From the past era... Chapter-VI

Chapter – VI

The “LUMOS” Charm

The ground outside looked green & was bathed in a golden sunlight. A faint streak of sunlight illuminated the dark brown panel of the large window of the ancient charm classroom, just beside the sit. A small wooden hut was in view with a slender wisp of flameless smoke, curling up from the very chimney of that hut. The occupant of the hut is Hagrid, the giant man, who rescued the first years from the train & lead them to the Hogwarts castle through a traditional boat ride. He was coming out of his hut & was going towards the vegetable patch, just right side of the hut. The vegetable patch looked a bit unusual, there were pumpkin like orange orbs, scattered everywhere, along with occasional patches of green plants & some unusual looking reddish carrot like structures. Those orange orbs were simply enormous in size, seemed like a right size pumpkin for a giant man like Hagrid.

“Fang …oi …careful you don’ wanna trod over them now…ca’ful.” Hagrid bellowed as a big dog came out of the hut, minutes later & followed Hagrid, wagging its tail frantically. Hagrid leaned down & patted the dog on its head, made the dog growl loudly.

“AAh Goo’boy Fang.” Hagrid said affectionately & immediately slipped in a particular nasty bit of dung & ended up flat on his back on the field, smashing two of the pumpkins beneath himself. He swore loudly. Regulus chuckled.

“Mr. Black. What exactly do you find so very amusing?” prof. Flitwick, the charm professor floated to him. He was a tiny professor, hardly taller than 3 and a half feet from the ground & always preferred to perform a particular impressing bit of “levito Floata” charm on himself so that he could float & monitor the class from a good height, during his lessons. He happened to be the head of the Ravenclaw House, as Regulus remembered being told at the beginning of the class, this morning. Prof. Flitwick was good known for his nice & cheerful mood.

Regulus jumped & unintentionally knocked the inkpot on his desktop. With a casual flick of his wand Flitwick cleared of the mess almost immediately. Regulus looked apologetically to the prof. & said nothing.

“Pay attention please.” With these words prof. Flitwick floated away towards his teaching desk. Regulus sighed in relief. He glanced around the class. This was his first class in Hogwarts. “Charms” Slytherin & Gryffindor together. He was sitting with the boy from his dorm, who shouted at both of him & Aelger earlier in the morning. His name was Huncel Nueduck but preferred to be called as Hans. He saw Aelger smirked audibly as prof. Flitwick floated away. Regulus was a bit too occupied with him to actually bother it. He looked away from him & before fixing his gaze towards the prof., for a brief moment he searched for Stephanie in the classroom. He found her within a moment, sitting with a very pretty & blonde Gryffindor girl on the second bench & was surprised to see that she was staring at his direction. As soon as their eyes met, Stephanie hastily turned her gaze to look at prof. Flitwick. Regulus frowned. He couldn’t figure out the look in Stephanie’s eyes. But there was something in the stare that made him feel unsure. He didn’t know whether it was pity or loathing or if possible may be concern. But it was definitely not a blank one. He didn’t feel like talking to her since the event of the great hall. He didn’t dare to ask what his brother & his Gryffindor mates told her & Rick, in the fear of hearing something negative. Well, who was he kidding? That’s bound to be NEGATIVE. He was a Slytherin, a sly Slytherin & he knew perfectly well that his brother loathed this house the most & when his brother met his eyes, for the first time, after his sorting, as he remembered earlier this morning, that one look, devoid of its usual warmth & recognition told him clearly that his brother also became distant with him.

’He probably thought that I am going to be turned out like the rest of the noble Black family.’ thought Regulus sadly. But he had no choice. Now he was almost certain that Stephanie & Rick might want to end their friendship with him. He seemed to like both of them & started to think them as his friends. ‘So foolish of me’, he thought. But with this sadness he discovered that he liked a Gryffindor & a Ravenclaw in the first place, not a Slytherin & before the great hall incident, both of them probably thought him as their friend too. He inwardly felt good that he was more like his brother than the rest of the family. A smile crossed his face at this very thought & feeling light he concentrated on his lesson.

“Now students, if you pair up, we can practice the “LUMOS” charm with our wands & I want two pairs in each row….settle down now quickly quickly… ” Prof. Flitwick monitored the class, as the whole class moved to find their partners. Regulus automatically turned to Hans. Before he could ask Hans, he got heavily interrupted by a figure with a lot of wild shoulder length black hair, which took a slight reddish brown colour as sunlight fell on them. Stephanie settled down beside him & gave him a quick smile.

“You want to be my partner.” Regulus sounded surprised.

“Why? Is there a problem? ” Stephanie’s eyes were fixed on Regulus.

“No…..no of course not…I thought you might have…”

“And why do I have problem?” Stephanie sensed the unsaid word of Regulus.

“Oh! Come off it Steph! Have you forgotten the great hall incident?” Regulus was carefully avoiding her eyes, which were uncharacteristically intense.

“In fact, I so haven’t. But that’s not your fault. You didn’t insult me. It was that complete cow Bellatrix.” 

“Well…” Regulus looked up before continuing “…she gave you the idea of a true Slytherin & perhaps, I don’t know…. what Sirius might have said to you after…”

“Oh, did she? I was under the impression that you gave me the idea of a good friend, Slytherin or not, I honestly couldn’t care less. I have my own mind to think you know & I can judge pretty well. So if you are finished with your idiotic blabbing can we please proceed to learn the charm or I rather say, can I help you with the charm as I am sure that you haven’t listed to a word of prof. Flitwick & know nothing about the theory part too.” Stephanie stopped to take a sharp breath.

Regulus felt warm & light inside. But still he asked, rather stupidly though, “What about Rick?”

Steph raised an eyebrow. “What about her?”

“Er… does she think like you too?”

“Hmmm… let’s see…” Stephanie made a mock thinking face “…Well, I am afraid that she will continue to bother you all along & you will have to deal with her usual annoyance for a long long time.”

Regulus positively beamed & at last he felt the enormous pressure, tightened across his chest loosened its grip & that at last he could breathe freely again. He had smiled a true smile, that he hadn’t, since he set foot in Hogwarts.

“Thank you…both of you.” He mumbled.

“I won’t say you’re welcome” Stephanie winked at him smiling.

Then they both concentrated on the charm & Regulus found to his astonishment that without knowing the theory & just knowing the incantation of the spell he managed to conjure a successful “LUMOS” charm. He turned to see that Stephanie too was successful in conjuring the charm & a beautiful soft light had been issued from both of their wand tips, illuminating the surroundings. Stephanie’s light was bright silver with a soft blue tint & his own “LUMOS” was a  golden light with a fiery reddish glow in it.

“Whoa…see Steph I’ve done it without your help.” Regulus said happily.

“Hmmm…you think so?”

“Yeah…why …you don’t? You haven’t told me any theory. All you did, to come here & made me feel better & well…happy. What is its theory anyway?”

Stephanie smiled, “Just that.”

“Just that? Means…. making me feel me better…?” Regulus looked confused.

“And clearing your mind.” Stephanie concluded.

“Ah! Got it. Brilliant” Regulus exclaimed with pleasure.

It was only a few of them in the class, who had successfully conjured the “LUMOS” charm and Regulus was delighted to see that Aelger was not among them. He further noticed that each person’s “LUMOS” had got a different colour in it. At the end of the lesson, only five students have managed to master the lighting spell followed by the extinguish spell “NOX” , which extinguished the light from their wand tip & each had earned ten points for their respective houses including Regulus & Stephanie, which made both of them even happier & they left the classroom together. It was Herbology for Regulus & Transfiguration for Stephanie. So At the second floor corridor  He bade her goodbye & headed towards the greenhouse, outside the castle, for his first Herbology lesson.