The sumr vacation was about to end in one week, and the family would not get much ti to visit the sect—especially the kids, as school was about to start. Simon and Edwina had been going back to Britain frequently as they had duties there.
Today, Elder Huo had convinced Simon to give a lecture to the disciples of the sect about British alchemical processes, with the aim of integrating the sect’s thods with them.
Simon stood on an elevated podium as the disciples ford a semi-circle around him. He had a board and a cauldron to teach.
He first started by teaching the British thod in simple terms.
"The ingredients used are selected for their magical properties as well as their symbolic aning in society. For example, plants that are symbols of bonding are used in potions to bind two elents together. In your thod, the balance between light and dark elents is used for that purpose, reducing the requirent of so rare ingredients—but also reducing the potency if the skill is not up to the mark."
As he explained the thods, the disciples listened and took notes without making a sound. Aaric was also there, learning. Harry was not interested in alchemy, though.
One disciple raised a hand tentatively. "Does that an our thods are less stable?"
Simon shook his head. "Not at all. Your approach assus discipline and elental sensitivity. Ours relies more on structure and intuition. Both are valid. But when combined... we might cut down on wasted reagents and produce potions more reliably."
Edwina, at this ti, was with Selene Greengrass in their mansion as they chatted about healing and other topics.
"I thought you would have told by now," Edwina said cryptically.
Selene stiffened. "About what?"
Edwina sighed. "I know there is soone who needs healing in your family. I won’t force you to tell who it is. I do implore you to tell the kind of affliction they have, so I can at least guide you in a way that leads you to the cure sooner."
Hearing that, Selene looked down in contemplation and told Edwina about a blood curse in their family, and its symptoms and effects on the person’s magic.
After chatting with Selene, Edwina ca back to the sect and was going to her courtyard when she t Harry on the way. She ruffled his hair as she asked about his day, but he seed to be in deep contemplation.
"What is it?" asked Edwina.
Harry looked up at her. "How long will Pyra live?" he asked. Pyra was the na of his salamander.
"She... will at most live another six months." Edwina’s response was blunt, but it was what Harry needed at the ti.
"I don’t want her to die. I don’t want fla powers. I just want her to stay with ," Harry broke down as Edwina hugged the boy. She thought about it and then said, "Co with ."
She took Harry by the hand, and they went to their courtyard.
She gave so potions to Pyra. "These potions will make her healthier and extend her lifespan. I will now upgrade the link you have with her through the marking. And if she accepts, she will be connected on a deeper level with you and live even longer."
She used ink made from the blood of a giant and crushed dragon bones to add to the marking on Harry’s hand and Pyra’s forehead.
She had asked Shenlian to procure the ink, and as she finished her inscribing, Harry was laid on his bed and fell asleep with Pyra in his arms.
Later that night, the Hawthorne family arrived at Nightshade Castle to plant the Huǒlóng Yùlán tree seeds, as Aaric nourished them with Moonlight Essence. The family then went to the ritual room at the top of the castle.
They would be performing a ritual to upgrade their wands.
The first was Edwina, as she sat in the middle of the circle with her wand in her lap. She had two vials with her: one was the poison she had extracted from the Sect Master mixed with Basilisk venom, and the other was a healing potion made from Graphorn Horn, Unicorn Hair, and Phoenix Tears, mixed with the Serpentwood Resin potion.
She poured both vials into a wooden bowl and placed her wand in between. She then chanted in Parseltongue and infused her magic and so of her blood into the bowl. The mixture began to seep into her wand as she continued to hold it. It absorbed the materials and gained a faint greenish hue that ford so runes on it—they were faint and hard to spot, but they were there.
Simon stepped into the ritual circle next, his face composed as always. Aaric and Edwina moved to opposite sides of the room, each lighting the runes that encircled the chamber.
Simon’s wand was placed delicately in a silver bowl carved with Glacier Dragon scales—brought from a long-ago expedition into the Fjord Cliffs. Around it, he set his chosen materials.
First, he poured a vial of Mist Essence, given to him by Shenlian—she had condensed it over a hundred years.
To tie the elents together, Simon added three drops of Cloud Serpent bone marrow, a rare mist-creature secretion that deepened magical focus and attunent.
Lastly, a fragnt of a Geysir Heartstone—a stone ford from boiling subterranean springs, long since hardened into a fiery core surrounded by mist-veined rock.
He placed his palm over the wand and whispered a personal invocation, and also held his sword as the ingredients dissolved in the bowl. His sword and wand both gained blue runes as the essences flowed like water toward them, crystallizing like ice and giving off a faint mist.
Simon lifted the sword and wand. They remained the sa in length, core, and materials, but the surface shimred faintly like frost over glass. Veins of soft mist shimred in the grain—powerful, understated, precise.
He nodded once in satisfaction.
Aaric stepped forward next, drawing his wand slowly.
He didn’t carry a bowl—he conjured a shallow basin of stone, carved instantly with runes as he whispered in Parseltongue. The bowl pulsed silver.
He first placed a delicate pinch of Ashes of Rebirth—taken from a phoenix that had been reborn only hours earlier. They were faintly warm to the touch and radiated imnse heat, as he had infused so fire-type materials into them.
Next ca a sliver of Frostsilk Serpent fang, found only in magical tundras where creatures had adapted to subzero environnts. The venom had been neutralized, but the cold essence remained—unnaturally piercing, yet clear and focused.
Then ca Crimson Ice Petals, flowers grown atop enchanted peaks that bled fla when struck with wind. Their magic danced between both elents—fire and frost.
He placed his wand in the center and whispered a ritual phrase in Parseltongue.
The air rippled around him.
The ingredients lted into the wand as Aaric’s magic pulled them in, layer by layer. His silver fla stirred faintly at his fingertips but did not ignite. This was a quiet process.
When he lifted the wand again, its surface had shifted. The wood remained dark, but now faint frost fractals lay under its surface, radiating heat. A thin line of silver ran along the grain as fire and ice balanced and complented each other.
A/n : the second years will start in the next Chapter.
Thoughts and stones please
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