Harry arrived on a dirt road in some rural area. He looked around and wondered why he was here.
Shortly, a cart carrying an old man and a young boy appeared around a bend. He waited for it to pull up to his position.
The old man slowed the cart with casual skill. Harry called out, "Riding into town?"
The man nodded cautiously. "Do you mind a passenger?"
The boy said to his companion, "We should, Mr. Wolf. It's really far to the town."
The man finally replied, "Well, hop up!"
Harry got into the wagon. The bow said, "Hi! I'm Garion! Who are you?"
Harry looked at the boy. "I'm Harry. I'm new to the area."
The boy was curious. "So you're not from Sendaria? Where are you from? Arendia? You kind of look like an Arend."
Harry had never heard the names before. "No, I'm actually from a land called Great Britain."
The man asked curiously, "Where is Great Britain? In my travels, I have never heard the name."
Harry sheepishly replied, "Would you believe it if I said it wasn't on this world?"
The old man's face took on a look of intensity. "Really? How very curious."
Harry sighed. "Through an accident, I have become somewhat … unattached. As a result, I tend to move from place to place."
The old man was now extremely curious. "What kind of accident results in 'becoming unattached'?"
Harry sighed. "What do you know about magic?"
The man clammed up a little. "I have heard of magicians and sorcerers. Are you a magician or sorcerer?"
Harry grinned a little. "A wizard actually."
The man clicked at the team of horses before replying. The he said, "I haven't heard of a wizard before." He then paused. "Well, actually I have heard that term applied to sorcerers but it is most uncommon."
Harry shrugged. "On my world, sorcerer is unusual. It implies a wizard of strong or unusual skill. In truth, I might be considered a sorcerer by some. But the word doesn't sound right."
"So do you have some unusual skill?"
Harry grinned. "Some have said so. I tend to run into unusual magic. I learn what I can and I usually need it at some point."
"What skills do you have?"
Harry was about to answer when a fallen tree appeared around a bend in the road. "Well, I can just show you."
Harry jumped out of the wagon and approached the tree. It was about 6 inches thick and it looked like it had fallen from winds. He noted some rot at the stump.
He turned and said, "Here is a curse. Curses can be used to hurt people, but they have other uses." He turned back and cast Diffindo to cut the tree into smaller pieces.
He called back. "Transfiguration. Changing one thing to another."
He cast a transfiguration to turn one section to a fluffy pillow of all things. He picked it up and threw it at the young boy. Garion caught and inspected it, amazed. "Transfiguration isn't permanent so don't be keeping it. It will turn back in a week or two."
Harry turned back. "A charm." Harry lifted the next piece with a Wingardium Leviosa.
"Another Charm, a Banishing Charm." He knocked the next log so that it flew away with force.
"A Flame-Making Charm." He cast Incendio on the next log and it burned away to ash quickly.
"A Vanishing Charm." He heard a shout in the middle of the spell. He completed it and turned toward the man and boy.
The man was rushing over but stopped upon seeing Harry casually standing there. "What?"
The man looked at Harry and said, "From all that I understand, that should have been impossible!"
Garion was listening with intense interest to the two men.
"What do you mean?"
The man, Mr. Wolf, paced up and down. "The Purpose of the Universe is Creation! A number of Sorcerers have destroyed themselves attempting to UnMake thing. The Universe does not allow it! She destroys any who try. That should be impossible!"
Harry turned back toward where the Vanished log had been sitting and thought deeply. Finally he turned back to the man. "Sorry. I think I have an explanation."
The man turned sharply toward Harry. "Tell me!"
Harry sat on a nearby log. Garion got out the wagon and approached even as Mr. Wolf sat on another fallen log.
"Do you know the makeup of things?"
The old man scratched his beard and said, "The Universe is made of tiny things. Smaller things make up larger things."
Harry nodded. "Correct in principle. Every type of material is made of things called atoms. The air had many types: Oxygen, nitrogen, carbon-dioxide, other gases. Some are pure materials such as oxygen. Others are combinations like carbon-dioxide. It's what gets made when a fire burns a fuel. The carbon on the material attaches to the oxygen. The effect is created by the heat applied. With me so far?"
Harry nodded and then said, "Magic seems to defy this basic construction – but not really." He waved his arms. "Everything around is made of these atoms but I learned as a very young boy that each of these small things is made of even smaller things called electron, protons, and neutrons. Electrons and protons attract each other and neutrons are neutral. But there is a pull toward being a balance. For every proton, one electron. No matter what type of materials, each one of these is actually exactly alike. There is no difference between the electrons in oxygen and the electrons of, say, lead or gold. It's all the same."
Mr. Wolf was listening, fascinated. Garion tried to keep up and he was doing a decent job of it.
"So, Vanishing seems to get rid of the material but in fact it breaks it down to its smallest parts. The non-magicals in my world call it a law: The Law of Conservation of Matter and Energy. Matter and energy are really the same. Nothing can be created or destroyed, only converted. So, my guess is that the Vanishing Charm reduces the material to smaller matter or energy. There's actually so much of it tied up in other things that even though the smallest thing contains enormous energy, there is room for such a small amount by comparison to be absorbed by the other things around."
Mr. Wolf thought about it. "I will have to consider this at some point when I have time."
Harry shrugged. "I've never really considered it." He though about the process. He conjured a small piece of paper.
"What is that?"
Harry answered, distracted. "Conjuration. Won't last long. Probably because the energy isn't in its normal shape and so it doesn't maintain itself. It will eventually disappate. I wonder if locking the image into your mind and willing the parts to be created would make it more permanent?"
He considered this and then deliberately vanished the paper, willing it to break into its constituent parts. It vanished much more quickly and easily than normal. "Very nice!"
Mr. Wolf asked with a bit of enthusiasm. "What did you find?"
Harry grinned. "I never really added the mental aspect of the spell into it. A lot of magic is much easier if you maintain an image of what you want. I envisioned the paper breaking up to its small, invisible components and the amount of magic required reduced enough for me to notice, even with this small amount of paper. This trip is going to make it much easier to control my magic in the future."
The man stood up and smiled, "I'm glad for you. It is time, however, to move back to traveling. We have things to buy or the boy's Aunt will be upset."
"His Aunt?"
Garion described his Aunt and his life a bit. It was obvious to Harry that Garion loved his Aunt dearly.
"I wish I had an Aunt like that. My own was not so pleasant or loving." Harry sighed and then shook it off. "It's the past. Remember, family is what you make it."
Garion was curious. "What do you mean?"
Harry smiled as he replied, "The family you must acknowledge isn't often as close as the family you choose to acknowledge. I have had many friends. Two in particular I was extremely close to. One was only distantly related to me through my father's family. The other wasn't related at all. Yet the two were closer to me than my close blood relatives ever were. It isn't blood that makes a family, even if it helps. It's Love. Pure and simple."
After Garion considered that for a moment Harry added, "It's also a much more powerful part of magic than even your mind. Love makes impossible things possible. Some magics won't even work without it." Harry took his wand and the memory of his closest friends. "Expecto Patronum!"
A silvery stag shot from his wand and pranced around the wagon. It stopped and then inspected the young boy and the old man. "A protection spell powered by love to protect against despair and creatures so Dark that they shouldn't exist. It takes the shape of my father's animal form, though he died when I was a baby and I don't remember him. His love, my friends' love, my love: All add together to make it possible."
Garion basked in the feeling coming from the stag, until it disappeared. "That was awesome." Mr. Wolf nodded his head in agreement.
Harry felt the pull. He addressed the boy. "Remember: Love is more important than blood or knowledge. May you grow to know Love."
He turned and disappeared in a blue light, the Phoenix's song wafting through the air. Both Mr. Wolf and Garion felt the tremendous joy and love the music conveyed deep within their souls. Mr. Wolf recognized his innate sensitivity to magic allowing him to feel it. Garion would learn … in the future.
Mr. Wolf also thought that the color of the light that Harry had departed in looked remarkably like the color of his Master's Orb. The thought reassured him greatly.
Garion thought about what he had heard from the man with the rat-like face and the man who looked like a bear. His statement that it was impossible that Aunt Pol was really his Aunt had shocked him. Just when he was about to descend into despair, he remembered what Harry had said: "It isn't blood that makes a family, only Love."
He thought about it hard and deep as he lay in his sleeping furs. Did it really matter so much that his Aunt wasn't his Aunt? He loved her. And he was certain she loved him. Well, pretty certain.
Still, maybe she was at least a little blood-related. He would hold out hope.
He looked at the clump he had put together. His cousin Adara was so sad, he wanted this to be perfect. He envisioned the result he wanted solidly as he Willed the change. Instead of the wooshing he normally associated with Sorcery, there was a bell sound. But it was somewhat richer in tone than other times he had heard that same bell sound. He handed the little flower, much sturdier in its form than it would be otherwise, to his cousin.
He looked at the wall protecting the city from his wrath. The Mimbrate siege machines would knock them down. But maybe he could help them fall more quickly if he Vanished the dirt at the bottom. It would be much quicker and less tiring than Pulling the wall.
The Grolims attacking were shocked when one of their number disappeared. Belgarion grinned. UnMaking was so taboo that Vanishing shocked the hell out of the opposition.