Chapter Five: Charmed
The day was an endless chorus of "Congratulations Harry! You'll be a great captain!" and "With you as captain, we'll definitely win this year!" By the time Harry was nearing the Charms door, he had heard enough to last anyone a lifetime. The Charms room had also been enlarged and redone similarly to the Great Hall, but had extra rooms for group work, tests and quizzes, storage, and, though only Harry, Professor Flitwick, and Professor Dumbledore knew it, testing new spells. Around the main room there were several portraits of all of the best charm users in history that would occasionally point out what a student was doing wrong. There were also strategically place empty picture frames that recorded each class and the skill of each student, which enabled the teacher to keep a record of what needed to be done each class to improve and which students needed to be helped or moved forward.
As Harry walked into the room and took a seat at the front, Professor Flitwick came running in saying, "Sorry I'm late class! I ran in to a bit of trouble. Well, today we will be learning one of the more advanced shielding charms. I'll need someone to help me demonstrate exactly how powerful this charms is and how much power is needed to correctly perform it. As you all know, the more power needed for a charm, the more draining the charm will be, basic logic. Now, about that volunteer, how about- Miss Granger. If you would please come up with the strongest offensive charm you know and it on me?"
Hermione had gone to the front of the classroom and seemed to think for a moment before shouting, "Totentura varisamet!" As gray light shot out of her wand at a breathtaking speed at little Professor Flitwick. He smiled at the charm and muttered, "Remai!" As soon as he said the word the gray light had seemingly collided with an invisible barrier before disappearing with a last pulse of light.
The class, Harry being the exception, stared for a moment then clapped loudly. Even Hermione seemed impressed by the professor's show of power.
"Excellent use of the sphinx mummification spell Miss Granger! Ten points to Griffindor! Now class, does anyone wish to try the spell?"
"I will, if I may." Harry said quietly, though the whole class heard.
"Wonderful! If you could come up to the front. Now, the incantation for the spell is -."
"Remai." Harry cut him off.
"Yes!" the professor looked shocked for a moment but quickly recovered. He raised his wand and without warning shouted, "Selapereuz!"
Harry didn't even blink at the abrupt spell and waited until the last moment to bring up his wand and say, "Remai." The shield came up immediately and with such power that Professor Flitwick was pushed -better said as thrown- back into the wall. As for his spell, it had vanished so quickly it was as if it had never existed.
"VERY well done!" Professor Flitwick squeaked, "Thirty points to Griffindor! Mr. Potter, may I see you after class?"
Harry nodded and took his seat. The rest of the class was uneventful as Hermione was the only other person to successfully perform the charm - earning ten more points for Griffindor- and even then it was weak. The portraits had been gleeful at the lack of skill in the class and had set to cruelly pointing out each person's faults and mistakes. Though this had helped, it had also annoyed the students enough for them to rush out of the classroom as soon as class was over. Harry, however, walked up to Professor Flitwick and asked, "Sir? You wanted to speak with me?"
"Yes. Have you ever performed that charm or read about it?"
"No, wait, yeah. I read something about a wizard in Russia putting too much power into it and dying a few months ago. That's it though. I was just listening to you when you said the incantation during the demonstration. After that all I had to do was focus my power to the area around me with the shield charm. It wasn't very good though, I probably should've put more power into it."
"Harry, you do realize that if an average or even above average witch or wizard put half as much power into that spell as you did they would be in the hospital wing for two weeks from the drain. Even after that they probably wouldn't be able to use any magic for another month or so without fainting. You stand here, not even close to breathing hard or feeling the least bit drained. Did you see how tired Miss Granger looked after performing the spell and how little power it possessed compared to yours? I can suggest two solutions to avoid drawing attention to your power." When Harry nodded the professor continued. "You can put a dampening spell on your power or -the option I prefer and believe you will too- you can tone it down in class and act like you're struggling (within reason) and I'll teach you the more advanced charms out of class. Though you will have more homework you will be learning much more than you normally would. If you choose that option I may also have you do reports on certain charms and charm users. So, what would you prefer?"
"Well, sir," Harry said in a thoughtful voice, "it appears it would be to my advantage to choose the second option, so I will. Will I be allowed to use the testing rooms? I have an idea or two I would like to test."
"Of course! I'll send my owl to you when I work this out with Professor Dumbledore and get the times." answered Professor Flitwick gleefully.
"One more we get up to the 'manimo ayada maxima' charm this year and would you mind if I taught it in the DA?"
"Ah, yes quite a complicated charm but I wouldn't mind if you taught it at all. We won't be learning it in class until next year. If you need any help teaching it, I'd be happy to assist in any way I can."
"Thank you professor. I'll keep an eye out for the owl!" Harry said enthusiastically before rushing out of the room to Transfiguration, hoping someone had been thoughtful enough to tell Professor McGonagall he had been talking to Professor Flitwick.
athenakitty- thanks for reviewing! If I keep writing and you keep reading any questions you have will eventually be answered.
Ah, so long! I take too long to update! My head hurts, it's a weekend, time to sleep.
The day was an endless chorus of "Congratulations Harry! You'll be a great captain!" and "With you as captain, we'll definitely win this year!" By the time Harry was nearing the Charms door, he had heard enough to last anyone a lifetime. The Charms room had also been enlarged and redone similarly to the Great Hall, but had extra rooms for group work, tests and quizzes, storage, and, though only Harry, Professor Flitwick, and Professor Dumbledore knew it, testing new spells. Around the main room there were several portraits of all of the best charm users in history that would occasionally point out what a student was doing wrong. There were also strategically place empty picture frames that recorded each class and the skill of each student, which enabled the teacher to keep a record of what needed to be done each class to improve and which students needed to be helped or moved forward.
As Harry walked into the room and took a seat at the front, Professor Flitwick came running in saying, "Sorry I'm late class! I ran in to a bit of trouble. Well, today we will be learning one of the more advanced shielding charms. I'll need someone to help me demonstrate exactly how powerful this charms is and how much power is needed to correctly perform it. As you all know, the more power needed for a charm, the more draining the charm will be, basic logic. Now, about that volunteer, how about- Miss Granger. If you would please come up with the strongest offensive charm you know and it on me?"
Hermione had gone to the front of the classroom and seemed to think for a moment before shouting, "Totentura varisamet!" As gray light shot out of her wand at a breathtaking speed at little Professor Flitwick. He smiled at the charm and muttered, "Remai!" As soon as he said the word the gray light had seemingly collided with an invisible barrier before disappearing with a last pulse of light.
The class, Harry being the exception, stared for a moment then clapped loudly. Even Hermione seemed impressed by the professor's show of power.
"Excellent use of the sphinx mummification spell Miss Granger! Ten points to Griffindor! Now class, does anyone wish to try the spell?"
"I will, if I may." Harry said quietly, though the whole class heard.
"Wonderful! If you could come up to the front. Now, the incantation for the spell is -."
"Remai." Harry cut him off.
"Yes!" the professor looked shocked for a moment but quickly recovered. He raised his wand and without warning shouted, "Selapereuz!"
Harry didn't even blink at the abrupt spell and waited until the last moment to bring up his wand and say, "Remai." The shield came up immediately and with such power that Professor Flitwick was pushed -better said as thrown- back into the wall. As for his spell, it had vanished so quickly it was as if it had never existed.
"VERY well done!" Professor Flitwick squeaked, "Thirty points to Griffindor! Mr. Potter, may I see you after class?"
Harry nodded and took his seat. The rest of the class was uneventful as Hermione was the only other person to successfully perform the charm - earning ten more points for Griffindor- and even then it was weak. The portraits had been gleeful at the lack of skill in the class and had set to cruelly pointing out each person's faults and mistakes. Though this had helped, it had also annoyed the students enough for them to rush out of the classroom as soon as class was over. Harry, however, walked up to Professor Flitwick and asked, "Sir? You wanted to speak with me?"
"Yes. Have you ever performed that charm or read about it?"
"No, wait, yeah. I read something about a wizard in Russia putting too much power into it and dying a few months ago. That's it though. I was just listening to you when you said the incantation during the demonstration. After that all I had to do was focus my power to the area around me with the shield charm. It wasn't very good though, I probably should've put more power into it."
"Harry, you do realize that if an average or even above average witch or wizard put half as much power into that spell as you did they would be in the hospital wing for two weeks from the drain. Even after that they probably wouldn't be able to use any magic for another month or so without fainting. You stand here, not even close to breathing hard or feeling the least bit drained. Did you see how tired Miss Granger looked after performing the spell and how little power it possessed compared to yours? I can suggest two solutions to avoid drawing attention to your power." When Harry nodded the professor continued. "You can put a dampening spell on your power or -the option I prefer and believe you will too- you can tone it down in class and act like you're struggling (within reason) and I'll teach you the more advanced charms out of class. Though you will have more homework you will be learning much more than you normally would. If you choose that option I may also have you do reports on certain charms and charm users. So, what would you prefer?"
"Well, sir," Harry said in a thoughtful voice, "it appears it would be to my advantage to choose the second option, so I will. Will I be allowed to use the testing rooms? I have an idea or two I would like to test."
"Of course! I'll send my owl to you when I work this out with Professor Dumbledore and get the times." answered Professor Flitwick gleefully.
"One more we get up to the 'manimo ayada maxima' charm this year and would you mind if I taught it in the DA?"
"Ah, yes quite a complicated charm but I wouldn't mind if you taught it at all. We won't be learning it in class until next year. If you need any help teaching it, I'd be happy to assist in any way I can."
"Thank you professor. I'll keep an eye out for the owl!" Harry said enthusiastically before rushing out of the room to Transfiguration, hoping someone had been thoughtful enough to tell Professor McGonagall he had been talking to Professor Flitwick.
athenakitty- thanks for reviewing! If I keep writing and you keep reading any questions you have will eventually be answered.
Ah, so long! I take too long to update! My head hurts, it's a weekend, time to sleep.