When we got home from Ollivander I was still riding that high.
Holding the wand filled me with a sense of safety, belonging and happiness.
I had not put it away since getting it, keeping it in my hands at all times.
My mum had to stop me from casting my very first “real” spell in the middle of Diagon Alley, very unlike me, but the pure joy almost made me feel like I was on drugs.
As we got inside the house, I quickly ran down the stairs to our cellar to cast my first regular spell, not being able to wait any longer.
My mum followed at a more reasonable pace, but also wanted to see, while making sure I didn’t run into any unsuspected trouble using a wand rather than wandless magic.
I flexed my will, pulling a practice dummy from the side of the room with wandless magic to the centre.
I noticed it feeling easier than normal, but I was too focused on my wand to continue that thought for now.
My mum had caught up by now and stood to the side silently watching me as I leveled my wand toward the target.
“Start small,” she said calmly, dousing my excitement slightly.
I gripped the wand tighter, took a breath to center myself, then looked up at the dummy.
“Expelliarmus!” I called, my intent sharp as a knife from years of practice.
The magic flowed smoother than any wandless magic I had ever tried.
It flowed like water, but with the speed of lightning through me, into my wand and out through the tip.
The result was impressive.
The dummy’s wand flew out of its hand into my own waiting hand, while the dummy itself was pushed back around two meters before falling onto its back.
I looked at the dummy, then my wand.
“What a rush.
I could get used to that feeling.” A smile crept up on my face and I turned toward my mum.
She had long since stopped being surprised.
Instead, one eyebrow was raised as she looked at me sternly.
“What?
That was starting slowly?
It’s only a second year spell…” I rolled back on my heels slightly at her continued gaze.
After getting her point across without saying a word, she turned to go back up, but not before turning her head back to me.
“Well done William, you are going to be a force of nature.
I’m proud of you.” After she left I decided it was time to check the prompt I knew I was going to find.
I had not noticed it at all earlier at the shop, too absorbed by emotions and the connection to the wand, but I knew it would be there: “Congratulations you have completed the quest: Find a suitable focus.
Reward: 1.
700 EXP.
2.
+3 Magic.
3.
+3 Spirit.
4.
Trait: Focus Affinity- Sentient magical focuses naturally view you more favourably, making it easier to build a strong bond with them.
Those already inclined to accept you may, on rare occasions, choose to overlook restrictions placed upon them in order to be wielded by you.” “Huh, well that certainly fits the occasion.” I was happy with what the system called a “Stronger bond.” Anything that would further increase what I already had with my wand was good in my book.
It was hard to test out for now though, but I guess I’ll find out as I go.
I pulled up the system to look over the changes: Status of William Walker Human Wizard Lvl 6 200/600 exp Strength 7→9 Agility 9→11 Intelligence 15→16 Constitution 8→10 Magic 14→21 Spirit 13→20 Unspent stat points: 15 Titles: None Passive buffs: None Active buffs: None Traits: 1.
Reborn mind and soul 2.
Fire affinity 3.
Wandlessly gifted 4.
Healthy body 5.
Vibration Sense 6.
Focus Affinity- Sentient magical focuses naturally view you more favourably, making it easier to build a strong bond with them.
Those already inclined to accept you may, on rare occasions, choose to overlook restrictions placed upon them in order to be wielded by you.
Happy with my progress over the last three years I turned back to the dummy.
“Let’s test out some magic.” The next few months passed quickly as I dove into wanded-magic with a singular focus.
I took some time to properly test out my earlier thought about the wandless magic noticing a bigger difference than gaining the last percent of my wandless trait should have given me.
I theorized that it could be due to the “finished magic-channels” giving an extra boost to efficiency.
Christmas came and went, Tonks coming back and all of us celebrating together at the Tonkses.
Tonks told us all stories about Hogwarts.
I showed Moody and Tonks my new wand, earning nothing more from him than a grumble, “Constant vigilance applies to children too.” Tonks showed more excitement and we compared some thoughts about the difference between wanded and wandless magic.
Diana had at one point laughed and told them about how I nearly cast my first spell right outside Ollivander.
It was a nice time with friends and family and a break from magic for me.
Me, my mum and the Tonkses were currently all standing on platform 9 ¾ waiting for the Hogwarts train that was bringing our “don’t call me Nymphadora” home for the summer.
There was lots of sound, people chatting and a few owls screeching.
I even saw a cat sitting on someone’s shoulder.
Many families were waiting, I especially noticed a family full of redheads standing together.
The youngest, seeming to be around 4, and the only girl was right in the middle of punching one of the twin brothers in the balls as I looked over.
A loud laugh came before I could stop it and she seemed to have heard me, looking up a bit surprised, then gave me a grin.
I heard the loud yell of the mother, but I tuned that out as I heard the whistle of the incoming train.
The red locomotive was a sight to see, even if I had seen it twice already.
There was simply something about the character of old steam locomotives that newer trains had never managed to replicate.
Once when Tonks left and once more when she came back for Christmas.
I was happy to hear she made some friends among her dormmates in Hufflepuff.
She had also caused some people to grow green with envy as she showed some basic wandless magic.
She had made sure not to mention my name yet, I had asked her to wait until I started Hogwarts, at least.
The only ones she had told so far were her parents, and that was with my permission, after I had gotten to know them better.
The train stopped, and soon after Tonks stepped out dragging her large trunk along.
She looked around the platform and lit up as she spotted us standing only a few meters away, the students pouring out on the platform no longer blocking the view.
She skipped over her canon clumsiness nowhere to be seen.
The first time I realised she was no more clumsy than the next child I had thought it strange.
I then remembered a fanfiction pointing out theories about it being because of how much she changed her body, never letting it settle and for her mind to “catch up”.
My thoughts were interrupted by her slamming into me, pulling me into a hug.
“Will, it’s so good to see you!
Did you read my letter about getting caught…” She trailed off looking toward her parents.
Her mum raised an eyebrow.
“Getting caught doing what?” She said with a stern voice, making Tonks shuffle her feet.
“I was only showing someone how Snape would look without his hair!
Luckily Flitwick caught it instead of McGonagall, or worse Snape!
I got away with only one detention, nothing more.” Andromeda seemed to be trying to stop her lips from tugging, failing slightly.
Ted, much less reserved, let out a belly laugh, both me and mum joining him.
Andromeda leaned down to hug her daughter.
“I missed you Nymphadora.
But please don’t imitate the teachers again.” Tonks let out a breath, deciding this time not to pick a battle about her name since her mum seemed to let her off without any punishment.
Her dad and my mum also got hugs and we were off from the platform.
We had planned only to go back to the Tonkses to leave Tonks’ trunk, before going out swimming together at a nearby lake.
The weather was really warm despite the early summer and we wanted to spend some time together with all of us with Tonks coming back.
Alastor could unfortunately not be convinced to go swimming.
We arrived at the lake together only 10 minutes after we left the platform, the wonder of magic present in everyday life.
Me and Tonks looked toward each other and then just made a straight line toward the water at full speed, we both jumped off the pier at the exact same time splashing into the lake.
No matter what life I was living, I always loved swimming.
My dad, from my old life, used to take me and my brother swimming, every week, from when we were around two and four until we were ten and twelve.
That made me completely at home in the water, even almost twenty years later.
Tonks splashed water towards me, which could not go unanswered, our battle began.
After we had gotten rid of some energy we were mostly floating around speaking about her time at Hogwarts.
“So, second semester.
Any different from the first?” I asked Tonks while drifting through the water, cheating slightly by using wandless magic to push against the water.
“Yeah, I guess you settle a bit.
Developing habits, sometimes getting bored during lessons.
But honestly, the wonder does not stop, Hogwarts has a way of surprising you, often.
I have also gotten some harder tasks in class.
I think the wandless magic you taught me has made learning wand-magic much easier.
The teachers hesitated at first to move away from their regular planned lessons, but eventually started giving me harder tasks when they saw how bored I was.” She answered while floating on her back, looking up at the clouds.
“Don’t stay in the water too long, we are going to eat now!” a yell came from the beach.
“We’ll be there soon!” I yelled back before turning to Tonks again.
“Did you get a lot of questions about your wandless magic and how natural magic comes to you now?” “Yeah, mostly from my classmates, some from older students, a few from the teachers.
I just said I started trying to actively use wandless magic years ago and eventually succeeded in learning some.” She had noticeably matured over the last few years.
She was still the same bubbly girl, but with more confidence and, “dare I say, wisdom?” “Thanks Tonks, after I start Hogwarts you can tell your friends if you want, but for now please maintain the vague answers.
Also don’t forget not to look Snape in the eyes, and perhaps not the headmaster either.” To that she nodded, us having had this talk before.
“How goes the progress with your wanded-magic?
Think you could beat the teachers yet?” Only a slightly joking tone, like she had to make sure I couldn’t.
I chuckled and answered: “It’s going brilliantly.
I have tried not to practice too much of the Hogwarts curriculum since it would make the lessons later so boring.
But I’ve practiced a lot of other stuff, and some important spells from the curriculum as well.
Non-verbal spellcasting seems to come very naturally, not strange after all the years of wandless magic.
I imagine it will come easy to you as well when you decide to start trying.” She seemed happy with that, she smiled toward me and we settled into a relaxed silence.
Later I was in the water alone with the others relaxing on the beach when I felt a vibration in the water.
I had not focused on my new sense so it was way too big to come from fish.
I decided I would explore a bit and dove down in the direction I had felt it.
As I reached the destination from where I noticed the vibration a few meters down, nothing was there.
I turned around and only a meter from my face was a pair of yellow eyes.
A single mermaid.
She had pale blue skin, those large yellow eyes and long hair that floated freely in the water.
She was there, completely still, looking at me with a curious expression.
After my heart settled I waved toward her, slightly cautious and ready to defend myself.
After a second she slowly reached out, she seemed careful not to scare me with any sudden movements before touching my chest with her hand.
She left her hand there for only a moment, then quickly swam away.
“What was that about?
Does she swim around touching children often?” I suddenly got a prompt from the system, surprised I pulled it up: “Congratulations!
You have gained access to the Percy Jackson world.
To enter the world: give a mental command while not being in active danger.” “If you enter another world you must wait at least 7 days before crossing again” CREATORS’ THOUGHTS arre131 First new world unlocked!
Exciting…
well, at least for me.
🙂 Hope you enjoyed the chapter!
If you, as they say in He-Man, “HAVE THE POWER!” sprinkle a little of that Power my way.