"There is a letter in the mail for you," said Tiara as she walked into the dining room.
"Who is it from?" asked Christian while stuffing rice and plantain in his mouth.
"Don't speak with food in your mouth," said Tiara before giving him the letter. "It's from my sister."
"Aunt Arielle? I haven't heard from her since my birthday," Christian said as he opened the letter.
"She's not too good with Muggle Technology, but you can write more to her now."
Christian nodded distractedly while reading.
"What did she say?"
"She congratulated me on being a wizard and asked us to spend Christmas with her."
"That's not a bad idea. What do you think?"
Christian immediately hesitated. He loved his aunt, who always doted on him when they met. However, he was not fond of America, so he rarely visited.
"Don't let one bad experience deter you from visiting an entire region," said Tiara, who seemed to read his mind. "There is a chance you will have other unpleasant experiences you cannot control. But you can control how you feel or respond to them."
"You have a point. I will tell her we're coming," said Christian, who rushed upstairs to respond to the letter and send it back through Sango. Tiara wanted to tell him she would ask Eleanor whether she wanted to go with them, but did not even get a chance.
Christian returned with his response letter a few minutes later and immediately went to the backyard to find Sango. He felt bad for his owl as the creature was highly independent and never left its large shed, even when Christian allowed it to fly to get some exercise. The only time he saw it moving was when he fed it.
Christian watched Sango fly away and muttered, "What a strange owl." He returned to the table and immediately asked his mother.
"How does the owl deliver across the ocean? It won't fly all the way there, right?"
"No, there are owl posts in every country. Your owl will fly there, and someone will use Floo Powder to send it to a post closest to wherever you want to deliver, which in your case is America. Of course, that's only for official letters."
"If not official?"
"The owl can only fly to its destination."
Christian nodded. He still finds it odd that wizards use an owl to send letters, but he has adopted this means of communication. He went upstairs to read after dinner; today, he read the first-year Transfiguration Book. He frowned because the first few pages introduced the Transfiguration Alphabet, which contained 26 characters corresponding to the 26 letters of the English alphabet. He was intrigued since his mother had never mentioned it.
He looked at his father's painting, "Do you know what these alphabets are for?"
"These things? They are primarily used in Alchemy," replied Isaac.
"Alchemy? As in the pursuit of turning metals into gold and creating a universal solvent?" asked Christian. He had read a book about alchemy after his teacher introduced it as the predecessor to modern-day chemistry.
"That's correct. Alchemy is a field of magic. Transfiguration Alphabets are used to create formulas with permanent transformation effects."
"That makes sense," nodded Christian. With a field of magic like Transfiguration, Alchemy should have been an easy subject, but nothing is truly as simple as stated.
"Has anyone ever succeeded?" asked Christian.
"Succeed in what?"
"Create the Philosopher's Stone, said to be the embodiment of all knowledge, or find a way to turn base metal into gold, and create an Elixir of Immortality. If I remember correctly, these three were the main objectives of all Alchemists."
"Yes," replied Isaac. "A man named Nicolas Flamel. He successfully created the Philosopher's Stone, which made him the wealthiest wizard alive, and with the Elixir of Life, he and his wife have lived for over 600 years."
"600 years? That's a very long time," exclaimed Christian.
"Wizards naturally live longer than Muggles, but yes, 600 years is indeed very long," nodded Isaac.
"Alchemy seems a fascinating subject," commented Christian before continuing his reading.
Time flowed like a river, and Christmas was approaching without even noticing it. School was on break, and Christian had more time to read and practice magic. He only had to wait a week to travel to the US and see Aunt Arielle.
One morning, he was reading a book in the living room while shaking his head. Tiara, who was doing the same, stopped and asked, "Why do you keep shaking your head?"
"I'm reading this textbook for Muggle Study and could not help but complain about how basic and outdated the information is. How can wizards understand Muggles if this is the book they must learn from? A child like me could write a better work to introduce people to the wonders of the Muggle World."
"Then write your own," said Tiara.
"Excuse me?"
"Remember how we talked about soft power?"
"I do."
"This is the perfect opportunity to start building your power," persuaded Tiara. "Write a book that truly introduces the world of Muggles. You don't have to worry about publishing it, as I will take care of it."
"This is not a matter of publishing it or not," rebutted Christian. "I'm a child; how can I write a book? Sometimes, I feel you've forgotten this fact."
"And I think you've underestimated your capabilities," countered Tiara. "There are children your age solving complex mathematical formulas or building computers from scratch."
"I'm not one of those children. At least, I don't know for sure since you refused to let me join Mensa International."
"That was indeed my mistake," admitted Tiara. "However, you know for a fact that's not a fair argument." No ordinary child can learn more than ten languages and write, read, and speak them fluently as if they were native speakers. Or change accents so seemingly.
Christian thought briefly, "I don't know anything about prose or anything related to writing a book."
"Haven't you technically already written countless books?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Your translated books. You've been doing them since you were four, even translating dictionaries."
"That's not the same," Christian argued.
"What about the papers you wrote? What were they? [The Influence of West African Language on Latin American Spanish], [How Haitian Creole Evolved Linguistically and Culturally From French, Swahili, and Hausa], [The Correlation Between African American Vernacular English (AAVE), Hip-Hop, and Afro-Music], [Standard Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese: Why Are They Different], and the [Origin of Romance Language]. The last one was a doozy with more than 100 thick pages. It was hard to get through."
"You read all of them?" Christian asked.
"Of course," Tiara nodded with a smile. "I always plan to support your talent for language if you never awaken your magical powers. In fact, I wanted to publish some of your works, but your aunt stopped me."
"She did the right thing. Now that I think about it, many of these papers were too immature," Christian commented.
"My point is, you already have the dedication and mindset to write a book, you just need a few new skills. However, you can learn in the process. And even if the book is terrible, what matters is that you try. It's never too early to work on your dreams and ambitions. You want to change the magical world, right?"
"Well, yes."
"Then, education and knowledge will be fundamental. You must start by educating wizards about the Muggle world, and I think an introductory book about their world is the perfect start."
Christian pondered for a few minutes, taking his time to consider her words. Ultimately, he said, "There is too much involved, especially since I have to attend school and magical lessons." He knew he would have to spend much time in the library researching if he agreed, so it was not worth all the effort and stress.
"How about this? If you agree to do this, I will allow you to drop out of school early," Tiara persuaded.
"Really?" School was boring beyond words since he had learned everything and would do anything to escape.
"Yes, but only if you take this seriously and do not use it as an excuse to stop going to school."
Christian calmed down; this is not a decision he should take lightly. "I will think about it."
"Fine, but make a decision before the start of the new semester."
Later that night, Christian could not sleep; this time, it was not due to Jim's memories. He did not know whether trying to write a book would be a good idea.
'How about I do an outline and decide based on that?'
He stood up from his bed and walked to his study, took a pen and paper, and wrote what he could incorporate into his book:
Basic History & Major Historical Events (Industrial Revolution, Moon Landing, World Wars) Major Technology Inventions (Electricity, the telephone, etc.) Transportation (this category can be in the technology section or independent) Political Structure Fashion Day-to-Day Life (including cooking and cleaning) Communication & Media Military? It might be helpful for a wizard to know a gun's or sniper's capabilities. Societal Issue (racism, feminism, inequality, etc.)
Christian looked at the list and frowned. He knew very little about some of these issues and feared it would come out wrong if he tried to explain them with his limited knowledge reserve. He grunted as the idea of misrepresenting some of these issues and causing more harm than good gave him anxiety.
After stressing out about this problem for nearly an hour, he asked his mother for advice. So, despite how late it was, he descended to the first floor and knocked on her room door.
"Who is it?"
"It's me."
"Zed? Shouldn't you be in bed?"
"I have something to ask. Can I come in?"
"Go ahead."
As Christian entered, he saw that she was not dressed in her pajamas but for a night out.
"Going somewhere?"
"I'm looking for a Seer," Tiara replied honestly, and Christian pretended he knew nothing of the sort. "Any luck?"
"No, but soon," replied Tiara. "What do you need?"
Christian handed him the outline while also explaining his worry.
"You must look at it differently. Your book aims to introduce these issues to the viewers, raising their awareness so they can seek out more information. So, it does not have to be too in-depth or nuanced, at least not now."
"That makes sense."
"So, have you made a decision?" asked Tiara.
"I have," replied Christian firmly. Since he chose this path, he did not waste any time. The next morning, he went to the library to read and rent books. He also bought many of them to begin his research. One thing Christian was happy with during this process was that he did not have to type or write the book.
After bewitching a quill, the thing would write all his thoughts at extreme speed without lifting a finger. As such, he had made significant progress by Christmas despite primarily working in the morning since he had magic lessons in the afternoon.