He had been berated for staying out too long and for the state of his clothes. He was sent to his cupboard without any dinner. As he sat in total darkness he could only sigh to himself it was going to be a long year. Felix contemplated running away, however, that won't work. He wouldn't be able to get far. And after the Dursleys called the police about his disappearance; if for no other reason than to keep up the appearance that they were dutiful guardians. Everyone would be on the lookout for a boy with possible mental issues. Yet again he thought about using magic but it wouldn't work. The last bit of magic he performed didn't even work well. It had begun to fade before the conversation was over. Other than bursts of accidental magic and some of the most elementary magic he couldn't perform magic without it being severely underpowered or outright not working.
Felix's thinking about magic causes a memory of his past to pop up in his head. Back when he was a child of 8 in his original body, he was apprenticed under a Roman wizard Alexios. The first thing he was given was a focus. It was in the form of a silver ring with a small purple gem. His master had told him that it would make the use of magic easier. Before he had died he long outgrew it preferring to cast spells and perform magic without a focus, he had done so for 160 out of his 176 years of life. The only exception was his amulet which he used for particularly taxing spells or rituals, which reduced the mental and magical strain considerably. He was familiar with all the different types of magical foci and how to create them. Many of the wizards of his time used foci to enhance their magic or to reduce the mental and magical cost of casting.
Many people used staffs, amulets, rings, and parts of their armour particularly braces and gauntlets, and bracelets and some even used their weapons as their focus. It was a difficult task which required ability and knowledge. Felix had the knowledge but his current body lacked the ability. It would result in a focus which would either not function at all or would be very weak. Most foci which he knew how to craft required materials which he did not have. Metals and precious stones infused with magic. Things which would take a long time for him to obtain. By the time he could make a basic focus, he would no longer need it.
There was one more way that he knew of. But Felix had never attempted it; he could make a druidic staff or catalyst. He had learned the ways of the druids but he was by no means a master. He hadn't ever created one of the catalysts or staffs which they used. He was familiar with the process and had observed some of the stages of creation, but beyond that, he knew nothing. It was a gamble to it would be the fastest and would cost the least amount of resources.
If his attempt was successful he would have a focus to work with. It might not be the best but he would have to make due. He closed his eyes and tried to get some sleep. He will have a long day tomorrow. In the morning he woke up to the sound of his aunt banging on his door and sliding the bolt which was on the door. He split out of his cupboard and made his way upstairs to the toilet. He knew the routine, he hadn't used occlumency to sort out his mind. But he would have to soon. He forgot how inefficient the mind of a human could be. He was constantly getting tray thoughts or memories popping up in his head. He also found certain places, things or people invoked small amounts of emotion. An example was when he was faced with his aunt he felt a twinge of fear. Or when he entered his cupboard he felt a small sense of relief. He had concluded after hearing Petunia's voice for the second time, the same emotion of fear began to surface. Felix must have taken more from Harry's soul fragments than just memories. He might have picked up his subconscious emotions and habits. He didn't have any of Harry's personality; he knew that for sure after looking through Harry's memories.
But the fact that he on a subconscious level had attached different feelings and emotions to certain things, places or people confirmed the conclusion that he had come to. He reached the toilet and looked in the mirror. Looking at his new body was a surreal experience. Seeing the memories was one thing but this was uncanny in a way. Nothing was what Felix was expecting. He had gotten so used to seeing the old man with grey hair, brown eyes, a crooked nose and a long majestic beard. However what stood before him was a skinny, slightly malnourished boy, with messy dark brown hair, emerald green eyes with round broken spectacles with bits of tape holding them together. Then there was the scar. The memories didn't do it justice. Harry had thought it was the accident which caused the death of his parents. A funny lightning bolt-shaped scar was pitch black. And in all the years He could remember had never faded in the slightest. Yet he didn't find it the slightest bit suspicious. He just thought it was the one thing which made him different. "Huh.. children and their lack of attention to detail and suspicion. Blindly accepting anything told to them by an adult." Felix thought to himself. The scar itself slightly resembles the futhark rune sōwilō. Now that he truly looked and concentrated on it he could feel potent magic emanating from it. It felt foul like it wasn't meant to be there.
He would have to study it further before he could conclude. It could be anything from some sort of curse placed on him with the rune as an anchor or just some magical taint from a spell or ritual gone wrong. Whatever it was he wouldn't rush blindly to try and be rid of it before he could determine what exactly it did. He had very little knowledge about how magic had developed since the 4th century. That would be the period which he had come from when using the Christian calendar, well that is if Harry's memories from school were correct.
He had finished using the toilet and had headed downstairs and quickly dipped into his cupboard for a change of clothes. Afterwards, he headed to assist with the cooking of breakfast. Harry's memories indicated that after breakfast eight times out of ten his cousin Dudley would try to attack him. This usually led to a chase which wasn't stopped by the boy's parents. Honestly, he felt almost sorry for the child. He was in for a rude awakening once he went out into the world to make something of himself. For now, he was just a pest. As he was cooking the sausages and the bacon, Dudley came rushing down the stairs. Felix secretly hoped that the child would slip down the carpeted stairs and break his neck. It was slightly petty but it would be satisfying if it happened.
He rushed into the kitchen and Petunia started fawning over him.
"Oh good morning Dudders, come give mummy a hug," Petunia said
Now Felix knew that the boy hated to show affection toward his mother in this way but he had surprisingly; learned that complying would end the interaction quickly. Felix couldn't fathom why anyone would detest hugging their mother. Why if his mother was still alive he would certainly treat her better and with more respect than what his cousin was showing. His poor mother, she had died when he was still a child a year or so before he was taken on as an apprentice. Sickness had taken her in the end. His father had died not long after it had broken him when she died, so much so that he never recovered from it.
After being released from the grasp of his mother Dudley ran past Felix and tried to punch him in the stomach. However, Felix was ready and had Dodge and tripped the boy up in the process. No doubt the route he took to the living room was intentional. He fell flat on his face, and he started sobbing and wailing. Petunia had rushed over to console her Dudders. Soon after she turned to Felix the concern was quickly replaced with wrath.
"HOW DARE YOU ATTACK MY SON!" she shrieked in that shrill voice of hers.
"He tripped," Felix tried to say before she cut me off.
"AND NOW YOU'RE TRYING TO SHIFT THE BLAME. PETULANT CHILD. SPENDING THE REST OF THE MONTH IN YOUR CUPBOARD MIGHT TEACH YOU HOW TO BEHAVE."
"TCH," Felix just kissed his teeth.
"Yea right," he said as he abandoned the stove and began to walk toward the front door.
Petunia was turning red almost like how Vernon did; however, he had more of a purple hue.
Just as she was about to shout Felix quickly looked her dead in the eye and lacing his voice with as much magic as his juvenile core could muster he said "Shut up."
There was dead silence in the house even Dudley had stopped his tantrum and was now staring at Felix, mouth agape.
"I will be spending the day outside," Felix satiated before calmly walking out the front door.
Once he was outside he broke out into a sprint, he didn't want to be here when the magic wore off. He was sure the fallout once he came back would be tremendous. He had plans which couldn't be delayed by a month. Primary school would start by then. He wouldn't have enough time to tend to the Focus that he was going to create if he had to go to school at the same time. He would just have to spend the majority of the summer out in the wild. If he returned he would have an earful from both of his relatives. Shortly after he would be locked in that cupboard.
Now one could argue that tripping up the boy was a foolish move however he didn't care. That boy needed to be taught a lesson. Felix wondered whether some of the things he did were dictated by the parts of Harry which absorbed particularly some of the childish things he did. He had assumed since his soul didn't merge with the soul of Harry that he wouldn't have gained any personality. The few soul fragments which were lingering in the body must have contained a lot more than just memories. Felix wondered what else he had obtained from Harry.
He made his way to the local park. It turned out it was quite big. When he had placed the druid's grove there it was just a forest. Most of the forest had been cut down to make way for the houses, now all that remained was a big park nowhere near the size of the original forest. When he entered the forest he began to search for a suitable tree. He was looking for an old tree. The older the better. Finally, after much searching he stumbled upon an old oak. After touching the tree, Felix took a breath before pushing some of his magic into the tree. It caused a large mental strain for him to do so, but finally, he managed to latch on to the tree's magic and begin the connection. He could feel the magic flowing through the tree and how easily it moved. It had absorbed a lot of natural magic in its life. Had the tree not helped him begin the connection he would not have had the power to force it. It was a good sign.
Once he was fully connected with the tree he asked it to use his magic to produce an acorn which would be nurtured into a powerful focus. After much deliberation, the Old Oak tree agreed. It began to pull the magic out of Felix's core. The magic gushed out of his core with great ease. Before he would have to struggle to push his magic out to perform small feats of magic. Now with the help of the tree, it was flowing. This was similar to the effect a focus would have on one's magic. However, the difference was that Felix was only able to do so with the Oak Tree's Permission. Without it directing the magic this effect would not be achievable. Whereas with a focus he would be the one directing the magic.
Right next to where Felix had placed his hand to connect with the tree; a small branch began to grow on the tip of the branch was a single acorn. It grew and grew until it was almost the size of a golf ball. At which point it stopped, and Felix could feel his magic being released from the tree's grasp. After the connection had been broken he almost collapsed while connected he couldn't feel the strain on his magic. The magic in his core was almost completely depleted.
(I'm making up most of the stuff about magic on the fly with some basic rules so its not some BS plot device which gets him out of every situation. any criticism or reviews are welcome and needed. For improvement, thx.)