15. "Liften Separatis Crotchum" is not a real spell.
"Gabriel?" my newly-eleven-year-old brother Adam asks.
"Yeah, kiddo?"
"Teach me a spell."
I wait. Three... two... one...
"Please?" she adds hastily. "I wanna be ahead of everyone else."
"Well... Okay," I say, pretending to give in. I take Adam to the garage, where Mum and Dad won't hear us. "Pay attention," I say sternly.
Adam nods.
I take out my wand. "Liften Separatis Crotchum," I say, waving my wand and casting lumos nonverbally.
"Wow!" Adam says. "Can I show Sam?"
"Sure, kid. It might not work the first time - keep trying!"
On the train that year, nearly every first year is trying to cast the spell.
Sorry for the long wait between updates! Hopefully they'll be a bit quicker for a while! Also, I really didn't like this one very much, which is part of the reason I haven't updated for so long. Now it looks like it'll be a while - again - because now I have to look up Chick Tracts and watch it (? is it a show?) so I can write the next chapter.