Chapter 39: Willpower, Emotion, and Magic
While Sean was contemplating the Sugar Quill suddenly thrust upon him, and Justin was wallowing in despair, the owl portrait spoke again, its voice still huffy.
"Little wizard! Hmph! Lucky little wizard! Hurry up and go inside! Don't let Lady Ravenclaw catch you!"
With another flap of its wings, the crack reappeared, revealing the sky-blue door. Hermione's eyes widened.
"Thank you," Justin said, his dejected expression instantly replaced by sincere gratitude.
Sean, however, was thoughtfully examining the Sugar Quill.
Inside the hidden room, Hermione's focused expression still held a trace of puzzlement from the owl's strange behaviour. Sean took out his notebook just as Justin spoke quietly.
"You know, paintings must get lonely too, right? Mr. Owl is stuck behind that wall all the time. I bet he can't visit other portraits like everyone else. No wonder his spectacles are always crooked."
"Mm," Sean acknowledged.
"Oh, Sean, if I couldn't talk to anyone, I think I'd go mad," Justin added, his pale grey eyes looking unusually somber.
"What are you planning to do?" Sean asked, having anticipated this line of thought.
"What if we moved him?" Justin whispered.
"We could try," Sean agreed, though he doubted it would work. One of the most enchanting things about Hogwarts was its multitude of secrets. Even Dumbledore didn't claim to know them all. The owl portrait was clearly one such secret. Sean suspected it served a purpose, much like the Fat Lady guarding the entrance to Gryffindor Tower. Such guardians couldn't simply be relocated. If it were that easy, the professors wouldn't have left this potentially useful classroom abandoned for so long.
Still… a small part of him hoped. As he'd said, there was no harm in trying.
Sean turned his attention back to his notebook, reviewing the notes he'd copied from Libatius Borage's hidden message.
The Boil-Cure Potion is one of the simplest draughts, yet frequently brewed by North American wizards.
I have altered its final incantation and gesture to greatly increase the success rate while significantly improving the potion's quality.
Before attempting this, ensure you have mastered the modified ritual and possess the mental fortitude to stay awake for three consecutive days.
Increased success rate? Improved quality? Sean felt his breath quicken.
I understand the excitement any potioneer must feel upon reading this. But I must caution you once more:
Ensure you make no mistakes during the ritual. Otherwise, you can only pray to Merlin that you do not open your eyes and see me standing over you.
Typical wizarding dark humour, Sean thought dryly.
He began practicing the modified gestures and mentally reciting the new incantation, committing them to memory. Beside him, Justin and Hermione resumed their own practice with the Levitation Charm.
Outside the dusty window, owls took flight from the castle, carrying letters across the darkening landscape. Weekends were always their busiest time, ferrying messages of longing back and forth, weaving threads of connection across distances. Twilight began to settle over Hogwarts.
The magical lantern cast flickering shadows across Justin's frustrated face.
"Oh, Professor Flitwick said the feather has to spin around completely to show you've mastered the basics," he groaned, utterly exhausted. The feather stubbornly refused to rotate, even though he was following Sean's instructions perfectly.
Even Hermione looked discouraged. While their progress was impressive for new students, compared to the boy who wielded the Wand-Lighting Charm like a blinding curse, they both felt hopelessly behind.
Across the room, Sean finished memorizing the ritual. He flipped to the last page of Borage's notes:
When a wizard harbours strong emotions towards the potion they are brewing—be it joy, worry, or sadness—it can drastically affect the outcome. This is why focus and calm are paramount for a potioneer.
However, magic always has two sides. Certain emotions, properly channelled, can also yield unimaginable power.
This is what the modified ritual aims to achieve.
Libatius Borage hadn't just left behind a few modified recipes. Perhaps, as he claimed, this truly was a groundbreaking discovery. The ritual, Sean understood, required not just intense focus, but also the deliberate channeling of a specific, powerful emotion—similar, yet distinct, from the emotions needed for Transfiguration or the Wand-Lighting Charm.
"So, what emotion does the Levitation Charm require?" Sean murmured, the question from his last Charms class returning to him. He looked at the feather on the desk. Why always a feather? Is it just because it's light?
"No," he realized aloud. "It's because a feather symbolizes release—release from gravity, freedom from bonds…"
"Win—gar—dium—Le—viosa!"
[You have practiced the Levitation Charm once to the Expert standard. Proficiency +50]
A faint light flashed from his wand tip. The feather drifted upwards, spun gracefully in the air several times, and then, like a bird testing its wings, began to dance rhythmically in the space above the desk.
Justin stared, utterly dumbfounded.
"He just muttered something I couldn't even hear, and he can do that?" he stammered. "Sometimes, Sean is exactly like the wizards in stories—mumbling a few words and completely breaking the rules of magic I thought I understood."
Hermione watched the dancing feather, then frowned down at her own wand before letting out a small, frustrated sigh. She glanced at Sean's focused profile, and her own expression hardened with renewed determination.
The feather slowly descended. Sean raised his wand again.
"Win—gar—dium—Le—viosa!"
[You have practiced the Levitation Charm once to the Expert standard. Proficiency +50]
The moment the notification chimed, a wave of exhaustion hit him. He guided the feather gently back into his palm and looked up to see Justin's awestruck face and Hermione's slightly flushed, embarrassed one.
"Just as Professor Flitwick explained with the Wand-Lighting Charm," Sean said, sharing his insight, "incorporating the right emotion makes the spell more powerful. Lumos requires a longing for light. The Levitation Charm requires a feeling of release, of breaking free from gravity… I think that's why we always practice with a feather."
Justin looked completely bewildered. Is that how it works? Why didn't I think of that? He and Hermione immediately began scribbling down every word Sean had said.
Sean, meanwhile, retrieved his History of Magic notes from his bag. Tomorrow, Saturday, he would have the entire day to complete his timeline and create his own definitive outline of magical history. He would do the same for Astronomy; while a complex field, the first-year requirements were manageable.
By the end of the weekend, he would have secured four pieces of his scholarship puzzle: Charms, Transfiguration, Astronomy, and History of Magic.