Silent Spellcasting, Exceptional Affinity for Fire!

"Seven Galleons, please. Thank you!"

After selecting Linley's wand, Mr. Ollivander said this to him.

Linley motioned for Gael, who was holding the money pouch, to pay.

After purchasing the wand, Linley took Gael to Flourish and Blotts, Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, Patchett's Cauldron Shop, and other stores in Diagon Alley to buy the supplies he needed for school.

However, Linley did not go to the Magical Menagerie or Eeyla's Owl Emporium to buy a pet. In his view, he had no need for one at the moment, and he did not necessarily need to buy his own owl just to send letters.

After all, at Rohl Manor, Linley could have the more efficient house-elf Gael deliver letters. At Hogwarts, he could also borrow one of Hogwarts' public owls from the Owlery on the top floor of the West Tower.

Once he had bought all his supplies, Linley had Gael Apparate him back to Rohl Manor.

"Mom, I'm back! Here's the key!"

Linley returned the Gringotts key to Rowena.

Rowena put away the key and said to Linley with a smile in her eyes, "All right, go organize your supplies. I know you must be dying to!"

Linley chuckled.

Just as Rowena had said, after buying all those supplies, Linley could hardly wait to go upstairs and sort through them properly.

Linley returned to his room on the second floor and pulled a small black backpack patterned with dark-red lines from beneath a large desk. This backpack had also been enchanted with an Undetectable Extension Charm, and its interior space was equivalent to ten large suitcases.

He removed the supplies he had purchased from their original bags one by one, then sorted them into categories: magic books, potion ingredients, magical tools such as cauldrons, magical equipment such as protective gloves, and clothing such as robes.

The first thing Linley laid out before him was a large pile of potion ingredients. Besides the magical materials required for enrollment, he had also thoughtfully bought Fire Crab Eggs, horseradish, Sea Onion Bulbs, Thyme Tincture, Occamy Eggshells, Rue Powder, and other ingredients for brewing Felix Felicis.

Although Linley did not yet know how to brew Felix Felicis, his experience with chemistry experiments in his previous life gave him some confidence that he would be able to learn it in the future.

Besides, even though these ingredients were expensive, they were barely worth mentioning to the Roll Family.

After all, many potion masters in the wizarding world had been built up with countless Galleons.

After organizing those potion ingredients into his backpack, Linley began sorting through the other magical tools.

To prevent any accidents at disaster-prone Hogwarts, Linley had bought every magical tool and piece of magical equipment at the highest available standard, with an extra of each as a spare.

In addition, Linley had also prepared some commonly used potions, such as Skele-Gro, as backups.

After finishing with those, it was time for the textbooks he would need in class.

Linley did not put them into his backpack right away. Instead, he arranged them neatly on the bookshelf.

He was not an overachiever like Hermione, but if he could learn a few more spells before entering the magical world, Linley was more than willing to do so.

After all, if he learned magic ahead of time, couldn't he slack off in class?

With that thought, Linley pulled Standard Book of Spells: Grade 1 from the shelf.

Linley opened Standard Book of Spells: Grade 1 with one hand and drew his wand from his waist with the other.

"Lumos!"

Following the incantation and wand movement in the book, Linley waved his wand and recited the spell for Lumos.

Lumos could be considered one of the simplest spells of all. On his very first attempt, Linley saw a faint ball of white light appear at the tip of his wand.

Though the ball of light looked rather weak, it was enough to barely illuminate Linley's bedroom.

"Nox!"

Linley recited the spell once more, extinguishing the ball of light.

Casting magic for the first time, even if it was only the most basic Lumos, gave Linley an incredibly wondrous feeling.

So this is magic?!

It was as if light shone within Linley's eyes.

"Wingardium Leviosa!"

Linley flicked and swished his wand, aiming it at a quill in front of him.

Under the control of magic, the quill sprang into the air with a whoosh, trembled in midair, then fell back to where it had been.

Clearly, Linley's Levitation Charm had failed this time.

However, Linley did not feel discouraged. After all, it was only his first attempt.

Linley continued waving his wand, practicing the Levitation Charm.

Half an hour passed, and Linley was barely able to steadily control a book floating two or three meters above the ground.

There was still a vast gap between that and Ron controlling a Troll's club in the original story.

Of course, this was not because Linley was less talented than Ron. Magic is idealistic, and the reason Ron had been able to cast a Levitation Charm at a level that even adult wizards might not achieve was mainly because his desire had been strong enough—so strong that his Levitation Charm produced a momentary miracle.

The afternoon passed quickly as Linley practiced several relatively basic spells that he had been familiar with in his previous life.

At that moment, the Standard Book of Spells: Grade 1 in Linley's hands had turned to the page on the Incendio.

"Gael, clean up the backyard for me. I need an open space to practice spells!"

Linley snapped his fingers to summon the house-elf Gael, then gave him the order.

Unlike household spells such as Lumos and the Levitation Charm, Linley absolutely did not dare practice offensive spells like Incendio in his bedroom.

Otherwise, even if the castle was protected by defensive magic, Linley's bed would at least be burned to ashes.

Linley did not want to sleep on the floor at night.

"Yes, Master!"

Gael bowed to Linley and vanished from the spot.

Through the window, Linley could see Gael, who had Apparated into the backyard, using magic to clear away some useless piles of debris.

Since Rohl Manor had not been opened to the outside world for more than a decade, most of the grounds outside the castle had fallen into neglect.

Though Gael had been willing to spend time tending the manor every day, both Linley and Rowena felt there was no need for it, so Gael had given up.

After Gael cleared out an open patch of ground, Linley headed into the backyard.

He drew his wand, and that feeling of instinctive inspiration came over him again. He subconsciously waved his wand and uttered the incantation, "Incendio!"

With almost no delay at all, a massive blaze of crimson fire burst from his wand at his command, turning into roaring flames that burned across the backyard.

The flames were incredibly hot, making the surrounding air appear slightly distorted.

Linley was somewhat stunned by the sight. The power of this Incendio was probably already comparable to one cast by an adult wizard!

Seeing the fire continue to grow and begin spreading toward the backyard wall, Linley frantically waved his wand, trying to draw the flames back.

But he seemed to have forgotten that Incendio could only release fire; it had no ability to take it back.

Yet at that moment, something strange happened.

Under Linley's intense desire to withdraw it, the fire that had nearly spread across the entire backyard slowly contracted toward the center before finally dissipating into the air.

"What?!"

Linley found it unbelievable. In the instant he had drawn back the flames, he had felt as though the fire were part of his own body, as though he could command it as easily as moving an arm.

"Incendio!"

Unwilling to believe it, Linley recited the incantation again and summoned another large mass of fire.

This time, Linley did not allow the flames to spread. Instead, he tried to control them, just as he had controlled them into dissipating moments ago.

Linley waved the wand in his hand and discovered in amazement that the fire he had just released actually moved with his wand. Whichever direction he pointed his wand, the flames spread in that direction.

"Could it be because of the power of this Redwood grafted with Parasol Tree Wood wand?"

Linley carefully examined the wand in his hand. He noticed that as he controlled the flames, the crimson patterns along its body became even more vivid.

Linley's speed in learning Incendio and his control over it were unmatched by any other spell.

Even the Lumos he had successfully cast on his first try had not possessed power comparable to an adult wizard's Incendio like this one did.

This exceptionally strong control over fire might have come from the fire affinity of Parasol Tree Wood, or it might have come from Linley himself.

After all, since Linley had been chosen by this Redwood grafted with Parasol Tree Wood wand, his own affinity for fire was probably not low either.

Of course, that would have to wait until Linley learned Wandless Magic and could cast Incendio without a wand before it could be confirmed.

Linley continued practicing Incendio. As time passed, he gradually became able to sense the flow of magic within his body as he cast it, an experience he could not obtain while using other magic.

Three days passed in the blink of an eye.

Linley learned how to cast many commonly used spells from Standard Book of Spells: Grade 1, and the one he improved the most in was naturally his Incendio.

Now, Linley appeared in the backyard once more. Unlike before, he planned to try casting Incendio with a Vocalizationless Spell.

After three days of practice, Linley had firmly memorized the path his magic took through his body when he cast Incendio. This gave him the chance to try controlling his magic along that same path without reciting the incantation.

Linley felt the not particularly powerful magic within him and slowly controlled it to flow toward his wand along the path it took when he cast Incendio.

It was an extremely slow process, but when Linley tried silently reciting the Incendio incantation in his mind, he discovered in astonishment that the process had been shortened by nearly a hundredfold!

Linley had merely thought the Incendio incantation instead of speaking it aloud, yet flames burst smoothly from his wand and rapidly began burning in the backyard.

"Silent Spellcasting! It worked!"

Linley felt immense joy in his heart.

Although the Incendio cast through a Vocalizationless Spell was somewhat less powerful than before, it had still reached O.W.L. level!