Charms Class

Anduin had made a rough circuit of the castle and returned from the Entrance Hall to the Great Hall. A few people were already having breakfast there, and Anduin realized he was hungry too, so he joined them.

"Anduin, I thought you weren't up yet. I can't believe you're already here. I even waited for you in the Common Room this morning, trying to be nice." Vivian had just come in through the door as Anduin sat down. Seeing him already at the table, she walked over with a wounded look.

"Sorry, I got up really early, so you didn't find me. You don't need to wait for me in the mornings from now on. I'm used to getting up early," Anduin explained to Vivian, looking a little apologetic.

"I'm not waiting for you again. What if you get up at the crack of dawn, wander off, and get lost? We're lucky our Common Room leads straight to the Great Hall. Otherwise, with how huge this castle is, I might not even have found this place." Vivian rambled on.

"Don't worry. I've already made a rough circuit of the castle, and I found our classrooms too. Just follow me in a bit." Anduin lowered his head and quickly finished his breakfast.

As they chatted, a large flock of owls suddenly flew into the Great Hall overhead, dropping letters. Anduin received several: one each from Lily, Sirius, and Tom. They were mostly congratulating him on starting school, while Sirius anxiously asked which house Anduin had been sorted into—whether it was Gryffindor.

Sorry to disappoint you. If Sirius finds out I was sorted into Slytherin, will that guy disown me? Anduin thought wryly.

After putting away the letters, Anduin headed to the Spell Classroom with Vivian.

When he entered, Anduin realized they were having class with Gryffindor. He was deeply puzzled. Slytherin and Gryffindor had always been at odds, to the point that their rivalry even affected the younger students after Sorting.

Anduin spotted Charles, in his Gryffindor uniform, already seated and waiting. They exchanged nods, and Anduin found a seat on the other side. The bell rang soon after.

The Charms professor, Filius Flitwick, was a tiny man. He was supposedly a half-blood, part human and part Goblin, and during lessons he even had to stand on a pile of books so the students could see him. And so Anduin's first class at Hogwarts began.

The material taught in Charms seemed very basic to Anduin. They covered only a dozen or so Normal Spells in the whole year. In the first lesson, Professor Flitwick mostly explained some basic principles of magic without even moving on to casting spells, which greatly reduced Anduin's interest in the class. After all, he had already mastered nearly all the spells taught in the first year.

Anduin barely listened for the rest of the lesson. Instead, he took out some parchment and started replying to the friends who had written to him.

His letter to Tom contained little more than a few greetings and a quick reassurance that he was doing fine.

In his letters to Lily and Sirius, he included greetings and told them he'd been sorted into Slytherin. He also gave them a rough account of what he'd seen and heard since joining the house, shared his worries about what lay ahead, and asked the two older friends, who had already graduated, for advice.

After carefully writing several letters, Anduin realized Professor Flitwick had finally finished explaining the magical theory. In the second lesson, they at last began learning how to cast spells.

The first spell they learned was the Levitation Charm, the one Anduin knew best. Professor Flitwick spent a long time explaining the hand movements and incantation before finally having everyone practice on a feather, trying to make it float.

The young wizards around him began practicing. Most of them couldn't even make their feathers move the slightest bit after their first attempt.

"Wingardium Leviosa, Wingardium Leviosa..." Vivian chanted the incantation with a terrible accent, frantically waving her wand at the feather. By the end, she was so worked up that her face had turned red.

Anduin rolled his eyes. Had this girl put all her talent into gossip? Professor Flitwick had demonstrated it so clearly, and she still managed to get the incantation wrong.

Nearby, Sampur Travers managed to make his feather float after a few tries. It wobbled as though it might fall at any moment, but when he saw he'd succeeded, he gave the others a smug smile.

Anduin saw that Professor Flitwick had stepped down from the platform and was making his way around the classroom. He couldn't blatantly slack off, so when the professor came close, he had to take out his wand and point it lightly at the feather. It floated steadily in front of his wand, perfectly motionless.

Oh no. I forgot to say the incantation.

Anduin knew the spell far too well and had cast it by habit. He hadn't made a single hand movement, and he hadn't said the incantation either.

"An excellent Levitation Charm, Mr. Wilson. You've performed it beautifully." Professor Flitwick seemed not to notice that Anduin hadn't spoken the incantation. He walked right over and praised his spell. "Two points to Slytherin! That was nearly a perfect cast. Everyone, take a look at Mr. Wilson's work."

At his words, everyone in the classroom looked up at Professor Flitwick and Anduin. Quite a few young wizards watched Anduin's spell with envy, though some of the looks were far less friendly.

Anduin awkwardly accepted Flitwick's praise. He hadn't used any hand movements or said the incantation, and he had no idea whether anyone had noticed.

"Did you just not say the incantation?" Vivian leaned close to Anduin and whispered.

"Shh." Anduin shushed Vivian, telling her not to say it out loud.

Anduin didn't want to stand out too much in class. The more attention he attracted, the more danger he'd be in.

Apparently, Professor Flitwick really hadn't noticed anything unusual about Anduin. He continued around the classroom, correcting and guiding the other students' hand movements and incantations.

Anduin gave up pretending to practice and turned to help Vivian instead. After he corrected her hand movements and incantation, she finally managed a reasonably complete Levitation Charm just before the lesson ended.

"That's all for today. For homework, write a six-inch essay about the Levitation Charm." Professor Flitwick paused, then added,

"Mr. Anduin Wilson, please stay behind for a moment."

So the professor hadn't missed it after all. Anduin told Vivian not to wait for him, then stayed alone in the classroom.