Chapter 9: Obstacle Course

"Your mum…"

"She is soooo cool."

It had been months after the almost disastrous gathering and the twins as well as Phoebe had become regulars at the Li household. Cedric joined at times but he was mostly preoccupied by a strict schedule of pre-Hogwarts studies set by his mother. Mrs Diggory made the Chinese wizarding children's home education seemed like child's play in comparison. Not only was Cedric learning what is expected of a pure-blood wizarding child, Mrs Diggory had also purchased him books for muggle primary school students. While the canon series always showed Mr Diggory speaking about Cedric becoming the Ministry of Magic someday, it seemed like the idea was very much his wife's and she was doing most of the work to reach this goal. Simon hoped that Mrs Diggory would let Cedric join them more often once she realised what the children at the Li household were up to.

Master Lian had previously suggested that Jane set up an environment at the Li cottage to allow Simon to practice magical martial arts, which was a popular Asian method to keep wiccan children physically fit but also to learn to control the magic within their bodies from accidentally lashing out. Jane had not gotten around to the magical martial arts training until Simon kindly reminded her after the gathering. Being a cursebreaker, Jane had chosen the unorthodox method of creating a complex obstacle course with a variety of booby traps in the garden of the family cottage as a way to train Simon. The maze changed every two weeks for a new challenge or every time the group completed a challenge. It was like a simulation that could reset and upgrade. Jane had no qualms training Simon's new friends too – the more the merrier. And on this particular day, Simon received a new "quest" from his mother to complete with Fred, George and Phoebe. *"Seek what is in the air."*

Fred and George were clearly enjoying this new quest, as Cheshire cat smiles grew on their faces while they admired the new obstacle course Jane had set up for the day. Jane was the cool mum in their eyes who allowed them to have fun unlike their mother Molly Weasley. Also, these entertaining exercises were giving them an avenue to let out their chaotic energy – Molly had thanked Jane profusely the other day for looking after Fred and George every now and then. The boys had both been committing fewer pranks at home as well as lashing out magically less frequently thanks to a combination of fatigue and better control of their magical abilities.

Phoebe was certainly happy to join these "quests", even though she tried her best not to show it. After months of spending time with her and listening in on conversations between the adults, Phoebe's father seemed to belong to a less-favoured branch of the Greengrass family (for reasons Simon had yet to uncover) and Phoebe was not afforded a lot of the opportunities her cousins had. To have some form of pre-Hogwarts training, even if foreign, was something she greatly enjoyed.

"Too bad we cannot use Raze for this quest," George began as they slowly treaded through the maze and kept an eye out for any traps.

"Mum found out you lot got me to talk to Raze as he flew ABOVE the maze and gave us tips on how to avoid traps, which defeats the whole purpose of the quests…."

"Well, what is the point of having an occamy and not using it?" Fred chimed in. Just as many Harry Potter forums had noted, Fred was definitely the instigator of the Weasley twin duo. George was certainly fun and witty too but he would not get into half the trouble he did if Fred was not acting like his doppelgänger devil's advocate. And it did not help that Fred could be very convincing even as a five-year-old. His words plus Simon's own interest in testing out Raze's abilities led the group to "cheat" on the first few quests with a magical living drone.

Now Raze was confined to a chained collar every time the children were on a "quest", charmed to prevent Raze from escaping and Simon got an earful from his familiar every time they took too long to complete a quest. Simon was certain Jane knew how the vain occamy would react if he was tied up too long and used it as a way to motivate her son.

"Well, we did fine in the last five quests without Raze. Last time we found a whole box of Bernie Bott's…"

"Shhhh…do you hear that?" Phoebe said, putting a stop to the boys' bickering.

Suddenly, the ground in front of them started to shake and blocks of earth rose up to form a makeshift staircase.

"Stair training *AGAIN*?" Fred groaned.

Running up flights of stairs was a key component of magical martial arts, as it could train a wiccan child to control their breathing, and in turn, their magic. That may explain why Hogwarts made all their students walk up endless flights of stairs instead of developing magical escalators and elevators.

"I don't think it is usual stair training…" muttered George as he gestured the group to turn around. The path they came from was beginning to sink underground.

As all four of them raced up the stairs, they watched the ground beneath the steps slowly being engulfed by the maze. It was moments like this in the maze which caused Simon to wonder what the wizarding community considered as 'safe' for children.

Suddenly the steps they stood on began to move out of formation. Fred slipped and was clinging on his step like a koala hanging on a branch. George bent his knees to regain his balance, as if manoeuvring a muggle skateboard and seemed to have some success in doing so. Seeing George's better control compared to Fred's, Simon and Phoebe immediately started mimicking the younger twin. This was clearly an iteration of a balancing exercise for magical martial arts.

"Hey, I think I see the floating treasure!" George cried, pointing to an object suspended in the air. A leather-bound chest bearing the words "Children-Friendly Quidditch Kit" floated under the glistening summer sun. This was certainly the best prize for a quest so far. The question was now how they were going to guide their floating steps to the chest. They all looked at Phoebe in anticipation as she was closest to the chest.

"MERLIN'S BEARD!!!!"

Simon spun around at the sudden cry and gaped as he saw the step starting to disappear under George's feet.

"I got you!" shouted Fred, as he tried to navigate the step he was clinging onto to move towards George.

"Fred is not going to make it in time," Phoebe muttered, seeing George's step almost completely disappear as Fred remained a good distance away, "Let's end this quest so the maze changes to something new."

Before Simon could reply, Phoebe quickly swerved towards the chest and touched it. It took a second or two for the duo to realise that nothing had changed. The chest refused to budge.

As George began to drop, Simon had an idea.

"PHOEBE, MOVE!" he shouted, flying with his step towards the chest at full speed. Phoebe ducked quickly as Simon crashed into the chest. A miniature quaffle, snitch, as well as two bludgers and four children's brooms burst from the broken chest. As Simon fell off his step, he launched himself on a broom and grabbed the quaffle.

"GEORGE, CATCH!"

Simon threw the quaffle with all his might at the falling boy who barely managed to clutch the small quaffle with one of his hands. Suddenly, George fell at a much slower speed as the effects of the quaffle's innate slowing charm kicked in. This gave Fred just enough time to get to George, who was then able to cling onto his brother's floating step as well. As the maze began to dissolve, Simon made a note to write Cedric a thank you letter for the copy of "Quidditch Through the Ages" Cedric gifted him during his birthday in January.

"That was a fine showing," came the voice of Jane who was sitting on the front porch of the cottage sipping a cup of tea, "I was expecting you to use the brooms to save George. The use of the quaffle was a creative touch."

"That was fun Mrs Li!" Fred exclaimed as they found themselves back on the ground. The red-headed boy was still on a high from the adrenaline rush.

"I would not call that fun," Simon grumbled, shooting his mum a judging look.

"I would have called it a day and caught George if you did not come up with a fix in a few more seconds or so," Jane retorted, passing some pastries to the children, "After all, I am a *responsible* parent."

Simon snorted at Jane's comment. Jane certainly never got any of them hurt these past months but she had given them ample opportunities to experience how it was like to *almost* get seriously injured. Simon was certain if he ever became a cursebreaker like Jane, no tomb or ward would faze him after a childhood full of mazes and scares in his own garden.

"The problem-solving aspects of the maze would get harder next time," Jane noted, "I am doing you all a favour to expand your minds as well as your physical magical abilities."

"I thought dad was doing that already."

"Simon, I would not count your father's requests for you to help him crush up herbs as *mentally taxing*."

"He is making me learn some potions," Simon added, while catching Fred from the corner of his eye mouthing *'Anything that blows ups?'*

"Well that is more rote memorisation than thinking on the spot," Jane snapped back, before turning her attention to the other children, "You will all thank me later during most of your classes at Hogwarts where quick thinking would be a must."

"Oh dearest, you break this poor potioneer's heart," Dirk mused dramatically as he joined them at the front porch with Sue snoozing in his arms, "You do know there is a lot more than memorisation to a good potion!"

"Hey boys, your mother is calling for you through the Floo. Dinner's ready at the Burrow," Dirk said to the Weasley twins who made sure to shove a few more pastries in their mouths before bidding goodbye.

"Phoebe, your father is swamped with work at the ministry today and your mother is busy editing papers – but don't worry we have dinner for you too," Dirk spoke warmly to the little girl, "And I can assure you my cooking is as good as my potion-making skills."

"Thank you, Mr Li," Phoebe responded politely like she always did with the adults.

*"Her parents are always busy…"* Simon heard the voice of his familiar echo in his mind as it flew onto his shoulder, glad to be free from the charmed restraints.

*"I know,"* responded Simon, *"I wonder why."*