Spellbound → Hermione Granger [1] ✔

I 06 I Casting Spells

~*~

The next morning, Alexander roused to soft sheets; his body was accustomed to Eliot's early wake-up call, even on the weekends. The rest of his Housemates were all fast asleep on their beds. Ron snored unattractively and shuffled around. Rubbing his eyes open, Alexander dragged his feet out of bed and picked up his watch: it was 6:30. Recognising his chance to practice some spells, Alexander grabbed his wand, along with a spellbook, out of his trunk.

He perched against his bed – already made, of course, as he hated being messy – and opened the book on the simplest spell – Lumos, the wand lighting spell. He cleared his throat, then muttered the incantation; a bright, blueish light lit up the room. Someone groaned, and he quickly uttered the counter-spell, Nox, which caused the light to disappear. Alexander blinked. He didn't expect to achieve the spell on his first try, but perhaps it may just have been a fairly easy spell. Deciding that this must have been the case, he tried the levitation charm, a challenging spell for any first-year new to magic. He glanced at his robes which were packed neatly in his trunk and pointed his wand at them, taking a deep breath. Similarly to the previous spell, he spoke the words, Wingardium Leviosa, this time with a swish and flick of the wrist, as was stated in the book. He watched in amazement as the robes lifted into the air, following the movements of his wand. Unfortunately, the robes were not held up for too long and tumbled back inside the trunk after a few seconds.

He did this with other spells in the books including the unlocking charm, the hot-air charm and the cleaning spell. He noticed that the spells worked usually on the first try, but he couldn't maintain it for long. He even attempted a second-year spell, the packing charm, in which he sorted his trunk, and managed on the first try. Alexander was mystified. Why was it easy for him to do the spells? The magical theory books indicated that it was difficult for young witches and wizards to achieve even the simplest spells on the first attempt because their magic has not been used. The longer a wizard practised their magic, the stronger and easier it becomes to do spells quickly over time. Then why did it work for him? Alexander certainly had not been doing magic for all of his life. Well, not consciously that's for sure.

A wave of exhaustion suddenly overwhelmed him, as if he'd run a mile without stopping. He decided to take a hot shower – one of his favourite activities – to relax his muscles. The light had seeped into the room from the tower window, indicating that it was properly morning.

After he was finished with his wash, he started to rearrange the contents of his trunk, without magic this time. This habit allowed him to prepare mentally for the day and caused him to feel relaxed. In London, he wouldn't even let Eliot organise the belongings in his wardrobe; it was a job strictly for him.

A loud yawn sounded from one of the beds. Dean Thomas stretched ungracefully and got out of his bed.

'Alright,' he greeted Alexander, who had finished organising by this point and had worn his school robes.