Kieran spent the 2nd of April being a good nephew.
His Aunt Abi had failed at finding him, and after she acknowledged her defeat, he had hugged her and apologized for the prank.
He was unsure if this would later come back to bite him, but she seemed softened after his apology.
The following day following that April Fool’s, Kieran spent the entire day with Aunt Abi.
He even let her win at chess, to her exasperation, knowing full well he was a lot better than her.
“I know what you are doing, you little brat.
I am not mad.
It was just a very…” she groaned and seemed to wince at the memory, “…embarrassing revelation when I discovered how long you had it going.
The ENTIRE day, Kieran…Really?!
You must have been terrified at the thought of me finding you.”
Kieran shyly laughed, remembering all too well the terror he felt when his aunt was hunting for him yesterday.
“If I ever do something similar…I promise to make it maximum an hour or something Aunt Abi!”
She narrowed her eyes at him and put her hand forth, and he grabbed her hand giving her a handshake, the deal struck, and any future repercussions hopefully avoided.
Later, outside in his meditation spot, he sat in front of a big illusion he created with two layers with wonder as the pure emotion.
Ever since he started layering the illusions, there was something he had been wondering about.
Could I make a 3D Illusion?
He tried to stop thinking in flat pictures with his illusions, he tried to imagine a tree, its circular shape, it’s rustling leaves.
He focused and concentrated.
He imbued the emotions of growth and fortitude, and he tried to manifest the 3D illusion…Only to watch the illusion shatter the instant he tried creating it.
“Hm…where did I go wrong…?” he said to himself.
He narrowed his eyes.
Again!
…
The rest of the year became a mixture of history lessons with Aunt Abi, playing chess with his dad and losing tragically every time, with his dad arrogantly saying he better go train for a thousand years before he would ever earn the qualification to defeat him.
Mr.
Craig was overly busy with his work, but he was sometimes invited for dinner where Kieran excitedly talked about the books Mr.
Craig has allowed him to read.
Reading about Dementors was scary, but Kieran felt better knowing about them, rather than them being this scary unknown.
During one of the dinners, he used sound magic to silently whisper from the other side of the living room to Mr.
Craig, to ask him to thank his acquaintance for lending him the book on sound magic.
Kieran enjoyed the look of shock Mr.
Craig gave as he realized that Kieran could project his voice with sound magic, with no gestures, no incantations and no wand.
He did it by following the same principles of applying illusions anywhere within his sight, except it was pure sound magic without attaching it to an illusion for secondary effects.
It had taken him countless hours and re-reading the sound magic book again and again, but he had succeeded at finding a way to use his illusion principles on sound magic!
The sound magic simply got projected directly into Mr.
Craig’s air.
When Mr.
Craig took him to Kieran’s room privately, Kieran wondered what the secrecy was about.
“Kieran. What you did just now with sound magic, was amazing. I want you to meet Theodore, my magical musician friend. I think it will be a learning experience for both of you, and don’t worry, he can keep a secret,” Mr.
Craig said as he seriously looked at Kieran.
“Theodore feels stuck in his field, I think you could inspire him. In return, he can help with something you asked two months ago. Occlumency and Legilimency. Not everyone has the talent for it, but Theodore is capable of average Legilimency and above average Occlumency. He can test if you have the potential to learn either of them,” Mr.
Craig suggested, while Kieran straightened in surprise.
He didn’t really care much for Legilimency, but the ability to protect his mind was very important to him.
…
The next week, Kieran was apparated alongside Mr.
Craig with Aunt Abi.
They arrived at a beautiful simple cottage near the ocean.
Though simple was perhaps the wrong word since the cottage was four stories tall.
Craig, he heard they were in Tinworth Village in Cornwall.
Kieran frowned at the familiar name but could not for the life of him remember why it would be significant, and just shrugged, deciding it couldn’t be that important.
When they knocked, the door opened to reveal a slightly plump man, with bright orange hair and a well-trimmed orange beard, with warm green eyes, who gave them a warm greeting.
“Craig! Absolutely splendid to see you again, and this beauty with the lovely fashion sense must be Abigail!” Mr.
Theodore said as he gave a formal bow to Mr.
Craig, then bowing and kissing Aunt Abi’s knuckles like a noble.
Turning to Kieran, the man continued his greeting, “You must be Kieran! How did you enjoy my grandmother’s book? Oh right, where are my manners!” Mr.
Theodore performed a deep bow towards Kieran.
“Theodore Whistlethwaite at your service, magical musician extraordinaire.”
Kieran looked excitedly at the brightly expressive man, and performed a deep bow back at him, before doing a double take at the name.
“Whistlethwaite? As in Euphemia Whistlethwaite?” Kieran asked surprised.
Mr.
Theodore led the trio inside the cozy cottage; Kieran saw several instruments hanging on the walls.
After they sat down at a cozy table in the kitchen, Mr.
Theodore summoned some tea.
Kieran saw several flavours, liquorice being an option, proving Mr.
Theodore at least knows Mr.
Craig well.
“Yes, my grandmother Euphemia wrote the book Craig passed along to you, I heard you even read it,” Mr.
Theodore said, as he clapped.
“Very well done young man, it is a very dry book, I was well into my teens before I managed to get through it!”
They had some tea, where Mr.
Theodore, for Kieran’s benefit, explained what he did as a magical musician.
He used a mixture of sound magic and enchanted instruments to perform magical performances that influenced the emotions of the listeners, with the emotions always related to the songs.
If a song naturally would make one tearful, his performance would enhance that emotion.
His work was all about allowing people to express themselves in ways they normally wouldn’t.
To Kieran this sounded fascinating and reminded him a lot of his own approach to the Four Pillars of Magic theory he had created.
Mr.
Theodore seemed to be leaning heavily on the emotional pillar.
On Kieran’s request, Mr.
Theodore tried a small performance, choosing a party song.
During the song, Kieran felt an uncontrollable desire to dance, which he followed.
He laughed joyfully as Mr.
Craig and Aunt Abi took each other as a dance partner and followed the beat.
After an exhausting ten minutes, they clapped while Mr.
Theodore bowed.
“I am delighted you enjoyed the small performance. Now, young Kieran, Craig mentioned you had developed some sound magic despite having yet to get a wand. Colour me curious, I would be interested in seeing what you have developed!” Mr.
Theodore said and sat on his chair, looking interested at Kieran.
Kieran nodded and concentrated.
While keeping eye contact with Mr.
Theodore, his mouth closed; he sat silent and still and projected his sound magic outward into the kitchen, creating a shallow copy of Mr.
Theodores performance within the small kitchen.
At the same time, he added a small whisper sound specifically to Mr.
Theodores ear, explaining that he hoped Mr.
Theodore would not take offence at the cheap knockoff.
Internally groaning at how taxing that was.
…
Merlin’s Beard! Follow the newest chapters on g.com.
What kind of genius has Craig brought to my house!
Wandless, nonverbal double layered sound projection, and only nine years old!
No wonder Craig brought him here…this use of sound projection, it is genius!
I have no idea how to do it, but if I could figure out how…dear me, I could enhance my performances at least twofold!
Young Kieran, no, Mr.
Gray, no, Kieran.
This boy has a future within sound magic!
Theodore found himself still reeling from Kieran’s small performance, his aunt nor Craig likely did not realize the extent of talent this kid, no, this peer had shown.
“Utterly amazing, Kieran. By Merlin’s Beard, that was inspiring to watch. Are you willing to try and teach a fellow musician?” he asked hopefully, as he looked sincerely at the young boy.
He saw the young boy almost get whiplash from his compliment.
The boy likely didn’t realize how innovating that performance was, he deserved to know!
The more Theodore talked with Kieran, the more he had to acknowledge that the kid’s magic theory and understanding was far beyond what his age suggested.
It was refreshing to have a peer discussion with someone that had actually thought about the underlying theory instead of just copying spells without knowing why.
Theodore suddenly stopped himself.
Right, he couldn’t be the only one receiving.
“Is there anything in particular you want me to teach you, it is the least I can do, since you seem willing to try and teach me your performance,” he said, while noticing Abigail and Craig waking up from the likely boring discussion they just finished.
Non-musicians tended to not follow him whenever he really started discussing theory with a musician peer.
He watched as Kieran sat up straight.
“I would like to see if I have the talent for Occlumency and Legilimency, preferably I want to learn Occlumency,” Kieran said, his blue eyes bright and his smile excited.
Theodore nodded seriously and proceeded to explain that Legilimency was the act of penetrating someone’s mind to read their surface thoughts, and on deeper delves, even read memories and feelings.
While Occlumency was the act of protecting the mind from foreign intrusion, this protection could be passive in nature or actively attacking the intruder.
He explained that even the most talented Occlumens, only ever managed the passive defence.
It would take a true master to use their Occlumency to attack the intruder.
“I am able to read surface thoughts if I direct my Legilimency to attack. Though I avoid it mostly. I dislike forcefully reading someone like that. My dad however, on learning I had the talent for it, forced me to learn it,” Theodore said while shaking his head at the memory.
“What I can do is attack your mind and allow you to feel the intrusion and give you guidance on creating a defence against it, if you are willing.”
He watched as Kieran seriously nodded and Theodore continued to explain that Kieran should imagine a form of shield, something he imagined would keep his mind safe.
He watched as the young peer concentrated and when young Kieran gave him a thumps up, he prepared to use his Legilimency to penetrate Kieran’s mind.
Theodore tried to penetrate, but found himself blocked, making his eyebrow rise.
He then tried to attack with more pierce but kept finding himself blocked.
Does Kieran already have Occlumency defence?
Deciding to test the theory, Theodore used his full power and entered Kieran’s mind, but instead of seeing the surface thoughts, all he saw was an endless forest of trees.
He knew Kieran felt the intrusion, and based on the shocked look on his face, his young peer didn’t even know he already possessed Occlumency.
He is a natural!
Theodore didn’t try to penetrate deeper; his instincts told him that it was a bad idea to try and enter the forest, so he returned to his true self letting out a deep breath.
“You likely felt it too Kieran, I failed at overcoming your Occlumency. You have nothing to learn from me on that area. Now, want to see if you have Legilimency talent too?” he suggested.
While Kieran recovered, he updated Craig and Abigail on what happened, enjoying the schadenfreude at their shock matching his.
Over the next two months, Theodore did his absolute best at trying to teach Legilimency to Kieran.
In their breaks, Kieran tried his best at teaching Theodore the double layered sound projection.
Finally, after two months with no results, Theodore was forced to admit the truth to the young boy, hoping the news wouldn’t break him.
“Kieran, your Occlumency talent may be outrageous, but you seem utterly talentless with Legilimency, I am sorry,” he said with an apologetic tone.
Then he blinked in surprise when Kieran laughs, “I knew that after a month, but figured I would try to force it. Thanks for taking the time to teach me Theodore!” Theodore sighed in relief and nodded in approval when he heard he had finally succeeded at getting Kieran to call him Theodore rather than Mr.
Theodore.
I cannot have a peer call me mister, that is just absurd!
Step into the Restricted Section
You-know-where/Murtageyra
The first volume which I called Pre-Hogwarts, is finished in there ^^