"Are you sure i need to carry this?" Neville asked Richard as they trekked through the small hill, carrying a cherry wood staff. "I feel like everyone is staring at me." That was true. They were under the eyes of many.
"Neville, do you want to try this or not?" Richard didn't mind that though. He ignored the gazed as he climbed the somewhat steep hill, using the boulders and fallen ruins along the foot path a support.
They were going up to a more isolated part in the school grounds. A place with good 'feng shui' as Richard elaborated, though Neville had no idea what that was.
After about ten minutes, they both arrived to their destination. The top of the small hill where the sun shone brightly.
"This looks good." Richard turned to Neville. "Help me move these ruins into a circle will you? We don't have all day." Richard turned and waved his wand before making the ruins float.
"Why do we need a circle made of boulders?"
"I don't know, but the guy in the comic always used some sort of a circle when doing anything."
"If you don't mind me asking, what are we going to do now?" Neville asked as they finally finished moving the rocks into a small circle. Richard didn't do much. Instead picked a small flower bud from a weed on the ground. He placed it on his hand and focused. He was not a warm heart person, nor did he care for life as much as others. But, he had his moments as well.
He closed his primary circuit and the nodes, instead focused on his auxiliary circuit on the though of life. Warmth, the feeling he found himself stripped of as he spent more and more time as a devil. The same warmth that he felt so clearly as he became human again, the warmth that lingered in his skin as it embraces the sun, the warmth of the blood that came as he sweat and burned his muscles with effort....
His other hand gripped his wand as he focused his intent on the flower bud. And it slowly bloomed. Richard grinned before picking up another flower bud, and placed it in Neville's hands.
"You do it"
Neville took the flower, but he didn't even close his eyes. The bud slowly opened the moment he put the thought behind it, almost making Richard jealous.
"Wow, you are a natural."
"Thanks" Neville replied. "It just needs a little push in the right direction." His gaze still fixed on the flower in his hand as it blossomed, then closed up before blossoming again.
'How right you are..' Richard thought as he watched the magic unfolding in front of him with facination
"Then what do you say about going for the next step?."
Neville looked up from the flower in his hand. "What's the next step?" His eyes held an excitement Richard hadn't seen till now.
Richard took the comic he had drawn. It was a small story, about a village kid meeting a wandering druid after he got lost.
It was just at its first chapter, and that fit perfectly to the moment. Richard flipped thought he pages quickly before showing a page to Neville.
In the page, the burly druid was indeed sitting in a circle. He was teaching the kid the ways of a druid.
"So you want me to do that?"
Neville asked, pointing to an image where the old druid made everything within the circle come to life. It was shown with great dramatic flare in the comic. Trampled grass straightened, dandelions and wild flowers came to life, their withered bodies straightening as new life flowed into them. The bare dirt was quickly covered by grass that grew with visible speeds while moss grew over the boulders completely turning them green.
"I don't know_"
"Its all right if it doesn't work. You just got to try." Richard pushed on before Neville could say anything else. "I mean, it's not a test or anything. And you did do it already, so by logic, it should be possible."
"Besides.."Richard added, "what is the worst that can happen?"
He extended the cherry wood staff to Neville, who gripped it with a hint of uncertainty, Then walked into the circle with the stick.
"now, put your wand into the hole in the stick, and close your eyes, and look deep into yourself."
Richard remembred how he had gone around with his eyes bound shut, touching different objects trying to assess them. That was how he had awakened his circuit for tracing. Awakening magic circuits required a rough understanding of one's own nature.
Richard placed his hand on Neville, using enhancement slightly to make him believe that something was happenng.
"come on Nevile. You are feeling it now aren't you. when you are in the total darkness in your mind, dont you feel something telling you a way? something calling you to come this way?" Richars's voice turned hypnotic. Each word pierced through Neville's mind as he remained with his eyes closed.
Neville remained with his eyes closed,His mind was blank of all stray thoughts, as he listened to the instructions that seemed to come straight to his soul.
'it is not a stranger neville.You hear it every time you make a decision. You listen to it every second of your life. it guided you to hrbology, it told you that letting others sneak out of the house dorm is wrong, even if they are your friends. '
Neville felt there was something telling him to do something, telling him to follow it and that scared him
'Don't be scared Neville. It is not an enemy. You should know what it is because it has always been there with you.'
Neville asked himself, what told him to do those things, what was guiding him, and the answer came instantly. It was his decision. What told him to do those things? what guided him has been always himself. Not his friends, not his grandma. He had done those because he wanted to. And those decisions were correct. So why should he not trust himself?
It was not the magic circuits that made the wizard, but rather the wizard who makes the circuits. Thats why significant events of a wizard change the magic at its core. Magic circuits were a reflection of oneself. That was why after getting those additional circuits, Richard's nature turned different. The circuits didn't belong him, and he had to change to fit them. Either he changed, or the circuits had to change.
Neville was almost there. Richard could tell from the way his soul trembled. His circuits almost manifested, but still needed that path.
"C'mon Neville. You can feel yourself waiting to come out. Why don't you let it? No one's around. No one can see you. Just relax and let it happen. Pick up that stick, and release your magic."
Something clicked, and Richard quickly took a step back. And in time as well. The weeds began to shake, like grass in the wind rustling as they waved to and fro from Neville. They crawled, new roots digging into the fresh soil of the Scottish Highlands.
They raced towards the edge of the circle, growing over the rocks covering them in moss and grass. It was magic. The magic went from one blade of grass to another, from one root to another as if it was alive.
Puff
A dandelion bloomed before it's pollen blew into the air. Then another and another, followed by tens more.
'Don't stop now Neville.' Richard watched and hoped. "Don't crush your magic. Let it blossom."
Crackle
That sound was the first sign. The cherry wood branch that held the wand split with cracks running along its length. But it was swallowed just as quickly from a new living layer of bark.
Burst burst!
The roots ran underground before breaking through the ground, stopping just before the circle of boulders where new saplings began to grow.
"That's enough Neville. "
Richard walked into the circle and placed his hand on Neville. But, as expected, there was no response. The saplings were now larger, taller than six feet and a couple of inches thick. At the same time, Neville was weaker. His skin looked a little pale, and sweat poured from his skin.
"NEVILLE"
Still no response. The trees were growing even faster reaching about twelve meters while growing twice as thick. Any more, and Neville might actually get hurt. But moving him might actually make the magic resist him.
So he took a different approach.
"Neville, its professor Snape. We have to go."
Neville's shut eyes snapped open. There was some fear as he quickly pulled away his hand from the cherry tree. And the magic stopped completely as if it struck a metal wall.
"Where?"
Hearing Neville's timid voice, Richard had to re evaluate the trauma Snape had given to the poor first year. But his evaluation was put aside to comfort the now almost shivering kid.
"Don't worry, Snape isn't here." Richard rummaged through his pockets and pulled out a couple of bars of chocolate before ripping one open and handing one to Neville.
"Have some chocolate, trust me you will feel better...c'mon" he pushed the bar into Neville's hand who was still trembling a little all over. His gaze locked at the grown sapling which was nothing but a lifeless stick before.
"Did I do this?"
Richard smirked.
"Well, you almost got knocked out trying too hard, but yeah." Richard gestured to the overgrown wilderness and the circle of small cherry plants grown through sheer power of magic.
"Congratulations Neville, you are a druid."