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London
–Albus Dumbledore–
"Yes, Harry, just like that," He smiled warmly at Harry, as the boy waved his hand in the air, lifting a circular rock larger than him, in the large empty room. Moving it with just thought should be possible, but being as young as Harry was, hand gestures were still required to reconcile the effect of magic in his mind.
Nevertheless, this was a tremendous improvement in less than a year. Coming from just moving needles, even then, after being only emotionally challenged, to now this was great.
"Now, let's try something new for today," He flicked his finger, wresting back control over the rock from Harry, making the boy still and then tried harder, with both his hands pointed at the rock. His eyebrows rose as he felt Harry's magic trying to envelope the circular rock, to move it in some way.
Harry grunted, as his magic poured out of him in droves, creating secondary effects on the room, on the flooring, on the light fixtures, and more. With a thought, the room was stabilised as he watched Harry try his hardest to overpower his magic, a feat, by no means, possible for the boy at this stage, but he was curious.
People forgot that Magic was not just a force that people could command. Wizards wielded magic just as much as magic wielded the wizards, or their minds, anyway. Harry's first use of magic came from emotions as well, being told that his parents were heroes, who died to save him and saved countless others by defeating an unspeakable evil.
That revelation had set forth a wave of magic that had needed him to take out his wand to subdue. It was raw and powerful in its intensity, and had he not been prepared beforehand, he did not think the Dursleys would have had a house anymore.
So, he was curious what Harry could do when channelling the feeling of anger right now. He had never pushed Harry too much during their training, mainly because it went against every single principle he had held in his life to not just train a child but to train them with the explicit purpose to fight a war, a war he was too inept to fight himself.
But right now? It would seem Harry was somehow angry at the rock and was currently pushing on it from all sides, so much so that he believed Harry wanted to crush the rock.
He straightened up, blinking in confusion as Harry screamed and with that, came a renewed surge of magic, the strength of which even he could feel. Only this time, Harry was not trying to retake control of the rock, but to outright destroy it. While concerning, it was not unexpected. After all, Harry was a child. Failure to complete their objectives does have the tendency to infuriate people.
So, he let Harry's magic overpower his and then immediately had to throw a shield in front of Harry, as the rock exploded in a spectacular fashion, throwing shrapnel in every direction. With another flick of his hand, the pieces stopped, and then came back, turning into a jagged grey monstrosity that was then dropped on the floor, creating a rather loud bang.
That startled Harry as he stumbled back, in a delayed fashion, and fell on his ass, breathing hard and looking at the destroyed rock with wide eyes.
He chuckled, kneeling next to Harry, "That was marvellous, my boy."
"R-Really? Even though all I did was destroy it?" Harry spoke with such disappointment and guilt that he was inwardly startled at the intensity of it all. Perhaps he should have expected this. It had taken a while but he had pieced together some things and dug deeper into the memories of the Dursley family, finding events that had him contemplating handing them over to the authorities.
It had only been three years since something changed, someone at Vernon's new job that forced him to take care of–no, lavish Harry in any way that they could. The risk of losing a high payout every month was too much for them, which led them to provide Harry with everything he could possibly need.
For someone who had gone through all of that at such a young age? It shouldn't be odd to have repressed anger.
He sighed, ruffling Harry's hair, "Not to worry, my boy. See," He waved his hand behind him and Harry's eyes grew wide as the jagged pieces of the rock liquefied before returning to its original form.
"That was so…fast," Harry said, stars in his eyes, and even after months of being exposed to magic, the boy was marvelled at every little thing, using his training and control over his magic to try things that most wizards wouldn't even imagine.
"I want to learn that too!"
When told that levitating himself with his magic, in that manner, would not be possible, the boy did something that amused him, immensely so. He covered himself, head to toe, in clothing. Multiple layers of it.
And then used his magic to lift the clothing and succeeded in making himself float, in a limited manner that could not possibly be used in combat, not to mention that the majority of wizards did not have the ability to command magic as effortlessly as Harry does now.
All of that ability fades away when they have the marvellous invention of wands with them. The ease with which magic flows through wands makes their mind, body and magic forget their true capabilities.
It reduced the difficulty for using magic, but it also made them vulnerable, dependent on the wand.
He did not want that for Harry, which is why they have been training on this singular aspect for months now and today, they were supposed to move to the next stage, which was small scale environmental manipulation but the way Harry had exerted himself told him that the boy was done for now.
"Come on, now," He patted the boy's shoulder as he began walking towards the exit, "We will begin the next step in the next session. Until then, you can practice what you have learned but?"
Harry looked at him for a moment before his eyes lit up and he replied, "but only inside the house and never on other people, except if they want to harm me."
"That is correct. Until then, farewell," He smiled as he heard Harry gasp in response to what he saw, which was Dumbledore's form fading away in shimmering light. A small trick that served as a reminder, to him, that Harry was still a young, impressionable child and while he did not think that any child was more or less important than the other, he did agree that Harry was a special case, simply because he was the only magical figure in his life.
Maybe it was time to change that.
Minerva was better than him at using transfiguration in non combat situations anyway.
___xx___
–Damian Hawthorne–
He knocked on the door of the apartment that Corven was supposed to rent. A muffled "come in," later, he was overlooking the apartment. It was not run down by any means, but it was clearly lived in, aggressively so.
Not many appliances either, and the paint was peeling, there were some holes, lazily hidden, in the wall and–
Okay, he was starting to understand why this place was available so quickly, and for so cheap.
In the middle of it all, stood Corven, now dressed in a shirt and pants, looking very uncomfortable being out of his element, which was interesting. So interesting, in fact, that he had to ask, "Just out of curiosity, how long have you been the Sanctum Master here? I thought they rotated the staff between the Three Sanctums, no?"
Corven looked at him as if he was the idiot for asking that before chuckling, "Sometimes, with what you do and how you do it, I forget that you have no idea of how Kamar Taj works. Well, I am proud to say that I have been the Sanctum Master for over 13 years now. The Sanctum has been my home for all that time, so I can't tell if the standard of living has just plunged to hell or if this apartment is just that bad."
"This apartment is just that bad. They have vastly more luxurious apartments in London, but unfortunately, those sorts of places come with additional scrutiny, on top of the extra cash."
Corven nodded, "Scrutiny that would have them calling in Child Services on me and you when they see you all by yourself, for weeks at a time."
"Aww, you are not going to visit?"
Corven snorted at his delivery before moving to the door, "Well, this has been…fun, but I must go. As the Sanctum Master, I can't be away from it for long."
"Yeah, yeah, I know." He waved off the Sanctum Master, internally marvelling at the sheer length of his tenure. If he did not know any better, he would have thought that Corven was some sort of badass Sorcerer, not only having lived so long but having held onto that position for so long.
It meant two things, both of which could be true. One, that Corven was uber powerful, having defeated any challengers to his position as the Sanctum Master, since it could not possibly be true that there was no internal competition for that coveted position.
Second, it meant that Corven was strong enough to ward off any attack on the Sanctum, of which there must be plenty.
Both possibilities painted Corven in a flattering light and he did not know what to think of the grumpy, ancient, and somewhat tolerating person he had been making fun of for months now.
"Now, if you'll excuse me," Corven said, opening the door and turning around with the single most shit eating grin he had seen from the man, "I have a luxurious hot bath and mystically charged house to get to. Enjoy the apartment, peasant."
Oh, wow. The nobility was strong in that sentence. With that parting shot, Corven closed the door behind him, and he was proven true when drywall fell off the ceiling from the slight force behind the door.
He sighed, and after locking the door from the inside, apparated and came back to his base. He had a lot of stuff to make. It did not need to be of good quality since it was just some niceties for the short period of time he was going to spend in that run down apartment.
He was also hoping to install some magic alerting wards all around the property but it was right next to the road, and it would just give him false positives all the time. Also, he did not know who they would send, if they would send anybody.
Hagrid would be the best. The Half-Giant was not sensitive to magic, part of his Giant heritage.
An air filter, along with a climate control system, would be the first thing on his mind. The stench from that place had him contemplating burning it all down, and rebuilding it using magic but his was a short term lease of only six months.
Better to let the next tenants worry about it.
___xx__
Elsewhere, in Magical Britain
–Minerva–
She walked down the cobbled paths in Hogsmeade, clutching a letter in her hand, towards her destination, The Hog's Head.
It was not her, or rather, anyone's preferred destination but today's matter required a delicate hand. She was unsure if she should even be doing this but remembering the events of the past and the sheer sadness it evoked in that entire family, she felt compelled to do this before he came to Hogwarts.
She would not want them to know about it from the tabloids.
She nodded at Aberforth, who just spared her a glance before moving on to his tasks, which suited her just fine, as she moved into the singular private booth in this place. It remained unused because the drinks here were double the regular price, for some reason.
Still, it was clean and the other person was already here, waiting for her.
Her nose wrinkled at the overpowering smell of alcohol, her particular sensitive senses making her feel the effects of it much more strongly but she pushed past it and sat down on the other side.
In front of her, was the eldest of the Hawthorne children, William Hawthorne. A very talented wizard, who was now an up and coming Auror.
From last he heard, he was already moving past the ladders, at an extremely quick pace, having been promoted from an Auror trainee to Auror in less than two years, jumping past the Junior Auror phase in less than a year.
"Professor McGonagall, what do you wish to discuss with me?"
She took a deep breath and extended the letter to William, the most rational and level headed of the six Hawthorne siblings she had taught. Merlin, they were a large family, and to think, they still had two(or three) more children left to graduate from Hogwarts.
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