Chapter 10: Pain & Pleasure
Aren had been busy learning the second-year materials while using Hermione to find out the answer to any queries or question that he might have. Throughout the week the girl had been looking at his oddly as if she had something to discuss but always seem to falter at the end.
Over the next week, Harry and that brat were discussing their run-in with the gigantic three-headed dog as a great adventure. Thus, Aren was aware of the topic she would like to speak or discuss with him but looking at her biting her lip in frustration had been amusing therefore he didn't bother raising the topic himself.
Aren could tell, she was trying to keep her distance from them while staying close by. Whether it was a desire to be a part of their group, or just her need to keep an eye on him, Aren could not tell. But one thing was certain after their little adventure though, Harry did not mind her being around so much. Hermione the bossy girl she was confused about what she should do?
This morning Aren found Harry and the others sitting in the Great Hall eating breakfast. Between mouthfuls of food, Ron was busy telling anyone that would listen about his brother Charlie's job working with dragons in Romania. Harry had heard all about Charlie from Ginny's letters. However, Ron tended to add details that only a young boy would appreciate, like the types of injuries and such that Charlie had suffered in the course of his job. Ginny had always made Charlie's job sound dangerous, but Ron made it sound exciting.
Aren had grown tired of calling everyone brat mentally, therefore, decided to turn a new leaf.
Harry was so caught up in Ron's tales that he did not even see Hedwig swooping down towards him with a rather large package. It was only at the last moment, just as Hedwig let go of the long and slender package that Harry saw her and quickly grabbed the bundle. The rather exhausted owl landed on Harry's shoulder, affectionately nibbling on his ear until he handed her a large slice of bacon.
"Thanks, Hedwig," Harry said fondly to the snow-white owl.
Hedwig hooted a fond farewell and then took to the air again to return to the school owlery for a well-deserved day's sleep.
Aren didn't bother to comment and just made himself at home as he and Bell sat on the Gryffindor table. Aren filled his plate while Bell was busy with rest admiring Harry's broom.
'Naïve, so absorbed in the wizarding culture that they will eventually forget their own. Why do you think they have a boarding school so far away from outside influence?' Aren mused.
"You'll be expelled for that, Potter," said a sneering voice as Aren finished with his breakfast.
Aren watched as Harry spun around and saw Draco Malfoy standing just behind them. "You really think so, Malfoy?"
"First years aren't allowed to have brooms," said the confident young Slytherin. "You'll be out of here faster than you can say, 'Muggle-lover.'"
"What's this then?" asked the high-pitched voice of Professor Flitwick as he walked towards them.
"Potter's been sent a broom, Professor," Malfoy said with a nasty gleam in his eyes.
"Oh yes," Flitwick said with a smile. "Professor McGonagall told me all about the special circumstances. What type of broom did you get, Mr. Potter?"
Harry watched as Malfoy's jaw dropped upon hearing Flitwick's words. "It's a Nimbus 2000, Professor."
"Excellent, Mr. Potter," Flitwick said with another smile. "I can't wait to see what you can do with it."
Aren and Bell watched the exchange between the two rival houses with interfering. Harry and Ron smiled back at the Professor before making their way out the Great Hall.
Malfoy just stared up after them, his confusion and rage mixing on his face in a comical mask.
Aren accidentally bumped into Malfoy outside the Great Hall as no one was around causing him to fall on the ground before immediately falling unconscious. Aren and Bell pretended as if nothing happened as they left.
Bell despite is curiosity didn't comment. Aren dragged Bell with him to the library for the rest of the day while Harry and Ron were playing with Harrys Broom, Aren shivered in thought. It would have been amusing to make sexual jokes if they weren't brats still wearing diapers.
Hogwarts is a dull and boring place if you remove magic of the equation. Really, a boarding school with only one sport that only a few individuals can play while little to no clubs present for the student body. Just what kind of institute is this place that offers no magical debate or any other extracurricular activity?
Even though he is a genius, he too had his limits when it comes to studying. But, the only interesting or amusing incident was when the buck tooth demands he sees his results. It was a well-known fact that he was ahead of his peers. Aren excelled at everything. She should be aware of the gap that exists between them could not be surmounted that easily.
Much to the frustration of Hermione Granger, Aren was the top of the class in his year. She was used to being at the top of her classes, but here Aren was making everything seem so, so, easy.
But she still couldn't dislike him. When she had asked how he did magic so easily, he had just told her his method. He had told her which books she should get to pursue to get the best possible results. And his advice for getting to know people had got her first real friend in Mira Lilio, her roommate in Gryffindor. They were five girls in their dorm, herself, Mira, Parvati Patil, Lavender Brown, and Cecilia Robards. The last three were more interested in fashion and cosmetics than their studies, but they were okay. Mira was more outgoing than herself but still didn't neglect her work. She didn't do the amount of extra work Hermione did, she wasn't interested in being the best, but she wanted to do well in her classes.
She informed Hermione about her secret. Time management. Mira's mother had taught her how to best utilize her time so she could have fun with the rest of her time after her homework was done. Mira was seamlessly satisfied with receiving over eighty percent in her lessons and that was it.
While Hermione couldn't accept such an attitude for herself, she was too competitive for that, she had taken up a more relaxed attitude. She smiled and congratulated him as she handed him back his results before leaving the library completely unaware of the emotionless glace that stared at her back.
Aren was currently confused as she didn't act the way he had expected her too. Unknown to Aren, no matter how much he avoided and stayed out off most of the major events in the main plotline his presence still had some effects. Hermione knows as a bossy, know-it-all, buck tooth had made her first true friend.
Both girls had also associated somehow with Neville Longbottom, whom Mira had decided had potential that just needed to be coaxed out of him. Neville had latent talent and she had been proven right. With the consideration from Hermione and Mira, he offered that he was knowledgeable in Herbology. His key problem was his lack of confidence his family had imparted in him.
But despite all Hermione's and Mira's coaching Neville had problems with the wand-based subjects and Potions. He did well enough in Astronomy and History of Magic. Therefore, Miranda one day after dinner pulled Neville after her, followed by Hermione towards the Ravenclaw table.
"Hi, Blood. I'm Mira Lilio; I think you already know Hermione Granger and Neville Longbottom?" She asked.
"Indeed, Nice to meet you, Lilio. What can I do for you? I guess there is a reason why you were pulling Longbottom after you." Aren asked.
"Indeed. Well, as the acknowledged magical prodigy of our year, I wanted to ask, if you could aid us to discover why Neville has so many complications in the wand-based subjects. Potions I can realize, he's too afraid of what Professor Snape would do if he messed up and then messes up badly. But we have tried different methods of explaining him a spell and it just doesn't help." Mira described.
"I see, follow me, we are going to use one of the unused classrooms and I'll see if I can spot the reason. If you truly put so much effort in your work, it should at least have had some results." Aren said. "Bell, would you mind taking my bag with you to Ravenclaw tower?" Aren asked Bell.
"No, no problem, Aren," Terry answered, taking another portion of apple pie, today's dessert.
Aren led them towards the Transfiguration corridor. He knew that two doors behind the classroom were another, unused one.
"Why are there so many unused classrooms here by the way?" Mira asked.
"I don't know myself, but I can hypothesize that the main reason is the war against the Dark Lord reduced the size of the magical population. Before the war, there must have been a lot of students that attended Hogwarts. After all, Hogwarts is the only magical school within Britain." Aren explained as he tailed off, "Though I am still confused why they call it a war instead of a civil war."
Neville shuddered when Aren mentioned the war that took his parents away. They went into the classroom and Aren closed the door behind them.
"Okay, what spells did you try?" He asked.
"Mostly the hair color changing spell and the basic transfiguration spells we learned in the first two lessons," Hermione replied.
"Well let's start with the color changing charm. Longbottom, try changing Hermione's hair to blond." Harry said.
"Why blond?" Hermione protested.
"Don't you like blond? I thought it would go well with your eyes. After all, you could never fall into the dumb blonde trap." Aren smiled as he replied.
The way Hermione's face reddened was amusing to watch especially in front of her friends, Aren mused. Hermione didn't bother to reply and simply ignored him.
Neville tried to focus like the girls had told him to do. He spoke the incantation and made the necessary wand movement, but the only effect he managed to raise was lightening Hermione's hair a bit.
"Hm, there is nothing wrong with the wand movement and the incantation, those were absolutely correct. You tried to imagine the effect, right?" Aren asked Neville.
"Yes, I tried my best to picture her hair color changing into a blond. Probably my family was right, and I just don't have sufficient magic." Neville sadly said.
"No, there is no way you don't have sufficient magic. Hogwarts doesn't send letters to those who don't have sufficient magic to be a wizard or witch. No, That's not the problem." Aren already knowing the answer pretended to ponder loudly as he looked at Neville. His posture, his face, and his wand.
"Neville, how long did it take until a wand chose you?" Aren asked.
"Huh, what do you mean? This was my Dad's wand. Gran gave it to me and said I should use it to make my Dad proud and be more like him." Neville answered confused.
"Then that's the cause of the problem. Your wand just isn't compatible with you. According to what Ollivander told me the wand chooses the wizard, therefore, that you could never get any good results with another wizard's wand. Now, I want you to concentrate on your magic and imagine collecting a large amount of magic, it doesn't matter how long it takes just concentrated, then use the spell again." Aren advised.
The experiments he had performed and his own practice had proven that if you have raw magic you can perform any spells but only if you have a compatible wand that can connect with your magical core. An incompatible cant connects properly with the magical core therefore due to the weak connection the amount of magic extracted is less. Therefore, if he is right which he is, then with that much power the spell would work, and Neville would need a new wand.
Neville concentrated with all his might, tried to feel power building up. After five minutes he did the spell again and a bright ray of light shot out of his wand towards Hermione and colored her hair blond with red strands. Harry had a big smile on his face, Neville looked shocked and Mira awed.
"I was right. For you to even manage to do a spell you need to concentrate abnormally high amounts of magic. You must force your wand to work for you, not let it help you. It's not a question of you not having enough magic; the result on Hermione's head shows us that, but that you can't simply concentrate on learning the spells because you can't gather the necessary amount of magic with that wand. Talk to your head of the house, Professor McGonagall, and explain that problem to her. With how much that wand is incompatible with you, you'll never reach your true potential, Longbottom. And one more piece of advice. Ignore what your family tells you. You will never get where you could be if you listen to them telling you that you can't achieve anything.
"From what I have come to understand, your family is responsible for hindering your potential. Your grandmother seems to want you to be a splitting image of your father, which is something you can never achieve. Every individual is unique as they have their own unique personality, therefore, forget trying to be Frank Longbottom because You will never be something other than yourself. You are Neville Longbottom the son of Frank and Alice Longbottom's. You inherited traits from both your parents, just like everybody does. So, Get yourself a fitting wand. Show them what you can do. And if they don't like it, ignore them. I've heard that you're good at Herbology. Excel there. There is nearly nothing you can't achieve if you work hard enough." Aren encouraged.
"And your problem with Snape. He's only that nasty if he thinks you are bumbling around in his subject. True, he dislikes Gryffindor more than other houses, but then he doesn't like any students but his Slytherins really. I think some of his favoritism is to smooth out the prejudices Slytherin house is confronted with because Voldemort was once in that house. Well, that's the past, we can't change it, but with the right leading, not all Slytherins are evil. I get along well with students from all houses and the girls especially of course." He added as he winked at the girls causing one to blush while the other winked back.
Neville looked at his two friends and Aren. Finally, he opened his mouth. "I want to become a healer and use my knowledge about plants to heal my parents from their mental damage." He answered.
"That's a great dream, Neville. If you keep it in mind and put all your effort into it, you'll manage it." Aren said.
Neville looked shocked that Aren Blood seemed to believe in him.
"Definitely and don't forget you have us at your side. If you struggle, we will kick your butt in the right direction." Mira said.
"While I would phrase it differently, Mira is right. We will support you." Hermione said.
"Okay, I'll talk with Professor McGonagall if there is a way for me to get to Ollivander to get my own wand. I have saved enough to buy one. If my Gran thinks I'll dishonor Dad, she can talk all she wants to. I think mum and Dad would have wanted me to have my own wand." Neville said defiantly.
"That's the spirit, Neville," Aren said.
"Thanks, Blood." He answered.
"I think you should all just call me Aren. With how much I told you, I guess I can call you at least friendly acquaintances." Aren said half heartily as he left.
'A stupid shy fool like you thinks he can be strong enough with that timid personality. Neville Longbottom, I don't have great expectations of you. When the day comes, I will enjoy the face you will make as when you realize the errors you have made wasting this precious time. I wonder how you will react then when I shatter your world into a million pieces.' Aren mused to himself.
With his precious time wasted maintaining this image of himself, Aren finally had the time for himself. Reaching the Seventh floor, Aren entered the Room of Requirements and immediately sat down in a meditative position with his wand in his hand Aren began to gather his mana into it until he could feel its presence.
For the past week Aren had done such practice to gain a feel of his magic. His hard work had eventually paid off and he had felt for the first time the presence of an invigorating source of energy within his wand, but it was only for a second. Since then there had been no other occurrence of the same event.
But Today was different Aren could feel it. He had been restless the moment he left the classroom after helping Longbottom. Its as if something was telling him that if he didn't take advantage of this momentum then he can never succeed for the rest of his life.
Half an hour later Aren was still gathering his magic into his wand having lost himself in his work. Slowly Arens consciousness which was completely focused onto the gathering of magic into the wand was pulled into it.
Aren didn't even have the chance to be aware of the changes that took place as his unprepared mind was assaulted with the invigorating feeling of the stream magic. Lost in the euphoria Aren's consciousness was slowly drifted away by the stream of magic which merged with other magical streams until they formed a river of magical energy.
Aren who was building up a tolerance couldn't handle the increase in the dosage of the magical additive returned to his euphoric state.
The River of magic drifted Arens body along with itself until they reached the Sea. The Sea immediately swallowed Aren within the tides and dragged his body into the center of the sea where the core resides.
The moment Arens body arrived at the center, the core immediately formed a vortex which swallowed Aren's completely within the core.
Aren was immediately woken up from his meditative state as if a thousand needles had pierced through his body. The pain was so agonizing that he immediately fell unconscious.
The pain was due to the forceful awakening of the thousands of magical channels that had been dormant. The reason for this agonizing pain was due to the forceful extension and strengthening of the magical channels that had been inherited.
Today Aren Learned the True meaning of 'Pain and Pleasure'.
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