Chapter Text
Chapter 66: To Make a Mage
"Okay… and how about now, Sam?" Delilah asked as she held up a piece of wood with a carving of a Mooncalf on it.
"Maybe some sort of squiggly lines?" Sam muttered, squinting at it.
"I see. What about… this one?" Delilah inquired as she put down the wooden carving and replaced it with a thin bronze tablet that had several charms attached to it via runes."
"I can't see anything or tell what you're holding," he admitted.
"Hmm. Interesting," my girlfriend murmured. She adjusted her enchanted glasses, the same pair I'd given her to wear back in Paris so she could see magical stuff without issue.
The three of us were in a room at one of my workshops. The whole place was empty for the day, and we were using it as a place to hold a few simple experiments.
It'd been a while since Sam had been subjected to the Squib to Mage ritual, and so far, everything looked normal. The transition was not instantaneous, which was interesting to note. Or rather, the effects weren't immediately obvious.
The amount of magical energy he could produce had jumped significantly and was slowly but steadily increasing, though he was still only above average as far as Squibs went for magical power. Sam did have more than I did though, which was a bit of a blow to my self-esteem.
However, Sam didn't start to immediately see through anti-Muggle wards and other magical barriers. Bit by bit, his eyes could pierce the veils and powerful enchantments, but it would take a while before he had full magical senses like a proper wizard or even a Squib.
The tests we were doing were fairly straightforward. We held up different magical objects with various levels of magical power and enchantments. Some were simple enough that anyone, mundane or magical, could see them. Others were more complex, that only somebody with Squib levels of magical ability could detect.
It was sort of like an eye exam, but for differing levels of magic. We were hoping to establish some facts before we underwent the ritual ourselves. Since Sam was a Muggle to begin with, there would likely be differences for the process, but it was still good data.
To find out if the ritual worked on Delilah or myself, we'd have to get some rather rare items to help out. For instance, there were some magical creatures, like Dementors, that were invisible to even Squibs and could only be seen by a proper witch or wizard. And other beings could create sounds and scents that mundane people and Squibs couldn't detect either. We didn't have any of those on hand, however, so we had to make do.
"Okay, last one," Delilah claimed, picking up a small painting. It was a magical landscape painting that had some interesting properties that changed what one saw depending on how much magic you had.
Apparently, the Blacks – and other old Purebloods like them – had used it to judge if a person had enough magic. Muggles would see an empty field. Squibs would see a single, stationary, white sheep. While proper mages would supposedly see a black sheep that moved around and did sheep stuff. Eating grass and what-not. Delilah and I could only see a white sheep so we couldn't confirm. But Sirius had happily lent it to us for our tests.
"Um, no changes," he replied. "Still can't see anything on that one except a sort of fuzzy white blob."
"Got it," I said, marking his response down into a batch of notes. "Well, that's all of them, I guess. Good work."
"What's the verdict, doc?" Sam asked, tone playful.
"If things keep progressing at the rate they've been going, you should be able to see things any regular Squib can see within four months. Six, max," I informed him.
"And how long will it take before I can see everything?" he wondered.
"Hmm… possibly in a year from now? Between ten to fourteen months, if things follow the same rate of progression as the Mundane to Squib magical assimilation process," I replied.
That meant we were looking at a magical integration rate of around two years, or twenty to thirty months, per person based on the current ritual. I had a feeling we could modify it, but that would take more study.
"Damn, that's slow," Sam hummed.
"Considering you didn't have any real magical aptitude of note until a little bit ago, this is actually rather fast, all things considered," I pointed out.
"That's true, I suppose," Sam nodded. "What's the plan, then? Same time next month?"
"Yup. We'll schedule your monthly eye-exam for… how does September 15th sound?" I asked.
"Hmm. Wednesday, right? Yeah that should be fine, as long as it's after four in the afternoon," he replied after thinking it over.
"Gotcha," I said, marking that down in the calendar.
"So, we've confirmed the ritual works. At least as far as turning a normal person into somebody with magic," Delilah said.
"To an extent, yes," I confirmed with a nod.
"Then in that case, I want to go next," Delilah declared.
"What?" I uttered, blinking a bit.
"I want to go through the ritual myself," she said, repeating her intent.
"I-I thought that's what you said," I replied. "That's not a good idea, Delilah."
"Ed, I think we've done all we can, short of waiting another year to see if Sam completely assimilates the ritual and gains magic," Delilah replied.
"Delilah, I don't think that's a good idea," I repeated in protest.
"Ed," Delilah said, calmly putting a hand on my chest. "Trust me."
"I do! It's the ritual I don't trust! Not yet, at least!" I told her truthfully. "What if something goes wrong? What if Nicholas' notes didn't take something into account? Or I make a mistake when setting it up? I-I don't want anything to happen to you."
"And you think letting yourself go through with the ritual first to check for any dangers is somehow something I'd be okay with?" she demanded, raising an eyebrow at me.
I huffed and looked away, unable to retort, as I knew she was just as worried for me as I was for her.
"Ed. I want to do this," she said, softly but firmly. I waffled for a bit, but in the end, I caved.
"Fine," I sighed. "I'll start working on setting it up. We have plenty of materials from the recycling operations. Should be ready in a week. Ten days, max."
"Thank you, Ed," Delilah said gratefully, giving me a kiss on the cheek.
I hummed a little, hugging her for a bit, before letting her go. She left after grabbing her things, having other stuff to do that day, and leaving me with my best friend in the warehouse.
"So, is Harry excited for school to start again?" Sam asked, changing the topic with the subtly of a brick through a window, but I chuckled all the same, glad for the distraction.
"Sure is," I said, glad to talk about something else. "He's grabbing the school supplies in Diagon Alley today with his friends. Hopefully he won't have to fight any more Basilisks or other monsters this year."
"I saw the photo," Sam said with a wince. "Bloody thing was huge! Can't even imagine trying to fight something like that without a damn tank or a company of soldiers at my back. Let alone four teachers, an old hat, and a fiery bird."
"Agreed," I replied with a nod. I then tilted my head. "How are things with that girl you met?"
"Tonks is fun," Sam said, smiling a bit. "She's also really understanding about my, my gender issues, and… I'm thinking about telling her I know about magic."
"She doesn't know you know about it?" I asked, surprised.
"No, she's kept it on the downlow, and I never mentioned it."
"Well, just claim to be a Squib or something. That would explain why you know. And it wouldn't technically be a lie," I suggested.
"Right, that makes sense," Sam nodded. "Hey, would you and Delilah be interested in a double-date?"
"I can ask her, but I wouldn't mind," I replied.
"Cool!" Sam said, grinning happily. "Got anything else to do today?"
"Some homework, and paperwork, but nothing I can't put off till the evening," I replied, glancing at my watch. "It's a little past eleven… want to grab an early lunch?"
"Yeah, that sounds nice," Sam agreed, getting up and following me out of the warehouse. I locked it up, and then went to a dark blue Volkswagen parked nearby. I'd gotten it because I didn't want to have to rely on others driving me around all the time. Taking the test to get a driver's license had taken a bit of work, since even after so many years I still had American driving instincts etched into my muscle memory, but having it made things easier for me.
"Been a while since we've hung out together," Sam commented as I drove us to a diner nearby.
"Yeah, it has been," I said. "We should do this more often. Make a weekly thing. Monthly, at the very least."
"I'd like that," Sam said. "How's Oxford treating you?"
"Not bad, lectures and assignments interfere a bit with my day job but nothing some good timekeeping can take care of. Planning on getting enough credits for an early graduation, then I can focus on taking care of business full-time," I replied. "Though that will probably take a few more months."
"Well, if anyone can graduate early, it'll be you," Sam chuckled. I grinned at the vote of confidence, and pulled into the diner's parking lot.
"Just for that, the meal is on me," I said playfully.
"Wow, free food and good company? What did I do to deserve that?" Sam laughed.
"Brown-nosing me, obviously," I joked. That earned another snort of amusement, and we went inside the place.
"Well, hey there, dearie," an older waitress in her fifties said fondly when she spotted me. "How are you today? I see you brought a friend with you."
"Morning, Meredith," I said in greeting. "Yeah, this is my friend, Sam. And since we were nearby, I thought, 'why not introduce him to my favorite waitress?'"
"You charmer, you," she said with a smile. "Sit wherever you like, I'll be by soon with menus."
"She seems to know you," Sam noted as I led him to a booth. "Come here often?"
"Yup. The diner is close to the warehouses I bought, after all. Plenty of the people working at the potion workshop come here for food, and I like coming here often as well," I replied.
"Good food, then?"
"Nah, kinda average. But it's close by, cheap, and has huge portions," I admitted. "Though I'd avoid the scrambled eggs, if I were you. They're more salt than egg."
"Thanks for the warning," Sam said with a wince.
When the waitress came back, they ordered full platters of pancakes and hashbrowns. No eggs. It was a bit late for pancakes – or early, depending on your opinion – but they were adults and could eat what they wanted!
When they'd finished eating and chatting for a bit, the duo got up, paid, left behind a generous tip, and left. It was then back into the car so they could go home.
"Gotta say, this was nice," I said to Sam as the light I was waiting on turned green. "Any reason we can't go and do this later this week?"
"Can't think of anything," Sam replied. "Oh, hey, my mom wanted to know if you wanted to stop by for dinner some time."
"Yeah, sure, I'd be glad…" I started to speak, but something abruptly slammed into the driver's side of my car as I pulled up into the intersection, and we were sent skidding across the road with a screech of rubber and metal before coming to a stop with the front tires mounting the sidewalk and kissing a bus stop bench while cracks violently fissured across the window next to me and the windshield.
"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL WAS THAT?!" Sam screamed, having ducked down as he tried to protect his body.
"Shit! Fucking shit!" I shouted, glaring furiously out the cracked windshield. That other car had come out of nowhere, trying to T-bone us! If I hadn't reinforced my car's body with multiple runic arrays after I'd bought it, then we'd have been dead!
'And even with the runes, the car still got pretty badly dinged up,' I thought as I surveyed the damage. The windows on my side were so badly cracked I couldn't even see out of them, and the door to the driver's seat had buckled inwards slightly. The hood had popped up and gases were seeping from the engine, and there was a lot things that'd gotten thrown about in the back seat, my backpack and school books scattered everywhere.
It seemed like an accident, yet I couldn't help but start thinking paranoid thoughts. Had this been an assassination attempt? Was somebody after my life?
I immediately unbuckled myself while Sam fumbled with the door. His side of the car was undamaged and he scrambled out, and I followed him. We shakily stood there, just staring at the damage, and as car horns blared and sirens screamed in the distance, I looked at the car that'd rammed my Volkswagen.
It was a completely plain and nondescript forest green car. A Honda, if I wasn't mistaken, though it was hard to tell given how completely it had gotten smashed up against my magically reinforced vehicle. The front of the car had crumpled up like a tin can, the windshield was gone, and the driver… well, he was dead. The steering wheel had crushed his chest and the glass turned his face into a bloody mess.
At my side, Sam vomited at the sight, and it was only through Occlumency I resisted the urge to follow suit. There were other people at the scene, screaming and shouting and running about like headless chickens. Some bystanders had rushed inside the various buildings to call the police and an ambulance, and a few minutes of anxiously waiting later, a medical vehicle was the first to arrive.
The paramedics didn't cause a fuss as they got out and surveyed the scene. Instead, they set about checking over Sam and I.
"Follow my finger," one of the men who'd ridden in the ambulance ordered and I obeyed, following it slowly. He seemed satisfied after a moment, nodding a bit and putting his hand down.
"You seem fine," he said. "Do you feel like you need a ride to the hospital to check for whiplash or anything?"
"No, but I suppose it's better to make sure," I said, and the paramedic nodded at that before heading over to check on Sam.
When it was clear Sam was just as fine as I was, the paramedics worked with the other emergency personnel who'd showed up and began to extract the corpse from the car that'd rammed up.
"Okay, boys, are you two feeling up for a quick talk?" a police officer asked, a cigarette hanging out of his mouth.
"Sure," I said, Sam agreeing silently at my side with a nod.
"Let's go over what happened," the bobby requested, flipping a notebook open. "What happened?"
"My friend and I had just finished lunch at the diner over there," I said, pointing to the place. "We were driving across the road when the car came screaming down the road out of nowhere."
"And was the light on your end green?" he asked.
"It was," I confirmed. "Plenty of witnesses can confirm that."
"Wasn't insinuating anything, kid," the cop claimed. "Anyways, what next?"
"Not much. He hit us, we almost flipped over, and then we got out and waited for help to arrive," I shrugged.
"Damn lucky couple of kids," the policeman said, eyeing my mostly undamaged car. "Surprised to see your car held up so well, too."
"German engineering strikes again," I said as an attempt to both joke and deflect suspicions away from my car. Thankfully, it seemed to work as the cop just snorted and nodded.
"Right. Stay here for a bit, I want to ask some questions to the other people nearby."
I nodded in understanding, and glanced at Sam who was looking down at his feet.
"You…" I began, about to ask 'are you okay?' but cut myself off before I could ask something that stupid. Of course he wasn't okay! He'd just survived a car crash and was shaken up about the whole thing!
Instead of asking anything, I patted him on the shoulder and steered him away from the wreck to a bench. We sat down silently, and just watched everything scurry around. A pair of tow trucks eventually arrived and hauled both cars off.
"This is gonna raise my premiums," I said with a self-deprecating chuckle as I finished informing a cop about my insurance and personal contact information a little bit later.
"Heh, probably will," the bobby snorted. "Alright, that's everything. You two kids stay safe, alright?"
"Thanks, we will," I told him, and he walked off, his duty done.
Sam and I kept sitting on the bench for a bit longer, not wanting to get up and do anything. My car had been towed, most of the glass and metal from the other vehicle had been cleaned up, and for the most part, things were slowly returning to normal. As quickly as the accident had happened, so too did the city and its people get over it.
Glancing at Sam, I could tell it would take a bit longer for him to recover. Not wanting to disturb him, I was content to let Sam sit there, but we both had things to do today, and after a bit I decided that trying to ignore the problem was a bad idea.
"Do you want to go to the hospital, Sam?" I asked quietly, concerned about how quiet he was being.
"Maybe?" he said hesitantly. "I don't feel like I got hurt. Do you think I should?"
"Well, since you are… different now," I said, side-stepping any mentions of magic while we were out in public. "Things like that won't hurt you as much. Naturally born ones like my brother can fall from over a dozen feet and just bounce without so much as a scratch. These are also the people who think playing a sport with iron cannon balls chasing them is fun. A car crash shouldn't be anything to worry about, even if you're only like me."
"I see," he muttered, before taking a deep breath. "Then, no. I want… no, I need to talk to my family."
"Okay?" I said slowly. "Let's find a cab, then."
The bus that was scheduled for the stop we were sitting at pulled up, and I paused. "Actually, let's take the bus since it's already here."
Riding away from the scene of the accident was unpleasant, but I could see Sam's shoulders slowly relax as we left it behind. The tension returned a bit later as soon as we reached Sam's parent's house, though.
"Sam! We didn't expect to see you over here today!" Mrs. Parson called out, happily surprised to see her son enter the house. "And Ed, how are you?"
"I'm okay, thanks for asking," I said politely.
"Mom," he said slowly. "Are dad and Kate here?"
"They are. Kate's in her room, and your father is fiddling around in the garage on something or another. Is everything okay?" Mrs. Parson asked.
"Yeah, I just… I have something to tell all of you," Sam said. "Ed and I got into a car accident earlier."
"Oh, my baby! Are you okay?!" she gasped, rushing over to him.
"We're okay, the car got banged up worse than we did," Sam assured her.
"I'll get your father!" she exclaimed and ran off to fetch him. Sam wandered into the living room and sank down onto the couch, sighing a little.
"Can you get Kate?" he asked me, and I nodded, walking upstairs to fetch his sister.
"Kate?" I called out, knocking on her door.
"Ed?" she uttered in surprise when she answered. "What are you doing here?"
"Sam and I got into a car accident, and he's downstairs right now," I explained. "He wanted to talk with you and your parents."
"Oh, geez!" Kate exclaimed, hurrying down to talk with her brother, and I followed her.
When we got back to the living room, Sam had his mom and dad already looking him over.
"You're sure you're fine?" Mr. Parson asked, and Sam grinned weakly.
"Yeah. But that's not why I wanted to talk to you guys," he said.
"You can tell us anything," Mrs. Parson promised him, and Sam
"Well, my life sorta flashed before my eyes," he admitted. "And I realized afterwards that I didn't want to leave things the way they are. I didn't want to die without telling you guys something."
"What is it?" Mr. Parson asked.
Sam opened his mouth to respond, but closed it, frowning. "I didn't think it'd be so hard," he muttered. He took a deep breath, and then finally got what he wanted to say out.
"Everyone, I'm…"
"You're a poof!" Kate gasped, interrupting him. "I knew it!"
"Language!" Mrs. Parson snapped, scolding her daughter, who cringed a bit.
"Oh! Uh, sorry, Sam," she apologized.
"You're not entirely wrong," Sam said with a weak chuckle. "I'm actually… oh, this is harder than I thought…"
He took a deep breath. "I'm not a man. I'm a woman, trapped in a man's body."
"You what?" Mr. Parson uttered, bewildered while Kate let out an "Ahhh, of course!"
"But you have a girlfriend," Mrs. Parson said with a frown. "We've met her."
"Tonks is… I honestly don't know what we are. I like her, and she understands that I'm not really a traditional guy, so to speak."
"Well, I don't care," Kate declared, hugging Sam. "I'm just glad you're okay!"
She then grinned. "And hey, I guess this means you're my big sister, right? We can go shopping together!"
Mr. and Mrs. Parson shared a look with each other. They clearly weren't as understanding as Kate was. Old fashioned prejudices and sensibilities died hard, after all. But they didn't immediately condemn him, so I was quietly hopeful for Sam.
A few seconds they both approached my best friend and began to quietly talk with him. From the tiny and relieved smile on Sam's face, I knew he'd be just fine. I grinned a little at that and quietly saw myself out, letting Sam speak with his family.
'Well, I think Sam will manage to work thing out with his family,' I thought as I left the Parson residence. 'I suppose nearly having died would make him want to come clean to his parents about what his feelings were, and his parents might be more tolerant and accepting knowing they nearly lost their son today.'
'But now, I need to find out if what happened today really was an accident,' I thought grimly to myself, frowning up at the sky. 'No one is going to get away with trying to hurt me or my friends!'