The Art of Channeling
"Daddy, can I have my friends over tomorrow? Maybe have a sleepover?" I asked through a mouthful of mashed potatoes. It was Thursday night and tomorrow was my (and Dad's) birthday, and since I had made friends in Hogwarts, I was looking forward to having a party with someone other than my ten million cousins.
"I don't see why that would be a problem," Dad replied with a nod. "Just remember that your Grandma Molly is throwing us a party on Saturday."
"Will Mum be there?" I asked, already knowing the answer. Ever since my parents got divorced, I barely see my mother at family functions. Even when Dad suggested that he stay home and she take us (it was her family, after all) she still refused.
"No," Dad said with a frown. "She is coming to take you all to dinner on Sunday, I believe."
"Dad, you have got to be kidding me!" James wined like a two year old, just tuning into the conversation. "I was going to go see Bella tomorrow!"
"It's by birthday, James!" I exclaimed, fighting the urge to slap him. All James cared about was Bella Malfoy and himself. I don't even understand how they started dating anyway. One day he hated her, and then the next Albus is telling me about how he and Scor caught them snogging in the Library.
"James, your sister is right," Dad said calmly. I never understood how he could be so calm all the time, it's actually really rather creepy.
"It's not like you even have to watch us, Daisy does everything for us anyway!" I said, crossing my arms over my chest. Daisy was the house elf that showed up here when Kreacher died. She did all of the cooking for us when Dad wasn't home. Unfortunately, he wouldn't let her clean our rooms.
"Lily, stop trying to get your brother in trouble," Dad said with an amused expression. Usually, he hates hearing about us misusing Daisy; he says that she is more of a pet then a slave, which I personally will never understand. "James, I'll be home in time for dinner and then you can go out with Bella."
James sighed. "Okay, fine."
"Thanks Jamesie," I said in a mock baby voice, using the name I gave him when I was a little kid. James just rolled his eyes and ignored me for the rest of dinner.
Once Ember, Serenity, and Dakota got to the house the next morning, we put their stuff in my bedroom and decided to play a game of hide and go seek.
"Wait, what's that?" Serenity asked with a quizzical look. Dakota looked just as confused, causing me and Ember to laugh.
"It's a Muggle game," Ember giggled. "You go and hide while someone is it, and then the person who is it tries to find you."
"Oh," Dakota said. "How do we know who is it, then?"
"One of my Muggle cousins showed me a way to pick," I explained, making two fists and putting them in front of me. "Do this, and then I'll sing a little rhyme and we'll know who is it."
Everyone did as I told them to and I started singing the rhyme, hitting a new fist each time I said a word. "Eachy peachy pear plum, out goes Tom Thumb, Tom Thumb won't do, out goes Betty Blue, Betty Blue won't go, out goes y-o-u."
"So what does that even mean?" Dakota asked as the rhyme ended on her.
"It means you're it," Ember filled in with a smile. "Count to 50 slow, or 100 fast with your eyes closed, then come find us!"
"Okay," Dakota nodded. "1, 2, 3..."
Everyone ran in different directions and I headed to the library on the main floor. Looking around for a place to hide, I found a book that was half sticking out of the shelf. 'That's strange' I thought and when I pulled the book out the bookcase moved, revealing a small passage. I crawled through it (making sure the bookcase closed behind me) and on the other side was another part of the library. I was kind of disappointed; who would put a library inside of a library? But once I went to the middle of the darkly-lit room, I realized this wasn't just a kind of library: this was a library of Dark magic.
'This must have all belonged to the Blacks' I thought to myself as I stepped up to the book catalogue. "Give me something cool?" I asked the empty room, hoping I wouldn't get more than one book flying towards me.
'What is this thing?' I thought as a big, old, dusty tome came towards me, landing on the catalogue. It looked like no one had touched it in years. The Art of Channelling, the cover read. Channelling? What the heck is channelling? I bit my lip as I opened the cover and began to read:
Channelling is the practice of combining your magic with that of another wizard or witch to strengthen the force of magic used.
Combining magic? I never knew that was even possible. Sure, I had read about the Muggle version of witches and wizards, but their view on the subject was something different entirely. I needed to know about the real kind of channelling so I continued to read, skipping to the part where it explained how to do it:
First, relax your body and consternate on your breathing. Breathe deeply, in through your nose and out through your mouth. Once you have your breathing at a constant rhythm, think about your magical core and once you can picture it, imagine it expanding. By now, you should feel the magic in your hands growing. Congratulations, you are now channelling your inner core.
Without even realizing I was doing it, I followed the steps as I was reading. 'This is so cool' I thought as I felt the magic in my hands.
Although core magic is more draining as it uses magic straight from your core, it is also more rewarding. For more on Core Magic see page 72.
As I kept reading, I got more and more interested about this different type of magic. You didn't need a wand to use it, and it couldn't be traced by the Ministry, so it was appealing to every bit of my inner Slytherin.
"LILY, WE GIVE UP, YOU WIN. YOU CAN COME OUT NOW!" Dakota shouted. I had forgotten about the game of hide and seek we were playing. I crawled out of the secret library and made my way back to my room.
"Where the hell were you?" Ember asked when I entered.
"Oh no, she's got that look again guys," Serenity said, shaking her head. "What did you find this time?"
"Oh nothing," I said with a shrug. "Just a way to do magic without the ministry or wands."
All three of my friends' faces lit up in excitement as I explained what I read in the book. When I was done, we all agreed to try it together. I let myself relax and focused like the book said, and when I felt the magic in my hands I pushed it around me for everyone to soak up. It felt surreal and powerful to have so much magical energy floating around the room. All I had to do was think about a spell and wave my hand, and it would happen.
'Incendio' I thought, waving my hand over a stack of papers that immediately set on fire. The girls and I stayed like that for a while, doing random spells around my room. Suddenly I started to get nauseous and dizzy, but before I could sit down, the world went black…
As the sun went down and the heartache settled in, four lifeless bodies lay on the floor of Lilian Luna Potter's bedroom; the disregarded disclaimer whispering in the darkness:
Be careful when using core magic and/or channelling as the results of over extraction may very well cause death.
But in this twilight, our choices seal our fate - Mumford & Sons, Broken Crowns