Scourgify

"You asked a professor?" Michael said in surprise. "After taking Professor Snape's class, you still dared to ask a professor?"

Theo smiled. "Professor Sprout is different. She's especially kind. Besides, I thought that instead of practicing in secret, it would be better to get a professor's permission first, right? And practicing spells isn't a bad thing."

"And then? Professor Sprout gave us a place?" Wade asked.

"Yes." Theo nodded. "An abandoned empty classroom. Professor Sprout said it would definitely suit our needs."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go! We can check it out together!" Michael said cheerfully—he had long since stopped wanting to remain in the suffocating library.

Just as Wade was about to leave, he suddenly turned back to look.

In the enormous library, Hermione sat alone with her head bent over a book. She looked rather lonely.

Wade remembered that, at this time, Hermione seemed to have no friends at all.

"Wait a moment," he told the others. "I'm getting one more person."

The books on the table were lightly tapped twice. Hermione looked up to see Wade smiling at her. "Hermione, we're going to practice spells together. Do you want to come?"

"Hogwarts was the earliest Magic School to be founded. A long time ago, perhaps all underage wizards in Europe attended Hogwarts. But later, other Magic Schools were established one after another, and many wizards chose to move to the United States. Their children attended Ilvermorny School."

As they climbed the stairs, Theo said breathlessly, "So... Hogwarts can normally accommodate one or two thousand students and over a hundred professors. But now there are only two or three hundred people, so many classrooms have been left unused. For the students' safety, the school hid most of those abandoned empty classrooms."

"The one Professor Sprout told us about is an unused Charms Class classroom. It should be quite spacious," Ryan added. "It's behind the portrait of Miss Claudia holding an umbrella on the third floor."

The group searched along the corridor for a while before finally finding the portrait in the hallway near the West Tower.

—On a prairie covered in flowers, the wind blew softly. A blonde girl held a white umbrella patterned with pink flowers, gazing sorrowfully into the distance with her side turned toward them.

Holding his Wand, Ryan tapped the left side of the portrait three times and spoke the password: "Sunshine, golden daisies."

The girl lifted her skirt and stepped aside. The portrait opened, and they filed inside. Once it closed, the blonde girl turned in another direction beneath her umbrella, and a fine rain began to fall within the painting.

No one knew how long this classroom had been abandoned. A thick layer of dust covered the floor, tables and chairs stood scattered about haphazardly, and several old books and discarded parchments lay strewn across the ground. Against one wall stood a row of wooden shelves, all empty, with several sections even broken. Targets used for spell practice were piled in the corner, most of them damaged as well.

"Well, it looks like we'll have to do some cleaning before we practice." Hermione rolled up her sleeves. "Who's going to fetch a basin of water?"

"Me!" Theo volunteered, raising his hand. "I'll find some cleaning tools first."

"Why not ask the school's House-elves to clean it up for us?" Michael said lazily. "You know Hogwarts keeps a group of House-elves, right?"

Ryan had already bent down to set an overturned chair upright.

"Wait a moment, everyone." Wade stopped Theo, who was about to head out, and asked the others, "We came here to practice spells—so why don't we start by cleaning this classroom?"

"What? No way, right?" Michael stared at him in disbelief.

"Scourgify, Reparo. We'll start with those two spells." Wade looked at Ryan. "And to move the tables and chairs, we can only use the Levitation Charm."

"All right! It's a big project, but it sounds fun." Theo said with a grin.

Ryan thought for a moment, then knocked over the chair he had just set upright. He waved his Wand. "Scourgify!"

One table became a little cleaner, but obvious grime still remained in the cracks.

Wade blinked.

"Ryan, say it again," Wade said.

So Ryan used the Scouring Charm once more, but the effect was not very noticeable.

This time, Wade was certain he had seen it clearly—when Ryan waved his Wand, Wade vaguely saw another arc. The two overlapped, similar yet different, and made him clearly realize why Ryan's spell had failed to achieve its proper effect.

It was like playing a game with a cheat program that calculated the optimal route and attack angle for him.

"Ryan, when you cast the spell, do this—raise your Wand slightly higher, and make the ending more decisive." Wade demonstrated once. "Also, pronounce the 'gi' in Scourgify more lightly. Try again."

Ryan paused—for perhaps Hufflepuffs naturally trusted Ravenclaws' brains more, he raised no objections and simply waved his Wand according to Wade's revised version. "Scourgify!"

The table immediately became sparkling clean, as though even flies could not stand on it. Even the floor beneath it became clean along with it.

Ryan's eyes widened. He looked at his Wand, then at Wade, and murmured, "How did you do that?"

The others reacted much the same way. They all gathered around to inspect the table. Theo even bent down and touched it over and over, exclaiming, "Ryan! I never knew! You're actually a Charms genius!"

"No—it wasn't because of me..." Ryan said somewhat blankly. He waved his Wand again, but because his mind was too unsettled, the result was worse than before.

Wade said nothing. He cast the spell himself as well, but he did not see any additional arc—just as his eyes could only see the names above other people's heads, but not his own.

But his experience guiding Ryan had made him clearly understand what was correct, so his own spell was flawless, and it cleaned an even larger area.

After some thought, Wade had the others use the Scouring Charm as well. As expected, he once again saw fine golden arcs. Even Hermione's spell was not flawless, merely closer to the standard than the others'.

He instructed them one by one, bringing each of their spells closer to perfection. During the process, his own understanding gradually deepened. Later, with a casual flick of his Wand, he could cast a perfect Scouring Charm without even needing to say the incantation.

If his Golden Finger had a name, Wade felt that he might have acquired a "Good Teacher System"—with one glance at the students' heads, he would know whom to call on; even if a group cast spells at the same time, he could tell who was working seriously and who was merely going through the motions; during one-on-one instruction, he could make targeted adjustments and let students master a spell in the shortest possible time.

Unfortunately, his Golden Finger was a taciturn one. Wade had no idea whether it possessed undiscovered functions waiting to be developed, so he could only explore it slowly.