After the whole apparition incident, and after Mr.
Craig finished his banana, they all went back to the living room to continue their talks.
Kieran was enjoying some pastry that Mr.
Craig arranged with his magic earlier at the dinner table.
To his right sat Mr.
Craig, who seemed to be enjoying some liquorice tea, a tea flavour that Kieran was also drinking with his pastries, much to Mr.
Craig’s delight and Aunt Abi’s astonishment.
“I cannot believe my dear nephew has such terrible taste in tea!” she spoke, as if affronted.
His parent’s now fully believing magic was real, had their focus now shift to Kieran’s future.
He had expressed his desires, now the adults needed to handle the logistics, hopefully in a way that worked for all involved, including Kieran, which Kieran was confident at.
His parents had always had his best interest at heart.
His dad kicked things off.
“From what I understand, Kieran will be able to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry when he is 11 years old, and that is also when he will be getting his wand to perform magic with.” His dad paused, then glanced at Aunt Abi.
“But, according to Abi and from what Kieran has already showed, he can already perform magic. How do we handle this, what are the magic society’s rules regarding magic before a child gets their wand?”
Mr.
Craig sat up straight and replied, “It is actually a fascinating concept, it is not unheard of for children to perform wandless magic. It merely tends to be chaotic and uncontrolled magic. Kieran is fundamentally different in that his magic is controlled.” Mr.
Craig looked seriously at Kieran’s mum and dad.
“From what I can tell and from what I understand from Abigail, he is a smart and calm boy who has very good control over his emotions.”
Mr.
Craig looked at Kieran briefly before addressing the room again.
“It is a popular theory that the difference between uncontrolled and controlled magic, is the emotions, and that most children simply cannot control their emotions properly. Here however it becomes very interesting, why can most adult wizards not cast wandless magic?”
Mr.
Craig seemed to enjoy the attentive listeners.
“It is believed that wands become a crutch. A powerful crutch, but a crutch, nonetheless. Learning to cast wandless magic after getting used to a wand, can require you to learn magic again from scratch, which for many, is not worth it. Hence they decide to just use a wand, or a similar magical focus depending on the culture.”
Kieran was very interested in that theory; it made his magic awakening make sense.
Fear was a very strong emotion, that he had plenty of when he fell.
It could have forcefully awakened something that was within him all along, magic.
His magic, once awakened, would then combine with the powerful emotion of fear to create uncontrollable magic that made him bounce, to save him from that fear.
Focusing on the wand theory that Mr.
Craig mentioned, Kieran theorized.
The wand could be a crutch.
It made sense.
According to what he remembered from reading Harry Potter, emotion, magic and the wand, made a wizard or witch capable of performing controlled magic.
It made sense when he remembered how magic worked in the world of Harry Potter.
It was how all the characters used magic at first.
That thought led him to the fact he performed wandless controlled magic.
What does the wand replace that I have, which allowed me to cast wandless controlled magic?
He tried to remember how he had performed that illusion magic he had done so far.
Meditation!
Meditation required a certain mindset, and other users of wandless magic from his prior knowledge, did not need to meditate before they performed wandless magic.
What does meditation do for me that allows me to cast magic?
The answer came to him clearly once he thought about how he wrote the illusionary words in the air.
Focus.
Intent!
Meditation allows me to focus all my thoughts into one thing, into pure focus, into an intent.
Controlled magic must be emotion, magic and intent, where the wand helped with the intent, or maybe even empowered it.
He had to remember that Voldemort and Albus Dumbledore still used wands, despite being fully capable of wandless magic.
Perhaps the wand allowed a form of empowered spells if one directed their spells through it with the principles of wandless magic.
It was worth experimenting with once he got his own wand, but that was years away.
What about verbal and nonverbal magic?
He had been using nonverbal since he awoke his magic after all.
He shook his head, trying to focus back on Mr.
Craig who had been talking while Kieran went down into a theoretical rabbit hole.
It seems Mr.
Craig was currently discussing safety when using magic, which made sense.
Kieran’s parents obviously wanted him to be safe if he was going to be using magic.
“…therefore, it is imperative that a magical relative is present for the bigger spells, but for non-dangerous spells before the Trace activates, it can be accomplished as long as you make sure that he only does it inside where no one sees,” Mr.
Craig finished talking.
The Trace?
I forgot about the Trace!
His mum seemed to have a similar thought.
“The Trace? What is that?”
Mr.
Craig’s eyes lit up in realization, “My apologies, it is the way the Ministry of Magic detects magic performed by underaged wizards and witches. It detects any magic performed in the vicinity of the underaged wizard or witch. In muggle terms, you can think of it as a giant detection field. In actuality it is an ancient ward established a very long time ago. Any wizard or witch within the British Isles that reaches the age of 11 years old is automatically registered with the ward, and once they turn 17 years old, they get automatically removed from it. It is rigid and inflexible, as ancient magic tends to be, but it works and is maintained by the Ministry of Magic.”
Kieran started to consider the implications.
Maybe it is akin to the Book of Admittance that uses augury magic for the detection?
Either way, this means I can practice my wandless magic until I turn 11 years old.
But, what about Hogwarts then?
He decided that he may as well ask Mr.
Craig while they were on the topic.
He remembered Mr.
Craig mentioning the number of students on Hogwarts during his theoretical rabbit hole.
Kieran focused on Mr.
Craig, “Mr. Craig, you mentioned Hogwarts having around 700 students, wouldn’t the Trace ward get overwhelmed with so many triggers in the same place?”
Mr.
Craig chuckled.
“A very good question, we may have a future Ravenclaw here. To answer your question, the Trace is not perfect. Certain ancient wards can block it. These wards can be found on schools like Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, or old magical households. Sometimes certain households are also exempted from the Trace due to special permissions. They still get tracked, but the Ministry ignores them if they have the permissions.”
Nodding in realization, Kieran internally remarked.
That makes sense.
Craig brought up Ravenclaw, it allowed him to enter this topic without using his prior knowledge, “Mr. Craig, you mentioned Ravenclaw, what is that?”
To this, Aunt Abi smiled and replied, “Hogwarts has four houses that students are sorted into. These houses are Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, Slytherin and Hufflepuff. Each house embody certain traits in an individual, and during your school, good behaviour earns you house points, with the winning house getting intense bragging rights.”
Kieran smiled, “Aunt Abi, did you go to Hogwarts? If you did, what house were you in?”
“I was in Gryffindor. But any house has both good and bad traits. There is a lot of house rivalry, especially between Gryffindor and Slytherin, but I am certain that any house will be happy to have you, Kieran. Don’t let people influence your thoughts on the houses, each house of Hogwarts, has a great and exciting history,” Aunt Abi said smilingly.
Kieran silently had some trepidation, if he ended up in Slytherin, his life would get rough in the future.
Almost all of them become bad guys!
However, he didn’t really consider himself cunning and ambitious.
It should not be a large worry.
“Mum, dad, how will my schooling work until I am 11 years old?” Kieran asked, wondering what his parents have decided to do.
He watched his parents’ glance at each other and nod at the same time.
He loved how in sync his parents were, they were such a good team!
“We will homeschool you. We expect you to learn your mathematics, reading and writing for starters. For geography and history, you will accompany your aunt on trips, where she has volunteered to teleport…I mean apparate you around and teach you muggle and wizard history at the places she takes you to,” his dad said.
While he stopped to take a breath, mum continued, “Every year we will create a test for you, if you fail this test, your time where you are allowed to experiment with magic will be lowered.”
At this mention, Kieran sat up straight, he would aim to not fail a single test if it meant not being able to study magic as much.
“We know you are smart for your age, and your aunt mentioned that certain wizards see muggle lessons as beneath them. We do not want our son to be uneducated, be it in the magical or the non-magical. That is our expectations for you, Kieran,” His mum finished, looking serious and sternly at Kieran.
Nodding with determination, Kieran exclaimed his intent.
“I can do that. I will make you proud of me, be it for magical or non-magical reasons!”
He watched the adults all smile in various ways at his statement, even Mr.
Craig gave a faint smile.
Kieran looked across the table to his Aunt Abi, “Aunt Abi, will you really teach me history of the wizarding world? Also! Can I request specific places when we start?”
Aunt Abi seemed to think for a bit before nodding, “I agreed with your parents that once you pass the first year with mathematics, reading and writing, we will add history and geography, both magical and non-magical to your lessons.”
She smiled teasingly, then switched to a strict face.
“If you do well, you may pick specific places. Slacking means I decide everything, and I could take you to the most boring places if I wanted to.”
Kieran smiled at her playful threat and delivered a devastating comeback.
“No place would be boring if I am with you Aunt Abi!” Kieran said, smiling happily.
Kieran watched his aunt clearly struggling with staying strict, fighting back a huge smile, as she pretended to cough and tried to recover.
“Of course, I am wonderful company after all.”
Kieran noticed Mr.
Craig look back and forth between his interaction with Aunt Abi, seemingly taking mental notes about something, which was confirmed when he noticed Mr.
Craig smile to himself when looking at Aunt Abi, with Aunt Abi none the wiser.
Likely teasing material, Kieran internally remarked.
His mum and dad seemed to smile at this playful interaction between their son and his aunt.
“Oh right, Mr. Craig, since you are my aunt’s friend, if I get questions related to magic that Aunt Abi cannot answer, can I send letters to you, to ask?” Kieran asked excitedly, looking toward the nicely dressed man.
He watched Mr.
Craig casually nod, “Just send the letter with your aunt’s owl. I will reply back when I can. Be warned however, that I can get very busy with my work, waiting time will depend on that. Oh right, owl mail is how the wizarding mail system work, your aunt can show you.”
Kieran started to consider his coming magical studies while he heard his mum invite Mr.
Craig to stay for lunch in the background, an offer that was accepted.
I cannot wait until I can fully explore the wonders of magic!