Travels IV

I have left India and walked through today's Nepal and entered the Tibetian regions. I am on my way to China and have entered what will be known as China already. Of course, it is not called China yet, but that doesn't matter. In Nepal, I encountered a peculiar tree, which was grown by a lone wizard. When I met him he said that it was his family's business to grow this tree and that it was a special tree, because it was 'gravity-resistant'. 

What this means is that the tree can grow much higher than normal trees, which are not resistant to gravity and have a limit to how tall they can grow. I thought that this was an amazing tree to exist. It basically breaks normal understanding. A tree that never stops growing taller, is a tree that essentially gives you unlimited wood. And now combine that with my Home dimension and you get unlimited wood that I can sell in the future. 

The gravity-resistant tree is a tree that gives wood, which I can use to make wands. And I know that Ollivander hasn't ever used this wood, but I have come to find out something truly magnificent about this wood. Just like the tree, which is gravity-resistant, the wood also has similar properties. This gives the wood a light and almost weightless feeling, making it very useful for wands that will be used for fast combat and for people who are flexible and spontaneous. 

I was not allowed to take a sapling from the tree, since it was his family's business ... so I used 'Petrificus Totalus', the Full Body-Bind Curse on him and took some saplings anyway. Then I used 'Obliviate', the Memory Charm or Forgetfulness Charm to erase this specific memory from his mind and then left. He didn't expect me to do this I suppose, or he would have taken precautions.

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After that, I entered the Tibetian regions. I saw the Himalayan mountain for the first time in my life. It was an amazing sight to behold. I could feel the temperatures getting colder as I advanced and I was ascending the mountain. Since it was getting colder, I took some of my time to research some of the heating charms. The Fire-Making Spell, also known as the Fire-Making Charm, 'Incendio' is a charm that conjures a jet of flames that can be used to set things alight. I have more than enough wood to last me forever, so creating a bonfire was not a problem. 

But I couldn't walk around shooting flames out of my wand constantly. So that was not optimal. There was a Water-heating Charm, which could heat water instantly and there was the Hot Air Charm, which was a charm that streamed hot air out of the caster's wand. This air in turn could quickly dry off soaked garments. 

So those were both not things I wanted. To solve this problem, I had to create a new spell on my own. And I did just that. I first had a look at its counterpart, the Freezing Spell, 'Glacius'. This was a charm that froze a target with icy-cold air created from the tip of the wand. So basically the opposite of the Hot Air Charm. 

And then after brainstorming for a few days, I came up with a solution. I took parts of different Charms and combined them to reach the desired effect. Which spells did I combine?

I combined the Bubble-Head Charm, the Hot Air Charm and the Water Heating Charm. What I did was take the bubble of the Bubble-Head Charm and extend it across my entire body. So it was like I was inside an air bubble. And what I wanted this bubble to do, was to heat the cold air, I was getting up here, and making it warm, using the Hot Air Charm. I took away the blowing effect of the Hot Air Charm and instead added the Heating effect to heat up the cold air and provide that to my entire body. 

I called it the Heating Charm, 'Calefactio'.

If you ask yourself, why I didn't ask Ember, my Phoenix to help me heat myself up, then it is simple. I don't want to rely on Ember for everything. I want to make progress and how can I do that, when I ask my Phoenix for help? Although it is not my Phoenix, it just follows me along and helps me from time to time. But it is its own animal and free. If Ember wants to leave, then I will gladly let it go. 

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The journey went much smoother after that. I even encountered a Yeti as I made my way across the region. Standing up to 15 feet tall, it was a snowy-white furred humanoid that may have been related to the troll. The Yeti is a XXXX-class magical beast. Its fur could be used as a potion ingredient. 

In the future, Yetis will be one of the wizarding world's worst-kept secrets, as there will be so many Muggle sightings of the Yeti. Because of this, Tibet will have one of the worst wizarding secrecy records, due to its continuing breaches of Clause 73 of the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy. The International Confederation of Wizards will have to place a permanent International Task Force up in the mountains to help control the situation.

When I met the Yeti, he could smell me as I was walking through the snowy and windy mountain regions. Yeti would attack and eat anything that it met, that's why it did just that. It approached me and attacked, in order to consume me. The Yeti wasn't the smartest magical creature. So I went with the rather violent solution ... pain. 

(Flashback)

The Yeti roars at me and starts to rush towards me through the snow. I took out my wand and pointed it at the Yeti. 

'Locomotor Mortis'

I use the Leg Locking Spell. This is a curse that binds the legs of the victim together and here I believe this is a good way to use it. I see the spell take effect but not working properly. The Yeti stumbles a bit but it looks like can forcefully break out of it and continues running.

I pointed my wand at the Yeti again and this time tried another spell. I could use the Leg Locking Spell again, but why do that, when I can try out different Spells right now?

'Confundo'

This is a charm which confuses and misdirects the target. It works on living and inanimate things, as long as the target has a mind to be confused. And since I am not sure whether the Yeti does have a mind to confuse I try it out. The Spell hits and I see the Yeti tumbling suddenly, as if he were drunk. He runs past me and misses me by a few centimetres. 

There are varying degrees of confusion that can be caused by the spell, ranging from becoming unaware of the current situation, forgetting important information, or becoming particularly impressionable. 

Again the Spell wears off rather quickly and the Yeti is now more enraged than he was before. Once again I point my wand at the magical beast and use the next spell. I want to see how powerful this Spell of mine is right now. 

'Arresto Momentum'

The Slowing Charm, 'Arresto Momentum' is a charm that can be used to slow the velocity of an object. I was interested to see whether it is different for different objects. And just as expected, the spell workers like the ones before, but it takes a considerable amount of magic energy to stop the Yeti's velocity more than other, lighter things. That is good information I am getting here. 

As he slows down a lot, I use another spell. 

'Flipendo'

The Yeti is flung backwards but not as far as he should. I decide that this has gone on for long enough and end this. 

'Petrificus Totalus'

The Full Body-Bind Curse, 'Petrificus Totalus', also known as the Body Freezing Spell, is a curse that temporarily paralysed the opponent. From experience, this won't hold the Yeti for very long, so I use Transfiguration on the snow and change it into ropes that start to bind the magical creature. Now that the Yeti is secured, I use another spell, since I don't want to carry him.

'Locomotor'

This is a basic spell also called the Locomotion Charm, that enables a witch or wizard to levitate a target a few inches off of the ground and then move said object in any given direction. I make the Yeti hover and then move him to my home, where a new environment will be created for him to feel at home. 

With that out of the way, I continue my way towards China. I have high hopes to find some new magical creatures and plants there as well as learn some new magic.

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I finally made it down the mountains and to different and warmer regions of China. I am very excited to be here, since many different wand woods come from China, such as the Redwood tree. As I was making my way through China, I used some of the criminal people who tried to rob me as test subjects for my initial tries at Leglimency. 

Legilimency is the act of magically navigating through the many layers of a person's mind and correctly interpreting one's findings. A person who practised this art is known as a Legilimens. Muggles may have called this "mind-reading", but practitioners disdained the term as naive. Snape explained it like this to Harry Potter:

"The mind is not a book, to be opened at will and examined at leisure. Thoughts are not etched on the inside of skulls, to be perused by any invader. The mind is a complex and many-layered thing, Potter. Or at least most minds are... It is true, however, that those who have mastered Legilimency are able, under certain conditions, to delve into the minds of their victims and to interpret their findings correctly."

And I have come to agree with this statement. It is not like I read in those fan fiction in the past. There are no libraries where I can start reading, but a messy place where all sorts of memories and thoughts are flying around messily and chaotically. Some, few people have a more orderly mind, but most don't. I used Leglimency only on those people who threatened me and tried to rob me. It was a good way to get started. 

I have to admit, that I got this down very fast as well, but it took longer than other things since I had to learn it on my own. And there were two or three cases where the poor sod had his mind broken and fell to the ground. It was a cool experience, to make someone fall to the ground in pain just by looking at him. The power didn't get to my head though and I made sure not to let this happen again. 

The reason, I even used Leglimency, before Occlumency, was that I wanted to find out rumours or legends of mystical creatures from the non-magical. Since I know that most of the legends they tell themselves are most likely true, I will use this to find magical creatures. And more specifically, some Chinese Fireballs. That's right, I was here to get myself some Chinese Fireball or at least one of them, to get a colony going as I do with the Swedish Short-Snouts. 

I am also interested in finding a Demiguise, a Re'em and a Zouwu while I'm here already. Those will be hunted in the future and probably already are. The Zouwu are interesting and very fast magical creatures and the Demiguise is a magical creature, I am especially interested in because I want to study its invisibility. 

I continued to collect new magical plants and use Leglimency, which was quickly advancing and becoming very powerful, until the day, I finally got what I was looking for. Some rumours and legends about dragons. I was instantly hooked and made my way towards it.