Elias pushed open the door to the club room and peered inside. Empty. Good.
The afternoon light made the room look different than usual - brighter, less threatening. New practice dummies stood against the far wall, replacing the ones that had been destroyed.
He slipped inside and let the door swing shut behind him. His bag felt impossibly heavy on his shoulder, weighed down by that massive textbook Professor Bourne had dropped on his desk weeks ago. He'd been carrying it around ever since, not sure what else to do with it.
He chose a table near the windows and unpacked his things. Charms textbook, parchment, three quills that desperately needed cutting properly, and a small bag of Peppermint Toads. His penknife was getting dull, and the tips kept coming out lopsided.
At least dinner would be decent tonight. Those few days of nothing but sandwiches had been miserable, but the house elves had sorted out whatever had gone wrong in the kitchens.
Maybe he should write another letter home. Dad would want to know how his studies were going, and Mum always asked about whether he was making friends. He could see Eamon across the Great Hall sometimes, laughing with his Gryffindor friends, but his older brother was too busy being a third-year to bother with his little brother. Edith would probably just make fun of him if she knew how badly his spells were going.
Pulling out his wand, he held it in his left hand and opened his Charms textbook to the Lumos section. The page was covered in his scratchy notes from class - wand movements, pronunciation, something about clear intention that he still didn't understand.
"Lumos," he said, following the wand movement exactly as drawn.
The tip flickered weakly - barely enough light to read his own handwriting. He frowned at his wand like it might explain what was wrong.
Professor Bourne's textbook sat heavy in his bag. He pulled it out and dropped it onto the table with a solid thump. Maybe it had something useful in it.
The afternoon light made the room look different than usual - brighter, less threatening. New practice dummies stood against the far wall, replacing the ones that had been destroyed.
He slipped inside and let the door swing shut behind him. His bag felt impossibly heavy on his shoulder, weighed down by that massive textbook Professor Bourne had dropped on his desk weeks ago. He'd been carrying it around ever since, not sure what else to do with it.
He chose a table near the windows and unpacked his things. Charms textbook, parchment, three quills that desperately needed cutting properly, and a small bag of Peppermint Toads. His penknife was getting dull, and the tips kept coming out lopsided.
At least dinner would be decent tonight. Those few days of nothing but sandwiches had been miserable, but the house elves had sorted out whatever had gone wrong in the kitchens.
Maybe he should write another letter home. Dad would want to know how his studies were going, and Mum always asked about whether he was making friends. He could see Eamon across the Great Hall sometimes, laughing with his Gryffindor friends, but his older brother was too busy being a third-year to bother with his little brother. Edith would probably just make fun of him if she knew how badly his spells were going.
Pulling out his wand, he held it in his left hand and opened his Charms textbook to the Lumos section. The page was covered in his scratchy notes from class - wand movements, pronunciation, something about clear intention that he still didn't understand.
"Lumos," he said, following the wand movement exactly as drawn.
The tip flickered weakly - barely enough light to read his own handwriting. He frowned at his wand like it might explain what was wrong.
Professor Bourne's textbook sat heavy in his bag. He pulled it out and dropped it onto the table with a solid thump. Maybe it had something useful in it.
Curiosity killed the cat...
that's why they have nine lives
