A New Ability

The advanced potion books proved to be a delight to read for Magnus. Especially the book Most Potente Potions. It had some of the very obscure potions that he had ever seen, specifically the Polyjuice Potion. He was very tempted to brew the potion but the rarity and the cost of the ingredients coupled with the warning from Newt about self-transfiguration made him stay away for now. 'I'll brew you someday. Hmm, there's still the lesser variant that I can brew once I get Tonks's hair.'

But that wasn't the only delight though. When his Impact Points reached 500 points, he got a surprise.

[Requirements met: Mind:10, Magic: 10, Impact Point: 500]

[Comprehension Mode unlocked]

Magnus opened the interface to see what it's about. Now he doesn't have to use [Identify] on the interface separately for it to show him more information. It does that automatically.' It's almost like it's learning and improving based on my usage,' he speculated.

[Magnus Webb

Title: Seer Descendant

Traits: Beast Blood (Magic), Blood Curse (inactive), Beast Blood (Deformation)

Body: 2

Mind: 10

Magic: 10

Impact Points: 510

School: Divination Lv2 (60%), Healing Lv2 (60%), Charms Lv2 (80%), Transfiguration Lv2 (80%), DADA Lv2 (60%), Potions Lv2 (90%), Herbology Lv2 (60%), Astronomy Lv2 (60%), Magical Theory Lv2 (80%), Mind Arts Lv1 (20%)

Skills: Wand Magic Lv2 (80%), Wandless Magic Lv2 (50%)

Abilities: Instant Read, Comprehension Mode

Comprehension Mode: Costs 2 points per minute. Increases learning and understanding capabilities]

'Comprehension Mode? Alright, let me try it out.' Magnus activated the ability while he read the advanced potion book. He noticed the difference instantly. He was able to retain and understand the content in a way that he could never before. Usually he had to read it two to three times to properly understand and retain the knowledge, but now once was enough and he gained a deeper understanding of the subject. He had to stop at the ten-minute mark as a dull ache started in his head. He waited a few minutes for the ache to go away and looked at his points. 20 points were deducted but the gains were worth it. Potions leveled up to Lv3 at which point influx of knowledge happened just like when he reached Lv2. But this time since he was in the comprehension mode, he was able to understand and digest all the knowledge that was injected into his head. All of this in only 10 minutes. 'Why the limit of 10 minutes? Is it because the mind stat is at only 10?' he theorized. He decided to test it out with a quick coin divination. He flipped the silver coin three times and quickly confirmed that his conjecture was likely true. 'So, I need to increase the mind stat to better use this ability. How do I do that? It previously increased because I read a lot of books, but now the growth slowed down,' he got thinking.

He looked over his interface and noticed the Mind arts school that he never focused much on. It was mainly because he did try searching for the relevant books in the library after listening to Newt's advice. But he's yet to find any.

Magnus kept his word and helped Tonks with her potions. His Potions Lv3 made it easier for him to successfully brew the Wit-Sharpening Potion. His increased level also decreased the points required to [Instant Read] some of the higher-level potions books and he was making good progress. This pushed his mind stat to a 11. Sometimes he was able to explain some of the concepts behind the potions in simpler terms to Tonks while she revised. It was a great experience for Magnus as he realized that teaching someone made him better understand the underlying concepts. 'The best way to learn something is to teach it after all,' he discerned. He also quickly discovered that the levels on his interface aren't exactly parallel to that of the school curriculum like he previously thought. His Lv3 of Potions is equivalent to fourth year of Hogwarts. Some of the concepts he learned through the knowledge influx upon leveling up were even touched in the fifth year. That explained why he was able to learn some of the higher-level charms despite being a lower level. He may not be able to cast them perfectly, but he could still cast them. For now, that was more than enough for him.

Magnus and Tonks finished their latest session together and both of them sat tiredly on the floor after a long session of brewing a potion and dueling. "You are much better at teaching this than Snape Magnus. That guy pisses me off," Tonks said between deep breaths.

[Impact Points+5]

"Well thank you. You are a good teacher too. I know Snape can be difficult," Magnus agreed while being grateful for the points. He was one of the rare few that escaped a chewing from Snape and he intended to keep it that way. Ravenclaws were in a better position their year as they didn't make many mistakes and their fewer numbers made it less possible to lose points. Gryffindors on the other hand though were another matter. Poor guys keep losing points at the drop of the hat and that��s with Fred and George being very careful in his class.

"Difficult? More like he's a git. It's like he doesn't like students. Makes you wonder why he decided to become a teacher here," Tonks expressed her doubts.

"That's what everyone wonders," Magnus concurred. They sat in silence recovering when Magnus decided to ask her something that was driving him crazy.

"Hey Tonks, do you know where I can find a book about the mind arts? I searched all over the library but I can't find it."

"Mind arts? What would you want that for?" Tonks exclaimed. 'Does this guy want to take the N.E.W.T.s in the first year or what? He's studying subjects way beyond his year. Why can't he just wait to grow up? What's the hurry?' she thought in awe. She for one only studied what is required. She preferred practice to theory.

"A friend of mine recommended it to me to treat my…eh condition," Magnus revealed. The details were only for him and Newt to know.

"What condition? Is it something serious? We can always go to St. Mungo's," Tonks said worried.

"Nothing that serious for now. It's more like a supplementary help. Just tell me," Magnus persuaded her.

"Fine. It's a very obscure branch of magic. It's hard to find relevant books even outside. We do have some books on Occlumency in the library. If you can't find them then someone probably borrowed them. I heard that isn't very helpful though. The Ministry does have some restrictions on the matter, same reason it isn't taught here," Tonks explained.

'Of course, someone could have borrowed it. Why didn't I think of that? Probably because most books have more than one copy. Now how am I supposed to find it if they are that rare? Should I try with one of the dealers from Knockturn Alley? But that's too dangerous right now. I'll keep it as a last resort,' he sighed disappointed. He could have asked Madam Pince, but he didn't think she would give such information to a first year.

Tonks looked at his disappointed face and said," You know, my mum taught me some of the basics of Occlumency. She learned it from her family library long ago. I am not any good at it, but I can give you some tips."

"Ugh, can I borrow that book from your mom?" Magnus asked. He'd rather prefer to learn from the book if she didn't know too much herself.

"Hey, is that anyway to treat a girl? Here I'm offering help and you want the book? You can't get the book anyway. It's a family privilege and my mum got kicked out of the family," Tonks said with a fake huff.

"Why did she get kicked out?" Magnus asked curiously while ignoring her fake drama.

"Well, she married my dad and that's a big no in their family. They were some kind of pureblood fanatics apparently so they kicked her out of the family," Tonks shrugged. She never met her mother's side of the family as far as she could remember. They barely talk about them.

"Were?"

"Ya, you must have heard of the Black family, right? That's them. They are all either dead or in Azkaban," Tonks explained.

"The Black family huh? Pretty hardcore people. Their loss I guess," Magnus comforted her. Tonks nodded her head, but her changing hair color told him that she liked what he said. They soon wrapped up for the day and parted ways to return to their dormitories. While he could always clean himself with a charm, Magnus preferred bathing as much as possible. The hot water supply that's always available helped in his decision.

He freshened up and went down to the Great Hall to eat dinner. As always it was a tasty affair and when he was done, he chose to return back with Roger, Noah and Eva. Just when they were going up the staircase, Fred and George called out to them.

"Gentlemen and-"

"-gentle-girl-"

"we'll be borrowing Magnus for a moment," they said as they held Magnus's arms on either sides and pulled him away. The Ravenclaw trio shrugged and went on their way. They were used to the twins' antics by now as they hung around Magnus.

"What is it now? Did you hurt yourself again? Do you want me to heal you?" Magnus questioned. Ever since the Weasley twins came to know about Magnus's healing lessons, they pestered him to heal them whenever they screwed up in their "research". Madam Pomfrey, despite healing them every time, got annoyed at them when they went to her too many times. So, they limited their visits to her only for serious conditions.

"O ye of little faith-"

"-do you think we'll wait till dinner-"

"-if we got hurt?"

"Right," Magnus said sarcastically.

"Look what we found," Fred pulled out a folded parchment from his pocket and showed it excitedly. They explained how they were caught by Filch for playing around with dungbombs and pulled into his office for punishment. Apparently, they saw this inside a cupboard labelled "Confiscated and Highly Dangerous" and in true twins' fashion, dropped another dungbomb and nicked it.

Magnus felt exasperated. He never understood their fascination with dungbombs. He preferred a much subtler way of pranking. 'I mean they never found out who made the Slytherins smell like rotten eggs last month. Probably thought it was Peeves,' Magnus chuckled in his head. While the resident poltergeist was a pesky annoyance, he wasn't as stealthy as a true prankster. "So, all this trouble for a parchment? What does it do?" he asked curiously. They wouldn't get very excited if there wasn't something good about it.

"See- I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good," George tapped his wand on the parchment. Slowly inked lines came into existence in front of their eyes.

"Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs

Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers

Are proud to present

THE MARAUDER'S MAP"

It was a map of all of Hogwarts, but that wasn't what amazed Magnus. It had all the live locations of the castle inhabitants and it tracked them in real-time with helpful nameplates.

[Impact Points+50]

"Bloody hell!"