"Like I said, don't have too much hope," added Tiara. "My family has no lineage of Divination, and your father's family has not given birth to one in a very long time."
"I understand," nodded Christian before looking at his aunt. "What would you do if you knew about the future?"
"Investment," Aunt Amelia replied directly. "I would use my knowledge to get rich in the stock market."
After hearing this, Christian's eyes lit up. He immediately wanted to ask her whether she knew of a company that used an apple as its logo. However, he stopped himself, as this question would raise even more questions. So, he decided to ask Professor Hallmark later today after their session. He would ask his aunt when they were alone if he did not know.
Tiara noticed her son's odd behavior but did not say anything; she had raised him to come to her for any problem. Since he did not ask, it meant he made the judgment to deal with the issue on his own, and she trusted his judgment.
After breakfast, Christian attended school until the afternoon, followed by his Capoeira Lessons. His schedule had changed since starting his magical journey. Fencing Lessons involved a trainer coming home to give him lessons twice a week, leaving only Capoeira and his Old English Tutor. His mother told him he could drop archery and stop practicing music. His schedule was too full, and he did not want to be overwhelmed. Maybe he will practice once in a while to avoid becoming rusty, but that's very unlikely.
Christian chose to practice archery with his mother once a week since it meant so much to her and his missing father. As for music, he might play once in a while, but he had abandoned this subject. With the time he spent on these things, he would rather practice his wrist movements with calligraphy, play chess with his mother and aunt, or read a magical book. After knowing the benefits, he also decided to add a second round of meditation before sleeping.
…
"Excellent progress, even better than before," praised Professor Hallmark, and Christian smiled politely. Ever since awakening his magical powers, learning language seemed to have become even easier than usual. However, he chalked this change to an increase in interest.
"Professor, do you know of a company that uses an apple for its logo?"
"Apple for logo? Are you talking about a bitten apple?"
"Yes."
"That's Apple Computer Inc. Why are you asking?"
"I just heard about it at school and wondered."
"They are a computer production company based in America," explained Professor Hallmark. "I heard about it because one of my colleagues invested in them and lost a lot of money."
"Oh, why is that?"
"Apparently, one of their co-founder — a bloke called Steve Jobs — left the company a few years ago. Since then, they've been struggling."
"I see." Christian was still confused. His memories showed that this company made cellular phones, not computers. 'Unless they've invented a way to combine cell phones with computers, that could explain what I saw.'
He wanted to speak to his aunt immediately and ask her to invest in this company, but stopped himself as he thought about the situation rationally. Apple was struggling, and he did not know how long that would last.
'I assume this cellular phone brought them great success, but I still don't know when it was invented. The future I saw was more than 30 years later, meaning it could have been at any time in between. What if Apple struggled for decades before finding success? If so, an investment would be a loss unless it was at the right time.'
His aunt did not have the money to invest in a failing company for decades unless they used the gold in their vault in Gringotts.
'It's best to gather more information from these memories before deciding. I also need a way to tell her the news without being suspicious.'
…
"Excellent: you've mastered the Shielding Charm, Protego. This charm and all its other variants will be your best friend in most duels, so practice it seriously. Hopefully, before the start of the next school year, you can cast it nonverbally," explained Tiara, who was secretly relieved her son did not immediately learn the advanced form of this spell. However, it was understandable since the difficulty of this spell could be classified as an intermediary, and the advanced applications were even more complex.
"Nonverbal casting? Isn't that too early for me?"
"Yes, but I think you should be able to learn one nonverbal spell in one year with sufficient training," said Tiara with a smile. She had kept track of his progress, and the charts indicated a strong possibility of reaching that level of skill.
"I will try my best. By the way, did you say most duels? Does that mean the Shield Charm is not effective against all spells?" Christian remembered she told him some spells could not be blocked and must be dodged.
"Yes. It cannot stop one of the three Unforgivable Curses — the Killing Curse."
"What are those?"
"Spells that are forbidden or outlawed in almost all wizarding countries because of how powerful and dangerous they are. The Cruciatus Curse imposes unimaginable pain; the Imperius Curse allows the user to control the victim's actions; and the Killing Curse causes instant death. Each of them vicious curses, but more importantly, there are no counter-curses or solutions."
"None at all?" asked Christian.
"None."
"So, I have to either suffer, be controlled, or instantly die if I'm hit with one of them?" Somehow, he could not accept this fact.
"Well, it's not that simple. One way to deal with the Cruciatus Curse would be to bear the pain and interfere with your caster's casting, but that's not something anyone can do. With strong enough willpower and focus, you can wake up from the effect of the Imperius Curse; you should have no problem with that aspect. As for the Killing Curse, there is no solution besides evading."
Christian frowned and pondered momentarily, "In school, I learned pain results from neuro receptors that send signals to the brain. Based on this fact, couldn't someone create a spell to deal with the Cruciatus Curse?"
Tiara paused as she became too shocked to speak.
"I remember a condition called congenital…analgesia, where an individual is born without the ability to feel pain. If we study their body structure, creating a spell that imitates it should be possible, right? Unless the Cruciatus Curse invoked a more spiritual aspect of pain or something related to the soul. There are also painkillers. Couldn't we create a potion with the same effect?"
Tiara had to take a moment to regain her bearing, "I never thought about such a solution. However, you might have a point. Human Transfiguration is a sub-form of Transfiguration that allows casters to change their bodies at will, so it's theoretically possible to imitate the structure of someone with congenital algesia."
"Analgesia."
"You know what I mean."
"Sorry."
"Unfortunately, I know little about the standard spell creation method. But you can try it yourself when you're older." The spells she created relied on intuition and dangerous trial and error, which was inappropriate for what Christian talked about.
"Why wait? Coming up with the incantation should be relatively easy. The hard part is the correct wand or hand movement and whether this spell requires certain intent."
"You must walk before you run," immediately warned Tiara. "Creating Spells is a very dangerous thing. One wrong step, and you will blow yourself up."
"Is that so?"
"Promise me you won't try until you have a profound understanding of magic, " Tiara said in a strict tone.
"I promise."
"Good. I will also accompany you during your research."
"Hmm? Why?"
"Mainly for protective measures; two eyes are usually better than one. Secondly, I also want to know if you'll succeed." Tiara could not help but smile after thinking about how her son would create a counter-curse for one of the Three Unforgivables.
"Alright, let's continue our lesson. I will show you the advanced form of the Shielding Charms, and then we will have a short spar before you try the handweaving part."