18 `Punishment'

Ron couldn't think of a harder task than explaining his prowess without lying, especially to an old fox like Pollux, who had been manipulating and scheming longer than both of Ron's lives combined together. But he had done it and the only way he had done it was with the help of his Occlumency. He had managed to keep his memories and emotions in check and had given credit for his powers to his love for knowledge and his persistence and hard work in mastering things he learnt. ``I am certain that you are keeping things hidden from me and everyone else in your life.'' Ron's body didn't show it but his mind was freaking out at Pollux's words but he soon realised he didn't need to panic, ``But I don't care. *Sigh* I wish I had learnt to not care much sooner, but it's good enough that I have learnt now.'' looking at the sadness and grief on Pollux' face, Ron couldn't care about his own dilemma and just ran up to Pollux and gave him a hug, ``It's alright Grandpa, you don't need to be sad. Like you said, it's good enough that you have learnt now.'' Pollux looked down at the young genius in his arms and smiled at him before hitting him in the back of the head. *Smack!*

``Now before you make your teary eyed face, that was for trying to learn magic without a proper teacher!'' looking down in embarrassment Ron kept quiet and listened to his `Grandpa Black', ensuring he didn't make any noise during the lecture. ``you are not the only genius to ever exist in this world but you might have been the first to die at a young age of three and due to your own fault!'' Ron knew from the start that the only subject he had learnt that wasn't life threatening, was Runes. But even that could result in injury and even death if one wasn't careful. No need to mention learning Potions and even learning different spells, charms and even jinxes at such a young age. While waiting for further punishment Ron was surprised by Pollux's next words, ``Now that you understand what you did was wrong, your punishment for these actions is to create Advanced Level Runic Warding Stones that can withstand the addition of Defensive Charms and Spells I will add onto them. Of course, all of this needs to be done under my supervision and according to my directions!'' although the word sounded harsh, Ron looked at the smirk on Pollux's face and just gave him a hug once again and thanked him profusely.

Over the next few days, Pollux directed Ron in his practice of Runes, Potions and even Spell Casting and Ron realised how much help a proper teacher could be! Although he had managed to get to a height most people wouldn't be able to reach their whole lives, Pollux taught Ron how much further he could get with proper direction and foundation for his future. Of course, the old wizard was also surprised at the height Ron had reached on his own but he didn't let it show. Ron was very happy at the moment, `*Hehe*, I can't believe the old man brought such precious materials just to help me practice my Potions and Runes. The amount of wealth in this shabby old shed is probably enough to feed a family for a whole lifetime!' although Ron was excited, he didn't forget to thank Pollux and asked him for the characteristics of the Potion Ingredients and Precious Stones and Metals before he started working with them. ``It's good that you aren't too proud to ask for help. The materials you've worked with might've been precious in the eyes of ordinary families but every single item on the table here is enough to buy hundreds of Asphodel Roots.'' Ron knew all of this but he didn't interrupt and listened to Pollux.

Although not a Potions Grandmaster himself, Pollux was the head of Black Family and had been in contact with precious materials from a young age. He also had been able to access a for bigger collection of Ancient Books for a much longer period of time. After getting some instructions on how to work with materials like Fire Stones, a type of stone that was found near Volcanoes near Magical Laylines or Dragon Nest's! The rich Magical Energy along with the heat from the Lava or Dragon Fire would slowly turn the stone into a Natural Treasure capable of absorbing magic on its own and enhancing any type of Rune or Spell Inscriptions done on it. Ron started the Rune work needed to turn the material into a Warding Stone. He started with the most basic Runes, starting with a `Magic Gathering Rune' and a `Magic Storage Rune' alongside a `Pentacle Rune'. With these Runes as a foundation, Ron started to carve the more difficult runes, like a `Algiz Rune', the rune of Magical Protection and the `Corium Rune' and a `Praetexo Rune'. The last Rune's function was a bit similar to the `Fidelius Charm' but instead of hiding the secret inside an individual's soul, the secret is hidden within the Runic Stone itself and the location never reveals itself to someone not recognized by the Warding Stone!

Although the Runic Stone was still at the level of Ron's ring and not at all close to the Advanced Level Runic Warding Stone Pollux had asked for, Ron hadn't used any Magical Reagents and had not even started carving the `Almacenamento Rune', a Advanced level Rune capable of holding multiple Charms and Spells and allowing them to work with the Runes on the Warding Stones. As soon as Ron finished carving the last Rune, Pollux looked at Ron with a smirk on his face and pointed at the `Almacenamento Rune' and said, ``I assume that you didn't learn that from `Runes 101', right?''. Ron knew the old man wasn't finished with teaching him a lesson and was both excited and scared for his next `punishment'. But for now, he was busy watching his `Grandpa Black' work his magic, literally, and turn his Runic Warding Stone into something capable of hiding the `Burrow' from the Magical Sense of a Wizard like Dumbledore and take a direct attack from a XXXXX level Magical Beast and not be affected by it at all.

Ron finished the final Rune work with the Magical Reagents Ink and handed over the Advanced Level Runic Warding Stone to Pollux. After the two of them were finished with their project, Ron was both surprised and scared at how good his `Grandpa' was at doing everything sneakily. When he asked Pollux about his method of practice, all Ron received was a smack in the head and a glare that promised even more pain if he didn't shut up!