Sally Anne Perks was an intelligent girl.
One thing she understood about magic was that you had to guess, test, and revise to consistently improve results.
On the night of Tuesday October 7th, 1997, at 11 P.M. Hogwarts time, Sally went up to room of requirement alone because she wanted to try some things out.
She started off her session this night by retrieving her wand from her right hand pocket with her right hand and pointing it straight forward.
"Lumos," cried Sally and the typical amount of light was emitted from Sally's wand.
"Nox," said Sally to put the light out.
"I wonder," thought Sally to herself, "If magic is stronger if the spell caster is naked. Isn't it possible that clothes, like walls, could act as an obstacle to the effect of spells?"
So, Sally took off her uniform, socks, and shoes, and was now standing naked and barefoot in the Room of Requirement.
Sally now pointed her wand straight ahead again and once again called out, "Lumos."
Sally could now clearly see that her wand was twice as strong as usual.
"That's very interesting," observed Sally, "The light was twice as bright when zi cast the spell naked. I do have to identify if clothes in general or socks and shoes are a bigger impediment to magic."
So, Sally put her socks and shoes back on and dealuminated her wand to prepare to try the spell a third time.
On her third attempt, when Sally pointed her wand straight in front of her and piped up "Lumos," Sally noticed that her third attempt had produced the exact same amount of light as her second attempt.
"Well," reasoned Sally, "It seems as though socks and shoes don't make much of a difference by themselves. To be sure, I need to perform the spell barefoot but otherwise clothed like normal."
Sally performed "Nox," a third time and took her socks and shoes off again but put her uniform back on.
Sally reached out her wand for a fourth time and called out, "Lumos," with the result that the fourth attempt emitted the same amount of light as her first attempt.
"Generally speaking," reasoned Sally, "Magic is stronger if the spell caster is naked. Clothing must have a dulling effect on magic. Socks and shoes don't seem to make any difference though. I'll need to test my hypothesis on another spell to confirm my theory though."
Sally now ended the Lumos spell for the final time on this night and proceeded to take a quill out of her left hand pocket with her left hand and throw it on the ground.
She put her socks and shoes back on and pointed her wand down at the quill.
"Wingardium Leviosa!" tried Sally.
The quill rose about five feet off the ground.
Sally ended the spell and now took off her socks and shoes.
Sally threw the quill back onto the floor.
Pointing her wand downward, Sally made her barefoot but still clothed attempt at "Wingardium Leviosa!" and it proved to be a case of second verse same as the first.
"Well, " thought Sally as she returned the quill to its original position on the ground and readied her wand for her third try at levitation, "Let's see if going naked makes a difference."
So, Sally stripped herself naked and tried "Wingardium Leviosa!" for a third time.
This time, the quill rose ten feet off the ground and its hovering status seemed to be twice as strong as before.
"It's pretty clear now," concluded Sally, "That casting spells naked increases their strength."
Sally put her socks and shoes back on and made an attempt with socks and shoes on but otherwise naked and got the same result as the totally naked attempt.
"That's it," said Sally confidently, "Socks and shoes don't make any difference, but in general magic is stronger if the spell caster is naked."
...
Next day, Sally had asked Neville, Ginny, and Luna to meet her in the Room of Requirement at 11 P.M. Hogwarts time.
The nanosecond the four of them were safely in the Room of Requirement, Sally informed Neville, Ginny, and Luna, "Last night I came up here by myself and did some experimenting. "
"Of what kind?" inquired Neville.
"I had a theory that magic might be stronger if the spell caster was naked."
"So, " guessed Ginny, "You attempted spells with clothes and naked to see if you could ascertain any difference?"
"Yes," confirmed Sally, telling Neville, Ginny, and Luna exactly what she had done the previous night and what the results were.
"You had some good thoughts and did some good experimenting," cooed Luna proudly, "But your experiments were incomplete."
"OOH!" guessed Sally suddenly, "I need to have people try these experiments to make sure stronger spell casting while naked isn't just a me thing. "
"Yes," confirmed Luna.
So, Neville, Ginny, Luna, and Sally all tried the same things on this night that Sally had done herself the night before.
Neville, Ginny, Luna, and Sally got the same results as Sally had gotten the night before.
"I think we can conclude that socks and shoes make no difference but that going naked increases the potency of magic in spells," said Sally clearly. "OH!"
"What is it, Sally/" asked Ginny.
"We need to know if things like hats and gloves make a difference," said Sally suddenly.
"Good point," said Neville.
"Oh, look," said Luna suddenly, pointing to a table that had not previously been present but was carrying four hats and four pairs of gloves, "The Room of Requirement has provided us with what we need to investigate further."
Neville, Ginny, Luna, and Sally repeated each of the prior experiments three more times, once with hats on, once with gloves on, and once with both hats and gloves on.
The quartet of leaders found that hats were a mild deterrent to magic.
In the Lumos experiment, the presence of hats had slightly reduced the amount of light emitted from their wands in both the clothed state and the naked state compared to no hats.
In the quill experiment, the inclusion of hats resulted in the quill rising four feet off the ground while clothed and nine feet off the ground while naked.
Meanwhile, the wearing of gloves proved to be a major impediment to magic.
Gloves produced noticeably dimmer light from the Lumos spell both clothed and naked.
In the quill levitation experiment, the introduction of gloves had cut the rise of the quill to two feet while clothed and seven feet while naked.
When the hats and gloves were both worn, the Lumos spell became as dim as a bedroom nightlight.
And adding hats and gloves together sunk the rise of the quill to one foot off the ground with clothing and six feet off the ground naked.
"I think we have our answers," said Sally crisply, "Gloves and hats do both affect magic, but gloves are a bigger impediment."
"That makes sense when you consider that wands are held with the hands," said Luna wisely.
"So," summarized Ginny, "Clothes are a substantial obstacle to magic, gloves are a major obstacle to magic, hats are a minor obstacle to magic, and socks and shoes have no effect on magic whatsoever."
"Sometimes you need powerful magic and sometimes you need muted magic," said Neville thoughtfully.
"Good point," agreed Sally, "You can combine clothes, hats, and gloves in various ways to control the magnitude of your magic."
"We'll incorporate these findings into our lessons going forward," said Luna contently.
"I'm very proud of you Sally," said Neville warmly, "I appreciate that you are taking it upon yourself to try things out."
"Sally has been an invaluable member of our leadership quartet," said Ginny adoringly.
"Sally Anne Perks is a diamond in the rough," cooed Luna.
"Thank you," smiled Sally.
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