A/N: I can tell you how much I look forward to reviews every time I post a chapter...
to WhyDoICareAnymore : Yes, I do speak German. But I still find it a very complicated language...
Disclaimer: I don't own either of the series and anything associated with them.
Four days later, Gregorovitch came out to the field where Ed and Sirius were looking after the cattle and sheep.
"I've done it. The first wand! Here, Sirius, try it out."
Sirius took the wand in his hand and waved it. A small cloud of white smoke puffed out of the wand tip.
"Hmm... No, that won't do. Probably needs a fiercer core..." He wandered back to his cottage, mumbling to himself.
Ed just shrugged and watched a cat ducked in the grass, ready to pounce at a black bird sitting on the fence.
"Do you know anything about lions, Sirius?"
"Not a lot. Only that they live together in what people call 'prides'. The lion is Gryffindor's mascot animal, so naturally it stands for bravery. Oh, I think I read once that male lions may eat the cubs of other lions, to ensure that they stay in the leader position."
"Does their behavior differ a lot from that of ordinary house cats?" Ed questioned further while watching the cat take another swipe at the bird.
"I think that all house cats chase smaller animals, while male lions only hunt when they don't have a pride or when there's not enough food, or something along those lines. So? What about your magic? When are you going to spill the beans?"
"It's not magic, okay? It's alchemy, an exact science. Now's as good a time as any to tell you, I guess. In order to gain something, you have to give up something of equal value. And it's not about how important the thing is to you that you are giving up, it's about the material value. Like, you can't say that your teddy bear is worth a lot to you and then change it into a pile of gold. Similarly, you can't change gold into bread."
"Doesn't sound that difficult. Teach me."
"That's just because you haven't factored in the 'exact science' part. You have to have calculated everything right down to the last nanogram perfectly for both the input and output and they have to be equal. You have to know exactly what you're dismantling and where you're placing each and every atom in your product."
Sirius opened and closed his jaw multiple times and then finally he said: "Okay, now that sounds much more like that complex science stuff that muggles do."
"Maybe, because it is a muggle science."
"Why don't muggles use it then? It's quite useful if you think about it."
"It's difficult to learn and doing so many calculations is not exactly easy either."
"So, are you saying that you're supposed to be a genius?"
"Of course I am." Ed stated, his chest swelling with pride and a cocky grin on his face.
"Figures... By the way, have you even started thinking what we could do to show that Dumbledore is evil?"
"There's that potion, Veritaserum. I was thinking of using that."
"What a potion? I can't brew potions."
"I was never thinking of letting you brew anything. I wanted to brew some myself, but I've only been aware of magic for slightly less than two years, so I haven't even had any time. And I don't have any brewing equipment in the moment."
"Great, so that option goes down the drain..."
"Hmmm... My foster parents would have some and I'm pretty sure they would shelter us. But of course it's a great risk to them."
"Well, since dementors can't track animals as well, it wouldn't be such a risk to them if we just stayed in animal form for the majority of the time, but that would only work if you can master it in say two months. But I'm warning you beforehand, it's not going to be easy, even with me giving you pointers. It took me and James the better part of three years to learn it, and everyone knows we were the cleverest around."
"Give me a break, it's already the millionth time you've said that."
"But it's true! The only time we really messed up, okay it was actually me, was when that greasy haired, hook nosed Slytherin kid in our year snooped around too much in our business. I almost got him killed, luckily James stepped in. Although we didn't like each other from the start, I reckon he hated me to the core from that day on."
"Why? What happened?"
"Ahh... I can't tell you that, because it involves a few secrets that I shouldn't be giving away without Remus' consent. Anyway, get back to training."
"Okay, okay, but I don't even get what I'm supposed to do now. You just said: 'Imagine yourself as a lion!' and I've been doing that for the past few days with what little I actually do know about lion! This exercise is getting so mundane, I could probably do it in my sleep!"
"That's true, and I guess there isn't as much information about lions as there is information about dogs and other animals common to the region. Well, we could ask Greg if there are any books on animals around somewhere."
"I'll go do that right now."
"Hey, wait! You're supposed to help me herd the sheep! Aw shoot... He left the big bad dog alone with the sheep. Sheesh..."
Ed found Greg, as they've been calling him because it was much less complicated than Gregorovitch, in his workshop, carefully trying to cut the wand he had made previously for Sirius open.
"Hey Greg! Do you know where I could find books about animals?"
"I told you two to stop calling me that! What animals are you looking for anyway?"
"Lions, specifically."
"You'd probably have to go to the next town, like I told you, this is a farming town. The only things we read are the papers and instruction menus."
"What's the quickest way there?"
"The Floo. Now stop disturbing me, I'm trying to work here."
"Sorry about that. Is your house connected to the Floo system?"
"Yes, but you can't use it unless you're going to help me do some grocery shopping."
"I don't suppose you need to do shopping today?"
"No, I don't." The old man then sighed.
"But I could use a hand here."
Ed was a little surprised, since the man had not wanted them to help when they first asked. "What do you need?"
"I'm an old man and this needs to be done precisely. I don't really know if you have a steady hand and I don't like asking help from someone inexperienced, but could you help me open this up? I need to exchange the core. You have to be very careful though, you must not damage the core already in it, otherwise its magic might come out and seep into the wood, making it unable to accept any other core."
Ed picked up the knife Gregorovitch had been using and after holding it for a while, he put it down again.
"What wood is this?"
"Hawthorn, why?"
Clap, flash, it split nicely into two leaving the wand's core in the middle unharmed. Ignoring, Gregorovitch's astonishment, Ed took a closer look at the core.
"What kind of core is this?"
"Unicorn hair, but for people with a personality like Sirius', it should have been obvious to me not to use such a tame core. Maybe I could use your help more often in here and I guess I could pay you a bit for it."
"Seriously? But, you aren't even getting anything out of it!"
"Ha! That's you think! Of course I'm getting something out of it! The satisfaction of making wands, I don't expect a greenhorn to know about such things though." He smiled at Ed.
Ed practically ran out of the house, having money opened up a lot more options.
"Really? That's great. But that means I'll have to be out here all by myself? That's lame. And what about books? Did you ask?" Sirius asked after Ed told him about the latest turn of events.
"Yeah, but he said that the closest was the next settlement. There's a Floo connection there, but he doesn't want us using his powder unless we're going there to do some grocery shopping. At dinner Gregorovitch handed Sirius another wand. "Fourteen inches, dragon heartstring and hawthorn. Try it."
"That was fast." Sirius said, before taking the wand and examining it. A flick caused a chair to smash itself against the wall.
"No, no... Too imbalanced... It seems rather aggressive now... But I'm certain the core is the right one, a tougher wood... Ash perhaps?"
All throughout dinner he kept on mumbling about wood stuff, which Ed and Sirius happily ignored. When they were almost done, he stopped and looked up at them thoughtfully.
"I regret to say that I believe that Ash wood would work best."
"What do you mean you regret?" Ed asked.
"Well, I don't have any on me. So I'll have to order some. How about you two do some grocery shopping tomorrow? I'll look after the animals."
"What, really!? That's awfully kind of you." Sirius piped in, happy to get away from the sheep he'd been watching for the majority of the last few days.
"Yes, yes. I shall pass you a shopping list tomorrow. You can spend as much time there as you want. And you can help me when the material gets here, Edward."
"Sure. Is there a post office in that town?"
"Yes, there is. Are you thinking of sending a letter to your family?"
"No, not exactly. I wanted to send it to someone I know in Scotland, but I don't have any money."
"I could pay you in advance for helping me, so you could send off your letter, how about that?"
"That's great, but why are you doing so much for us, Greg?" Ed asked a little skeptically.
"Stop calling me that! As for an explanation, wand making is my passion. When I realized that it was getting more and more difficult for me to make wands because my hands were getting shaky, I had decided to retire instead of ruining the reputation of my wands. You can't imagine how happy I am that although I am retired people still want me to make wands for them. Initially, I was afraid I would disappoint you because the wands wouldn't be good. But if I have excellent help such as yours, then I feel fully confident about the wands. Now hurry up and wash the dishes, you still have a letter to write."
So the next day Ed and Sirius stepped through the Floo headed to a lively wizarding pub in Schwarzenach, the next closest town. Sirius wanted to give Ed as much time to look for information as possible, so he left him at the library first thing and then went to look for a grocer's and the post office. Although Ed was a little worried that Sirius might do something stupid because he wasn't very familiar with muggle things, he wasn't willing enough to go along with him. The library was much bigger than Ed had expected it to be and there were a fair amount of people browsing books even so early in the morning. Most of the books were in German, so Ed had to find a dictionary before he could start looking for a book on lions. He hadn't had a lot of time to look into the dictionary they bought because Sirius had monopolized it for most of the time. But it didn't take him long to get fully absorbed into the books, even though it was a real hassle to check up all the words before he could actually understand what they meant. By the time he looked up again to check the time Sirius was looking over his shoulder.
"Hey, Ed. Why don't we get something to eat?"
"Why? I just started."
"Man, you really get engrossed in your work don't you?"
"What? What are you talking about? What time is it?"
Sirius sighed and shook his head. "When I came by at lunch time to ask you to eat something you wouldn't even respond. And now I've been here for at least half an hour and you don't even notice that you haven't eaten anything since breakfast? Ed, it's already 5 o'clock. Come on, let's go back. I bet Greg's worried that we've run off." He patted Ed on the back and then helped to replace the various books Ed had taken for his research back onto the shelves.
The moment they were back another wand was shoved into their faces.
"I know, I know! I told you I was going to watch the sheep, but then I decided to start on Edward's new wand. Here, try this!"
"Are you sure we should try this here?"
"Of course! Why in the world wouldn't we try it here?"
"I have bad experience with wands, apparently not many of them like me. So, there were all kinds of explosions the last time I got a new wand."
"Alright then, let's go out."
The moment Gregorovitch handed the wand to Ed, it millions of tiny blue sparks erupted from its tip and then the wand exploded. All three of them were speechless.
Sirius was the first to break out of his stupor. "I don't understand. Colored sparks are usually a sign that they have accepted you, right? Greg, why did the wand destroy itself?"
But Gregorovitch just shook his head in a dazed manner. "I have no idea."
That night, Ed found that he couldn't sleep. His own words echoed in his mind. 'Not many wands like me. Is it because I'm not supposed to be in this world? Because I'm not supposed to have and use magic? Or because I'm a scientist and deep down I'm still skeptical of magic?' He sighed and tried to calm his mind by going through the animal exercises again.
"Boo! Get up! I've decided to take your training a step further! Come on! Get up!" Ed used his hand to swat his human alarm clock. "Hey! What was that for? I was just trying to get you up, shrimp!"
"Who're you calling... smaller than an ant... Go away... You're annoying..." Ed mumbled in his half sleeping state. And then what Sirius said finally clicked in his mind. "Wha-"
Bang.
He had tried to sit up too fast and didn't see that Sirius was bending himself over him and their heads had collided.
"Ouch! What did you do that for."
"I didn't do it on purpose!"
"It sure looked like you did! Ah well, look, hurry and get dressed and get a few slices of toast, then you can come and keep me and the sheeps company."
Ed wasted no time getting dressed and a few minutes later he was running with two slices of toast in his mouth and another in his hand towards Sirius who was entertaining the flock of sheep.
"... And then they lived happily ever after." Sirius finished and the sheep bleated and walked away.
Ed raised his eyebrow at Sirius.
"Ready to get started, short stuff?"
"WHO'RE YOU CALLING SMALLER THAN A FLEA, YOU FLEA BAG!"
"It's good that you're awake now, but could you try not to shout? The sheep don't like it."
"And how would you know that?"
"I was getting to that. You see, Animagi can communicate with animals to some extent."
"What really?"
"Yes, duh. Else I wouldn't be telling you this. Now stop interrupting me. Ahem, as I was saying, you can communicate with animals. But their form of communication is not at all like that of humans. They don't use words, more like, wills. You have to try and express what you want without using words."
"And how am I supposed to do that?"
"Well, it's actually not that difficult, you just have to use your eyes. As the saying goes: the eyes are the windows to your soul. Anyway, I was just trying to make you understand that animals are indeed much simpler beings than humans, so in your task to transform into an animal you're not allowed to have too complicated thoughts like: I have to brew an epic potion to bring Dumbledore's evil deeds to the light! Yeah, you can't think of stuff like that. That's also part of the reason you had to do the meditating for such a long time. So, we're going to start off with meditating again and you should try and focus on simple thoughts like hunting or sleeping or something similar."
"And how long do I have to do this?"
"Tell me if you think you've done it successfully. And don't try to lie to me, I know how difficult it is and it won't help you in the slightest."
As simple as it sounded it was difficult to imagine being an animal and only think of simple thoughts an animal would have. Thoughts like 'What time is it?' or 'I wonder if everyone is okay.' kept pushing themselves to the front of his bored mind. For some reason a picture of a small kitten in the cold winter rain in Central flashed through his mind. The simplest of thoughts. A thought he was well acquainted with. A thought or rather an emotion he knew he could focus on completely. Survival.
"I'm done."
Sirius who had been looking at the sheeps on the meadow turned his head and looked toward him.
"About time too. You've been at it for two hours. Moving on to more lecturing, although it should be common knowledge, not many people realize that magic is not driven by words or brute strength, but rather by emotions or focused thoughts. That's why people actually use words: They reinforce thoughts. So, you have to summon your magic and warp it using the thought you just focused on while having the image of your animal in your head, so you can change into your Animagus form. With those components you will have set the type, direction and strength of the magic, which is really all any spell needs."
Ed realized that contrary to his looks, Sirius was quite knowledgable in the field of magic. Or at least the facts that deal with Animagus magic.
"Wait, I have a question. What is the difference between this type of magic and actual Transfiguration?"
"Transfiguration is a forced transformation, it's unnatural. And this type is not really forced, your body is pretty much tuned in to the animal of your soul. That's why you can't transform into anything else, because any other shape would be forced."
Ed pondered this information for a moment before asking his next question. "How exactly does summoning my magic work?" In all honesty he knew, but he did want to see how thoroughly Sirius had studied this field.
"Hmmm... Well, figure it out for yourself. I can't explain everything to you."
"Not even a tip?"
"Ehh... You have to focus your magic into your center and not your wand or hands in this case." Just then one of the sheep ran too far away from the group.
"I'll handle them. You concentrate. The sooner you master it and the faster we get wands the faster we'll be outta here." With that he headed off to guide the sheep back to the flock. Ed sat down on the grass and closed his eyes. Holding on to the animal he would change into while keeping the emotions bound to the thoughts and finally using it to warp the magic. Everything made sense; it was logical and used logical procedure, even if in an illogical field. Ed found it pretty easy to keep a picture of a lion in his mind while only having the survival factor on his mind, but he had no idea how he was going to do something complex like bringing forth his magic while keeping the thoughts simple. And that in itself was actually the illogical part, if you keep yourself focused on one thing it's nearly impossible to do complex magic wandlessly where a high amount of concentration was needed anyway.
"Argh! This is so complicated! I don't get it!" He yelled towards the sky while throwing his fists towards it.
So, the only option left to him was to do one thing after another. This meant that he had to decide an order in which he would perform each action.
'I have to summon the magic first, that's obvious. But then I'd have to hold it there, if that even makes sense. And then I have to make sure I picture the animal in my head and have the survival thought in place. It would work out in that order, but can I even hold magic ready for use like that? Gotta test it out.'
He put his hands together and pictured the circle, but he didn't have any equation in his mind. He pictured a stream, a flow of energy and directed it towards his chest. Instantly he felt some kind of warmth originating from about where the heart was. But it was difficult to hold it there he needed to focus on it, but he didn't really need to keep the images of a stream in his mind that directed the energy. Slowly and making sure he was still focused on holding his magic where it was, he tried to imagine a lion in action. But as soon as he did it his focus on his magic diminished and the magic dissipated. He tried a few more times but every time wielded the same results.
"Grah! This is frustrating me!" And then he finally opened his eyes to realize that it was way past lunch time already. Sirius was sitting beside him with a bowl of salad and a flask of water in his hand and another one beside a second bowl on the floor.
"Back on earth? Here's your lunch. I took the liberty of taking it out here for you."
"Thanks." Ed picked up the bowl and started eating.
"So, how's your training coming along? Any progress?"
"Yeah, mental progress. But I can't put the theory to use. I'm certain it's right, but there's just something I'm missing."
"Need any help?"
"No, I'm fine. I'll do this on my own."
"Good luck."
"I don't need it, especially not from you. I doubt you have much."
"Suit yourself. I have plenty of luck when I need it."
Sirius returned the dishes to the house when Ed was done, so he could continue with his training. He tried a few more times, even though it was pretty tiring. But still he had no success.
'So doing one and then the other will make me lose my focus on my magic. What else can I do?'
He lay in the grass thinking of a solution, while watching the sheep.
'That's it! If I rapidly switch back and forth between the two then it could technically be called focusing on both at the same time. If I can master switching back and forth, then I would probably have solved my problem. And if I can get the thoughts to surface when I focus on the picture that would be killing two birds with one stone! I'll have to work on that first. Hmm... Thoughts and emotions trigger magic. An image of a lion that triggers the thought of survival in me.'
He tried coming up with the most fearsome and savage pictures of lions he could imagine, but it kept being replaced by scarier and scarier pictures. Finally he was satisfied with his fear and self-preservation inspiring picture. And then he meditated again to wash away the image, after which he quickly called it up again. Making him flinch outwardly. Now that he thought about it, the scene reminded him of one of his battles with scar. But it did the trick. So it was back to summoning his magic and trying to do all the things at nearly the same time. Despite knowing exactly what to do when, he couldn't get the magic to work. It wouldn't bend itself to the will of the emotion and picture.
'I just need more practice to make it more natural.'
A few days later, the ash wood for Sirius' wand arrived, so Ed had less time to practice. He still couldn't get it right and his stubburn nature forbade him to ask Sirius for anymore help. Greg insisted on showing him the finer mechanics and theory behind wandmaking and also insisted that certain parts of it be done by hand, but Ed didn't really mind. He needed a break aside from landing punches and kicks against a tree to get himself in form again. By the time lunch rolled around, the wand was done, so Ed went out onto the field to give it to Sirius so he could try it out. When he got there he found him chasing sheep around in his dog form. The sheep didn't seem to mind; instead they were happily running and bleating cheerfully in tune to Sirius' barks. The sight was actually quite entertaining and astounding at the same time. Sirius noticed him rather quickly and then came towards the teen and changed back into human shape.
"What? You're done already?"
"Yeah, just made my first wand. Try it."
"Just between the two of us. I hope you don't turn into a copy of Greg. He's quite horrible if you insult his wands."
"How would you know that?"
"I did once, while I was making lunch, because I really want to head back to Great Britain and give that Dumbledore a piece of my mind. And then he was just there suddenly and smacked me on the head real hard. Then he started ranting about me not having any respect for elders and the countryside at all, which is actually not even wrong, and when he was done he hit me again."
"Serves you right though. Now hurry up and try it out. I'm supposed to tell Greg if it fits. If it doesn't then we'll have to start all over again."
"Alright, man. Quit nagging. I'm at it already." He took the wand and gave it a sharp and precise flick. Instantly, beautiful sparks of many colors shot out of the wand and danced around the field for a short moment before bursting and disappearing.
"That's an affirmative, right?" Sirius asked with a big grin on his face.
"I hope so. I need to go back and tell the old man, so he can quickly get started on mine."
"Hey, before you go, what are the characteristics of my wand?"
"Ehh... Fourteen and a half inches, Ash wood with Hungarian Horntail heartstring. Good for duels and Transfiguration, I think. Come on let's go, you still need to make lunch."
Gregorovitch was most happy to hear the good news, but after that his expression turned thoughtful.
"What was your first wand like? By who was it made?"
"Honestly, I forgot his name. It wasn't Ollivander, that much I can tell you. I believe it was around 11 inches. But I'm not sure about that anymore. It was made from Cherry wood and had four cores: two Thestral hairs, one Griffin hair and one Hippogriff hair."
Gregorovitch put his fingers to his chin and stared off into one direction. He appeared to be deep in thought, so Ed took the chance to go outside and practice again. He still couldn't get the thought to actually affect his magic.
'I'm supposed to let it 'warp the magic', but it's not doing anything. So, maybe I'm forcing too much control on it? Then it would only be logical that the thought could not take control of the magic. But how do I give it more freedom? Just let go of the magic?'
Ed concentrated his magical energy once more upon his chest and then blended in the images. He hesitated a moment and then just let go of his magic while continuing to focus strongly upon the thoughts and image he had chosen.
