"Ambrose, Charles" McGonagall shouted to the group of first years, Amongst them Charles was making his way to the head table and the Sorting Hat in particular. He smiled, a pleased and expectant smile.
He was a Half-Blood; not all four grandparents were magical, yet his family was particularly new with no real magical connections. It was his great-grandfather Elias Ambrose who had started it all, a muggleborn who opposed Grindelwald.
He never got enough time to create a fortune yet the potion patents he had made earned the not yet established Ambrose House a pretty sum. His wife had also been a muggleborn, but she did survive to raise their daughter and Charles' grandmother. She had inherited the Ambrose fortune and expanded upon it with her winnings as a three times duelling Champion being beaten in the fourth final by Filius Flitwick. A close family friend who Charles had met and gotten acquainted with before school.
She and her muggleborn husband had both died at the hands of Voldemort, he had come personally and the duel between the two Ambrose's and Voldemort was said to last an hour and a whole town had been levelled.
He had some vague memories from his childhood before the rebirth about Annabeth Ambrose, the duelling champion. The next generation and his parents had been the first half-blood of the family as he had 2 magical grandparents and thus half-blood. With that the Minor house of Ambrose had been established and its fiscal value rose considerably as Jacob Ambrose was a monetary genius and invested in various shops across Diagon and the French District owning a majority in the potion Apocathy.
He had died once again by Voldemort albeit this time on his orders and by the hand of August Rockwood the month after he was revealed a spy of Voldemort, his first proper Death Eater mission.
That left a barely 100-year-old family and 16-year-old House in the hands of Charles Ambrose, a not inconsiderable fortune yet one that if not expanded would only stay for a generation. Compared to the wealth of purebloods like the Malfoy it was miniscule yet larger than most in the wizarding world.
Wealth-wise it could be compared to the Dumbledore House before Albus' rise to popularity.
Charles had let free reign for Goblin investment with half the account and the rest he had focused on specific companies he knew would do good in the future, both in the muggle world and the wizarding world, investing heavily in the company that would come to create the Firebolt and its successor brooms.
He had grown up without any parents as they had died when he was young, and he was placed in multiple foster homes all of which never truly acclimated to him. Either intimidated or unable to accept his intelligence and especially not his accidental magic.
Something he had begun controlling consciously even before the rebirth. Once that happened, he ran away from the Foster system and into the wizarding world based on the very few yet strong memories of magic and loving parents.
It was in the first weeks that he had discovered his heritage and what that entailed. In the Ambrose Vault he had found the heir ring which had a simple amber stone imbedded into a band of Goblin Silver imbued with various protective spells and a permanent Portkey to any placed owned by the Ambrose family.
Which included a house in Liverpool and a vacation home in southern France.
The biggest help however were the portraits of all the Ambroses. His two great-grandparents, grandparents, and parents all in paintings ready to help him. With their help and the Ambrose House-Elf Floppy he had refurbished Ambrose Townhouse in Liverpool.
From there he had slowly filled up the place with books and various gadgets from the Ambrose Vaults to make it a proper home. With a heavy price he had contracted the Goblins to create the best wards money could buy and his home was protected.
The library had gone from completely empty to filled to the brim with books from Diagon and Knocturn. Everything from Transfiguration to Mind Arts could be found there. That was what Charles had done, the various books and notes his predecessors had taken and bought were sorted in the library based on the topic. Everything from personal Potion Notes by Elias Ambrose or Duelling Techniques by Annabeth it was all there.
There was one thing that was scarce there, Wandless magic. A peculiar topic that Charles had been doing before and especially after the rebirth. Since he couldn't get a wand until 11, he dedicated 3 full years to the study of raw magic, the magical core and wandless magic. Or as he had coined it Pure Magic.
To Summarize, Pure Magic is not about emulating wand movement with the hand nor is it the use of wand made spells like most Charms, it is the art of using raw and pure magic guided only by a person's own Imagination, Intent, and Instinct.
Magic is in us all and guides our every move, the art of listening to our inner magic is the first step, Instinct. It allows you to get in tune with your magic and it will follow your wish much more readily without the need for emotion. Thus, without Instinct it is purely Accidental Magic.
The effect you wish for must be clearly pictured in your mind or already done enough to be in your magic's 'muscle memory'. This takes multiple repetitions and thus Imagination is key to any wandless magic, you must clearly see the change happening and seeing the end result for magic to understand what you wish for.
If you do not Intend for the change to happen it will not, you may be in tune with your magic and see the change in your mind clearly, yet nothing happens. This is most probably the cause of a lack of intent. You must focus on your will and the fact you want it to happen. Magic must see that you truly wish for the change and not a passing thought.
Excerpt from The Guide to Pure Magic -Charles Ambrose
The result of his study in wandless magic proved fruitful not only for his magic growth but also for his speed at writing and compiling texts. He couldn't use a wand nor buy one for that matter and he focused his remaining time on Potions.
Compiling and experimenting with the modifications and new brews by his great-grandfather Elias Ambrose. All of them changes that were never released due to his untimely death by grindelwald's men. Charles used a summer to compile a plenitude of recipes that Elias had improved and put them in one book publishing it a full year before Hogwarts would start for him.
Keeping his book on Pure Magic private for the time being.
Charles focused back on the present and felt the Sorting Hat descend over his eyes.
'Hello Sorting Hat, what's your name?' He asked curiously.
'Ho oh, Alastair. Not many bother to ask, I only sort and nothing more according to them.'
'Indeed oh mighty sheath of Godric's sword.' Charles responded with a snicker.
'Dear me, rebirth? Interesting. A special wand too? My oh my.'
Charles walked into Ollivander's shop intent to not be frightened. He released a magical probe that he had developed, much like Echolocation but with magic instead. It returned a negative of any living beings and he was truly perplexed.
"Mr. Ambrose I presume. Your father had hawthorn wood and phoenix feather 9 inches. Quite a strange wand indeed. Yet now it is your turn." Charles quickly decided that Ollivadner was either a genius or a bit barmy. Probably both, they go hand in hand after all.
"Yes, Holly, Unicorn Tail Hair 12 inches." He said and handed a grey wand that shone of light in his magical senses. Instead of the normal rejection or acceptance the wand exploded. Charles flew through the window and into the streets with a great light.
It was only his pure magic that saved him from breaking any bones. He re-entered the shop apologetic. "Sorry." He murmured looking at the destroyed window. "No, no. Nothing to be sorry for." He plucked something out of Charles' hair. "Curious, the tail hair accepted you, yet the wand did not. I believe we need to enter my workshop."
The workshop was as expected filled with various pieces of wood and different jars with cores. Charles noted the various paintings of different Ollivander's all stare down at him. "Another custom?"
"Yes Balgo, I do believe Mr. Ambrose will be even more peculiar."
Charles couldn't help but ask. "Who is that and what's so peculiar about me?" Instead of answering he plucked another string of hair that was not his from his head. "I do believe this wand will be my most difficult one yet, to be chosen by both Unicorn hair and Thestral Hair. Truly magnificent. Come back tomorrow Mr. Ambrose and I will have your wand ready."
The next day he came back with Ollivander once more nowhere to be seen. Instead of a magical echolocation he released waves of magic converted into kinetic energy to work as a physical echolocation. Once more he failed, and Ollivander stood beside him uncomfortably close.
"Yew, Helix-entwined Thestral and Unicorn Tail Hair 13 inches.
The Unicorn and Thestral hair are complete opposite, one is the embodiment of death and the other life. Yew is the wood of both life and death and this wand is chaos. No magic will be closed off and with the extreme power you will surely be a great wizard."
As Charles held it, he could see. His eyes went from grey to brilliant amber much like the stone on his Heir Ring. With it he could see faint orange outline in every living thing in Diagon. Even some more intelligent creatures.
Souls. A wand to master both life and death opened Charles' eyes to the soul.
Looking closely at the wand he could see a band of orange energy connect from it and to his Soul going through his magical core. On the metaphysical side he could clearly see the wand for what it was. He could clearly see two different energies of opposing natures spin in harmony around each other, one black the other white. The wood around created some sort of magical field as it kept the cores stable and made it shine the same orange as Charles' soul.
On the physical side the wand Was dark grey with a curved hilt going up further into a spinning mesh of Yew ending in a sharper than normal tip. Runes were carved alongside the veins spinning upwards to the top and from what little Runes he knew it were for focusing, enhancing and containing magic.
The flash died down and his vision was back to normal, yet he knew that with but a thought he could go back to his soul-vision.
'Yeah, Its very dear to me and not to mention powerful.' Charles responded coming out of the memory of his wand. The hat thought some more before responding. 'I am at an impasse; you would fit for either Ravenclaw or Slytherin. It's up to you.'
'Well, Ravenclaw requires a riddle to pass.'
'That's it? You choose Slytherin on that?' Alastair asked perplexed.
'Yes, now get on with it.'
"Very well, quite peculiar, nonetheless, SLYTHERIN!" The hat mumbled then shouted for the entire hall to hear. Charles hopped off and handed the dusty hat to McGonagall who did not look all that happy. He soon got the answer when he sat down at the table of greens.
"What took so long?" An older boy, probably fourth year asked. "What do you mean?"
"You took 30 minutes mate. That's the largest hat stall since McGonagall herself."
"Huh, sorry the Alastair and I were just talking about my wand and ambitions."
"Which are?" The same person asked. Charles scoffed. "Now why would I reveal that?" "Good, then you at least have common sense."
As they talked the others finished sorting and Dumbledore initiated the feast. "Nitwit, Blubber and Ointment!" he shouted, and the hall got filled with delicious food. "He does not have any common sense, I tell you." Theodore Nott muttered from up the table. "I'm Adam Pols, one of the now three Half-Bloods in Slytherin. A Word of advice, be strong because you are alone. As a half-blood Slytherin will generally be hard on you."
"Thanks for the warning, any recommendation to what to do?"
"Either you can do like Tracey Davis, your year mate has done, be friend with a major pureblood heir, or you can do it like me, and Severus Snape did in his time. Become powerful enough that they can't oppose you."
"I will keep that in mind Adam." Charles responded and went back to eat. Power, he had plenty of, without a wand with Pure Magic he was already a match for most students in the school and his wand magic had been advancing greatly. So yes, he would count himself ready.
