Chapter 12: MEE-MEEP! "Roadrunnerada?!"
I shuffle down the hallway of the train with our luggage. I'm stopped by a blockade of five kids standing in the way.
"Excuse me!" I call out.
The kids in the way move off to the side as best they can in the limited space, with a couple of them ducking into the room next to them.
I continue down the train until I make it to an empty compartment. I go inside, and I put my chest into the rack above the seats with ease.
Leaving me...
All alone...
Woe is me...
Wait.
I like being alone...
This is fine.
I dig through my books in my chest, looking for something to read for a while.
'Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1). Hmmm... I haven't tried any magic yet; I did only get my wand two days ago. I also don't know for sure if I would be Traced for underage magic or not. I should get a head start on reading for potions later too though. It's possible that the bat will bully me in potions... What am I saying? It's not possible, it's likely.'
Ugh...
Not looking forward to that.
Whatever. I'll just try some magic.
I flip through the pages of The Standard Book of Spells.
The charms I see in it are:
---
Wand-Lighting Charm
Softening Charm
Severing Charm
Fire-Making Spell
Unlocking Charm
Locking Charm
Levitation Charm
Mending Charm
---
I activate the wand holster with a simple mental command, and my wand fwips into my hand.
I smile.
I tried that many times over and over again and it still isn't old yet.
I'll do it one more time...
*Fwip* It retracts back to the holster.
*Fwip* It shoots into my hand smoothly.
'It's so satisfying...'
*Fwip*
*Fwip*
I stop and shake my head.
I should close the blinds on the windows for some privacy.
I get up to close them, then sit down again and skim through the information the book has on the wand-lighting charm.
The book says that in order to properly cast the wand-lighting charm, you need to raise the wand straight up in a line, and chant "Lumos".
Since I want to see what it is like to do it how the book says, I am just going to do it that way, then see what is actually necessary for me.
"Lumos." I flick my wand straight up, staring at the tip. I focus strongly on the thought of creating a bright white light on the end of the wand.
Immediately...
The wand lights up brilliantly, making me have to shut my eyes to avoid being temporarily blinded.
"Nox!" I flick it downwards in a straight line.
The light vanishes.
I open my eyes and I have trouble seeing through the dark spots in my vision.
I blink repeatedly for at least a minute before they all clear up.
Let's try that again, shall we?
"Lumos." I chant once again and perform the wand movement. This time trying to focus on making a much dimmer light.
On the tip of the wand is... still an extremely bright light.
It hurts to look at, but I manage. I tried to make it as dim as possible, but it is still so bright.
I'm going to have to learn better control, or else my spells are probably all going to be blown out of proportion.
I wonder what all I can do to modify it using intent. Let's see... I'll start off with making the light separate from the wand.
"Lumos."
The near-blinding light forms.
I flick my wand, willing it to separate and start floating in front of me.
It does.
Now...
I try to move it around the compartment.
It takes focus to make it go where I want it to, but I manage it just fine.
"Nox." I flick down my wand. The light disappears instantly.
I wonder if I can make it change colors.
I chant and change the intent from a bright white light to a red one. Again, I am also trying to keep the light dim.
The wand lights up, coating the room in an extremely thick red light.
"..."
'That was easy...'
At least modifications are easy... just going to have to practice toning down the power level.
I continue experimenting with it for a while, but eventually get bored.
--- 1 hour later ---
I worked through all the spells in the grade 1 spell book. I made some... rather extreme damage to the floor with the severing charm, but I was able to fix it just fine with the mending charm.
So yeah.
It seems I can use things like levitation and repairing easily, but spells that can be strengthened beyond normal is a bit of a problem.
I decide to try a different kind of magic. One without a wand.
Now that I know what wand magic feels like, I may be able to do something wandless. In the stories I know from my time as Michael, the main problem with wandless magic is lack of control. Which makes the spell either not work, or you end up using much more magic than when using a wand.
As far as I know, a standard first-year would be pretty exhausted after an hour of in-depth constant spellcasting like I just did, but it feels as though I lost a drop from a bucket. So, there should be no issues on that front.
The only problem I have with control is when I accidentally overpower my spells, so I should be able to do wandless magic like levitation.
I hold my wand in front of me, pointed at a deck of cards I randomly decided to bring with me to Hogwarts.
Without a chant and without a wand, I make the cards start to float and move around.
The magic flows out from my outstretched hand, and makes the cards float around like Gambit from the X-Men movie. Without a glowing effect though.
'Cool!'
I look around with wide eyes.
Once I've had my fill, I bring the cards down into a neatly stacked deck in my hand.
I take note of my still barely drained magic.
It's at this moment that a knocking resounds through the small compartment.
*Knock Knock*
What?
I get up and go to the door. Opening it, I am met with Draco "My father will hear about this" Malfoy, and the two near brainless minions that follow behind him.
I raise an eyebrow.
"Can I help you?" I ask simply.
He looks up at my forehead.
'Looking for a scar, I suppose?'
The scar disappeared when I was bathed in the phoenix flames a while back so good luck with that. My eyesight has also improved, so no more glasses for me.
"I heard the Boy-Who-Lived was on board. Have you seen him?"
"No. Anything else?"
He wrinkles his nose.
"No, I suppose not."
"I see. Good day, then."
"Good day." He says and gestures for the two minions to follow him as he walks down the train, on the hunt for the Boy-Who-Lived.
I close the door and sigh.
That was a lot more civil than I was expecting from Draco.
I sit down and continue my magic practice... floating cards.
It's just so cool...
--- 10 minutes later ---
I am once again interrupted, as the door was knocked on again.
'I am popular today.'
I go up to the door and open it.
On the other side of the door, waiting, is one bushy brown-haired girl.
I furrow my brow. I can feel she is depressed.
Why is she so sad?
"Can I help you?" I try to ask kindly.
"Um... yeah. I was... Well... Haveyouseenatoad?" She starts off quietly and decides to just spit out what she was here for at the end.
"A toad? No. Why do you ask?"
"A boy... Neville... he lost his. I said I'd help him find it, but no one knows anything."
"Oh. Okay." I nod. "I'll help you then."
She freezes.
"What? Why? You don't have to do that?" She asks in rapid succession.
I think for a moment as we look at each other.
"Well, you're a first-year too, right?"
"Yes." She nods her head.
"Great! I need a friend. You seem nice."
Her eyes widen a bit.
"You don't know me, though?"
I take a breath.
"True. But I can always get to know you." I say simply.
"So." I stick out my arm gesturing to the hallway. "Shall we?"
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