Maybe it was because Ever wasn't used to the magical community quite yet, but somehow it seemed very wrong to have a professor that had white hair when he didn't appear to be older than twenty-five, at the most. Professor Black's hair was long, flung over his shoulder in a messy braid, and behind red-rimmed glasses his eyes were the brightest blue she'd ever seen.
"Now," said the professor, flopping into his seat and kicking his feet up onto his desk. "I've never been a fan of books, or of studying, and this is the first day so classes are meant to be relatively simple." Professor Black seemed restless; he fidgeted with his wand, couldn't stop looking around the room, and picked lint off of his robes as he spoke.
"So I guess a useful spell would be better for you guys," he mused, more to himself than the rest of the class. "And that's not too difficult, not really...right!" Professor Black clapped his hands together and jumped to his feet, putting his wand behind his ear. "Alright, first half of class will be theory, second half will be practical. You will need the theory to practice." At this, he looked at Fred, George, and Lee, a little smile playing across his lips; apparently Professor McGonagall had already sent warning.
"So this spell's name is Lumos," the professor began, flicking his wand at the chalkboard. A piece of chalk picked itself up and began scribbling across it in a strangely pretty scrawl. Ever watched it for a moment before picking up her quill, wondering if the handwriting would've been different if Professor McGonagall had written by magic instead of by hand. For the next half hour, the first years took notes—or pretended to, in the case of Lee and the twins—and Ever found herself growing nervous. She'd read about the lumos spell a bit, in her Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1, but...well, this would be the first spell that she would be casting consciously, wouldn't it? She'd been too scared to pick up her wand after she'd gotten it from Ollivander's, too scared to try it out for herself, but she'd seen little bits of magic since she'd been here, and they hadn't looked too hard...but what if she messed up? What if she wasn't as good as the other first years? She copied the notes mechanically, but none of them really made an impression, and far too soon the professor was calling the class to attention.
"Right then," he said, sliding his wand behind his ear. "I guess you lot should get into pairs, then. You can choose your own, but make sure you get work done." Again, he eyed the Gryffindor boys. Ever hopped to her feet and turned around to see the twins pairing up—of course—and Lee looking a bit lost.
"Well," she said, biting down on her thumbnail, "we could work together, if you like. I'll probably be useless, really."
"No you won't," said Lee easily, moving around the desk to sit beside her; Angelina and Alicia had moved to the other side of the desk. "It's a simple spell, really. Seen my mum and dad do it a million times."
"Right." She turned her eyes to Professor Black. He was scanning the room, but when his eyes fell on her, he smiled. She managed a quick smile in return, but couldn't meet his gaze. "Right," Ever repeated, turning back to Lee and raising her wand. It felt both foreign and right in her hand, and she still wasn't quite sure how she felt about that, but she raised the stick—because some part of her was still convinced that that was all her wand was, just a twig cut from a tree that someone had wittled into something gorgeous but impractical—and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath.
"You can do this," said Lee, and when she opened her eyes, he was smiling at her so encouragingly that she believed it. She glanced at her parchment, scanned the notes she didn't remember writing, and brushed her hair out of her face.
Visualize the light at the end of your wand. Give it a light flick, picture how bright you'd like the light to be, and say the encantation. There was more to it than that—history of the charm, when it was invented, why it was invented, who had popularized it—but that wasn't important for casting the spell. Spell. Mum, she began a quick note mentally, I'm really going to do this.
"Lumos," she whispered.
For the half second between whispering the word and the tip of her wand lighting up, she thought it hadn't worked. Then the wand did, beautifully, and the light flickered like the candle flame she'd been envisioning, and she almost screamed, she was so happy. She looked at Lee, and she knew that the grin on her face was huge and matched only by the absolute disbelief, but she didn't care, because she, Ever Moore, really was a witch, and this wasn't all a mistake, and she had done magic! Apparently she looked pretty funny, because Lee's laughter filled the room. She felt her face heating up when Fred and George looked around and immediately whooped loudly for her small victory, but when she glanced at Professor Black, he was smiling right back at her.
It wasn't long before everyone had lit their wands and the students were filing back into their seats. Professor Black leaned against his desk, his arms folded over his chest, and slowly touched eyes with each student in the classroom.
"I'm sure those of you that have read up on this little charm are wondering why Professor Flitwick didn't teach you this," he said, and paused for a moment. Ever got the impression that the pause was more for dramatic effect than anything else, but she liked the professor and the effect immensely; it was fitting of someone teaching a subject with such a foreboding name and a curse on the position. "Most of you will know about the war, and may remember bits of it yourself. In times of darkness...well," sighed the professor, shaking his head, and when he looked back at them his easy smile was back in place. "Now that's passed. The point is, this lesson was a bit more symbolic than practical for this particular subject. A very wise man once told me that happiness can be found in the darkest of times, if one can remember to turn on the light." Professor Black glanced at his watch. "It's a bit early, but you all can go ahead. Practice that spell, it will be on the first exam." There was a chorus of "yes sir"s, and the professor waved his hand. Darkness fell in the classroom. A Ravenclaw girl uttered a little squeak, and a few wands—Ever's included—lit the way as they made their way to Charms.