Chapter 34: Charms Unlocked
Afterwards, Harry and the rest of the Slytherins made their way to the charms classroom for their first lesson. Considering Professor Flitwick's reputation as a charms master and a former duelling champion, Harry was especially excited about this lesson.
Finding the Charms classroom was a lot more difficult than the Transfiguration one. Harry encountered his very first moving staircase on the way and ended up getting on the wrong one. Well, it wasn't the wrong one, it was the right staircase, but the wrong exit, somehow. Harry was still very confused about it. Whoever designed this castle had to be high, or something. Because no sane mind would think that this mess was a good way for children to move around. He had almost gotten lost – despite the map – but simply asked one of the portraits for directions, and they were happy to help.
By the end, Harry was able to get to class a couple of minutes early and sat down at the front of his class. He was later joined by Blaise who seemed oddly attached to him for some reason.
Oddly enough, Neville Longbottom and Ron Weasley arrived far later than even the other Gryffindor. Still, Professor Flitwick simply gave them a verbal warning and didn't really chastise them. Well, it was the first day of school, accidents are expected, really.
With everyone having calmed down, the professor jumped on a stack of books with a very impressive sense of balance and introduced himself, "Welcome to your first year of Charms. My name is Filius Flitwick, and I will be your Senior Charms professor for the next few years, which means that we will see each other for quite some time. As you well know, Charms is a core subject that is mandatory for you to have for the next five years. Everyone here will hopefully sit his OWLs in five years, after which you will decide if you wish to continue studying the subject further or not."
Professor Flitwick was short, about as tall as the average first year, which was probably because of his ancestry as a half-goblin. Hybrids of that nature were quite rare, especially because of the Goblin wars that ended barely a century ago. Even then, offspring of mixed races were rare, and Harry didn't want to think about the possible complications that might have happened.
The man looked jovial, and his smile lit the room. Immediately, the entire class was far more comfortable with the half-goblin than they were with Professor McGonagall. Flitwick looked more approachable by the rest of the children, at least compared to McGonagall, whose severe, no-nonsense attitude endeared her to Harry.
The class even burst into laughter when he almost fell down the stack of books he was standing on when he called Longbottom's name. Harry sighed in exasperation as the boy was preening when that happened. People really needed to stop enabling the boy, or he wouldn't amount to anything.
Although, the professor had given Harry an odd fond look when he said his name. Not that it would change anything, really.
After the roll call, Flitwick started lecturing, "The magical field of Charms, by definition, is imbuing a property to an object or a person. As you can imagine, it's a very large field that dabbles with duelling, enchantment, ward building and breaking, and so much more. You can see charms everywhere, and it is without a doubt the most currently used field of magic in the world. We will start today with the simplest charm that every single wizard and witch needs to learn, the wand lighting charm."
With a wave of his wand, the name of the spell appeared on the board, "The wand lighting spell, commonly known as Lumos because of its incantation, is a spell with no wand movement, that charms the end of your wand to light up. Usually, charming a wand in any way is very dangerous, but this charm was perfected in a way that doesn't truly interact with the magic of the wand after being cast. You will study the theory in more depth should you take arithmancy in your third year, but the spell is remarkably easy to cast, yet its theory is remarkably complicated as well."
Flitwick then flicked his wand while saying 'Lumos' and the tip of his wand illuminated itself.
The small professor then continued, "Another characteristic of the spell is the fact that its power output cannot change. You cannot blind someone by overpowering a Lumos charm, but variations of the charm where this restriction is removed can do some serious damage. Now, everyone, take out your wands and flick them while saying the incantation clearly, 'Lumos'."
In a single breath, the entirety of the class spoke the word Lumos loudly. Unexpectedly, a third of the class, including Harry, had the end of their wands light up with white light. Well, that was easier than Transfiguration, that's for sure. Harry's classmates were looking around with wonder, having cast a spell successfully, probably for the first time in their lives.
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