Hello there!
Been a while, huh? I don't know about you, but for me seven years have passed. Yep, time flies by when you have nothing to do but eat, shit, and sleep, rinse and repeat. I wouldn't bore you with the indignity that a (mentally) grown man has to suffer when he can't even use the privy by himself, and needs to be fed like an invalid all the time. Just pray it doesn't happen to you.
Anyway, I am now Benjamin Carter, lovingly known as Ben, son of Andrew Carter and Miranda Simmons. Both of my parents are Magicals.
My dad is half-blood: witch mother, muggle father. Apparently, my great grandfather decided to go into the liquor industry. We have distilleries in Glasgow and Suffolk, producing all kinds of alcohol, recently even butterbeer and firewhiskey. So financially, we're quite well-off. Dad was a gryffindor, a year ahead of the Marauders. He also played chaser in the house quidditch team. He now works as an Auror in the Ministry.
Mum, on the other hand, is muggleborn. She was a Ravenclaw, and eventually made Prefect. She and Dad started going out in their fifth year. After school, she took an apprenticeship at St. Mungo's, and in time became a fully qualified healer. When I was born, mom decided to take a break from work until I went off to Hogwarts. Which turned out to be the right choice, at least in my opinion, as less than two years later, my little sister Rachel was born.
I was born on 14th Sept 1979, smack-dab in the middle of Voldemort's little insurrection. My little sister came along on 23rd May 1981. Together, the four of us are a happy little family. We live in a townhouse in West London, just a few minutes walk from Richmond Park. Our house is a beautiful two storey building with a south facing garden.
I know that most protagonists, knowingly or unknowingly, chose to be orphans. That, often has more to do with the personal freedom they crave, rather than some lingering feelings for their parents in The Before. Well, let me tell you something: that's just plain stupid. Undergoing neglect during your formative years almost never gives rise to a healthy, balanced individual. Which is why you'll find that most of these 'orphaned' reincarnators have some sort of complex, or they are just pure as*holes.
My childhood passed as normally as it could be imagined. Of course magic was a big help. For instance, everytime I had an unfortunate loss of bladder control, my parents would just wave their wands, and I would float in mid-air like a balloon, while my soiled nappy automatically detached, cleaned, dried and warmed itself, before settling back on my tushy. It was a fun experience, with me pretending that I was an astronaut in zero gravity. Plus, I made an honest effort not to be an annoying little shit who always wakes his parents up in the middle of the night.
I must have been a perfect angel, because soon my parents decided to give me a sibling and barely one and half years later, my little sister came into this world. I gotta tell you, even though I had my brother Michael in The Before, I had always wanted a sister. And little Rachel was just so cute. Oh, I could play with her all day long. And she clearly loved her big brother, given how much she laughed at my antics.
Interestingly, when the time came my parents didn't send me to kindergarten, which was honestly just fine with me. I had no desire to spend hours everyday listening to the bawling of other kids. But, it did get me wondering. No kindergarten, okay. What about primary school? Do they even have primary schools before Hogwarts for wizarding kids? Homeschooling is an option, I suppose. But it was difficult to imagine someone like Mrs. Weasley finding time outside of housework to teach her entire brood how to read and write.
The answer came when I turned six. It was surprisingly, or rather unsurprisingly, magic. At age six, Wizarding Child Services provide a few free 'educational potions' to all British pure-blood and half-blood children. An 'Educational Potion' was as the name implied, a potion that almost instantly tutored the drinker in some field of study. The number and scope of these educational potions is rather limited, as they are difficult and expensive to produce. It is easiest to produce potions that teach languages. For instance, Hogwarts students who take Ancient Runes in their third year start off with potions that grant them instant fluency in Elder and Younger Futhark.
Thanks to these Educational Potions, by the time the children reach Hogwarts, they can read, write and perform arithmetic on the level comparable to the average muggle child who has passed his first year of Secondary School.
But, there are limitations to the potion's utility. Although there are potions that teach basic arithmetic, topics such as Algebra and Calculus are unavailable because wizards are completely unaware of higher muggle maths. For that matter, entire math-dependent fields like Engineering and Architecture are absent. After all, who needs an engineer when you can transfigure raw materials as you like and then magically reinforce it, no matter how structurally unsound it is. Concepts of geometry and trigonometry are introduced in Arithmancy, a third year elective, but only to the extent relevant to the magical implications of the math involved.
Any potions other than the ones for basic literacy and numeracy have to be purchased privately at significant cost. There are a lot of options for language potions, but only a few for natural sciences, such as physics or chemistry, and even those are horribly outdated. And for some reason, it's impossible to brew a potion that conferred knowledge about any facet of actual magic, even something as mundane as Herbology or Care of Magical Creatures. Which is why the existence of wizarding institutions such as Hogwarts is so paramount.
Instant literacy would've been amazing, had I not been a reincarnator with all my memories intact. So the potions turned out to be a waste, but appearances needed to be maintained. Instances of accidental magic made it dangerous for magical children to be placed in stressful environments such as muggle school playgrounds. Which is why, homeschooling is basically the norm for wizarding children after taking their potions.
I can see how this must be extremely frustrating for young children. No wonder they are so happy to spend almost nine months a year in a faraway draughty castle. They've had so much of their home in the first decade of their lives, they are already sick of it. Either way, homeschooling sounds boring, but I was used to studying by myself. Even better, now I don't have to waste my entire day at school.
One of the benefits of growing up in a magical family is the access to books on magic. True to her Ravenclaw nature, my mom kept all her old school books as well as others she had collected since, in the study. As I didn't have a wand, and (according to my parents) was just a little kid, they didn't see anything wrong with me looking at some books with moving pictures in them.
What was I actually doing, though? I was going through books on magical theory. It was an incredibly dry read, with the authors taking great pains to make it sound as uninteresting as possible. However, magical theory formed the bedrock of all fields of magic, including spells, potions, alchemy, enchantment, rituals etc. How spells are actualized, how different potion ingredients react with one another, the rune circuitry of ritual circles. It all starts there.
You might ask, 'Ben, why are you going through boring theory books, instead of learning some cool magic spells? Surely, that's more important, right?' Well my friends, it's not that I don't want to learn some cool magic spells, it's just that I can't.
Ever since I could walk, I have tried everything I could think of to perform magic, to no avail. I have tried levitating things, tried changing colours, tried pulling things towards me. Zero! Zip! Nada! I would have started questioning my magical aptitude if I didn't hear mom happily telling dad how I had summoned my favourite stuffed unicorn, which I had left in the living room, into my crib while asleep.
So, it appears that I can do magic, I just can't do it consciously. I have not forgotten what the old man told me, about my powers activating when I would turn seven. So instead of forcing the issue, I tried to spend my time productively. I would spend a few hours everyday going through books on magical theory, potions, wizarding history, Herbology, magical creatures, Ancient Runes and Arithmancy. So far, my favourites were 'Hogwarts: A History' and 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to find them'. There would be time to learn spells later anyway.
The rest of the time was spent in the company of my new family. Mom and Dad loved me, and dear Rachel was simply an angel. I often helped mom in looking after her. Every other day, Dad would bring a new toy or treat on his way home from work. While mom would try to tutor me whenever she could. All in all, my new life was off to a great start, and it was only going to get better, because today is the day I turn seven.
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I woke up feeling particularly good this morning. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping and soon I'll be able to do some real magic. Yep, today's a great day! Getting out of bed, while changing into my regular clothes from my pajamas, I took a look around the place that's been my bedroom for the last couple years.
It was surprisingly modern, compared to the typical Victorian aesthetic that can be found in most wizarding homes. On a cursory glance, it looked like any other room in any other house. But a closer inspection would reveal that somehow the interior of the room was much bigger than its exterior. Also, some of the toys on the shelves were of magical creatures such as Diricawls, Erumpents, Matagots, and Dragons. Toys, which when touched at a specific spot, would come alive and start moving about, or in case of the dragon flying about the room.
I had just put on my shoes when a bark sounded from the corner. Smiling, I turned to the other occupant of the room.
"Hi Teddy." I said. "Did you have a good nap?"
"Woof, woof", came the enthusiastic reply, as he bounded across the room and jumped into my arms. Teddy is my best bud, a labrador retriever puppy Mom and Dad gave me on my birthday last year. And already we're inseparable.
"Who's a good boy, huh? You are, yes you are. Come on Teddy, let's get some breakfast." We both then raced out of the room and down the stairs. Crossing the hallway, we entered the kitchen where the rest of the family was gathered.
"Hi Mom, Hi Dad." I called out as I entered the room. Mom was waving her wand and all sorts of utensils were dancing about making their own magic in the form of delicious food. Already there was a veritable feast laid out on the table, containing all of my favourites. Dad was reading the Daily Prophet. On the front page, there was an Ad showing Gilderoy Lockhart, flashing his pearly whites and announcing the release of his new book 'Break with a Banshee'. Oh great, the jacka*s must've mind-whammied another poor sod and stolen their thunder.
"Hi Rachel", I greeted my little sister as I sat beside her. She had an expression of utmost concentration as she tried to put maple syrup in a smiley face pattern on her pancakes without spilling it over. Yep, she's so cute.
"Good morning, Ben", said Mom as she came over and gave me a hug. "Happy birthday", she said, holding me and looking at my face. "Merlin! I can't believe it's been seven years already. It seems like just yesterday we were bringing you home from St. Mungo's."
"It sure does", said Dad. Wrapping up the paper, he came over and gave me a short hug. "Good times fly by in the blink of an eye. Happy birthday, son. Here you go." He handed me a wrapped present. As a rule, my parents always give me one birthday present they select together.
"But don't open it now. You can do that after you've had something to eat." Mom said, as she started piling food on my plate.
"Woof, woof", came the sound of protest as Teddy stood in front of his empty plate.
"Yes, yes. I'm coming." Mom made an exasperated expression as she went to attend Teddy. "I swear this puppy eats like a bear."
"Good morning, Ben", said Rachel, turning towards me. "I'm sorry I didn't get you anything for your birthday. But, I made these pancakes for you." Saying so, she passed me the plate she was working on and looked up at me with a hopeful expression. Aww!
"That's okay, Rachel. Having you as my little sister is the best gift I could ever have. And you know what? I get to have that everyday." I said, taking her hand in mine. Really, watching her light up with happiness is the best part of my day.
After breakfast I opened my present, which turned out to be a brand new Walkman. Now, thanks to Mom having a muggle upbringing, our house was, on surface level indistinguishable from any muggle home. I mean we have a TV, we have cable, we have electricity in the house. Heck, Dad even has a really nice car. Of course, it's all tricked out with magic.
Yes, I know what you're about to say. Magic and technology don't mesh well together. But really, it's not technology, rather electricity that plays foul with magic. Electricity is nothing but the flow of electrons, charged particles, which interfere with the flow of magical particles, which constitute magic. There are several Rune-based wards that can isolate these particles. They are regularly used and maintained around Diagon Alley, St. Mungo's and The Ministry of Magic, so that the surrounding areas of Muggle London are not plunged back to the Dark Ages and the muggles come after us with torches and pitchforks.
In fact, it's quite easy to introduce electricity and electronic gadgets in a wizarding house. I guess the reason it hasn't taken off is the pathological contempt and suspicion wizards feel for anything muggle-related.
Anyway, my point is I really appreciated the Music Player. In The Before, I used to listen to music everyday. Although the songs I was familiar with have not been written yet in this world, they are all stored in the safety of my mind. And we do have that marvelous artifact called Pensieve. With a bit of tinkering, I might be able to extract all those high quality songs heard through noise cancelling headphones. Indeed, I was already planning on learning to play the guitar. Trust me guys, chicks dig musicians.
The rest of the day passed by in a flutter of fun and frolic. In the evening, Dad brought back a Black Forest cake with a phoenix magically flying designed as frosting. We had a good time eating it and letting off wizard crackers that put muggle fireworks to shame. It was after dinner, at 9:42 in the evening, at the exact time of my birth, that I started to have a warm feeling in my chest. I knew exactly what was happening. It was finally time to learn real magic.