Sitting in the room that's supposed to be my dorm with two other boys for 7 years really makes me think back on this hectic day. A few things are coming to light about my past. I have excellent memory. Whether that was from magic or just the fact I've relied on book learning for a greater part of my life is beyond me, but I can remember when my life took a turn. I'm not sure of my age, but I know I was starting to make things float when I was happy, and things broke when I was mad. My guardian who I thought was my dad, immediately sent me to a lone cottage near here so he must've been preparing me to come here, or was hiding me from something.
I guess I could ask my roommates, but they themselves aren't that talkative, and It's not like I often go out of my way to talk to people. So we left it at that, and went to sleep. Granted it was the middle of the night so there was bound to be a feast tomorrow. I don't think the gathering of the first years was supposed to be today since the castle is huge and I've barely seen anyone. Maybe I'll get more information in the morning.
I also want to check out the library, and to be honest, I am super excited about magic. Who doesn't want to be a legendary wizard? I've read fantasy books, so It's practically a dream. I tried a few of the spell in fiction books but I got very little to no response on a lot of them. A little bit of telekinesis, a tad bit of light at the tips of my fingers, some sparks, but nothing super powerful. I continue to think about what I want to do as I slowly drift off to sleep.
_____________________________________________
"HEY GET UP! We're gonna be late!" I leap out of bed, startled from the shout.
"Good, your up. The older years are coming back for the start of their new year, we have to hurry if we want to get to the Lunch Hall in time for the feast." Said one of my roommates.
"Why now? Why couldn't we come today?" I ask wiping my eyes groggily.
"I don't know, I assume that its because we were inaugurated early so we could be celebrated for joining the school when the older years got back. They just needed to get our wands and uniforms sorted." He states, very concisely. He tosses a bundle of unopened clothes. "Get your uniform on, we've got to go in 15 minutes."
"What's your name?"
"It's Colbolt, Colbolt Ozario. Sorry I couldn't introduce myself earlier, what about you?"
"I'm Nathan, Nathan Peverell." I begin to put my clothes on in a hurry. It's a simple uniform, with a few oddities but it's not much different from a private schools uniform. White button up shirt, black pants, a blazer with my house symbol on it. I comb my messy hair, to the left to cover my scar.
"RAPHAEL GET OUT OF THE BATHROOM I GOTTA USE THE TOILET!" Colbert shouts at a closed door in the corner, I see the door open and my other dormmate grumble something under his breath about being to loud in the morning.
"Raphael Crescens." He quietly introduces himself, holding out for a handshake.
"Nathan Peverell." I shake his hand equally quiet. I have a feeling the both of us are going to get dragged around by this other rowdy dormmate.
We continue to quietly get ready in the silence, until Colbolt bursts out of the bathroom grabbing our wrists and dragging us down the hall. He seems to know where he's going which was a help since I didn't know where the Lunch hall was. Seems he's at least read the map, I guess I can ask him were things are for the moment since I haven't read the map or have a lot of knowledge of the castle layout yet.
"Great we're not late. I think we can sit anywhere, but choosing a table that has a lot of our own house would be preferred since we don't know anyone." Ah yes, social connections. I can do this. Plus I don't think I can go off on my own since he's still holding my wrist. We sit down, either side of Colbolt, as he begins to get to know everyone.
I'm not really a talkative type, neither does Raphael appear to be, so we sat in silence occasionally nodding and answering questions from the others at the table.
"So Nathan, where are you from?" I don't know who asked but a few looked over curiously.
"Oh, uh, pretty nearby, Cheshire." A few people look impressed?
"I didn't know you were so close to here, most of the students are from all over. Me for instance, I'm from Ohio." and with a quick topic change Colbolt controls the conversation away from me. I'm going to have to keep an eye on him, that charisma is powerful.
A few more minutes of idle conversation before we hear some loud, resounding, claps.
"Welcome to Ilvermorny! and for returning students, Welcome Back! I'd like to take the time for everyone to welcome 152 new first years!" With that there is a bunch of cheers for us. That doesn't seem like a lot of people, I mean it there's got to be more magical kids right? Maybe magical kids are rare.
"We'd like to announce the time for clubs will be recruiting in one month, with quodpot and other sport teams a week later for finding members. Only 3rd years and above can join sport teams. Other years are encouraged to help an guide the first years around, and maintain a good intra-house competition this year!" There were more cheers this time, I assume for the clubs. I'm curious to what quodpot is but I'll just ask later. "Time for the feast! Today is a free day of the students to congregate and explore the school, just beware of the forests, magical beasts are generally hostile." the headmaster snaps his fingers and all sorts of breakfast foods are teleported to the table.
Everyone chatting and laughing asking questions about what they did over the summer. I listen in on a few conversations, while piling sausages onto my plate. I'm definitely going to like it here if we get this sort of food for every meal.
_____________________________________________
The Feast, having ended, a lot of the students went back to the dorms to settle since it was a lot of food. Colbolt being one of them. I'm glad in that case I'd like to find where the library is. Raphael seems to have the same idea so we go together.
Turns out we got a copy of the map left in our blazer pocket. I didn't notice it there before, but I might've just missed not checked. Arriving in front of the library I knew it was a good Idea to not ignore the letter. I was excited in general for school, but books are so cool, especially if I can learn actually applications of magic. The huge aisles are labeled by course, so I'll definitely find something I like. I grab a simple book in the wandless section to see what I'll be learning, given I'm not going to use a focus.
Intro to Wandless Casting. by Joshua Belshatzzar
Wandless casting, also known as focusless casting. Is the action of casting magic directly without using a medium such as a wand or staff to increase the power and decrease the complication of casting higher grades of magic. Wandless casting is usually considered accidental, as a Maj child learns to interact with magic through their emotions and a child's emotions are volatile. Magic is just a mix of three things: Magical Power, Knowledge, and Intent. Accidental Magic occurs with two of them; magical power and intent, while knowledge is needed for any controlled result.
Wands lower the requirement for the knowledge and magical power step. You can say the bare minimum of what you want to happen say a random related word and just charge the wand with magical power to cast spells. Intent and emotions are a big part of using a wand for if you are not calm when casting a certain spell the spell will either not work or overload. Casting with a wand is usually repetition to get the feeling and intent right. Wands and other focuses are generally shortcuts to using magic easier. It is a great invention, but it's getting further and further away from the original intent of magic.
The book itself was small with not a lot of information other then a few chunks in the middle and end that basically said wands were used for convenience and not aiming for the true use of magic. I did get some information I needed the steps for casting magic, magical power, knowledge and intent. I think I've got the intent stage down, so I would be able to use a wand easier, but I still think wands are a liability. I just need to learn how to control my magical power, and learn the right knowledge to cast spells.
I go to another aisle finding a book on another type of magic I'm interested in. Turns out both are written by the same person. They have the same writing style but that's good since its easy to understand.
Intro to Silent Casting. by Joshua Belshatzzar
Silent Casting, is the act of casting spells without speaking. A lot of Maj's associate spells with a certain word to help in the imagery of a spell. Most of these spells are written in common charm and curse books, as the more people who believe it means a certain thing, the more it exists. A general lighting charm, Lumos, is so repetitively used it is believed to be the only way to cast the light spell. The more confidently you pronounce the word for the spell the greater chances you have in casting it.
It's not the word that matters, it's the intent. If the word Lumos makes you know light its a better directional intent for your magical power to take shape as. What's more important is the movement compared to the word. Most Maj's use both to help cast spells but only one of either is required, either no wand movement or no spoken castings. Doing both greatly increases the chance of casting a specific spell at the offhand side of being predictable. Some world famous duelers only use one, for the use of misdirection. Shouting Lumos only to fire an Expelliarmus.
It's best to image a spell as a concept rather then setting a word. If you know what something should look or do vividly there is no need to use words. Granted this is a very difficult process and must be practiced to an extreme degree for each spell you'd need to master. A set symbol usually works best as it would have been the wand movement associated with the spell, and would be able to cast simple spells even if you become immobile (reference wandless casting).
So it's very similar to what I can already do, makes sense. I'm essentially learning spells from scratch without having to use a shortcut like a wand or other focus. Repition and belief seem to be some main points with spell casting. I should look into what magical power is as well.
I continued to read various historical texts and intro's to magics while in the library, a few books wouldn't budge from their shelves so it must've meant I was to young to read them yet. Time passed and I still sat occupied in reading until Colbolt came in dragging me and Raphael back to the lunch hall for dinner. I ate absentmindedly, walking like a zombie to bed still thinking about magic.
