Playing with Magic

Looking at the light at the tip of my finger I couldn't wipe the smile on my face. I took the plunge with that dangerous breathing method and it paid off. I honestly think it was a combination of my mental age, willpower and probably this body's talent also. As the thought about this body's talent crossed my mind I found myself starting to wonder. What bloodline was within me? The 'rules' told me it would be the best bloodline. When I go to Diagon alley, I'd need to do an inheritance test immediately…

The light stayed at the tip of my finger for a few seconds longer before retreating back into my body. The magic in me seemed to be sapped as I felt exhausted again. As I had just matured and I was using magic without a wand I gathered that the magic amount I had was used up quickly. Despite this pitiful amount though, I still held out hope for the future.

After some time I heard footsteps rushing towards my room. Nana walked in fast and came to my bedside, sitting down next to me with a relieved look on her face. That same look was shared by Melony who stared at me from the doorway. Looking around the room briefly, It seemed as though I was moved the Melony's room downstairs when I passed out.

"First the disappearance in Ottery St Catchpole, Next you are passing out in a room that looks like a storm swept through it. Is there something you aren't telling me Oz?"

The gaze Nana currently had towards me was a painful one to bare. She genuinely was looking out for my wellbeing, as was Melony as well. However, I felt as though I couldn't give the answer she wanted. Even If I did explain, they would find it hard to believe. Despite this though, my heart was firm in not telling them either way. If they knew, when the time came, they could be used as a weakness of mine. Death eaters could come and destroy this place, any enemies I make could take either Nana or Melony hostage. In that situation I wouldn't know what to do. That's why I hated this thing called 'emotions', I couldn't just think for myself. I had to also include these two into my plans going forward.

"Honestly Nana I just have been having a bad day. I already explained the Catchpole situation but even I can't explain what happened earlier. I was sat down on the floor… meditating when all of a sudden I passed out. I don't even know how my room ended up that way…"

It made me guilty having to lie but I was doing it for their own good. If they knew about the world of magic. If they knew about 'me'. They could be targeted. I didn't want that, I didn't want this place that had welcomed and housed me in this new world to be swept up in the chaos this world had to offer. Nana looked at me seemingly unconvinced as did Melony for some time. She sighed eventually though, accepting my explanation.

"Just… get some more rest Oz. Ill call a doctor to come look at you tomorrow so don't disappear again when that happens!"

It seemed Nana was appeased as she playfully scolded me whilst leaving me to rest. As she left, Melony stayed behind in the room. We both stared blankly at each other before I decided to speak.

"You just gonna stare at me and stay nothing Mel?"

"This is my room brat, since you've been brought here I am now your personal nurse. Feel honoured~"

Seeing the smile on Mel's face I felt anything but honoured. As a matter of fact I felt a sense of foreboding as she smiled so slyly. Mel walked over to the chair next to the bed and sat down looking down at me. I could see she wanted to ask me something however was hesitating. Eventually though she plucked up the courage.

"Oz… You're an intelligent boy. I'm sure you know full well that your explanation only raises more questions in mine and Nana's minds. I won't ask for the truth, I just want to know one thing. Are you going to be safe?"

Hearing the surprisingly grown up words coming from Mel's mouth I thought for a moment. I couldn't answer the question honestly. Whilst I had advantages in this world I would be a fool to think they made me invincible. As I grew here I would probably find myself subject to many situations, some even a matter of life or death. Mel looked down at me with eyes begging for an answer and I sighed. Picking myself up into a sitting position, I reached over and grabbed her hands.

"I don't know how to answer that but I will say this. I will never do anything to make you or Nana sad. If my wellbeing is a great concern of yours, I will do my best to make sure I'm always as safe as a I can be".

Melony grasp my hands firmly and shook a bit. Looking at her I felt a feeling of pity well up within me. This place was an orphanage. Everyone here had lost family, friends or even both. Melony was one of the lucky ones in the orphanages eyes, still having her grandmother. However she had lost her father and mother… and her younger brother. I don't doubt she sees her younger brother within me which is why she's so attached, same as Nana sees her grandson in me. After calming down a moment she looked at me with an accepting grin.

"Okay… Ill choose to believe you Oz. Now lay back down, Nurse Melony will return you to tip top shape in no time~"

As I laid back down I watched Melony walk over to the other side of the room grabbing different things for first aid. The mirror shards had cut my arms up a bit so it seemed she intended to clean the wounds left behind by these shards. I sighed realizing that this was probably going to sting…

.

After a long excruciating session of Melony playing Nurse, I was finally left alone in her bed in her room. She was currently sleeping out in the common room on the couch. Now that I was alone I tried to bring magic to my finger tip again.

I felt the magic within me clearly now. Before maturity it was always with me however my body just couldn't retain it. Now that I could though, I was able to manipulate it. Bringing it to the tip of my finger the little light shone again. This simple light made me feel accomplished despite its small stature every time I saw it. A minute into shining the little light, I felt a wave of exhaustion fill my senses again and the light dimmed out. My magic capacity seemed to be incredibly low.

"I only just matured… I guess it's to be expected".

From the book I read at the Lovegoods I saw pages on the 'stages' after maturity. Sadly though it wasn't as simple as 'Step 1 Maturity, Step 2 Core strengthening' like wuxia novels would have. The concept of 'stages' were only prevalent in ancient times and now nobody used such outdated terms. However they still gave me a baseline idea of what to head towards.

Now I had reached and passed through maturity, I was onto the 'growth' stage. Simply put it was the stage where your magic capacity would grow until it reaches a limit. I could reach my limit incredibly fast or maybe it'll take a lifetime. It really depends on 'talent'. Luckily for me I was assured by 'rules' that my talent was as high as my bloodline. I just needed to put in the effort. This growth stage itself was an incredibly diverse term anyway. Witches and Wizards of all ages would always be in this stage so calling it a 'stage' seemed like a weird thing to do.

Anyway above this 'growth' stage were two titles earned dependent on the amount of spells a witch or wizard knew. If you had knowledge of most spells across the school curriculum that would enable you to be referred to as a 'Master' wizard. Character like McGonagall would probably fall into this category alongside other teachers. As an auror you were expected to be at this level.

The next title was 'Grandmaster'. Same as the previous title you would need knowledge of basically all spells in the school curriculum. On top of that you would need knowledge on spells that existed outside of it and the final main point was you needed to create your own spell from the ground up. This barrier is what separated a 'Master' and 'Grandmaster'. Come to think of it, wouldn't this mean that Snape is technically a 'Grandmaster'? If I had to guess he's probably on the border of being worthy of the title.

It goes without saying wizards like Dumbledore, Voldemort and Grindelwald all were 'Grandmasters' They had extensive spell knowledge and had created their own spells in the past. Realizing this fact I felt a sense of foreboding at what was to come. All three wizards were dangerous in their own rights. Grindelwald was locked up luckily and Voldemort was still in the process of returning. However, Dumbledore was still around and kicking. The headmaster who wore an amicable expression had a deep seated manipulative aura about him. I've read the Harry Potter books countless times at this point and whilst Dumbledore is portrayed as a good man most of the time, there are situations in which he is just straight up manipulative.

The main one me and many other fans of the series would exclaim about is the fact he left Harry with the Dursleys. It was explained that he needed to be with blood relatives for a protective spell to stay in place until he was 18 however was years of abuse and neglect worth keeping the boy in a place that made him just a bit more safe? Dumbledore could have easily just let him stay at Hogwarts all year round under his supervision alongside all the other teachers who stayed there over the summer.

I realized looking outside at the moon rising I was getting side-tracked and thinking too far ahead. I'm not even at Hogwarts yet. I have an entire year ahead of me before Harry makes his appearance. In that year I need to lay low, work on my own strength and gain some defences. The main one would be occlumency, shielding my mind. When I feel sufficiently guarded, I would be able to start interfering with the major characters.

I couldn't do any of that right now though. There was only one way I could improve my magical strength and that was to repeat the process of creating a small light at my finger tip. It reminded me of ET's finger whenever I did it honestly and whilst a witch or wizard would think me silly for repeating such a mundane task I noticed something as I continued doing this action.

Every time my magic was used up and then refilled, it seemed to grow in size albeit a minuscule size. If I wasn't purposely keeping tabs on my magic reserves I would never have noticed. From what I could tell from this, Magic was almost like a muscle. The more you used it, the stronger and denser it got. With a wand I imagine you would be able to cast more spells efficiently without using as much magic however right now I had no such thing.

I just had to continue my ET spell, over and over again.