It was truly mysterious how the sky changes when going from country to country. From the hazy blue skies of Sichuan, to the grey cloudy skies that occupied most parts of Britain, to the bright clear blue skies of the French Mediterranean. It was almost exciting, she would say.

Lifting a jade white hand beside her, Xiao Ning'er watched as water dripped from her smooth skin and back into the sea she was floating in. Hazelnut eyes squinted as she watched light spill from between her fingers. Bright orange hair, the symbol of her long cultivated bloodline, spread out around her as though it were a halo of fire.

Taking a deep breath, she sank into the waters below and admired the blue world around her. Blue and green tinged her vision as she watched the various forms of life beneath the waters; from a small school of fish, to the crabs by the seafloor, and a small shark to the distance.

Never had she imagined that she would be here, swimming in one of the beaches of France.

Feeling her breath start to run out, Xiao Ning'er flexed her fingers in a unique symbol and initiated a minor Daoist spell she knew that would fill her lungs with breathable air. Moving her legs, she swam with the natural grace of a mermaid, atypical of her thirteen years of age. She swam beneath the waves as though she were performing a dance with a small, joyful smile set on her face.

She swam and played with the fishes, happy that she had a chance to enjoy this. For most of her life, Xiao Ning'er had stayed within her family estate ensconced in the mountains of Sichuan. There were not many opportunities where she could have visited beaches and so she took each chance with great relish.

Swimming up and breaking into the surface, she basked in the Sun's warmth with a content expression. She ignored the rough snout of a curious shark on her leg, knowing that it would be unable to harm her. Letting out a breath, she relaxed and once more floated in the middle of the sea. As she did so, she thought back to how unlikely this event would be three months ago.

Ning'er had truly been surprised when she received the invitation to head to France and stay with her friend and his family for a short vacation in one of their summer homes. With how antagonistic Eastern and Western Mages were towards each other due to their differing Magical Philosophies, even her father had been dumbfounded by how friendly her friend and his family had been.

'Truly, for one whose line creates Kings of Magic, my friend and his family are too kind,' Ning'er had thought. She knew that had this been anyone else from a family that had been the tiniest bit higher in status than her family, they would never be so kind, nor would they be as friendly.

Speaking of her friend...

She felt his presence just as she felt something blocking the sun on her face. Opening her eyes, hazelnut met glowing gold as James Potter looked down at her with a mischievous smile.

"Enjoying yourself?" he asked as he slightly tilted his head to the side in amusement.

"...You're blocking the sun."

Her deadpanned stare clashed against his amused mien and she didn't even bother getting surprised at his feat of walking over water - something that she had taught him two days ago.

"Is that so?"

"Yes, thaat iss soo," she spoke slowly, enunciating each word as though she were speaking to a particularly slow child. Something that only worsened the particularly smug expression on his face. "So can you please, move? To the side? Like so?"

Greatly annoyed by his continued smug presence and blocking of the sun, she quickly flashed through three mudras: Rin-Pyo-Jin.

Rin - The Seal of the Thunderbolt

Pyo - The Seal of the Greater Thunderbolt

Jin - The Seal of Inner Bonds

天大雷传力

[Heavenly Great Thunder Transfer of Force]

A tiny pulse of her ki then led to a greater effect. As though he was hit by a giant, James was flung to the side, screaming as he skipped over the water. Ning'er giggled as she watched her friend's frankly ridiculous antics as she knew that he wasn't as hurt as he acted.

As though to prove her thoughts correct, he appeared once more by her floating self's head with nary a displacement of either water or air.

It was as though he had never been sent flying out into open seas.

"That was mean," he pouted as he affixed his lopsided circular glasses on the bridge of his nose.

Xiao Ning'er snorted half in an attempt to hide the small blush at Jame's utterly adorable pout, and half in disbelief that her half-hearted attack truly had no effect on him at all.

"Don't act as if you were hurt at all, James."

He pouted even harder and said, "It's the principle of the matter, Ning'er! How cruel, for my only friend to attack me!"

She rolled her eyes in exasperation as her younger-by-two-years friend acted like such a drama queen, placing the back of his wrist on to his forehead and tipping backwards as though he was fainting.

It was pretty impressive too. He had laid on top of the waves as though they were carpeted floors. Ning'er had to admit, James was pretty talented in acting the damsel in distress, if only it wasn't ruined by his charming maddening grin.

Sighing, she placed her hands over the waters and flowed her ki through her palms and pulled herself out of the sea. She shakily stood with her own feet as she hurriedly tried to balance the flow of ki through her soles. Firm, gentle hands held her flailing arms, supporting her as she tried to get the flow right.

Water walking was an advanced Ki Control Art, one that bordered on Mastery. Ning'er only knew of six people in all of China and maybe fourteen in the whole continent of Asia who had enough mastery of the technique to treat water as though it were any ordinary surface.

Xiao Ning'er herself had been considered a once in a millennia prodigy due to her small, but noticeable control of the technique in her especially young age. Glancing at her friend who was supporting her and was allowing her to grab on to his arm, she pondered on the fact that if she was called a prodigy for her small amount of control, the fact that James could not only walk on water without trouble, but also use Instant Movement, or as it was known in Asia, Shundo, a technique that only the greatest practitioners of Ki and Magic could use easily...

She could only lament her lack of talent. Her friend's abilities and comprehension were just too monstrous that his talent could no longer invoke envy nor anger in her. For who could envy something they could not comprehend? No, only admiration could be shown for such overwhelming amounts of ability.

Admiration, or Terror.

What had taken her months of hard work, he had taken a mere two days to master. If one did not mention the fact that he had taken a mere hour in order to gain proficiency with Shundo, something Ning'er had only known theoretically, just the fact that he could comprehend such an advanced Ki Control method would be enough to call him a Heaven Defying Genius!

Xiao Ning'er would have liked to blame it on James' extensive pedigree, but she knew that that would have been an insult. It was only once that she had seen the extent that he would go through - the effort he would give - in order to master magic.

She remembered that one Spring evening last April. She had been forced to accompany her father to one of the business trips he usually does and remembered getting disgruntled that she had to stay as a guest in what she thought to be some random, weak, wizard family's house. Feeling cooped up even within a surprisingly huge manor, she decided to head towards the gardens thinking that she could get in some night time cultivation.

Ning'er had distinctly remembered feeling incredulous that night as the manor that her host family lived in was certainly no ordinary manor.

Its size alone was worthy of calling it a palace!

Even then, a palace was too mundane of a description when every door and every window she saw and opened on the way to the garden led to incredibly different places. At one time she had thought she saw outer space when she peeked through a door's keyhole! Even the paintings could act like portals where one could enter and end up within its painted scenery.

It was when she closed a door that led to a mystical forest that had glowing blue flowers that appeared as though they were distilled moonlight, that she had met him.

"What are you doing?"

Xiao Ning'er let out an undignified shriek as she heard an unexpected voice from behind her. Turning around swiftly, she frowned when she heard the sound of subdued giggles. Cheeks reddening, she glared at the figure who startled her only to double take once she recognised him.

Dressed in an informal white button-up shirt and black short slacks, the Young Master of House Potter looked relaxed. Golden eyes with cat-like pupils glowed subtly in amusement as he tried to cover up his smile with the book of Eastern and Daoist Magic Theory in his hands.

Recovering her composure swiftly, Ning'er straightened her posture and gathered as much of her righteous indignation she could and rebuked the boy, saying, "Young Master Potter! Don't you know that it is quite rude to sneak up on people!?"

" - And don't you know that it is rude to snoop around someone's house, Young Mistress Xiao Ning'er?"

"Urk!"

James's swift riposte had her reeling back in surprise. Unable to give a proper retort knowing that she was the person who offended the other party first, Ning'er turned her face away as it reddened in embarrassment and slight shame.

Amused giggles once more entered her ears, deepening the flush on her cheeks. She heard him walk away from her, causing her to peek at James from the corner of her eyes. She saw him stop a few feet farther when he tilted his head back towards her.

Mysterious, golden, cat-like orbs crinkled as he smirked in a mischievous expression. James looked straight to her eyes and said,

"You're headed towards the garden right? Why don't you follow me, since Miss Xiao Ning'er seems to have a habit of easily getting lost~?"

Pouting at the sudden tease, Ning'er hurriedly followed that rapidly retreating back towards a hidden door that led to an exquisitely beautiful garden of crimson roses beneath a full moon and uncountable, colorful stars. She looked stunned by the doorway as she took in the beautiful view and the thousands upon thousands of towering bookshelves that seemed to reach up to the sky.

Head swiveling, she took in the seemingly infinite expanse of what had to be an entirely different world. A small cough brought her back from stupefaction.

"Cool isn't it?"

James stood by a desk filled with numerous opened and unopened books. From what she could see, Ning'er recognised the translated texts of the Principles of Eastern Magic and the Philosophy of Dao. Her face turned incredulous when he picked up the Principles of Eastern Magic and flipped it open to a bookmarked page and began to read.

"You can read that?" she asked with a deeply disturbed expression. Who could possibly read such a dry, boring book?

"Well, yeah?" James said as though he was puzzled why anyone would be unable to read something so boring. "I mean, it is a bit too dry but it's still pretty interesting."

Xiao Ning'er recoiled in disgust at the thought that the bane of her childhood studies would be considered interesting by anyone. Her brows and her nose scrunched up as she took a closer look at the mountains of books that were on top and surrounded the desk.

Titles and topics went from one subject to another with no rhyme nor reason, but as she took a longer time at scrutinizing the tomes before her, Ning'er found that all of them had one commonality: They were all primers of different magics, of different styles, of different origins.

Aside from the Greek Orthodox style, which had been stripped down and simplified into Modern Roman style magic, or as it was commonly known, the Wizarding style, she also saw numerous other styles. Kabbalah occupied one corner of the desk, and beside it were books on Astronomy and Numerology. Books on Modern Runes sat beside an ancient tome of Primordial Runes that was splayed on top of a marble slab that contained a language she did not know of but had instinctively understood as though her own soul resonated with it.

Disorientation turned to surprise, and surprise turned to amazement. Wide admiring eyes turned to her companion who had been reading the whole time she was examining the books that surrounded him. As though sensing Ning'er eyes upon him, James turned to her and shrugged when she silently pointed at the books scattered on the desk and around him.

"It's magic. What else needs to be said?"

And that, as they say, was the start of a beautiful friendship. For that following week, she had spent the majority of her time with the bookish James Potter as her Father finished the talks about supplying her family with the Magical Herbs that the House of Potter produced.

Everyday she had spent with James exposed her to the fact that her friend seemed to be obsessed with Magic. There was a sense of desperation - a hunger - whenever he studied magic, but it didn't seem to take away the fun he had whenever he had discovered something new. James had a drive that she could not understand and that had lent a hand towards his progress.

Sighing, Ning'er shifted so that James would bear the majority of her weight. With how unexpected it was, she heard him squawk in surprise. Grabbing his left arm, she hugged it to her budding chest, making her pink as she felt his skin on her own only separated by what can be considered as underwear. Walking on water with as much - unsteady - grace as possible, Ning'er dragged her friend to the shore where his family awaited them.

"Hey, wait?! Ning'er, wait, stop dragging me!"

"No."

"Are you angry perhaps? You're pouting."

"No, I'm not," she said as she ignored the way her cheeks puffed, the crinkle on her brows, and the heat on her cheeks that was in no way related to the sun's rays. "I'm not pouting. You're the one who's pouting."

'Stupid James. Stop being so good for a moment!'