Harry Potter and the Rogue Mage

Chapter 8 - Unexpected Visitors

After his meeting with Dumbledore and the unexpected occurrence afterwards, Rowan headed back to his cabin at the bottom of the hill. His meeting with Ms Granger had shaken him, and he was still trying to wrap his head around why. The rest of his day was unoccupied by lessons or appointments, so when he got back to his cabin, Rowan decided to break out his kit and get some practice in to try and take his mind off it, but not before he had looked up the first names of both Mr Weasley and Ms Granger. 

Magecraft, as a general rule, was much more physical than wizard magic. There was a lot of strength, speed and stamina required to perform even basic magic, and because of this, mages tended to base most of their lives around physical fitness and martial arts.

Now, Rowan stood a few yards away from his cabin, shirtless, barehanded, and began to move languidly and precisely into the steps of the warm up set devised and passed down by mages hundreds of years ago. It was graceful, slow, and perfectly balanced. 

Rowan sighed, took in a deep breath, and settled into a stance, feet squared, palms raised in front of him, before smoothly and slowly transitioning into the next frame. Sweeping his leg slowly across the smooth, dry grass, he turned his upper body and fell still again, his arms brought in close to his chest. 

The purpose of the warm up set was to ingrain the flow of movements and positions into a mage's muscle memory. To be successful, the mage must execute each stance perfectly, never once speeding up, and never slowing down. Balance was key, timing was vital, but Rowan was well-trained, and didn't fall. The set of movements, when sped up, formed their own martial art by themselves, which was why it was essential that they be practiced at a hundredth of the speed. Slow, to memorize, fast as a reflex, and only used in times of self defense. 

Almost an hour later, Rowan finished the set, and moved onto his meditation. This was a solely magic-based exercise. Sitting cross-legged on the grass in front of his house, Rowan channeled his magic through his entire body. His breathing was like the was of the waves against the shore; slow, powerful and perfectly regular. As he breathed, he felt the ground around him. He felt the trees at his back not just by the wind's whispering breath, but by feeling. he knew the shape of the hill and felt each stone as if he held them in his hands. Before long, he was lifting pebbles to challenge himself, eyes closed, still maintaining a perfect concentration as he breathed slowly in and out. 

Pebbles orbited him gently like planets, drifting slowly through the air like flower petals on the surface of a tranquil lake. Rowan breathed, feeling the heat rise from deep within his chest and into his breath, peacefully letting the flames spill from between his lips, curling into the air in front of him like curling tongues. The heat was warm on his face, and with his eyes still closed, he blew the flames onto the floating belt of pebbles in front of him, and made the flames play between the rocks. As he breathed in again, the air around him swirled, pushing the pebbles gently together sand making the flames flare brighter, and as he exhaled, the flames darkened once more. 

Eventually, Rowan let the stones drift back to earth and the fire flickering between them went out. He opened his eyes, feeling as calm as a glassy lake surface, and went to fetch the next stage of his training. 

He trained with the staff, whirling it around his head in a series of complicated maneuvers that had taken years to master. He trained with his sword, long, broad and heavy, swinging it in fast, calculate slashes and cuts, the metal blade whistling through the air in a glittering arc of silver. He trained with two lengths of chain, one in each hand, and spun them so fast that they began to sing out in the wind. 

Finally, Rowan had exhausted himself, so he took his weapons back to his hut, then dived into the lake to cool off, letting the icy water wash the ache of his muscles away.