For about two weeks, Flynn couldn't help but think that he was getting sick. It had been a long time since he'd gotten sick to the point where he was bedridden, but getting more minor stomachaches and colds wasn't an uncommon occurrence for Flynn, given how often he ate bad food and slept with thin blankets.

Despite that, Flynn couldn't help but think that this bout of sickness felt a bit strange. He didn't necessarily feel horrible, but he felt sluggish and slightly more tired all the time, and everything required just a bit more effort than he was used to.

With how novel the feeling was, he worried for a moment whether his current affliction was being caused by something magical until Lily made a random comment one day that made him think otherwise.

"You're getting a bit pudgy. It's cute."

Within the hour, he found himself standing at Hagrid's door, knocking on it as Fang howled from inside. He could hear Hagrid's grumbled cursing before the door opened and Fang immediately stopped barking once he saw that Flynn was alone, and laid down with a disappointed grumble.

"Flynn?" Hagrid asked. "What are ye doin here?"

Flynn wasn't sure himself and he frowned when he realised this, but he still tried to piece together a general train of thought that might have led him to coming to Hagrid's hut.

"I'm fat," he said.

"Nuthin wrong with that," Hagrid said. "I've always been a big lad meself. 'Sides, you're not quite fat. Pudgy maybe."

"Shut up," Flynn snapped.

"A'right," Hagrid replied.

Shaking off Hagrid's interruption, Flynn gathered his thoughts once more, slowly trying to figure out why he was there in the first place.

"I'm getting fat," Flynn said, glaring at Hagrid before the large man could even think about arguing. "I feel sluggish and tired, and I'm going to fix that."

Flynn frowned when he realised that even though what he said was true, it didn't explain why he was standing in front of Hagrid right now.

"I don't give a shit about what you were like as a kid, Hagrid," Flynn said, slowly piecing his thoughts together as he went. "But I've seen you lift shit now. You're probably the strongest person I know, and definitely the strongest person in this castle. You work out. Don't you dare fucking lie to me and say you don't."

Hagrid stared down at Flynn, with a blank look on his face.

"Help me train," Flynn said. "I'd do it myself, but I haven't seen a single goddamn gym in this godforsaken place."

Without anything else to say, Flynn simply glared up at Hagrid until the large man scratched awkwardly at his head.

"I don't know how te tell ye this, Flynn," Hagrid said. "But I don't really do much other than my groundskeeper duties nowadays."

"Then I'll do that," Flynn said, without even thinking. "Let me help you with your work. I won't even ask for a cut, I just can't stand feeling so fucking weak."

Hagrid blinked a few times.

"Ye want te help me with my job?" he asked.

"Are you fucking deaf?" Flynn asked.

Hagrid blinked a few more times and stuck a massive pinky in his ear, as if he thought that something was blocking it. He seemed to consider the offer, and eventually turned away with a bashful expression that didn't suit someone with his size.

"No, no," Hagrid said, scratching at his face. "I can't ask a firs' year te help me out. You're already so busy with school, aren't ye?"

"You think I'm doing this for your sake?" Flynn growled. "I'm literally asking you if I can help you out, you dumb bastard."

Hagrid turned further away, and coughed into his fist. Off in the corner of his hut, Fang let out a loud yawn and rolled over onto his back.

"Well, I s'ppose I can't turn you away if yer so insistent," Hagrid said. "I'll have te talk to Dumbledore, see if I can get ye some special privileges in exchange fer yer help. I'm not really sure I can promise anything though. I've never had anyone ask if they could help little ole me before."

Flynn glared at Hagrid, but though the large man didn't seem to notice it, Flynn didn't bother to speak up. It seemed that regardless of Hagrid's misunderstandings, he had tentatively accepted Flynn's request, and he didn't want to say anything that might lead to him changing his mind.

After tagging along with Hagrid as he did his groundskeeper's duties, Flynn found himself being annoyed by how weak he had gotten during his time at Hogwarts, and even more annoyed by the fact that he hadn't noticed until now. Even with Hagrid only taking him along to do basic tasks, like tending to the Hogwarts gardens and patrolling the school grounds, it was difficult to follow along with how Hagrid's stride was more than the double the length of his. Flynn ended up jogging beside Hagrid for nearly an hour straight, just going from place to place, before Hagrid noticed and offered to slow down for him. Of course, Flynn told Hagrid to fuck off, and after five more times Hagrid finally stopped offering.

It took a few days for Hagrid to talk to Dumbledore about Flynn's unofficial position as the groundskeeper's student aide, and though Hagrid morosely told Flynn that he wasn't able to get any special privileges for helping him out, Dumbledore had agreed to make the position a little more formal, which would allow Flynn to accompany Hagrid into the Forbidden forest and bypass curfew hours if helping out with Hagrid's groundskeeper's duties kept him working into the night.

Even with this new permission, Hagrid didn't venture into the Forbidden Forest too often, and it took a few more days before Hagrid had any reason to call Flynn over to accompany him into the forest.

"There's a new herd of hippogriffs that've been tracked to the Forbidden Forest," Hagrid explained gruffly, as he handed Flynn a large backpack.

Flynn tried not to let any strain show on his face when he took the pack, not expecting how heavy it would be. As he put the backpack on, the hard edges of whatever was inside it dug into his back, and he had to twist and turn his body to try and adjust the contents to be more comfortable.

"And what are we doing about it?" Flynn asked, eyeing the large crossbow that Hagrid slung over his shoulder. "Are we hunting them?"

"What? No," Hagrid said, with a small amount of alarm in his voice. "Beautiful creatures they are. Ye couldn't pay me to hunt em. This here's just for scaring off any trouble we might come across on the way there, and maybe trying to get some grub fer ourselves."

"We're going to be gone for that long?" Flynn asked, wondering if Hagrid had timed the request on a Saturday morning for a reason.

"Not sure," Hagrid said, with a shrug. "Depends if the forest creatures want to cause trouble fer us. We could be back by the evening, but ye might have to miss a few classes if we aren't lucky. Ye ever been camping?"

"Something like that," Flynn said, with a shrug of his own.

"Good. Hopefully, it doesn't come down te that, but it doesn't hurt to be prepared," Hagrid said.

"So what are we doing then?" Flynn asked.

"We're not huntin them, that's fer sure," Hagrid said, with a huff. "They're newcomers to the Forest, so we're just checking up on them te make sure they're set up alright, and te make sure they haven't made a mess of things with their arrival. I don't interact with them much, with them being a little iffy about outsiders still, but I figure if I show them my face every now and then, they'll get used to the idea of interacting with humans again. Professor Kettleburn's been hopin' to introduce them te his class when the hippogriffs will let him and it might be a few years before they're ready, but I'm hoping that if they see you, they'll get used to the idea of interacting with younger humans in a year or two."

Flynn nodded, deciding that what Hagrid had said made enough sense to go along with it.

"Alright," he said. "Let's go then."

Hagrid nodded back, but didn't move. When he continued to stare at Flynn, Flynn frowned back at him until Hagrid finally spoke up.

"Yer a Muggleborn, right?" Hagrid asked.

"Yeah," Flynn said. "Got a problem with that?"

"Not at all," Hagrid said. "Some of the best of us are Muggleborn. I was just wonderin why you aren't more curious about what a hippogriff is."

Flynn shrugged. "I'm gonna see them soon enough, right?" he asked. "Figured it was pointless to ask."

Hagrid let out a quiet hum.

"Tha's fair," he said.

The problem of trying to keep up with Hagrid's long stride was less of an issue in the Forest, since Hagrid had to be a lot more careful about navigating through the dense forest, but while Flynn didn't have to jog to keep up with Hagrid anymore, walking across the uneven forest floor with his backpack weighing him down so heavily was much more troublesome than jogging with no weight.

Even so, Flynn refused to complain as he kept pace with Hagrid, heeding the giant man's warning and sticking close by him so he wouldn't get lost.

Every few hours, they would stop to take a short break for water and food, and when Flynn took out one of Hagrid's rock cakes from his robes that he'd pilfered from his hut a few days prior, Hagrid's eyes lit up in amusement, but he said nothing. Flynn ended up chewing through two of the three rock cakes that he had hidden away in his pockets in the first two breaks, but on the third break of the day, he pulled out a chicken sandwich that the Hogwarts plates had prepared for him.

"Oh," Hagrid said, with his hand halfway out of his own pocket. "Ye brought yer own food?"

"Always," Flynn grunted.

"Smart lad," Hagrid replied, as he took out a whole rotisserie chicken from his own pocket. Flynn watched as Hagrid handled it with a surprising amount of delicacy, given how the bird was barely larger than the size of his fist. Hagrid ripped a drumstick off the chicken and held it out towards Flynn.

"My pa used to have a saying," Hagrid said. "Food tastes better if ye've shared a bit of it with someone else. 'Sides, we're makin' good pace so we'll push to get straight to the herd without any more breaks after this. Ye could use the energy."

Though Flynn had more food in his own pockets, the fact that they could possibly be out in the wilderness for a while made any bit of food that much more valuable. Flynn grabbed the offered drumstick, and nodded appreciatively towards Hagrid, though his eyes narrowed right after.

"You're not expecting me to share my food with you, are you?" Flynn asked.

Hagrid chuckled as he shook his head. "I'd appreciate the sentiment, but not much else. If I expected ye te share yer food because I was hungry, you'd have to be packin a whole kitchen in there to fill this thing up," he said, slapping his gut. "Eat yer food. We've got more walkin ahead of us."

Flynn still narrowed his eyes suspiciously at him until Hagrid opened his mouth wide and bit through half of the rotisserie chicken in one bite, making Flynn wince at the sound of teeth crushing loudly through bones. After Hagrid chewed a few times and swallowed his first bite, he popped the rest of the chicken into his mouth and ate the second half as fast as he did the first, right before pulling another rotisserie chicken from his pockets and repeating the process.

Flynn shrugged to himself and decided to focus on his own food, not wanting to waste time by pointlessly watching Hagrid eat his food.

After they finished their food, they drank tea to help with their digestion and rested for another ten minutes before heading off once more.

Like Hagrid had promised, they continued to walk for several more hours before they found themselves in a large clearing with a small lake in the centre of it. It wasn't difficult to see a large pack of four-legged creatures in the distance, and though he couldn't see any other identifying features other than their wings, from the way that Hagrid held out a hand to signal for him to stop, he assumed that they had found their hippogriff herd.

"We'll stay here fer now," Hagrid said, taking off his backpack and setting it onto the floor. "They've got good eyesight, and good hearing, so they've definitely noticed us even if they may not be actin like it. Quite proud creatures they are, so they won't like it if we approach without an invitation."

Flynn set his own backpack down, and though he flinched when Hagrid started to rifle through it, he reminded himself that Hagrid wasn't trying to steal from him, and that it was his stuff in the first place. That didn't stop Flynn from frowning at what Hagrid pulled out of the backpack.

"I was carrying cookware?" Flynn asked.

"Ye were," Hagrid said, raising an eyebrow. "Is there something wrong with that?"

"Couldn't you have at least packed stuff that wasn't cast iron?" Flynn grumbled. "That shit was fucking heavy."

"I guess I could've," Hagrid said with a frown. "But didn't ye wan' te train yer body? I figured this would be a good way te do it."

Flynn frowned, though he realized that there wasn't anything he could say in response.

"I could carry yer pack on the way back, if it was too heavy fer ye," Hagrid said sheepishly. "Wouldn't be too much trouble fer me."

"Fuck off," Flynn snapped, feeling his face grow hot from annoyance. "I'm carrying it back."

Hagrid excused himself for a moment, telling Flynn to watch the cookware and the rest of the supplies, while he wandered back into the woods. Flynn busied himself with eating more food from his pockets, until Hagrid returned with a few dead rabbits in one hand, and a bundle of firewood under his other arm. Tossing the firewood down in a vague pile, he took a knife out from his pocket and started skinning one of the rabbits.

"Ye know how te start a fire?" Hagrid asked.

"Probably," Flynn said.

Though he'd never actually made a bonfire before, he figured it wouldn't be too difficult, especially since he had magic now. After bunching the firewood together, Flynn pulled out his wand and pointed it at the pile.

"Incendio," he said, as a small fireball burst from his wand.

Though the firewood didn't actually catch fire immediately like he had hoped, with the fireball simply burning through the smaller twigs and incinerating them, a few of the dried leaved in the pile ignited, flashing with fire for a moment and burning quickly. Flynn grabbed another pile of leaves and threw them at the fire, and though only a small burst of fire erupted from it, a few of the branches around it caught fire easily enough.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Flynn poked around the fire, trying his best to cultivate it without knowing exactly what he should be doing. Behind him, Hagrid started humming a song that he didn't recognize, but he could still confidently say was off tune and off beat.

Hagrid finished skinning all of the rabbits, and after setting up a rudimentary cooking stand over the fire, started to pan fry two of the rabbits. Once he was done, he took the pan off of the flame and set it down on the ground beside him, before grabbing the rest of the dead rabbits and walking forward.

Though the hippogriffs in the distance had been idling around without acknowledging Flynn or Hagrid in the slightest, Flynn noticed that they all seemed to tense up at Hagrid's movement, all freezing in their spots and staring directly at them. Flynn watched as Hagrid continued to walk forward with his head raised high, until he stopped, bowed, and set down the skinned rabbits neatly on the floor. Keeping his bow, Hagrid shuffled backwards until he made it back to his spot by the fire, reached down to grab both of the rabbits, and held one out to Flynn.

"Ye don't have to eat it all if you don't want," Hagrid said. "But at least a few bites would be good. They still might not end up takin the rabbits, but if they see us eating them too, they'll be less likely to think it's poisoned."

Flynn nodded, and grabbed the offered rabbit, cursing a bit when it was hotter than expected, but refusing to let it go. Wanting to get it out of his hands as soon as possible, he quickly bit down on it, holding it with his teeth to give his hands a break for a moment, before deciding that he could just bear the heat and scarf it down in a few bites.

Hagrid beamed at him, and ate his rabbit in two bites.

"We'll have supper a little later, once we're out of sight of the hippogriffs," Hagrid said. "Might make them suspicious if they see us eating something else."

"Sure," Flynn said. "I'm not that hungry anyways."

"Eh, we'll have supper regardless," Hagrid said, though he looked up to the sky and frowned. "Might have to be soon, too. I'm not sure we'll be able to make it back by tonight. Sorry 'bout that Flynn. Forgot to consider that it's getting closer to winter. Longer nights."

"Not like I was planning on doing anything else with my weekend," Flynn said.

Despite the hippogriffs leaving their rabbit offerings untouched, Flynn and Hagrid left a few minutes later after having a small argument after Flynn caught Hagrid trying to sneak a frying pan into his bag. Flynn won the argument and managed to take back the pan, and despite immediately regretting it, with how sore his legs were, continued to shoot death glares at Hagrid whenever it seemed like he was about to offer to help.

They stopped and started to set up their temporary camping spots earlier than Flynn would've expected, but after complete darkness fell over the forest about an hour later, he was grateful that he hadn't argued against Hagrid's judgement. They ate their food by the light of the fire and a single lantern that Hagrid had brought, and though he wanted to argue against Hagrid's offer to keep watch for the whole night, Flynn struggled to fight the exhaustion that took over his body and simply crawled into his tent and fell asleep almost instantly.

Flynn woke up at first light, and after a quick bathroom break, they headed off once more, making it back to the Hogwarts grounds before noon.

Heading to Hagrid's hut first to drop off Hagrid's stuff, Flynn frowned when he saw a familiar girl bouncing towards him. Behind her, Sally walked towards them with Fang on a leash who looked torn between wanting to rush forward to greet his master and not wanting to pull against Sally too hard.

"You're back!" Lily said.

"We are," Hagrid replied. "He didn't cause you any trouble, did he?"

"No, Fang was very polite," Lily replied. "How about Flynn? He didn't cause you any trouble, did he, Hagrid?"

"Oh no, Flynn was very polite too," Hagrid said with a tired nod, though his eyebrows furrowed immediately after he said it.

"Really? That doesn't sound like my Flynn. Are you sure you didn't lose him? You know I'll know if you replaced him with a new one."

Flynn didn't even bother to tell Lily exactly where she could fuck, as he dropped his backpack on Hagrid's doorstep and walked towards the castle, wanting nothing more than the peace and quiet of a shower.

---

"Try it again, Mr. Fredericton," Flitwick said. "But this time, speak quietly and thrust your wand with less force."

Flynn nodded, glaring at the leather ball that Flitwick had prepared for him. Raising his wand towards the ball, Flynn spoke softly and thrust his wand out slowly, as if he were moving underwater. If he could attribute an emotion to it, Flynn might have thought that his magic felt lazy as it swirled slowly within him for a moment, lethargically gathering in his wand, though it showed none of the eagerness to be fired off like it usually did.

"Flipendo," he muttered, rather than shouted.

Flynn wasn't sure if he imagined the flash of light that erupted from his wand being duller than usual in both intensity and colour, but the objective difference in the spell's effects were a lot easier to notice. Though the leather ball still shot forward with a quiet bang, it rolled steadily on the floor instead of being launched violently in the air, and when it hit the far wall, it bounced gently off of it before quickly rolling to a stop.

Despite the weak effect of the spell, or more likely because of it, Flitwick clapped his hands excitedly together.

"Excellent work, Mr. Fredericton!" he shouted. "Five points to Slytherin for such a marvelous display."

Despite the fact that Flynn didn't care about the whole points system in the slightest, he couldn't help but glare at Flitwick for the gesture.

"Why are you rewarding me for successfully failing at a spell?" Flynn grumbled. "I don't need your fucking pity points."

"Language, Mr. Fredericton," Flitwick said, more out of an automatic habit than anything else. "And you did not 'fail' at casting the knockback jinx. Since your issues seem to stem mostly from your lack of control and precision, I had you cast your most proficient spell at a lower output to help give you an understanding on the basics of control. Though the knockback jinx is still a less precise spell by its nature, it doesn't mean we can't form the building blocks of control through it."

"Big fucking deal," Flynn said. "So I'm at the starting line for something that everyone else can already do. That doesn't deserve a fucking reward."

"Language, and in my opinion, the fact that you arrived at this point is something to be commemorated," Flitwick said, with a smile. "As an educator, I value progress over excellence."

"That's fucking stupid," Flynn said.

"I'll have to disagree with you on that, Mr. Fredericton," Flitwick said, shaking his head before lifting his wand to pull the leather ball back in front of Flynn. "But we're not here to discuss philosophy. Repeat the exercise five more times, just so we're confident that your last attempt wasn't a fluke."

Flynn glared at Flitwick, but did as he was told, repeating the process of firing a "soft" knockback jinx at the ball five more times. Though the strength in each attempt varied, Flynn was able to consistently control his spells enough that the ball never left the floor.

Flitwick clapped after each attempt, but thankfully didn't try giving him more points for it.

"Wonderful, Mr. Fredericton," Flitwick said, waving his wand and causing the leather ball to vanish out of existence. "Now, without further ado, now that you've managed to grasp the basics of magical control, let's test it out on a spell that's a bit more oriented towards precision, shall we? It's a very basic spell called the wand-lighting charm, and unlike the knockback jinx, this one is actually one that I'll be teaching in my class. Don't let the other students know."

Though Flitwick gave Flynn a smile and a wink, Flynn only frowned back.

"Why are you teaching me something new?" he asked. "I still can't even do the levitation charm yet."

Flitwick nodded before he started to speak, not at all bothered by the lack of reciprocated enthusiasm.

"As with anything, there are many reasons that I am asking you to attempt a new spell," Flitwick said. "The first of which is because of the very reason you stated. You have yet to successfully replicate the levitation charm, and I'm afraid that may act as a mental block for you, and seeing as we have the whole rest of the year to surpass it, there's no sense in rushing in and smashing our faces against the proverbial wall.

"Secondly, the wand-lighting spell may be better suited for you than many other spells. While the knockback jinx and the fire-making spell that I've taught you may be loosely classified as spells that require more force and are instantaneous, the levitation charm may be considered one that requires more precision and has a sustained effect. The wand-lighting charm sits somewhere in the middle. The intent behind the spell is simple enough, to create light, but the caster must control their magic, and confine the effects to their wand and sustain it. If there is no control, the caster may simply emit sparks from the end of their wand instead, which is not quite the effect we're looking for."

When Flitwick stopped talking, giving Flynn a silent smile, Flynn nodded.

"Alright," he said. "How do I do it, then?"

The spell, despite Flitwick's claims that it was one that required precision, had an even simpler incantation and wand movement than the knockback jinx. Flitwick demonstrated the spell a few times, before he gestured for Flynn to attempt the spell.

Though he couldn't help but feel a little nervous at the idea of attempting the new spell, he had never been one to run from a challenge. Closing his eyes for a moment, he took a few seconds to feel his magic coursing through his body, before he extended it outwards, letting it flow into his wand, but calling it back before it could leave the wand in a spray of sparks.

Feeling his magic circulating within him, he raised his wand like he would a torch.

"Lumos," he said.

Instantly, Flynn flinched at the intense light that erupted from his wand, but though he couldn't look at it directly without hurting his eyes, he couldn't help but grin as he looked around it.

"Wonderful, Mr. Fredericton!" Flitwick shouted, raising his arm to cover his own eyes. "Now don't let go. Sustain it for as long as you can. Make sure to take in how a sustained spell should feel."

Flynn nodded, keeping his wand lit up, and though he wanted to stare directly at it to admire his own success, the light that shone from his wand was too intense to look at.

Flitwick laughed, as if he noticed Flynn's plight.

"It is quite an impressive display," Flitwick said. "I'll admit, a typical wand-lighting spell isn't usually as bright as the one you've cast here, but like how you showcased your control of the knockback jinx, you could control the intensity of your wand-lighting spell so it wouldn't blind you. But that's something to consider later," he said, as he flicked his wand, summoning two pairs of sunglasses and holding one out towards Flynn. "For now, why don't you use these to admire your work?"

Flynn nodded appreciatively at Flitwick, and put on the sunglasses before turning to look at his wand.

He frowned when he noticed how different his spell looked from Flitwick's demonstrations. A moment later, he heard a confused hum from Flitwick.

"How interesting," Flitwick said. "I've never seen such a thing before."

Unlike Flitwick's demonstration, where only the tip of his wand shone bright, like there was a lightbulb attached to the end of it, Flynn's entire wand glowed with an intense white light. His frown deepened as he got the feeling that he was missing something, before he realized that it wasn't just his wand that was glowing. It was difficult to tell, since it almost looked like the bright light was bouncing off of his fingers, but after a closer inspection it was obvious that the tips of Flynn's fingers were emitting the same glow that the wand was.

"I've never seen such a thing before," Flitwick muttered again.

"Is it bad?" Flynn asked.

"Not necessarily," Flitwick said. "Just… strange."

Flynn frowned, not knowing how to interpret the answer, but as the silence in the room stretched for too long to be comfortable, Flynn frowned and cut off his flow of magic, ending the spell. Behind him, Flitwick took off his sunglasses and blinked a few times, as if he had been suddenly and violently woken up from a nap.

There was another long stretch of silence before Flitwick spoke up.

"That was very strange," he said again, before frowning and shaking his head. "Though I will reiterate that it's not necessarily a bad thing. Many wizards have their quirks when it comes to spellcasting, though I can't imagine what may have caused that particular effect."

"Do you think it affects my spellcasting?" Flynn asked. "Is that why I can't cast a proper levitation charm?"

"It's possible, though again, I can't be certain," Flitwick replied. "We would have to do some more testing and research to see how it affects you."

"I have time," Flynn said, with a shrug.

"I'll admit that I may not have as much time as you do," Flitwick said. "Though I will try my best to clear up my schedule for this matter. Admittedly, I am also quite curious about what your quirk may be caused by on a professional level, even if it may prove to have no tangible effect on your spellcasting."

After a brief talk on their schedules, Flitwick tentatively offered to try and increase the frequency of their after-curricular lessons, to which Flynn agreed. As their lesson came to a close, Flitwick had Flynn cast the wand-lighting spell a few more times to confirm that they hadn't had a shared hallucination, and though Flynn's fingers only seemed to glow when he cast the spell at a high intensity, Flynn's fingers glowed enough times that they were certain that it was a recreateable effect.

There wasn't much time left before flitwick had to leave, but Flitwick dismissed Flynn with the promise that he would do some research on Flynn's case before their next session.