My first magic books

It's been over a month since Stryga moved into the house across from us in Mystic Falls. She often comes to babysit me during the day while my parents are working.

It is these moments that I particularly appreciate because Stryga, although she looks young, is an old woman. She often falls asleep, letting me play on the floor with little wooden sorcerers. I usually explore the house to find something useful.

But today is a bit special. During my exploration of the day, I realized that the office door remained open. I push the heavy door and enter the room.

The walls of the room are covered with libraries filled to the brim with magic books. I am not big enough to reach those who are high, but I do not need it because I find my happiness on one of the libraries to the right of the large solid wood desk that sits in the center of the room.

I find the series of charms books that are used in Hogwarts' curriculum. It's an unexpected opportunity to move in the right direction! I grab the books for the first few years and start reading them. I don't linger on trying spells, the goal is to read it in full so that I can remember it later and practice when I am alone.

It takes me almost four hours to learn the first book and the first three chapters of the second until I hear the voice of Stryga.

"Sean? Sean, where are you?" I feel a hint of worry in her voice. She opens the door wide and enters the room. " Oh Sean. It's dangerous for you here, you can't come alone." She taps my nose before she lifts me in her arms and puts the books on the desk.

"Why do I feel like you're only going to do silly things when you're older?"

The years go by without me realizing by repeating the same scenario, until my third birthday. We're celebrating this one between the four of us because my parents are way too afraid to let me see other people. The emotions of children are changing way too fast and even with my adult mind I sometimes find it hard to cope with it.

While I'm pretending to play with my wooden toys. The lights go out and my family gathers around the table with a cake singing.

"Happy birthday, Sean!"

"Thank you" I approach the big chocolate cake on the table and blow out my candles in one go.

"Yeah!" I'm really struggling when I'm spoken to like a child, I'm really looking forward to growing up right now. " How about we open your presents?"

I nod my head as my parents present me with three packages wrapped in colorful paper. My father hurriedly hands me a package all in length. I tear the glossy green paper to fall on a broom. It is a flying broom for young children that can only fly a few inches above the ground. The only time we talk about it in the books is during the World Cup in Quidditch.

"Go ahead, try it!" My dad is very enthusiastic and guides me through my first use of the object. " Now that you're on it, you have to tap your foot to give yourself an impulse." I follow his instructions and tap my foot hard on the ground. The broom rises two inches and I start to float.

I just don't know how to fly it. I try to pull on the handle to make it move to the left, but it is too late and the collision with the wall now seems inevitable. As I was expecting to fall, I realized that the broom bounced softly before the end of the handle touched the wall.

I look at my father with an air of incomprehension as he laughs and takes my picture with his old camera. "Why didn't I fall? I went into the wall."

"It's specially made for, you can't run into objects and hurt yourself, it'll stop before you hit anything. Wait, I'll show you how to change direction." He puts one hand on my shoulder and forces me to lean over to accompany the movement of the broom. Actually, I just had to move my center of gravity. "See, it's easy. Your turn now"

He redirects me to the living room, and I move my weight to the left to operate a U-turn toward my mother. "Yeah Sean, you're so good at it, come to Mom!"

I look up at the sky and continue to fly through the room. It's still more fun than the wooden toys I've had so far.

My mother comes to me with a second gift wrapped in blue paper. I grab it and tear the paper apart to see inside a little articulated wooden snake that wraps on itself. "Your grandpa Morfin made it for me when I was little. It's yours now."

I touch the little snake that at the touch of my hand begins to wrap around my arm and move to the top of my head and then go down to my shoes. It's not as good as the broom, but I really like this kind of object with a strong sentimental value.

"Thank you, Mom." As I play with the little wooden snake, I get an idea." Mom, could you teach me to read?"

My parents look at each other and don't seem to know what to say.

"Sean, why do you want to learn to read? It is the older children that learn how to read."

"I thought if I learned to read, I could go to school and make new friends." I pinch my arm to make tears rise in my eyes and look at them with my biggest look of beaten puppy that only children know how to do.

They look very embarrassed; I know I can't go outside without perfectly controlling my emotions! I just want to be able to read without having to hide! " Sean, it's not that we don't want you to meet other kids, but the kids here aren't like us. They can't see what you can do. Dad and I, we are not sure you can control your powers yet."

"Well, it seemed to me that wizards had something to protect their minds by controlling their emotions?"

"Mother-in-law, you don't think about it! Teaching occlumency to such a young child!"

"What is the occlumency?" I just wanted to be able to stop hiding to read, but if I can get the occlumency back at the same time, I'm not saying no.

"It's a very difficult magic ability that hurts a lot to learn. It's not something you should learn for now." Elenea takes me in her arms so she can be at the same eye-level.

"But I want to learn! If I can make new friends, I want to learn!" I engage the maximum level of beaten dog eyes and begin to shake my lower lip slightly. I have never used such a dangerous weapon before, but the situation requires radical measures.

"Oh yes, my poor treasure, mommy will teach you!" She didn't even last two minutes under so much sadness, it was far too easy.

"Elenea, no! We have to be strong, it's too soon!" My father tries to reason her but it's too late, I won.

"Oh, shut up, Arthur! Look how sad he looks." I look into my father's eyes, and he looks away embarrassed after a few seconds.

"Okay, starting tomorrow, you will give him reading and writing classes, and I will take care of the occlumency. If I have to do it, I might as well do it right. And I'm the one who has the most experience with my old work as an Auror."

I wave to my mom that I want to go down to the ground and go ahead and hug my dad. What do you not have to do to look like a three-year-old?

"There's one last gift from me." Stryga hands me a package wrapped in sky blue paper. Inside it is a small blue crystal mounted as a pendant on a simple leather cord.

"Mom, it's too early! And we don't even know if it will have the magic of veelas!"

"Prevention is better than cure, and it's still a nice gift."

"Mom, what is this?"

"Just a nice necklace to make sure your powers, if you ever have them, aren't going to influence the people around you too much. This necklace protects others from the magic of young veelas who are still too young to control themselves. When they are older and their powers increased, they remove it, and they have to learn to control themselves."

So, it is possible that I have the powers of veelas other than the beauty of my mother's side of the family. It seems to me that Death has been very generous with me.

The end of my birthday goes by quietly with a cake and discussions of banality between adults while I have fun flying on the little broom.