Spell Research

"Hello."

The boy practicing spells by the Black Lake greeted Lynn first.

Lynn noticed the style of his robes. Their main colors were yellow and black; he was a Hufflepuff student.

"Hello," Lynn replied. "I thought I was the earliest-rising student in all of Hogwarts. Are you here... practicing spells?"

The boy seemed quite pleased. Finding someone to chat with on such a dull morning was something worth being happy about.

"Yes. I'm getting ahead on the first spell Professor Flitwick plans to teach us this year: the Universal Unlock Charm."

"Isn't that a spell second-years only start learning?"

Lynn thought back. When he had bought his textbooks at the bookstore, he had also flipped through the books for upper-year students, so he vaguely remembered this spell.

The boy smiled apologetically at Lynn.

"Sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Cedric Diggory, a second-year Hufflepuff student."

Hearing his name, Lynn froze for a moment. He remembered that this was a tragic figure who had died early in the original story, and even his girlfriend had later fallen for someone else.

Cedric looked strangely at Lynn, who had suddenly gone blank.

"Is something wrong?"

Lynn came back to his senses and shook his head without showing anything unusual.

"Sorry, I got distracted just now. I'm Lynn Belloc, a first-year Slytherin student."

"A first-year? Did you get up so early to familiarize yourself with Hogwarts?"

"I came to prepare for a morning run, but... you said you were practicing the Universal Unlock Charm?" Lynn asked with great interest.

Cedric explained, "It's a spell used to remove the effects of other spells. It generally works on most charms."

"Then do you need a practice partner?" Lynn asked with a smile. "Its effect is to remove the effects of other spells, so you need another spell to take effect first."

Cedric looked at him hesitantly.

"Aren't you a first-year? You probably haven't started learning spells yet, have you?"

Lynn did not explain. Instead, he drew his wand and pointed its tip at Cedric's shoes, which were covered in dew and dirt.

"Scouring Charm."

Cedric stared in amazement at his shoes, now as clean as new, and praised him sincerely.

"That was an excellent Scouring Charm. Even wizards in my year might not be able to cast it better than you."

"Thank you." Lynn calmly accepted the praise. "So, am I qualified to be your practice partner now?"

"Wouldn't that be too much trouble for you?" Cedric was the kind of person who was too nice, and he felt that he was taking advantage of Lynn.

"It's fine. I need to practice spells too. Of course, it would be even better if you were willing to point out any shortcomings in my casting." Lynn seized the opening; this was exactly what he had been waiting for Cedric to say.

"I wouldn't call it guidance, but I can certainly offer you some advice." Poor Mr. Diggory had no idea that he had already fallen step by step into Lynn's trap.

"You connected the pronunciation of the incantation too quickly, with almost no pause in between. No one taught you, did they? You figured it out yourself from a book. That's actually very dangerous.

Every year, Professor Flitwick tells first-years a story about a wizard named Baruffio. He once pronounced the f in a spell as an s, and ended up lying on the ground with a buffalo standing on his chest. The professor wants to tell us that incantations are very important in spellcasting. Even a mistake in one syllable can cause irreversible consequences.

The incantation for your Scouring Charm just now had already strayed a little from the standard pronunciation. It didn't affect the spell's effect, but it could still cause some unknown deviation in the magic."

"Scourgify."

Cedric also demonstrated the Scouring Charm on Lynn's shoes. His pronunciation was indeed slightly different from Lynn's just now.

Lynn pinched his chin and carefully recalled Cedric's pronunciation.

"So I need to leave a slight pause between 'scourg' and 'ify,' right?"

"Yes." He nodded.

"Not only that, but your wand movement as well. Do you remember what the book said? 'A smooth, curved arc like the letter S.' When you finished that S just now, didn't you curl it upward too much?"

Lynn tilted his head back in thought.

"I think so. I may have carried over my usual habit of writing letters."

He said shamefully, "I thought I had cast that spell perfectly, but I didn't expect it to have so many flaws."

Cedric shook his head. "It's already good enough. Most first-years can barely cast a single spell when school starts. You're already far ahead of many people."

"Then let's begin." Lynn began taking this sparring session seriously, because Cedric had truly helped him a great deal and deepened his understanding of spells.

His original plan had been to use the excuse of being Cedric's practice partner to have Cedric guide him in spellcasting.

After all, Cedric was a future Champion who would represent Hogwarts in the Triwizard Tournament. His grades were certainly among the very best of his year.

But Lynn had not expected to gain so much.

It was only a Scouring Charm, but magic was like mathematics: knowledge was interconnected and consistent. With a little extrapolation, he could solve many of the problems in his current casting and add another layer of assurance to the stability of his spells.

Lynn did not like owing people favors. Even when Professor Foxx had first offered to support him, he had refused.

But now, he had to admit that he truly owed Cedric a favor.

He could slowly think about how to repay it later, but for now, he had to take this practice session seriously.

Lynn and Cedric practiced spells by the Black Lake for an hour before parting ways to have breakfast and begin the first day of classes at Hogwarts.

They agreed to meet again at the same time tomorrow. Lynn even felt that he could replace his daily morning run with post-class spell discussions with Cedric.

There were not many young wizards in the Great Hall for breakfast.

Everyone had gone wild at home all summer, so they definitely had not yet broken the habit of sleeping in during the first few days of school.

The young wizards of Hogwarts's various houses had a strong tendency to stick together. Even at breakfast, lunch, and dinner, they basically sat at the long tables assigned to their houses during the opening feast, and rarely switched tables.

So after Lynn entered the Great Hall, he headed straight for the Slytherin table.

Just as he passed the Gryffindor table, two arms suddenly draped themselves over his shoulders from either side.

It was the Weasley twins.

I made up the pronunciation breakdown for the Scouring Charm's incantation myself, but the S-shaped wand movement came from the original work. My English is terrible, so I don't know whether that word can actually be split for pronunciation that way. If any readers notice it's wrong, please leave a comment so I can fix it. Thank you very much!