The introduction of Mage into our fold kicked our preparations and planning into a higher gear. We were still limited due to the size of our magical core and physical limitations, but quickly discovered a lot of ways around it.

It turns out that Mage is a lot more knowledgeable than Chat and me about the world in general and magic, but she lacks experience in the real world. And that is where we usually come in. It has been a weird few months playing around with the possibilities, but it is more amazing to see my family get so excited when I do something extraordinarily impressive for my age, like the time I accidentally made a container of condiment bottomless at the dinner table, it was pretty hilarious to see spoon vanishing inside.

It took a lot of trial and error to get it right. but it was not without fuckups, I still remember when I pushed a little too much and totally exhausted my magical reserves.

Which scared Mother to death when I dropped on my back after trying to banish a goddamn wooden cabinet. Thankfully, my grandmother is a trained healer and quickly deduced that I was suffering from magical exhaustion and nothing else.

Well that was an experience

I warned you both not to push too hard.

'Well, now we have a nice little reference for the future. We now know our limit, so that's something.'

You know it'll not be enough. We need to increase the capacity of our reserves somehow.

'Chat we have only started a few months ago, I don't think we need to do everything this very second.'

I know, I'm just saying maybe we can look into ways to expand our reserves. It would not be the worst thing we can do.

I was just thinking about this when Mage prompted

There's a simple way to get past this issue; let your magical reserves grow out naturally, but instead of using them, you can use the ambient magic in the environment.

…Can we do that?

Absolutely, it is pretty simple.

'…..If it is so simple then why don't people do this in general instead of trying to conserve their power?'

I thought Tom would have been creaming his pants over a solution like this. And I'm ninety percent sure he wouldn't leave a single opportunity to gloat about it.

Because many people accidentally mix ambient magic with their own, which is really bad. The magic in our atmosphere is called "wild" magic, and it is not compatible with the magic that a wielder already has on their command. A lot of people try to either fill their reserves with ambient magic or they try to use it with the magic that they already have, which leads to a condition known as "magical poisoning". It's a lot like radiation poisoning.

'So basically we need to keep both of them separate and we'll be alright?'

That sounds way too easy, there's gotta be a catch.

It will take practice before you can call on the wild magic and wield it easily. Until then it will be more of a hassle in a stressful situation.

A small price to pay for salvation I guess.

'So I guess I should get on with it'

Not before you get better first!

And there's the mother hen I have been waiting for

We can work on the theoretical side of magic until then.

'….alright, I'm down.'

For the next few months, we started working on our control over ambient magic and figuring out what we could do because of this connection I had with my magic, which was more mage than either of us.

For example, it turns out that the way ghosts speak to us is that they excite the particles in the air in the atmosphere around them, which allows us to listen to them. And by that same method, we can also produce any sort of sound anywhere within our magical range; however, wizards have not yet discovered this little tidbit, and ghosts do this unconsciously. So, as the only living person to figure this out, it gives me an incredible opportunity to mess with people around me.

My first target was my own mother, on especially slow days I kept making it sound like her parents were calling her from the other side of the house which always forces her to run from one side of the house to the other. But this charade was up pretty fast because I just couldn't keep myself from laughing while watching everyone cast detection charms all around the house.

I also found out that I can cast magic wand-lessly without any problems because I don't really need to focus my magic out of my body as I'm already in contact with my magic. This does give me some amazing advantages.

But the real kicker came when the entire family discovered that I was a Parselmouth.

It was a chilly September morning that saw all of us sitting out in the backyard of our house.

My mother played with me while telling me stories about various things. It was always a joy listening to her while she was in her rambling mode because not only did it provide me with information about the world, but it also reminded me of my friend Mahi, who also enjoyed rambling about her life.

I was just listening to her explain her interactions with goblins the other day when suddenly I heard a fourth voice speak from the bushes of our garden.

come here jumpy-jumpy, it will be over quickly~

This not only attracted my attention but also caused my grandfather and mother to look for the source of the sound; my grandfather stood up and calmly walked towards the snake, and quietly lifted it out of the bushes. Then I got a clear look at it; it was a common grass snake.

~ahh put me down, human! I was just about to scarf down that delicious looking jumpy!~

My grandfather looked at my mother with amusement at the snake's name for frog, which made me realize that both my grandfather and mother were also Parselmouths like me, which made sense since we were all descendants of Slytherin. So I decided to try my hand at this Parselmouth game.

~he's not jumpy he's a frog~

At this, all of the people around me jumped up and stared at me, and my grandfather lost his concentration and dropped the snake. However, instead of paying any attention to them, I just looked at the snake.

~I couldn't care less if he is name is Jumpy or Crog, I wanted to eat it but now I have to look for another one~ the snake shouted at me while glaring at my grandfather.

~just go to a public park, you'll find more insects there and people won't disturb you there.~ I pointed out to the blue reptile, which got his attention.

~hmm you make a good argument little human. very well then I'll be on my way,~

And with that, the snake went on its way to find a new prey, and I turned my attention to my family who were still looking at me with varying levels of emotion, but none of it was fear or malice - which was the best I could have hoped for.

~ Cass can you understand me?~ my mother asked in parsel a little uncertainty but with hope.

~yes I can understand you…. Mom ~

Hearing me call her "Mom" and the confirmation of the parseltongue communication brought tears to her eyes. And after that, Mom and Grandad started rapidly talking to me in parseltongue and translating conversations between me and my grandmother. That's how our day was spent, talking to each other, and it was surprisingly nice to talk to someone other than Chat and Mage.

After a day of excitement, my mother finally put me to bed when I uttered my first English words.

~your father would be so proud of you, good night my love.~

"Goonigh mum"

It made her stop in her tracks, and a moment later, she smiled warmly at me and kissed my forehead before leaving with a "I'll see you tomorrow."

After a moment, Chat finally spoke.

Well, looks like our work just got a whole lot easier. Thank God for that! Because it was starting to get on my nerves wondering if it would ever surface or not.

Why didn't you just ask me about parsel magic? I could've told you about it.

'….We didn't know you knew about it. I thought it was something that would surface on its own time.'

Magic doesn't just surface in people, people are born with it, they just need to nurture it and work on it. Sometimes you can totally ignore a part of yourself and it can go dormant but your magic will always be with you. It cannot be created or destroyed.

What about gaining something through rituals or through some other process?

It's just enhancing the magic that is already inside you, you can always work on what is already there but you can't create new abilities. For example, Cass here is a metamorph so he can choose to nurture that ability but he doesn't have the Battle magic, or mage sight so he can't acquire it from somewhere.

…

'…I'm a metamorph?'

Yeah, a gift from your father.

Bloody fuck! This'll make things easier for us.

'So I have 3 of the rarest abilities in the British Isles. Yeah, things will get a hell of a lot easier for us.'

Maybe that'll be a breeze after all

…..If you say so