Heart of the Eclipse, Book one: Ascent
Chapter 5
Terra Arcana, Evans family realm
It took several days, but slowly, all three were gaining some control over the light spell. Hermione preferred creating a floating sphere of light, whereas Flora used her hand as a flashlight. Harry just made some object in the vicinity glow. It couldn't yet be called mastery, but after checking that each child could create all of these types of light, Lily decided to teach them something new.
"Now, please remember, light was easy. The next concept is movement, which is much more complex. There are countless ways to make something move, and if you visualize a different way, your magic will probably behave differently, as well. For example, the most common movement spell for beginners is Wingardium Leviosa, which is good at making a single object float. It's not a good spell if you need to position something exactly, and absolutely useless for moving anything but a solid object. It is based on the visualization of attaching a rope slightly above the centre of gravity of the object and pulling up."
She demonstrated the spell on a stone, which floated. Then, she cast it at the river. Nothing happened.
"Another similar spell is Levifors, which basically creates a plate of magic below the object and lifts that."
Another demonstration. The stone did mostly the same as before, but it fell down when Lily started moving it faster. When she cast the spell at the river, some water was pulled up, but it seemed to run over the edge of a flat circular disc and fall down to the river again.
"It's useful if you want to levitate multiple objects, and with enough practice you can shape the magic differently and transport fluids, too."
After placing a stone in front of each child, Lily continued.
"You will use the same method as with the light. Imagine some way of lifting the stone, using as much detail as possible. Try using as many different ways as possible – the more creative you become, the better you will be at using magic."
The girls immediately started to concentrate, and Harry followed. For a moment, he seemed to frown, as if reluctant to do this, but then he began to think of ways of lifting the stone, too. Lily, seeing that they would probably be at this for a while, left to fetch their lunch.
Harry, though, opened his eyes and took the stone. Then he dropped it. He repeated this several times, and the girls, distracted by the soft sound of the falling stone, stopped concentrating and watched him.
Suddenly, Harry's expression became determined. He lifted the stone again, held it there, and then there was a sudden spike of magic. He let go. The stone didn't drop.
"What... How... What did you do?"
Harry looked at the girls.
"The stone didn't want to be there. Now it does."
"But... what about gravity?"
Now, he looked at Hermione defiantly.
"If I tell my magic to give me light, it gives me light. If I tell my magic to lift a stone, it lifts a stone. And if I tell my magic to tell the stone that there is no gravity, then the stone had better behave."
After saying this, though, his expression slipped into an embarassed smile.
"Which probably isn't the best way to do this, because I'd have to tell every object exactly how I want it to behave. But if I want a stone to be in the air, I don't want to keep lifting it."
The girls seemed to contemplate this and, after some thinking, agree. None of them noticed Lily, who had returned and heard everything.
She stood slightly behind Harry, her hand at her mouth to help hold in a gasp, a tear rolling down her cheek. This went beyond simple magic. This wasn't bending reality to your will, this was reshaping truth. This was impossible – even for magicals.
What had those four idiots done?
Two moons with about fifty days each passed, and the children got more and more creative with their levitation. They even combined methods. For example, they had created chains of sand by tying one grain to another with little strings of magic. By attaching those to a stone they levitated and spun quickly, they had formed saws they used to cut down some trees for firewood. They practised this method until they could form the whole saw in a second.
Water was levitated by "sucking" it through imaginary tubes. Hermione got the idea to imagine a kind of ballon which pushed the water into the tubes instead, which increased the pressure with which the water came out at the other end.
Some twigs, leaves and long grass were fixed a few meters above the ground using Harry's method. This worked as a roof above their fireplace, sheltering them from rain. It was a temporary solution, as even the children knew that this wasn't a stable construction. Still, it managed to keep them dry in the light rain that fell for a few days.
Once more, Lily decided to teach them the next step.
"You know how to levitate things, you can cut wood using this and even make water flow to different places. I think that's enough to build a small wooden house. For the next few moons, you will spend roughly half of our days building said house, step by step. The other half will be spent increasing your control over your magic."
They started with the control part. Since they knew several methods to levitate something, she told them to begin focusing on the levitated objects and the path they should follow more than the method.
"Whenever you learn something new, always follow the same steps. First, think of several methods to accomplish your goal. Practice until those are second nature. Then, practice fine control over the effects until casting for this effect becomes an instinct, something you don't really need to concentrate for. You will practice the light spell until you can use it to detect light instead of creating it, allowing you to see with your magic. You will also practice levitation and other movement effects until you can use those concepts to feel the world around you."
Hermione seemed hesitant.
"Is something like this even possible?"
Lily nodded at her.
"Yes, it is. Most people don't bother training this far, but as a member of the guild of unspeakables, I find these magical senses to be quite valuable. If you can feel every object in a room, you can move it instantly – I used this to brew several potions at the same time. I admit, though, that I'm not really good at seeing with my magic. I started too late and couldn't get used to the effect anymore. I only see rough shapes, and only if I concentrate."
She then told them how to focus on the same concepts as before and pay attention to what their magic told them instead of forcing it to do something. This involved a lot of meditation, which she taught them at the same time. She even started teaching them some basic martial arts.
"Many of these forms were originally not meant for fighting – they were used to teach a way of life, which often involved meditation even while walking around and with opened eyes. That's what we are aiming for, although being able to fight will be a nice side effect."
After a few days spent on control training, they began with their house. Lily taught the children several ways of shaping wood so it fit together and didn't move against other parts. She taught them how high a room should be, at what height and how big a window should roughly be, how high a door should be, even some basic runes for water conjuration and waste banishing.
"You cannot drink that water, though – such conjurations are only temporary. You will still have to get water for cooking or drinking from the river."
And so, in the course of several hundred days, three children learned everything that went into the magical construction of a wooden house – something they immediately got to apply. They were actually done before the lunar eclipse.
"Congratulations, children – most of your peers will only begin with the construction of their houses within the next two moons, but you are already done. You only learned two concepts instead of about twenty spells, but you mastered them well enough to replace all of those spells – and a few dozen more - in most situations. Well done!"