Chapter 36: Flame-Freezing Charm
"Hagrid, you can make bookshelves, right? My dorm desk is missing one." After his initial frustration faded, he remembered the other reason he'd come.
"Of course, what kind do you want?" Hagrid waved his hand magnanimously. "I'm very good at making these sorts of things. Look at all this furniture. I made it all myself."
"That's wonderful!" Ethan exclaimed with delight. He took out a piece of parchment and roughly sketched a design. "That's about it."
After examining the sketch, Hagrid declared it a piece of cake. "Give me three days. I'll go to the Forbidden Forest and select some suitable wood for you. What do you think of cedar?"
"I don't know much about wood, but as long as it's sturdy, that's fine. Also, could you help me buy some portable fire pots? I plan to use them to keep Little Black warm when I keep him in my dorm."
"Sure, I'll bring some back for you when I go to Hogsmeade," Hagrid promised grandly.
With everything arranged, Ethan prepared to leave. Just as he reached the door, he suddenly remembered something and turned back.
"Hagrid, could you please make a bookshelf? I'm planning to give it to Hermione. I think she'll need one too."
"Of course, no problem."
"Thank you very much, Hagrid."
After he left, Hagrid muttered to himself, "Hermione? A girl? If Ethan and Hermione can use them, then Harry might need one too. Since we're making them anyway, let's make four, one for Harry's friend too."
Hagrid stared at the little black dog still lying by the fireplace. The creature was sticking out its tongue in the heat, but Hagrid fed it some food it didn't really want to eat before heading out into the Forbidden Forest to find suitable trees.
After returning to the castle for lunch, Ethan went to the library with Hermione to study. He planned to give her the bookshelf as a surprise gift after Hagrid finished making it.
"Try this. It's Hagrid's rock cake." In the library, Ethan pulled out one of the stone-hard cakes and secretly stuffed it into Hermione's mouth, curious to see her struggle to bite into it.
Hermione glared at him, spat the cake into her hand, stuffed it into her bag, and showed no intention of eating it, dashing his hopes.
Mrs. Pince walked past them, glancing at him several times, and he immediately fell quiet.
Suddenly, he stood up and walked over to Mrs. Pince. "Mrs. Pince, do you have any books on fire-related spells in the general section?"
Watching her walk past had triggered a realization. As the librarian, she knew the collection better than anyone. He'd been foolish to ignore this living encyclopedia and try to find the right spell on his own.
"You're a first-year. Fire magic isn't something you should be learning right now." Mrs. Pince studied his young face and flatly refused his request.
"Madam, please. Professor Flitwick said I might have some talent for fire magic, but I don't know any spells yet. I want to learn one to test if I really have the aptitude. Please help me." He clasped his hands together and pleaded.
Mrs. Pince stared at him for a long moment, searching his expression for any sign of deception.
He was telling the truth, or close enough to it. There was a slight omission in his explanation, but nothing significant enough to worry about. His expression remained sincere, without a trace of falsehood.
After a long moment, apparently satisfied that he wasn't lying, Mrs. Pince finally spoke.
"Third shelf on the right in bookcase fifteen, you'll find The Complete Book of Common Household Spells. Second shelf in bookcase twenty-three has Common Travel Spells."
"Thank you!" He smiled, expressed his sincere gratitude, and took the two worn books off the shelf.
Judging by the covers alone, neither book showed much sign of use. They looked worn only because they had been published so long ago.
He blew the dust off and quickly started searching through the index.
Finally, in The Complete Book of Common Household Spells, he found Incendio, a popular household charm, and in Common Travel Spells, he found the advanced Flame-Freezing Charm.
He was overjoyed and quickly copied down the two incantations, carefully studying their pronunciation, wand movements, and other details.
Not only that, he caught Hermione's eye and passed her a parchment, asking her to copy down the two spells as well.
Hermione had her own plans, but, unable to resist Ethan's constant pleading, she took his parchment and copied them down.
Ethan was delighted that she had agreed to his request, so he wrote on the parchment: "After dinner, let's go to the lake to practice these two spells. Professor Flitwick said I have a talent for fire magic, and I want to see if it's true."
When Hermione read what he had written, her curiosity and competitive spirit were piqued. She paused what she was doing and began concentrating on studying the two spells.
When dinner came, Ethan had gone over the two spells so many times, he felt he had them memorized. He put the two books back on the shelf, noted their location, and planned to read these unusual books again when he had time.
He couldn't wait to test whether he could cast them. He grabbed some food haphazardly, ate it quickly, and ran to the Gryffindor table, staring intently at Hermione without saying a word.
"You!" Hermione had been eating slowly and leisurely, but she felt her face flush under his intense stare, noticing the strange looks from others around her.
Hermione was self-conscious enough already. She couldn't stand the way others looked at her, so she'd already sent Ethan back to the Slytherin table for dinner.
For the same reason, she lowered her head and whispered to Ethan, "You go to Black Lake first. I'll be there in three minutes, okay?"
"Okay, and you absolutely cannot be late!" Knowing it was too much to ask Hermione to be as indifferent to other people's opinions as he was, Ethan went ahead first.
Those were agonizing minutes. Ethan stood by the Black Lake, suppressing his urge to start casting immediately, anxiously awaiting Hermione's arrival.
He gazed at the castle gates, watching for her.
After Hermione left the castle, she saw a figure by the lake waving and jumping around in her direction. When she got closer, she realized it was none other than Ethan.
She couldn't help but quicken her pace, shortening the agreed-upon three minutes to about two and a half.
//=================//