Magical Theory*

Draco found his new lessons to be interesting. He was glad that his parents were rich and could hire tutors for every subject he wanted to take because he was able to learn at his own pace. This would not be possible in classroom environment, where teachers had to strictly follow the program and often taught the material at the pace of the slowest student in the class. Draco certainly wasn't waiting to experience that aspect of learning magic at Hogwarts.

In Magic Theory class, Draco learned just that - magic theory. Magic was a gift and it had many sides. Wizards couldn't completely explain how it worked or why it worked. They sometimes stumbled upon limitations and called them 'laws of magic', however, Draco concluded that there were no real laws when it came to magic. What couldn't be achieved with wand magic, could be done with potions, runes or rituals - one way or another.

Draco also learned that different cultures have different ways in which they use magic power.

European magical population called themselves witches and wizards since ancient times and learned to use their power outwardly, in the form of spells. Of course, there were some instances of inward magic - Occlumency could be considered as a type of it.

India, Egypt and some other countries were famous since long ago for having their own ways of using magic through runes, animals, plants and other facets. Over the years this knowledge escaped individual countries and spread throughout the world, so different cultures learned to use magic in variety of ways.

Eastern continent's magical population was a bit different from others, as their people learned to use magic inwardly, and since ancient times called themselves cultivators. Of course, they could also learn to use spells, but the way they learned them was different.

Cultivators, as Draco found out, were also more detached from their interactions with the muggle world. They found another space for themselves to live and thrive in. In this world cultivators could spend thousands of years at the cost of no longer being able to go back to the real world - those who tried, turned to dust the moment they stepped out of the hidden realm.

From his Magic Theory class, Draco learned that while there was Dark magic and Light magic, it couldn't be categorized as Dark magic = bad, Light magic = good.

Dark magic was magic which used intense emotions to power the spells. The stronger the emotion, the stronger the spell. Curses such as cruciatus - one of the three unforgivable curses in Magical Britain, which causes unimaginable pain - used the desire to cause pain as its basis. Without the desire, this curse would not be successful.

The Patronus spell could also be technically considered as Dark magic, since it required happiness as its basis. However, people usually viewed it as a 'good' and light spell, because it could be used for defensive purposes and helped witches and wizards to withstand the presence of the Dementors.

On the other hand, Light magic was magic which used pure magical power as its basis. Light magic drains the magical core, so if a witch or wizard used a spell that requires more power than they have in their body, the person in question would suffer from magical exhaustion in best case scenario, and die at worst.

To this day, witches and wizards had hard time categorising magic, and Draco could see why. Dark magic was addictive due to the responsive pleasure it caused upon successful casting. Light magic could kill if one overestimated their capabilities.

Nevertheless, What students learned in school was mostly Light magic - at least in Britain. Spells were practiced according to difficulty: starting from those that didn't require much magic, to those that needed real power.

Light magic was considered to be very healthy for a child's growing core. The more children cast these spells (as long as they were not too draining), the more their cores would grow - until children reached the age of fourteen, when their power levels stabilized.

Light magic was also one of the reasons that children generally started their education at the age of eleven. Their cores would have grown a bit from the time they were seven, and low level spells, such as 'Lumos', which drained Draco when he first cast it, wouldn't affect them much. Thus, children who have less magical power wouldn't be in danger of magical exhaustion after a day of classes.

After the first lesson on magical theory, Draco didn't expect his other classes to be more interesting, however, he was pleasantly surprised.

The Occlumency class started off with meditation. Draco had to sense and locate his magical core. It was a bit similar to how magical practitioners in the East started their cultivation.

Every magical person has a magic core, even squibs (though they can't access it). And every magical core is different in shape, color and density.

Draco's magical core was light gray, similar in color to his eyes. The color of the core was usually reflected in the color of the eyes, so it could be considered as inherent. However, this was true only for the pureblood children with wizardry ancestry.

Muggleborns' magical core was typically white. It usually didn't change its color throughout the muggleborn's life, unless he or she developed a magical talent through casting and practicing a lot of magic.

Talent was indicated by the shape of the core. Muggleborns wouldn't have inherent talents, however, this could also be considered as a type of strength. Because of their general inclination, they could develop their own talents in their formative years, unlike purebloods or half-bloods, whose talents were decided by the family lines.

The more muggleborns practiced magic such as transfiguration, herbology and other types, the more likely it was that their cores would be affected and changed the shape and color to reflect the developing talent. However, new talent was usually less powerful than an old one, formed through blood inheritance. Therefore many magical families' beliefs in blood purity stemmed from these considerations.

Draco's father was from Malfoy family and their talent was in Mind Arts - Legilimency and Occlumency. Draco's mother was from Black family and their talent lied in shape-shifting. Although in recent generations of the Black family this talent showed itself only in minor ways, however, there was still potential to become a full-fledged Metamorphmagus - someone who could change their body and features at will.

Right now in Black family there was only one Metamorphmagus - Narcissa's sister's daughter Nymphadora Tonks. However, since Andromeda Tonks nee Black (Nymphadora's mother) was expelled from the Black family when she married a muggleborn, no one acknowledged her daughter's talent as inherited through the Black line.

According to Draco's magical core, his talents lay more in Mind Arts. This could also be reflected by how quickly he managed to find his magical core - usually it would take more than one lesson in meditation to achieve similar results.

Magical core's density showed how much power was available to use. The denser the core was - the more powerful was the witch or wizard in question. Draco's core was, understandably, quite sparse as he was still very young. He had to analyze it for quite awhile before he could discern its general shape.

After locating the magical core, Draco had to locate its connection to his mind and build a mind place, where he could store his memories and thoughts. This was also the place that would have to be protected during mental attacks.

Draco's Occlumency teacher said that the whole process of forming the mind's space, placing memories and creating barriers, will take most of Draco's time during the lessons. Actual tests of these protections' effectiveness wouldn't be performed until several years later.

Draco's Ritual class was also quite interesting - wizards and witches found that on select days certain types of magic were more responsive. For example, Beltaine was celebrated on the 1st of May. Thus, magic associated with herbology and potions was more effective on that day and rituals were done to encourage growth and protect people. In a lot of cultures this day was also known as Walpurgis Night.

Ritual class mainly concentrated on exploring traditional wizarding celebrations, learning, what sacrifices can be used in which types of rituals and how to conduct them correctly, as well as warning, what kind of rituals couldn't be safely performed.

Draco's other magical classes, Potions and Ancient Runes, were boring in comparison. Ancient Runes class started by learning calligraphy, since carving and writing runes correctly was the most important part in the whole subject.

In Potions Draco could only start by learning how to chop, dice and slice ingredients. He also had to learn how one way of preparing ingredients influenced potions compared to another, how metals, from which cauldrons were made, affected said potions during the brewing process, and why one had to stir the potion one way or another.

There were many nuances that Draco had to memorize before he could even think of brewing. Draco was only glad that his godfather, the infamous Severus Snape, strictly refused his father's request to teach Draco, since the boy was a complete beginner and Severus, apparently, 'listened to enough whines at Hogwarts already'.

Even though Draco was quite happy to finally be productive and learn magic, he didn't dedicate all of his time to it. After his birthday party he stayed in contact with many of his peers through owl post, and recently they decided to go out as a group to a magical zoo in Scotland.