Darius said it with such conviction that he sub-consciously used his powers for the first time and let them literally feel how good he felt. And for a few moments there, all three witches were able to bask in the sensation of being magically powerful before the power pulled back into Darius’ body. It was like an empath feels other feelings but only in reverse, Darius managed to imprint his own emotions for a short while o the surrounding people.

The other two didn’t really understand what just happened and assumed they were feeling relieved at Darius’ complete recovery. But how could Kaela not understand? She instantly looked at Darius with wide eyes and was stunned silent. Each of the heritage techniques required hours of studying to understand their applications and usage, and here was a young guy, still only 14-years-old, who was able to sub-consciously able to use his power effortlessly. For God’s sake, most of the clan kids only awakened their inherent powers in their twenties and thirties. That was not to say no one awakened it at a younger age, but everyone who did so couldn’t control their powers and either lost their minds or had to have their powers sealed away for at least a decade. That is why she had rushed to the castle when she heard of Darius’ condition, to seal his powers as soon as possible. She didn’t know of any circumstance when a person as young as Darius awakened their powers and managed to withstand the mental strain of doing so. It was astounding and she was full of pride for her talented son.

But that is when she realized something. How on earth was she supposed to get the Ira brand for her son? Any branch family member who awakened their powers on their own were fully qualified to demand it as their right but they weren’t exactly 14 when they did so. She could clearly see Darius’ plight if he returned t the clan now. He would be forcefully pulled in to the main branch before being given the brand on his heart and then mired in the endless politics and schemes that the families played. She might even be separated from him in the name of providing superior training so that they could bend and influence Darius towards their way of thought, without her interference. No way was she going to let him become a pawn in their games.

“Darius, honey, I need to talk to you about some things now, in private. If the two of you wouldn’t mind leaving us for a moment?”

Hemione and Madam Pomfrey tactfully left the bedside table. They were pretty sure this was about the awakening and trying to listen in could be construed as Magic theft, a capital crime by Family Magic Laws.

“What is it, mother?”

“First of all, I want to say how proud I am for your achievement. I don’t think there has been such an early awakening in the family for generation. But this same cause for celebration is also cause for worry. I know you are wise beyond your years, so you should be able to understand some of the motives behind this. You will become a pawn for the family elders if they ever get to know about your talent. I have no desire for you to enter that den of vipers until your old enough to protect yourself properly and have a good head on your shoulders.”

“But why would I want to go back to the clan. I have no desire to meet any of them. They did not help you in your time of need. What makes them think we might want to return to them?”

“While I appreciate your chivalry, you do have to go back if you ever want to get your full inheritance. Each awakened member of the clans of the Dominus family are given their clan brand over their hearts. The brand imparts the knowledge of most of the clan techniques to the person. Now you have two choices, either go back and get caught up in the clan politics to get the brand or forego the brand to carve out your own path. There have been a couple of people who choose to do that every generation and they have achieved varying levels of success. The mediocre ones suffer from the lack of proper techniques and stunt their potential, but the more powerful ones invent such amazing techniques that they were begged to come back to the clan at high prices and contribute to them. It is purely up to you. But know that I’ve the utmost confidence in both your raw talent and ingenuity.

Darius thought it over and found that it was a fairly simple decision in the end. Why place yourself under the thumb of another when you have even the slightest chance of rising far above them? He was not like the rest of the magicals with their stagnant thought processes and lack of ingenuity. There was barely any significant advance in the magical world for the past several decades. And he had a treasure trove of ideas from all the books he had read in his previous life. Clan magics were more intent based than incantation based and did not require verbal spells for most of them. With a clear visualization of the process backed by a strong will, it might be possible to exploit the powers to an incredible level.

“You know what my answer will be already, don’t you, mom? I am going the solo route. The powers our clan wield are incredible and I’m sure I can gain a high degree of proficiency with them. I will start putting in some time to start developing those skills, but I suspect this will be a long-term effort.”

“Of course, I do! I have raised you for your entire life after all. You have always been fiercely independent and sought to advance your magic by your means. And you have my blessings to do so. I know that you might have a bit of a tough time at the beginning, but the rewards are worth it. But before you get to that, we must accurately categorize your power. There have been instances where an incorrect categorization stunted the potential of very talented people by not letting them grow into their full potential.”

“Sure mom, what do I need to do?”

“First test for an Ira, release your outermost mental shields and tell me what you feel?”

“That’s easy enough.”

Darius released his outer shields and relaxed. The outer shields were only the first line of defence into his mind. Releasing them was of no danger to him but it did open him up to the flow of energy around. He instantly noticed the emotions of all the people in about a 50m radius. The baptism of emotions he had had in the beginning prevented the pressure from getting too overwhelming and allowed him to keep himself grounded. But the next thing he noticed were the auras. The shimmered and flickered around the figures of his mother and Madam Pomfrey and Hermione over in the next room. This time it was a much shorter radius, merely about 10m or so.

“I can feel the emotions of everyone in about a 50m radius, their emotions, feelings, desires and the like. But that is likely not its limit by far. I caught snatches of emotions from further away and am pretty sure I could feel Mione and your worry from before. That was a particularly strange feeling. Also, I-”

“Oh my! You’re a Clairempath!! A person who can sense and perceive emotions and feelings across time and location. It is a highly regarded skill in the clan. They only appear every couple of generations or so. It will be an extremely useful skill to have.”

“That’s not all, mom. I can also see and feel the aura of everybody nearby. I can’t accurately read the auras yet but believe I’ll be able to do it with time.”

“An Aura master then. While it is not a particularly rare skill, there are about half a dozen every generation, but trained properly, you can take it to great heights. But the incredible thing here is you awakened two of them simultaneously. The last patho-ergokinecist born in the clan was about twelve generations ago, I believe. Such people are able to sense and manipulate both emotions and energy.

Never mistake magic and energy. Magic is a narrow component of energy, the more spiritual and mystical one. The auras you see are the physical component of it, based on your vitality and life force. Energy manipulation encompasses both of them. You should have a far easier time of learning wandless casting and magic sense now.”

Wow, this is so broken, its ridiculous! How would anyone be able to face up against this.”

And one sharp bonk to the head was given. Darius almost didn’t see the hand before it slammed on his head.

“Darius, you get a big head about his, and I keep hitting it till it returns to normal. That’s what happened to the last patho-ergokinecist. He went out looking for adventure and died out there because he got cocky. You may have special skills far beyond most people, but you are sorely lacking in the experience department to back that up. And there are other families just as old as us with fairly powerful skills as well.”

“Yes, yes, I understand. I just caught up in the moment there. Don’t worry I won’t let up on my training at all.”

“I’m glad to hear that. Now we are almost done but there are a couple of things left. One, don’t reveal your skills to anyone you don’t trust a hundred percent. That sweet girl waiting outside seems to be one such person but think deeply before letting her know. Second, train as far as possible in your powers. They are time-consuming ones and the earlier you start, the easier path you will have.”

“I will keep that in mind, mother! You don’t have to worry about me slacking off during training mother. In fact, it is the other way around. There simply isn’t enough time during the day to train. I am simultaneously working on learning more spells, improving dueling, improving transfiguration, perfecting the mind arts, research projects and more. I will need to actually need to set up a timetable to juggle all of this over the entire week, so that I don’t fall behind in any of them.”

“I see! Its great that you’re putting in so much effort into it. Most other kids have to be dragged to do the bare minimum but also make sure not to go overboard. Training has to be tempered with relaxation or you’ll be worn thin. And make time for your friends as well, especially that girl outside, I quite like her.”

“Mooom! Don’t embarrass me. But yes, I agree to what you’re saying. And anyway, we spend most of our time together. She also trains together with me to improve her magic. She’s got a drive to learn greater than I’ve ever seen before.”

“Very well but take care of her. And now that you are fine, I need to get back to what I was doing.”

“Ah, that reminds me, what were you doing that you managed to get here that quick?”

“Well, it was meant to be a surprise, but I might as well tell you now. I was in the middle of renting a house in Hogsmeade village for the both of us. I know how much you loved staying here when you were younger and thought that it would be nice if we shifted back here. You could also easily visit me on Hogsmeade weekends.”

“Wow, that’s great, mom. I’ll definitely visit. And it would be great to live here again. Are you going to be working at Pippin’s potions again?”

“No, I don’t plan to work at any shops anymore. I might do some contractual work, like making so many bottles of so and so potion. But it’ll mainly be work from home.”

“That’s fine. We don’t need any more money anyways. And with my latest research, as soon as its successful, we’ll be rolling around in mounds of gold.”

“Oh? And what’s this new invention of yours? I already told you to give up the idea of making those emergency escape portkeys and healing accessories. Both of them are too valuable in the eyes of those in high society. They would try to find any means to either get that information from you or entrap you into making it for them forever.”

“It not that, mom. I didn’t make any more of them after making one each for you and me. Though now that I think of it, I should make one for Mione as well. Anyways, the new research should be completed before the end of the year, so I’ll show you during the summer break.”

“Fine, I know you like your surprises. But I got to go now, the realtor must be waiting for me and I really want to get that cozy looking house with the garden.”

“Bye, mom. Thanks for coming by. I hope I’ll see you at the next Hogsmeade weekend.”

“Bye, son. Love you.”

“Love you too.”

Darius’ mother swept out of the room and Mione and Madam Pomfrey entered soon after.

Madam Pomfrey performed the diagnostic again and observed the results. “You are absolutely fine now, Darius. Your brain is still functioning at a higher than average rate but nothing outside acceptable parameters, must be a side-effect of your clan trait. You may leave now, but I want you coming back to the hospital the instant you have any problems whatsoever. Got it?”

“Yes, Madam Pomfrey, I will. But I don’t think there will be any further problems anyway. Let’s go, Mione.”

The duo left the hospital hand-in-hand under Madam Pomfreys tender gaze. Mione had had a major fright when she had seen Darius collapse and it was reassuring to see him back to his normal self. And she had managed to have a successful first meeting with his mom as well. She hoped she had made a good impression!