prevoiusly in chapter 12
Gray tilted his head slightly, a smile creeping onto his face—one that sent a shiver down their spines. It was too wide, too confident, and far too amused. And then, he started laughing. The three men exchanged confused glances. "Oh, this is going to be fun," Gray said, his voice low and brimming with excitement. He cracked his neck, then casually draped his cane over his shoulders like it was some kind of weapon. "Alright, lads, throw your spells at me. Let's see what you've got."
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Chapter 13
The men hesitated for a moment, but the first one quickly regained his composure. "You're going to regret this, kid!" he spat, raising his wand. The three of them cast their spells simultaneously, flashes of light soaring toward Gray—stunners, knockback jinxes, and disarming charms. But Gray didn't even flinch. He didn't raise his wand, didn't speak a word. As the spells reached the edge of where he stood, an invisible shield suddenly appeared, shimmering faintly before absorbing the impact of the spells with ease. The shield then vanished just as quickly as it had appeared.
The attackers blinked in shock, their mouths hanging open. "Non-verbal magic," one of them muttered, his voice barely a whisper. The first man scowled, clearly not willing to believe it. "No way... it's just a fluke!" he shouted. "Hit him again!" They cast more spells, their frustration clear. Red and blue sparks lit up the alley as they hurled their magic at Gray, but the boy simply walked forward, his smile never fading. Each spell fizzled out before it could touch him, the same invisible shield popping up just long enough to block the attacks. The closer Gray got, the more panicked the men became. "What the hell?" the second man muttered, backing up a step.
Before they could react, Gray was within striking distance. With a swift movement, he swung his cane down hard on the first man's leg. There was a sickening crack as the bone shattered beneath the force of the blow. "AHHH!" the man screamed, collapsing to the ground in agony, clutching his leg. His face twisted in pain, and his wand fell from his hand as he writhed on the cobblestone. The other two men stared at their fallen companion in horror, backing up further as Gray turned his gaze toward them. They hadn't expected this—hadn't expected the kid to fight back, let alone break bones without even casting a spell.
"You... you little—!" the second man started, but before he could finish, Gray moved faster than they could follow. He slammed his cane into the side of the man's head, sending him sprawling to the ground, dazed and barely conscious. The last man, shaking with fear, raised his wand. "Stay back! I swear I'll—" Gray didn't give him a chance to finish. With a brutal sweep of his leg, Gray knocked the man's feet out from under him, sending him crashing to the ground. The man groaned, his head bouncing off the stone as he lay there, defeated.
Gray stood over the three of them, barely breaking a sweat, twirling his cane with a casual air. "That all you got?" he asked, glancing between them. None of them could answer; they were too busy either crying out in pain or unconscious. Satisfied, Gray dusted off his hands and turned to leave the alley. As he stepped over the groaning body of the first man, he chuckled softly to himself. "So this wands makes me strong enough to use non verbal magic, well at least those i mastered thoroughly" as then titled the wand.
[2 days later]
Back in the Leaky Cauldron, in one of its many inns, there was a strange suitcase sitting in the middle. It wasn't just an ordinary suitcase, but in fact, the suitcase that Gray had been saving up for, and he finally had it. Inside the suitcase, which had an entire room of space, the room was the size of an average bedroom, with a single bed, a large table with several calibration devices, a cauldron, and a shelf above it with several flasks and other equipment. There was also a bookshelf filled with books, and on the side was a smaller table with a chair, which was his study table. Lastly, there was the wardrobe where his clothes were stored. He was currently at the workshop table. On the shelf above were flasks full of different ingredients, one of them being unicorn blood, which he was reading about.
"So consuming the blood of a unicorn is bad, bad," he sighed before placing the blood away and focusing on another potion, which was a potion that could resist dark magic. This was brought on by his fear of the Unforgivable Curses. One of the curses was an instant-kill curse, another brought someone under the caster's control, and the last caused unimaginable pain. Gray, of course, wasn't against using them, but he didn't want them used on him, which is why he was making a potion to resist the curse. However, he had only been able to successfully make a medium-grade one that provided 60% effectiveness, which was just 10% above the minimum requirement for a potion to be considered medium-grade.
However, he wasn't going to stop at that—no, he wanted a potion that permanently granted a 200% increase in resistance to curses. But that was going to require him to go through a lot of ingredients. In fact, another reason he wanted to craft this potion was because of his encounter with the three wizards who had tried to rob him. Although they didn't know any of the Unforgivable Curses, he wasn't sure how long that would remain the case, so he had to get to work. While reading up on his potions and ingredient list, trying to see if he could replace some of the ingredients, Gray came across a particular potion that would be taught in the second year: a strengthening potion that grants its consumer immense strength.
"And they teach this in the second year? Why not the first, so I don't have to waste my materials on it?" Gray muttered unhappily as he looked at the second potion on the list in his book. "Then there's the grinding potion, which grants stamina to the consumer," he sighed. But while looking at the recipe, he noted something. "Hm, hold on..." He then got up, walking to his newly created cabinet of ingredients, and began looking through it. He found ingredient after ingredient until he had most of them. "Hmm, I can replace this with—" he muttered to himself, picking ingredient after ingredient, before he was finally ready to brew the potions.
Gray stood at his workshop table, ingredients carefully laid out before him, ready to brew the strengthening potion. He took a deep breath, focusing his mind on the task ahead, as potion-making demanded precision. The recipe in front of him was intricate, but Gray relished the challenge. With his wand in hand, he lit a small blue flame beneath his cauldron, watching as the heat slowly began to rise.
He began with the first step, reaching for a set of delicate fairy wings, the translucent edges catching the light. With a steady hand, Gray added the fairy wings into the cauldron, watching as they dissolved into the liquid, which was still a clear, shimmering base. The potion's color began to shift slightly, but he knew it wasn't enough. He needed to wait for the right transformation.
"Come on, turquoise…" he muttered to himself. After a few moments, the potion turned a vibrant shade of turquoise, swirling gently as the heat circulated through the cauldron. Satisfied, Gray reached for the next ingredient: a measure of doxy eggs. The small, glossy black eggs rolled gently in his hand as he poured them into the cauldron. The reaction was immediate—tiny bubbles rose to the surface, and the potion started to fizz.
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A/N just to be clear, he has to have mastered the spell well enough for the wand to allow to cast it non verbal.