After a lot of begging, Ben managed to convince Thea to let him keep his long hair, they didn't stop anywhere on the way and Apparated straight outside the Brown Family Cottage.

"Me Boyo," said a voice before enveloping Ben in a tight hug.

'Great! She's here,' he cursed, his brain already thinking of ways to exact revenge for the Howler. Even if she wasn't here, he would have gone over to Ireland, as it was only a Floo away.

"Oh me! Is dat a stoat in yer robes, or are ya just happy to see me?" She said with a naughty smile, feeling a bump against her stomach.

"Meave!" Thea said, tired of her sister's antics.

"What? He's a growin' boy-" Maeve's words got stuck in her throat when a small head poked out of Ben's robes.

"CHIRP" "CHIRP"

"Helga's heart, where did ye find dis little fella?" Maeve said, staring at Sil's cute face.

"Saved it from a pack of wolves, been with me since," said Ben, puffing up with pride.

"Merlin's beard! Ya did? Me little nephew's so brave," she said, pinching his puffed cheeks. Sarcasm dripped from her every word, and it was clear that she didn't think he was capable.

'I'll show you, just wait,' he thought.

"You do know that they hunt rabbits, don't you?" Thea said with disapproval in her eyes.

"I do, he loves rabbit legs," said Ben.

"And you thought it was a great idea to bring a stoat to a rabbit farm, did you?" Thea said.

"I did," said Ben, shaking his head up and down.

"And how's that?"

"He can take care of the ugly ones," said Ben, and the stoat chirped in agreement.

"Listen to me, young man, if it as much as touches a hair on my rabbits, I will turn this thing into fertilizer for the rabbit feed, is that understood?" She said it with such intensity that even the fearless stoat snuck back into his robes, shivering.

"Don't touch the rabbits, got it," he said, surrendering to Thea's threats. "Can we now get inside the house, Mom?"

"Good boy, go take your stuff to your room. I'll set the table for lunch," she said and left towards the kitchen, humming.

"Phew, I wouldn't touch her rabbits if I were ya; she's too maternal, ya see," said Maeve, with a pitying look on her face.

'Too maternal my foot, I'm her son, goddammit,' he cursed in his heart.

--

"She's gone mental," he said under his breath as he reached the door to his room.

"I agree," said Maeve, close to his ear.

"Bloody hell, what are you doing here?" he said with a jolt, he hadn't noticed her following him at all.

"Am I not welcome in yer room now?" she said, biting into an apple that appeared out of nowhere in her hand.

"That - you did that wandlessly?" Ben said, his mouth gaping.

"Oh, dat? It's no big deal," she said, acting all smug.

'This bitch of an aunt,' he cursed in his heart, 'if wandless summoning isn't a big deal, then what is?'

"Yeah, you're right. It's not a big deal," he said, pulling out an apple pie behind his back and throwing it straight at her face.

"That's for the Howler," he said, but to his dismay, she managed to duck just in time, and the pie smacked on the wall behind her and then plopped on the ground.

"Missed me," she looked surprised, but without missing a beat, she pulled out her wand and with a wave, conjured a pie that flew straight at him.

Ben slammed the door shut in her face, and the pie landed on it with a splat.

"I'm not done with you," he shouted through the door.

Ben half expected her to come bursting through the door, but for some reason, she didn't, which bothered him even more.

At least now he knew she couldn't conjure things without a wand and only summon things lying around the house to her, as she did with that apple. It was quite impressive nonetheless.

---

A month of summer vacation had passed quickly, and Ben had mostly stayed at home, occasionally sneaking out at night. His aunt frequently visited to bother him, which made Ben really hate the Floo network. At least it gave him more chances to exact his revenge, but the problem was that she would never let them get even. There was always something to pay her back for.

Apart from that, Ben spent most of his days reading and resting, and his nights practising on the island. While Ben's skills progressed steadily, there was minimal progress on the Thu'um. It had become frustrating. After a night of shouting, all he seemed to achieve was a sore throat.

"There's got to be a better way," he thought. From what he understood, there were two ways of advancing his shouts. One was to meditate on the Thu'um, and the other was to absorb souls - dragon souls at that.

After a week of meditating on the Thu'um, it was clear that sitting around was not going to work. At first, he had made some progress when he meditated with Dragonstone. He even got some insights on the next word of power, but then he hit a wall.

Ben had a feeling that something was stopping him from tapping into the knowledge of the Thu'um any further. He felt constricted, as if he had reached his limit. Even the Dragonstone went dormant, and he couldn't sense anything from it anymore.

This led Ben to the second way - absorbing dragon souls. After reading multiple books on souls that he had found in the Room of Hidden Things and going through all the knowledge from Skyrim in his head, he had come up with a method to strengthen his soul.

On the Nirn Island, as he had started calling it, Ben found a nice spot at the back of the small house, overlooking the still lake. He started drawing a circle on the ground, which was then filled with all kinds of complex and intricate runes.

By the time he was done, a layer of sweat had formed on his forehead. Ben hadn't just been drawing; he had also been infusing Magicka into his every stroke. He had basically created an enchanting circle for himself.

DreamyApe

--Dreamscape--

What's he up to now? God, he's getting weirder and weirder.

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