Chapter 5: The Librarian
23rd April 1987
Carter Residence
A few months have passed since the fateful day I received my Grimoire. I am happy to say that I have made steady progress since then. Although memorizing the spell matrices was difficult, I have learnt some of the beginner level spells of Creation Magic (Mineral Appraisal), Gravity Magic (Telekinetic pull/push), Restoration Magic (Minor Healing/Mending), Evolution Magic (Analysis).
Mineral Appraisal - allows the caster to feel/view the molecular structure of an ore, alloy or compound.
Telekinetic pull/push - allows the caster to pull/push an object towards/away from them by creating alternating fields of positive and negative gravity around the target.
Minor Healing/Mending - allows the caster to restore injuries(in case of living beings) or damage(in case of non living things) by reversing the time of the target to a very recent state. The amount of repair depends on the amount of magical power used.
Analysis - allows the caster to view general information of his surroundings.
Besides these, I have also learnt the beginner level spells of the different categories of Elemental Magic.
Fire Magic - Fireball, Fire bolt.
Water Magic - Condense, Freeze.
Wind Magic - Levitate.
Lightning Magic - Sparks.
Earth Magic - Earthen Shield.
Light Magic - Magelight (summons a ball of pure light)
Darkness Magic - Haze (covers the target's vision with a black haze)
Spatial, Spirit and Metamorphosis Magic, at the moment remain beyond my capabilities. But no matter, time is my ally. I am, however faced with a different conundrum.
There is no mention of wandless magic in the standard spellbooks taught at Hogwarts. Western magical learning has been heavily influenced by wands ever since their inception. I know that wandless magic is quite prevalent in Africa and Asia, however in Europe, a wand is synonymous to a wizard. It's possible that the professors at Hogwarts have the knowledge of how to perform these spells wandlessly, but I doubt it is the case for anyone else.
Given the way they are used, I can only assume that wands help witches and wizards direct the flow of their magic. The problem is, unless I have a frame of reference, I am unable to learn these spells right now. Only after I get my wand and feel it directing my magic while undergoing specific wand movements, will I be able to reverse engineer the flow, and perform these spells wandlessly.
It's a setback, I admit but I didn't let it faze me. My birthday is on 14th Sept, which means I will get my Hogwarts acceptance letter and buy my wand almost a year before going off to school. That gives me ample time to learn the spells at least upto 3rd year level before setting off. In the meantime, I'll have to focus on other subjects beyond spellwork, and on the spells in my Grimoire, of course.
But enough of that! Today is not about magic, today is about finance. You see, in a few years I'd be off to Hogwarts. Right now, all my needs are met by my parents. But what do I do when I'm outside and want to buy something that catches my eye, or simply need money for my projects? Ask for an allowance from my parents?
No,sir! I'm a grown-a*s man, or atleast I was. In The Before, I did part-time jobs in High school, I tutored in College, and after graduating, had a good job with decent pay. The point is, I hadn't asked my folks for a hand-out before, and I wasn't about to start now. I was raised to be self-sufficient and I'm sticking to my guns.
Of course, for a wizard there are lots of ways to make money once you stop worrying about the ethical side of things. All you had to do was walk into a drug den in London, put all the dealers to sleep and walk out with your ill-gotten booty. The hard part comes after. You have to explain where the money came from when someone inevitably notices.
It's times like these when I wonder whether being a rich orphan, with only a butler or a grandfather would have been better. But no! I love my family and I wouldn't trade it for anything, not even financial independence. But what to do about my fiscal problem? The answer came to me in a flash of white, literally as I was looking at Gilderoy Lockhart's three-time Witch Weekly's 'most charming smile award' winning smile.
There is a severe dearth of quality recreational literature in Wizarding Britain. I can't stress enough how grateful I am that mom was a muggleborn. In this new life, I grew up watching films and cartoons, reading muggle novels and comics, all the while pitying the poor kids in most wizarding families who probably didn't have anything other than Chess, Exploding snap (a card game) or gobstones (marbles) to play with, and a few subpar story books to read. Oh, the horror! In this social milieu, it's understandable why books like 'Break with a Banshee' and 'Harry Potter and the Faerie Heroes' were so popular. If you ask me, best of garbage is still garbage.
This gave me the idea of writing a novel, or even a series of novels. I had watched several popular movies and shows of the adventure genre in The Before, which I recalled quite vividly. So, I had no lack of source material to draw from, including Indiana Jones, The Mummy, National Treasure and The Librarian.
Of course I had considered writing not just for the wizarding population, but also for the greater muggle world, but there was a problem, well several problems actually. I had no identity in the muggle world. No birth certificate, no social security number, no educational record. Unless I use mind magic, it's too much of a hassle. So I decided to stick to the known. I prepared a draft of my novel and went to broach the topic to my parents after dinner was over and Rachel was already in bed.
Coming down the stairs, I found them both sitting cozily on the couch, watching that absolutely hilarious movie "Space Balls". It seems I arrived at the perfect moment where Dark Helmet (Rick Moranis) was imparting some profound wisdom to Lone Starr (Bill Pullman).
"So Lone Starr, now you see that evil will always triumph because good is dumb", saying so, he started shooting lasers out of his ring, until Lone Starr telekinetically grabbed a mirror and redirected the laser to Dark Helmet's crotch sending him stumbling to hit the ship's huge self-destruct button. Ha ha! Classic.
My parents also laughed watching this. "Have I ever told you how glad I am that you got me to buy a TV all those years ago?" Asked dad, leaning in and embracing mom.
"As a matter of fact, you have. Several times, actually." She replied, leaning in as well.
Oh god! They're going to kiss. Watching their parents kiss is something every kid finds uncomfortable. So I decided to make my presence known by clearing my throat.
"Oh, hi Ben", said mom, as she straightened. "What are you still doing up? Is there something you need?" They both looked at me with an inquisitive expression.
"Well mom, dad. I have been writing a book lately. I just finished it, and I would like you to read it." I said, putting the most innocent smile on my face.
"Did you, really? Oh, that's wonderful. Let's see it." Both of them looked at me expectantly as I brought out my diary and passed it to them. "The Librarian and The Legend of the Book of the Dead.Hmm, sounds intriguing."
"I've added a short summary. You can go through that to see what it's about." I informed them. They both nodded and started reading.
As you might've surmised from the title, I decided to base my novel on the premise of 'The Librarian' series, but the plot was very different.
Flynn Carter, a young wizard who graduated from Hogwarts with record-breaking number of ten NEWTs and has apprenticed in several fields only wants to continue learning, while everyone around him keeps telling him to get a job. He receives a mysterious invitation from The British Library to apply for the post of 'The Librarian'. Once he passes the interview, he is taken to the real library, a pocket dimension hidden deep underground, a place where for over 2000 years, the 'Librarians' (a group of scholar warriors) have secured and contained powerful, rare and dangerous magical artifacts and tomes from all over the world and prevented them from falling into the wrong hands.
Flynn is ecstatic about his new job and tries to learn everything he can from the Library, even taking sword-fighting lessons from a sentient levitating Excalibur. But the young Librarian soon faces his first challenge. The Director of the Library, Judson informs Flynn that 'The Syndicate', a criminal organisation that rose after the fall of Camelot, have set their sights on the legendary Book of the Dead, that allows one to recall any soul from the underworld.
The Syndicate plans to revive Imhotep, high priest of the pharaoh and use his powers to reshape the world. So young Flynn travels to Cairo, faces off against both Syndicate agents and a resurrected Imhotep, and using his wits and magic, defeats his enemies and saves the day. He thus completes his first mission and deposits The Book of the Dead to The Library. The novel ends with Judson and Flynn standing in front of Flynn's portrait in the gallery of Librarians, as Charlene enters and informs them of a lead on The Ark of the Covenant.
Seeing how mom and dad were engrossed in reading the book, I went to the study and took out "1000 magical herbs and fungi" by Phyllida Spore. Returning to the living room, I sat down on an armchair and started reading. I was just going through the effects of Dittany on werewolf bites, when I was interrupted.
"Ben?" I looked up at her as mom called out. "Did you really write all of this by yourself?" she tentatively asked, to which I nodded.
"Wow, honey, I don't know what to say. This is really good, spectacular even. The characters are well developed, the plot is consistent, the climax is gripping and the resolution, cathartic. I can't find any obvious flaws in this. Sweetheart I want you to know, that for being able to write something like this at your age, I'm really proud of you. We both are." She said as they both looked at me with a proud smile.
"Thanks mom, Dad." Okay, now I was feeling a bit embarrassed. On the one hand, I was not the original writer of the stories that made up this amalgam. On the other hand, screw it. It feels good to receive glowing praise from your parents.
"I can see you've put a lot of effort into it. This is really thorough." Dad said, flipping to the last page. "328 pages? This is great work, son. How did you come up with this? The idea of a 'scholar-warrior', I mean?"
I looked down and tried to appear bashful, hoping they wouldn't realise I was doing this to make some galleons.
"Well, I was thinking about what I was going to do after Hogwarts. You know that I like to read." Both of them smirked at this understatement. After all, they have seen me going through books from the study, on my own everyday, for years. Me, a seven year old boy! At this point, they've both got me pegged for Ravenclaw.
"So I thought it would be cool to work for a Shadow Organisation, fighting bad guys and saving the day, all the while learning powerful ancient magic." I finished explaining my thought process.
"Okay", said Dad with a bemused expression. "So the important thing now is: are you thinking of getting your book published?"
"Er, Can I?" I asked, looking at him with a hopeful expression.
"Well it's certainly much better than the garbage found in 'Flourish and Blotts'." Mom let out with a 'hmph'. Apparently, she had been in the same year as Lockhart in school and he had tried to pursue a relationship with her. She had never liked the fop since then.
"I'll tell you what, I'll read this manuscript thoroughly and if there are no obvious mistakes, I'll take it to a friend of mine who owns a Publishing House. And we'll see how it goes." she said.
"Really?" I asked, suprised. I had not expected my parents to know any publishers. But in hindsight, it's not so unbelievable. Wizarding Britain is a fairly small community, with almost everyone important graduating out of the same boarding school. Aurors and Healers being the cream of the crop, my parents must know quite a few important people who ran in the same social circles or academic groups back in the day.
I gave mom a big hug. "Thanks mom. You're the best."
"You're welcome." she said, returning the hug. "Now, it's late. You should go to bed. Good night, Ben."
"Good night, mom. Good night, dad." I said, giving dad a brief hug and made my way up the stairs.
Back in the living room, mom and dad were still talking. "Can you believe it? Seven years old and he's already writing novels. Our little boy is growing up fast." Mom said, embracing dad. "Mind you, I think he gets that 'fighting bad guys and saving the day' part from you."
"And I believe you're responsible for the 'learning magic from an ancient library' part, my dear." riposted dad. They both shared a chuckle. "Are you going to see Aurora about this?" he asked.
"I was thinking about it, yes. It's been a while. It'll be nice to see her again. I'll take the kids with me, introduce them to Aurora's girls. Who knows? Maybe they'll become friends by the time they set off to school."
I entered my room and played with Teddy for a little while, before hitting the sack. My last thought of the day was: what kind of expression would Lockhart make when my books end up leaving his in the dust?
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