Chapter 6: Book Collection, and The Old Man

An eight-year-old Quinn stood in his room in West Manor. After 21 months of traveling, the tour had finally ended, and he was back in Britain. Quinn had returned home yesterday, and after resting for one night, he began unpacking.

Well, he was going to unpack what he had bought throughout the tour. Polly, the house-elf, had already taken his clothes the moment they had entered the Manor.

Quinn had the satchel upgraded during his travel, and all of his other things were inside the weightless satchel. He set down the satchel in front of him, and with a look, the satchel's flap opened, and one by one, hundreds of books flew out of the small satchel and began setting themselves in a bookshelf that Quinn had commissioned and set up his room.

Quinn smiled as the last book went into the bookshelf. These books were the ones he had bought throughout the journey. They weren't rare books, but common books that could easily be found in their country of origin. These books comprised the books used in curriculums of dozens of countries.

He knew the various magical communities were different, and every country had different ways to teach magic to their young magicals. In his previous life, he had heard a saying that had made a major impact on him.

The saying went as following, "There is a lot of information in this world, and everyone misses something, so you have to hang out with everyone."

Quinn couldn't hang out with people from other countries, but he could get their written knowledge, so with every country, Quinn bought the whole magical curriculum of every country. Every country had its preferred medium of language, and Quinn didn't understand many countries' books, but Quinn still bought them as he would have them translated.

Quinn also sighed when he looked at the books as he was quite nervous when he had requested his grandfather to buy the whole curriculum in Italy. But strangely, George hadn't even asked him the reason and directly bought him the books. He had even helped Quinn and helped him acquire the books so that nothing was missing.

He had even promised to get the books translated after they returned home.

After a few countries, Quinn didn't even need to ask and George directly bought him those books. Quinn was sure that neither George nor Lia knew he could perform magic without a wand, so George's actions greatly confused him. But he had gotten used to it after a few times.

Ironically, Quinn still didn't have Britain's magical curriculum, but it didn't bother Quinn as he had plenty of things to read, and he wasn't sure that he could read all of this before entering a magical school when he turned eleven years old.

Quinn hadn't been slacking off during the world tour. True, he had decreased the time devoted to magic as he was busy traveling different destinations. But he had read through all three years of the curriculum from English-speaking countries and from France as he knew how to read French.

And after reading through all of those books of different branches of magic, it convinced Quinn that buying these books was the right decision. As he predicted, there was a lot of overlap between books from different countries. But in each book, many things were unique or from a different perspective.

Quinn stood in front of the bookshelf. Quinn used his magic, and the chair behind him pulled itself out from under the table and stopped just behind Quinn, and he sat on it, admiring the view of the filled bookshelf.

Quinn had experienced various things during his travels, and that experience had changed him a lot. Before the tour, he only had magic on his mind, and little had changed about it from before. Magic was still his top priority, but after seeing the world, he knew that there was life outside of magic, and Quinn wanted to develop himself outside of magic.

He still didn't know why George had taken him out on that tour, but Quinn was thankful that he did.

As Quinn was thinking about the tour, Polly appeared using elf-apparition and informed him that his grandfather was calling him into his study. Quinn thought about what George might want from him.

"Maybe he will tell me why we on that trip."

Quinn walked to the study, and at the study door, he fixed his appearance and knocked on the door, waiting for his grandfather to invite him. After a second, he heard his grandfather's voice calling him inside.

He opened the door and entered the study, closing the door behind him. His grandfather's study was Victorian in design, and he had to say he preferred this design to the modern designs that he saw in his previous world. His eyes trailed to the door on the right wall that opened to the Manor's library.

He had been there a couple of times before going on the tour. There were magic books in there, but most of the books inside the library were about the family business, genealogy, family history, business laws in different countries, accounts, and his grandfather's collection of rare books.

Quinn removed his eyes from the door and looked at the study table in the room. He saw George sitting behind the study table, and in front of the table sat his elder sister Lia.

Lia had finally graduated from Beauxbaton Academy Of Magic and was ready for the next stage of her life. It turned out that you could study beyond the seven years of education as seen in the series. After the initial seven, you could apprentice under a certified master, join a vocational school like Britain's Auror Academy, or you could end your education and join the workforce immediately.

Quinn did not know what Lia was going to do after graduation, but from what he could see, even though Lia was good at magic, she wasn't that interested in it to start a career in magic.

Quinn smiled at Lia and then addressed George from the door, "You called for me, grandfather?"

George nodded and replied, "Yes, please sit down."

Quinn obliged and sat beside Lia in the other chair and waited for his grandfather to speak.

George looked at his two grandchildren and started speaking, "Now that Lia has graduated from school, it is time for her to decide what she is going to do next. Before we went on the trip, Lia talked to me, and she wanted to join the family business. At that time, I told her that if by her seventh year's Christmas break, she still wanted to join the family business, then I will groom her to be my successor."

He looked at Lia and asked her, "We talked the last time we were home, and Lia said that she still wanted to join the business, so I decided I will groom her to take over the business someday."

Lia nodded and spoke, "I want to work in the family business."

Quinn looked at his sister and laughed. "Lia will be the best business lady in the world. I know it!"

Lia giggled and ruffled Quinn's hair, "Thank you for the vote of confidence, little Quinn. I will work had to become what did you say, yes... the best business lady."

George had a hint of a smile on his face before it receded into his resting face and continued, "The grooming process is going to be like an apprenticeship. It will be extensive and will keep both of us busy for a long time. I decided that if Lia's final decision was to join the family business, then I would be busy and won't be able to spend a lot of time at home with Quinn, so I decided to go on a tour so that I could spend time with Quinn before, Lia and I became busy, and I knew that before I could complete Lia's training, Quinn would be old enough to go to school and then he will be out of the house for most of the year."

The reason for the trip surprised Quinn, and now that he knew the reason, it made sense. George was trying to make memories with him before he got busy, and Quinn grew old enough to go to school.

George now turned to Quinn and told him what was in store for him.

"Quinn, I have hired a teacher for you, and he will teach you a type of magic that a lot of children from magical families learn. So, be ready. He will come to our house twice a week to teach you."

Quinn's eyes began sparkling, and he for a moment forgot all the manners they had taught him, leaned forward, and asked in a bit too loud of a voice.

"Really! Who is he? What will he teach me? I can do it without a wand, or will I get a wand to practice it."

Quinn got a little excited but calmed down when he saw the expression on his grandfather's face. He sat up straight and muttered an apology while Lia chuckled into her hand.

George sighed before answering Quinn's question, "No, you won't be needing a wand for the magic, and the master I have hired has specifically said not to tell you about the contents of what he will be teaching. He doesn't want you to set some preconception about the branch of magic he teaches."

Quinn once again felt confused by his grandfather's words and asked, "Did Lia learn this magic?"

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Lia nodded, and with a smirk, she teased, "Yes, actually know I think about it, I started learning this magic when I was seven, a year younger than you are."

Quinn knew Lia was just trying to tease him as she knew about his love for magic and how the fact that he could've learned it a year sooner would make him feel.

'Calm down, Quinn. Peaceful thoughts, don't let her get to you... Dammit!' Quinn couldn't help but feel jealous and puffed up his cheeks to show how he was feeling.

Quinn calmed down and replied to his grandfather, "I understand, grandfather."

That night, Quinn sat on his bed reading a second-year charms book from New Zealand. Even though Quinn learned the third-year curriculum. He still wasn't able to do any magic that was above the second-year standard.

The lack of a wand hindered Quinn's ability to do magic, and he had just enough control to perform spells that were considered to be on the second-year standard.

Quinn thought back to his travels, and the various magical focuses he had seen been utilized by magicals (wizards) of different countries. It turned out that wands were primarily famous in Europe, and there were other magical focuses used in other parts of the world.

What is a focus, you ask? Well, a focus is a quasi-sentient magical instrument through which a magical (witch or wizard) channels her or his magical powers to centralize the effects of spells or any feat of magic. Focuses were a norm in this world, and he had seen no magical human that didn't use a focus for performing magic.

A magical focus could be crafted from magical woods, materials from magical beasts, magically conducting gems or special metals. A combination of those materials could be made into wands, bracelets, staves, staffs, ornamental daggers, or talismans.

Some wizards or witches could perform magic without a focus, but that severely limited their capabilities.

Quinn shook his head of thoughts about wands and focuses and looked at the light on his bedside table; It was a magical candle covered by a glass case. Quinn focused his magic and willed the magic to increase the size of the flame. In a split-second, the flame grew to double its original size.

Quinn slowly funneled his magic, and carefully increased the flame to grow to triple and quadruple of its size, and then applied the part which made it sustain on its own. And, lo-and-behold, when Quinn stopped using magic, the flame remained on the increased size.

This was Quinn's replication of Engorgement Charm that caused the target to swell immensely. He could freely control the target's size and even decide how long the charm holds on the target. Quinn called it a replication and not a wandless (focusless) implementation because there was no spell light when Quinn performed the spell.

Like how the Killing Curse (Avada Kedavra) shot out of the wand with green color, the Engorgement Charm shot out with an icy-blue color. But Quinn was able to eliminate the spell light from his execution, which made it Quinn's replication and not a spell.

Quinn might not be able to proceed past the second-year standard, but it didn't mean he couldn't improve upon what he already knew. When Quinn found that his control restricted his ability to proceed, he didn't feel down and begun experimenting with how spells work and replicate them in his own way. This not only solidified his knowledge, but his replications were easier for him to perform than the wandless versions.

Quinn felt that the magical core in his body had enough juice to perform one more spell. He once again looked at the bedside candle and pondered which spell should be used to revert the engorgement placed on the candle flame.

"I could either use the counter to Engorgement Charm, the Shrinking Charm, or I could just use the General Counter-Spell, Finite Incantatem. Hmm... let's go with the Shrinking Charm. I learned them together after all."

Once again, Quinn focused his magic and applied his replication of Shrinking Charm. The candle flame went back to its original size and then dispelled any of his magic on the flame. It freed the magical candle from any external magic source or influence. Quinn closed his book, sent it to the bookshelf, extinguished the candle by covering the lamp, and went to sleep for the day.

(Scene Break)

At the end of that week, Quinn found himself sitting in an empty room of the West Manor that had been furnished with two chairs and a table between two chairs.

In front of him sat a man who looked older than his grandfather, which made Quinn think about his age.

"Mr. West, if it satisfies your curiosity, I am twice as old as your grandfather.", the man spoke for the first time since Quinn had entered the room.

Quinn was confused for a second and thought, 'Did I spoke it out loud?'

Once again, the old man spoke, "No, Mr. West, you didn't speak that out loud."

Seeing the old man's smile, Quinn finally understood what was happening. He immediately broke eye contact with the old man. This caused the old man to chuckle.

"Oh my, your grandfather wasn't exaggerating about you being a smart child. It seems you know already know what I was doing."

Quinn ground his teeth as he spat out, "You used Legilimency to read my mind!"

The old man had the audacity to laugh, "You are correct, I used Legilimency to read your mind, but to be more specific, I read your surface thoughts. So, don't worry, I don't know any of your secrets, and you can look at me. I won't be reading your mind."

Quinn ignored the old man and continued to stare at his feet.

Seeing that, the old man spoke once again, "Mr. West, you should remember that your grandfather hired me, so it shows that he trusts me."

Quinn thought about it for a while and was seriously contemplating about barging into his grandfather's study and confirm if the old man was trustworthy but decided against it. He knew his grandfather wouldn't let anyone untrustworthy into the house, much less someone who would snoop around in his mind.

Quinn finally looked towards the old man's smiling face and the old man spoke once again.

"Let me introduce myself. My name is Alan D. Baddeley and moving forward, I will be teaching you the magic of Mind Arts."

-*-*-*-*-*-

Quinn West - MC - 8 years old - Interested in Magic.

Lia West - Elder Sister - 18 years old - Beauxbaton Graduate - Interested in Family Business.

George West - Grandfather - Head of West Family - Loves his grandchildren.

Alan D. Baddeley - Old Man - Teacher - Teaches Mind Arts.

-*-*-*-

NOTE - I might still call Quinn's replications as spells. It will make my work so much easier.

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