About a week had passed since my visit to Sirius Black. Honestly, I expected him to fulfill his promise about the training room the very next day, but I had miscalculated. Black was simply a slacker and clearly in no rush. Consequently, I spent the entire past week locked up in our castle, dedicating myself to rigorous training. Not that I particularly minded. Although Vespera constantly wanted to drag me out somewhere—on holiday, shopping, to Elizabeth's, or for a courtesy visit to the Malfoys—I was switched into total training mode.
I was twelve years old, and with the onset of puberty, which I was already beginning to feel clearly, I felt full of energy, testosterone, and growth hormone. From a physical standpoint, it was the ideal time to set the pace and build a solid foundation for the future. Besides, I wasn't at all sure whether my rapid magical growth would slow down or stop completely as I aged. So, while Vespera was trying to talk me into worldly pleasures, I kept to a strict, uncompromising schedule instead.
My daily routine was clearly mapped out: wake up in the morning, immediately get through an explosive physical workout, power through a proper HIIT cardio session, and then jog to catch my breath. Next came a proper shower, hygiene, a hearty breakfast, and right after that, a relaxed spell practice. Once I reached the point of magical exhaustion, I seamlessly transitioned to theoretical education and the study of magic. Practically, I did nothing but grind for my own improvement.
While the physical drill didn't entertain me as much because it was always the same thing, magical training and discovering new laws of magic had an indescribable charm. Time flew incredibly fast when I was with books and magic, since I enjoyed it immensely.
And, of course, alongside all of that, I had several sharp duels with Vespera on my schedule every day. When I lost my temper and went all out, I could overwhelm her thanks to raw magical power... But from my jiu-jitsu training, where I sometimes faced opponents half my weight, I knew that if I forced everything with just power and aggressiveness, I would learn absolutely nothing. I would lack technical skill.
What if I eventually run into a magical heavyweight? Someone who is just as powerful as me, but instead of relying on pure destruction, has enough humility to lose and learn in their youth? If I were truly just a stupid, conceited boy, I probably wouldn't take those losses to Vespera so calmly. Even though they pissed me off inside, I understood that it was a necessary process.
Because of this, I tried to match Vespera technically in every single duel. Although I couldn't keep pace with her in the sheer number of spells she knew, I read her a little better with each duel. I was able to dodge more smoothly, transfer my weight better, and I was becoming increasingly technically skilled. My own spells were starting to become visibly faster, sharper, and transitioned into one another with absolute fluidity.
The magical ritual of resilience and regeneration had also borne its fruit, though it had one rather annoying downside. A massive plus was that I was now extraordinarily resilient. When I was hit by the Cestus Ictus spell at the beginning of the holidays—which was a curse with the impact of a heavy steel fist—a clean hit would instantly send me to the ground. Now? Unless it was extremely overpowered, I brushed it off with just a painful, deep exhale. It still hurt like fucking hell, sure, but it no longer knocked the wind out of me or put me down.
As for cutting spells, my skin showed much higher resistance there too. Before, I regularly left duels with gashes, but now, while a spell could break my skin, it was only superficial. Vespera had to overpower it to get deeper and cause a truly serious wound. And even when she succeeded, I healed in a flash. I wasn't Wolverine, but a relatively deep cut on my shoulder could completely close up in an incredibly short amount of time.
Those were the bright sides. There was basically only one downside: Vespera had definitely taken off the gloves and started using magic much more harshly. Fortunately, I was used to physical pain from martial arts, so it didn't bother me. However, when she hit my leg, I hit the ritual's limit. I discovered that if I actively used the injured limb or muscle, the healing slowed down by almost half. So, every now and then, I had to hop around the training room on one leg like a idiot, while Vespera, with an amused smirk, bombarded me with more spells.
In those moments, I was saved by my already successfully mastered Aegis Aurum. I was rightfully proud of this golden shield. It had cost me about half a year of immense effort, massive amounts of magical energy, sweat, and blood—especially blood, when Vespera shattered my imperfect Aegis into pieces and immediately proceeded to shatter me as well.
As for further study... I finally headed to our family library. I had imagined it would be large, but the reality paralyzed me. It was downright gigantic. In its center stood a massive table surrounded by comfortable leather armchairs, but the best companion was the integrated magical catalogue.
It worked simply: you just had to write the searched topic or a specific title on a piece of parchment, and the magical ink would instantly reveal the exact name of the books and their location on the shelves. After all, if someone had to search manually in that endless sea of books, sooner or later it would drive them fucking mad.
There was no shortage of topics and books, everything you could possibly imagine. On one hand, it was fascinating; on the other, absolutely disastrous—there were so many options that it drove me to pure indecision. I decided to proceed purely practically. I asked myself what I needed most at this moment, and the answer came immediately.
Considering that Sirius planned to teach me a spell that was completely OP, deadly, and terrifying, but on the condition that I cast it exclusively non-verbally, it was clear as day that I needed the theory of non-verbal magic. The second priority was the basics of magical wards. Our entire gang would be training in the Room of Requirement at Hogwarts, and since I couldn't train this bloody spell in front of them for obvious reasons, I was firmly determined to find my own secret room in the castle and ward it as best as possible.
Surprisingly, there was only a single book on non-verbal casting. Pure magical theory. Once I found its exact location, I tried to summon it to myself using Accio.
However, the Summoning Charm failed against the shelves' protective wards, so like a common Muggle, I had to get off my ass and fetch it myself. It was extremely slim, maybe seventy pages at most, and looked truly ancient. I tossed it onto the table and immediately entered "magical wards" into the catalogue.
There were significantly more of those books. In the end, I chose something that, by its title alone, promised a solid foundation for a beginner: The Novice's Compendium of Wards and Defensive Enchantments by Charles Dawkins.
I settled comfortably into the armchair and sank my teeth into the slim book on non-verbal spell theory first.
Right from the first page, it was clear to me that this book was no direct practical guide. It was more of the author's philosophical musings on the theory of mastering non-verbal magic itself. Throughout his life, the author had attempted to learn several different spells wordlessly, from the simplest to the most demanding, and subsequently wrote down his subjective opinions in a journal-like style. In the end, he dedicated a few decades of his life to this single study. Honestly, to get the point, I basically only needed to read the conclusion of this mini-book, but his thoughts were incredibly interesting nonetheless.
At the start of his research, he simply repeated the basic spell Lumos non-stop, as long as his magical core could handle it and until the action became completely instinctive to him. However, this initial practice took him over a year. He then continued with the Wingardium Leviosa spell, wasting a similar amount of time on it.
Yet when he later moved on to the magically far more complex Piertotum Locomotor, mastering it wordlessly took him exactly as long as simply lighting his wand.
Gradually, he went through dozens of spells from various branches of magic and arrived at a fundamental conclusion: the complexity and advanced nature of a spell were not important for non-verbal casting at all. The key was the wizard's personal affinity to the spell. If the final effect was more natural to the caster and closer to their nature, it was much easier for them to master it without a single word.
Over time, when he had mastered several non-verbal spells in his later years, he developed a magical sensitivity. And that is what he identified as the single greatest benefit of non-verbal magic. In his journal, he listed four key aspects that are absolutely essential for successfully mastering a spell non-verbally. First was the successful and stable casting of the spell verbally. Second, it was important to know the lower limit—that is, knowing how to feed the spell with just enough minimal magic so that it doesn't fail. Third, one had to perfectly master the spell even with a massive surplus of channeled magical energy, and know its limit. And fourth, he listed the constant repetition of the spell to engrave it into the wizard's very essence.
It was important to perceive the magical difference between each aspect down to the finest detail and, of course, to know and precisely envision the final effect of the spell one hundred percent. The author claimed that a wizard must know the spell almost intimately. Their mind, soul, and magic itself had to be in perfect harmony, tuned to the same "frequency." Only when this connection was achieved did the spell become a natural and pure expression of the wizard's intent.
It made perfect sense. Wizards who blindly try to focus on an excessively broad spectrum of spells logically cannot use many of them wordlessly. At the same time, however, the author added a rather important warning from his own dueling experience. While he had no trouble with non-verbal casting during controlled, safe practice, in real combat, his shield charm failed completely. In that critical second, fear and panic dominated his mind, completely disrupting the necessary frequency.
But the most interesting part of the entire book awaited me at the very end—the author's name itself.
Alistair Thorne.
The name immediately felt familiar. A brief, precise use of Occlumency took me back a few months in my memories, to when I first arrived at our ancestral castle. The Thornes were an ancient house that, according to Vespera, my ancestors had completely destroyed generations ago. And according to this journal, they clearly didn't just take their lives—they wiped them out entirely and plundered their family library as well.
"Cruel world of magic," I muttered under my breath.
I set the finished mini-book back on the massive table with a soft click and immediately reached for the second, much thicker volume by Charles Dawkins.
Even just the introduction to basic wards struck me as wonderfully practical and pragmatically written, completely free of unnecessary fluff. Magical wards were otherwise a rather complex topic, but Mr. Charles managed to simplify it admirably. According to him, they could be used in two basic ways. Either you simply cast the spell without any external anchoring, and the ward held only until the wizard dismantled it himself—or until the magic faded on its own—or you anchored the spell to a gemstone. In that case, you filled the gemstone with magic, which then constantly kept the spell active.
However, there was an even higher, permanent form, typically found in ancestral estates. Ancient runes were added to the gemstone, continuously drawing in surrounding magic and feeding the core. Of course, such a gemstone could be recharged directly by a wizard at any time if necessary.
The detail regarding the gemstones themselves was extremely interesting. For the warding spells to work, the type of mineral made practically no difference. What mattered was solely their physical durability and longevity. Diamond was considered the absolute peak in this regard, followed closely by corundum in the form of sapphire and ruby, with ordinary quartz bringing up the rear. From a magical perspective, they could be charged with pure energy in exactly the same way based on their size, so it truly came down to the mechanical resilience of the material. Since diamonds were extremely expensive, quartz was the most widely used in the magical world, as it was abundant everywhere and cost pennies.
There were more than enough known warding spells, and Charles Dawkins provided precise instructions for their use, including correct incantations, right after the introduction. He was simply a great guy.
Just as I finished reading the introductory chapter, Jobo appeared before me with a quiet crack and bowed low.
"Young master, a new message has arrived for you," he announced dutifully, presenting an envelope with both hands. "Also, a house-elf of the House of Black has appeared at the castle gates. The Head of the House of Black informs you that everything is ready and Lord Black awaits you."
"Thank you," I said, taking the envelope, and with a brief nod from me, Jobo vanished once again.
The envelope bore no family seal. However, it was addressed directly to me, and the only thing I caught from it immediately was a faint, unspecified women's perfume. The scent was relatively pleasant, but I couldn't precisely name the flower or essence. Furthermore, the letter carried not the slightest magical signature; no spells had been cast on it.
I set the book aside—taking great care not to dog-ear a single corner, and as a rule, refusing to place it face down on the table—opened the envelope with a swift motion, and began reading.
Dear Patrik,
It may surprise you that I am writing to you.
I am Andromeda Tonks, your mother's sister. Although we have never met in person, I have the fondest memories of your mother and would dearly love to get to know you.
If you ever have the time and inclination, I would like to invite you over for tea.
You won't have to worry about any family obligations, formalities, or uncomfortable questions. Quite simply, it would genuinely please me to meet you.
If you decide to come, I will be very glad.
My door is always open to you.
Sincerely,Andromeda Tonks
"Fucking Sirius," I swore softly under my breath.
It was immediately obvious which way the wind was blowing. I knew that out of politeness, I'd have to go see her... but the initial meeting would undoubtedly be dreadfully awkward, which is why I was firmly resolved not to endure that social torture alone.
"Poor Draco," I smirked gleefully.
Taking Charles Dawkins' book with me, I headed for my room at a brisk pace to change into something suitable. The bloody spell was already waiting for me in London, and I couldn't wait to finally cast it.
***
Author's note:
No rest for the wicked! Patrik is fully locked into training mode, much to the annoyance of Vespera, who would much rather drag him off on a holiday somewhere.
And, of course, we have Andromeda's unexpected letter. Poor Draco has absolutely no idea what kind of "social torture" he's about to be dragged into.
Alistair Thorne's journal also serves as a stark reminder that the wizarding world isn't all sunshine and rainbows. What did you think of the magical theory behind the wards in this chapter?
Want to read ahead? The next chapter is already out for free on my official website! Grab the direct link on our Discord community: tgdTNZYVKt
***
Step into the Restricted Section
The shadows are shifting, and the story goes much deeper... If you can't wait for the next update, Advanced Chapters are already waiting for you.
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Upcoming Chapters – Already Written(16):
83. Of Blood and Thorns
84. Thorns, Wards, and Sly Foxes
85. As Peaceful and Civilized as Always
86. The Twin in the Shadows
87. Their Addiction, Our Profit
88. Fake Smiles and Sharp Instincts
89. The Path to Invincibility
90. AD: Piña Coladas and Rainbow Thongs
91. Blood Traitors
92. Before the Storm
93. Arania Exumai
94. Favors and Frustrations
95. Power and Glory
96. Morning Drills and Slytherin Deals
97. Thrill of the Fight
98. Calculated Risk
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