Chapter 22: Afternoon
The mishap eventually abated naturally, Healer brought in didn't do anything and only waited half an hour for everyone's eyesight to return. Their eyes still bloodshot red, noses runny from crying, Luca's classmates formerly eager to witness his abilities, now almost scrambled to move further away. Irritable Ringo refused to sit on his shoulder and purred lying weekly on the desk, his eyes covered with a black ribbon conjured by Professor Fieldstein.
"Don't get discouraged, keep practicing over and over until you can control the magic output, that's the only way to tame your wand and become a qualified wizard." she instructed the boy out of good intention, resuming the class and making him a bad example for the rest. "See, you must practice for exactly such occurrence of spell's misfire or wrong strength not to happen to you. Even the most innocent charm runaway can bring disastrous consequences." she looked sternly over the class, making the little wizards more in awe of their abilities. "Obscurum." she waved her wand in front of Luca's station, creating an orb of darkness. "Put your wand in there and feel the power flowing. Come on, start the lesson, everyone, your homework is to practice lumos until five minutes of constant light for Friday's course." she watched over tepid wizards that covered their eyes with one hand while casting the spell and shook her head in disapproval, this accident nothing in comparison to ones involving inventing or changing a spell that can turn life-threatening at any moment.
Classroom finally lit up by flickering dozens of wands, Luca had time to think about how to limit his force. He stuck the tip of the tentacle into the blackness, and chanted with his eyes closed, looking instead of filling the entire capacity of his wand with magic as he instinctively did at the Offense course, to regulate it half-full or less somehow. This turned the pitch-black ball into a joyfully shining yellow one, but at least nobody was blinded directly due to the dispersal of glow. Until the end of Charms hours, he failed to do so, and the feeling of pouring magic into his wand didn't change at all, the only difference from petrificus totalus spell was in his magic not consumed by lumos, as it only burned a tiny bit of it with each second staying lit.
"How is it, have you figured it out?" curious Professor Fieldstein kept him in the class after dismissing the students.
"No, Professor, nothing I attempt works. I don't seem to have a say in how much my wand takes." Luca explained himself, uncertain of the cause.
"Really? It should come spontaneously at your age, main reason wizarding schools over the world accept eleven-year-olds is that you are both sensible and innocent, attunement to the magic can be accomplished instantaneously, as your friends demonstrated." Professor's eyes flashed in disappointment as she pointed at his friends that for the most part had no problem with the simple exercise, Winnetou and Bryce freely playing with their lights at first spellcasting.
"I will continue working hard?" Luca said in a questioning tone.
"Very well, I can't help your case because as you could see the talented wizards catch on, while some non-talented can't strictly control their spells even after seven years. Technically, you can do the stable output step required as basic competence for the junior years, only using too much force. In the future, be careful where you point the wand, I will prepare a workspace in the corner for you." she waved him out after a warning and an arrangement to prevent a potential calamity. Luca said his goodbyes and went to grab lunch, hugging the offended kitten in his arms.
At the dining hall, pestered by Miranda who overheard Luca's class discussing if they are fortunate or unlucky to be grouped with a freak like him, brought her group of friends to witness his spell, they not yet having a practical class.
"Come on, show us!" she demanded, Luca looked left and right at the curious little witches besieging him and decided to comply with a sour face. He took his wand and pointed it behind at the wall, firing the vast grey beam at it to an exclamation from the girls.
"Satisfied? Let me eat." he went back to his ham sandwich and a half-eaten apple, starved because of the earlier exertion. Ringo nibbled on his piece of meat, jumped down the table with his little head rising high in the opposite direction of Luca, and went away along the walls. A brief thought later, Luca concluded that he should carry him back to the Wampus common room, so he got up and grabbed the protesting kitten, and went back and forth quickly leaving him up the cat scaffolding in there.
Next lesson Crafting, class 1C made it to an empty room with only a long table at the spot closest to the windows, a dozen trinkets, and a dozen flasks on it. This time lecture was helmed by only one elderly teacher wearing gold-rimmed glasses on a chain, dressed in alternating gold and silver robes.
"Welcome, dear youths. During the hours of my class, you will be introduced to various manufactured with the aid of magic objects, from an inconspicuous prank item made by a wave of the wand to elixirs brewed for years, capable of stopping the Death itself. After every lesson, your homework is to write at least a hundred words of opinion about each of the twenty-four pieces. Without further ado, ladies and shorter boys, please come forward to make the process easier." he spoke warmly, gazing at the crowd with cloudy eyes surrounded by deep lines of wrinkles. Picking up what looked like a normal porcelain teacup patterned blue, he imitated drinking from it, his other hand wielding a wand ready and pointing at it. Soon, Luca knew why as the teacup nearing the lips violently jerked up out of his grip and 'chomped' its edge on the teacher's nose, the more easily startled girls of the class jumping with it.
"See, nose-biting teacup, the most likely item for no-maj to come in contact with, each year there are hundreds of cases that some smartie thought funny to enchant, then Obliviators have to deal with them spreading rumours around." he spoke nasally, tapping his wand on it to release him. The cup was back to normal, and nobody could tell it to be magical, then passed it to the nearest student for the class to look over it carefully as he massaged his red nose. "What use it has, I would say none at all, to make it only one simple charm is needed. Let's move on to a more advanced and infinitely more important item - spell rings." he picked up a ring flashing blueish runes engraved on it, his eyes revealing fascination looking at it.
"This is the crowning achievement of the American community over the centuries, made possible thanks to mines of dimeritium discovered in 1920's at the Chihuahuan Desert. Widespread use of this powdered metal that absorbs magic allowed for it to store power of rudely released spells, those complicated with requirements for emotion sadly still waiting to be invented. Yet, it is the straightforward self-defense barrier - protego, that made such rings a must-have for wizards of all ages and saved the lives of hundreds of us, or at least gave the defender more agency to respond to an attacker. Who would want to wear it for a demonstration?" he pulled away his sight from the ring and proposed the class try it out, interrupted by a shout. Luca's roommate, Nathaniel, put the teacup to his nose and it did its job - bit him hard, the class chuckling at his funny crossed eyes focused on the handle pointing to the ceiling.
"We have a volunteer." the teacher beckoned him to come, tapping the wand again to put the teacup back on the table and put the ring on Nathaniel's hand, then he distanced himself and gestured for class to make some space.
"Flipendo." Luca could sense a formless, invisible wave of magic coming toward Nathaniel from the teacher, stopped by a flash of white cocoon surrounding him tightly. The teacher came to retrieve the ring, displaying it high for everybody to see the now completely dim runes on it.
"As you can see, the rings vary in power, and the crucial things about them are automatic activation, even against invisible spells like mine, and the possibility of recharge." he held the ring for a minute, its runes restored to the previous state. Picking up a hefty two-liter flask from the table for a change, he started introducing its effects with a smile. "This is Hiccoughing Solution, come and get your sip, sniff the aroma to be familiar with it. Don't worry, it lasts only ten minutes with that dose. Never, never, absolutely never drink a potion that is even a minute shade of colour, or a whiff of scent different than the description found in books." he warned sternly, passing the flask to Nathaniel as his prime guinea pig for this lesson. The boy drank it boldly after peering inside, and immediately started hiccuping every five seconds or so. The entire class hiccuped as the teacher continued introducing and passing around other elixirs, thankfully Luca and the rest weren't required to drink anymore. At the end of the lesson, the teacher clarified the homework to have permission to work in groups as not everyone could have a memory good enough to remember all twenty-four objects.
Luca was relieved that subjects where he is not the center of attention exist, and along the way to the next class discussed with Bryce which of today's collections was the coolest. The classroom of No-maj Research had a layout imitating one found in elementary schools found in no-maj society, double seat desks in rows before the teaching table, and a chalkboard currently written with the name and a head portrait of the person sitting in front of it. They were greeted by the youngest Professor yet, a witch in her twenties wearing a sky-blue robe decorated with white lace, a round plump face, and an elegant light-brown updo smiled and started introducing the course to the audience.
"Hello, I'm Nina Biely, as you can see behind. According to Rappaport's Law, interactions with no-maj should be minimized, but there are always restless individuals among wizards. Statistically, at least half of you will at some point get in contact with the no-maj society, no matter what the ministry guidelines are. My job is to prepare you for it, learn to wear clothing matching the occasion, understand the dangers brought by no-maj weaponry, their basic rules, technology, art, and so on. Take out your books, first page contains an illustration of a garment called 'suit' that can be worn on any occasion without arousing too much of no-maj suspicion." her wandering gaze lit up as she made eye contact with Luca, the handsome-looking boy made her stare and decide to become closer with him during those boring lessons.
"This boy, come and stand here." she beckoned a puzzled Luca to her side, putting a hand on his shoulder. She took out her wand and aimed it at his robes. "Multicorfors." she said, the brown-rimmed robe changing shape to a black suit over the white shirt Luca wore already.
"If in emergency, you can use this spell to change quickly, you will learn it eventually on the transfiguration course." satisfied with enhancing Luca's attractiveness by changing him from a boring uniform to a dashing gentleman get-up until the end of the course, she pushed him to return to his desk.
"Now, to the next page describing…" back at his and Bryce's desk, Luca concluded that nothing in this course could interest them, coming from no-maj background, so he zoned out holding his chin in the palms of his hands, absentmindedly looking straight ahead. Poked awake by Bryce at the end of class, the crowd of 1C went to eat their plain dinner while exchanging opinions about the subjects learned.
In an episode to end Luca's first day as a trainee wizard, Miranda finished her food lighting-fast and ambushed the triplets in the entrance of the common room, having learned why the spell she saw cast for fun by her parents on each other failed, and mastering it subsequently. She cast in on the forthcoming of them, but after being told that he's not Leonidas, she made all three giggle and roll over the carpets in laughter, as the spell's purpose is to tickle the recipient to tears.
Weekly Power Status
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