Chapter 20 Spell Exploration
"Hello."
The boy practicing spells by the Black Lake greeted Lynn first.
Lynn noticed the style of his robes; the main color was yellow and black, indicating he was a Hufflepuff student.
"Hello," Lynn replied, "I thought I was the earliest student up in all of Hogwarts. Are you... practicing spells here?"
The boy seemed quite pleased; finding someone to chat with on a dull morning was a joyful thing.
"Yes, I'm previewing the first spell Professor Flitwick will teach us this year, the Universal Breaking Charm."
"Isn't that a spell that second-year students learn?"
Lynn recalled that he had flipped through older textbooks while buying books at the bookstore, and he vaguely remembered this spell.
The boy smiled apologetically at Lynn.
"Sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Cedric Diggory, and I'm a second-year Hufflepuff student."
Hearing his name, Lynn paused for a moment. He remembered that this guy was a tragic character who died early in the original story, and even his girlfriend later fell for someone else.
Cedric looked at Lynn, who was suddenly lost in thought , with a strange expression.
"Is there a problem?"
Lynn snapped out of his reverie, shook his head, and didn't show anything unusual.
"Sorry, I was just spacing out. My name is Lynn Bellok, and I'm a new Slytherin student."
"A new student, huh? You got up so early to familiarize yourself with Hogwarts?"
"I came to prepare for my morning run, but… you said you were just practicing a universal anti-charm?" Lynn asked with interest.
Cedric explained, "It's a charm used to negate the effects of other spells; it generally works on most spells."
"Do you need a sparring partner?" Lynn asked with a smile. "Its effect is to negate the effects of other spells, so you need a spell to take effect first."
Cedric hesitated, looking at him.
"Aren't you a freshman? You shouldn't have started learning spells yet, right?"
Lynn didn't explain, but instead drew his wand, pointing the tip at Cedric's shoes, which were covered in dew and mud.
"Brand new."
Cedric looked at the clean, brand-new shoes with amazement and sincerely praised them.
"A wonderful cleansing spell. Even junior wizards of my level might not use it better than you."
"Thank you." Lynn accepted his praise readily. "So, am I now qualified to be your sparring partner?"
"Isn't this a bit too much trouble for you?" Cedric was a kind-hearted person, and he felt he was taking advantage of Lynn.
"It's alright, I need to practice spells anyway. Of course, it would be even better if you were willing to point out my shortcomings in using spells." Lynn said smoothly; he was waiting for Cedric to say this.
"I wouldn't call it guidance, but I can certainly offer some advice." Poor Mr. Diggory was completely unaware that he had fallen deeper and deeper into Lynn's trap.
"Your spell pronunciation was too fast, with almost no pauses. You must have figured it out yourself from a book, without anyone teaching you, right? That's actually very dangerous.
Every year, Professor Flitwick tells the new students the story of a wizard named Balfio, who once mispronounced the 'f' in a spell as an 's,' and ended up lying on the ground with a bison standing on him. The professor wanted to tell us that spells are extremely important to magic; even a single syllable error can have irreversible consequences.
Your Cleansing Charm just now deviated somewhat from the standard pronunciation. Although it didn't affect the spell's effect, it could still cause unknown deviations in the spell's power."
"Scourgify,"
Cedric demonstrated the Cleansing Charm on Lynn's shoes, his pronunciation slightly different from Lynn's.
Lynn pinched his chin, carefully recalling Cedric's pronunciation.
"So, there needs to be a slight pause between scourg and ify, right?"
"Yes," he nodded.
"Not only that, but also the gesture you make when you wave your wand. Remember what the book says? 'A smooth, curved arc like the letter S.' Did your gesture just now curve upwards too much when finishing that S?"
Lynn tilted his head back, thinking.
"It seems so. I might have brought in my usual letter-writing habits,"
he said sheepishly. "I thought I had perfected this spell, but I didn't expect it to have so many flaws."
Cedric shook his head and said, "It's already good enough. Most freshmen can't even use a single spell when they first start school. You're already ahead of many people."
"Then let's begin." Lynn took this sparring session seriously because Cedric had really helped him a lot, giving him a deeper understanding of spells.
His original idea was to use the sparring as an excuse to have Cedric guide him in spells.
After all, he was going to be a future warrior representing Hogwarts in the Triwizard Tournament, so his performance would definitely be among the best in his class.
But he didn't expect to gain so much.
Although it was just a Cleansing Charm, magic is like mathematics; the knowledge is coherent and consistent. With just a little application of the principles, he could solve many of the problems Lynn was currently facing in casting spells, and it also provided a layer of assurance for the stability of his spellcasting.
Lynn didn't like owing favors to others. Even when Professor Fawkes first offered to sponsor him, he refused.
However, he now had to admit that he did owe Cedric a favor.
He could think about it later, but for now, he had to take his sparring partner seriously.
...
Lynn and Cedric practiced spells for an hour by the Black Lake before parting ways to have breakfast and begin their first day of Hogwarts classes.
They agreed to meet at the same time the next day, and Lynn even thought he could replace his daily morning run with after-class spell exchanges with Cedric.
There weren't many young wizards having breakfast in the Great Hall.
Everyone had spent the summer vacation partying, and these first two days of school were probably still in the habit of sleeping in.
The young wizards from each house at Hogwarts had a strong sense of community; even for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, they usually sat at the long tables assigned to each house at the opening banquet, rarely crossing tables.
So, after arriving at the Great Hall, Lynn walked straight towards the Slytherin table.
Just as he passed the Gryffindor table, two arms suddenly wrapped around his shoulders from both sides.
They are the Weasley twin brothers.
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(End of Chapter)