In this world, many wizards were born with special gifts.
Take, for example, the legendary Boy Who Lived—the main character of this world, Harry Potter. He displayed unusual talents more than once. Parseltongue, the ability to understand and communicate with snakes, wasn't originally his, yet he could use it. On top of that, his skill in flying and in Quidditch was nothing short of extraordinary—arguably another kind of gift.
Then there was Professor Sybill Trelawney, the Divination teacher at Hogwarts. Eccentric, scatterbrained, often dismissed as a fraud—yet she was the great-great-granddaughter of Cassandra Trelawney, a famed Seer called "the true prophet." Sybill had made several real prophecies, prophecies that swayed both Dumbledore and Lord Voldemort, and ultimately led to Harry Potter's tragic beginning.
Gellert Grindelwald, the first Dark Lord, was also known to have the gift of prophecy. A natural Seer, though his visions lacked the unshakable weight of Sybill Trelawney's.
Queenie Goldstein, Newt Scamander's sister-in-law from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, was a natural Legilimens, able to slip effortlessly into other people's minds and read their thoughts.
Even Luna Lovegood, the popular Ravenclaw student from the original story, seemed to possess an unusual gift. She could see things others could not—enough to make people call her "loony."
To Ark, even Garrick Ollivander might have had a gift of his own. How else could he so easily read the nature of every wand, and diagnose problems with how people used them, with such uncanny accuracy?
Talents like these surfaced every so often in the wizarding world. Not common, but not impossibly rare either.
Ark's own talent, Mind Guidance, was one such gift. It hadn't appeared in the original story, but in essence, it was the ability to draw on the strength of the mind itself.
It didn't sound especially impressive at first. Yet Ark believed its potential in this world was staggering.
Because here, magic was, at its core, a matter of will.
It was shaped by a wizard's intent, beliefs, and emotions. It bent under the weight of the caster's inner world. That was why focus and clarity of purpose were essential to spellcasting in the first place.
A powerful wizard could falter if their will broke, their spells turning feeble and weak. Meanwhile, a seemingly ordinary witch or wizard might perform miracles if driven by unshakable desire.
The clearest example was Lily Potter. She wasn't especially powerful, likely not even stronger than her husband. Yet when Voldemort tried to kill her son, she shielded Harry with nothing but pure love and sacrifice. Her protection rebounded the Killing Curse, obliterating the Dark Lord himself.
Her love lasted for over a decade, shielding Harry again and again in his clashes with Voldemort. Dumbledore, the greatest wizard of the century, once said it outright: love was the most powerful magic of all.
That alone proved the mind's influence over magic.
And Lily wasn't the only case. Molly Weasley, desperate to protect her family, killed Bellatrix Lestrange in a duel that shocked everyone.
Molly was a brilliant cook, an expert in household charms—but Bellatrix was a deadly Death Eater, one of Voldemort's most dangerous allies. And yet, this infamous dark witch fell in a matter of moments to a furious mother.
If those were exceptions, there were plenty of ordinary examples too.
Most Dark Arts required strong negative emotions to cast. The Patronus Charm demanded the opposite: positive emotions and happy memories. Either way, it was proof that magic was tied directly to the state of the heart.
Ark's gift of Mind Guidance allowed him to control those inner states at will—strengthening his willpower, sharpening his focus, steadying his emotions. With it, he could cast powerful magic more easily and more accurately than anyone else.
That was why the hazel wand, so responsive to emotion, had chosen him. The strange phenomena it produced at his touch were all thanks to Mind Guidance.
Now, Ark intended to use it consciously.
"Focus and clear intent..."
He closed his eyes, drawing his emotions to the surface.
Most people couldn't simply decide to feel anger, or joy, or absolute concentration. But Ark could summon them at will. With Mind Guidance, emotions came to him faster, easier, smoother.
A steadfast will to cast.
An unshakable belief he would succeed.
When he opened his eyes again, they burned with focus and brilliance.
"Incendio!"
As his emotions surged, Ark swung his wand and spoke the incantation.
Bang!
Flames burst forth.
The Fire-Making Spell. An entry-level spell.
Normally, a young wizard could manage only a small flame.
But when Ark cast it, fire erupted from his wand in a roaring jet, like a flamethrower, searing straight into one wall of his cabin.
"Bloody hell!"
Staring in shock, Ark let out the curse he hadn't used in ages. He scrambled for a bucket of water and doused the blaze.
At last the fire was out, but one wall was scorched black, filling the cabin with a stench of burnt wood.
"...Guess not everything's better when it's stronger."
He stood there in silence, staring at the charred wall, realizing just how much work lay ahead of him.
…
For the next stretch of time, Ark devoted himself to practicing spells.
He discovered that if his mind was focused, his intent clear, and his will and emotions strong enough, he could still succeed even when his wand movement or pronunciation was a little off.
It was true: the usual formula for casting included wand movements and incantations. But experienced wizards could skip them, managing nonverbal spells and even wandless magic.
Both were notoriously difficult. Nonverbal spells were only taught in sixth year at Hogwarts, and wandless magic was beyond the reach of most adult wizards.
But with Mind Guidance, Ark found those paths easier to tread, proving once again how much magic depended on the mind.
The stronger and steadier the heart, the greater the magic's power—and the lower the difficulty of casting it.
If he mastered Mind Guidance to its peak, maybe one day a single spell would be enough to reduce Voldemort to ashes.
And it wasn't only practical spellwork. Mind Guidance helped Ark in his studies too.
He could throw himself into a state of absolute focus at will. With his intent, belief, and boundless interest in magic, he absorbed theory at a remarkable pace, as quickly as he mastered the practice.
And so, time slipped by.
Before long, the day of Ark's journey to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry quietly arrived.