Tiara sat in her study with a binder labeled [Training Plan]. She detailed everything that occurred today, including graphs mapping out Christian's growth compared to what she expected. "I can probably speed up things." She had a strict schedule, but in one day, Christian's talent destroyed all her plans.
Tiara did not mind since that meant he would be more prepared for whatever fate awaited him. She took this opportunity to update the schedule to accommodate his talent. Once she was done, she put the binder away before putting on a cloak and using the Floo Powder to travel to Haiti.
She spent the next hours searching for Papa Tounde, even wasting a few dozen Galleons in the process. Sadly, the Seer had disappeared from the world. Tiara returned in frustration in the middle of the night.
'Do I have to use extreme means to find that drunkard?' she muttered, her expression morphing into disgust and a little fear. 'Things are not so dire yet. There must be a better way.' She slept since she had to wake up early to prepare for school tomorrow morning.
….
Christian was excited as he went to sleep. Today's magical lesson was one of the most exciting things in his life. He could not wait for the next day to arrive and for school to finish so that he could continue. As his eyes closed, he found himself in that space enveloped with these gray vapors.
After what happened with that Dark Witch, he was so tired that he slept like a baby, but now, he found himself in this place again.
"Now I know I'm not crazy, and some magical event happened to me. But these things are still a problem. Maybe I should ask Mom about this."
Christian immediately frowned, "What if she thinks I have been possessed? Having someone else's memory should be a sign of possession, right?" His thought scared him, so he decided not to think too deeply about it.
"Even if I don't tell her, I could probably get some information." He looked at the memories and chose one to absorb. He had turned into the previous white man, but his emotions were more stressed, unlike the happiness and contentment from last time. He held a biology book, studying the anatomical structure of a frog.
Once the memory ended, Christian had to take a moment to regain his bearings. 'This place is too clustered; I need a better way to organize all these memories, ' he thought.
He looked at all these vapors and guessed they were decades of memory. Some might be useful or important, but most were mundane things, like sleeping, dreaming, or eating.
"That's not important. I need to shut this place down so I can sleep normally." It would be a grave problem if this place prevented him from sleeping. Luckily for him, as soon as he said these words, he left this weird place, and his mind was at ease.
"So easy?" he muttered before shrugging and sleeping. The next morning, he proceeded with his usual routine but emphasized meditation more, knowing the benefit. School was more tedious than usual; he had always felt he was not challenged enough, and now, with something as exciting as magic to explore, he found his motivation for this place even more dwindling. As such, he spent most of the day secretly practicing his wand movement and remembering incantations. Although his memory was one of the best in his class, he did not have an eidetic or photographic memory like Kevin.
In the afternoon, his mother picked him up, and he was happy that she let him sit in the front.
"How was school?"
"Boring as usual. Is it possible for me to just skip this year since I will no longer attend Muggle School in the future?"
"Absolutely not," replied Tiara firmly.
"Why not? I'm not learning anything."
Tiara resisted the urge to reply because she said so. She sighed, "It's my fault. I should have signed you up for a gifted and talented education."
"It's too late now."
"I don't want you to give up on school because of the principal. You commit to something and must see it through to the end. I don't want you to learn that it's alright to give up on things you've started."
"I guess that makes sense."
She looked at him, saw his expression, and added, "I once had a conversation with a Squib Scientist, and he said something that resonated with me deeply. He said science was the Muggles' way of observing the world, and technology was how they bent it to their will, just like magic."
Tiara slowed down the car near a red traffic light.
"Since then, I have not rejected learning from Muggles. Many of my expeditions were successful because I learned from their Archaeology Books and Lessons. You should follow in my footsteps. Try to incorporate what you've learned in school into your study of magic. Who knows what you might create?"
"You have a point," replied Christian with a thoughtful look. He had assumed his life would be completely separate after integrating into the magic world, but this kind of thinking was wrong. He still had his aunt and had to return to the Muggle World.
"As long as you understand."
"Why do you have so many Squib friends? Now that I think about it, you seem to know many people."
"One thing I learned from my Slytherin counterparts was to make as many connections as possible. Squibs are the perfect intermediary between the magical and non-magical worlds, so I often go out of my way to make their acquaintance."
"Making many connections? That sounds exhausting."
"It can be. You must maintain a certain level of contact with many people to keep the relationship going. You must be prepared to help them since you expect them to do the same. You have to keep track of what type of relationship you have and ensure that you, or they, do not cross certain boundaries."
"What do you mean by that last one?"
"How can I explain it? Some people are your true friends, whom you can count on regardless of the circumstances. Such people are rare, and you should take your time before forming such a bond. Some people are acquaintances, and you only need to do the bare minimum to keep the relationship. Lastly, there are business 'friends,' whose relationships are based strictly on monetary exchanges.
"To maintain these relationships requires hard work, but the most difficult part is when you cannot distinguish what kind of relationship you have with someone. Maybe you believed someone was your true friend, but they only saw you as an acquaintance. Some people who are your true friends or acquaintances might suddenly want to use you and turn your relationship into more of a transactional one."
Tiara sighed deeply, "What you must remember and understand is it's not easy to maintain any relationship because one of the most complex things you will encounter in your life is the human heart."
"It sounds like it's not worth it."
"No, you're wrong. The hardship and possible headaches are not excuses not to make genuine connections with people." Tiara smiled brightly, showing her pearly white teeth, "One of the world's greatest feelings is finding people willing to go to the end of the earth for you. I hope you can find this kind of friendship."
"I will try my best."
"That's all that matters."
…
The mansion's damp and creepy basement:
"Today's lesson will be about Potion," said Tiara before pointing to a blackboard floating beside her. "Read the safety precautions and follow the instructions."
Christian read everything on the board before focusing on the table with his cauldron, brass scale, knives, stirring rods, dragon-hide gloves, and all the ingredients.
"So, in layman's terms, potion is the combination of different ingredients to chemically transform them into something else?"
"As astute as ever."
"But where is the magic? That seems like something Muggles can do."
"That comes at the last step," replied Tiara, tapping her wand on the board. The chalk wrote an incantation: Essentia Virescendi.
[AN: There is a potion-making spell, but the incantation is unknown. So, I made my own.
"Essentia Virescendi. Essentia should be a change of the word [essence]. Virescendi is Latin for [becoming magical]. So, this spell is to turn essence into magic, essence referring to all fauna or ingredients?"
Tiara smiled as pride oozed out of her eyes, "My little genius."
"How does this make me a genius?" Christian rolled his eyes.
"Honey, you have no idea how many wizards and witches spend their entire lives not knowing the meaning of these words despite brewing hundreds of potions."
"Shouldn't that be one of the first things to teach? Like, in the very first potion class?"
"It all depends on the teacher," she replied.
"Then, you learned this at Hogwarts?"
"I did, but like I said, it depends on the teacher." Christian looked at her, but his silence said a lot.
"Don't worry. From what I have heard, the current Potion Master, Severus Snape, is a talented potionist. Despite his young age, he is quite accomplished in the field."
"That's good." His mother told him Hogwarts was the best magical school in the world, and he would be disappointed if such an essential thing was not taught.
"Any more questions, or do you want to begin?"
"Is this the only spell used for all potions?"
"Great question, but no. It's the most common, but some potions require their own spells. Some charms are used only for potions."
"For example?"
"The Shrinking Solution: You need to cast the Shrinking Charm on the cauldron as the last step."
"That makes sense."
"Alright, you can begin," Tiara ordered.