Chapter 10: 27th July 1991, Saturday: Part 10

The tiny ball of iridescent fire filled the living room with various shades of bright red and orange light. It was obvious at a glance that the miniature crimson sun floating an inch above George's thumb wasn't any ordinary flame. No wick or kindling could produce such a uniformly round sphere, there was no doubt that something other-worldly was behind its inception. Of course, the bizarre nature of George's conjured flame was not by accident. He wanted to make it very clear that his magical demonstration was no smoke and mirrors illusion. What you see is what you get, real unadulterated magic.

Amanda and Dominic stared at the fire emphatically, George could almost see the gears in their head turning. His foster parent's mystified reaction was reasonable since what they were witnessing did not compute with their combined century of life experience. How was someone meant to react when they saw something that was beyond their comprehension?

The firey glow illuminated Amanda's palm as she slowly reached out and held her hand half a foot away from the flame. George could see a new wave of shock flare in her wide-open eyes before she quickly retracted her arm. Perhaps she was doubting her sight and needed to feel the heat to believe the flame was not a figment of her imagination.

She turned to her husband and said in astonishment, "it's real. The fire... I could feel it."

Whereas Amanda was starting to believe, Dominic appeared to be desperately holding onto his scepticism.

"It's a magic trick, right George? Something you've learnt from one of those books you've read?"

"You are mostly right, Mr Linwood. That is indeed magic, but there is no trickery."

George's foster parents turned back to see Remus with a massive smile on his battered and bruised face. He looked truly overjoyed to see the conjured flame and was utterly fascinated by its fabrication. George could already see the teacher-like traits starting to bloom as his work was evaluated by this soon-to-be professor. He could hazard a guess that Remus was not relieved that George may have saved his life but instead joyous to see such an excellent demonstration of wandless magic.

"Don't you see, Mr and Mrs Linwood? George is a wizard."

Remus then shook his head self-deprecatingly, "to be able to use conjuration magic at such a young age, and without a wand no-less... it's extraordinary. You two must be so proud of him."

To describe George's magical prowess as extraordinary wasn't an exaggeration, his presented skill was almost unheard of in the wizarding world. He could be described as a once-in-a-generation talent, a literal prodigy of magic. This was almost exclusively due to his ability to perform advanced magic without the use of a magical conduit, also known as a wand. It was a feat very few wizards in the world could accomplish in their lifetimes. As far as George knew, there were only three people in existence that could rival his potential.

Conventionally, casting magic was often compared to writing a beautiful poem. The wizard was the ink, his wand was the quill, and the spell was the fine calligraphy left on the parchment. Without a quill, all a wizard could do was smear ink with their fingers and pray it was legible. If they practised long enough, their dexterous fingers could become just as capable as using a quill. This process takes years if not decades to master, that's why practically every wizard used a quill. But what if there was a wizard who could write calligraphy with only his fingers and he was only eleven years old?

In truth, George wasn't some wandless messiah with a profound knowledge of the arcane arts. It was more apt to describe him as a highly potent and potentially dangerous one-trick pony. Thanks to his unique disposition, George had a natural ability to control fire-related magic. Since Remus already knew there was something special regarding George's abilities, it made sense to demonstrate a fraction of his gift here and now. Hopefully, this big reveal would paint him as an honest boy who was ignorant of his power.

On the edge of his seat, Remus eagerly leaned forward and excitedly questioned him. It was time for George to put that goody-two-shoes act to the test.

"How long can you sustain that conjuration for?"

George shook his head, "I don't know. I've never waited long enough to check. Although, I do start feeling tired after a while."

"That's nothing to worry about. Sustaining a spell of any kind is taxing on the mind. It's important to know your limits and stop before you hurt yourself."

He smiled and pretended to be surprised, "really, I didn't know that. Thank you Mr Lupin", and he put the flame out with another snap of his fingers.

Amanda stepped between the two wizards and forced their magical small-talk to end. She looked at George as if he had been diagnosed with some sort of illness, her face was pale and her bottom lip was trembling. Amanda then leaned down and embraced George in a tight hug. He had tried to predict her reaction to learning the truth, such as feeling anger or betrail, but evidently he hadn't thought of everything. George wasn't exactly sure what had induced this behaviour, had she misinterpreted magic as being some kind of plague? All he could think to do was slowly pat her on the back and hope for the best.

After a few seconds of intense hugging and awkward silence, Amanda finally pulled away with a look of regret in her eyes.

"You could have told us, George. You should have told us. Me or Dominic, we wouldn't have minded. You're part of the family, now and forever. That would never change, no matter what you are. Isn't that right Dominic?"

Amanda and George both looked up at the domineering man looming over them. His foster father's expression had formed into a frown as he contemplated his wife's words, he looked to be sitting on a fence regarding George. Amanda's heart appeared to waiver slightly as she waited for his response, George felt like he was in the same boat as her. Dominic's decision could very well make all the difference, he ideally needed his foster parent's positive opinion of him to be unanimous.

Ellie said in a muted voice, "Dad? You're gonna let George stay with us… aren't you?"

That little brave act in George's defence definitely earned his step-sister a sweet, he would have to remember to give her one later if this doesn't all end terribly. George had read about rewarding good behaviour in a book once, it was called positive reinforcement. It was a technique for training dogs but he saw no reason why it wouldn't work on young children as well. Frankly, he was surprised that his patron hadn't used it on him growing up. The carrot instead of the whip every now and then might have made George a little more loyal down the road.

Dominic took a deep breath in through his nose and out through his mouth before softly saying, "your a Linwood, George. That's all that matters to me."

Then Dominic turned to Remus who was currently admiring all the decorations on the mantle piece. The werewolf had been obviously trying to mind his own business during the family's emotional bonding time.

"And to you, Mr Lupin...", Dominic said in his normal gravelly voice.

Remus suddenly turned back and poorly pretended as if he hadn't been listening the entire time. Dominic didn't seem to have noticed or cared as he continued.

"I owe you an apology. I had mistaken you for... unwelcomed company. For your injuries, I'll pay for my private consultant to check you over and tend to your wounds."

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"No need, Mr Linwood. I was informed that muggles can sometimes become violent when they're introduced to magic for the first time. I had expected for a fist or two to be thrown, it's all part of the fun I guess. Although, I have to say that the handcuffs and brass knuckles had come as a bit of a surprise", Remus said while wiggling the arms behind his back.

Amanda recomposed herself and furrowed her brow, "excuse me. What are muggles?"

Remus smiled and happily answered, "it's another word for non-magic people, like you and your husband. It's kind of like a code word wizards and witches use to not draw suspicion from... well muggles."

Ellie abruptly asked, "am I a wizard too? Like George?"

Remus's warm smile wained slightly as he addressed Ellie, "I can't say, I'm afraid. Hogwarts only knows if a student is eligible to join once they turn eleven. How old are you young lady?"

Ellie responded despondently, "I'm nine and three months."

"I'm sorry, you'll have to wait another two years to find out", Remus answered empathetically.

He then looked back up at Amanda and Dominic, "I really hate to bring this up again but can I please have my wand back? My face is getting numb and the swelling is making it hard to see out of my left eye."

Dominic shook his head, "hold on a second. What was that you were saying about students when they turn eleven? Does this have anything to do with how you found our address?"

Remus sighed, "okay, fair enough. I do owe you that much, but I can't guarantee you'll like the answer..."

He licked his dry lips before explaining, "the Ministry... oh, wait. You don't know what that is yet, my mistake.

The magical equivalent to your muggle government, known as the Ministry, uses spells that can detect every single use of magic around the country. It's known as the Trace and it only works as long as the caster is under the age of seventeen.

Once someone has been detected, the Ministry can determine the name, date of birth, location and spell used.

At some point in time, George would have either accidentally or purposefully used a spell, alerting the Ministry. After his details had been noted, Hogwarts issued him an acceptance letter.

These monitoring spells are a safely guarded secret of the Ministry so there is little more I can tell you. I hope you don't find the Ministry's surveillance too intrusive, it's something the whole magic community has to put up with to maintain law and order."

"What about outside of the country?", asked Dominic.

"Excuse me?"

"You said that the 'Ministry' have 'spells' that can detect every single use of magic around the country. I'm asking if that applies outside the country as well."

Remus took a second to think before answering, "I don't think so but other nations have their own versions of the Ministry. It's fair to assume that they have Trace spells as well. Why do you ask?"

"What about the oceans? Or less populated areas of the world? Will they also have this 'Trace'?"

Remus looked somewhat concerned at Dominic's particular line of enquiry, "I don't know, Mr Linwood. Is there something wrong? Maybe I could send some letters and..."

"No need, Mr Lupin. Don't worry yourself, my husband is just a bit paranoid, that's all", Amanda quickly jumped into the conversation.

She then looked down at the coffee table and saw everything that Dominic had presumably apprehended from Remus's pockets. Amanda bent over and picked up a brown stick roughly 10 inches long which, to George, was definitely a wand. He was thinking that it was going to take some coercion on his part to release Remus but it looked like his foster mother was doing it on her own initiative. Perhaps Remus's good-natured and honest attitude had won her over.

"Is this your... wand?", she asked with a smile.

Remus nodded, "yes it is. If you could be so kind."

"Dominic, could you release Mr Lupin from his handcuffs? I think he has been restrained for long enough, don't you?", Amanda said casually.

Both of George's foster parents locked eyes and appeared to be having some sort of non-verbal discussion. He wasn't sure what was going on between them, but George was starting to feel Amanda's out-of-the-blue positive attitude wasn't due to trust. Something more nefarious was going on here.

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