Charms Class

At around half past eight, Albert's three roommates finally shuffled into the Great Hall, bleary-eyed.

"Morning!" Lee Jordan sat beside Albert, stuffing a huge bite of sausage into his mouth as he mumbled, "I feel like my legs are about to break."

"It's not that bad." Albert closed his copy of Nineteenth Century Charms Selection and put it back in his bag, then patted Lee on the shoulder. "You just overdid it. How about I take you to the school hospital and have them give you something for it?"

"Better not!" At the mention of the school hospital, Lee Jordan instantly wilted, afraid Albert might actually drag him there.

The twin brothers sitting beside Lee Jordan could not help laughing. Fred, eating a golden fried egg, suggested, "I'm telling you... give your legs a few hard slaps. It'll ease the soreness a lot."

George added, "I can help you. For free."

"Are you two even human?" Lee Jordan glared at the twins in annoyance, then lowered his head and focused on his breakfast.

"Stop messing around and eat. The first class is about to start. I don't want to be late on our first day of school," Albert reminded them.

While they were eating, a broad, red-haired boy approached. He sat down beside the twins and asked with a smile, "Getting used to school life?"

"Charlie, the Quidditch team starts training this early in the morning?" George stared at his outfit in disbelief.

"Just a simple warm-up. After all, nobody's touched a broom all summer." Charlie said matter-of-factly, "This year, we have to win the Quidditch Cup."

Albert, sitting nearby, could not help shaking his head. "Kid, you really are too young. Don't you know raising a death flag gets you killed faster?"

"By the way, Charlie, does the team still need people? Can we join the Quidditch team? George and I could be Beaters. You know what we can do."

"Don't even think about it. You've only just started school. You can't join the Quidditch team until your second year." Charlie said sternly, "If you pass the trials next term, I'll let you join the team, but not this term."

"There are always exceptions, right?" The twins winked at their second eldest brother and continued, "First-years can join too, as long as they're good enough at Quidditch."

"Who said that?" Charlie Weasley snapped. Even as Quidditch captain, he could not just do whatever he pleased.

After all, the Quidditch captain had to answer to all of Gryffindor. Losing a match was one thing, but if they lost badly because of personal favoritism, he would never be able to hold his head up in the House again.

The twins suddenly looked at Albert in unison.

"Why are you looking at me?" Albert asked in confusion.

Charlie followed the twins' gaze toward Albert, only to become even more bewildered. He had no idea what those two mischievous troublemakers were up to.

"Player trials ended yesterday. You can try joining the team next year. Fine, you can be reserve Beaters this year, but don't expect to get into any matches." Charlie Weasley cleared his throat, making it clear that he would not show favoritism to his own brothers over this.

In truth, the team's current Beaters would graduate next year, so training replacements early was not a bad idea. Charlie also knew George and Fred's abilities. At the very least, they had more potential than the others.

"So we can train with the team too?" The twins' eyes shone with barely concealed excitement.

"You should be free this afternoon, right?" Charlie thought for a moment. "This afternoon... let me see. Come to the Quidditch pitch at four-thirty. I'll assess you first. And no causing trouble."

"We know," the twins said together, nodding.

Before the bell rang for class, they hurried out of the Great Hall and headed for the Charms classroom on the fourth floor. Since they had come by once the day before yesterday, the four of them found the classroom easily this time.

Gryffindor's Charms class was held together with Hufflepuff students. By the time they entered, quite a few students had already arrived.

Shanna, Angelina, and the others had arrived early as well and were chatting with people at a desk near the front.

All the good seats in the front had already been taken, so the four of them could only pick seats near the back. Albert did not mind. He sat with Lee Jordan, while the Weasley twins sat beside them.

Professor Flitwick entered the classroom when the bell rang a second time. The Charms professor was indeed surprisingly small, and he probably did have some goblin blood, just as the rumors claimed.

Because he was too short, Flitwick had to stand atop a stack of books to reach the lectern during class. Yet no one cared, nor did anyone mock his height.

Of course, everyone was at least a little curious about the professor's height.

Before class began, Professor Flitwick took out the register and started calling names, giving Albert the immediate sensation of being back in university attendance checks.

In their first Charms class, the tiny professor demonstrated the wonders of magic. He made several books on the desk leap up and dance a cheerful tap routine, then dance higher and higher until they formed a line before the students, dancing wildly to some rhythm. All they lacked was a beautiful piece of music.

When everyone's attention had been drawn to the dancing books in midair, the books returned to normal and fell neatly back onto the desk in front of Professor Flitwick.

A burst of applause followed. Every student was captivated by the magical sight and could not wait to start learning Charms.

"To achieve that level, you still have a great deal to learn," Professor Flitwick said after the applause died down. "Now, open your textbooks to page three. You must first master some Charms Theory. It will help you understand and use charms better in the future."

For most of the following lesson, Professor Flitwick explained Charms Theory. After having the students take a great many complicated and abstruse notes, he repeatedly stressed the importance of wand movements and correct spell pronunciation.

While Albert was concentrating on taking notes, he felt Lee Jordan elbow him several times from beside him.

"What is it?" Albert turned his head helplessly and asked in a low voice.

Lee Jordan pointed at the twins at the neighboring desk. They were pointing at Albert's quill.

There was no need to ask. Albert already knew what they meant.

Those two had actually come to class without quills. Unbelievable.

Albert placed his quill on the desk and softly recited the Copy Charm.

"Make one for me too, while you're at it." Lee Jordan scratched the back of his head.

"You didn't bring one either? Why didn't you say so earlier?"

Lee Jordan chuckled. "I was afraid of interrupting your notes. Once you were done, I was going to borrow them and copy a set anyway."

Not only did Albert's mouth twitch, but even Angelina and Aaliyah in front of them gave them strange looks.

Professor Flitwick had naturally noticed as well, but he said nothing. He continued explaining parts of Charms Theory that were not in the textbook.