Catching up

Richard was sitting on the grass, waiting for Kim. It was the afternoon but the numerous clouds covering the sun made it somewhat darker than usual. Thinking that he could at least practice the one spell that he had mastered until she arrived, he took out his wand, pointed it in front of him, and said: "Lumos". A powerful light appeared at the extremity of his wand. "Nox" he pronounced, satisfied, and it turned off. He had been confident this one would be successful. Refocusing, he clearly pictured in his mind a ball of light at the tip of his wand and exclaimed: "Lumos Maxima !". Feeling the energy building up, he watched the sphere grow larger. Concentrated to maintain it, he noticed Kim entering the Courtyard through one of the archways on his right. Wanting to test if he had fully mastered the spell, he executed a swift whip like movement over his shoulder in her direction. The ball left his wand and rocketed though the air, reaching some twenty feet, before rapidly plummeting, becoming less and less bright and strong as it went down. It finally softly landed exactly in Kim's hand, briefly illuminating it before disappearing. Pleasantly surprised, Richard smiled at her as she was approaching.

"You really know how to cast those spells, especially the Lumos Maxima. That ball of light is wonderful," Kim said to Richard. She sat down next to him and opened her notes. "First spell: The Hover Charm." Kim tossed her notes on the ground and put out her wand from her robe. "The Hover charm is used to levitate the object where you will cast the spell. You pronounce it as win-GAR-dee-um lev-ee-OH-sa and the wand movement is like writing a letter S in a horizontal position but you need to emphasize its tail on the last part." she added.

Kim picked up a fresh, green leaf from the plant beside her on put it in front of them. "Ok, let's me try this one," Kim concentrated on the leaf. She then said, "Wingardium Leviosa!" The leaf floated on the air and followed Kim's wand wherever she would point it. Then, she carefully dropped the leaf back to where it is placed.

"Now, you try. Levitate that leaf up to the height of your knee. Then, you try to make it higher and higher until you can completely control the spell," Kim said smiling at Richard.

“They are the only spells I know for now, so I made sure that at least I know them perfectly.” He replied. After announcing that they were going to start with the Hover Charms, she started explaining how it worked. Richard was looking at her, carefully listening to the instructions while trying to stay focused in order to remember all the details. He nodded every time she made a pause, to show that he understood.

She then performed the spell flawlessly, making a leaf levitate wherever she wanted. “Perfect control. It’s quite impressive. ” he uttered as she placed it back where it was at the beginning. It was then his turn to cast the spell. This shouldn’t be too hard, he thought, attempting to reassure himself. Concentrating, he tried to recall everything that she told him. “Wingardium Leviosa” he pronounced while making a horizontal S shaped hand movement. However, the leaf didn’t move an inch. “I know what I did wrong” he immediately said. “I forgot the ending of the wand movement. Let me try again.” he said, furious he had missed such an important detail. “Wingardium Leviosa” he exclaimed, making sure this time that the motion was correct. The leaf got lifted from the ground, rising higher and higher as he was moving his wand. He made it slowly levitate until it reached the height of his head, being exactly between him and Kim. Wanting to see her reaction, he shifted his look to her face. Having lost focus and visual contact, the leaf instantly fell abruptly on the grass. “I’m sorry, I… lost my concentration” he explained. “Let me try just one more time” he added, confident. After casting the spell again, he made sure to maintain his focus solely on the leaf and succeeded to make it hover above their heads, then around Kim and finally back to its original place. He smiled and looked at her: “So, how was I, professor?”

Kim was really smiling this time, enjoying every moment. "Well, you are a very excellent student," Kim said sarcastically. "Actually, I am not really expecting for these lessons to take too much time. I know you're great Richard, seeing you perform the spells from our previous lessons. Well then, moving forward..." Kim took her notes again, read some of it and threw it again to the ground. "...the fire making spell with the incantation of Incendio. I don't think doing this spell would be safe because we're just students but then, it is worth a try."

"It is pronounced as in-SEN-dee-oh and for the wand movement, it is like drawing a fire in the air. And again, like the Hover charm, you need to emphasize the pointed part of the fire you are drawing. Another thing, just concentrate on a small fire. We don't want to be expelled by lighting up the castle," she said, smiling at Richard.

"Honestly, casting this spell is a bit of complicated. Let me show you." Kim went in front of the leaf they levitated using the Hover charm. She pointed her wand to it. Concentrating, she moved her wand in a fire-like structure and said "Incendio". Immediately, the leaf ignited, changed its appearance from the fresh, green to dried brown-to-black color. "Now you try." Kim picked another leaf from the plant and placed in the ground.

"Well, you are a very excellent student," Kim said, smiling. “Only because you’re such an incredible professor” he replied, and they both burst into laughter. “I know you're great Richard, seeing you perform the spells from our previous lessons” she added. “Yeah, I have to admit that I’m quite talented” he retorted with a hint of auto-derision. “But come on, you’re the one casting the spells perfectly from the first try. You’re even good at potions. Your potion was exactly as described in the school book. I hope you didn’t see mine by the way.” He added with an expression of disgust on his face.

They then moved on to the Fire Making Spell. He listened to her explanations, watched her burn the leaf and prepared to do the same thing. He glanced at the target, picturing it in his mind caught on fire, and then clearly uttered “Incendio”, paying particular attention to the hand movement. At first, he thought nothing would happen, but he then noticed a tiny plume of smoke rising from the leaf. He focused harder, channeling all his willpower in the charm. The plant suddenly burst into flames, and Richard immediately broke the spell, afraid it may get out of control. He glanced at the leaf, that was not reduced to just a small pile of ash. “Well, I’ll have to learn to control it, but I guess that comes with practice.” he said to Kim, satisfied. “What’s next ?” he added, confidently smiling at her.

"The last two spells go together: Acus and Compari," Kim sat down under the tree behind them. She placed her notes on her lap, then, she put out a match from her pocket and placed it on top of her notes. "Acus makes a match turn into a needle. I don't think that it is just a match into a needle because I think that would be a little useless but that's what Professor Terzic told us before," she heavily breathed and continued, "while Compari turns the needle back into its original form which is the match."

"The key to these spells is focusing. I know that most of the spells need that but for Acus and Compari additional concentration is necessary. For the wand movement, simply point your wand to the match and it'll be fine."

Kim held her wand and focused really hard on the match, thinking about only the match that will eventually turn into a needle. "Acus" she casted. Slightly, starting from the head of the match, transformed into a silvery and pointed needle. She then, again, concentrated into two things, needle to match. "Compari!" The pointy part of the needle changed first. It turned into a brownish color and slowly, turned into wood. The rest of its part followed the pattern.

"Now, you try."

Richard watched Kim turn the match into a needle and then return it to its original state. Trying to relax and to focus, he pointed his wand at the match and uttered: “Acus” while trying to imagine a needle in his mind. At first sight, it seemed that there had been no changes to the object, but when he took it in his hand to have a closer look, he noticed that that was a tiny hole at one of its extremity while the other was rounded. “Wow. A wooden blunt needle.” He said with a smile. “I wonder what that can be used for.” Replacing the item on the ground, he pointed his wand at it and repeated; “Acus”.

After four tries, the “needle” had turned gray and had a metallic structure, but it was still not thin and sharp enough. “This one is really hard.” He said after sighing. “Let’s just assume that this is a proper needle. I’ll try the reverse spell now.” He announced. However, turning it back to a match was nearly as difficult. After several attempts, he finally ended with somewhat that more or less resembled the required result. “I think I’d had enough with this spell. I know how it works now, so I’ll just practice it a bit more to master it.” He said to Kim. Tired but satisfied of the work they accomplished, he smiled at her and added: “Thanks again. I don’t know what I would have done without you.”

"Don't mention it. What are friends for?" Kim said back, fixing her notes back into her hands. "You know what, after all that you did, you need to have a refreshment. Maybe a pumpkin juice. You deserve it." she added.

"By the way Richard, you owe me one," she said sarcastically, adding some humor in their conversation.

"Yes, I could definitely use some pumpkin juice" he replied, putting his wand back into his pocket. They got up from the grass and started walking through the courtyard. "By the way Richard, you owe me one" Kim said. "I definitely do, and I will be happy to return the favour whenever you want." he retorted with a smile.