Today was Quinn's second anniversary of finding himself stranded in this world. In the last year, Quinn had worked hard on magic, and the more he used it, the more he fell in love with magic. Even though he hadn't even scratched the surface of magic, and Quinn's knowledge was equivalent to a drop in the ocean.
But Quinn was about to take another step to improve his magic. Quinn stood in front of Lia's room, ready to get what he had failed to take last year.
'Last year, I wasn't ready to get the resources to advance my magic, but now I am ready.' Quinn thought about his last year's plan, and after slapping his cheeks for focus, he knocked on Lia's door.
He waited for Lia to respond, and he heard, "Come in." from Lia. He opened the door and entered the room. There he saw Lia, sitting on her bed and reading a French fashion magazine. Quinn entered the room with a toy car following behind him. Lia looked up from her magazine and saw Quinn and his toy entering the room. She thought someone might have charmed the car to follow behind Quinn, so she didn't pay attention to it, but in reality, Shun was pulling the toy car with magic as practice.
She saw Quinn climbing up on the bed but then looking behind him as if to find something, and then his eyes fell on the car on the floor, so he climbed down and grabbed the car before climbing onto the bed once again.
'So, cute! He thought the car would follow him up on the bed.' A wide smile appeared on her face as she watched Quinn. Quinn had gotten quite good at acting as a child and sometimes wondered if he should pursue a career in acting. Quinn sometimes joked to himself that he was a method actor who stayed in character all day long.
Back to the situation in Lia's room, she saw her brother continue to play with his toy car on her brother and thought, 'He will not ask me to play with him, then why did he come to my room? Well, whatever. Oh, this dress is nice.' Seeing that Quinn would not ask her to play with him, she went back to reading her magazine.
All of this was part of Quinn's plan; he purposely didn't talk to Lia and continued to pass the time by playing with the toy car using magic. And to be honest, making vroom-vroom noises while moving the car with magic was funny in its own way.
From the corner of his eye, Quinn stole a glance at Lia and thought, 'Now, I just have to wait for a while.'
Last year, before Quinn had any connection to his magic, he had tried to find some answer to kick start his magic and start a connection to his magic. But because he hadn't taken the language of the book in Lia's library into consideration. The books were in French, and that had shut down the entire plan. But this time, he was prepared and was confident that he would score that book today.
So Quinn waited for around twenty minutes and then made his move. He stopped playing with his toy car, climbed down from the bed, and after dilly-dallying for a minute, he made his way to the bookshelf and began his search for that first-year magic theory book and found it on the lowest shelf. A smile threatened to split his face as he gleaned at the cover of the book and clearly understood the writing.
He sat down on the spot and read the book, and the world around Quinn went quiet. He had waited for this moment for such a long time. Now that the book was in his hands, all his attention was on the book. He began reading the words written in French, all unnecessary thoughts vanished from his mind, and he became immersed in the writing.
Quinn didn't know how long he had been reading the book, but a touch broke him out of his focus and brought him to the real world.
"Quinn?" (Lia)
Quinn felt like a bus had hit him. He sucked in a deep breath and dazedly looked towards the voice and found Lia looking at him, but Quinn.exe was currently down. It took Quinn a couple of seconds to reboot and replied,
"Yeah?"
Lia stared at Quinn for a couple of seconds, which made Quinn worried. He hadn't meant to get lost in the book, but he did, and not only did he forgot Lia was still there in the room, but he also took a second to reply, which may have come out as weird, given the fact he was staring at her face.
"What are you doing?" Lia questioned as she eyed Quinn with her school textbook.
This time Quinn was quick to follow as he put on a big smile and showed Lia her book.
"I was reading this book."
Lia squatted near her brother and grinned.
"Really? How about you read me something from there?"
Quinn nodded rapidly, and then like a child, he loudly recited the first paragraph from the first chapter of the book.
"Magic is a force that changes aspects of the world at fundamental levels. The ability for humans to use magic is a he-hereditary trait passed down from a person's ancestors, which allows witches and wizards to practice it." (In French)
Quinn purposely stuttered and slowed down his pace to make it more believable for a child his age. Quinn's performance astonished Lia and hugged him with beaming smiling and praised him,
"Oh my god, Quinn, that was excellent! You are a smart one, aren't you? Aren't you~."
Quinn giggled happily and hugged her back, and then made his move. He held the book in front of her and requested. "Lia, can I have this book? I like it, please!"
Lia couldn't resist the sparkle in Quinn's eye. She looked at the cover of the book and saw that it was a textbook from her first-year and pondered, 'I don't read it anymore, and I guess it won't do him any harm. Plus, he loves magic so much.'
"Okay, you can keep the book, but only if you promise to take care of the book."
Quinn cheered and celebrated by hugging the book.
"Thank you, Lia! I promise I will take care of the book, pinky promise!" He put out his pinky, and Lia interlinked her own with a soft smile on her lips.
(Scene Break)
Later that day, Quinn sat in front of the table in his room, and on the table was the leather-bound book titled Magical Theory by Irene Joliot-Curie. He rubbed his hands and opened the book, and began reading from where he had left in Lia's room.
Quinn began reading what this book offered, and over the next few days, Quinn would immerse himself in the book whenever he had free time. It was after a week that he finally decided that he had read and understood enough.
So, the next time he was alone, Quinn immediately retrieved the small glass bead(marble) from his pocket and set it in front of him.
Quinn's original approach of using push and pull was an indirect way of influencing an object, but the popular and mainstream uses of magic were to influence them directly.
Quinn stared at the marble as he contemplated his one week of reading,
'Hmm… If I were to slice something with magic, then there would be two ways of doing it. The indirect method would be something like using a magic creating wind blade and launching it towards the target. Whereas the direct approach would be to use something like a severing charm (Diffindo) to directly cut the target.
My approach was the indirect approach. I was creating a push and pull force to affect the object.'
The marble in front of Quinn moved. He was making the marble move with his original pull-and-push method. The marble moved faster and faster, and it came to where Quinn lost control of it, and the marble shot in a straight line away from Quinn, but then Quinn's pupils narrowed, and the marble suddenly and unnaturally came to a dead stop.
Quinn's pull-and-push method hadn't caused the stop, but with the new direct application of magic. He commanded his magic to erase all the momentum of the marble, and it worked. Quinn had used the imagery of a stationary marble and the intent of stopping the marble.
Quinn stared at the stationary marble with a toothy grin splitting his face, and Quinn knew he had taken another step towards improving his magic. Even though things had just gotten much more complicated, he knew it was because the ways he could approach magic had expanded.
He looked at the magical theory textbook and spoke to no one in the room.
"Let's get started."
Over the next month, Quinn progressed more than he had done in the last year. He had to start from scratch. The only thing that had transferred from his work last year was the range. The rest of it he had to build from grounds up. It was tougher than the four option push-and-pull. This time he was working with new concepts and techniques.
After one month, he could control objects within a five-meter range. Heck, he had improved more than he did in his previous one-year. Now, he could make objects levitate and move them in the air. Previously, he could levitate objects and move them, but it was messy with extremely bad control and mobility.
Now, he had reached the point of magic-based telekinesis. He could attract objects, put them back in their place, do things he could usually do with his hands, and some more. He could fold the duvet when he got up in the morning, he could squeeze the toothpaste out of the tube, and brush his teeth better than he could with his hands. As always, because of Quinn's incomplete knowledge, he would've to do one task at a time. If he wanted to open a drawer to take something out, he would've to look at the drawer, then take out the object, wait for the object to come to him, and then close the drawer.
At the end of the month, Quinn was ready to move on to another type of magical application. He had done enough of telekinesis and wanted to do something, but before he could decide what to do, Quinn was called in by his grandfather and told some shocking news.
(Scene Break)
George looked at Quinn and informed him, "Quinn, the day after your sister leaves for Beauxbaton for her sixth year, we will leave the manor to travel the world." (In French)
Quinn blinked twice before inquiring with uncertainty in his voice, "Travel the… world? What does that mean?" (In French)
"It means we will go to a lot of different and fun places, but we won't be coming back home for a long time." (In French). George patiently explained things to Quinn.
Quinn understood his grandfather was talking about a long-term world tour. What he couldn't understand the timing of this decision. It would be after their return from this trip that he would get to know the reason for this trip.
"What about Lia? Will she come with us?" (In French)
George shook his head and repeated, "No, as I told you, she will be in school when we leave. Plus, she is going to spend the break between her sixth and seventh year traveling separately with her friends.
But don't worry, we will return home for Christmas and Easter break to spend time with her." (In French)
(Scene Break)
The day before the start of the trip, Quinn stood in front of a fireplace in the West Manor. This fireplace was special as it was the part of the Floo Network, and today was the day Lia was going to leave for Beauxbaton, and they were going to the Department Of Magical Transportation, Portkey Authority Office.
To the students who came from outside of France, Beauxbaton would issue portkeys to the school town near the Beauxbaton, but the portkey would activate inside in a designated area inside the Portkey Office, so every year, George would take Lia to the Ministry Of Magic, and see her off from there, and they would travel to the Ministry of Magic by Floo.
Quinn looked at Lia with a sad face. After years of knowing the older girl, Quinn had gotten close to her. He had gone from seeing her as a stranger to a friend to now seeing her as a sister and family. He was sad that he would not see her for a while, and even the time he was going to see her wasn't long.
Lia knelled in front of Quinn and put a hand on his cheek. "Little Quinn, don't be sad. I will write to you every week, so don't be sad."
Quinn nodded and replied. "Okay."
Lia pinched Quinn's cheeks and spoke. "Buy me gifts, okay?"
Quinn nodded and hugged her, and Lia returned the hug and whispered into Quinn's ears. "I have put a gift for you on your bed." Quinn looked at Lia with surprise and confusion, but she just smiled and stood up. She had already said goodbye to other people in the house, so she looked at George and said. "Let's go."
George nodded, and with a burst of green flames, both of them floo-ed to Ministry Of Magic.
After they had left, Quinn went to his room, and as Lia said, there was a small satchel sitting on the bed. He climbed upon his bed, opened the satchel, and inside there was a space much greater than the size of the satchel, and in that space were many books.
"Oh my, Undetectable Extension Charm has been used to expand the space inside the satchel. It is like Hermione's beaded handbag."
He looked at those books and found that they were the books from the first three years of Beauxbaton's curriculum. A folded sheet of paper on the top of the books caught Quinn's attention. He retrieved it from the satchel and unfolded the note to see it addressed to him. He began reading the letter and found that it was from Lia.
-*-*-*-*-*-
Little Quinn,
I know how much you love magic. You always read that book you took from me, and you are ever watching me doing magic. You might have thought that I didn't notice, but I know that you always sneaked glances towards my bookshelf or how your eyes sparkled whenever I performed magic for you.
Now that you will travel with our grandfather, you will be away from home, so I am gifting you these books, so read all you want. I know you will become a great wizard someday.
These books aren't mine. I have bought a new set for you. Now, you won't have to borrow books from me, so return the book you borrowed from me and use your new books.
But please take care of yourself. Take care of our grandfather and don't forget to write to me.
Love,
Lia
-*-*-*-*-*-
Quinn, with a smile, got down from his bed, and from his table, he picked up Lia's magical theory textbook. He ran out of the room and went to Lia's room. Quinn walked to her bookshelf and put the book back into its original place. He turned away and walked away from the bookshelf, but just before closing the door, he looked at the bookshelf and the book.
Quinn gave the book one last look before saying goodbye to his first magic book. Quinn knew it was just a book, but it still held a sentimental value. The door closed, and with that, he parted with the book.
(Scene Break)
The next day, Quinn and George West along with Elliot Dalton, George's butler, and Ms. Rosey, who was coming with them to take care of Quinn. Ever since Quinn had come to this world, she was the first person who Quinn saw in the morning when she came to wake him up, and the last person he saw before he went to sleep.
A kind but strict old lady who took care of Quinn and was the one who taught him dance, manners, and how to conduct himself in public.
Their first destination was Italy.
There they spent time in Rome. While in Rome, they paid the Vatican City, which even though was a hated spot for magic kind around the world was a beautiful destination. They moved on to Sorrento along with the island of Capri, Amalfi Coast, and Historical Ruins of Pompeii.
They visited Tuscany, Pisa, Cinque Terre, Milan, Venice, and ended the Italy tour with the Dolomites.
After Italy came Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein. Followed by France, where they visited Paris, Côte d'Azur, Mont Saint-Michel, Provence, the Chamonix-Mont-Blanc in the French Alps, and ended the France tour with the beach town Biarritz.
Quinn didn't get to meet any Veela in France, which disappointed him a bit because he wanted to experience the Allure before puberty hit him.
This ended their Europe tour as they moved to South Africa where they started out in Johannesburg in South Africa, Francistown in Botswana, Victoria Falls, followed by Zimbabwe and Zambia. They continued to Drakenburg and its magical community and ended the tour with Cape Town.
On the way to the Indian sub-continent, they rewound and relax in Abu Dhabi and enjoyed the luxury of Dubai.
The Asian continent tour started in Nepal where they explored Nepal, Everest Base Camp, Patan, and Pokhara. From Nepal, they moved onto Bhutan and extensively toured India for a while, and experienced one of the world's most diverse magical communities found.
Quinn also confirmed that parseltongue wasn't a sign of dark magic as parselmagic was prominent in India and many of the tribes performed parselmagic only. Indian mages used Sanskrit, the oldest magical language, as their language of choice. Also, it was fun to ride on the magic carpet. And, Quinn had to say Holi was a dope festival.
After they exited India, they visited Myanmar on their way to Thailand.
Thailand was the launching point for exploring Southeast Asia. Quinn's favorite moment in Thailand was when they diving with a gillyweed potion.
The next leg of the tour comprised Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. It was the part of the tour where they detached themselves from the hustle and bustle and enjoyed the serene experience of these countries.
The first half of Asian tour ended with China and Taiwan as they experienced one of the oldest magical communities in the world. China was the world's leader in Ritual magic. It was also interesting to see how much China and Taiwan had changed since the separation.
The next part of the tour was to leave Asia for a while and visit New Zealand. Quinn found New Zealand had two islands whose magical communities differed completely from each other. Next they went to Australia whose magical community was like Britains which was surprising as the magical Britain hadn't colonized half of the world like their non-magical counterparts, so it was surprising to see two similar communities when they were so far from each other.
They once again entered Asia, and travelled to Japan, and Quinn saw what runes could accomplish, and the flexibility of Japanese language system in rune magic. The Japanese magical community wasn't as modern as he had imagined, but it was still a unique community and had its own unique flavor, plus ramen was amazing.
The Asian tour ended with a week in Fiji where they just relaxed on the beach and swam the full time. The night sky looked amazing in Fiji. He had to admit, lazing around and doing nothing in Fiji was amazing.
The next and the last part of the world tour was touring USA. They had spent a lot of time touring other countries till now and had to cut out any other countries in North America and all of South America.
American magical community was extremely isolated from their non-magical counterpart. The witch hunt in Salem and across America had caused an enormous crack between the magical and non-magical communities. The American magical community and the governing body MACUSA employed extreme measures to safeguard magical species. MACUSA allowed oblivation of non-magical (No-maj/Muggle) parents who mistreated their magical children.
America's Ministry Of Magic had passed a bill that would allow to the ministry to erase the memories of their children from non-magical parents' minds. It was a cruel practice, but American magical community made it up to the children who were taken away from their parents by treating their first-generation magicals (Muggleborns) with the best care and provided them with free education and home until they reached majority.
Quinn toured USA, and saw the advancements in spatial magic and charms that had allowed them to create spaces with the sizes of small cities inside small buildings, and this wasn't accomplished with Expansion charms but by creating gateways to artificially created dimensions.
Quinn knew that as he had shown an American mage, the bag that Lia had given him, and compared it to one of the gateways, and the American had proudly explained the difference to him.
After finishing the USA tour, it was time to return home.
-*-*-*-*-*-*-
Ok, another time skip as a world tour. In the , I will introduce one of my favorite magic, but with my own twist/explanation/system.
