Fred was right, they had been doing a lot of bonding for the past two weeks now.
Today however he had something different in mind and seeing the enthusiasm in his three friends, he hoped it went as well as he thought it should.
Having reached their usual spot, Magnus stooped down to better observe the Pokémon… George's Eevee immediately edged away from the gentle morning sun and went to its spot under the tree… his Zorua immediately jumped after him.
His eyes however were fixated on where the Eevee and the Rockruff were playing. His target was Fweg.
He could see that the furs on the Eevee were a tidbit shinier compared to when he had first encountered them.
It was something that could be easily ignored even by Fred but to him… this was a key indicator that part of his conditioning was working.
Fred's Eevee was his candidate for Espeon and as such, emotional bond with the trainer was key… the bristling fur was a sign of satisfaction and happiness and that was a big part of the evolution requirements. This if nothing else made Magnus feel optimistic and ready for the next step.
Magnus stood up confidently… they had little time to spare… he had to establish something where they would pick up from in the evening.
"Lee could you please call Ruffy," he said, moving to stand next to Fred who was eyeing him anxiously. "I need Fweg to play with Fred alone."
Lee obliged, kneeling down and summoning the Rockruff to him. Fred however turned to him in confusion.
"Thought we agreed to do something different today," he asked doubtfully.
"We did," Magnus smiled, reaching within his robes he retrieved the silver sickle he had brought with him and tossed it to Fred who caught it.
Magnus saw the uncertainty in his face and hurried to clarify. "Relax… it's a different game," he said but felt forced to explain more seeing there was no satisfaction on Fred's face.
"Like I told you, your Eevee is likely to evolve into an Espeon which is a psychic type."
"Yeah… I remember all the stuff about them loving the sun and attention," Fred added still looking at the coin in his hand doubtfully.
"Exactly… what I did not tell was that, psychic type Pokémon are extremely intelligent," Magnus went on. "True, yours is still in their base form which is a normal type… but I have a few tricks I want to try to see if we can guide Fweg into an evolution."
This piece of information got all of them excited…
"That sounds cool," George who had been basking lazily watching his Eevee fighting playfully with his Zorua joined them.
"Yeah… are you saying he can beat Dumbledore's brains?" Fred asked, but Magnus ignored that jest, they were making him tense with their optimism.
Despite the fact that he had so far seen positive signs from the Eevee, he knew better than to put the pressure of overexertion on the Pokémon, that might lead to frustration.
"Alright… we would better begin," he said, moving slightly behind Fred so that he could have a good view of the Eevee but also close enough to give instructions to Fred without having to yell. "Does he know fetch?"
Fred nodded. "'Course he knows fetch," he said waiting to see exactly where this was going.
"Great… now toss the sickle and ask him to get it."
Fred did not hesitate, he let the coin fly several meters away from him and almost immediately his Eevee tore across the field chasing the coin.
Reaching where it had fallen it immediately grabbed it between its mouth and ran toward Fred.
"See, that easy… don't you have anything better?" he jeered, ruffling Fweg's fur.
Magnus shook his head unimpressed. "But you failed to follow my instruction, the Eevee took off before you even gave it the command."
He could see Fred as well as the rest seemed to think it didn't make a difference.
"Can you give it another go," Magnus instructed without caring to clarify, they were running out of time. "This time tell him to wait."
Fred tossed the sickle once more and again the Eevee took off after the shiny metal.
"STOP!" Fred's voice echoed across the ground and the Eevee came to an abrupt stop and turned to look at its trainer with uncertain eyes. "Wait, boy," Fred encouraged the Eevee.
The Pokémon looked regretfully at where the coin had fallen but slowly it turned and walked back to Fred.
"That is something," Magnus said in a neutral voice as he watched the Eevee retrieve the coin only after Fred told it to.
This would make things easier because it meant there was enough loyalty between Fred and the Eevee… it also meant the Pokémon was capable of reasoning and not just following routine commands blindly.
Magnus decided to push it a little further…
"Okay…" he mumbled to Fred as if he thought the Eevee could overhear their conversation. "Do it again but instead of just grabbing it try and tell him to flip it and toss it to you."
Fred gave him a long silent look as if gauging whether he was joking or not. When he saw his serious face he burst out laughing like it was the most absurd thing he had ever heard. It wasn't just him, even George and Lee who had been following things silently joined in… they stopped when they saw he wasn't joining.
"Come on mate… you don't think they can understand all that, do you?" Fred asked.
Magnus nodded. "I do," he said, looking at the Eevee that was staring at Fred with patient curiosity.
In fact, Magnus understood their doubt. The three just like most people in this world had been training Pokémon just like one would train a pet dog… that meant they assumed they could not understand humans and only relied on rewards and constant repetition to learn commands.
While that could be true for some it definitely wasn't the right training for a potential psychic type.
Psychics could sense emotions and anticipate commands even before they were spoken. It was almost like mind reading.
This is exactly what he was counting on.
I mean Fred had one thing right, the Eevee might not have seen or even done what he was asking Fred to command it to do but as a developing psychic type, that wasn't a problem.
"Come on… who is in charge here… just tell him what I told you."
Fred turned to look at the other two dumbfounded. "Can't hurt to try," George said, looking just as pessimistic.
Fred shrugged and turned back to his Eevee. "Here goes nothing."
He let the silver sickle fly and the Eevee ran after it.
When it found the sickle it bent and secured it between its mouth just like before.
"No… not like that mate," Fred called and the Eevee froze amid running to return the coin.
Its eyes searched its trainer's in confusion.
Magnus could see Fred was searching for a way to explain the concept to the Eevee.
"Just tell it to drop the coin and flip it then toss it to you."
Still looking dumbfounded Fred repeated the words to the Pokémon.
"Drop it boy… drop it," that part was easy because the Pokémon let the coin drop with its eyes still locked on Fred searchingly.
"Good boy… now flip it," Fred encouraged the Eevee as he crouched down. Magnus could detect the lack of conviction in his voice.
Nothing happened… Fweg just stared at them equally dumbfounded.
"Say it with confidence," he whispered. "Make him feel you are certain he can do it."
Fred took a deep breath and without looking at Magnus he locked eyes with his Eevee. "Flip it boy… this way," he said while demonstrating the action with his hand.
'Good,' Magnus thought… that meant Fred's brain was also forming the mental picture of the action and that… that was what he was counting on.
The Eevee immediately jumped back excitedly but still did nothing to the sickle, his eyes were however following Fred's gestures.
"This way, boy," its trainer kept repeating the action. Magnus noted that the doubt was no longer in his voice… instead Fred was so engrossed with getting the Eevee to understand.
After ten or more tries Magnus felt like it was enough… maybe he was pushing things too fast.
Then it happened.
Fred was amid repeating the gesture for god knows how many times when the Eevee raised its paw and with one hit, the silver sickle flew into the air and fell back to the ground.
For almost five seconds they all stared in disbelief like each of them was seeking reassurance from the other that what had happened was real.
All that time the Eevee looked at Fred in apparent anticipation.
Fred was the first to break from the stupor.
"Freaking hell… he did it mate… he did it…" suddenly they were all jumping, laughing, and patting each other's back in pure excitement… even the other Pokémon had joined Fweg who was jumping up having seen its owner's excitement.
"He freakin' flipped it," George repeated in disbelief.
"'Course he did bro… what do you take my Pokémon for… a troll?" Fred asked with a mock look of disappointment. They all laughed,
Apparently Fred had forgotten that a short while ago he had been the one doing the doubting.
Magnus was the first to break from the jubilation, they were still halfway, now Fred just had to make the Eevee flip the sickle and toss it to him in one move.
"Guys, come on…" but he never got to finish.
At that moment a thunderous scream came from the direction of Hagrid's cabin which wasn't far from where they had been training. The four of them froze and looked at each other uncertainly.
Magnus was the first to break into a run towards the cabin. He could hear the others behind him and for a moment he wondered whether to tell them it was a bad idea, because at the back of his mind he knew just what had happened!