As I promised, it was time to start Victoria's training. It started with some physical training in the morning, with very basic strength and stamina exercises, with a lot of stretching. Of course her starting point was very low, considering she'd never actually done anything similar, but she still ended wheezing on the floor covered in sweat. So a nice shower and breakfast with her potion to satisfy the girl and we began her studies.
Victoria did take Arithmancy as an elective, so at the very least she has some basic in the subject, the problem being aside from that most pureblood families are shit at math, because no one teaches the subject. I don't want to target just purebloods on this, because no actual wizard family teaches anything remotely close to muggle schools since it is deemed unimportant. Makes no sense whatsoever, getting children into elementary schools or kindergarten would have many Benefits: not having to take care of them during the day, learning about the muggle world, getting some freaking common sense and actually getting some basic education (enough ranting, back to Victoria.) But I gave her work to complete, books to read, notes on the subject I'd made, as well as homework to be completed on her own by the next day. She was taking it like a fish in water.
I was able to make her reach 4th year level in Arithmancy by the time the break was over. I'd given her a copy of my list of modified basics for her to study and understand, basically the list of First year spell I used to have fun in class, with clear instructions and indicators on what parts were changed. I'm actually thinking of publishing the book before the next year as it would serve as an excellent foundation for those truly trying to learn how to use the subject. It'll be fun to see the reaction of people if someone as young as me does it. You know what? It's a good foundation for my future, it'll give the image that the Bones family has a genius and I'll be able to give a light push in the direction of progress.
Coming out of my thoughts, I looked at the panting Victoria on the ground, drenched in sweat from the drills I put her through.
"Haa, haaa, haaa. How... are you not... even sweating?!" She said between deep breaths.
"I've been doing these exercises since I was 4, of course I'm ahead of you in them." I answer with a grin on my face.
"Prat!" She then proclaimed. "But honestly, I looked at the exercises you're doing and I can't picture many people can do them."
"It's because people can't. Even very determined muscle enthusiasts will not be able to do my regiment." I answered truthfully.
"Wait what?" The surprised Victoria said.
"I'm not expecting you to do what I do. That's my own decision. I'm just getting to healthy levels of stamina, strength and muscle mass for people our age. It would do wonders if you continue to exercise all-year round, moderately of course. Helps you stay healthy, strong and slim." I explained, turning away from my training standards.
"Yes, yes healer know-it-all." Replied the exasperated Victoria.
"Alright, after the shower, potion and meal, I have a little gift that I think you'll find extremely useful in Arithmancy." I then say with a smile.
"You came up with something ridiculous again, didn't you?" She asked with a sigh and a raised eyebrow.
"Not me this time. Someone I invested in came up with it and think it'll be a very popular thing, even if some families try to block the thing." Answered with my slightly evil smile.
"Aaah. You're smiling like the devil again." She commented with a sigh.
"No idea what you're talking about. Now shower time!" I replied with an innocent face.
After said shower and meal I took out a small rectangular device.
"What is this thing then? What you were talking about?" She asked examining the small plastic device, with numbers and symbols and an empty screen.
"That my dear Victoria, is a calculator. A muggle device which lets you do easy or complex equations through the pressing of the buttons." I answer while turning it on. "You see, you enter the formula like so, and use the commands here to add the variables you wish to use and voila, an answer to your quandary." I demonstrate.
I didn't even have a chance to react as she grabbed my collar.
"Why didn't you give me this thing before!? And how is it working? I thought muggle artifacts couldn't work around magic." Questioned Victoria.
"Good questions. The first answer would be that I needed to give you a certain level of knowledge in mathematics and Arithmancy for you to actually learn the craft and not be over reliant on the little beauty. The second is that the creator used Runes to protect the device and power it, letting it operate in the magical world. I actually added some features to give a list of almost every basic spells numerical representation into the calculator as a crutch for beginners." I explain to the curious girl.
I'm not going to tell her I created this thing during the first part of the school year, that'll give away my secrets when Micheal Folster reveals them at the FIRM center today. Plus I didn't use my binary runes, only currently existing sets, so it won't be traced back to me. It was honestly pretty straight forward to find the right Runes to form miniature wards to protect the tech and power the device. I think the only reason no ones done this before is the 'muggle things are beneath us' mentality and 'muggle tech doesn't work near magic' one. Both easily proven false.
"This is really going to help Aedan, thanks. But where did you even find the inventor?" She asked curiously.
"You know that new information center in Diagon Alley?" A questioned her back.
"Yeah, some kind of muggle-born help center, or newspaper vendor, or bookseller or something." She answered using a vague recollection.
"Well the founder wants to improve the image of muggle-borns, so he was working on bringing some of the tech to the magical side. I found out and invested in it because I think it's a brilliant idea." I explained using a plausible story. Not fun lying, but it's not a bad one.
"Wait, you found that Folster guy!?" She said surprisingly.
"Well it did cost a bit, but I'm pretty good friends with the goblins and they helped me find out, and since I actually wanted to help the guy it went well." I say with a shrug.
She just stared at me with wide eyes.
"You're friends with goblins!?" Was her next shock.
"Yeah, their king gave me this ring as a token of friendship." I answer simply. "I honestly don't get why wizards are always thinking they're better than everyone. Goblins have all their money, they are the best artifact smiths, they never truly lose during their wars and they are strong warriors with their own magic."
Seeing no response from the malfunctioning Victoria, I simply put the calculator in her hand and went inside to start doing some heir work. It took her a few seconds to realize I was leaving and followed inside the house to begin testing her new tool.
Let's just say she was very enamored with the thing and wouldn't let it out of her sight for the rest of her stay.
The break ended on a good note, Susan was sad as always for loosing companionship during the year and it didn't help that she got attached to Victoria. But it was going to be the last year since she would come to Hogwarts next year as well.
We said our goodbyes and found a compartment to wait for my bro's.
James was the first to find mine and Victoria's cabin. He looked at me with wild eyes, which surprised me since he is usually a calm and mature guy.
"Aedan, did you really make all those things in the book you sent me!?" He asked very excitedly.
"Um yeah. Thought you'd enjoy a proper introduction into the field of enchanting, plus I think having a third opinion on my broom project will be useful." I answer slight late.
"It's brilliant! I looked through a bunch of different books on the subject and yours is the best basics book by far!" He says, acting very much like my own head of house.
Before he could continue though, Christian burst in with a very similar look to James' a few moments ago.
"Aedan, where in the world did you get one of those!?" He asked a bit out of breath.
"You mean the feather? Don't you remember? I introduced you to her at the beginning of term." I answered with a weird look on my face.
"Right! I forgot about her." He said facepalming himself.
"Hahaha! How do you forget about that!?" Said James as he burst out laughing at our friend.
"Hey! It's not that I forgot! The surprise just over-excited me is all. And who just send something like that as a Christmas gift? Honestly!" He said, trying to hide his embarrassment.
"Ok! One of what!? What are you two laughing at?" Finally asked Victoria as her patience ran out from being kept in the dark.
"Wait, twinkle star here didn't show you? You went to his house for the entire break!" Asked Christian incredulously and lacking tact.
"Not really hiding her. I just let her do her thing unless I want to ask for help or I'm giving her a reward." I tried to explain, ignoring the teasing.
"Her?" She asks with narrowed eyes.
"One sec." I say as I sweep the room with magic, seal it, enforce it and make sure no one can see, hear or know about what is going on in the room.
"Sol!" I say as my lovely familiar bursts into the cabin through her flames and lands on my shoulder to rub her head on me.
"This is Sol, my beautiful girl. She's been with me since I was a kid, part of my wand is actually made from her feather, and I sent Christian one of them as a gift." I say as an introduction to Victoria.
"Sol, this is Victoria. She's a friend so try to be nice ok?" I say to my very intelligent girl.
With a small trill she goes to the completely shocked Victoria and lands on her lap to get a good look at her. My friend isn't sure what to do and looks at my direction, but I simply motion for her to pet my feathery girl. With hesitation she starts nervously petting Sol on the back, until she starts slowly getting more comfortable and gently rubs her with a childlike smile.
"Yeah, it's an experience getting to pet her the first time. Nothing quite like it in the world." Declared Christian with his own smile.
"Yeah, it was pretty surreal to pet the legendary immortal bird that's for sure." Agreed my other friend.
I just look on with a smile as all my friends share their happiness, and start talking about their holidays. Apparently the Wards almost fell into a Gorgon sanctuary on their trip, which would not have ended well, but it was fun overall. The Calaway's had a very muggle Christmas with a family gathering, good but boring for the younger members. And so we chatted until we reached Hogwarts for the last term before the canon began.
'I'll need to finish all of my preparations soon' I thought to myself as the station came into view.