-Skellig Island, Ritual Site (Third Person POV)
Throughout this lone island major changes were occurring unbeknownst to anyone.
If someone capable of observing or even properly feeling magic came close to the island then they would have noticed it without fault.
The massive amount of magical energy constantly being gathered and then released, as if an giant was breathing the energy in and out.
That was not all.
A strong and steady heartbeat resounded throughout the island as well.
THUMP! THUMP!
THUMP! THUMP!
THUMP! THUMP!
And sitting in the middle of the constant flux of energy, sat a lone young man, from whom the heartbeat which could be heard from anywhere on the island emanated.
His silver-white hair gentle floating as if a breeze was flowing against his near perfect face, eyes closed as his expression showed a peaceful mind, his simple white robes where spotless even after being outdoors as they softly floated as well. But the most interesting thing about him was that he did not sit on the ground, no, he was floating as he seemed to have achieved the fabled levitating meditation.
The young man then gently opened his eyes, revealing glowing white eyes with hints of blue dancing across them. The simple action making the pulsing magic enveloping the island to rapidly gather towards him, forming what appeared to be a vortex of energy as it all gathered within him. As everything rushed to him, he inhaled deeply, feeling the every bit of what was occurring within him as he let it flow. And as the last bits finally, he calmly unfolded his legs to stand on his own two feet and exhaled slowly as his eyes slowly returned to normal, showing his strikingly blue eyes.
"I hope not too much time has passed." He said with a calm face as he took in his surroundings.
The area around his ritual circle had greatly changed since the last time he looked.
New greenery now grew between the cracks of the marble flooring, all of it being magical plants of one kind or another. The ritual circle he had drawn had been expanded as runes were carved into the stone itself, a sign of the immense magic mixed with the young man helping create what was needed for what had occurred. Even the seven pillars were not left untouched as they now radiated a constant stream of magic the runes, now present on them, linking them to the lay line which had been constantly flowing through the place.
"I'll memorize these runes now and study them later. It'll be an interesting project to understand what magic itself crafted." He said as he looked at every new line, after removing the new flora with a wave of his hand to not miss any details.
After being satisfied, he lifted his hand, making a small keychain, with what looked like a rectangular box charm on it, fly right into it, having summoned exactly that.
"A quick clean, some proper clothes and I can head home." He said as the small box grow into a large trunk with the initials AMB written on it with gold lettering.
He opened the trunk and reached into it, only bringing his arm back after he pulled out a white t-shirt, blue jeans, black boxers, socks, white Nike's, a pair of silver bracelets, and two rings, one golden with an emblem on it and the other sliver with a ruby.
Casually removing his white robe and letting his now naked form free, one could see masterfully sculpted muscles across his entire body, but also the scars which showed that it was not without sacrifice.
He quickly dressed himself in his casual outfit after a soft light covered his body for a moment, put away the white robes he had been wearing and shrunk the trunk back to keychain size. Then with a satisfied smile, he nodded and suddenly burst into blue flames. Disappearing from where he stood a second ago.
-Bones House (First Person POV)
With a burst of blue light I appeared in the home I grew up in and smiled.
"Hey, I am home!" I loudly announced with a smile as hurried steps could now be heard from different sources.
"Young Master!" A tiny as always Tilly cried as she popped in and hugged my leg with tears in her big eyes.
"Hey Tilly, glad to see you too." I say with a warm smile as I pat her little head as she hugs my leg tighter.
"Big Bro!" Another voice cried out as Susan came from outside wearing her magical gardening gear.
'Puberty is really helping my little sister. I am going to have to make sure the idiots know as teenage boys don't get any funny ideas.' I thought as I looked at her.
She had a light tan from her time outside as she tended to her plants, with an athletic look from her training with me and her hair gaining the reddish taint which runs in the family. But the problem was, her secondary sexual characteristics were coming in and with a bang. Her chest was seemingly developing by the day and her hips couldn't be hidden even with school robes anymore. And with her face turning from cute to elegant, she is going to be able to wrap those hormonal twits around her fingers.
That train of thought was interrupted as the maturing girl enveloped me in a crushing hug.
"Hi there to you too Suz." I simply said as I hug her back, making sure Tilly isn't being crushed between the two of us as they both keep hugging me.
"I missed you bro! Nobody has heard a word from you in a month! I was getting worried." The girl said as she hugged me even harder.
"Sorry for worrying you. I honestly didn't know how long I'd be gone." I said as I tried to appease the emotional girl. "At least one month is pretty good, means I shouldn't have missed that much."
"I wish you would be correct when you say that Aedan, but this has been a difficult month." A third voice then said, making me notice Mother standing at the bottom of the stairs as she looked at me with an expression of relief.
"I'm back mom. I'm really sorry for worrying all of you, but I had a pretty good reason." I apologized immediately for worrying one of the people I cared for the most in this world.
"You better young man. Leaving for so long without a word during this kind of political climate." She sternly said with a light glare my way.
"I'll explain as soon as these two can let go of me and we sit down." I answered with a troubled expression as i gesture to my two additions.
"Not happening." Susan said as she dug her way in further.
"Tilly will never let go of the young master!" The house-elf declared as she clung to my leg.
"It does look like that might take a while doesn't it." Amelia said with a bit of schadenfreude as she left me to deal with it.
It took 15 minutes and promises of pampering for Susan and getting pampered for Tilly to obtain my freedom.
After that we could all sit down and have a proper discussion. I did send Victoria a message, telling her I was back, but she was busy doing her shift at St. Mungo's. I wasn't stupid enough to just assume that's what she was doing and not send her a message because she couldn't come anyway, that would not end well for me. Women tend to want to know these types of things as soon as possible.
So here I sat in the lounge with mother and Suz, while Tilly happily went to prepare snacks, drinks and food for later.
"So tell me your reason for disappearing Aedan. It better be good because, even if you are considered an adult, I can still give you a tongue lashing which will haunt your nightmares." Mother said as she narrowed her eyes.
"Alright, during the tournament finals, when Harry and I disappeared, I did more than just see what happened, I fought Voldemort." I truthfully said, getting a flinch from both Bones ladies.
"YOU DID WHAT!?" A very angry looking mother yelled.
"I fought and tied Voldemort in combat which I held back a lot. I wanted to see what he could do and I couldn't kill him because of that stupid prophecy, so I made it a tie." I answered calmly, not wanting to add gasoline to the fire by getting emotional.
"He's really back?" A pale looking Susan said as she asked softly.
I got up from my chair and gave the nearly trembling girl a hug to comfort her.
"Yes he is, but your big brother is better and stronger than him. I fought him without using my original spells, without my white magic and without my modified spells and I still tied with him. Hell, the only reason that happened was because of why I went away this time. So don't worry about him Suz. I'll be there and protect you both from that fool. And if he tries to even touch the two of you, he will learn to fear someone in this world. Like our school motto say 'Never tickle a sleeping dragon.'" I say in a effort to reassure the girl.
"So he won't be able to take you away?" She hopefully asked with tears in her eyes.
"I'll never leave until you want me to Suz." I gently answered as i give the girl a head pat.
I took a few minutes to get her to fully calm down, but we had time. So now I had a teenage Susan sitting on me for reassurance as the conversation resumed.
"You mentioned a prophecy involving Voldemort. What did you mean by that Aedan?" Mother asked cautiously as she found that particular detail to be rather important.
"The one with the power to defeat the Dark Lord approaches.
Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies.
And the Dark Lord will mark him as an equal, but he will have powers the Dark Lord knows not.
And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives.
The prophecy which created the Boy-who-lived. The thing which stops me from hunting that hairless fool and ending him. Harry needs to be the one who takes him down. It's also why Professor Trelawney is at Hogwarts despite not being a good teacher." I explain as I say the prophecy word for word. Something no one besides Dumbledore actually knows at this point in time.
"You mean to tell me that unless Harry kills him, he will never truly be gone?" Amelia asked, thinking of the boy they had brought into their home for a few years now.
"Yeah. Neither me nor Dumbledore can kill him because fate has been spoken for. Harry needs to be the one to confront the man. After that I don't know, but I will not stand by and do nothing while this is happening. He's like my own little brother and I'm not going to let him fight on his own. I'm also not going to let those bigoted idiots help their Dork Lord either." I declared with absolute confidence in myself.
"And this is why you disappeared for the last month?" Mother then asked.
"That was for two reasons: during my duel I felt the next step in the growth of my strength and I needed to take that step before I forgot the feeling from my duel." I answered with a nod.
"And how strong are you now Aedan? From what you told me last year, you should have already been stronger than Dumbledore and Voldemort." Mother seriously asked.
"Wait! You're how strong?" A surprised Susan suddenly said as she jolted up from her nuzzling position.
"Last summer I was as strong as the Headmaster and Darth Bigot, but now I should be stronger than both at once if I'm right." I answered with a confident smile.
That statement made Susan's jaw drop and even mother was having some difficulties.
"Tea is ready! I also have all the best cookies!" A happy Tilly decided to say, breaking the women from their stupor.
"Um, thank you Tilly. Please just leave that on the table." Mother said as soon as she snapped out of it.
"Yes mistress." The happy elf said as she set the tray of tea and cookies down and went back to the kitchen.
"And how did your month away help you achieve such power young man?" She then asked as she focused her attention back on me, the question also making Suz look at me with great curiosity.
"That's a bit more complicated.
You see, during the duel, Baldy unleashed Fiendfyre when he was on the back foot. To counter it, I summoned a bunch of water and form a barrier out of it in order to contain and eventually put it down. During that intense clash, I suddenly went into something like a trance, feeling magic flow through me freely, as if I was part of magic itself. The feeling let me summon an insane amount of water to douse the cursed flames, but the struggle resulted in both of our energy reserves to run dangerously low, so I called it a draw and fell back.
I then held onto that feeling for the next month, trying to grab a hold of it anytime I could get some time to practice, but the feeling was always just out of reach. So I decided to plan things out to succeed and prepare for what I knew was to come. I planned for everything i could think of and prepared my subordinates for my extended absence the best I could. I finished my masteries, tests and paused any experiments and projects which would have to involve me. I set up our plan mother, making sure we couldn't be targeted by Fudge's idiocy, and I made sure everyone else was protected properly.
After school was done, everything went into motion and I secluded myself in a place with plenty of ambient magical energy to help. I tapped into a lay line running through an uninhabited island and stayed there until I could properly grasp, control and master that state without using the lay line as a crutch.
The results were surprising and spectacular.
My magic is no longer contained in my core until I need to channel its energy to cast something. It is now constantly flowing throughout my entire body. It is like my own blood now. My body is stronger, faster and more resistant. My mind is clearer, can think at faster speeds and can take in information with even greater ease. I can cast any spell with at least half the time required and effort necessary over before. And the amount of energy needed to achieve any spell at the power I could before has also been reduced.
But the most surprising thing is that I no longer need a wand, because my wand fused with me. We became so in tune with one another, and I become so strong that we became one.
I have a few theories on how that could happen and if this could happen to others, but nothing concrete yet. The end result is that I am now, probably, the only wizard alive who uses magic, without any assistance whatsoever, freely." I said as I finally finished my explanation of what I did, why I did it and how I have changed.
"I am still not pleased with you taking such a risk during the tournament, but I am glad you did not do something foolish during the last month. I do not want you going down the wrong path for power." Mother said with worry in her voice.
"I won't, I promise. I am also pretty sure this is going to be a one time thing, or at least it's not going to happen for a long time. I've been getting stronger too fast and even if my body is way stronger than most people, it is better for me to let it properly adapt and develop from here on out. Plus, no way I am going to start using Dark Magic, it'll ruin any chance of me ever creating more White Magic." I reassured her with a smile, making mother nod in response.
"So you don't need or even have a wand anymore right?" Susan suddenly asked as she looked up at me.
"Yeah, it's part of me now." I answered simply.
"How are you going to be able to make everyone able to use your new magic if you don't figure out the wand movements then? It's not like most people are capable of wandless casting." She asked, bringing up a very good point.
"Hmmm. Solid point there Suz. I'm guessing I'll have to go see Mr. Olivander for something at least adequate. He'll be positively ecstatic to hear I fused with my wand and I'll need something which can at least conduct some of my strength to keep making new spells. Guess that's something else to do this summer, thanks for bringing it up." I say to the girl as I nod in acknowledgment and give more head pats.
"I am sure the man will almost faint from the excitement you will bring him." Agreed mother with a smile. "But you will have many things to do to properly catch up to last month, our so called Minister has been giving Dumbledore a very hard time lately and the political climate has been shifting lately. They've even managed to pass that horrid Werewolf law that Toad kept trying for while you were gone."
"They will get what is coming to them in due time. The law is completely useless anyway since all of those in the town are protected by their magical contracts. I'll talk to Dumbledore about how to handle the pressure and continue preparations for Voldy. We are going to keep helping your Department, but you'll also have to sweep it clean of those with other allegiances. I've had my people getting ready for the last two months in secret, I'll have to check up on all of that. Gonna also need to catch up on my Lordly duties, accept my masteries since I'm sure I aced them, and fulfill some promises to my lovely fiancé.
But for now, let's just enjoy our time together. Tory will come after her shift is done and we can all enjoy a proper family supper. Turbulent times call for these moments of peace to help us keep going." I say as I let my worries and future actions go for the night.
"Merlin knows that sounds perfect." Mother says as some tension leaves her body and she reclines into her seat.
"Sounds good. That was a lot of shocking news for a night and I think eating without a care is just what the healer ordered." Susan nodded as she agreed with the plan.
"Then Tilly shall make a feast!" The house-elf said as she popped in and out of the room with stars in her eyes.
"I don't think we'll be able to move after supper, much less worry about things." I say with a chuckle.
"I hope she going to make that new lamb dish she learned, it's awesome." Susan added as she drooled a bit at the memory.
"Tilly has the lamb sauce!" Was the reply to that statement as she double popped again.
That statement gave me quite the laugh, letting me fully enjoy the feeling of being back home.