C3

Mat was informed of the new schedule the headmaster gave him and was excited. Books can only teach you so much. Practical exercises are essential for learning. He was looking forward to working with a smaller class, almost like a seminar, he excelled in those at university. They did challenge him and he improved in leaps and bounds. When the school year was about to end, he was challenging the teachers to find more tasks for him. They were not prepared for the speed he was learning. He could never get a proper grasp at maths, now he took to it like a duck to water. He was always quite proficient with English and could read and write pretty fast as well. Now he was doing all three as at astonishing rate. Mat loved it.

It was the day before school broke up for the summer holidays and everyone was excited, and Mat went with the flow. He was following his mates outside the school to walk home with them. He realised that he could stand them more now he treated them like adults, they acted more mature around him too. With the kids that were still too immature, he distanced himself. They were still kids though, they will learn eventually.

His mates ran across the main road laughing and he just followed, not really paying attention and he heard the screeching of tires coming from his right. He turned sharply, he thought "oh shit not again" as he saw a red car speeding toward him, he put his hand, palm out instinctively and closed his eyes, hoping he would not have to go through all this shit again. Instead of any pain or waking up dead, he heard an almighty crash, metal twisting and glass shattering. He stayed where he was, the noise quickly went away, it was replaced by a hissing noise. Mat slowly opened his eyes and mostly all he could see was a golden glow emanating from his hand. The glow had hexagons and was pulsing from his hand outwards. It was about 10 centimetres away from his hand. The best way Mat could explain it was that it was a shield. He looked down and noticed that the front of the car was crunched around the shield. His eyes were bulging, he took all this information in and, obviously, this was coming from him, he could feel it somehow. This was new.

He heard shouting from his mates, and he turned to look at them. He then turned back to the car and dropped his hand. The shield melted away. The first thing Mat thought to do, was run. And run he did. Five minutes later he was home, he threw his bag in the living room and went upstairs to think about what happened in his bedroom. He laid on his bed staring up at the ceiling for what felt like an eternity. Mat pondered and thought to himself "So, I can absorb information at astonishing speed, have super-fast reflexes, boundless energy and can create shields. What comes next? I can do magic?" He shot up in his bed and swore "magic!" he shouted out loud, "is that the key? Can I do it? Or do I have more than one ability? I will have to do some experiments on this." He said so himself.

Mat meditated and went through his memories of what happened earlier that day, and decided to try and see if he can do it again. To make sure it was not a one-time thing. He also decided to test and see if he could do something else. What kind of magic is it if it is magic? If I have other abilities, how would I figure out which ones I have? Science fiction and fantasy books, Mat decided. He will keep on doing what he was doing, he felt physically and mentally stronger and this new information did not stop his hunger to learn. In fact, he realised that he wanted to keep on learning.

The next day started as usual, the ritual, breakfast, chinwag with his dad and then school. He contemplated last night that if it was magic, does it have rules? Mat's favourite author Brandon Sanderson wrote an article called 'Sanderson's Laws of Magic'. He discussed the way magic systems work in books. He grades them from soft magic, to hard magic. Soft magic, in the most basic of terms, is when the author has no specific rules for the magic involved, there is no system. Tolkien and the magic that is used in by the Wizards in The Lord of the Rings, is the most relatable when discussing soft magic. Sanderson goes on to say; the reason Gandalf does not just fly Frodo to Mount Doom is that it does not follow Tolkien's own magic system, but the readers do not know the rules. Hard magic follows a set a law of magic which the author uses to influence the world. In this case, the best example is Sanderson's own Mistborn series. Allomancers usually have one skill, using steel for example, lets them push metals away, Iron Allomancers lets them pull metals towards them. The rules are there and cannot be broken. The Mistborn is the oddity because they can use all metals and is only heard of in hearsay and the mythos within the world. The Middle ground is a mix between the two. Harry Potter is a prime example of this and has rules which have to be followed. The author can make up rules and spells to suit the narrative in the mid-range of the Laws of magic. Rowling kept adding, and inventing new magics to the system, however the rules that she made are rarely broken.

Mat studied Sanderson's Laws and was curious to where, or if, superhumans could be placed anywhere on the scale. They all have abilities, but they vary in every character. If a certain problem occurs, a new superhuman could be brought in to fix the problem. Mat didn't know what to think. He would have to figure this out and understand where the laws crossover to this new world and if they apply here. So, the trip to the library consisted of burrowing though the science fiction and fantasy sections. Luckily, they had the first six Wheel of time novels, so he grabbed them. He also tried to get Game of Thrones, but he wasn't allowed it. Made sense he supposed, from their point of view anyway. Some Star Trek books were thrown in for variety, and Warhammer, both fantasy and 40k were also included. He was close to the limit of 15 books. Unfortunately, the superhero genre was not as popular in the 90's, especially in Yorkshire, as it was in 2029. The best thing he could think of is to go to a comic book store. Mat had never been to one of them before. He left with 13 books that day.

He absorbed the information of the fantasy books and realised he knew exactly what was going to happen, word for word, in the Wheel of Time series. He had read them 7 times in his old world. He decided to test this and delved into his mind palace again after reading the 6th book. He visualised opening the seventh in his mind. He could do it. This was brilliant. Unfortunately though, the hundreds of academic books Mat had read through in his old life could not be fully accessed. This was because he used a small part of a book for the information he needed at the time. Like a chapter or two to get a reference for an essay. However, he had read hundreds of sci fi and fantasy books, he was a bit of a nerd. He realised that he had a library that he could access in his head. The books he had read this time around were added to this library. Mat constructed a library in his mind palace. He was adding more and more to the mind palace, and eventually it started to grow. He started calling it The Village.

The Village was composed of an outer wall with buildings inside and a fortified structure on a hill overlooking it. There was no real landscape around the village, just a purple-blue miasma. There was a huge complex on one side which dominated The Village, he called it the University. The University was a white brick complex with pillars that seem to be influenced by Roman and Greek architecture. The Windows were decorated on the sides with flowers and trees, the glass was plain and had a single pain of glass, made to have as much natural light in the building as possible. This is where the library was located. At this time it was mainly empty, the library started to take shape though and seemed to fit well with the rest of The University. The complex had many empty rooms and labs which he had plans for later. The fortified structure looked like a classic wooden motte and baily but knew that the more he came here and imprinted his personality, it would become stronger and eventually turn to stone, hopefully even metal. There were a few wooden houses and hovels dotted around. Mat reasoned that these were here because that is how he envisioned a settlement. He had a feeling it was what an Anglo-Saxon settlement would look like. He was fine with that. There was a temple where he could practice his martial arts, meditate and go over his experiences to iron out mistakes. The temple had a South-East Asian design with many trees intertwined with the stone. It looked like Angkor Wat, the trees were part of the structure, not growing through it. He could also see a tower starting to form, he couldn't figure out why that was there, his subconscious was probably trying to tell him something, no point in arguing with himself though, Mat reasoned.

He was seated in a comfy chair and reading book 7 of the Wheel of Time, he could read it all, like it was actually there! This was perfect. He read the rest of the series and other books that were installed in his brain. He decided to go to the temple to try and form some new ideas about his powers. He settled down in the standard cross-legged position under a tree. He realised he should get some books on meditation and psychology to perfect The Village in the future. He replayed the incident with the car and shield over and over. Mat thought that the shield came out because it was activated by the adrenaline running through his body through from panic. If he could re-create this feeling, could he activate the shield? He did not want to stand in front of cars to try this though. Mat came back to the real world and stood up in his room. He visualised and tried to emulate the emotion and feelings from before. He was sweating and trying his hardest for about ten minutes when he felt something. He could feel a small flow of something being pushed to his hand. He opened his eyes to see a light golden mist coming out of his hand. It wasn't a shield though, but it was something. He tried to will the mist into something, he got it to get brighter but that was it. He felt exhausted after half an hour pumping whatever energy it was into the mist. And he was bloody hungry!

He went downstairs for food. It was nearly 5:30 now, and his mum was about to make tea. He really fancied fish finger sandwiches and mushy peas. He devoured them and was still hungry "this shield thing must take more energy than I thought" he thought. He smuggled some biscuits and crisps upstairs and munched on them reflecting on the day. He fell asleep early that night and missed boxing.

Mat woke up later than usual. His mum was shouting him to get up before he was late for school. He swore and did the usual business but rushed so to not be late. He made it on time, just. He sat in his class and Mrs Anderton started calling out the register. He felt someone looking at him, he turned in time to see four of his classmates look away when he saw them. They were his mates that were there yesterday. He swore under his breath. Mrs Anderton called his name, he replied, and the morning went on. The first break was when everything went tits up. Everyone had heard what happened. The kids were all asking him about it. He just didn't know what to say, no matter what happened they would create rumours about him anyway. Mat didn't like being the centre of attention. This time was no different. Though he handled it better than his previous life. He tried not to respond to any of the questions, he did answer that had no knowledge of the incident though. It was the break after dinner when something weird happened.

Mat was in one of his seminar sessions, doing advanced algebra with the tutor when he was called to the headmaster's office. That in its self wasn't unusual, it was how he was called there that was. Mr bunting came himself. He looked worried. Mat sighed and mumbled "bollocks" to himself, got up, and followed Mr Bunting. He saw the man standing in the headmaster's office and he was an odd sight to say the least. He had dark grey hair and light blue eyes, almost like ice but with a friendly but serious expression. He was wearing a very out of date blue pin striped suit, bowler hat, and a brown trench coat with sunflower attached to the front left of it.

Because Mat was in the semi-private seminars, he had no idea that the man had been speaking to many of the children and the handful of adults who witnessed what happened with the car yesterday. Mr Bunting pulled out a seat "Matthew, sit down please, don't worry, you're not in trouble". Mat smiled nervously but kept eye contact with the man in the weird suit, "this is Mr Dawlish, he has come investigating a car accident involving a child you're age yesterday. Witnesses say that you were there as well, and you ran away. The boys you were walking home with are all shaken up about it. Understandable really. Can you tell us what happened?"

Mat looked at them both, his mind trying to figure out what to say, he attempted to go for the half-truth "I'm not exactly sure, I heard a squeal and massive smash I turned to see a car had hit something, I'm not sure what. I panicked and ran home. I know I should have stayed, sorry."

He looked at them both pleadingly and the headmaster nodded as if he had just verified what the others had said. Mr Dawlish bored into Mats eyes, he could feel something from the man. "Can I speak to Matthew in private please Mr Bunting?"

Mr Bunting harrumphed at that, "I'm not sure that is appropriate sir, an adult should be with him when it comes to a situation as serious as a witness to a car crash."

Mr Dawlish smiled and a wooden stick fell into his hand, turned away so the headmaster couldn't see it. Mat did though. "Is that a wand?" Mat thought. Mat saw Mr Dawlish swirl the stick around and a light pink light flew out and connected with Mr Bunting's head. Mr Bunting appeared to instantly look drunk "I'm sure it will be fine Mr Bunting; can you step outside for a while please?" Mr Dawlish asked.

Mr Bunting drawled "err o-okay then" he stumbled outside, and the door closed on its own.

Mat turned to Mr Dawlish wide eyed and a clear look of confusion and mistrust on his face. Dawlish sat down with a welcoming smile on his face. "No need to be alarmed Matthew, I am what muggles call a policeman. I know something else happened yesterday, I know you might be scared of what you saw, but I can assure you it is okay. Its perfectly normal for this to happen and you are not in trouble at all. You can trust me."

Mat stared into his eyes, trying to process this. He was in Harry Potter Land. This is nuts! He remembered the guy from the movies, he was an Auror. He did a bit look like the guy from the films, but also different. He looked at the wand, then back at him. And uttered one word "magic?"

Dawlish nodded and smiled a pleased smile "you saw that did you? Mr bunting will be fine I can assure you, I just had to speak to you alone because muggles are not aloud to know about the Wizarding World. Do you understand?" Mat could only nod at that. "Excellent! Now, can you tell me what really happened?"

Mat thought to himself "fuck it" and tell the guy, what's the worst that could happen? "erm, my mates ran across the road, I just followed them, not paying attention. It was stupid I know. Then I heard a screech and saw a car coming towards me. I held out my hand to try and stop it, don't know why it thought it would help. But it did! A golden light was surrounding me, and the car had crashed into it. I was fine. I didn't know what else to do and panicked, like I said earlier, and ran away. Was the person driving the car okay?"

Dawlish nodded at that, "Yes, yes he will be fine, the police have him in custody, he was apparently a bit drunk at the time." Dawlish smiled "I knew it was you Matthew. I detected someone used magic where it happened, and traced it back to this school, I'm happy came clean. You were lucky, lad. It seems like you protected yourself with you're magic and cast, what we call, the Protego charm. Very impressive for a young 'un. You performed accidental magic, usually you need a wand to cast that spell."

Mat nodded and couldn't help but break into a grin "cool" he chuckled

Dawlish chuckled as well "it is cool indeed. Now I have isolated the incident, we can do damage control and make sure no one remembers what happened" with Mat looking at him in concern Dawlish spread his hands out in a placative manner "don't worry! It will be fine. We have experts who do this sort of thing all the time, no one will be hurt. We will send somebody to you're home sometime in the future to speak with your parents about it okay?"

There were too many questions going through Mat's head at this moment in time. Mr Dawlish placed his hand on Mat's shoulder, "I know you have questions, but it will be okay, you can ask as many as you like when the others come to see you." With that, Dawlish opened the door, cast a cancelling spell on Mr Bunting, shook the man's hand and left. Mr Bunting came back in, asked if everything was well. "Yes, Mr Bunting, I'm fine. Just a bit shook up is all."

Mr Bunting smiled and told Mat to take it easy for rest of the day. He did as he was told, not because he was told too, because he had to process what he had learned. Harry Potter Land, this is just getting daft now! Mat had to plan. In mid-1997, the Half Blood Prince would be ending and the events of The Deathly Hallows were about to start. That meant that the war going to happen soon. In fact, shouldn't there be bits and bobs on the news about people disappearing and other stuff? Like gas mains exploding and people dying? This is another thing to investigate. This is the first time Mat felt scared. Some right nutters in the Wizarding World, like Bellatrix Lestrange and Voldemort. Hopefully he would be able to learn enough to stay out of trouble. One thought came to mind though. Dawlish. He was an Auror with Fudge then was working under Voldemort capturing muggleborns if he remembered correctly. Mat was a muggleborn, unless his parents didn't tell him about being wizards. He highly doubted that. So, if Dawlish was a bad guy, capturing muggleborns, shouldn't have he taken Mat away? "Something feels off here" Mat thought.

Mat was quiet for the rest of the day. Everyone thought that he was processing what he saw yesterday. Which was kind of true. He went home, had tea and decided to meditate and read the Harry Potter books at The Library in The Village. He began to make plans. He knew about most spells in the Wizarding World, the lore, the story and the characters. He knew what was happening right now, and if this world is anything like the books, the war would be over just in time for him to go to Hogwarts. Harry would sacrifice like a good little pawn, get resurrected and kill Voldemort by sheer dumb luck; like most times when Harry won. The best thing for Mat to do is keep low and play it by ear. He would train himself as much as he can under the radar to protect his family. This gave Mat a purpose. To protect his family.

Over the weekend, Mat read through the Harry Potter books five times. He made a room in The University that was dedicated to the Wizarding world. There were files upon files of contents that he could access from the series. He categorized parts from the books into their own sections and sub sections. Spells for example, were categorised as dark, light or in the middle ground. Subsections within the categorisations we added, for example the different forms of charms and hexes. There was a character section, again, split into light, dark and middle. The locations section had places like Dagon Alley, Hogwarts and Beauxbatons. Hogwarts had massive amounts of information. Mat spent the whole weekend doing this. At the end, the room looked like an obsessed detectives' room from a cheesy police show.

On Monday morning, there was a knock at the door. Mat's dad was about to go to work. Mat overheard some voices and came from the kitchen to investigate. It was 8am and he was helping his mum wash the pots at the time. He was just about turn to get to the entryway when a man in an unbelievably bright blue robe walked through. It was intricately decorated in what seemed like silver thread. The man was bald and had dark brown skin. He was followed by one of the plainest looking people Mat had ever seen. While the first man had a welcome smile which matched his bright blue robes, the other looked outright grim in comparison. He had pasty skin, was very gaunt and his face seemed to have the emotional range of a potato. The mismatched and out of time suit made him even look more boring, if that was possible.

Mat stopped dead in his tracks as he took in the newcomers. He established that the blue man Kingsley Shacklebolt, he kind of stood out from the descriptions from the books and the portrayal of him in the movies. He could not identify the other man though. He thought that he would be able to identify someone as boring as him. His dad followed them in with a concerned look and his eyes immediately found Mat. Mat's mum then came from the kitchen drying her hands.

"Mike, who are these men?" she tried to look at them both at the same time. Her reaction was to walk over to Mat and place her hand on his shoulder. More to comfort her than Mat.

"It's okay, Sandra. This is Mr Shacklebolt and Mr Savage. They are from the government."

Mat's mum looked concerned, "the government? Why are you here?"

Shacklebolt spoke first. He had a deep voice and spoke clearly and slowly, it demanded respect "It is fine Mrs Lawson, We explained to Mr Lawson that we would like to speak to you both and your son about an incident last week on Thursday."

"Why would you want to speak to Matthew?" She asked

"Your son was directly involved. I presume that he did not tell you about it?" Shacklebolt answered.

Mat's parents both looked at him with both concern and a hint of anger. Mat looked down at his feet, he had the decency to look sheepish. They explained what happened with the shield and the car. They started talking about magic.

"Magic?!" Mat's parents said at the same time. "Are you mad or something?" Mat's dad said.

Shacklebolt laughed, swished his wand, summoned a chair and sat down on it to the gasps of everyone else apart from Savage. Mat knew they could do this, but to see it was something else "I'll be able to do that" he thought to himself. He couldn't help but grin when he saw what Shacklebolt did though. The next couple of hours consisted of Shacklebolt and Savage describing the Wizarding world, that Mat was a wizard, and Mat attempting to ask questions and not giving away the fact that he knew about the Wizarding World already. They both observed that Mat was extremely inquisitive and asked all the right questions. They explained that they will be visited on Mat's birthday by someone from Hogwarts about Mat going to study there. Mat couldn't wait.