"Excellent Wiggenweld Potion," praised Tiara as she sipped the final product. "I wanted to start with something simpler, like the Forgetfulness Potion, but chose otherwise. Do you know why?"
"To challenge me?"
"Yes, and also, to give you a valuable and memorable lesson: always keep a batch of Wiggenweld Potion on you at all times. It's very helpful as a first aid option for any injuries."
"Noted."
"So, what do you think of Potions?"
"Brilliant: Combining all these ingredients and watching them turn into something new and better was fascinating. However, it seems a little too easy."
"That's because you don't know much about potions."
"What do you mean?"
"Do you know the characteristics of all these ingredients? How do they react to each other? What's their individual and overall purpose in this potion recipe? What effect would they have if you messed up the ingredient even the tiniest bit? Maybe the sequence of putting them in the cauldron will make a difference? Do you know any of these?"
"I do not," Christian admitted directly.
"Anyone with patience and focus can follow a recipe. But if you want to be a true Potionist, you must learn those things. I once saw someone improve a recipe by simply slicing an ingredient instead of crushing it as the recipe dictated."
Tiara did not hide the awe on her face. "One of my biggest regrets was not paying too much attention in potion class."
"Oh, what happened?"
"Your father was the Potionist in our team. However, after he disappeared, I was left alone. I could brew the basic potions on my own, but when it came to the more advanced ones, I had to ask others and pay an exuberant fee. It was a nightmare dealing with these talented Potionists; many have this sense of superiority, making it difficult to communicate with them — not to mention the price they would ask."
Tiara shook his head, "Money was one thing, but some of them would demand these very rare ingredients as a fee for their service. I don't want you to suffer as I did, so pay attention to Potion Class when you attend school. Unlike the other courses, I can only teach you a few things."
"I will," nodded Christian. "How do I learn about the ingredients you mentioned?"
"Read the Herbology Books I've bought. They are in your father's study room."
"Can I enter?" asked Christian; he had always been curious about that room.
"Yes." Tiara paused momentarily, "Do you want to continue or be done for the day?"
"I'm fine."
"Alright, let's go upstairs."
…
"Today, let's try a more battle-oriented spell. I will teach you the Disarming Charm. The incantation is Expelliramus. Why don't you break down the word for me?"
Christian immediately answered, "It's the Latin words Expellere and Arma. Ex means out, and Pellere means to drive out. Arma is the word for weapon, so the translation should be to drive out the weapon."
"And that's exactly what the spells do: remove whatever is in the holder's hands, mostly their wand in the wizarding world."
"Let me guess, you've used this spell to disarm guns," said Christian, and Tiara immediately smiled in embarrassment.
"Wait, seriously? I was only joking."
"The world is vast, and I've had a few adventures," she explained.
"Now, you have to tell me what happened."
"I was in Russia, trying to find a tomb I believed could help me find your father. However, I was not the only one. A group of Muggles armed to the teeth had their own expedition to that tomb."
"Wait, Muggles after a magical tomb? Aren't there some laws about this?"
"The magical world is small compared to the Muggle World, so it's normal for many things to escape the crack. Of course, even if I did not deal with them, someone would have been tasked to retrieve whatever magical artifacts they discovered and wipe out their memories, and that's only if they survived all the curses in that tomb."
"Memories? Magic can affect memory?"
"Yes."
"What does memory look like?" asked Christian with a glint flashing in his eyes. Tiara thought he was only curious, and as she wanted to foster his curiosity, she placed her wand in her temple and pulled out a gray vapor.
"That's what memories looked like. However, if you want to see it, you must use a magical artifact called a Pensieve."
As Christian looked at that vapor, he could confirm with a hundred percent certainty that he had acquired that white man's memories.
"Let's get back to our lesson. This is the wand movement for the Expelliarmus Spell and an example." Tiara demonstrated the spell to him before asking him to try it. Christian focused on the weird target dummy in the distance and practiced the wand movement for a few seconds before trying it.
A blue light flashed from his wand before hitting the target. The decorative wooden wand on the dummy's hand flew away, but that was not the only thing that happened. The dummy's body flew back more than two meters as it was run over by a car. Christian looked at it, dumbfounded, "Did I do it incorrectly?"
"No, you succeeded, and even more than that," replied Tiara. She knew people who trained their Disarming Charm to a high level could generate a concussive force in the process, but did not expect her son to do so in his first attempt. The latter's aptitude always awed her.
[AN: Before anyone comments about the MC's talent or power, remember Harry did the same thing when he was 12.]
"I see," nodded Christian. "What's next?"
"Try a few more times before I teach you the handweaving part. If we finish early, I will teach you the Protection Charm, Protego."
Christian was excited but did not finish early; handweaving magic was still difficult and mentally draining for him, so he was tired by the time he could efficiently use the Disarming Charm. That night, he did not even enter his father's study because he was tired.
However, he took a moment to read one of these memories, which shocked him. He saw the white man, whose name he learned was Jim Carver, talking on a phone while looking at a calendar. The odd thing is that it said the year [2020]. At first, he thought he had seen it wrongly, but after Jim ended his conversation, Christian saw the 'telephone' he was using.
The thing was small, slim, and had no buttons. In March, he finally convinced his mother and aunt to buy him the Motorola MicroTac9800x, released last year and known as the world's smallest phone.
However, compared to this phone with a bitten apple as a logo, his phone might as well be a bus. Even scarier, he saw Jim tap on the screen and access the whole wide web (www).
'Isn't that something only a computer can do?' thought Christian, who wondered whether Muggles had gained control over magic. "Or, technology has developed." He had seen movies about the future.
'So, is this person's memory from the future? Can magic achieve time travel?' Christian was confused all night and barely slept. The next morning, at breakfast, he looked terrible.
"What's wrong with you? Didn't sleep?" asked Tiara.
"Can magic time travel?" asked Christian.
"Hey, not here," said Eleanor, almost dropping her strange-smelling tea on her; she looked around to see if the Butler was present. "Do you want to break the law?"
"Sorry about that."
"It's possible if you use a Time Turner," explained Tiara. "However, doing so is illegal and dangerous, especially if you want to change the past."
"You should set a better precedent for him," warned Eleanor. "Otherwise, he might grow up despising rules."
"Aren't you the one always telling him that laws are meant to be learned and understood so that we can break them better?"
"That's different, as I still respect the law," argued Eleanor. Tiara rolled her eyes before looking at her son, "Why are you suddenly asking?"
"Nothing." He did not want to tell his mother; his observations have shown that he is weird in the way that odd, magical events keep happening to him, and he does not want to reveal another one.
"I was just thinking about what I would do if I knew about the future."
"Knowing the future and traveling through time are two different things," Tiara said.
"What do you mean?"
"Divination is a form of magic that allows someone to peer at the future, to see through the mysterious veil of fate," explained Tiara.
"Divination Magic? Can I learn?"
"I don't know."
"What does that mean?"
"Divination requires a unique gift," Tiara replied. "Without that gift, you cannot learn or practice it."
"How do I know if I have that gift?"
"Don't have any hope. The talent of a Seer is scarce, and the number of wizards in the world currently with this talent will not exceed 20."
"So rare?"
"Yes."
"You might have it," said Aunt Eleanor. "Before our Malik Family migrated to the UK, we were famous for our Divination back in Africa. Although it was mainly Astrology-based Divination, we had a few true Seers ourselves."
"Astrology-based?"
Tiara saw his confusion and explained, "There are many forms of divination, and only two can be learned without needing a unique gift: Astrology and Arithmancy. However, besides the centaurs, most knowledge about Astrology-based divination is lost or scarce. Meanwhile, Arithmancy requires an extremely high achievement before you could do actual prediction or divination."
"I see." Christian nodded.