"Magic is like a muscle.
You need to train it in order to get better at using it. In my case, before I even knew it I was already practicing magic. I believe it was around… when I was five years old? It feels like an eternity now, but I can still remember it.
Like any muggle kid, accidental magic was my first contact with it, and I rolled with it after getting the hang of it.
Most days I would train so much that my magic muscles would hurt just as normal body muscles do after a long workout. The difference here is that magic takes less time for your 'muscles' to build up, so as long as you continue to train to your limits, you'll be able to do even more in the following days.
And the more you do today, the more you can do tomorrow. Of course, if you can ignore the pain that follows it. I've gotten used to it by now, but maybe we can start slow. What do you think?"
"I think you are insane, mate. I've never heard the professors nor my dad and mum talk about any of that. Where did you get this idea anyway?"
It's been a few weeks since the beginning of summer vacation. Allen spent two weeks in the orphanage until William's parents came to ask if he could stay with them. It took a bit of convincing from both parties but they managed to get through the matron. Getting an OK from her.
After that, Allen spent his days at William's house, while they waited for Sophia and Elsie's owl to tell them if Sophia's father would let him stay at his house. Of course, there was no response, the only thing close to it was a letter saying "We'll keep trying!"
Suffice to say that Mr Bailey didn't want them in his house, which to be fair, who would want to take care of two kids who are not your own, mind you, for two months straight.
It was William's parents, the ones who were the weirdest of all, letting him stay with them for the duration of the summer break.
After finishing his homework in the first week of the break, Allen had nothing to do but practice his magic without using Hestia, she tried to complain but he managed to make her understand that if he did use her, he would get in trouble.
Then when he came to William's house, he began to teach him how it was for him the first time he learned magic was real. Of course, he omitted the part about him thinking his magic were psychic powers.
And yet, William didn't believe him and thought it was more of a tale rather than the actual truth.
'Not like I can convince him if he doesn't want to believe me, even though it's true.' Allen let out a sigh just as he finished his explanation.
—----------------------
While William's parents were not that strict, they didn't want to let him wander around alone in case anything happened, it took a lot of convincing from his side to let him go to Diagon Alley.
The only reason why they let him go is because they decided to accompany him and do a few purchases before the end of august.
Just as he expected, the Alley was emptier than the first time he came here and his head also didn't hurt from the overload of magic assaulting his eyes.
He separated from William and his parents, walking straight towards Ollivander's. Once inside, for some reason it looked like more dust accumulated from the last time he visited, not only that, but it even seemed to be more.. empty, if that's even possible.
A shuffle in the back resounded through all the store, catching his attention. He tried to look at a relative distance, until a figure showed before him, startling him.
"Ah, Mr Lionheart, to what do I owe the pleasure to see you again so soon?" Mr Ollivander asked, ignoring the fact that he scared him. "Nothing bad happened to your wand, I presume?"
"What? No, it's just, I have some questions regarding… the Wand Raising Charm, and since Mr Ollivander is the one who developed it, I wanted to know if you could help me with the charm. There have been some… weird side effects, that I'm not sure if it's normal or not."
A questioning look appeared on Mr Ollivander's face, then curiosity replaced it. "Of course, Mr Lionheart. Show me how you use the charm, and don't worry, I won't tell a soul about the use of magic outside of Hogwarts."
Without much preamble, he quickly took out Hestia from one of his pockets and casted the Wand Raising Charm on her, and she responded in kind, sending him a few signals indicating that she was happy with it after not being used to cast any spells for so long.
After the small demonstration, Mr Ollivander looked pensive, murmuring something to himself.
"S- So, it's not only that, but the charm itself has done something… I don't know, weird? To my wand. It…" He paused for a second before explaining in detail how the more he used the charm, the more it seemed like his wand began to gain consciousness and now she was even demonstrating emotions through him, whether it was anger or happiness, she would send magical pulses indicating how she was feeling.
"Interesting… Very interesting… May I?" Mr Ollivander extended his hand, asking for permission to check his wand, although he doubted for a moment, Allen complied in the end, after all, he was the one who created it.
Mr Ollivander inspected the wand with each finger, and every one of them sent a small pulse, trying to find anything amiss from Hestia. Then, he laid her on top of the counter and casted a few spells, all of them harmless and while Allen couldn't tell exactly what they did, he could tell that they were wand-making related spells. Probably to check if a wand passes a quality check for a wizard to be able to use the wand. Afterwards he took out a lens to observe any magic spilling out of the wand.
In the end, after an extenuating inspection, Mr Ollivander concluded that nothing out of the ordinary was going on with his wand. But at the same time, something bothered him, it was as if… the wand was too normal, too ordinary.
"Umm… What does that mean?"
"It means that, throughout all the examinations, your wand, Mr Lionheart, came out as 'average' in every one of them. And don't get me wrong, but, after a year of use, a normal wand would exhibit some smudges, marks, and even an unevenness in the magic inside the core.
And yet, your wand shows nothing of the sort. Being too normal is also a sign that something is out of place." He tapped his wand a few times before returning it to Allen.
The moment he touched Hestia, a cacophony of magic assaulted his senses. She was complaining, complaining about the sudden 'physical exam'.
Mr Ollivander massaged his chin, contemplating how to say whatever he was about to say. "I do believe that something is off with your wand Mr Lionheart. But nothing that I would classify as 'bad' or 'wrong'."
"Then?"
"Then, for now, continue to observe her. It doesn't hold any grudges against you and I can see that you treat it well."
"Her."
"Excuse me?"
"It… It's a she, you know, since the core was from a female phoenix, and her name is also female. So, a she." Allen said the last a bit bashful.
"Ah, I see, of course. My apologies Mrs…?" Mr Ollivander looked towards Allen waiting for the name.
"Hestia.
In- In any case! I also wanted to show you this!" Allen pulled out the pieces of parchment which he binded together to create a makeshift notebook, detailing all the findings and changes he noticed with his wand, as well as the use of the charm on the Room of Requirements. Making them gain some type of consciousness.
He included in the last page the bit about him trying the charm with two Slytherins and their reaction as well, hopefully Mr Ollivander wouldn't reprimand him because of his sudden curiosity. Right?
"Hmm, I see. I'll give it a look when I find myself free, but as I've said, you have nothing to worry about.
I'll send you an owl with my opinions regarding your findings, Mr Lionheart, for now, I think they are waiting for you." He pointed towards the door, seeing William and his parents wave at him.
*Sigh*
Allen dropped down his shoulders as he looked towards William, he was incredibly excited to be in the Alley, so he probably wanted to spend time together. "Alright then. Can you send it back to me when you are done?" He asked, pointing at the makeshift notebook.
Mr Ollivander agreed while waving goodbye at him.
—------------------
"So we are not going to try the animagus ritual this time? We have a pretty clear full moon and everything."
Armand shook his head. "No, Professor Malik said that it would be better for us to understand more about transfiguration in general, so he'll send us some exams at the end of summer break and as well as another one before december, to see how much we've learned, then, he'll let us try again."
"Bollocks! He knows we are good, why do this?" William cried.
Allen spoke from the floor, he was currently laying down his back on the floor with his legs resting on top of the sofa. "One thing comes to mind."
*Sigh*
"Yeah, it is probably what you are thinking." Armand exhaled in frustration.
"What? C'mon! don't leave me out of it and spit it out guys!"
The two of them turned towards William, then back to each other. Wondering silently who would be the one to tell him.
Armand didn't lose time and decided to be the one to say it. "Because of our parents, they don't want us to go through the ritual since it's dangerous, so they probably asked Professor Malik if there was a way to delay the process, and what better way than to check our transfiguration knowledge and spell-casting." He finished shrugging his shoulders.
"That's…! But…! Aww man! This sucks."
Allen and Armand nodded along, agreeing with William.
"Come on, let's go practice then, we still have a few spells to go over the second year curriculum." Allen suddenly jumped, standing up.
—----------------------------
"So you guys have already looked throughout the whole second year transfiguration curriculum?"
The three boys nodded.
"And can you do all the spells in the book?" Elsie asked, following Sophia's questions.
The boys nodded again.
"Why didn't you invite us, then?!" Exclaimed Sophia at the top of her lungs.
They were currently residing in the Bailey's state, Sophia's father melted at his daughter's request of bringing her friends again and complied after a few weeks into the summer break.
While the boys were practicing their transfigurations, Sophia and Elsie's family went out on vacation to Italy, so they needed a lot to catch up if they wanted to master the transfiguration with the other three boys.
"And Professor Malik has acknowledged that you do indeed know the curriculum up and down?" Sophia let out the question in a suspicious tone, doubting them.
"Yes, but we can call him if you want. He'll be busy this week, but he should have time next week to check on our skills." Explained Armand.
"Hm…
Alright then! The three of you." Sophia pointed at the boys with her right hand. "Will be our teachers for the week so we can master the 'noble art of transfiguration'." She said the last bit impersonating Professor McGonagall.
"Heh. Very well, but just to let you know, I don't hold back when it comes to teaching." A smirk appeared on Allen's face.
William chuckled after hearing Allen's response. "Don't believe him, he's a softie, and it's just trying to scare ya!"
"Give it your best, Allen." A determined look showed on Elsie's face.
"Yeah! What Elsie said! We are not afraid!"
—-----------------------
"First of all, your dad and I would like to apologize, but what you are about to read might shock you.
The two of us were born with a special ability of sorts. We could look into the future and we even have memories of, well, this might sound crazy to you, but I hope you believe us. We have memories of a past life.
We found out by coincidence, mind you, he was… well, he was trying to evade something from happening, and so was I.
I knew what he was doing, and he knew what I was doing, and we went from there. Since we couldn't remember much, we complemented each other with our lacking knowledge and we went from there. I'm sure you know by now, but one of the few things we tried to avoid was to stop Tom Riddle, I mean, Voldemort from gathering a lot of followers in Hogwarts.
We tried specially hard with Severus Snape, involving ourselves with his fate, since we couldn't stand it. If he is currently the potion master at Hogwarts, it probably means that we failed or he accepted the position on purpose. After all, he hates teaching children, and kids in general.
Well, in any case, I'm sure you are wondering why or what are the three objects which only my ability, or something similar can break the wards. But since you are reading this, you definitely have it as well!
I'm so proud of you!
But back to the topic at hand, those are horcruxes. Pieces of Voldemort's soul, don't try to touch them, don't wear them, and don't even try to destroy them if you are not ready.
You need Basilisk's venom or something similar in nature. It saddens me to say this but we couldn't find the chamber of secrets underneath Hogwarts, where a Basilisk resides. Or more like, we couldn't find the Basilisk itself.
It would be too long to explain in a few pages but to make it short, the entrance is the girls' lavatory, under a sink, your father and I opened it with my Basilisk's Glare, actually, that's why I named my ability that way.
Sorry, back to the topic, but we couldn't find anything, there was no Basilisk in sight, only dead skin, we tried to look for chipped fangs but nothing. So the only thing left for us to do was to raid the whole place down. We brought with us everything which seemed useful, every book and parchment available that we could carry without fear of being cursed.
Those books should be in the vault with Slytherin's locket, we wanted to keep it tematic after all.
We continued to look for the Basilisk every week throughout the whole time we spent at Hogwarts, but it eluded us, almost as if it knew we were searching for it. So we did the best next thing we could think of and stored the horcruxes in Gringotts, hoping that we could destroy them later, or… in case we couldn't, hoping you could do it.