I ate a small spoon of ice cream as I looked at the wizards and witches moving around.
So far, it had appeared like I was unable to use their style of magic. Up until now, I would have thought that was impossible. So far...any type of magic I have seen, I would in theory be able to use.
My internal reserves which Azerothian magic used was to small to be really useful which is why I had to keep translating it.
I had assumed that mana was the base of all kinds of magic in some form or another. The 'quantum structure' of magic if you will. But apparently I was wrong, even if it seemed to match up with my experience with Azerothian magic.
Poking my chocolate ice cream I took another spoonful. Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour was actually great, certainly up to the level of Ben and Jerry's. I did made sure to stay away from the stranger tastes though.
The question now...is how exactly do I move forward? Yes, the bookstore had more 'in depth' books, but I only flipped through them.
They contained equations though so that was somewhere to start. But just buying books at random was not the brightest idea. They were expensive...Yes, I could afford it, but I could not just keep throwing jewelry at the goblins.
Sooner or later, somebody would be bound to notice, immoral goblins or not. After all, there are such a thing as poor wizards. There had to be something that kept them from robbing muggles and selling the stuff to the goblins.
I could simply Walk away...but I quite frankly did not want to. I am severely lacking in actual magical education. Everything I have learned I have learned on my own with only minor hints....and mostly in the field between other things happening.
Actually getting some proper study time would likely do my magical skills a world of good, not to mention...this was a entirely new branch of magic.
Even if I was unable to find a way to actually do it myself, mana would in theory be able to copy any and all effects if I was just able to figure out how and why it worked.
But for that I needed knowledge. Access to information. Experimentation. Observation. Basically I needed to science the fuck out of this.
I took another spoonful of my slowly melting ice cream as I saw a man in a dark cloak walk down the road, his wand in hand as he hovered a crate in front of him.
Hypothesis one. Mana magic and wand magic are from completely different spectrum or families of magic and can not affect each other.
I activated my magical vision while I channeled a bit of blue mana into my right hand. The tip of the wand was glowing and so was the box but the user looked like any other human.
Quickly clenching my hand beneath the table I used a counter spell on the box. There was a small flash of light in the palm of my hand, a mirroring flash of light happened around the box, causing it to not only grow to five times it's previous size, but to drop to the ground in a crash.
Counterspell was usually too involved to use in the middle of battle, taking a couple of seconds to cast the way I did it. It was easier to use the point counter or a shield. But this invalidated my hypothesis.
The two kinds of magic would interact.
I suspected that considering I could see it, but I needed to confirm it. So why exactly was not the wall to the alley reacting to my magic?
Slowly sighing I finished up my ice cream as the man re-shrunk his box with a confused look on his face before continuing on his way.
I asked at the bookstore. These people do not have a public library... so either I need to purchase all the literature I need... steal it, which is a plain bad idea considering the possibilities of anti-theft charms.... or...
Frowning slightly I tapped my index finger on the table in thought. Hogwarts.
Hogwarts had the books I would need. The knowledge I wanted to have. The question was how exactly I would get access to that.
If it was canon Dumbledore, I could likely just walk up and tell him the truth. If it was fanon megalomaniac mindrape happy Crazydore... yeah, that would be a bad idea.
While these people generally suck at combat magic, it dont mean they are harmless. Especially when I don't know if my shields will work against them.
Their kind of magic was too versatile to be underestimated...for one thing, it did tend to be faster than what I did. It was so...easy to become complacent when you know you overpower everyone around you by a factor of at least ten.
But that don't mean somebody cant get you with a knife in the back. The demon that killed Dawn taught me that lesson.
On the other hand, I needed access to that library if I was to figure this kind of magic out, find out what made it tick. I might not be able to use it directly...but I should still be able to reverse engineer it.
In theory. At least the useful spells.
Sighing I stood up and started to make my way back towards the hotel. I was almost by the brick wall when something hit me that I really should have thought of earlier.
Hogwarts was about to need a new Defense against the Dark Arts teacher. Again.
I frowned as I stopped walking, frowning in thought. Could I actually pull that off? Fake it well enough to pretend to be a wizard for a entire year?
Maybe. With practice. I am not completely horrible at acting.
Slowly nodding I pulled the hood of my cloak up as I walked out of the alley, the brick wall folding up in front of me. I had half the summer to try to figure out how.
XXXXXXXXXXXX
I flicked my wand as I used telekinesis to lift the pillow of the bed with a small application of blue mana.
Floating it around a bit, I followed it with the wand before lifting the wand as I let the pillow drop on the floor.
To me it looked convincing enough...but the question was if a actual wizard would fall for it.
I spun my wand in my hand, channeling a mix of blue and white mana through it to the tip where I let it glow brightly in a white light "Lumos." I said calmly before flicking it like the book described "Nox." I continued, stopping the mana and canceling the light.
The largest part of this would be their own preconceptions. If somebody used a wand and did magic, they were a wizard.
That there could be anyone able to fake it, would likely never occur to them. A bit of acting and things might work out.
Snorting I shook my head before I put the wand into my backpack with the rest of my things.
As long as I managed to avoid being put on the spot to do any transfiguring that is. Then I would be boned.
I shrugged the backpack on and took a last look around the small hotel room for any forgotten items. When I didn't find any I walked out and closed the door behind me.
Time to return to Sunnydale and tell the gang that I might need to extend my time away from dusting vampires a tad longer.
AN// All the thanks to Rufus Shinra for betaing this section.
