HP: The Salazar's Heir Chapter 31

Chapter 31: Concurrent vs Simultaneous


"I am on what again?" Sebastian asked, curious about what the trio were talking about.


"S-Sebastian," the heir raised an eyebrow, amused at the way Harry stuttered.


"Did I do something that I am unaware of?” He came back not long ago, so he only heard them talking about his name."


"No, we were talking about the fact that you might not be a Quidditch fan," Ron tried to save the situation, but Sebastian didn't believe him.


‘They were definitely talking about me.’ The heir decided not to confront the lie. ‘It doesn’t matter; people always talk behind the back of others.’


He didn't care, but what he did care for was the news that he heard.


“I heard that you got hurt, Harry?” He looked at the boy, “But seeing that you have no visible injuries, I am guessing it's all fixed?”


The spectacled boy nodded, “Yeah, Madam Pomfrey healed me. I was lucky that I didn't land on my head.”


‘Madam Pomfrey is the school’s healer, right?’ He tried to recall. “It's good that you are alright, Harry.” He gave the heir of Potter a smile, “And congratulations on winning.”


He did hear about Harry winning his first match against Slytherin, and while he was from Slytherin, he didn’t care much about someone winning against his house.


“You don’t mind Harry winning against Slytherin?” Hermione asked, surprised.


“Not really.” And he really didn't care, “The better man always wins.”


He believed that it was always fair for the stronger, smarter, and better participants to win. No matter which house they were from, it was only right for the superior and more hardworking and smart person to do better.


‘Besides, it's Quidditch.’


He really couldn’t care any less about Quidditch.


“Thank you.” His words surprisingly made Harry feel better, “The Slytherins played well too.”


Sebastian knew that Harry was being respectful, and he respected it.


“Thank you.” Sebastian said, “And good luck with your next match.”


“He will win if someone doesn't interfere again,” Hermione mumbled, but Sebastian couldn’t hear her very clearly.


“Pardon?”


“It's nothing,” Ron said, while Harry turned to give the girl a look of disapproval.


‘They are acting quite weird today.’ Sebastian mused, ‘Not that it affects me.’


“Anyhow, I have to get going,” he said, “I need to report to the headmaster that I am back.”


“Have a good day, Sebastian,” Harry said, “And if you can, make some time to watch the next match.”


“I will try my best,” Sebastian said, aware that he had to think of another excuse. “Take care, you three.”


“We will.”


“Especially you, Harry,” Sebastian chuckled, “Good day.”


With that, the heir of Slytherin walked towards the headmaster’s office. He wanted to know if the old man already got the information.


‘It is baffling how easy he learns of everything.’


At times, Sebastian felt scared of Dumbledore. The man was respected all around, but unlike the rest, Sebastian couldn’t find much of a history on the headmaster.


‘What is he hiding?’


If the man was hiding something, it was definitely for a reason. But the boy was curious about it.


‘He is also ridiculously strong,’ Sebastian could sense Dumbledore’s magical capabilities, “It is impossible that a man such as him won’t have a history?”


“What history are we talking about, Sebastian?”


And well, just like how Harry forgot to look around him before mumbling important stuff, Sebastian forgot to do the same.


Immediately turning around, he saw his only proper acquaintance from Ravenclaw.


“Ah, Cho.” He was relieved that it was her and not someone else. “How have you been?”


“Been good.” The raven-haired girl gave him a big smile, “But what were you talking about?”


“Nothing,” He knew it would be a long conversation if he decided to explain, “It's just me mumbling random stuff.”


Especially since it was Cho.


She loved talking.


“Oh,” the girl nodded, aware that Sebastian did mumble sometimes. “Did you watch the game?”


Sebastian shook his head, “No, but I did hear that Harry won.”


Cho didn’t know that Sebastian wasn’t present for the match, but she also never saw him showing interest in the sport.


“Slytherin played well last year,” she said, “They will definitely do better next time. So, don't worry that they didn't make it this year.”


Sebastian found it funny, almost comical how everyone was so worried that he might be mad about Slytherin losing to Gryffindor.


‘I can understand them, though.’


It made sense. After all, Slytherin wasn’t just a name for him.


“Thank you.” He knew not to downplay others, and especially respect shown to Slytherin. “And what were you up to?”


All this time, they didn't just stand or sit and talk. Instead, both kept walking and talking.


This was something that Cho learnt by hanging out with Sebastian. The heir didn't like stopping for chats when he was destined somewhere.


And Cho also realized that walking and talking also got the job done while also moving towards where they were headed.


Which especially came handy at times such as this.


“Delivering a letter to Professor Flitwick,” she said, pointing at the pink-tinted letter she was carrying. “I was asked to pick this up for him.”


“That's a nice looking envelope.” Sebastian smiled, “That shade is pretty.”


It wasn’t just the shade, but the entire envelope was pretty.


From the pink color to the golden seal, and the cherry blossom imprint on it.


“I think it is from Mahoutokoro.”


This made him curious, “Mahoutokoro?”


He had never heard of anyone or anything by that name.


“It is one of the eleven prestigious schools of magic,” Cho said, surprising Sebastian. “They have good relations with Hogwarts but do not necessarily visit us. I used to hear from Professor Flitwick that they send letters from time to time, and well, they sent one this time which I was fortunate enough to fetch.”


But what lingered in Sebastian’s mind was the term, eleven prestigious schools of magic, which he had heard being mentioned before.


‘The headmaster did mention the other schools, but I didn't pay much attention.’


Which was mostly because he wasn’t interested in joining another school. But now that he was in Hogwarts, he wondered what the other schools did differently from Hogwarts.


‘I might look into them one day.’ He looked at the girl, “Is there anything notable about them?”


This made Cho wonder, “I never paid much attention in the history classes, but I did hear from my grandfather that Mahoutokoro is one of the leading magic schools in the field of summoning, beast taming, and spiritual arts as well as literature.”


‘Summoning and beast taming?’ That drew Sebastian’s interest. ‘That sounds quite interesting.’


“And they are the current world champions of Quidditch.” The girl sighed, “Which is especially funny and sad when you realize it was a bunch of Hogwarts students that introduced the sport to them quite a long time ago.”


‘Why does everything come back to Quidditch?’ That honestly amused the heir, “You said you are from China, and Japan is quite close to it, especially considering the distance between Hogwarts and China. So, why did you join Hogwarts when Japan was close by?”


Japan wasn’t close but compared to Hogwarts, which was on the opposite side of the globe, Japan did feel closer.


However, this question made Cho freeze before looking at the boy with a surprised face.


“Makes sense that you are curious,” she sighed before chuckling, “But well, Mahoutokoro has a very different student selection process, and before you ask, no, I do not know what it is.” She said, “But well, because of this Mahoutokoro has the least number of students compared to other schools.”


‘That’s sad.’ Sebastian thought, ‘But they must have their reasons for such a strict student selection process.’


“Even without the process, I wouldn’t have joined it,” she said, quite adamant about it.


“Why is that?” And that made the heir genuinely curious which Cho found difficult to quench.


Especially since she didn't want to talk much about it.


“There are a few reasons.” She truly didn't want to talk about it, “But well, to put it simply, Japan and China do not have that good of a relationship, and so my parents would not have agreed even if I said that I wanted to go to Mahoutokoro.”


Sebastian understood that it had something to do with politics or the war that he heard about.


‘I need to check about the history of the world a little more, especially the world of humans without magic.’


There was still a lot that he didn't know, and till now he was more occupied with something more important, so he didn't look into the muggle world.


‘It’s best if I look into it sooner than later.’


Given that he wanted to learn more about the other school of magic and what made the relationship between the schools so tense.


Which he knew had something to do with the muggle world.


“Looks like we will have to separate from here,” Cho said, sounding a little sad. “I have to go to Professor Flitwick.”


This made him realize that he had to meet Flitwick too.


‘He did ask me to join him for dueling classes.’


This was interesting because Snape also asked him to join for potion classes.


“See you later then, Cho.” The boy wished her, “Have a good day.”


“You too, Sebastian.”


‘Minus her ability to keep talking, she is a fun person to hang around with.’


But he just couldn’t get used to how much she could talk.


…

…


‘He didn't know.’


Surprising, but Dumbledore didn't know of the deal he made with Lucius. 


‘The man is more capable than I thought.’


He thought it would be difficult to hide the details from Dumbledore, but apparently that wasn’t the case.


‘I don't mind him knowing, but lately, it feels like he has been all over my life.’


In a way, Sebastian felt like Dumbledore was involving himself a little too much, and he didn't like that.


He appreciated the help the headmaster provided and for that, he was going to pay the man back one way or another, but that was not going to be by having the man at his tail every moment.


‘Not that any of that matters at this moment.’


``Multicasting is of various types –from using and mixing different types of magic into one, to casting simultaneous spells.``


Because at the moment, he was practicing his magic.


``You already know the basics of multicasting; you have even used it at times.``


That was true; he had cast two spells at once.


``But two is not the limit of multicasting.``


He knew this as well; he has seen his old man casting more than five spells within a single time frame.


``There are two major types of multicasting.``


This was what he needed to learn.


``Simultaneous Casting, where you use elemental magic or some other forms of magic and cast them together towards a common goal or target.``


It was basically a type of spell spam towards a singular target. 


``And the other is Concurrent Casting, where you do the same but instead of using the spells towards one target, you can direct each spell at a different target.``


This was what he wanted to learn.


``This form allows you to target multiple enemies, each with their weakness at once.``


Sebastian understood what his grandfather meant.


“If someone is weak to fire and the other is weak to water, I can use two elements at once in two different directions.”


This was huge as it would allow him to be a one-man army at times of need.


``Do remember that concurrent spell casting consumes an enormous amount of energy and it requires the user to be vigilant at all times. One misstep and you end up killing your own friend.``


That was scary but it was also necessary.


``Since you have learned what is necessary to progress in elemental magic on your own, we will be moving to this topic.``


And yes, he did learn the other three basic elemental manipulations as well.


``First, conjure elements of the five types at once, and we will proceed from there.``


And that was what he did.


Cackling lightning.


Explosively flowing fire.


Joyously hopping wind.


Serenely flowing water.


And using the forces of attraction and repulsion to manipulate earth.


Soil was a combination of basic elements, so he couldn’t simply conjure said earth. He could manipulate it, but not conjure. Not without spells or manipulating other basic elements at least.


But that was it.


He has learned the first chapter of his grandfather’s book.


The tiny orbs made purely of elements that floated over his five fingers were the proof.


The small size was the necessity to not ruin his room. Which he was doing inside because he didn't want to risk someone seeing him holding five elements at once.


“But this is it. This is chapter one, completed.”


At least, after everything…


There was something that he could be proud of.