Spell Exploration

"Hello."

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

Linley noticed the style of his robes, the main colors being yellow and black. He was a Hufflepuff student.

"Hello," Linley replied. "I thought I was the earliest student to wake up at Hogwarts. Are you... practicing spells here?"

The boy seemed quite pleased. Finding someone to chat with on a dreary morning was a happy thing.

"Yes, I'm previewing the first spell Professor Flitwick is going to teach us this year, the Universal Unlock Charm."

"Isn't that a spell taught in the second year?"

Linley recalled flipping through the textbooks for higher years when he bought his own at the bookstore. He had some impression of this spell.

The boy gave Linley an apologetic smile.

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

Hearing his name, Linley paused. He remembered this person as a tragic figure in the original story who met an early end, and whose girlfriend later moved on to someone else.

Cedric looked strangely at Linley, who had suddenly zoned out.

"Is something wrong?"

Linley snapped back to attention, shook his head, and didn't show any abnormality.

"Sorry, I was just spacing out. My name is Lynn Belloc, a new student in Slytherin."

"A new student? Are you up this early to get familiar with Hogwarts?"

"I was preparing for my morning run, but... you said you were practicing the Universal Unlock Charm just now?" Linley asked with great interest.

Cedric explained to him, "It's a spell used to remove the effects of other spells, and it can generally be applied to most incantations."

"Do you need a sparring partner?" Linley asked with a smile. "Its effect is to remove the effects of other spells, so you'll need a spell to take effect first."

Cedric looked at him hesitantly.

"Aren't you a new student? You shouldn't have started learning spells yet, right?"

Linley didn't explain. Instead, he drew out his wand, pointing the tip at the shoes Cedric was wearing, which were covered in dew and mud.

"Scouring Charm."

Cedric looked amazed at his shoes, which were as clean as new. He praised him sincerely.

"That's a great cleaning charm. Even some young wizards in my year might not use it as well as you."

"Thank you," Linley accepted his compliment calmly. "So, am I qualified to be your sparring partner now?"

"Isn't this a bit too much trouble for you?" Cedric had a good-natured personality and felt like he was taking advantage of Linley.

"It's fine, I need to practice spells anyway. Of course, if you're willing to point out my shortcomings when I cast spells, that would be even better," Linley said smoothly. This was exactly what he had been waiting for Cedric to say.

"I wouldn't say 'point out,' but I can certainly give you some advice." Poor Mr. Diggory didn't realize he had fallen step by step into Linley's trap.

"You connect the pronunciation of your incantation too quickly, with almost no pause in between. You probably haven't had anyone teach you, and you're figuring it out from books, right? That's actually very dangerous.

Professor Flitwick tells the story of a wizard named Baruffio every year. He once mispronounced an 'f' as an 's' and ended up lying on the ground with a wild ox standing on him. The professor's point was that pronunciation is very important for spells; even a single syllable error can cause irreversible consequences.

Your pronunciation for the cleaning charm just now was already slightly off from the standard pronunciation. Although it didn't affect the spell's effect, it could still cause unknown deviations in the spell."

"Scourgify."

Cedric also demonstrated the cleaning charm on Linley's shoes. His pronunciation was indeed slightly different from Linley's just now.

Linley pinched his chin, seriously recalling Cedric's pronunciation.

"So, you mean there should be a slight pause between 'scourg' and 'ify'?"

"Yes," he nodded.

"Not only that, but also your wand movement. Do you remember what the book says? 'A smooth, curved arc like the letter S.' Did your gesture just now tilt upwards too much when finishing the S?"

Linley tilted his head in thought.

"It seems so. I might have brought my usual handwriting habits into it."

He said shamefully, "I thought I had cast this spell perfectly, but I didn't expect there to be so many flaws."

Cedric shook his head. "It's already very good. Most new students can't even cast a single spell when school first starts. You're already ahead of many people."

"Then let's start now." Linley took this sparring session seriously because Cedric had genuinely helped him a lot, deepening his understanding of spells.

His original plan was to use the excuse of sparring to get Cedric to guide his spellcasting.

After all, he was a champion who would eventually represent Hogwarts in the Triwizard Tournament. His achievements would undoubtedly be among the top of his peers.

But he hadn't expected to gain so much.

Even though it was just a cleaning charm, magic was like mathematics; knowledge was interconnected and consistent. With a little bit of inference, it could solve many of Linley's current casting problems and provide a layer of security for the stability of his spellcasting.

Linley didn't like owing people favors. Even when Professor Fox first offered to sponsor him, he had refused.

However, he had to admit now that he indeed owed Cedric a favor.

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

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

They agreed to meet again at the same time tomorrow. Linley even thought he might change his daily morning run to practicing spells with Cedric after classes.

Not many young wizards were in the Great Hall for breakfast.

Everyone had gone wild for the entire summer break, and for the first couple of days of school, they definitely hadn't broken their habit of sleeping in.

The young wizards of each Hogwarts house had a strong sense of sticking together. Even for their regular meals, they basically sat at the house tables assigned during the Opening Feast, and it was rare for anyone to switch tables.

So, after arriving at the Great Hall, Linley walked straight towards the Slytherin table.

As he passed the Gryffindor table, two arms suddenly wrapped around his shoulders from either side.

It was the Weasley twins.

I made up the pronunciation for the Scouring Charm myself, but the s-shaped wand movement is from the original work. My English is terrible, and I don't know if splitting the pronunciation of that word like this is okay. If any readers notice something wrong, please leave a comment so I can correct it. Thank you very much!