Henry Francis Warwick Augustus POV
It had been three days since he properly used the 'Reparo' spell in order to repair his sister's doll, and he finally realized the importance of having someone to guide you.
All of his previous first-time attempts at magic had taken months to show any results. While it was different circumstances, as he took months to finally start doing magic regularly compared to learning a completely new spell, guidance still mattered.
It helped when his mother used magic in front of him, showing him its effects and the intent behind the spell. He was able to use the spell within a week, mostly because she taught it to him, instead of him trying to figure it out on his own like he had been doing so far.
While his realization that he was being too clinical with magic and that he should also believe in himself, while also believing in magic, helped him learn the spell, he still attributed a huge part of his success to his mother.
Over the next three days, he continued to use 'Reparo' daily, hoping to become more proficient at this magic. He mostly followed his mother around the mansion and helped her repair things: a broken section of a wall, the hardwood floor to make it look new again, and the ceiling to reinforce the structure. His mother also cast spells on the load-bearing walls as they worked on it, so the ceiling wouldn't collapse on them. He imagined the Weasleys probably used this spell on their home; in fact, they probably used this spell on their entire home to keep it from falling over.
He went around with his mother, and they pretty much used 'Reparo' on everything in the mansion to restore it to its state when it was built.
After three days of constant practice, he had much more confidence in the spell. At first, it took a lot of time and focus to cast the spell, but as he did it repetitively, it got easier.
After about 10 days, they were mostly done repairing the inside of the house.
'Thank magic, for well..magic,' Henry thought, 'if it were a Muggle construction crew, it would have taken them months and up to a year to repair the mansion.'
"Finally!" his father said, while pumping up his fists.
"Now, now dear, don't celebrate too early, we still have the cellar and the roof to do before we are done with the house," she said softly, smiling at him.
"Let's not forget, we still haven't even touched the back and the front garden," she added, completely dousing the last of his joyful embers.
He watched his father visibly wilt as he lowered his hands and hunched his back, and interrupted, "Why don't I start on the front garden while you two finish up the house?"
His suggestion had been purely out of the desire to be finished with work and finally move into the house.
"It's mostly just pulling up the roots, overgrown shrubs, and dead trees," he added, "which I can do."
His mum looked towards him, then back at his dad.
"Henry, I don't think-" he heard his dad say before he was interrupted.
"That is such a bad idea!" his mother said.
"Really?" both he and his dad asked.
"Why don't you get started on the garden, and I will join you after a bit," his mum said, nodding.
"Okay!" he ran out to the room before she had any time to change her mind.
After coming outside, he first set his sights on the trees. The trees were all about 20 to 30 feet long, and most of them were dead and wilted from neglect, and the few that were alive were so overgrown that they looked ugly against the backdrop of the mansion.
He picked a tree to begin with and raised his hand towards it. He slowly exerted his magic, and the tree rustled. At first, nothing seemed to happen, but slowly the tree started shaking more and more. Next, the soil around the trees slowly came loose, and soon the tree root started getting pulled up with the whole tree.
The tree finally broke free from the ground and rose into the air along with its newly exposed root systems.
He smiled, seeing all his efforts with levitation magic pay off.
He slowly moved his hand towards the side and dropped the tree in a somewhat open area.
It took a lot of focus to use his magic to cover every inch of the roots so he could pull them out all at once. It also took a lot of focus to lift a thousand-pound tree, leaving him fatigued.
It wasn't like he ran out of magic, as wizards/witches didn't store the magic inside them. Instead, magic was all around them and part of the world, as they simply used it, a process that took a lot of effort, which is why he felt fatigued. He also finally understood why wands were so popular, as they allowed you to share that burden and do magic more easily.
For the next hour, he used levitation magic to pull entire underground root systems and uproot a lot of the dead trees, and made them into a pile. After pulling up a tree, he took a couple of minutes of rest and moved on to the next one.
By the time his mother came outside, he had already cleared almost half of the trees that needed to be pulled out.
"Henry!" he heard his sister call out to him.
He turned towards the sound and saw her running towards him at her full speed, her arms wobbling in front of her as she tried her best not to trip and fall. His mum was walking right behind her as she looked around the garden and saw the pile of about 15 trees that he had pulled out and stacked.
He smiled at how adorable Ella looked as she ran towards him, yelling his name. Her hair had already reached just below her ears, and she wore a frilly blue dress with flowers sewn all over it.
"Henry!" she said again, looking towards him with a wide smile. Almost at the halfway point, she exclaimed as she tripped over an uneven brick path.
Without even extending his hand, he willed his magic to lift her up.
She rose in the air, confused at first, then laughing and giggling at flying in the air.
He extended his arms like he was going in for a hug and pulled her towards him. She cooed as she shot towards him, and he settled her into his arms and wrapped them around her.
He looked at her chubby face and kissed her cheeks and said, "Ella!"
She giggled as he kissed her all over her face, then he felt her wrap her arms around his neck and lay her head on his shoulder
"Be careful, Ella!" he heard his mum say as she came near them.
"Hi mummy, are you done with the inside?" he asked while still holding on to Ella.
"Almost,'' she said, smiling at him, "we are half done with the roof, and all that's left is the cellar, which your dad is doing right now."
"You are doing a great job with the trees, I see," she added, looking around the garden.
"Hmmm, there are still a lot of overgrown shrubs and weeds we have to pull out. I haven't even touched those yet, " he said, looking around the garden.
"Pulling out weeds, huh?"
"I think I might know a particular spell for that," she added.
"Arare Terram," she said loudly and clearly, pointing her wand at the ground.
The dead bushes and weeds rose out of the ground along with their roots, after which the ground tilled itself, and the lower soil flipped to the top.
"Wow!" he exclaimed, impressed that there was a spell that pulled out weeds along with their small, thin roots without breaking them, and was also able to till the ground simultaneously.
'Guess there really is a spell of everything,' he thought.
For the next hour or so, his mother worked on the finer things, like patches of weeds and small shrubs, while he continued pulling trees out of the ground. After each time he pulled a tree out of the ground, he rested for a couple of minutes and turned to Ella, who was playing with her toys, and talked to her for a bit to keep her from getting bored.
Over the course of the hour, they made a lot of progress together and called it a day as the sun started setting.
It continued like this for the next couple of days.
He and his mum worked on clearing the back garden after they were done with the front yard to get it ready to plant fruit trees and flowers, while his dad worked on finishing the roof and the cellar and watching Ella.
After 2 weeks of renovation, they were finally done with the mansion. The entire front and back garden was cleared of dead trees, shrubs, weeds, and rocks. All that was left was freshly tilled soil, which his mum used to grow a flower bed, build a greenhouse over, and lay a brick walkway and a driveway over. They even repaired the water fountain and got it functioning again.
The mansion itself had been completely repaired and looked as if it had just been built, with no signs of damage from time and neglect, and the family was finally ready to move in.
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