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'I wonder how my parents reacted to my death, they'll get over it I'm sure, although I am not sure if there was even a body left for cremation.'
So, after giving myself some much-needed self-therapy to deal with the situation better, I looked for my dad to ask about the family tree and the Brown family history.
After a small history lesson with my father, I learned much more about my origins. Turns out that the Brown family has been living in the British Isles since the 1100s when they first came over from Scotland, and the first wizard in the family, Robert le Brun was born in 1334. I think I remember seeing his portrait, he had a beard even longer than Gandalf. He established the Brown wizarding family and bought the piece of land on which this cottage and the entire village of Upminster were built.
'Looks like I finally got good beard genetics. I am going to be such a chad.' I remember thinking.
It turned out that I, was named after Benedicte Brown, who married Angelica Travers and brought the Brown family to prominence in the early 1700s, I didn't find his portrait anywhere. Just three generations later, all our lands and wealth were gambled away by his great-grandson, Cenhelm Brown leaving only the brown family cottage.
'I remember that fat drunk bastard. I will definitely set fire to his portrait.' I could feel a strong dislike in me for that guy even though I just got transmigrated this morning. I guess there are his memories affecting me and I have already become a part of this family.
"Floreat majestas!" I said as I looked at the Brown family's coat of arms on the wall, it had a Lion holding a fleur-de-lys(a lily flower) surrounded by decorative vines.
'Maybe I will be able to bring the Brown family back to prominence, that's probably what my parents hoped for when they named me Benedict.' It means the blessed one. I remember my mother telling me that.
'All of that can wait, we are doing quite good for ourselves for the time being.'
Last year, we sold our flat in central London and moved back to the family cottage. Father said that it is because he hated living in the city, surrounded by the Muggles, but I know it is because he wanted to fix this cottage. I think Nigel wants to work on returning the Brown family to its glory days again. Now that I will be going to Hogwarts this year, he and mom will have a lot more time on their hands, I think they are planning on starting some sort of business. He works in the Department of Magical Transportation, so we must be doing alright financially. If Weasleys can feed a family of 9 people on ministry salary, we must be doing just fine with only 3 mouths to feed. Mom used to work in the ministry too, and she met dad while working desk jobs, duplicating pamphlets that instructed witches and wizards on how to stay safe during the first wizarding war, she took a break when I was born. Nigel got transferred to DMT after the wizarding war and even got a promotion a year later, so she didn't need to work and decided to focus on taking care of the house and looking after me.
'I guess that explains why I am a lot closer to mom.
I think the reason I was so comfortable calling them mom and dad was because Benedict's memories were affecting me, they were my parents and I could feel the love that Benedict had for them. I just hoped that this didn't affect my love for spicy food and fried chicken. In a way I was already Benedict, there was not much distinction left. My newfound love of pumpkin juice and pumpkin pie was a testament to how much I had changed.
Later, at the dinner table, I was welcomed with the amount of food, that I thought was impossible to be finished by just three people. The huge pumpkin pie was enough to fill me up, there was also roasted chicken, a whole lot of pastries, stew, pumpkin juice, elderflower wine and whatnot. I was reminded of the huge wizard appetite when all of the food was gone and I even had some space left in my stomach.
'Where does all that food even go?' I remember thinking while looking at my father's thin frame.
After dinner, I went back to my room and decided what to do in the week before going to Hogwarts.
'I don't have my wand, so I can not practice my spells, and using magic without a wand, let's say I don't want to accidentally blow up my room.'
You see, even a child can use magic without a wand, the problem comes in controlling magic without it. Using wandless magic could have unexpected or volatile results if not done properly. Accidental magic is a great example of this, the user is not usually in control of it. I can't even perform spells with a wand so, wandless magic is off the table for now. There is also the problem of a ministry monitoring all underage magic use through the Trace, although in my opinion, I won't be traced here if I use magic. The Trace usually doesn't work in places with a lot of magical activity, such as Hogwarts, Diagon Alley and wizard residences. I think the concentration of magical energy in such places interferes with the Trace. The Brown family cottage, which has been a wizard residence for more than 6 centuries, should be able to cover any magic I perform here from the Trace. I should still be careful though, there wasn't even a lot of information about the trace in the books and was only used by J.K as a plot point. Knowing that most of the pure-blood wizarding kids performed magic in their homes and never got any notices from the ministry and only muggle-born kids got caught, I think that my conclusion is likely correct. The laws in magical Britain are only enforced if you are caught, which is hardly ever. They are usually only enforced when they endanger The International Statute of Secrecy.
'I should focus on reading through the first-year books as much as possible for now and make myself familiar with course books so that I will know what to expect at Hogwarts and then I can make some plans accordingly.'
"I'll start tomorrow. I'm still as lazy as ever eh." I said, stretching my arms above my head and then going over to my bed and falling on it like a sack of potatoes.
A/N: The Trace is such a load of bullshit plot device. A lot of inconsistencies that I had to make sense of. I decided that it does not work in places having high magical concentration. Let me know what you think about it.
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The Trace doesn't make sense, but it should be applied to the wand, since otherwise would be impossible. It's also likely they monitor the residences of Mughleborns, considering magic used by Doby in Harry's home was automatically marked as performed by him.
Also, not registering magic use in wizarding residences is canon, though the exact mechanics are different from fanfic to fanfic. But yeah, Ben should be able to use magic no problem.
Also, Ben's uncle Arthur is definitely a candidate for the Darwin Award.
I remember the order of the Phoenix breaking into the Harry's residence (never his home) in the summer before 5th year. Wouldn't they have had to use magic and subsequently alerted the ministry of use of magic in the area?
@Ahriadne wouldn't be the first or even third example of inconsistency in HP
In regards to the trace you and every other fiction writer come to the same conclusion so therefore it must be true good job and keep up the writing😸
Not from what I heard. The trace reacts to spells used even around a child. Meaning Mom's magic to fix the house? Trace pinged. But kids with wizard parent are strokinning roports. So the ministry ignores them. Thus muggle-borns are screwd over like, why is there random magic in a muggle home.
👍
My newfound love of pumpkin juice and pumpkin pie was a testament to how much I had changed.
He didn’t like pumpkin pie before this? Yeah, this was definitely a good thing.
I thunk since it’s called the [trace], (something used to track), it’s attached to them by the ministry as they enter diagon alley or other government-run areas, where an age line like dumbledore set up for the goblet of fire will find underage wizards and witches to attach the trace spell. It will detect magic being performed nearby, so In places with adult wizards and witches (or a random house elf) they will assume it’s not the underage wizard casting spells, but the nearby adult
I dunno how much of this is accurate or conclusions I came to but I think the trace is a ward tied to the residence and wand of someone underaged, because I think in the books the order members casting spells in the Dursley residence set it off and it also Harry set it off while away from the house but the trace was useless while harry used a stolen wand, though Hermione was able to practice spells in the black residence when she should have been under the trace so it's possible the "trace" is a nation wide enchantment that is easily confused by concealing wards, the fidelius charm or magic density, though that also makes little sense as such an enchantment tracking magic signatures should have picked up on the presence of dementors in little whinging
This theory is a good one. But I have a few.
1. Its placed on the wand when they get it and on use it shows the location on a map outside of Hogwarts or any pre registered and approved locations. When magic is detected with the trace it also identifies if any muggle is in the vicinity and could possibly witnessed the magic.
2. Same as the first but when they arrive at Hogwarts the boat to across the lake does give a good view and has become traditional but what if it was part of the ritual to place the trace
Only people I recall getting in trouble for underage magic had their wands and had been to school
I think it's placed when they buy the wand. Ollivander is the premier wandmaker in Britain, but it's impossible for him to be the only one. I'm partial to the theory he's partnered with the ministry. They subsidize his wands - that's why they're so cheap, when children buy their first wand - and promote him, and in return every wand he sells to a child comes with a trace.
@BlaszczeM Rebuttal: Hermione says that she did spells at home on the Hogwarts train in the first book. This implies that the trace isn't active yet which would mean Ollivander isn't the culprit. Of course it is possible that Ministry simply turns a blind eye to pre-Hogwarts kids or ignores simple spells like lumos which might have been all she practiced. Meh, it can go any way you want it to really.
@wolfsrun leads one to think its a ritual starts when one gets the wand and is completed by the night boat ride over the lake
@wolfsrun might be either that they ignore it just before Hogwarts, or that it activates when they enter the Hogwarts wards.
Or, more likely, a plot hole