A/N: Hello, everyone! Sorry for the delay in posting. Since Camp NaNoWriMo is over, I took the time to really map out this series and gather all my notes before continuing to write. Now that everything is at my fingertips, updates will be prompt and frequent!

In the meantime, I went to the homeland: Universal's Wizarding World of Harry Potter! Trust me, it is phenomenal as it sounds. I got a wand (Snape's) and a timeturner, took a picture with Stan Shunpike, drank butterbeer and pumpkin juice... It was basically the greatest weekend ever, and now I'm even more inspired to continue with this story! I know there are pictures all over the internet, but if you're interested, my pictures are posted on my insta ninascribbles.

Without any further ado, here's the chapter!

Chapter Ten: Lumos

Rose Weasley

Rose found herself yawning in the Great Hall first thing Thursday morning, which was a very un-Rose-like thing to do.

With all the commotion of the last few days, Rose was already feeling her schoolwork slip. She had waited for Albus and Scorpius outside the Astronomy Tower only to be relayed Tyler and Fred's story of Enoch Maurier's antics, which was far from what Rose had been expecting. Enoch was a bully, fair and square, and she was glad he was getting what was coming to him. But it didn't set right with her that Tyler and his crew were getting away scot-free.

For the entirety of their first astronomy lesson, Rose's mind was partially on this fact and partially on avoiding her cousin. When Professor Ambrose asked them to turn in their charts at the end of class, Rose thought hers was absolutely dreadful. It was still better than most of the class, of course, but Liza's definitely had more detail, and Rose couldn't let that happen again.

Class didn't get out until one-thirty in the morning, and since she still had to meet her personal book-a-day quota on top of her homework, she didn't get to sleep until three.

Thursday morning breakfast was abuzz with gossip in the Great Hall, but Rose was just barely keeping her eyes open between spoonfuls of oatmeal.

"What does everyone have to be so loud about," she mumbled with her mouth full and her eyes drooping.

"It's the Confettipalooza thing," Briony said. "Professor McGonagall caught the kid who did it! His name is Maurier, a Fourth-Year I guess."

Liza cut in as always. "I heard the Headmistress caught him because of his broom. Prior fugam is a spell much like prior incantato except that it-"

"-tells you the last time a broom was used, I know. Remember how I was questioned myself?" Rose went back to her oatmeal with no mind to the fact that Gloria and Liza were whispering about how rude she was.

Caring little for food or conversation, Rose was one of the first students out of the Great Hall. When she made her way up to the third floor Charms classroom, she had her pick of seats, and she uncharacteristically chose one farthest back. A few minutes later, several other Ravenclaws filtered in.

"What're you doing back here?" Briony asked as she dropped her books down next to Rose.

Rose shrugged. "Sitting."

"Well yes, I see that. Fine then Ms. Secrets." Briony settled into the seat and opened Modern Wandlore From the Eighteenth Century and Beyond. In her thirst for knowledge of the wizarding world, she was reading even faster than Rose these days.

Rose spent the next few minutes tapping her fingers on the desk. The nervous tick was at least keeping her awake, but she wasn't sure whether she'd rather be asleep having another nightmare or actually facing the nightmare that this class would be.

At the last possible second, Albus, Scorpius, and their quiet friend Evander came in. At first, Rose had been surprised to find Albus late for every class; he was usually very punctual. But by the end of their first week she was getting used to it. It must be part of being Slytherin, slacking off and disrespecting any sort of rules.

"Really, Rose? Where are we supposed to sit?" Albus grumbled.

Briony's eyes snapped up from her book and looked to the boys. "Oh, we're sorry! Are these your seats?"

Rose pulled Briony back as she actually moved to get up. "Albus, there are seats up front. You'd do well to sit where you can pay attention for once." And not have to pay attention to me, she added silently.

"Are you kidding? And it's not like we wanted to be late, our roommates-ugh, you know, never mind. Fine." Al stormed away while Evander and Scorpius, who had stared at Rose with his self-satisfied smirk the whole time, followed after.

"Snakes, the whole lot of them," Rose said once the boys were out of earshot. "You don't have to listen to them, you know."

Briony shifted uncomfortably. "I know, but Slytherins scare me."

"Don't tell me it's because of all that pureblood stuff. Briony, no witch or wizard is born better than another. Skill is all that matters and I'll bet that you have more magic in your pinky than they do in their whole bodies." Rose felt strange being a motivational speaker, but she had grown up having heard the same lecture from her parents her whole life. It was comforting until she found out that she did seem to have any magic, and those Slytherins probably were better than her.

But Briony smiled, and Rose was glad that the words had helped someone. "Thanks," she whispered.

"Good mo-o-rning class!" Professor Fontaine waltzed into the room with a flourish that Rose had come to expect from her Head of House. She wore a long dress that appeared to be stitched by hand, not even by magic, and, as always, she was in blue from head to toe.

"I am so sorry that I am late, dears. I was just discussing with Professor Starling about the current alignment of Venus and Jupiter. Very odd, very odd indeed," she went on.

Briony looked petrified. "Are we supposed to know what that means?"

Rose shook her head. "No, that's Divination junk. Has nothing to do with Charms. Nothing to do with anything actually."

"-So with that being said," the professor went on, "Who here knows anything about wandlore?"

Most of the class raised their hands, the Slytherins because of blood status pride and the Ravenclaws out of regular pride. A couple muggleborn Ravenclaw boys kept theirs down, but Briony's happily shot up. Rose kept hers down. Best not to stand out, she figured.

"Very good, very good. This is a bit different than your parents may have learned Charms in the past, but as we have no formal classes on wandlore or magical theory at Hogwarts-a dreadful shame if you ask me-I will be enriching your understanding of these subjects alongside your practical learning. Not to say that theoretical knowledge is not immensely important. Right Ravenclaws?"

Most of the Slytherins sneered and Professor Fontaine flustered.

"Oh, how very rude of me. I am sure plenty of you Slytherins treasure knowledge as much as we do. Two points to Slytherin as an apology. My students will earn it back anyway."

Now the Ravenclaws groaned. Without even doing anything they were in the hole, and Professor Fontaine wasn't off to a good start for the year.

"First, let us discuss why we even use wands. Why don't we just shoot fire out of our fingertips like they do in those silly muggle movies. Anyone? Yes?"

She had called on Scorpius from his front row seat. "Every witch or wizard is born with an innate magical spirit and the ability to channel it. You can draw it to the extremities, most often the hands, or the head for mind-magic like Legilimancy, but it is nearly impossible for it to ever exit the body. You need something that is a strong magical conductor, like the cores used in wands, to actually channel the power into a corporeal form."

To Rose's chagrin, their professor actually clapped with glee. "Brilliant answer! I am quite disappointed that you are not in my own house. And nice flair with the word "corporeal," though it was not quite accurate in this context, as spells are not usually tangible and are usually just glowy beams of light. Two more points to Slytherin."

The Ravenclaws groaned again. This time, Rose was less disappointed about the house points and more concerned that her professor had just used the phrase "glowy beams of light."

The Professor went on in spite of the protests. "Mr. Malfoy, would you please step to the front of the room?" Scorpius stood with a grin and swaggered up to Fontaine's desk. "Name and wand type, please."

"Scorpius Malfoy. Blackthorn, dragon heartstring, ten-and-a-half inches."

"A very sturdy wand. Unyielding, I assume?" Scorpius nodded. "Perfect for potion making, though I wouldn't expect anything less from Astoria Malfoy's son. I went to school with her, you know. But that is beside the point. On to today's lesson. Mr. Malfoy, would you be kind enough to perform the wand lighting charm? The incantation is-"

"Lumos!" Scorpius shouted and a beam of light shot out of the tip of his wand.

Fontaine clapped again! "Brilliant! Beautiful! You may sit down now, Mr. Malfoy." Scorpius obliged, but not without taking a bow.

"Showoff," Rose grumbled, and Briony chuckled.

"Lumos is my favorite spell to start with as the spell itself requires little to no magical theory. It is a very good indicator of how much pure magical control the user has. As such, we will be spending the next few weeks with only this spell, honing your abilities to channel your magic through your hands and into a wand, and meanwhile learn how and why you are doing that. In order to gauge your progress I will ask each one of you to step forward and try the spell. Do not worry if you can't do it right away. This isn't a test, and we all have to start from somewhere. Mr. Potter, would you come up next?"

Albus walked to the front of the room with much more reservation than Scorpius. "Albus Potter. Hawthorn, dragon heartstring, eight-and-three-quarter inches."

"A beautiful dueling wand, Mr. Potter. I look forward to seeing your spellwork. Please, go on."

Albus performed the spell just as easily as Scorpius had. So did Evander after him, followed by two girls Rose had seen hanging around her cousin.

Each name that was called felt to Rose like one name closer on death row. By the time Professor Fontaine had circled around to her, everyone had performed the spell to some degree of success except for Shaun and Lyle, the muggleborn Ravenclaws. Even Briony had managed a flicker at the tip of her wand.

Rose shuffled to the front of the room only when she had no other option. "Rose Weasley. Birch, seven inches even. Oh, and, um. Kneazle whisker. The core."

The teacher nodded. "A very theoretical wand. Birch does not concentrate magic well, and kneazles are very strong-willed and temperamental creatures. You need to have a strong will yourself in order to tell it what to do."

Rose swallowed the lump in her throat. Ollivander had given her a similar warning when she purchased her wand, but after nearly an hour of trying different wands, it had been the only one to even slightly buzz in her hand.

Her hand felt like lead as she raised it toward the rest of the classroom. "Lumos!"

And nothing.

"Lumos!" Rose yelled louder. This time there were a few whispers around the room."

"No mind, dear," Professor Fontaine spoke quickly as if intentionally silencing the gossip. "It doesn't always come to everyone the first day, and I'm not at all surprised with that wand of yours. Do sit down as we move along. Very good exercise, class. Now as I was saying about channeling your energy-"

Rose made her way back to her desk as if no one else were alive in the world, which was one thing that she was very good at. That and reading. And picking up new languages. And learning people's secrets. And basically anything besides dumb magic and dumb wands and Professor Fontaine's dumb glowy beams of light. So Rose sat down and channeled out the rest of the lecture, which she didn't need anyway, and instead went back to nodding off until it was time for Potions.