The First Trial

"I think you could be a little bolder."

In Hogwarts's Headmaster's Office, the portrait of Headmaster Armando Dippet crouched beside a knight's portrait with an excited look on his face, as though he were eagerly awaiting something.

"Anyway, we're only portraits. Why be so restrained? It'd be best if you made those spikes twice as long."

"But if they get any longer, the morning star will turn into a flail." Kyle picked up the palette again. "Wouldn't that be a bit too cumbersome?"

"Doesn't matter. As long as it's satisfying." Another large-nosed wizard squeezed over. "I've always wanted to try a weapon like that. Go ahead and paint it."

Kyle nodded and traced over the spikes again with his wand.

Magical portraiture was something Kyle had found on a shelf in Dumbledore's office. He had only flipped through it out of curiosity, never expecting there to actually be a book on the subject.

Simply put, one ground special herbs and minerals into pigments, used a wand as a brush, and embedded the paint into the canvas with runes.

Portraits of people required an additional step, which was also the most difficult part. Decorative items, however, were not nearly so troublesome. Anyone with a basic grasp of alchemy could get the hang of it in a few days.

And all the minerals and herbs he needed could be found right here, in the storage room in the corner.

The only difficulty was artistic skill.

Kyle's was fairly average. What he painted looked more like graffiti and seemed utterly out of place against the rest of the portrait.

Fortunately, he knew his own limits. Rather than painting directly onto the headmasters' portraits, he had gone outside, found a random knight's portrait, and carried it in.

Though the knight himself was unwilling to