Kieran was currently watering one of the plants in the living room while his aunt and parents were on the couch watching television.
He had taken the duty of watering the indoor plants ever since November.
His parents liked the initiative; he never mentioned the ulterior motives.
For Project THP, he was still unsure how he could tackle The Marauders Map.
Couldn’t really be a hidden prankster if the Weasley Twins could find your name wandering about where the pranks were created.
It was however not like he had no ideas.
He recalled from the books that the map used something called the Homunculus Charm, which somehow showed who people were all over Hogwarts.
Obviously the map didn’t show everyone all at once, the castle was huge after all.
It likely operated on intent; it likely registered where you wanted to look and zoomed in on that area.
The issue was the tracking itself.
Based on what he knew about the Four Pillars of Magic, Intent was obviously a big aspect of how the map worked.
His current theory was that the Magic pillar was the reason it always ignored polyjuice potions, invisibility cloaks or any disguises.
The theory came as lightning from a clear sky when he remembered his aunts tracking spell.
It tracked the nearest wizard or witch that wasn’t the caster.
Yet draining his magic, rendered the tracking spell useless.
It tracked the magic.
What if the Homunculus Charm was an advanced concept of this.
What if it didn’t just track overall magic of a person, but a person’s specific magical signature.
That would explain why no disguises worked.
The disguises would change your physical appearance, not your magic.
At first thought, his illusions would be useless too.
The key was the magical signature.
He highly doubted it was possible to change one’s magical signature, but what if instead of changing it, you masked it somehow?
In theory, if he could mask his signature, he would still appear on the map as a person, a dot…but his identity would be masked…at least in theory.
He planned to do the final testing once he had his wand.
He wanted to see if he could avoid his aunts tracking spell without draining his magic.
His current theory was that a wand would empower what he could already do, otherwise it would make no sense why Voldemort and Albus Dumbledore still used their wands…well Albus Dumbledore made a bit more sense considering he used the Elder Wand, but the point stayed the same in regard to Voldemort.
The final testing was simple.
He wanted to project his illusion magic outward to the point that a tracking spell would be unable to see his magical signature properly.
That, however, required a 3D illusion, and not his blurry ugly version, a true one.
Something he hoped a wand could assist with.
Finishing his mental planning, he finished watering the plants, as he had done daily since November.
His aunt none the wiser of what he was truly doing.
I want to win this final April Fool’s battle!
That was his sole thought when he thought of this plan.
Aunt Abi found a flaw in his illusions he could not solve.
His illusions were not physical; they were not meant to be.
Her rubber ball strategy was flawless.
If the plan could not evolve to overcome its obstacle.
He simply had to change the plan.
If hiding was impossible, he just needed to remove the reason he needed to hide in the first place.
He needed to find a way to get his aunt to leave the house and not return until past bedtime, through a prank.
For this final prank, he decided to go back to his roots; no fancy sound magic, no fancy illusions.
He started with emotional imbuement into his illusions, and that was what he would lean on.
Each plant throughout the house that he had been watering every day, contained a double layered illusion.
A simple one.
The first layer was imbued only with the emotion of normalcy.
The second layer was the most important.
It was imbued with a feeling of having forgotten something.
The feeling was inactive, but very present.
Every day he slightly strengthened each illusion by a microscopic amount.
Every day the illusions were constantly part of Aunt Abi’s field of view and magical senses.
Slowly but surely, the illusions were becoming part of her background noise, a natural part of her magical senses.
She would feel nothing wrong when the secondary layer activated.
The end result would be potent enough that usually Aunt Abi’s magical senses would instantly pick it up; but due to the first layer taking the brunt of her senses with a feeling of normalcy; her magical senses would incorporate the second layer into her very being, until it was too late to prevent it.
…
His 11th birthday arrived.
It felt surreal, in a bit over 6 months he would be heading to Hogwarts and in a bit over a month, he would be battling his aunt in the final April Fool’s battle, and they would both be bringing their A-game.
When he arrived at the kitchen table, he blinked as he saw a letter on his table space, with the Hogwarts symbol on it.
His breakfast forgotten, ignoring the smiles of his family he opened the letter and read it.
To Mr.
K.
Gray, Hook Heath, Town of Woking, Surrey, England.
HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY
Dear Mr.
Gray,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.
Term begins on September 1st.
We await your owl by no later than July 31st.
Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall,
Deputy Headmistress.
First year students will require:
Three sets of plain work robes (black).One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear.One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)
Please note that all pupils’ clothes should carry name tags.
Course Books.
All students should have a copy of each of the following:
The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk.A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot.Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling.A Beginners Guide to Transfiguration by Emetic Switch.One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore.Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger.Fantastic Beasta and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander.The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble.
Other Equipment:
Wand.Cauldron (pewter, standard size 2) set.Glass or crystal phials.Telescope set.Brass scales.
Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad.
PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS.
Kieran sat with a weird feeling after reading the letter.
This is actually happening.
He handed over the letter for his parents to read, and after some discussion they agreed to visit Diagon Alley as a family mid-April.
His parents were likely considering the fact that the final April Fool’s needed to be over before they started having him getting distracted by all the new things.
He had read all the first-year books already, except Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger.
Potions and herbology really did not interest him as much.
He enjoyed reading about the laws in a book about the Ministry, but he almost fell asleep reading about brewing potions.
Blimey, Potions with Severus Snape as a teacher is going to be rough for me.
I hope I don’t lose all my house’s points!
I need all the help I can get, I hope I get some friends that are good at Potions!
“Am I getting an owl? I don’t want a toad or a cat,” asked Kieran, as he looked excitedly at his parents.
They agreed on an owl, and they would handle it once they visit Diagon Alley.
The weeks passed.
Kieran continued his daily watering of plants while reinforcing and empowering the illusions, treating it as the frog slowly being boiled.
Eventually April Fool’s arrived, and it was showtime.
After breakfast, Kieran went on his watering route, except this time, he toned down the normalcy layer, ensuring his muggle parents were still safe from it.
He then activated the forgetfulness layer, on each and every illusion.
As the one that knew the illusions were there, he could feel the potent magical effect of the secondary layer, yet when he glanced at his aunt, he could tell.
She notices nothing.
It worked; the illusion has been assimilated by her magical senses.
He casually headed up to his aunt, five months of daily preparation, all for this.
To win the final battle in their six-year long April Fool’s war.
“Aunt Abi, did you remember to bring that thing you needed to show dad?” he asked casually.
He watched as his aunt slapped her forehead, none of the wiser of the illusion affecting her.
She then shook her head with a wry chuckle.
“Thanks Kieran, I can’t believe I forgot something so important. I will head back home and find it, and return once I found it,” she said as she heads inside her room to apparate home.
Kieran waits until he heard the POP!
I did it!
The day slowly passed, his parents noticed Aunt Abi was gone, but he just mentioned she had an urgent errand, and they accepted it as it was.
It was after dinner; where his excitement started to fade as he slowly realized what exactly he had done.
I changed my aunt’s perception on reality.
I manipulated her cognitive functions.
He had been so laser focused on winning this final battle, that he never truly stopped to think about what his method of winning truly did.
He knew his aunt had basic Occlumency defences, but his prank, over a period of five months, overwrote her defences.
His method bordered on mind magic, the kind that forces one to act against their own interest.
It was not anywhere close to Imperium, but it bordered on the territory.
He did not make his aunt act in a way that is against her best interest.
She was likely at home, searching for something that didn’t exist.
Eventually the effect would fade, time away from his illusions would make her defences snap back into place and she would realize she had been tricked.
He loved his aunt; he would never want to hurt her.
But this bordered on the limits of her autonomy; he silently and secretly penetrated her mind’s defences.
What if she hurt herself or destroyed her house in the search for something that didn’t exist?
Would she be disappointed with him? Enjoying the story? Read on at g.com.
Would…would she hate me…?
Kieran could feel himself spiralling, he felt himself start to sweat, he felt cold, he started to shake.
He was having a genuine panic attack.
He didn’t even think, he ran to the living room, jumping into his mum’s arms.
His dad being his dad, quickly realizes what was happening, and Kieran feels himself being embraced from both sides by his parents.
They asked him what was wrong, but he didn’t know how to respond, he withdrew into himself, hiding his face in his mum’s shoulder.
…
Abigail found herself standing in her apartment, as if she just woke up from a nap.
Her drawers were thrown on the floor with their contents spilled out around her.
Her bed turned on its side.
Her entire living room was trashed as if a hurricane went through it.
Even her kitchen wasn’t spared.
She found herself just staring at her wall while tapping her finger on her wand.
I am unsure how to handle this.
It was an honest thought.
She had been…awake, was one word for it, for half an hour.
She recognized what happened, she didn’t know how in Merlin’s Grade it happened, but she knew what happened.
My nephew found a way to silently and without a trace, ignore my Occlumency defences and overwrote my cognitive functions.
She sat down on her chair heavily and let out a deep sigh.
She needed to address this.
Her nephew was talented; he somehow did this; he obviously had no ill intentions.
It didn’t change the fact that he had removed part of her agency with this prank.
She considered going to Craig for a short moment and ask for help but quickly shook her head.
This is a family matter; I need to handle this without traumatizing Kieran.
He needs to know this is not okay, but can I prevent him from developing his skills?
Do I even want to?
She took off her hat and threw it onto her upturned bed, leaning back into her chair, trying to get her thoughts in order.
I don’t want to limit my nephew, but I need to create rules he has to follow.
He is smart, if he hasn’t already figured it out, he will realize what he has done.
I cannot hesitate too long; Hector and Victoria are not equipped to deal with this.
She took a deep breath and with a POP, she was gone.
…
Abigail arrived in the guest room and took large strides, heading to the living room.
The moment she entered the room she assessed the situation.
She saw Kieran between his parents, trying to make himself appear as small as possible.
She knew he heard her come in.
“Kieran, look at me,” Aunt Abi gently said.
She waited for her nephew to hesitantly look up, and the instant she got eye contact, she discarded her current tactic of being the stern aunt.
He is terrified…Merlin’s Beard, he is afraid of me hating him.
She didn’t hesitate, she instantly dropped to her knees and pulled him forcefully into a hug, feeling him freeze and tense.
Eventually, she felt him relax.
Hector and Victoria, bless them, were reading the room correctly.
What mattered was Kieran.
He figured out what he did, and he was not mentally prepared for the aftermath of that realization.
It took a lot of comforting and reassuring, but she got Kieran to open up about the prank he pulled off.
She was shocked.
He worked on this prank for five entire months, diligently, without a break.
All to win the final prank battle.
He won, but it was only after he won he realized how he had won.
She was the adult magical family member; this was her responsibility.
“Kieran, do you realize where you went wrong?” she asked firmly.
When she saw her nephew nod, she continued.
“You cannot use this on muggles, and you cannot use this in any situation other than an innocent prank. Emphasis on innocent. Do you understand?”
Kieran seriously nodded, “I understand Aunt Abi, I will not go this deep into this aspect of my illusions again.”
A while later, Abigail looked down at her nephew leaning against her while sleeping, she whispered.
“Muffliato.” The spell would prevent their talking from waking him up, she explained what happened to Hector and Victoria, they both told her that she did the right thing.
Hearing them tell her she was a good aunt, despite the tough situation she was put in, made her smile with misty eyes.
She looked down at the sleeping Kieran.
“You little troublemaker…” she whispered fondly, preparing to sleep on the couch, not wanting to wake her nephew.
Step into the Restricted Section
You-know-where/Murtageyra
The first volume which I called Pre-Hogwarts, is finished in there ^^