focused on food, fighting, and healing. I just took a little knowledge from each."

That night, Cotton used the same spell on his boulder, revealing a Cyan egg with white streaks. Cotton smiled and figured it could only be one creature. He went through the incubation process and left the egg alone, waiting for it to hatch.

In the meantime, Cotton stepped way above his level and researched warding and formation(magic circles) magic in his family vault. After finding the one that suited his need, he practiced and pulled in all of his tutors to help him.

On his eleventh birthday, Cotton and his tutors drew a formation and placed his egg in the middle of the magic circle. When night came, the sky churned and a bolt of lightning struck the egg for three nights and two days. When the sky cleared, the egg cracked and a silver electrifying blue feathered eagle-like bird with two pairs of wings emerged.

"What is it?" Quinn asked in awe.

"A Thunderbird..." Marcus, Cotton's potion and herbology tutor gasped.