[2 years later]

A warm spring day, in a beautiful garden decorated with flowers. A place teeming with life, as the warm morning sun illuminated every blade of grass. The birds chirped and the leaves swayed, it was a happy day.

I stood in the center, surrounded by roses. Standing solemnly with no words, as I felt the bright sunlight caress my skin, a sensation that filled me with hope every single day.

Opening my eyes, I could see the bright lush flowers planted around me. I took a deep breath, with a swipe of my palm, every rose turned frail and weak, an inch away from death.

Reversing my strike, all the plants around me started blooming with life. The circle of magic, it could take everything from you, but it could also give you so much more.

Spotting a sparrow whirring around the garden, I gestured my hands towards it, and on instinct, the bird was cautioned. Fascinating, despite being just an animal, it could sense the influence of magic near it.

However, as it tried to bolt away, I held it still. Hovering it in the air as I drew it closer to me. With a touch of my finger, the bird painlessly turned to stone. Its features forever engrained into marble.

I fiddled with the birds sculpture for a few minutes, but being satisfied with my transfiguration, I threw the miniature into the air, as it slowly cracked away from its stone form, and transformed back.

What I had done was no miracle, instead, a really advanced application of transfiguration. Transforming the water in the flowers to a gaseous form, taking away all the moisture stored inside their petals, just reverting the water in the air back into the leaves. It gave the illusion of mystery.

Truthfully if someone could control the life of plants, it would be terrifying. However, this transfiguration did give off such a misconception at first.

A testament to my progress in these two years. Unfortunately, the one thing I was quite anticipating had not yet occurred.

Ivan had promised two years for a surprise, and yet as of today, it was six months overdue.

I subconsciously worried about their wellbeing, many terrifying thoughts would come to mind.

Yet I could only hope nothing of that sort had happened.

Living in the fort had its advantageous, but it also came with great setbacks.

In a sense, I was isolated from the world, veiled from danger, but also blinded to the events.

Absolutely no news ever reached my ears.

Through Nosferat's infamy, no wizard or beast dared to linger around the area. In fact I was quite sure if they tried, Ephyl would make swift work of them.

In fact, sun bathing outside was a typical day in my life. I had gotten sick of staying inside.

Nowadays, I would spend the mornings jogging outside in the garden.

Sophie and I had planted many rare flowers and herbs, needed for her potion making. Eventually, I had also sneaked in some beautiful dandelions and roses.

Staying outside allowed me to work on my physical fitness, but also let me experiment with practical spells and use my knowledge efficiently.

A slight part of me also wanted to be ready if Ivan ever showed up unannounced. He would definitely show up outside the barrier.

Suffice to say, I was still anticipating my promised surprise.

Naturally, I had not slacked off these past two years. I knew basic and intermediate transfiguration like the back of my hand.

Charms? Defense against dark arts? you name it, I had studied it.

I was quite limited in spells to fully utilize the concepts I had studied. Hence, I hoped I could smuggle in some new magic books through Ivan.

The old one's were thoroughly digested by my brain, and not an inch of a page was left undiscovered.

Taking in enough sunlight for the day, I strolled inside for breakfast.

Despite it being a hassle at first, I quite enjoyed breakfast with Ephyl. His cooking.... could only be described as exquisite.

I don't even know why he was proficient in human cooking. Perhaps, he had just conjured these with magic.

Regardless, they were absolutely delicious.

Devouring a plate or two of the scrumptious meal, we spent the rest of the morning discussing the weather and other boring details.

What can I say? After 2 years, in a closed environment, you'll eventually run out of things to discuss.

Nosferat, on the other hand, had been quite the busy body. Ushering me to learn more about the blood rituals and whatnot. I could see why he would push for it.

For now, I had no intentions of following that route.

In contrast, Sophie had the same bland routine. Have a meal, work on potions, study about ingredients, gardening.

I had to admit, I could never stick to the same thing every single day.

Which is why I had adopted a habit to stroll around in the garden, and relax my body by exercise.

This was a ten year old's body, and I had quite the pent up energy. Running around all day was the least of my worries.

Practicing magic all day also led my body to grow at a faster rate, I was physically stronger than what you would normally expect.

Hence, exercise and magic was all that I had done every day.

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Excusing myself from the dining hall, I walked up to my room and began my latest series of spells.

I had collected quite a few samples to try my magic on, mostly just rocks consisting of different gradients and materials.

Some were sharp, sturdy and others were brittle.

Grabbing a jagged black piece of gravel, I shifted its structure to be similar with mud.

Sure enough, my fingers began to sink into its core, and immediately I removed the transfiguration.

Transforming the layer back to rock. I gently yanked my fingers, but they were intertwined into fibers of solidified stone, ensuring no hopes of removal.

With a gentle touch of my left hand, the piece of gravel became muddy once more, and my fingers slid out easily.

I had practiced this particular trick with a variety of rocks, ensuring that I knew how common materials worked.

Another favorite of mine, was to etch things into stone.

It was quite an easy task from a magical perspective. Simply, petrifying the victim to be rock. As long as the victim couldn't resist magically, you could practically turn them into stone.

Of course, this spell wasn't completely viable against people. It had a complicated procedure of action, which could be interrupted through waves of interfering magic.

However, against small critters and objects.... it was highly effective.

I had a particular set of miniatures created in this manner. It was a strange hobby I had picked up to distract myself and make use of my magic.

Quite fascinating truthfully. I had tried petrifying certain animals, and although they wouldn't age normally, the larger the creature the more varied this process.

Certain creatures could survive petrification, but it largely depended on their vitality.

Smaller, and often weak creatures couldn't withstand the process of turning into stone, and would often die out while they were petrified.

Taking out my box of miniatures, I had collected a few interesting ones. A bird similar to the one I saw today, but its features were far more detailed. A bee, that I had captured buzzing around some of my flowers. Naturally, it couldn't survive the process, and looked eerily similar to a pebble instead. I had a few others, but nothing too special compared to the bird.

Petrification was an application of transfiguration, and depending on the target, the user would face a varying degree of difficulty. I had also practiced on a few rats lurking in the basements. Turning them into many common items, such as cups, chairs , sticks and brooms.

It would be more challenging the more dramatic the change in size.

Occasionally, I would sneak out a few pieces of cutlery from the dining hall. Much to Ephyl's displeasure, as he had personally collected these through centuries....

Bit of an overreaction, I am sure he could get a few more spoons here and there.

Changing the shape of the spoon to match my imagination, it was an exercise involving vivid imagination and focus.

Two elements I had already mastered through the Occlumency lessons.

I practiced my spells till noon, and patiently waited for lunch time.

However, soon I felt a peculiarly familiar flow of magic. My senses had heightened, and I felt a slight shift at the north end of the barrier.

Surely....

Leaving my room and rushing down the stairs, I bolted to the suspected site.

Ephyl was already patiently waiting at the side, perhaps ready to receive guests.

In a rush I stood beside him and waited, and as I had sensed.

A sudden shift of space, a few figures swiveled outwards of thin air. At the center, I could see Ivan, looking quite the same as he had been two years ago. Donning a well fitted light grey linen suit, with brown shoes and a classic black fedora.

Perhaps, he had grown some grey hairs, due to his work load.

The other two men were holding a few black cases, but as soon as they put those down, both men tipped their hat and shifted back out. Not eager to stay here any longer.

"Good afternoon gentlemen." Ivan said, dusting off his suit from the air kicked up due to the apparition.

He greeted us both, and then grabbing the cases beside him he walked inside the barrier.

"Shall we?" Ivan said.

Ephyl collected the cases from him, as they levitated to the castle, and escorted both of us back to a guest room.

"You're about half a year late." I remarked.

"My apologies, however to make up for it. I've brought you a long awaited gift." Ivan replied.

I was quite perceptive, and had naturally seen the several black suitcases he brought along. They felt ruefully obscured.

My senses couldn't penetrate the casing, so I could only wonder what was contained within them.

Settling down in one room, Ivan lined the suitcases beside each other, and in one swipe of his wand, all the locks clicked open.

I hurriedly peeked from the side, to catch a glimpse.

"Eager are we?" He laughed and pushed the case to me.

I sucked in a cold breath, and my hands creeped closer towards the case.

I saw a number of wands encased within boxes, with their information written on the back.

Ivan continued to open each box, and each contained different wands.

I looked towards him in shock, and he had a slight smirk.

"Due to the frequency of our visits, we've decided to get you a wand earlier than usual. Of course, these are all professionally crafted by an accomplished wand master, not registered to any Ministry or recorded in any ledger." Ivan informed me with a certain sly laugh.

The day had finally come, and I was over the moon. Not being able to wait any longer, Ivan lined all the opened cases in front of me, and proceeded to unwrap the seal so I could examine each wand.

I knew why he had brought along a large number of wands, to make sure I would find one that would choose me.

"The wand chooses the wizard, Zack. Examine each wand, and when you feel a certain connection, you will have found your partner." Ivan nodded and sat in front of me as I fussed near the wands.

I paced around the room, ecstatic to finally choose a wand, but also slightly anxious.

Hovering over the first box I set my eyes on, my hands crept closer and slowly lifted it.

Carefully unwrapping the box, I took out the wand, caressing it with great care.

The wand held a firm weight, it was about twelve inches, made of dark wood. It was certainly a handful, and as I waved it with some poise I could feel a stoic power well up within me.

Giving it a few flicks, the power was satisfactory.... but I couldn't feel anything special.

In the end, I felt the wand didn't adopt me fully, it was more of a restrained embrace.

Setting it down, I traced my hands towards a second wand among the numerous boxes.

This one felt quite peculiar, and as I unboxed it, I could feel a certain calling. Unicorn hair, white wood, eleven inches. Fiddling with the wand, I found myself in control. However, a part of me felt repulsed by the wand.

The wand rejected me subtly, and so I set it down once again.

Growing impatient, I began channeling a bit of magic through all the boxes piled up, and through a coincidence, I felt a response.

A very hushed response, akin to a mocking whisper. Shifting closer to the box, I could feel a faint pulse reverberating through to me.

As my hands touched the box, a certain connection was established. The wand was prideful indeed, but when I took it in my hands.....I felt whole.

I flipped the box over to read its description. Twelve inches, Cherry wood, Core: Dragon Heartstring.

The wand looked slightly aged, with a dark brown exterior. In my hands it felt perfectly fitting.

There was a certain element of arrogance within the wand, it rejected me at first. However, the moment I channeled my magic, it was quite to the contrary. The wand embraced me, with no qualms.

It thirsted for power, and so did I. The wand was particularly happy with my power, and I with its performance.

It felt as if a third eye had engrained itself in my mind. Whatever felt impossible yesterday, felt probable now, and whatever felt easy, was now simply an expected outcome.

The wand completed me, serving as a connecting between my power. I could certainly feel why wizards chose to use a focus. It all felt so much clearer.

If previously my magic was like a blurred vision, today it was a vivid picture, etched into my mind.

I flicked the wand, and my power followed through, releasing a warm pulse of energy in the room.

It was truly a welcome surprise.

As Ivan saw me connect with the wand, he too showed a slightly astonished expression.

"Curious indeed. You've picked a highly prized wood from Japan. That particular one is paired with Dragon Heartstring. It's a deadly combination, not to be taken lightly. A combination only to be used by wizards with exceptional self control and strength of mind. Truly lethal."

Lethal....that was exactly what I felt. Every gesture with the wand, felt so powerful. I was indeed mesmerized by its power.

Ivan contemplated a few things as I played with my wand, trying out small spells to understand its effects.

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