Charms

Chapter Five
Talent

"Welcome! Welcome to Charms! I am Professor Flitwick, and I will instruct you in this wonderful aspect of magic." The short Professor stood up on his chair behind his desk as the class piled in. Lily took the last seat, seeing as she was delayed in the halls, in the right hand corner of the front row.

"Now, where did you just come from? Defense Against the Dark Arts? Well then, you've already gotten a lecture on how important certain classes are, and I'm sure you will have more of those to come. So, let's just begin! Take out your wands! We will start with a quite useful, but simple, charm to make objects lighter. Watch, please!"

Professor Flitwick took out his wand, and in a graceful twist of his wrist, firmly recited the incantation. "Levis!"

He smiled at the class. "Now, who thinks they can lift my desk?" A black haired boy raised his hand and walked to the front of the class. He turned around, grinned at the class, and flexed his muscles jokingly. He reached under it, and expecting it to be quite light, almost dropped the unexpected weight on his foot. The class laughed heartily as the boy raised one eyebrow at the Professor.

"Whoops! I must have accidentally muttered the counter-charm while you were preparing to lift my desk!" Professor Flitwick gave a big grin, and repeated the charm.

The boy, still straining to hold the desk off of his foot, jumped back as the force he used to hold the desk up flung his side of the desk up in the air! The professor winked, swished his wand, and the desk was stable again. "Five points to Gryffindor for a great volunteer!" The boy pretended to run back to his desk in slow-motion, giving high-fives to everyone he could, and stopping to jump in the air before returning to his desk. Another black haired boy, this one with hazel eyes and glasses, leaned over and they laughed silently together.

"If you will notice now, that I have put weights on your desks? Try picking them up now." Lily hesitantly took hold of the weight and tried to lift it, to no avail. Most of her classmates, she noticed as she looked around, were having the same problem. She stopped trying, and instead started waiting for the Professor to let them try the incantation. Soon everyone else was doing the same, and just when people were thinking they could talk to those sitting next to them, Professor Flitwick spoke up again.

"Now, twist your wrist so that your wand moves in a small circle, first away from you, then back in, and finally back where it started. You should start with your palm down, and end up with your palm up. Remember, the word is 'Levis!'" He gave the class a big grin, and then watched as the class of first year Gryffindors all tried the spell. Two seats behind Lily, a small boy with a pasty complexion was enormous amounts of trouble with it, finally giving into whacking it repeatedly with his wand until Professor Flitwick made him stop.

Lily looked at her weight, twisted her wrist, and murmured 'Levis' quietly. She went to pick up the weight and found, to her surprise, that it was considerably lighter. Flitwick, who had been watching Lily from the corner of his eye, came over to her, his eyes shining.

"Great job, Lily! If you would, try the charm out a few more times, and then, if you'd like, go around and help those near you?" Lily nodded, beaming with pleasure. Flitwick turned away, then spun back. "Oh, I suppose you need it to be heavy again? Just do the same motion in reverse, with a slight flick at the end, and the word is 'Gravis.'" He turned away again, but continued to watch Lily as he went to help someone in the back row.

Lily put the weight back on the table, reversed the twist, flicked her wand, and said with more confidence than before, "Gravis!" She tried picking it up, and the weight was as heavy as it had started out with, when Lily first tried to pick it up. She went through the incantation to make it light, and then heavy again, a few more times, each one with the same results.

Professor Flitwick was beaming.

"So, Lil! How was your first morning of classes? Meet anyone worth knowing?" Phae's violet eyes danced mischeviously.

"So that was your dad, then? I wondered, but you two look nothing alike!" Phae nodded, and the next moment, Phae looked much more like her dad.

"Phae, are you tormenting dear old Lilykins, here? What Phee-Bee isn't telling you is that she's a Metamorphmagus. She can change her shape at will." And to prove what Ria was saying, Phae had changed her eyes from a deep purple to copper, and her hair was now chocolate brown with caramel streaks. Her cheekbones, chin, and nose had also undergone a slight change, and the angles were now sharper.

"Anyway, before this pest came over, I was asking how it was having my dad as a teacher. Any thoughts, Lily?" Phaedra put special emphasis on the words 'pest' and 'Lily' as she pretended that Ria wasn't there.

"Ahh, I can see when I'm not wanted." And with that, Ria sat down right next to Phae and started poking her in the side. Phae tried to ignore it, but Lily started cracking up.

"Well, he was amazing. He held everyone's attention. Really felt like he knew his stuff."

"Sounds like he's an improvement over last years techer, Phae!" Ria didn't stop poking Phae. "Professor Veich was an idiotic git." Phae shuddered.

"I don't think I learned anything at all with him! I hope Dad doesn't think we're all a lot of dunderheads."

Lily grinned. "We were with the Hufflepuff first years this morning. He scared one witless, I think he's still shaking."

"It's lunch, let's go see!" The three of them ran out of the common room and down a hall, where they suddenly got soaking wet!

"PEEVES!" Ria screamed, looking around. All of them had stopped, Phae had adopted a fighting stance.

"Aww, poor liddle twosies, ooh, and a firstie! I thought water would make you grow!" And with that, Peeves zoomed backwards through a wall. Ria muttered darkly as she tried to shake some water out of her hair.

"Peeves is so much funnier when he's not dumping water on me." Phae said ruefully as she grinned. Ria nodded, and the three walked on.