Engrossed in Magic

Aurelius stood at the threshold of his new life. The thrill of receiving his Hogwarts letter had not yet faded when he returned to Flourish and Blotts, the famed bookstore in Diagon Alley. According to his knowledge, his family only had a few wizards casted wandlessly, which suggests that there would be some material on the topic in his family vault on more specific details; however, he wasn't allowed to get into it till next year. Well, it wouldn't matter; he was just a beginner. What's in his vault is likely the more advanced stuff, anyway. Besides, messing around with stuff and figuring things out was in his blood. So he got some books on wandless casting. It likely wasn't much, considering it was less than half the size of other books, but he supposed it was to be expected. Then he got a book on arithmancy.

Apparently, it was essential to creating new spells. How exciting was that!?! If someone told me they didn't make new spells or at least variations of existing spells when they learned to use magic, I would smack them upside the head. He also had a desire to enchant items. So he grabbed a book on that as well.

He tore through the magic books with a fervor reminiscent of a bushy-haired witch. His natural advantages, like being a natural occlumens, allowed for very nice side benefits like a pseudo-eidetic memory that allowed him to scour his brain like a library. Luckily, it had its own search function, like a computer. Sometimes, he'd be so lost in thought that his mother's physical strength came in handy when she had to pick him up to eat meals. It only took him about ten days for him to read and memorize all the information in the books. Quite frankly, it was far easier than he expected, but I suppose it isn't particularly difficult if you focus on just the core classes and arithmancy. It's only eight books, and the size of each book is only about 200-300 pages. Besides, medical school was much harder than this. Granted, he barely did the necessities and focused like a college student with all their final exams in a few days, but it was doable. Besides, the hard part is yet to come.

"Alright, time to test out my knowledge, god I hope I don't blow my hand off or anything like that." Said Aurelius, slightly worried about using magic for the first time, and his experiences are him blowing things up on accident.

"It's alright, dear; it might be simply that you have a lot of magic, and the wand yanked out a decently sized amount that it couldn't handle and expelled it before the things popped like a balloon." Said a slightly worried but thoughtful Martha.

"Right, we might want to grab sunglasses for this and perhaps protective eyewear." I go to my room to grab goggles from my chemistry sets and my parent's bedroom to grab our sunglasses.

"Well, I guess it's the lighting charm, or you're worried you might explode something," Ann said more than asked.

"Yup," I responded.

"Which one?" asked a worried Martha

I repeat my response.

"Both got it." Said my other mother, Ann.

"Also, don't worry about getting a letter from the ministry for underaged magic. While we are squibs your magic will likely be just seen as one of us using it since we still have our last despite our being ejected from our families." Said Martha who noticed by hesitance.

"Lumos," I said, casting the lighting charm.

A blinding light that dazed even myself despite wearing sunglasses. We all turn our gazes away from the blinding ball of light.

"Bloody hell, shut it off, shut it off." Said a startled Ann.

"Nox, nox, nox," I said in panic.

The light died, and we all cleared the spots in our eyes.

"Well, I guess Martha's guess is right. Your body seems to store and release a lot of magic. You're going to have to dial it back. Otherwise, Ollivander's guess of you blowing up your surroundings will happen regardless of using a staff once you start using offensive spells." Said an incredulous Ann.

"Sorry," I said, confused about what I could do to tone it down.

"Magic, from what we were taught as children, responds to will, desire, and imagination. It could be that you were expecting a blinding light, and magic responded in kind." Said a contemplative Martha.

"I agree." Said Ann.

"Alright, I guess I should dial back the action movies then?" I asked, fearing I might cause an explosion while casting a simple spell if I got excited.

"Yes, I think that's for the best, dear." Said a sweating Martha.

"Also, try to dial back your emotions when casting. You're a natural occlumens, so you shouldn't have any issues with that. Okay, try again, and imagine a light that releases just enough to light up half the room with a nice gentle light." Martha said in a gentle tone.

"Okay," I said, evening out my breath and unfocusing my eyes to be less intense. I could feel less pressure on my body.

"lumos," I said without much emotion behind it.

The light shone dimmer than hoped and was only strong enough to light 20% of the room.

"Hmm, focus a little more and keep having your imagination to will the magic to paint what you want to see happen and fuel it with your emotions, so dial it back only about 30%." Said Ann, wanting to test out her hypothesis.

"On it," I said, focusing on the task ahead.

I increased the brightness of the magic, getting about 80% of what I was hoping for.

"Alright, just keep adjusting your occlumency level and try to test it. Martha and I will do our own thing for a bit. Let us know if you're gonna try something more dangerous, but you can do the simpler stuff on your own since you have some experience of how your magic acts." Said Ann with confidence in my maturity to not overdo it.

"Good luck, dear; call if you need help." Said Martha.

They both leave the room.

I sigh. "So it isn't gonna be difficult to make it happen. Just not having it gush out like a hose and go everywhere. I swear a certain blonde in another world is probably laughing at me for having a similar issue." I said dejectedly.

"Well, at least I have all the theoretical knowledge, so it's time to fine-tune this," I said before grinding out the imperfections of each spell.

A week passes with Aurelius systematically figuring out how to do each spell, going down the list for charms one by one. Interestingly enough, he felt like an idiot waving his hands around while watching things change. Sure, if he was a puppeteer, he could see it, but he wanted to try some things that made it happen, like closing his eyes. It made it easier, but it also was dangerous if people were flinging hexes and curses at you. Perhaps an eye wink? Then he thought better since he didn't want to wink at his enemies or if he wanted to cast spell chains, but then he thought of a show of a mage who snaps his fingers to cast his fire magic. It was pretty cool, so he just kept doing it.

The only thing he was allowed to learn in the defense against the dark arts was the protego charm. It's an invaluable tool, but he preferred to do more destructive things. It would've been so cool to throw fireballs around. Who doesn't dream of throwing around fireballs as a child? He was allowed to learn how to use the water summoning charm once he got the handle of cutting off his magic to a spell.

He has a surprising knack for transfiguration, which he expected to be the worst possible option considering his lack of control. Still, he guessed it had to be a benefit of being a partial animagus and having developed his magic control to such a level. He was able to turn a match into a needle on his first try. He tried it again but decided to be fancy and make it into a miniature niffler that mimicked the behavior of his own little buddy.

The only things left were herbology and potions without the necessary materials, so the only thing he did was fine-tune his methods for dealing with his plants with characteristics and needs similar to those described in the books. As for simulating potions, the best he could do was chop up and cook ingredients that looked similar to a pot of boiling water that would be tossed most of the time. Was it wasteful? Yes, but it was for practice of using the real stuff. He theorized potential combinations that should be able to substitute or make a potion more potent.

Now, he got all the core classes out of the way. He stepped into the realm of elective courses, more specifically, arithmancy and enchantments.

He digs into those books and realizes that the content is far more simplistic than he thought. Arithmancy was partial mathematics, a little memorization of the properties of numbers in making spells, potions, and rituals.

"No wonder my family were great innovators. There's quite a bit of mathematics involved in all these topics. There is even something akin to calculus in here." I said with realization.

"So, son, are you prepared? you haven't touched your other books for a whole week." Said Martha.

"Pretty much. I've already memorized most of the books, with the only remaining being arithmancy and enchantments. Still, these are a bit more complex because I have to consider their relation to everything involved with the process, such as the material. For example, for a spell as simple as lumos, I had to go through 20 minutes of calculations to split the ball of light into multiple small balls." I said with both annoyance and triumph.

"Sounds troublesome, but why didn't you just will it? Isn't that how magic is supposed to work?" Martha said with confusion.

"Yes, but it isn't as efficient, which means wasted time and magic. Using that method is trial and error; while arithmancy allows for precision, simple stuff is a bit troublesome. Arguably, it would've been faster to do it by trial and error, but I suppose you live and learn." I said with a slightly tired tone.

"Well, Hogwarts is only about a few weeks away. Do you want to try to relax? From what I could tell, you completed your first year's coursework. And by the looks of it, you even touched up on some of your memories from your family's knowledge." Said Ann, who came in while drinking a cup of tea.

"I suppose I'll relax and let my brain do its thing. Once I feel like doing something in particular, I'll work on that. Besides, with the stuff inside my head and modifying my spells, I may need that entire time to work," I said.

My mothers sigh at my workaholic behavior.

"You know it's beneficial to take a step back." Said the other workaholic, Ann.

Martha gives Ann an incredulous stare with a single eyebrow raised.

"What?" said Ann.

My mother keeps looking at her.

"Hey, I know I work a lot, but that's different." Said Ann.

"True, what I do is more fun," I said with a cheeky smile.

"Why you!!!" my mother says while wrestling me into a lock, having me beg for release.

"Child abuse," I said half-jokingly.

"Alright, but like I said. I'll rest, but I will return to my studies soon after I feel recharged." I said

"Fine, but this better not become a regular thing. I already have one workaholic in the house. I don't need another one whose work is potentially explosive." Martha said while walking away after hugging me.

Three weeks pass by in the blink of an eye. Many spells were mastered. Modified. And even some handy spells that everyone should learn regardless of age. Seriously, why wouldn't everyone know the summoning charm or volume charm? He even learned some illusion magic to mess around, but it was like watching a fight in a poorly made stop-motion short film, and if he used too much magic, the things became solid enough that flying debris hit him in the face.

He packed all of his belongings, and they headed for Diagon Alley.