My first birthday came and passed.
My mom got me some more of her old magic books and a special party hat for Niko the raccoon.
I had noticed she never seemed to leave to go anywhere without me, and I assumed the ongoing war was the reason.
Still, we celebrated with cake and a trip to the park where I promptly ignored the other children as usual and instead read my new books about charms.
As my body grew, I got more and more control, perhaps more than usual.
I made sure to move around a lot and do whatever exercises I could at my age to stay in shape and grow stronger.
I ate a lot and I even convinced her to adjust our meal plans to include more protein, hinting at books I’d read about the body.
Our schedule did not change much except trips to the library becoming common.
I more than once wondered why my mom had not gone back to work yet, but decided it did not matter much for now.
Clearly, we had enough money for now since she didn’t buy the cheaper food or get any notices of unpaid bills.
Just before my second birthday I had a very strange encounter behind our house.
Since our house connected to other houses on both sides, we only had a small backyard.
Behind that we had a large park where we usually went when we wanted fresh air.
As I was in the backyard with the gate closed for safety practising my magic, while mom was in the kitchen cooking, a small snake peeked in from under the closed wooden gate to our backyard.
I looked at it calmly from where I sat next to a small bed of flowers.
The snake appeared to be an adder and was now entering our small yard through the gap under the gate.
I decided this was a perfect chance to test an unlikely theory.
I flicked a finger towards the adder, making it rise off the ground.
It took more effort than I thought, more mental than magic, but the snake was nonetheless in the air held steady by my magic.
I was careful not to hurt it.
I was no sadist; this was simply a multipurpose test before I released the snake back into the wild.
Focusing on the snake that was now held about 1.5 meters away from me at eye-height, I said with my best British accent: “Hello there.” None of the things I hoped for happened, the adder did not answer or give any inclination it understood me.
My voice had none of the hissing quality I was hoping for.
Worst of all, there was nobody to answer, “General Kenobi.” So I nodded to myself instantly agreeing with my brilliant self: “General Kenobi.” I tried a few more times to talk to the snake with no success.
After about a minute I simply brought the snake closer, carefully keeping its head and body under control like I would use my hands, its body coiling and twisting slightly from displeasure of being restrained.
I reached out and touched the back of its head where it was held steady by my magic.
The noise of a system prompt came like I had hoped for: “In the world of Harry Potter, all snakes have a certain amount of magic when interacting with a wizard since Parseltongue first appeared.
Snakes like many other animals in this world contain magical power that can be harvested” “Quest issued: Sacrifice for power – Conduct a ritual using a sacrifice.
Reward: 1.
EXP.
2.
+3 Spirit.
3.
+3 Magic.
4.
Unknown.
(Depends on the sacrifice you choose).” “Well now that was not the thing I expected, I was thinking I might get a quest to keep the snake as a familiar giving me parseltongue if I achieved the bond…” I said out loud.
The shock of the type of quest I had been given momentarily overwhelmed me.
I pushed my feelings away and focused on the information instead.
“Scaled with the value of the sacrifice.
That probably means either a scaling reward based on the objective “worth” of the sacrifice, or a reward that relates to the sacrifice, perhaps even both…Too bad I’m not a Parselmouth, that would have been amazing for achieving the main objective of this world.
Getting rid of the Horcruxes will be hard either way, but potential access, without getting Harry involved, to Basilisk venom would have been amazing.” During this the snake still hung in the air, held by my magic, a small part of my focus maintaining the magic.
Over 22 months had passed since I regularly started practicing my wandless magic, by now lesser tasks could be completed with a very small part of my focus.
I mentally pulled up my status again to check on my progress.
Status of William Walker Human Wizard Lvl 3 0/300 exp Strength 2→3 Agility 2→3 Intelligence 13→14 Constitution 2→3 Magic 4→7 Spirit 3→6 Unspent stat points: 3 Titles: None Passive buffs: None Active buffs: None Traits: 1.
Reborn mind and soul 2.
Fire affinity 3.
Wandlessly gifted 26% 4.
Healthy body My growth when it came to magic was pretty decent, not quite the same as the first few months of wandless magic, but nonetheless.
“Considering my second birthday was not until next month, I could be considered a monster.
On the other hand I was cheating, can I really compare to regular people in this world?” I mean I am a 30-year-old with my fully developed mind in the body of a toddler with magic, and on top of that I had a system giving me an extra boost from quests.
“Now what was I going to do about my latest quest?
Should I try to look for books on rituals in the house?
Ask my mom?” I knew one thing for sure.
There was absolutely no point in trying to enter the wizarding world before the civil war had ended.
The risks were just too great with very little upside considering it was scheduled to end in just over two years and two months at Halloween 1981.
Anything regarding getting magic items, books or even animals could wait for the war to end.
“I will not risk the life of my mom just to progress faster.” I let the adder go, setting it down with its head towards the opening under the gate.
It quickly slithered away leaving me once more alone in the backyard.
“Even if I chose to sacrifice a snake for the rewards of a ritual I can always catch or buy another, preferably a more magical one” I thought as I watched its tail vanish from sight.
I had spent a lot of time thinking about how best to bring up the subject of the things I might need for my progress to my mom.
Lately I was leaning towards trying to argue that my magic was indicating I needed to touch certain magical items to better understand magic and how to use it.
Including the argument that she didn’t need to buy them or anything just for me to hold them like I did her wand.
For now though, I had at least 2 active quests and solid evidence on how I could trigger more quests in the future.
I decided I would bring it up on my birthday next month and for now just continue my practice with wandless magic.
Having gotten a good grasp on telekinesis for objects weighing up to 20 kilograms was incredible on its own.
I had also made very good progress with fire magic.
In fact, that was the very reason I was outside, my mom had been very hard to convince, allowing me to practice with fire after she first saw me hold a small flame hovering above my palm.
I managed to convince her by showing her the control I had over magic had also extended to fire.
She made me promise two things before I was allowed to continue though.
One was that I was only allowed to do it with her near, and two that I only did it outside.
For several months she sat with me outside whenever I practiced, doing her own thing but keeping an eye on me.
After a while though she was convinced that I was in complete control, allowing me to practice on my own again.
She still insisted I practice outside.
She also told me to get her if I wanted to try something new with magic.
So a deal was struck.
I was allowed to do everything I had already done and showed my mastery in front of her first alone, anything else I would ask her to supervise.
Every time we compromised like this we grew closer, her trust in me grew, and more freedom followed.
Atleast one though and it will be first contact with wizards/witches aside from his mother.