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"Speaking"
"SPEAKING LOUDLY"
"Speaking in a magical language" (Parseltongue or Ancient Runes)
"...*Quotes*..."
*Sound effects*
'Thoughts'
##### = Scene break
Time and place where the story is happening
Enjoy the chapter !
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London - Kinnerton Street (10:25 AM - 3rd September 1884)
It was a beautiful day outside, birds were singing, flowers were blooming, on days like these, kids like Arthur should have been energetically playing under the sun. But he clearly prefered books, and here he was, reading one in his treehouse, in the oak tree of his garden.
The most shocking part was that he wasn't alone ! He had finally made a friend ! Nick was 10 years old, the same age as Arthur, with black unruly hairs and blue eyes, wearing shorts and a hoodie with the sleeves rolled up, a strange sight in this time and place since the hoodie industry shouldn't have been developed yet.
That was one of the few things Arthur did to gain money, he had designed the hoodies. Then, he had shown his *creation* to his father and asked him to start producing and selling them, leaving all the hassles of managing and promoting the business to him.
William was more than happy when his son asked him to do it, first, because he was proud as a father that his son came to ask for his help, as Arthur usually tries to solve any problem himself, and also because his money sense warned him that he couldn't afford to miss the opportunity.
He got half of the benefits and put the other half in his son's account according to their agreement, which he didn't mind at all since what he got more than compensated for all the pocket money his son had extorted from him all these years.
And he didn't fear that his son would misuse this money, he was really intelligent and responsible, though most importantly he was too young to access it without his parents consent. Of course, even knowing how mature their son was, both Alice and William monitored what the money was used for, just in case the boy got some funny ideas. But they had never needed to say anything or stop him from making a purchase since he only bought books or sweets and in reasonable quantities as well.
They had learned pretty early that their son valued his freedom above all else, and they didn't mind letting him do as he wished, as long as he proved that he could be reasonable, that his grades didn't drop and that it wouldn't put them or himself in danger.
Since the first trip to Diagon Alley, six years ago, Arthur had decided to be more direct and honest instead of relying on schemes to get what he wanted, feeling that he would become cold and calculative at all times otherwise, and since he valued his family, he didn't want to manipulate his parents more than he already had as a baby.
So after the trip, before his parents even had the opportunity to investigate if he could really read, he took the lead and told them he had learned by himself. It did have an effect on his parents but not as much as he had anticipated since they already had doubts.
This earned him a lot of praise…until he announced to them that he didn't want to go to school a few years later. That, unlike his earlier revelation, shook them to their core and only after much fighting did they decide that he could skip school only if he showed excellent results and if he started to practice a lot of sports to make friends outside of school. They wouldn't budge on that, if he couldn't make friends, he would go to school to make some, no questions asked.
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He did show excellent results in his self-studies, even better than his parents had anticipated, but making friends was way more difficult. He would often try a new sport, to learn the fundamentals of pretty much everything he could and meet as many children as possible, to enlarge his *friend hunting* range.
It took him almost a whole year to find someone that would really become his friend, and that was extremely close to the deadline his parents had imposed on him. That kid was Nick, an adventurous extrovert so full of energy that just being in his presence made Arthur tired.
That happened when they were 6 years old, when Arthur started participating in a climbing class, Nick was there, he was trying multiple sports to find one to his tastes. Climbing was pretty fun for him but he prefered fighting and intended to quit climbing soon after, in favor of one such sport.
A few days before quitting, he had noticed a newcomer and being the extrovert he was, he absolutely had to meet and get to know him. On the other hand, Arthur already felt tired, before even talking with him, he knew he wouldn't have the energy to deal with the kid…and of course, he just HAD to come and greet him.
So their first meeting was pretty much one sided, one overly energetic kid meeting another kid who wanted peace above all else. Nick quickly noticed that Arthur was extremely smart, if the fact that he always came to practice during school hours wasn't already a perfect giveaway that he was either a dropout or a genius.
He was in the same situation, everything came easily to him, he always was above the others, and that's why he was looking for a good sport to practice, especially fighting sports : he wanted a challenge, and if he couldn't find an intellectual challenge, he would find a physical one.
Nick thus never stopped pestering Arthur to become his friend, and the latter accepted out of sheer exasperation, out of a need for a moment of respite and more specifically, because the *friend deadline* was fast approaching and most other kids found him too boring or weird to befriend him.
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They slowly became closer, Nick's determination and perseverance slowly overpowering Arthur's reticence to open up to other people. Arthur knew they couldn't really become best friends however, his whole life would soon revolve around magic, and Hogwarts would slowly tear this friendship apart with the seven years of distance. He didn't dare confide his secrets out of fear that Nick would start to see him as someone crazy, out of fear that his very first friend in this world would one day start to fear him or look down on him, instead preferring to let the friendship slowly die out in the future, so it would end in a peaceful way.
The tipping point of their friendship however, was when they were in this very same treehouse, Arthur's hideout and safe heaven. He had invited Nick a few weeks after they had met each other, both for appearances' sake in front of his parents and because he had started to see him as a friend, even if only a temporary one.
After listening to Nick talking without stopping for a rather long time, Arthur just needed a break and stepped down to go fetch some sweets and drinks. When he came back, he saw Nick climbing on the treehouse looking really proud of himself once he reached the top, beaming while he waved at Arthur, daring him to climb up as well.
Except that Nick's foot slipped and he started to fall down. Arthur tried to reach him in time but failed to do so, watching him nearing the ground with growing terror, not wishing for his friend to break a bone, or worse, end up disabled if not dead.
However, the expected collision with the ground never happened, Nick had a bout of accidental magic, changing the ground into a big, fluffy pillow that magically negated all the fall damage he should have gotten.
Arthur saw his friend looking down for the first time, apparently feeling guilty to have hidden his magic from his friend. That didn't last long however, since he used the opportunity to confess he was a wizard as well, which brought them way closer than before, and led to Nick learning what magic truly was since he was a Muggleborn without knowledge of the magical world.
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They had become inseparable since then, the relief of learning that they were both wizards and wouldn't have to one day lie to the other had lifted a weight on them both, allowing them to be way more open with each other.
Arthur had since been Nick's teacher of magic and school-related material, while Nick had become Arthur's fighting instructor and sparring partner. One kid intended to be specialized in in-depth knowledge of magic and the mundane while the other intended to be specialized in fighting, both magically and physically.
They both had the same dream : exploring the magical world. One for all the wonders it contains and the other for all the fun and challenges it represents.
Arthur had accumulated a little mountain of books, including all the first years books while the rest was mostly about topics he could study without a wand. His money kept growing with time thanks to his investment in hoodies, though not very popular yet, it would become infinitely more profitable in a few years. But of course, he hadn't stopped practicing sports, like running and learning how to swim and climb, for survival purposes, while he would often spar with Nick in the garden.
Nick on the other hand, had managed to persuade his parents to let him stay out of school, much in the same way Nick had. He showed them that he could have excellent grades through self study, while spending the rest of his time learning magic from him and practicing a variety of fighting sports on the side. Including fencing, as Arthur had once mentioned that Gryffindor, one of the founders of Hogwarts, had wielded a magic sword, something he was extremely interested in.
Arthur would always share his books and knowledge, which earned him to be called the *Ravenclaw* by Nick. While the latter would always share tips and tricks he had learned since he never refused a fight and had become a little terror in the neighborhood, being constantly called a *Gryffindor* by Arthur, as a revenge for his own nickname.
Now, they had known they both had magic for 4 years, they only had one year left before going to Hogwarts, and they were getting a bit desperate because they still couldn't cast a single spell. Even if they had read that children couldn't use magic before they became eleven years old, they had still tried for a long time to use magic in a very basic way, without any success.
Arthur and Nick had been trying to control their magic wandlessly by repeatedly attempting to draw an item toward them. This spell, Accio, the summoning charm, would prove to be invaluable in case the ever lost their wand in battle, while also making their life easier, so they wouldn't have to get up to get anything anymore.
Yet the only thing they had managed to do was to improve their mana pool, that is, the maximum amount of magic they could use, without managing to really put all that mana to use, a welcome boost, but not their main goal.
Arthur had started training with Accio as early as when he discovered he had magic, so seven years ago, still without any success. While Nick also had tried to consciously use magic after he had his first bout of accidental magic at 4 years old. Though less intensively since he was way less patient, being a real kid, unlike Arthur. The latter had to push Nick to train his magic as much as possible, motivating him by saying that it would make him stronger, even if he didn't manage to cast spells, since according to 'Magical theory', magic is like a muscle, the more you use it, the more potent it becomes.
All that training placed them well above any other kid their age in terms of magical capacity, since most are either unaware of their magic, try to ignore it, take it for granted or simply don't have the patience to train like that. And reading all the books Arthur had bought gave them the fundamentals to practice magic efficiently once they got their wands and entered Hogwarts.
One thing that did work for them however, was learning Occlumency. They simply needed to possess magic and clear their mind to reach the first level of the mind arts, something they took some time to achieve but that wasn't too complicated.
The second level of the mind arts required to direct their magic toward their head and use it to sort their memories, something that is easier for younger wizards since they don't have a lot of memories since they haven't experienced much yet. But as stated before, they couldn't control their magic, so they were pretty much stuck here.
Something that was soon going to change since the closer they were to the age of eleven, the more their control over their magic grew. That last year before entering Hogwarts looked really promising on that aspect.