Thanks to his job as a librarian, Brian had met nearly half the students at Hogwarts in a single day-whenever students wanted to take books out of the library, they had to fill in their details on a borrowing card.
Just as Madam Pince had predicted, the number of students in the library on Saturday was pitifully small-the poor tables and chairs had once again been left without company, silently awaiting the next Friday before a Quidditch match.
Brian, however, thought Quidditch was not the only reason fewer students were visiting the library that day-after a night of sharply dropping temperatures, a thin layer of ice had formed over the Black Lake that morning. The Giant Squid's toy car had now become an icebreaker, and the students unanimously agreed that the trails the Giant Squid left across the lake held some peculiar occult significance. They had all gone to watch.
Once they actually arrived, though, few of them continued analyzing the trails-the shards of ice pushed ashore had become props for contests of endurance. They never tired of competing to see who could keep a piece of ice from melting in their hands the longest.
On this day off, aside from the Quidditch players, most of the students who could still resist the joys of playing and choose to spend their time reading were older students who had little choice in the matter-
Especially the fifth-years who had to sit their O.W.L. exams-they liked borrowing a whole pile of books at once, stacking them into little mountains on their tables, then burying themselves among those mountains to study, as though this would make it easier for knowledge to enter their brains.
It was worth mentioning that Brian could now roughly tell what year a student was in from a few small details-for instance, most of the students whose faces were flushed scarlet, looking as though they were locked in a struggle with their own respiratory systems, were sixth- or seventh-years. They needed to master the technique of Nonverbal Spellcasting over those two school years-nonverbal spells.
The technique behind nonverbal spells was far too appealing to Brian-even if it might weaken a spell's effects. Ancient magic had no specific incantations, so he had to think up a word on the spot every time he cast it. Whenever he remembered imitating a rooster's crow outside the Chamber of Secrets, he could not help feeling a little embarrassed.
"Ah... how embarrassing..." Remembering that scene again, Brian rubbed his face to distract himself.
The technique for nonverbal spells was not written in the Book. He would have to learn it properly from scratch-Brian made up his mind to take advantage of today's unusually light workload and improve his spellcasting while he had time to slack off. After all, practicing this sort of spell required no sound, so he could do it in the library.
And so he once again turned to the knowledgeable Madam Pince for help.
"Nonverbal spells? I'm afraid I can't be much help..."
Madam Pince said, looking a little troubled,
"My wand is made of pine, which is extremely sensitive to nonverbal spells, so I've never been able to master the technique particularly well. Rather than asking a teacher with only a partial understanding like me, you would be better off going to Professor Flitwick."
Just as Brian thought his plans to practice nonverbal spells would have to be postponed for a day, he saw Professor Flitwick and Professor Babbling enter the library together-they were discussing something in low voices. Professor Flitwick seemed to have put forward an argument, while Professor Babbling kept shaking her head in disagreement.
"Sorry for the trouble, Chet, but don't let those two start arguing in the library."
Madam Pince's sharp gaze fixed on the pair. She treated everyone who entered the library equally, professor or student alike. Whoever dared make a fuss would find her watching them.
"You can ask about nonverbal spells while you're at it, but remember to keep your voices down."
"Happy to help." Brian thanked Madam Pince and was about to take two boxes of Creamy Almond Toffee over to the professors, but before he could approach them, they came over themselves, glaring at each other.
Professor Flitwick's head was exactly level with the ink bottle on the desk. He set aside his displeasure and lowered his voice.
"Irma, Chet, I'm sorry for the trouble, but we need your help with something-Bathsheba and I were just about to visit the Restricted Section to find a book on the use of nonverbal spells. I know it's in the Restricted Section, but I can't remember roughly where..."
What a coincidence-nonverbal spells were precisely what interested Brian most at the moment.
"The third cabinet, sixth shelf from the top, fourth book from the left," Madam Pince said calmly. "That book can be rather naughty. You won't be able to manage it on your own-Chet, take this. If the book misbehaves, teach it a little lesson."
She handed Brian a rubber baton and gave him a meaningful look-Leave things here to me. Go and learn about nonverbal spells, but make absolutely sure they don't start arguing. That was roughly what she meant. Brian gave her a grateful look in thanks.
"Creamy Almond Toffee from Honeydukes. Just the right amount of sweetness." Brian handed them the sweets and squeezed the rubber baton in his hand. "May I ask what you were discussing just now?"
Professor Babbling tucked the sweets into her breast pocket and rambled on,
"Thank you... I like sweets... they always save my life when my blood sugar gets low... We were discussing whether nonverbal and spoken spells can be used at the same time-I believe it's possible..."
"No, Bathsheba, nonverbal spells cannot be used at the same time as spoken spells-the speed and strength of magical flow differ from spell to spell. The magic in our bodies has only one brain, and that brain can only accept one command at a time. At most, you can bring the second command forward a little, but you cannot execute two commands simultaneously!"
Professor Flitwick contradicted Professor Babbling without hesitation.
"Ah... thank you, Brian. Sorry-I tend to get carried away when discussing my field."
Brian gestured reassuringly at Madam Pince, whose eyes were on them, and said with a smile,
"Ah... it's all right. I completely understand... but we'd better keep our voices down."
He was glad to have learned a little more about Professor Flitwick-a Ravenclaw student had told him yesterday that, although Professor Flitwick was very small, he was an extremely gentle Head of House.
He kept lots of small, delicious cupcakes in his drawer. If he noticed you were feeling down, he would find an opportunity to invite you to watch a cupcake perform a comical dance that would make you laugh. If you wanted, you could even choose the best dancer and eat it in one bite.
That fit Brian's impression of Professor Flitwick from their afternoon tea perfectly, but the sheer force of presence that had just burst from the little Charms master made him seem like a giant five meters tall-a heavyweight who could knock Hagrid unconscious with one punch.
Even so, Professor Babbling remained as unshakable as a towering reef at sea. She adjusted her glasses and said steadily,
"Filius, what you said is entirely correct-but only if there is a single kind of magic in your body. If someone has two kinds of magic in their body at once, then they can breathe fire and spit water at the same time. The book states it perfectly clearly."
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