A Spark of Hope

During the days that followed, Albus' fear that the Hufflepuffs would make Bernie's life a misery turned out to be unfounded, and this was largely due to Albus himself. The fact that of all people the Slytherins, supposed to be Muggle-haters, had behaved more decently towards Bernie than the first-years of their own house, was terribly embarrassing to the older Hufflepuffs. Therefore, they read their youngest the riot act that same evening. From then on, they left Bernie alone. Not only they didn't hit him but spared him snide remarks and didn't avoid him. However, no one wanted to make friends with him, either.

So, during the breaks and common lessons Bernie stuck to Albus and thus to the Slytherins, who by and by came to appreciate him. There were only a few Slytherins who had grown up in the Muggle world, and they were all older, Roy for example. Of the first-year students, no one had. Bernie was an exotic foreigner among them, but for that very reason, he was interesting. There were so many curious things he told about the Muggles that it was exciting to listen to him. Well, and the fact that Bernie's dad, as Prime Minister, was to the Muggle world roughly what the Minister for Magic was to the wizarding world also didn't fail to make an impression on the status-conscious Slytherins.

They were also tactful enough not to talk about his lack of magic skill. One day during the second week, however, as Bernie, Albus, Jennifer, and Scorpius stood together in the schoolyard during a break, Scorpius could no longer help asking him:

"Tell me, Bernie, how did you manage to get your wand?"

"With a great deal of trouble," the latter replied, and they laughed.

"I thought so." Scorpius hesitated for a moment, for he didn't want to be tactless. "I mean, normally the wand chooses the wizard, and a hint that they belong together is the shower of sparks like the one Flitwick showed us, but so far, you cannot create it with your wand."

"Well, it took me three hours of trying out wands in that shop in Diagon Alley, and none of them worked, not even the one I have now," Bernie said. "But at least this one got warm in my hand."

"It got warm?" asked Scorpius in surprise. "That's a good sign! It shows that your wand likes you and wants to serve you."

"He likes me?" asked Bernie, amused. "Do wands have feelings?"

"O yes," said Albus, "roughly like plants any gardener will also swear to have feelings. Maybe Flitwick is right and you really just need to practise more."

"I did," Bernie said sadly, "It simply doesn't work."

"Maybe the spells you've tried so far are just too hard for you yet, and you need to start with something easier." Albus drew his wand and raised it. "Just try the simplest thing first: Lumos!" A white point of light appeared at the tip of the wand.

"Well, if you say so." Bernie, for his part, raised his wand and said hesitantly: "Lumos!" Nothing happened.

"Of course, it doesn't work that way," Jennifer said, "that's too shy. You've to believe in it. When you are doing magic, you have to really feel and see the result before it happens! I'll show you again and you focus on my wand. Lumos." Jennifer's wand lit up as well. "Now you have to feel that yours is doing it too. Focus!"

Again Bernie raised the wand, fixated its tip and said firmly: "Lumos!" Again, nothing.

"Again, and focus!" repeated Jennifer insistently.

Bernie raised the wand, closed his eyes briefly, fixed the wand again: "Lumos!" This time something happened: A faint dark red spark, not unlike the tip of a glowing cigarette, barely visible in the prevailing daylight, appeared at the tip of the wand, but went out immediately. Bernie looked distressed. "I doesn't work."

"Nonsense," Scorpius said. "It's the proof that you actually do have some magical energy, though it's weak."

"Really?" beamed Bernie.

"Sure, because otherwise the wand wouldn't have done anything at all. I told you, he wants to serve you! You just have to learn how to release your magical energy, even though it may not be much. The best thing to do is to keep practising Lumos. Learn to believe in it and focus on it!"

However, no matter how hard Bernie tried in the following days: He could not make his wand produce more than this little spark – but at least, it became more and more reliable, brighter, and lasting.