Precious Magical Knowledge Passed Down Through the Family

As it turned out, Manus had judged Griffin and Aivina's reasoning quite accurately.

However, although they reluctantly agreed to let Manus learn about spells, the two still had some differences over exactly what spell knowledge he should be exposed to.

Aivina believed that, at his age, there was no point in dragging things out any longer. Manus had already studied Potions, so he should be able to understand that magic had its dangerous side.

Since that was the case, they might as well let Manus learn about spells normally. They could simply buy a copy of The Standard Book of Spells and begin teaching him Charms.

Although both of them had attended Hogwarts, witches and wizards did not have to learn magic at school. Studying at home was perfectly possible as well. Some ancient wizarding families had always insisted on home education, such as the Gaunt family.

It was just that the standard of home education was neither as stable nor as comprehensive as that of a school, and outsiders did not recognize home-school qualifications when it came to finding work.

For that very reason, Griffin believed that the two of them, whose N.E.W.T. grades in Charms had only been passing, should not force themselves to become teachers and accidentally lead their genius son astray.

As for proper Charms knowledge, they should wait until their son went to Hogwarts. For now...

"Before he truly starts learning spells and casting magic, let's first give him some of the family's collection to broaden his horizons. Those are things he won't even see at Hogwarts."

Griffin patted a box of books he had retrieved from the family estate early that morning.

"More importantly, the youngest books in there are antiques from thousands of years ago. We won't have to worry about Manu messing around after reading them."

The development of Charms had not made older spells more powerful. Quite the opposite: the older a spell was, the more uncontrollable it tended to be. Their effects were often limited to destruction, because chaotic magic was difficult to use for delicate work.

As wizards explored Charms further and wands became widespread, they gained increasingly precise control over magic. The threshold for learning spells also dropped considerably, allowing countless new forms of magic to emerge.

As for the things recorded in the books Griffin had brought back, modern wizards would have a difficult time merely understanding what was written in them, let alone learning the magic inside.

Never mind that his son was a genius—even a genius who had graduated from Hogwarts' seventh year with perfect scores would need ten or twenty years before they could hope to research anything useful from those things.

After all, those items had been in their family for so many years, and their family had not exactly lacked geniuses during that time.

Trying to teach yourself magic through those books? You might as well claim you were born knowing those spells!

Still, as Griffin had said, those books were quite good for broadening one's horizons.

They represented the path Charms had taken to reach its current state. If Manus wanted to delve deeply into the field of Charms in the future, they would be of great help to him.

If they truly had no value, would their family have treasured those books for so many years?

"This..."

Aivina frowned. Griffin's reasoning made sense, but for a child with such a strong interest in magic, would that really satisfy him?

"If he makes no progress at all, Manu will still go ask Severus about modern spell knowledge, won't he? Manu isn't stupid!"

Griffin froze for a moment, then thought it over and said,

"Then... how about we do both? Give Manu these books to drain the energy he puts into Charms. Once he can't keep at it any longer, we'll teach him a spell."

"Mm... I think that could work!"

Aivina nodded.

Judging from the persistence their son had shown in Potions, he had been able to study basic knowledge alone for over a year. These books should keep him occupied for quite a long time.

Once he could no longer persist, it would be best if he gave up for the time being. But if he intended to take another route, they could teach him a spell to give him some positive feedback, which would keep him occupied for a long time afterward as well.

That way, Manus was almost seven years old now, and only four years remained until he entered Hogwarts. They would not need to teach him many spells.

Even if they were not especially skilled at Charms, could they not manage to teach Manus a few simple spells?

Having made up their minds, Griffin and Aivina came to Manus's door on the second floor.

"Knock, knock—"

"Manu, we have something for you."

Manus, who had been meditating, opened his eyes in confusion.

Something? What could it be?

After a rustling sound came the clatter of slippers against wooden floorboards. Having changed clothes, Manus opened his bedroom door.

After entering Manus's room, Griffin and Aivina polished up their plan a little before explaining it to him.

"Manu, you must remember not to try casting spells on your own when we aren't around, all right?"

Aivina added one final reminder.

"Of course, Mum. I promise you."

Manus looked with immense delight at the books and scrolls Griffin took out of the box. There were even several stone carvings. According to Griffin, these were all precious magical knowledge passed down through their family.

Manus knew that his family was Pure-blood and must certainly possess inherited magical knowledge, but he had not expected to receive access to it so early.

He had originally thought he would have to wait until he became the family head before he could touch any of this!

Seeing that Manus was indeed deeply interested in those antiques, Aivina smiled faintly and turned to look at Griffin. Griffin, in turn, gave her an expression that said, "See? I told you so."

"All right, then Mum and Dad will head downstairs first. Remember, you absolutely must not try casting spells by yourself."

As she spoke, Aivina and Griffin left the room one after the other.

Before closing the door, Aivina thought for a moment and still said to Manus,

"If you can't learn anything from them, that's all right. Don't give up too easily. Come find Mum, and Mum will teach you some easier, simpler spells."

After a pause, Aivina emphasized again,

"But you must study and practice only when Mum or Dad is present."

"No problem, Mum."

After answering Aivina, Manus's eyes immediately stuck to that box of "treasures" again.

Aivina shook her head at Griffin with a helpless expression, then closed Manus's bedroom door.

After the door shut, the delight and anticipation on Manus's face did not diminish in the slightest. After looking over the choices for a while, he selected a book that appeared to be from an era closest to his own.

"..."

About half an hour later, Manus put the book down and pressed his temples.

Of course, he knew the matter was not as simple as it looked. Even if Griffin and Aivina were willing to let him learn about Charms, they should not have dared to simply let him study on his own.

Aivina's words before leaving had made it blatantly clear that there was something suspicious about this.

After reading the book for half an hour, he roughly understood what Griffin and Aivina were planning.

He had indeed encountered some problems while reading, but the problems he encountered... were most likely not the same problems his parents believed he would encounter.