Young Celestial Wizard [Celestial Grimoire, Harry Potter]

---Six Weeks Later, April 1988---

The Amazon rainforest hummed with life all around them as Harry sat cross-legged on a fallen log, hands moving through the air. Streams of blue fire followed his fingers, flowing together into the form of a toucan that had caught his eye earlier. The magical bird had been trailing golden sparks as it flew, and Harry wanted to capture that effect.

"The feathers need to be more defined," he muttered to himself, adjusting the flame's flow. After months of practice, he could maintain dozens of individual fire streams simultaneously, each one as thin as a hair when needed.

Chrysa lounged nearby in a patch of sunlight, occasionally batting at passing butterflies. The Nemean Lion cub had grown considerably during their travels, though she still acted like a kitten when she thought no one was watching.

"Harry!" Nicolas called from the nearby research station. "Come see what Professor Santos found!"

The temporary camp belonged to Brazilian magizoologists studying the local magical creatures. Unlike the regulated MACUSA facilities or the formal African preserves, this place felt wonderfully chaotic. Hammocks strung between trees served as beds, and the main "laboratory" was just a collection of tables under a weather-proof canopy.

Professor Santos, a witch with grey-streaked hair tied back in a practical braid, was examining something that looked like a cross between a hummingbird and a living rainbow.

"Watch this," she said, holding up a small crystal prism. Light passed through it, creating a spectrum that the tiny bird immediately began to dance through. As it moved, its feathers shifted colors to match each band of light perfectly.

"We call them Beija-cor-de-luz," Santos explained. "Light-kissing birds. They feed on pure color instead of nectar."

Harry stared at the creature, his fingers already twitching as he imagined how to capture its essence in fire. The constant color shifts would be tricky...

"The secret is in the crystalline structure of their feathers," Santos explained, holding up a shed feather to the sunlight. Through a magnifying glass, Harry could see how it split white light into separate paths before recombining them. "Each segment refracts light differently, creating pure color from ordinary sunlight."

Harry watched the bird dance through another rainbow, remembering his previous attempts to work with the yin and yang aspects of his chi. He'd tried dozens of times to separate them, viewing them as opposing forces that could be pulled apart, but had always failed. Now, watching the light flow through the crystalline structures, he remembered the Sanskrit verses carved into the temple steps.

Form is emptiness, emptiness is form. The Heart Sutra's wisdom suddenly clicked into place as he watched the light separate and recombine. He'd been trying to divide something that was never truly unified, to separate aspects that were never truly separate. His entire understanding of how his chi worked had been built on flawed assumptions.

He'd thought his azure flames came from the marriage of opposing natures - yang-natured fire flowing through yin-refined meridians. But that very way of thinking was attaching fixed qualities to things that had none. The Heart Sutra had taught that all phenomena were marked by emptiness - not a void, but a freedom from fixed nature.

His chi wasn't inherently anything. It flowed as fire not because that was its nature, but because that was how he understood it. Just as the bird's crystalline structures revealed light's inherent potential rather than changing its nature, Harry could let his chi express itself without imposing conditions upon it.

He closed his eyes, letting go of all his assumptions. Not trying to force anything, simply allowing his chi to exist in a state of pure potential, free from the labels he'd placed on it. For a brief moment, he felt something shift in his understanding - like seeing a familiar painting from an entirely new angle.

When he brought his hands together, expecting his usual flames, lightning cracked between his palms instead.

Harry jerked back in surprise, the lightning dissipating instantly. Several researchers looked up at the sharp crack, but he barely noticed their attention.

The lightning had felt different from his flames - sharp and immediate rather than flowing. Yet it had come from the same chi that normally manifested as fire. Testing his new understanding, Harry called forth his azure flames. They came as easily as ever, but now he could feel the difference. They weren't the result of balanced internal conditions or refined meridians - they were simply one way his chi could express itself.

"How did you do that?" Santos asked, moving closer with professional curiosity. "The wandless magic..."

But Harry was already experimenting. If his chi wasn't bound by fixed natures, if it could manifest as both fire and lightning... He brought his hands together again, this time maintaining that state of pure potential he'd discovered. Lightning arced between his palms, and this time he was ready for it.

The lightning jumped erratically between his palms, refusing to follow the smooth patterns he used for his fire painting. Unlike flames that could be guided and shaped, the lightning seemed to have a will of its own, always seeking the quickest path to ground.

"Harry!" Nicolas called out, hurrying over with Perenelle close behind. "What are you doing?"

"I had a breakthrough with my fire!" Harry beamed, letting another crack of lightning arc between his hands. His excitement dimmed slightly at their concerned expressions.

"That's... not fire, dear," Perenelle said carefully.

"No, but it came from the same understanding!" Harry tried to explain, his words tumbling out eagerly. "I was watching the bird separate light, and then I remembered the Heart Sutra, and realized I'd been thinking about it all wrong! It's not about conditions or fixed natures at all!"

Nicolas and Perenelle exchanged glances while Santos watched with fascination. Another bolt of lightning crackled, making everyone except Harry step back.

"Perhaps we should move this discussion somewhere less..." Nicolas eyed the various delicate research equipment nearby, "conductive?"

They moved to a clearing where Harry demonstrated his azure flames. "See? Before, I thought these came from having yin-refined meridians, but now I understand they're just one way my chi can express itself! And when I let go of those assumptions entirely-" Another crack of lightning split the air, making Chrysa leap up from her sunny spot with an annoyed growl.

"Very interesting," Nicolas murmured, though he still looked concerned. "But Harry, lightning is extremely dangerous. It's not like fire that you can control and shape."

Harry nodded, watching how the lightning refused to follow his control, instead jumping to the nearest conductive path. "It's completely different! Fire flows where I guide it, but lightning wants to find its own way. It's like..." he paused, searching for the right words, "like trying to paint with a cat that only walks where it wants to go."

"That's a worryingly accurate comparison," Perenelle said dryly, watching another bolt arc unpredictably. "Perhaps we should focus on understanding this properly before experimenting further?"

Over the next hour, Harry carefully tested the lightning's properties. Unlike his fire that could be maintained continuously, lightning only existed in brief, powerful bursts. Each attempt to create a sustained arc resulted in multiple smaller bolts instead.

"It's like it has to discharge," Harry explained, fascinated despite his frustration at not being able to control it like his flames. "I can choose when and where it starts, but once it exists, it follows its own rules."

He discovered he could influence the lightning's general direction by creating paths of least resistance with his chi, like laying down invisible tracks. But the moment anything offered an easier path - like a nearby metal tool - the lightning would deviate instantly.

"Look at this!" Harry held up both hands, letting small bolts jump between his fingers. The lighting cast strange shadows and created a sharp ozone smell. "If I try to make it flow in curves like my fire painting, it just..." The bolt jumped straight to a metal post instead, demonstrating his point.

Harry watched another bolt seek the fastest path to ground. If lightning always followed the path of least resistance, maybe that was the key - not fighting its nature, but using it.

"Could I borrow that prism?" he asked Santos suddenly. When she handed it over, he studied the crystalline structure again, an idea forming.

"Lightning wants to go straight to its target..." Harry muttered, positioning his hands carefully. "So what if instead of trying to guide it like fire..." He released a bolt, but this time he used his chi to create multiple points of attraction, like stepping stones across a river.

The lightning split and jumped between these points in rapid succession, so fast it looked simultaneous. For a fraction of a second, the clearing was filled with a geometric web of light.

"Mon Dieu," Perenelle breathed.

Harry grinned wildly and started refining the technique. By precisely placing these attraction points in three-dimensional space and releasing multiple bolts in careful sequence, he could create brief but incredibly complex patterns of light - like capturing a constellation in the air for a split second.

Ideas sparked in Harry's mind as rapidly as the lightning between his fingers. If single bolts followed one path, and multiple attraction points created patterns, then what about- His Inner Eye flashed a warning of where the next bolt would jump, and he instinctively adjusted his chi to place the next attraction point.

The lightning followed exactly where he'd seen it would go. Harry blinked, then narrowed his eyes in total concentration. He couldn't control lightning like fire - it was too fast, too wild. But he could see where it wanted to go an instant before it moved.

He began releasing lightning in precise sequences, using his Inner Eye to see each bolt's path a second before it manifested. It was like painting with light itself, but instead of guiding the strokes directly, he was creating paths for the lightning to follow based on what his Inner Eye showed him would happen.

"Seeing..." Harry's eyes lit up as he worked, barely aware he was speaking, "like seeing the painting before it exists, then letting it choose how to become real!"

He started with simple shapes, his skill at painting combining with his Inner Eye's guidance. Each bolt of lightning sought its path, and Harry saw where it would go just in time to place the next attraction point. The patterns lasted only instants, but in those brief moments, pure light drew itself across the air.

Then he pushed further. His Inner Eye showed him not just single paths but entire webs of possibility of all the bolts of lightning. Instead of flat images, he began working in layers, seeing how multiple bolts would branch and connect in three dimensions. A phoenix made of lightning burst into existence, its form guided by Harry's talent but shaped by the lightning's own nature.

"C'est incroyable," Nicolas whispered, watching as Harry worked in perfect harmony with the lightning's wild nature, creating three-dimensional sculptures of light that existed for mere heartbeats before dissolving into new patterns.

Harry frowned as another lightning pattern faded too quickly for an Artisan's Crystal to capture. The crystals needed at least a few seconds to properly preserve artwork. But each structure of lightning existed for mere instants before disappearing.

His Inner Eye flickered, showing him the next possible paths, and suddenly he understood. He'd been thinking of each pattern as separate, trying to make individual bolts last longer. But what if...

"It's like animation," Harry murmured, remembering the televisions in New York. "Not one picture, but many flowing together." His Inner Eye was already showing him the possibilities, how one pattern could flow seamlessly into the next.

He pulled out an Artisan's Crystal and set it floating nearby. Then he began his lightning painting again, but this time instead of letting each pattern fade, he used his Inner Eye to see exactly when and where the next bolts needed to strike to maintain the illusion of continuous movement.

The phoenix appeared again, but now it stayed - not as a single sustained image, but as hundreds of lightning patterns flowing into each other so quickly they appeared continuous. Each bolt existed for only a fraction of a second, but before it could fade, the next was already forming, guided by Harry's talent and Inner Eye working in perfect synchronization.

The Artisan's Crystal pulsed with a soft glow as it captured the flowing sequence of lightning. The phoenix wheeled through the air, each microscopic movement rendered in pure light, living electricity going through the patterns Harry's Inner Eye helped him create. When the crystal finally sealed the artwork, preserving the endless loop of lightning-drawn movement, Harry felt his legs wobble.

"I did it," he whispered, swaying slightly. The world seemed to tilt sideways as the flow state that had sustained him began to fade. "I actually..."

Nicolas caught him before he could fully collapse, lowering him gently to the ground. Perenelle rushed over, her hands already moving to check his temperature and pulse.

"'M okay," Harry mumbled, his eyes struggling to stay open. "Just... really tired..." His chi had never been used so continuously and rapidly before, and maintaining such precise chi control while generating lightning had drained him completely.

"Rest, mon petit," Perenelle's voice seemed to come from very far away. "You've done something extraordinary today."

Harry wanted to explain about the lightning, and the Heart Sutra, and how everything had come together so perfectly... but his eyes were already closing. The last thing he saw was Chrysa padding over to curl protectively around him.

oo0ooOoo0oo

Professor Santos stared at the sleeping child, then at the Artisan's Crystal still hovering in the air, its preserved artwork pulsing with captured lightning.

"Miguel," she called quietly to her aide, who was already checking the magical camera he'd started recording with the moment the first lightning bolt appeared. "The footage?"

"All of it, Professora," Miguel confirmed, his hands slightly shaking. "From the first unexpected discharge to the final artwork. Including the..." he glanced at several trees that had been pierced clean through during Harry's early testing phase, their trunks sporting perfect holes where lightning had sought ground.

Santos nodded slowly, looking towards the Flamels who were carefully arranging Harry into a more comfortable position. The renowned alchemist and his wife - formidable guardians for a child who could generate and somewhat control wandless lightning at age seven.

"Send copies to the usual research contacts," she decided. "But classify it under Magical Arts and Innovation, not Combat Magic or Wandless Studies." A deliberate choice - it would still spread, but through academic circles first, framing it as artistic breakthrough rather than powerful wandless magic.

"And the International Confederation?" Miguel asked quietly.

Santos watched as Nicolas Flamel conjured a blanket for Harry, while Perenelle subtly reinforced the charms around their small clearing. Both of them positioned themselves so they could see anyone approaching, even while appearing to simply watch over a sleeping child.

"They'll find out anyway," Santos sighed. "But let them hear about a promising young artist first, not a powerful wandless prodigy. It will make certain... conversations easier later."

"The British Ministry will want to be informed first," Santos said, watching Miguel carefully label the footage. Brazil's relationship with Britain's magical government was cordial but careful - especially regarding matters that could affect international magical politics.

"Professora," Miguel hesitated, then lowered his voice further. "Our friends in Castelobruxo will want to extend an invitation. A talent like this..."

Santos shook her head slightly. "He's bound for Hogwarts, Miguel. Albus Dumbledore's already laid claim there. But..." she smiled thoughtfully, "perhaps we can arrange some cultural exchange programs in the future. Art knows no borders, after all."

She glanced again at the scorched trees. The lightning had cut through magical hardwood like it was paper - trees that usually required specialized spells learned after normal education was over to even scratch. If Harry could do this at seven...

"Make sure the research paper focuses entirely on the artistic applications," Santos decided. "Emphasize the control required, the preservation techniques, the cultural significance. Get statements from the Art Masters at Castelobruxo about its creative importance."

"And the power readings?" Miguel gestured to a delicate silver instrument that had been measuring magical output.

"Classify those separately. Research eyes only."

"The ICW's South American representative will be visiting next week," Miguel noted, carefully storing the camera. "She's already scheduled to review the research on the Beija-cor-de-luz preservation project."

"Convenient timing," Santos smiled thinly. Better to have our government present their own narrative about what happened here, rather than let international rumors spread unchecked. "We'll present it as a serendipitous discovery during legitimate artistic research. The boy was inspired by our light-refracting birds, after all."

She watched as Chrysa shifted position, the Nemean Lion cub's eyes tracking their every movement despite appearing relaxed. Another reminder that young Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, was far from ordinary - even his familiar was a supposedly untameable extinct magical creature.

"And the British Ambassador?" Miguel asked.

"Will receive a formal courtesy notice about a collaborative artistic breakthrough at our research station," Santos decided. "Along with an invitation to view the finished piece once young Mr. Potter wakes up." She paused. "Perhaps mention how smoothly everything went, how helpful their young citizen was in advancing international magical cooperation..."

It was a delicate balance. Acknowledge British authority over their citizen while establishing Brazil's role in this discovery. Highlight the artistic achievement while downplaying the raw power displayed. Document everything while controlling what different parties would see in those documents.

"I'll update the Minister directly," Santos said quietly, her formal research robes suddenly seeming like the costume they were. Miguel nodded as he straightened his posture.

They'd been tasked with evaluating the Boy-Who-Lived during his visit to Brazil, under the cover of legitimate magical creature research. The Beija-cor-de-luz project was real enough, but having the Head of Brazil's Department of Magical Security and her chief intelligence officer personally oversee it had nothing to do with light-refracting birds.

What they'd witnessed today, however, exceeded all intelligence estimates. The Flamels clearly were very suspicious - Nicolas's earlier positioning of Harry's demonstration away from sensitive equipment hadn't been just about safety. The old alchemist had been ensuring no monitoring devices could get too accurate readings.

"The British won't be able to keep him completely to themselves," Miguel said.

"No," Santos agreed. "But they'll try. And we'll let them think they're succeeding while building our own connections through academic channels." She smiled slightly. "After all, Brazil has such a rich magical arts culture. It would be a shame if young Mr. Potter didn't have the opportunity to study it further."