Chapter Four

Diffindo... What kind of spell is called "Diffindo"?

I read over the page, memorizing the wand movement and flipping to the next page.

So far, I have memorized the wand-lighting "Charm" and softening charm alongside this, but still... There was an unlocking charm?

The picture showed a simple, lift-up lock... So was this the only kind of lock that the spell could be used on? Then what was the point? I could just use my hand to lift it up.

Sighing, I closed the book and tossed it inside the inventory, absently caressing the puma that was laying in my lap, sleeping.

This guy would grow up in two months at most but will remain a kitten until it reaches 18 months of age.. a teen until 36 and then an adult after that.

Scratching behind his ear, I reached inside the inventory and took out Apprentice's Grimoire that now had the other pages.

...More mana control... UGH! I get it, it's important but still, give me something new. With a resigned sigh, I read over the pages, blinking a few times... Atoms... Mana inside everything, even a little... So, technically I could control atoms, Gravity, space, and maybe even time?

[Mana control (+2/15).]

Yeah, I wouldn't be doing that anytime soon. But still, the possibility was there, maybe one day, now that I could actually regenerate my mana.

Humming slightly, I continued to read flipping over a few pages I saw a few spells that were available. Raising an eyebrow, I read over the first one.

"Lightning strike" was simple indeed, but that was only in description, and judging from the requirements, it was going to be a bitch to learn.

[Lightning manipulation: (1/20).]

[Mana control: (3/20).]

Hmm... Anyway, there was the "Arcane Barrier" was simple enough. Just a wall of mana that deflected damage as long as I had Mana. While it didn't say it was possible for the thing to sustain itself, it also didn't say that it couldn't.

If I could just tweak the spell a little bit.

[Mana control: (1/20).]

I quirked an eyebrow, well, that requirement was easy enough. I pressed the paper and a window popped up in front of me.

[Would you like to learn the spell: Arcane Barrier?]

Mentally agreeing, the window disappeared, leaving me with a new spell to inspect.

Casting the barrier with a mental command next to me, I arched an eyebrow when a circle appeared above my palm, showing off weird symbols that I identified as runes. Running my eyes across the yellow wall that appeared next to me, I peered at the other side of the room, it was translucent, so I could see what was on the other side, and giving off a soft glow.

Raising my free hand, I flicked the barrier and met resistance, confirming that it indeed was physical.

Humming slightly in thought, I willed the magic circle into existence, observing it as it hovered above my hand, and, with my other hand, I reached into my inventory, taking out a book about Runes.

Looking things over, I identified a few in the circle. There were "Fehu", "Uruz", "Thurisaz", "Nauthiz", and "Algiz".

All runes that were seeming suited for protection. The rune Fehu was in the middle of the circle, bigger than the others, with the other four surrounding it on all four sides. Each of them was connected with each other with a strand of Mana, following the outline of the circle with one strand and the second one connecting them all in a diamond shape, forming a square around the Fehu.

Humming slightly, I look over at the book. The Rune "Raidho", "Gebo", and "Wunjo", would fit nicely in the circle, but I didn't know what would happen if the rune failed.

Dispelling the wall and the circle when I felt Harry approaching the door, I tossed my apprentice grimoire inside my Inventory and continued reading the Rune book. If the future spells used runes, it would be beneficial to study them now, instead of later.

The door opened and I looked up, seeing Harry that just got out of the bath, still drying off his hair. Without a word, he walked over to the table I was sitting at, grabbed a book, and went to the bed.

Looking at the books, I noticed that he grabbed the book about Hogwarts. Shrugging, I went back to reading the runes still absently petting the Puma I hadn't named yet.

Kind of want to be edgy about it and name him Shadow, but that name just sounds like something a twelve-year-old would name his DND character and I'm still eleven.

I shrugged mentally, the name would come eventually, hopefully.

Alternatively, I could name him Hades... Hmm.

Turning a page, I continued reading.

___

Levitation charm, Mending charm, Severing charm, and wand lighting charm, I learned those in a month of trying with a wand... A wand!

Wasn't a wand supposed to make things easier? Harry managed two in a week. Taking a breath, I stared at the black stick in my hand, I don't remember the name, but Oliwander told me that it was more suited for transfiguration and dueling, with a Dragon heartstring it added power, so curses were the way to go...

And it was true, I could do transfiguration just fine, but that wasn't the problem.

I figured out what was the problem with it. By leveling up my Mana control, I could feel what was happening when I was transfiguring items.

In the book, it said that everything would eventually turn to its original shape. There were warnings about transfiguring items like wood into water and giving it to someone to drink.

Rolling my eyes, I watched the glass cup in my hand that was previously a notebook. I could feel what was wrong. It was the molecules, turning a bunch of paper into glass was an impressive feat indeed, but it doesn't hold.

Magic changes molecules into the appropriate shape and holds them together. It doesn't connect them, so someone else could change it back into the original state prematurely.

So...

I swung the cup, hitting the table with it. As any other cup would, the piece of glass broke... And it didn't change back to the notebook.

[Quest Completed!]

[Reward: 50 Gold.]

Huh, neat. 103 Gold wasn't bad. Opening the store I started scrolling through things.

Scholar's Circlet, Adept Robes, Tome of Elemental Mastery... That might have been something that could help me with the lightning strike but it was level 20, and I was level 14.

Releasing a sigh, I opened my Spell menu and looked at Transfiguration, which lost the "false" next to its name. This would probably be one of the more useful spells. If I could turn dirt into animals that could attack people would be useful, and daily things could be taken care of, food too, water... Could I transfigure air into gold? ... Could I get gold?

I could get a contract from the goblins!

Bending down, I picked up most of the shards and transfigured them into the notebook again.

Huh, neat.

Humming slightly, I placed it on the table.

small tapping of feet on the floor got my attention and I looked over to see Hades walking over, looking at me curiously.

He was probably wondering what that noise was.

Crouching down, I picked him up, getting a small mewl in response. Scratching him under the chin, I Started channeling mana throughout his body.

It was taking a while, but I was hoping for him to become my familiar.

Hopefully, I wasn't wasting my time, but it seemed to be working, I could just want him to look towards me and he would, but that was about it so far... Maybe when he was older?

He was growing steadily, already bigger than he was when I got him a month ago.

"You know, I'm starting to think that Hades is not a simple cat."

I send a bemused glance at Harry who just walked into the room after Hades and was looking around.

"Did something break? I heard the noise."

I just shrugged in response, not willing to divulge anything unless it was necessary, Harry just rose an eyebrow before shrugging himself.

Scratching Hades absently, I turned to the desk where Harry's owl was hooting. He named him Headwig... why, I didn't know, but she was a feisty one indeed.

Let her fly and feed her and she would calm down. And for some reason, she would always glare at me. And I would glare back, I wouldn't back down to a fucking bird!

The bird seemingly snorted and looked away. Damn straight!

"Why are you two always glaring at each other?"

Harry questioned as he walked over to his stupid pet, taking her out of the cage. The glare came back and my eyebrow twitched. I bought you, you little shit! I can cast a Fireball at you, legally!

"Hey! Stop glaring!"

My little brother tapped Headwig on the beak, making the bird recoil and redirect the glare at her owner.

"Have you finished the book you were reading?"

I asked absently, narrowing my eyes as he winced almost imperceptively. Sucking in a breath, I closed my eyes.

"Harry James Potter."

His body went rigid and looked over at me with wide eyes. I eyed him for a moment, noticing the wand in his pants pocket and I did something that was very effective against him. I turned my blank gaze into a disappointed one.

He winced and looked down.

"M'sorry."

I huffed and released a long-suffering sigh.

"What did you learn?"

I asked with a resigned voice, not even bothering to reprimand him. He was eleven, the words would go in one ear and out the other.

"I learned the locking and unlocking charms..."

He trailed off and I came to a decision.

Walking over to the table and grabbing a book, I flipped a few pages before I found the correct spell. The "Accio" Was basically a call. If you cast it, the item you wished for would travel to you... Like Thor's hammer.

The spell was mentioned off-handedly in "Hogwarts: A History", but it was a spell.

Taking the book, I offered it to Harry. He took it curiously and looked at the lines until I pointed out where he should start reading.

"Accio? What about it?"

I rolled my eyes and reached for his wand that was sticking out of his pocket.

... Yoink.

"Hey!"

Ignoring his exclamation, I walked over to the other side of the room.

"Call it back."

I instructed, holding up the wand with one hand while cradling Hades with the other. The little cub was too busy trying to bite off my clothes.

Harry was staring at me like I was insane, and I might have been, but that wasn't important. If Harry was disarmed, then it was over. I didn't want to take any chances.

"How would I do that? I need the wand to cast a spell."

I rolled my eyes and tossed him the wand.

"I want you to learn the Accio spell, then learn it without saying anything, then do it wandless. If you get the wand taken away from you, you'll be defenseless."

I deadpanned, watching him look at the wand first before sighing.

"Fine, but I'm not sure that I can get it down before school starts, wandless magic is supposed to be hard, it says so in the history of magic."

I looked at him for a moment and waved a hand at one of the books, casting a levitation charm while doing so.

Harry just stared at the book for a moment, then at me, then at the book again and then he performed a levitation charm himself, without saying a word.

It did not work.

"Try saying the words in your head, might be faster, and use your imagination."

I was bullshitting, but he might just manage it. Accio was like a modification of levitation charm technically. It's just that instead of sending something vertically, you send it horizontally toward yourself.