Chapter Fourteen: Showing Off

Time blurred, and Friday evening arrived quickly, with me investing most of my time into practicing and studying magic.

I also spend some time with Paulina and discussed all kinds of magical topics and theories with her. It was one of our favorite activities when we were spending time together.

There was even some time to visit Jessica and Felicia. They were pretty different in their personalities, but they seemed to both hated the same kind of people, and so they both enjoyed the beginning of a flourishing friendship.

And as for the Hogwarts population? Well, I definitely got fairly popular with the girls, but also with some older Slytherin boys that wanted to beat me up in order to prove their superiority. But evading them was pretty easy with the help of the Marauder's Map and helpful tricks like the Disillusionment Charm.

Anyway…

I was currently with Paulina, Flitwick, and Lily Potter down in the dungeon and inside an old, unused dueling hall for the non-existent dueling clubs.

The little professor was really fascinated by the discovery of the hidden texts. He couldn't read them at all, and my own insights from these pages didn't make much sense to him, but he was still happy about it because it made his collection feel more precious. His best guess was that there was some very powerful magic protecting these texts, and only individuals lucky enough to be deemed worthy are able to read and fully comprehend them.

It wasn't a common thing, but such like that actually existed. It was assumed that there was still a shit-ton of powerful magic hidden in old ruins, but and likely to remain hidden and unclaimed until the day someone worthy enough appeared. It wasn't that rare that old and powerful individuals create such hidden legacies to let their teaching be continued by someone capable enough.

I mean, just look at Sirius Black. He is the heir of one of the most powerful magical families in the world, but he stubbornly refuses to learn their magic. It may be of a dark nature, but you don't have to actually use it to cause harm. Sirius could have become the finest curse-breaker of his age simply because of his vast knowledge in the Dark Arts. But I guess that he is too short-sighted to realize that.

It only made sense that some individuals decided to lock their lifework behind powerful spells. To find just one worthy successor that could continue and improve one's work was better than having ten blood-related but useless heirs ruining it.

For example, the Malfoys were once famous all over the world for their family magic that specialized in breeding magical creatures. That's what made them so filthy rich. But the new generations started to see that practice as beneath them. So they foolishly allowed their family magic to remain unused until it completely faded away from their bloodline.

It was a real shame because I would love such a magical bloodline. I would breed the largest and fattest dragons in existence…

*smack*

'Huh?'

My ponderings were violently interrupted by a smack on the head. I blinked in confusion until I realized that Flitwick already finished preparing the dummy I should test my spell on. Everyone was waiting for me to make my move.

"Focus, Jonny, you need to focus," Paulina scolded from my side.

"You can start whenever you feel ready to, Mister Vegaz," Flitwick encouraged with a cheerful smile.

"I was born ready," I said in an overly self-confident tone as I swaggered over to stand a couple of meters in front of the dummy.

Flitwick put some chams on it that would measure the power of my spell. Not in numbers, but he basically just made the dummy super-durable by applying several defensive charms on it. If my spell managed to destroy all these defenses, then it would be classified as a dangerous spell. Pretty simple.

Measuring the power of a spell with numbers and so on was useless. It wouldn't give one any useful date since the power of a spell varies based on how much power the caster fueled into the spell. For example, there were weak and precise cutting charms for cutting leaves in herbology, and there were overpowered and very violent cutting charms that could slice a large boulder in two.

Everything other property of the spell needed to be examined by an experienced eye. It was a simple process of comparing the result of the spellcasting with the data the creator provided on the spell.

"One!" I started to count down, increasing the impatience of my little audience.

"Two!"

"Three!"

Flitwick rose on his tiptoes so he could get a better look. Lily appeared as if she wanted to scold me for doing something dangerous. And as for Paulina, she was pretty excited about seeing my new, dangerous spell.

"Flammarys!" I roared loudly, causing the tip of my wand to erupt with a golden stream of ravenous fire.

The voracious fire of my spell quickly engulfed the metal dummy, and it didn't take long before I noticed the first signs of melting. Another few seconds, and I could tell that all the protective charms that Flitwick placed on the dummy were eradicated. Eventually, the dummy began to liquidize and was then fully consumed by vivid golden fire.

Lily and Flitwick were gaping at the blazing spectacle with their eyes wide open and blinking in disbelief. Paulina was in the meantime awed by the golden color of my flames, mumbling how beautiful the flames I summoned were.

"Pretty impressive spell, isn't it?" I said with a nonchalant attitude.

Hearing my words, Flitwick clapped his hands merrily. "An outstanding, skillful, and marvelous performance, Mister Vegaz!"

"Yeah, I am pretty awesome," I replied shamelessly, causing Paulina to giggle and Lily to huff in amusement.

"Is it true that you have created this spell over your summer holidays?" Flitwick inquired curiously after he calmed down a bit.

"Maybe," I replied with a cheeky grin.

Flitwick nodded, grinning back. "Very well, Mister Vegaz, but please try to limit your future experiments during your time at Hogwarts," he advised before approaching what was left of the dummy, carefully inspecting the blackened material.

"Your spell is very powerful indeed," Flitwick mused with a glint of approval appearing in his eyes.

"And just as vicious," Lily added with a huff before turning her attention to me, inhaling a deep breath.

"I know, I know… " I interrupted just as Lily's lips parted. "Don't use your spell against fellow students. Don't use it on the hallways or any area where it can cause large property damage."

"Lily, please, Mister Vegaz isn't a simpleton," Flitwick chuckled. "He is one of my best eagles. Of course he knows the rules."

"Yes, but-…" she started before getting interrupted by Flitwick.

"Not all men are like James, Lily," Flitwick snorted, surprising me with the genuine annoyance that filled his tone. "Your husband is one the biggest cases of man-child I ever had the displeasure to teach."

Hearing that, Lily Potter became red with embarrassment.

"Yeah, that guy is seriously immature," I confirmed, supporting Flitwick's evaluation of Lily's husband. "What is wrong with him anyway? Every time he comes to Hogwarts, he fools around with the Gryffindor's, acting like he was of their age. He flirts with girls half of his age, and sometimes he insults Professor Snape with silly nicknames until the two start throwing fists or food at each other."

Lily reddened even more, not with anger, but with shame. Paulina moved over to the red-haired professor to offer her some words of encouragement.

"Drunk on fame he is," Flitwick muttered wisely.

"Well, back to the main topic," I started before summoning a small ball of golden fire on my open palm. "My control over the element of fire is quite good, but I would love to learn about other elements, too. Is that possible?"

Flitwick smirked slyly. "Certainly, Mister Vegaz. But you owe me a favor in return."

"What kind of favor?" I asked with narrowed eyes, remembering that Flitwick was partly a goblin.

"I will request your assistance in the future should the chance appear to improve the reputation of our House," Flitwick explained in a more serious tone. My eyes rose in surprise when I heard his demand. Improving the reputation of my house meant improving my own as well.

"Professor, I think we have a deal," I replied, nodding with a small grin.

Flitwick returned to his cheerful self. "Wonderful, fantastic, brilliant!" he squeaked with a small chortle.

In the meantime, Lily seemed to have recovered from her embarrassment. She found my deal with Flitwick a good idea and offered me her support, saying that we could use our tutoring lessons for practical training. Not wanting to be left out, Paulina boldly appointed herself as Lily's assistant.

Following my demonstration of Flammarys, our small group left the dungeons towards Flitwick's office. There was still enough time until curfew left, and the little professor was in the mood for some chattering, tea, and cookies.

And before the evening ended, I have got a little gift from Flitwick. He copied a thick tome with the comical title 'The Drowned Goose' from his private collection. It contained basic stuff about water-based elemental magic and even secrets on how to weaponize the water in your environment.

Flitwick also mentioned that he would permit me to visit the Restricted Section of the library. However, I had to be in the company of Lily every time I desired to visit that place. The professors wanted to make sure that I didn't get too curious about books with content that shouldn't be seen by young eyes.

Paulina was brimming with excitement when she heard all the material I would gain access to. She knew that I would share my knowledge with her. In fact, I already started to tutor her in fire-based magic and how to cast these kinds of spells properly. It was fun, and she was an enthusiastic learner, so I happily supported her wish to improve.

My Friday ended quite satisfactorily indeed.

I already had a few books on elemental magic from the large collection I discovered in the Room of Hidden Things, but more material to increase the productivity of my studies was always welcome. The more information I could collect and memorize, the better my ability to create spells.

Imagination was an important part when it comes to spell-creation, and it was very well possible to simply 'imagine' a spell into existence, but such stuff was like a low-quality sword with blunt edges.

Basically, more knowledge about other spells would improve my own technique of creating spells, using what already existed as inspiration.

After all, the first user of magic created their spells by studying the abilities of magical creatures, drawing inspiration from nature.

That was another reason why I desired to hunt every magical creature in existence – or at least harvest some of their blood if they were willing to share. Devouring their 'essence' had a fairly good chance of gifting me their natural abilities. Furthermore, I would get and a good grasp of the exact nature of their magic. That was basically free knowledge directly downloaded into my mind and ready to be used and abused by my whims.

Devouring the Slytherin's basilisk gave me a lot of insight on how to use my eyes as a magical forci, to use them like I used my wand. But I had to modify spells first since the eyes were a rathe sensible organ. I don't want to end up blind or something.

For example, the Severing Charm Diffindo, one single fuck-up, and I can tell that I would end up slicing my own eyes open, causing a fountain of blood to erupt out of my eye-sockets.

So far, the most suitable magic that could be cast through one's eyes was stuff from the Mind Arts. The nature of mind-magic was usually subtle and soft.

With all that being said, my opinion was that the most powerful magical individuals got their power from their ability to memorize a large amount of knowledge and by being highly creative minds.

Knowledge was like colors, and the more colors you can collect, the grander and more beautiful your painting would turn out.

Every piece of magic was a work of art!

…

…

After my display in front of Professor Flitwick and Potter, I spent most of my Saturday with Paulina. She asked me if we could study my new book, The Drowned Goose, together. We searched an abandoned classroom to test out some spells if necessary, and then made ourselves comfortable before going through the material.

And since we had to share the book, Paulina was basically clued into my side, blushing heavily while I wrapped a hand around her shoulder. I knew that she liked me, and showing that I liked her back improved the mood of my female friend.

The situation made me recall that I was around twenty or something before I died to be reborn. I couldn't really remember my exact age anymore, and the birthday of my past life. It felt like a distant memory, and right now, I saw myself more like an overly 'smart' and 'mature' teenage boy that would have his thirteenth birthday in a few days.

After being reborn, I feared that I would feel like the wrong kind of pervert if I ended up liking a girl of my age, one like Paulina. But in the end, I concluded that it didn't make any sense to restrict myself just because I had unique circumstances of birth. I might as well be a normal boy with superpowers and a mind full of memories that belonged to some older guy from a world where my own world was part of his fiction literature.

So, I didn't hesitate and showed Paulina some affection, hugging her back and kissing her on the cheek.

Her Occlumency training progressed at a quite satisfactory pace too. It wouldn't take long until I could share more of my secrets with her.

Teaching Paulina some of the spells I knew was fun, and I ended up solidifying my own knowledge and grasp over these pieces of magic while I was tutoring her.

…