Cheating you way into magical education
August 17, 1975. (Sunday)
The girls and their parents talked all afternoon about the knowledge transfer. For Ivy, it was a sure thing. If she wanted to attend the Accademia Medici, she didn’t have any other choice to learn Latin and Italian before the start of term. Petunia was a little scared of this. But Lily and Ivy convinced her to at least try. So Marcello Dellaria came back, at eight, the following morning.
“I am glad you took the opportunity, ladies. Young Ivy, here, will have ample time to adjust to suddenly knowing two more languages before the start of term. And we can help miss Petunia to start on her journey to master enough magic to obtain her certifications. Now. Which one want to start ? The process can be quite long, depending on the size of the bundle of knowledge. I would say at least half an hour for each language package. Maybe one to two hours per subject to master… My portkey doesn’t leave until the 31st of August so I can take my time and help you adjust a bit.”
Ivy volunteered immediately, bouncing in her seat.
“Close your eyes, miss Ivy, and take a deep breath. One, two, three… Release it. Good. Again. Take your time. Relax your body and your mind. Breathe and release. Excellent. Open your eyes now, and let me in…”
Clutching Lily’s hand with all her might, Petunia watched as her littlest sister made eye contact with the man. Her body stilled unnaturally while they locked eyes. It was as if they had a staring contest. Cæla and Ambrose were looking at them curiously but seemed much more relaxed than Petunia. Lily was fascinated with the process, patting Petunia’s hands while watching with interest.
After an hour and half has passed, Marcello and Ivy let out a deep breath before shaking their heads.
“Wonderful, miss Ivy. You should drink a lot of water today and have a lot of rest. The less your mind is active, the most it can process your new knowledge.”
The youngest yawned and nodded.
“Yeah, I think I will take a nap. M’tired,” she mumbled before hugging her parents and sisters and shuffling off to her room, not noticing that it was just 9:30.
Giggling, Lily took her hand off from Petunia’s and followed her sister to help her to bed and bring her water to drink.
“If you would let me half an hour to recover, we can get you started on the same path, miss Petunia.”
“Oh, yes, of course. Do you want a cup of tea? Coffee? Some water?”
“A large glass of water, and maybe one of orange juice, if you have? Then a coffee, please.”
“Sure, I will bring it back.”
Letting her parents question the man, the eldest daughter fled to the kitchen, preparing a glass of cold water, one of orange juice, and putting the coffee maker on. While waiting to have the cup full, she took deep breaths. She wasn’t scared of a stranger putting things in her mind, right? She was just a little wary. She has more self-preservation instinct than Ivy, that’s all. She was not scared.
Okay, maybe she was scared. What if learning magic too quickly was bad for her health? For her mind? She did not want to lose this incredible gift, or her sanity. She could wait a few years, right? She could read all the books in Lily’s room, first. And get a tutor.
But Marcello seemed to think it was important. He seemed appalled at the situation. He didn’t event ask for money! Was that not suspicious? Or was it very generous?
The sound of the coffee finally dripping in the cup shook Petunia from her thoughts. She put the two glasses on a little wooden tray, some milk, some cream and some sugar. When the cup was full, she cut off the power from the coffee maker and added a silver spoon with the cup.
“Here, Master Dellaria,” she said when she came back in the living room.
“Thank you, tesoro.”
Marcello took his time to drink his glass of water, closing his eyes longer than a blink required. The same was done with the glass of juice. And finally, he started to sip at his coffee after adding some sugar.
“So…” started Cæla while the man was sipping his coffee. “Why do you start the school year on the 25th of September? Does the year end later too?”
“Oh, no, not at all. It starts after one of our Holy Day, that’s all. During a year, we have eight days of power. The first of the academic year is Mabon, on the 23rd of September. The students are allowed to observe the tradition with their family and take a day to prepare before coming to the school. The next is Samhain, on the 31st of October. The students can go home day before, the day of, and the day after to observe their traditions. Yule is next, on the 21st of December. For this one, the students go back home the 20th and spend the rest of the month with their families. They can come back at school the 2nd of January. And there is Imbolc, on the 1st of February. Again, three days off for the students. Ostara is next, on the 21st of March, with three days off once more. Then there is Beltane, the 1st of May. Three days off once again. And the school year end the day before Litha, on the 21st of June. Exams are taken from the 1st to the 20th of June, and we then let the students go for some much-needed vacations. They celebrate the last of the Holy Days on the 1st of August. It’s called Lughnasadh. Our students have around 25 days off in the year. In other schools, they got between 40 and 60 days off. So our summer holidays are a bit longer to account for that.”
Letting the two adults Evans process everything he said, and slipping a book on magical traditions their way, Marcello then turned to Petunia.
“So, miss Petunia. Are you ready? It really is a shame what happened to you, and it would be my honour to help you correct it. But I won’t if you are not sure you want to do it this way.”
“I… I don’t know? It’s… Scary, the idea that you -or anyone really- can see into my head.”
“Yes, it’s a scary idea, I agree. That’s why I would like to help you master Occlumency after helping you assimilate the knowledge necessary to have you pass your certifications. When you master it, nobody would be able to get access to you mind without you knowing or without your approval.”
“I thought about it. It’s meant to be really hard to master, isn’t it?”
“In the traditional way, yes. But as we would already have used Legilimency to get you up to speed on your magical knowledge, learning Occlumency this way would be trivial.”
Petunia thought about that for a moment, then nodded.
“Okay, then. How do we proceed?”
“Today, I would like you to assimilate the same as your sister. Given that you have a quicker recovery time, we can then start with other subject as soon as Tuesday. A full day of rest between sessions is ideal. So, on Tuesday, I would like to share my knowledge of Charms and Defensive/Offensive Magics. On Thursday, Transfiguration and Potions will be best. Saturday, we can tackle Astronomy and History of Magic. Monday, I think Herbology and Care of Magical Creature will do you good. Wednesday let us with Arithmancy and Ancient Runes. If you want to have some knowledges of Divinations and Magical Etiquette, we can do that on Friday. And before my Portkey departure on Sunday, if you want some knowledge about Occlumency and Magical Customs and Laws, I will be glad to share them with you.”
“That quickly? In… what… Two weeks? I will be proficient in magic?”
“Yes, that quickly. I understand that you will have a final year in muggle schooling, right?” He asked, with a curious eyebrow raised.
The eldest Evans girl nodded.
“Then you can use the weekend to practice magic a bit, after gaining a wand, and register to pass your certification with the ICW in the next summer. Miss Lily should also register to take these exams, after her OWLs, because British certifications are behind on ICW certifications. It can only help her in the long term. I will let a list of what is required to take it. She seems bright, I have no doubt she will be able to have good results.”
“I will tell her about it.
“Excellent. Are you ready, now?”
The girl just nodded, squaring her shoulders, and met the eyes of Marcello with a determined glint in hers.
₪ ₪ ϰ ₪ ₪ ϰ ₪ ₪ ϰ ₪ ₪