Fast Maturity

"Noah has been acting weird since... I don't know, more or less 1 month ago." Lisa leaned on her shoulder.

"Why is that Lisa?" Oliphia put a hand around her shoulder.

"I- I just think he is changing, becoming older actually." She stuttered.

"Well, that is normal. Everyone grows up one day, Noah is going through that." She comforted her with a soothing voice.

"Yeah, I know, but he is so... mature. I can't keep up with the speed of it. I even remember those days when he would play hide and seek all day long, but now he stays inside his bedroom all night and wakes up first in the morning. He isn't the cheeky child who I used to know." Her face took a deep shade of red. The reason for her suspicion was something different than what she'd told Oliphia.

'Just yes- yesterday he flirted with me. What was in his mind?! I am 16 and he is 11!'

"Don't be sad Lisa. Give him his time, this phase of life is confusing and strange. Add that the fact that magic exists, and you can understand his change in behavior." She assured Lisa.

"But, but..."

"There is no reason to be worried dear, as his older sister, you only need to help him when he doesn't know what to do." She petted her hair with a warm smile on her face.

Meanwhile, Noah was lost inside his own world while contemplating his plans for the last week in the orphanage. Ever since he came to this world, July 7th, he started changing slowly the way he spoke and acted. The reason was simple, he didn't bear to act like an 11 years old child anymore, his actual age was 19 after all. Other than that, he practiced all night long and during the morning, when no one was looking. If someone ever discovered that he removed his wand tracker, then that would be the straw's end for him.

'I guess I will just continue to practice then. It is as they say: practice makes it perfect. My progress so far had taken leaps and bounds after these past months. My mana jumped all the way up to 40, which is still pitiful in every regard. But hey, at least I am improving! Can't give myself the luxury to give up just because I didn't catch up with the others.

I would be comparing myself with who developed their magic since 7 years old.'

Now he could levitate small objects with Wingardium Leviosa, which by his calculations costs 5 mana for every 50 grams. The spell was basically meant to weaken the influence of gravity on the object, giving the user power over it.

Of course, he didn't discover that by reading the Charms book. If he was to describe the books he read, then outdated would be the best word for them, even though some were more recent than those in Harry Potter's series. Perhaps the most remarkable change was the potions one: Basic Potion-Brewing by Severus Snape.

'But it still amazes me, that even after a millennia these wizards don't improve their knowledge, and meanwhile, muggles acquire more power than ever. By now, I don't really know if the wizard community would survive a war against muggles. '

Noah wrote down his thoughts in his notebook, which he gathered all his magic-related knowledge in. "Magic for Muggles Vol. 1", as he called, already had more than 100 pages filled with his insights. Sooner or later he would need to rewrite it though, as his summary changed almost every week. The current one already had 5 chapters and 1 almost finished by then.

Chapter 1: Mana Measurement

Chapter 2: Spell Potency

Chapter 3: Lumos Color Alteration

Chapter 4: Wingardium Leviosa x Gravity

Chapter 5: Mana Maturity

"Lumos." He summoned an orange-colored light and got back to studying.

'Adding some warm to the spell is a great idea, but...Sigh! That's going to require another month of research... I don't want to go through that again. '

Albeit Noah was capable of constructing new spells, the process was still inefficient and failed numerous times. The backlashes would often be vicious, going as far as almost killing him. Just last week, he tried to invert the Wingardium Leviosa's effect, which sorted of worked, but the sudden change of the gravity's fabric sucked so much mana out of him that 1 more second would be enough to suck his soul along with it.

'At the very least I have to practice the first term's charms and potions... no, actually, only charms. I can't understand about a thing of this book! Basic Potion-Brewing you call it?! First of all, Snape didn't give himself the work of explaining the basics, which is the TITLE. Nah, he would rather just jump right into the practice.'

After venting out his frustrations for a minute or two, he calmed his mind and focused on his books. Time passed on and he stood true to his schedule, studying every day till he could understand more of the subjects. Everything went as planned, the only mishaps being when Lisa would occasionally knock on his door to see how he was doing. When the awaited day finally came, Noah couldn't contain his enthusiasm inside him.

"Oh hey, Noah." Victoria yawned as she slumped down on the couch.

"The same as always?" He looked over the living room from the kitchen.

"Yeah, could you also do some orange juice today?" A smirk was on her face.

"You got it, ma'am!" He made a small salute before going back to the oven.

"You know what? I am impressed by your cooking skills. How did you learn it? Just months ago you couldn't even boil the water!" She laughed at the end, all in all, Noah was the definition of an air-head in the past.

"You flatter me! But I can't tell you, it's the chef's secret." He shrugged before opening the fridge.

'Flatter? Are you serious Noah? Where did this brat learn those words from?' She turned her head towards the footsteps from above, wondering who might it be. Everyone was waking up by then, as they were supposed to be at the Hogwarts train soon. 'Sigh! Now I am going to divide Noah's food with everyone. '

"Oh! Hi Victoria." The blonde adjusted her glasses like she was making an assessment at the moment. "Huh, I do have to say, of all people I expected waking up earlier, you are the most unexpected one." She said as she came down from her bedroom carrying a heavy book under her arms.

"Yeah yeah, shove it Isa, will you?" Victoria snapped at her words, they always annoyed her.

"So hostile aren't you, where is my 'Good Morning, sister Isa!' ?" The two of them went on with their bickering till all the orphanage was awake.

1 hour later they all had their bellies filled with Noah's food.

"Come on! Let's go, I can't wait anymore!" The brown-haired kid shouted at the others.

"Walk more slowly Otis! Do you want to get sick after eating so much?" Lisa scolded him.

'God! Why Otis doesn't behave like Noah? He is almost 13 but way less mature than his younger brother. ' She was tired and filled with food, but also worried with Otis. Sigh! She just couldn't help it. For her fortune though, they soon arrived at the King's Cross Station.

"Alright, all of you can go ahead of us. Noah still doesn't know how to find the platform, I will help him out." Lisa shooed them away.

'And I also get time alone with Noah! Just he and me, all the way to Hogwarts!' She thought while glancing dangerously at the boy.

Noah instantly felt goosebumps crawling up his spine. 'Shit, what was that just now?!' He scanned around for dangers, only to perceive a strange expression on Lisa's face. Shrugging, he followed her towards a wall with a so-far normal semblance.

"Okay Noah, you just need to do as I say. Close your eyes and run forward without fear, you can do it." She said while holding his hand.

He nodded and did as she said. As he ran past the wall, he felt the sensation of smoke running across his skin. When he reopened his eyes, he found himself in a far cry scene from where he was previously. People with pointed hats and strange robes littered the station, in great contrast with the empty muggle one.

'Finally!' Noah screamed on the inside.

"Come come, we need to enter the train." Lisa gestured with her hands towards a compartment while with a silly smile on her face.

'I have a bad feeling about this!'

"It's fine! I will go along with the others from my year. I want to meet new people!" He said while making the best innocent smile he could.

"Ah- oh, fine then..." Her shoulders slumped down, and a deep sigh escaped her lips.

'I feel sorry for Lisa... Well, can't do anything about it. She is dangerous when alone after all.' More goosebumps found their path to Noah.

He carried his trunk like a suitcase and walked more like a grown-up than a child, a funny sight to see. He wandered through the compartments, trying to find one with a seat.

'Why is it so cramped with people in here? I don't remember there being so many students going to Hogwarts.'

After the train started moving, he found a relatively empty one with only 2 girls around his age.

"Hi, can I seat in here?" He politely asked.

"Oh, sure." Said the brunette, she had her hair tied in one braid and was fitter than one would expect from a child. Probably practiced a sport, which was quite unique for wizards.

"Yes, please seat. I can't bear to stay hours without talking to no one." The other girl gestured for him to sit. She had long white hair and a round cute face.

"Then..."

"Ah, she doesn't speak a lot. Books are better, she says." The girl shrugged.

"Ha! I can sympathize with that sentiment. Anyways, how can I call you?"

"My name is Sophia Daartel, but you can call me Sophy." She winked at him.

"Juniper." The other muttered before going back to her books.

"Charmed to meet you." He smiled while looking at their eyes. Juniper blushed a little but quickly changed back to her poker face. Sophia, on the other hand, smiled even further.

"So, in which house do you think you will be sorted in? I think I will go to Gryffindor!" She blurted in a single sentence.

"I am not sure about which one in specific, but if I were to guess, then it will be or Slytherin or Ravenclaw."

"Slytherin?" She frowned.

"What is the matter? Did I say something wrong?" He feigned ignorance at the question.

'Slytherin is probably viewed in a bad light and the reason being...'

"No, it's just that those who enter that house are mostly bad people. You-Know-Who entered that house."

'Voldemort, of course.'

"You-Know-Who?" He decided to continue with his act.

"You don't know him?! He was the worst of the worst, he was the one who commanded the death-eaters. Everyone knows who he is..." She bellowed as her face was filled with sorrow and anger by the end of her words.

'She must know someone who suffered on Voldemort's hands... poor girl.'

"Sorry, I was a muggle not too long ago. This whole magic stuff is new for me." He explained.

"Ah! Of course, I am sorry, I didn't know..." Anger transformed itself into guilt.

"No problem, I mean it! But might I bother you with some questions? You could help me out with my ignorance." He got slightly more close to the girl, trying to diverge the topic of their chat.

'The last thing I want is to make this girl sad.'

"Yeah, I guess you need my help huh! You gonna owe me okay?" Her smile returned and Noah's mission accomplished. Their travel went on like that, Sophia and Noah throwing jokes at each other, while Juniper would say one thing or another.