The Sun and Moon: Chapter 9

“What about Jack?”

Penelope asked Tonks, causing her to raise her eyebrow in surprise.

“What about him?”

Penelope put her hands up in feign surrender.

“Not much, but I was just saying. He’s obviously interested in you.”

Tonks shrugged her shoulders in turn.

The two of them had started to talk about boys, and dating them. Which had caused Percy to leave the dueling club earlier than usual for some reason. It greatly amused Tonks though.

I was currently laying down on the dueling floor. Fighting Tonks was exhausting work. No matter what she just blocked or evaded everything I was able to throw at her. She was just on another level that I couldn’t grasp. Even when I threw everything I could at her, it was all for naught.

It was…frustrating.

I wanted to be good enough. Strong enough. That’s what mom’s system was all about, wasn’t it? To be the best wizard in order to support the family?

So why was it that I was too weak to beat Tonks? Even just once would be enough. To just know that I could.

At the very least, it seemed Penelope could defeat Tonks. As she berated Tonks whenever I collapsed from exhaustion. To which Tonks would say that she didn’t even do anything. Further adding insult to injury.

“What do you even want in a boyfriend anyway?”

Penelope asked Tonks, to which she offered a wide smirk.

“You mean besides a big d-“

“Tonks!”

Penelope quickly cut off her friend with a genuinely offended tone. Leading for Tonks to giggle in amusement before relaxing back in her seat.

“Relax. I was going to say wallet.”

“Uh-huh…”

Penelope said in an obviously disbelieving tone. Tonks muttered to herself with a frown as she stared out towards nothing. Before finally looking back over towards Penelope.

“Hmm…I like someone who’s not afraid to stand up for what they believe in. A guy that won’t bend, even when the world is against him. Staring him in the face telling him he can’t do it, and then he goes and tries to do it anyway.”

Penelope frowned.

“…That’s literally every dark wizard.”

“What? No it’s not!”

“It literally is.”

Tonks shakes her head aggressive before looking around the room. Until finally her eyes fell on me. Her eyes lit up as she quickly pointed a finger towards me.

“Like Sol!”

After digesting what Tonks said, Penelope gave her a disgusted look.

“…He’s a first year.”

Tonks sputtered a bit.

“You know what I mean! He’s got moxie, that kind of perseverance, not Sol himself.”

I frowned at that. I wasn’t interested in being anyone’s boyfriend, but I wanted to be the best in everything. Even that.

“What’s wrong with me?”

I asked. Causing Tonk’s head to quickly turn back to me with a genuinely softer expression.

“Nothing! You’d make a great boyfriend Sol.”

I nodded. I didn’t care for that, but it was good to know that I could do it if I wanted to. Tonks turned back and quickly flinched at the look Penelope was giving her.

“Tonks.”

“Look, don’t go painting me-“

“He’s a first year.”

Tonks started to gesture wildly with her hands. Whereas Penelope didn’t do anything but hold the expression on her face while looking into Tonks’s eyes.

“What did you want me to say!?”

“I don’t know, anything else but that?”

As they continued to talk, I gradually stood back up. It was unlikely that we were going to continue with the dueling lessons. So I’d need to put back the dueling mat and push the dueling area back to the edge of the wall.

It was something we normally used magic to do, but I was all spent. So instead of raising my wand, I decided to just lift it with my arms.

Leading to Tonks speaking up.

“Don’t worry about it Sol. I’ll get it here in a sec-“

The wide platform gave way as I started to push it back towards the wall. After a few moments, I was done and I turned back to look at Tonks and Penelope. Who were staring at me with wide eyes.

“Wow.”

Penelope stated while putting away her book. Meanwhile Tonks simply started to nod.

“Damn. You think he already has a girlfriend?”

“Tonks!”

Tonks threw up her hands again.

“What? There was nothing wrong with that question!”

Penelope crossed her arms while giving Tonks a look.

“You know exactly what you were implying.”

“An implication is just that. An implication! You have no evidence against me!”

“Is Sol even safe around you!?”

…They were strange girls. But I think they weren’t that bad to be around.

*~o~*

After the quest with the bullies, I was able to get another upgrade hammer and an ‘uncommon drop’. Which was another word for a green box that normally has books in it.

And this time was no different.

Summoning Familiars for Dummies.

That’s what the tittle of the book was. Familiars…I knew that term. When wizards bonded with a specific animal for a long enough time, they sometimes start to overlap. Their thoughts, their emotions, their senses, etc. Normally only one of those, not all of them.

My owl, Athena, was not a familiar. Merely a pet. But with time, it was theoretically possible to become bonded with it. The same could be said with any creature, even a non-magical one. Perhaps even a fly.

Though, I’ve never heard of those kinds of familiars before.

But summoning a familiar? That seemed to be something different completely. I was intrigued.

Once more as I began to crack the book open, I was greeted to a prompt.

[WOULD YOU LIKE TO LEARN THIS SKILL?]

[YES/NO]

I wonder what would happen if I pressed yes? Would it just highlight the words to read in order for me to learn quicker?

My curiosity got the better of me, and I selected yes.

[SKILL LEARNED: SUMMON FAMILIAR]

[SUMMON FAMILIAR IS NOW AT 1/10!]

My head was briefly flooded with information. As if someone was showing me a flip book in real time. But instead of a picture that seemed to move, it was pages upon pages of information. Until it finally stopped.

A soft headache pounded in the back of my head. Not enough to distract me, but enough to be aware of. The book that had been in my hands had faded away. Disappearing with a blink.

Did it apparate somewhere?

My head maybe?

No, that was impossible. The book held more pages than what I had received as information. And even what I had received seemed somewhat jumbled up. Leaving me frazzle.

Still…I was confident in being able to perform the ritual.

I already had everything I needed. Well, maybe not exactly, but I had things that were pretty similar. All I really needed was chalk and candles. Everything else was less important.

As I started to draw on the floor of my dorm room, I considered what I had learned.

Summonable familiars had different rules than normal familiars that I knew about. Instead of something gradually becoming closer to me, it was like summoning a part of my soul mixed with the soul of another creature.

I could offer the body of a creature that I wanted to be my familiar, or I could perform the ritual naturally. And If I did it naturally, I’d receive a familiar that resonates the closest to my soul.

Something that embodies my thoughts, personality, and actions. A creature that symbolized me in my entirety. Like a…what was it called? Uh…right, a Patronus!

Mom had taught me that one.

It took awhile to write all the small sigils within the circle. About half an hour until I was finally finished. And I began to start the ritual.

Which pretty much consisted of me wishing really hard for a familiar.

“Hehehe…”

I blinked my eyes open. Trying to look about the room for the strange sound, and hopefully what my familiar would be. A creature that represented me…

If I had to guess, a dragon maybe? Or a Griffon. A Griffon would be cool.

A strange light danced out of my vision as I looked about the room, only to find nothing. Leaving me scratching my head.

Had I failed? Then, what had been that noise-

I blinked in surprise as I jerked my arm up from the unexpected pain.

“Hehehe!”

Looking over in the air, I saw a very small flying dark orb with wings. Upon closer inspection…

…This was just a fairy, wasn’t it?

Though I don’t remember any sort of fairy with a dark like aura like this one-ow!

The dark fairy shocked me once again. It was more surprising than painful, but it still wasn’t very pleasant.

…This can’t possibly be my familiar, can it?

[CONGRATULATIONS! YOU HAVE SUMMONED A DARK FAIRY! DARK FAIRY’S ARE KNOWN TO PULL PRANKS AND BE MISCHEVIOUS!]

I waited for the system to give me any more information, only to be met with none. This…this was it? Wow. That was…disappointing.

Did I do it wrong perhaps?

Maybe it was because I substituted the incense that was supposed to be burning with Cho’s perfume? I mean, they were practically the same thing, right?

In the corner of my eye, I saw a text box start to open again.

Thank g-

[1/1 FAMILIAR SLOTS REMAINING.]

…Well, that was terrible news.

Because my current familiar was defective.

Ow. It stung me again!

At the very least, I still had a upgrade hammer. And that was something I could use right now. Pulling it out of my back pocket, I also reached for my wand with my other hand. And after bringing them close together, I hit the wand with the hammer.

Gently, of course.

As the hammer started to fade away, the wand began to shift. It seemed to almost writhe in my hands as the wood felt almost alive. It thickened slightly before a strange spiral seemed to etch itself into its side.

And after several seconds…it stopped.

I tried testing out the wand like normal, and levitated a simple pillow. Which I was able to do completely normally.

…Huh.

I was expecting something…more? Though honestly, I’m not even sure what that ‘more’ was. The ability to just toggle a sort of laser? A constant shield effect? Auto magic spells?

Personally, I was hoping that maybe the effects just haven’t kicked in yet. Otherwise today was just a total bust.

My fairy proceeded to shock my elbow. Causing me to drop my wand involuntarily. It then proceeded to laugh at me as I picked it back up.

Yeah, I must have done something wrong to get this as my familiar. It wasn’t like me in the slightest. Actually, I don’t even think it was capable of protecting or caring for my family. Which is like…the opposite of me!

It was kind of offensive that this was chosen to be my familiar.

…Not that I found mom’s system to be offensive or anything. The problem must have lied with me. Next time I’d try my best to do better.

My attention snapped to the door as it opened. Revealing Tim walking in.

“Hey, want to go to the-what the heck did you write on the floor!?”

Tim immediately walked forward putting his hands to both sides of his head as he took it in with a gasp. Muttering to himself how we were going to be killed by the Prefects.

“Ow!”

And then he got shocked by my fairy. Who proceeded to laugh at him.

Tim looked down at his arm in surprise, before immediately looking at me. Upon realizing that my wand was no longer in my hand, he frowned in confusion before looking around. Looking straight at my fairy…before passing it by.

“What the heck was that?”

Could he not see it?

Huh. Well, that was useful at least.

…I think?

Ow! It stung me again!