3 3: Legacy wands and Patronus

The summer season in the resplendent Austrian Alps is renowned for its gentle climate, extended daylight hours, and breathtaking panoramas of the mountainous terrain. As the snow begins to melt, the mountains come alive with vibrant greenery, wildflowers, and rushing streams. The season heralds the reawakening of magical and non-magical creatures alike from their prolonged winter slumber, searching for nourishment.

During the day, the sun can be quite intense, especially at high altitudes. During one such day, two children, are playing around with what seems to be a quidditch quaffle, in a castle courtyard. Suddenly, they hear a *pop* beside them.

"Master Alaric and Master Lysandra, your mother wishes for your presence at the evening brunch." said the polite and reserved house elf.

After Nitwib delivered his message, he apparated away, probably to the castle greenhouse, to tend to his plants.

After he left, the two kids left the courtyard, taking themselves to one of the many dining halls within the castle walls.

While they were walking, Lysandra looked at her brother, as if thinking of something.

"Al, did anything like that happen again?" she finally asked.

"You mean the accidental magic? Well, I've been trying to move some objects with it, and... see for yourself"

Right after he explained, the quaffle he had in his embrace, swiftly started to float. Alaric then controlled the quidditch ball, moving around him and his sister, earning a chuckle from her.

"That's amazing! You have to teach me that!" she then stopped in front of her brother, and with her cutest puppy eyes, asked, "Pretty Please?"

"You know, you didn't have to ask. I would teach it to you anyways, Lys" Assured the boy, earning a hug from his sister.

________________________

Some days later, a woman could be seen talking to an old man, in what appeared to be her office.

"Tell me, Mr. Lee, how has been the progress of my kids lately?" Asked the woman, in a rather cold and direct tone.

Mr. Lee, one of the many masters Isadora had hired to tutor her kids, had been made head of their group by the rest of the masters so that the monthly reports of the twin's progress, would be easier to make.

"For starters Ms. Grindelwald, I must say, never in my 160 years of life, have I ever seen children so gifted as your progeny. In terms of knowledge, even if they're only seven, they've assimilated everything we've given them with ease. In terms of practicals, apart from the subjects where a wand is needed, be it Herbology, Alchemy, Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, and so on, they show a great deal of talent. If we weren't all masters ourselves, we'd find it hard to accompany their rate of growth.

Isadora once again was shocked. Her father had told her of her children's potential, and how the Qilin's blood would make them more mature for their age and, in terms of magical reserves, develop faster.

"But that's not all Miss. While Mr. Alaric is one step above his sister in terms of dark charms, mind arts, transfiguration, and alchemy, Ms. Lysandra is better in terms of potions, herbology, and the healing arts."

"Very well, that's exactly what I wanted to hear. As you've surpassed my expectations, I'll gift you and the other master 2000 galleons as a little extra" complimented Isadora.

"Ms. Grindelwald, if I may, I have a suggestion..." carefully asked the transfiguration master.

"Go on."

"If your family, perchance, has legacy wands, I would recommend giving each of the siblings, one of said wands... You see, I assure you, Ms Grindelwald, the moment the twins get hold of a wand, their magical potential will shoot through the roof! With a magical foci, they'll be able to better understand most of the subjects we're teaching them! And Merlin, I can't even start to imagine how magically proficient they will be when they get their own wands! And..." Mr. Lee started blabbering about all the possibilities, while Isadora listened intently.

While the picturesque parents and teachers meeting was happening, the twins were in Lysandra's room. The room owner was sweating, trying to keep the quaffle afloat for more than 10 seconds, while her brother was playing with some transfigured wood animals, that were singing in a choir.

"When are you going to teach me that? I'm tired of trying to make this ball float! It's so boooooring!" complained Lysandra.

"I've told you a thousand times. When you can keep it afloat for more than 20 seconds, I'll try to teach you wandless transfiguration."

Over the course of the last year, with all the practical and theoretical knowledge he slowly accumulated from the dozen or so tutors he had, Alaric started to understand that maybe he wasn't that normal. The visions, which started as knowing what was going to be for breakfast to dreams he had no idea what they were supposed to be. The little silvery and white lights he'd see floating around, most of the time around the spells he, his sister, and their tutors cast, and some artefacts those tutors had. The speed that his occlumency and legilimency abilities were progressing. The ease he had learned most of the stuff their tutors taught him and his sister.

Alaric didn't know if he was supposed to be happy or scared that he was such an anomaly. Happy because he could easily learn every subject of magic he wanted, but scared that maybe people would think that he was too abnormal. The thing he is scared of the most is losing his sister. That perhaps, with all the advantages he has, she'll be jealous or think that he's cheating, in some way or another.

"You should be proud Al," said Gellert Grindelwald. In one of his many alone visits to his grandfather, Alaric eventually talked to him about his fears. He would usually come to visit him, not only to spend some time with his grandfather but also to get some insight in a varied number of dark charms and spells.

"You're indeed not normal, not in a bad way, of course. But you have to understand, that magic only blooms in the rarest of souls. And if even in these souls, only a few have actual talent in the arts. But you my son, you're the rarest soul in the last millennia. Not only are you already a master legilimens, even without a wand, but you can also perform wandless magic to a level most bright and talented wizards can't. If that wasn't enough, the fact that you can see magic in its true form without any form of ritual proves your affinity to it."

"You think so...?" Before he noticed, a hand was ruffling his hair between the cold cell bars. He then looked at his grandfather, who had a warm smile on his face.

"I do kid. And about your sister, don't worry about what she might think. I doubt that in your life, you'll find someone who cares for you as much as she does."

__________________________

"Come in" spoke a womanly voice.

As the door opened, a girl and a boy similar to each other entered the room. They made their way to the mahogany wood desk where their mother was sitting in a royal purple armchair.

"You called us, mother?" spoke an eight-year-old Lysandra. She was mildly annoyed, as her dear brother was teaching her how to, wandless, perform the evanesco charm, the vanishing spell.

"Well, yes my dear. I've got a gift for the two of you." Isadora then took two long, rectangular, old boxes from one of the table's drawers. "After a discussion with Mr Lee some time ago, we decided that when you two were eight of age, I would gift you two some legacy wands."

She then pushed the boxes on top of the table to their side, "Until you're both eleven and can get your own wands, you will be able to perform magic with these."

Quickly opening the boxes, Alaric and Lysandra got hold of the wands. Both of the wands looked like thick tree twigs, slightly deformed. But with the feeling they were getting from the magical foci, they knew those were the real deal.

Instantly both of the twins embraced their mother, before running out of the room, going Merlin knows where.

_______________________

In the damp and mossy castle dungeons of the Grindelwald manor, there was a weird statue of a dragon. Said statue, by its position, appeared to be guarding an entrance, although there was no entrance in sight, only a cold stone wall. Nevertheless, beyond the 'wall' the statue was guarding, existed a gigantic library, with rows and rows of tomes and scrolls. This library also served as a secret vault, which explained the numerous displays of enchanted artefacts. There were countless numbers of magical beast parts. In this library, more precisely, in a small arena, carefully made to withstand powerful magic, were two kids.

"Expecto Patronum." With his wand out, Alaric cast the patronus spell, which took the form of a thestral, with an enormous wingspan. The thestral ran around the arena, before disappearing in a burst of bluish-white lights. "Your turn now Lys."

His sister, who was observing until now, took her wand out. "Expecto Patronum!" she exclaimed. From the tip of her wand, a giant Albatross came flying, before also disappearing in a burst of lights.

"Yes! I finally did it!" She then looked at her brother with a radiant smile and asked "What's next?"

Alaric with a small smile, looked at his sister. Nothing in this world made him happier than seeing her succeed. "Well, now that we got the patronus out of the way, I was thinking that maybe, you could start learning some dark charms and curses..."

The smile on Lysandra's visage instantly faded. As much as she loved her brother, she never understood his obsession with dark magic. That was one of the few things they were polar opposites on. While Alaric delved a lot into dark magic, seemingly trying to master it to its full power, the only contact Lysandra had with the arts was blood magic, a magic her mother found essential in the healing field. She could understand that her brother wanted to redeem their family name and prove to the world the dark arts were only evil in the hands of deranged criminals. But she had always thought that the influence that the dark arts had over their grandfather, was what made him do such atrocities with his goal in mind.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry. No dark magic with you." He then brought his hand to his chin to scratch it, a habit he had picked from his mind arts teacher, Quinn Westeros. "Hmmm...I was reading a really interesting transfiguration scroll the other day. It talked about a different method to become an animagus..." He then looked at his sister. "What do you say?"

"You mean..."

"Yeah, want to become one of the youngest animagus ever?"