A Sirius Summer

18th August 1995

Sitting in front of the fireplace, Harry groaned and rolled onto his back. Instead of his usual pile of worksheets Sirius had left him with a box full of various hobbies and past-times, commanding harry to look though and see if anything was of interest. Apparently he had been spending too much time working and needed to relax more.

He had already thrown aside the sketch book and pencils before even trying them, he knew from his poor attempts in care of magical creatures and herbology that he was no artist, he had neither the inclination or the patience for it. A small lute had also been placed to the side with a similar grimace, as Harry remembered with horror the forced music lessons he had endured in primary school.

At the bottom of the box were a selection of books. Harry initially ignored them, assuming it was just reading as a hobby, which he didn't much like the sound of. But as he had exhausted all the other possibilities (why would he ever want to learn embroidery?), he decided to flick through them. The first was Brewing for the Aspiring Potioneer that Harry again put aside without a second glance. Even though Sirius had promised to help him with his potions work, Harry knew he did not have the ability or desire to pursue potions as a hobby. He also set aside the Herbology book, with no garden to work in there was not much point (he had seen the state of the Grimmauld place garden and it was most definitely beyond his capabilities to tame right now). At the bottom of the box a small blue leather book was nestled with Spellcrafting for Beginners written in swirling gold writing. Harry sat back looking at the cover. It was obvious now that people had to have come up with the spells that they were taught. But the thought that he could make his own spells sent a frisson of excitement running through him.

Settling his back against the couch he opened the book to the first page and started to read.

It did not take long for Harry to become absorbed in the book. The book started with a brief recap on magical theory, and he was glad that he had recently gone over it with Remus. It then delved into the aspects of spell creation. Similar to the ritual magic he had started learning earlier that week, Spellcrafting used the physical formation of spells and broke it down into its two simplest forms, wand movement and words. If done correctly, only the words were actually needed and even then, if the caster was powerful enough the words could be said non-verbally.

Many of the spells that they learnt in school had been refined over hundreds of years, their stability and their widespread and adaptable use meant they gave a good grounding in the use of magick, theoretically and practically preparing the students for further study into whichever field they later chose.

Flicking his wand to summon a quill and some parchment from the writing desk in the corner, Harry began to take notes. As he progressed through the chapter, the notes expanded to include small ideas, spells that he had always wanted to use but did not know if they existed or where to find them if they did.

Before he knew it, Mrs Weasley's voice echoed through the house calling them for lunch. Harry groaned to himself. As he had had breakfast with Sirius that morning he wouldn't be able to hide out this meal, at least not without a thorough dressing-down from Mrs Weasley later. With a sigh he packed up the box of hobbies and left them by the writing desk, if he was lucky he would be able to get some time later to look at it further.

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Determined to maintain the new correspondence he had stated, Harry took advantage of the chaos Ginny caused by hitting Ron with something from the twins stash that turned him bright yellow and escaped back to his room. Taking a piece of the headed parchment that Sirius had presented him with a few days ago, he dipped his quill in the ink, thinking carefully.

Neville,

I was so happy to hear you liked the gift, do keep me updated on what they are, both me and my guardian could not figure it out at all. Be warned though there were a few Dark plants in the box so maybe keep it out of sight of your grandmother until you figure it out.