Chapter 7: Charms Class

The first year for the new students at Hogwarts began just like this, with Harry and Allen becoming the most conspicuous first-years.

Harry stood out because of his scar, while Allen was even more noticeable—on his third day at Hogwarts, he had randomly grown a pair of elk antlers, which no method could possibly conceal.

Allen had no choice but to steel himself and go to the Great Hall for meals, resulting in him becoming the focus of everyone's attention; the entire school now knew about Allen.

"Over there, look quickly."

"Where?"

"Next to the tall red-haired boy."

"The one wearing glasses?"

"Did you see his face?"

"Did you see that scar of his?"

As Harry entered the Great Hall for breakfast, these whispers continued to surround him; students stretched their necks to catch a glimpse of his true appearance, while also pointing and commenting on Allen sitting opposite him.

But Allen faced the breakfast before him with an unchanged expression, completely unmoved by it all.

Harry found the gazes of the crowd a bit unbearable and asked Allen for advice: "How do you manage to be so calm? You seem not to care at all about the attention others are giving you?"

"I worked at the Leaky Cauldron for four months; many people were curious about me too, so I've gotten used to this situation," Allen said calmly as he placed a piece of sausage into his mouth.

Harry thought for a moment and said, "I went to Diagon Alley with Hagrid before and passed by the Leaky Cauldron; how come I didn't see you?"

"During that time, I went to St. Mungo's for several days of follow-up examinations; by the time I returned, I found everyone discussing how Harry Potter had just visited, and I also felt regretful at not having seen our Savior. I actually understand them quite well," Allen said with a shrug.

"However, everyone's enthusiasm comes quickly and goes quickly too; after a few days, once people get used to your presence, they won't pay you so much attention. That's my experience!" Allen raised an eyebrow, his gaze falling onto Harry's plate.

"Let's hope so!" Harry muttered.

"Harry, can I trade my pumpkin pasty for your sausage?" Allen asked Harry after a moment of hesitation.

"Huh? Sure! But why?" Harry was a bit bewildered by this request.

"Today I randomly got a tongue; it seems to be from some kind of carnivorous animal. Based on my experience, in this condition, I won't be able to eat pumpkin pasties."

Saying this, Allen opened his mouth and stuck out a long tongue covered in barbs; the surrounding whispers suddenly ceased, only to immediately become even louder...

After finishing breakfast, Harry and his group headed to Charms class; the professor teaching Charms was an extraordinarily small wizard named Professor Flitwick, who had to stand on a stack of books during class just to reach the lectern. He took out the roll call list and began taking attendance; when he called Harry's name, he screamed with excitement, fell to the ground, and vanished from sight.

The first Charms lesson began amidst such chaos.

Professor Flitwick calmed his emotions, wiped the corners of his eyes with a handkerchief, and began the lecture.

"First, we must understand what a spell is. A spell is a controlled application of magic, generally used by wizards or witches, though sometimes other magical creatures use them as well. Spells are produced by incantations and may be accompanied by beams of magic; precisely because these beams exist, many spells can be dodged, or deflected by obstacles and other spells. The act of using a spell is usually referred to as 'to cast a spell'."

"Does any student know what the four elements of casting a spell are?" Professor Flitwick asked, looking at the students with an expectant expression.

Allen had just understood the question when he saw Hermione, sitting in the front row, raise her hand high into the air.

"Miss Granger, please answer," Professor Flitwick said happily.

"The four elements for a successfully cast spell are: specific wand movements, the correct incantation, the caster's subjective awareness of the spell's effect, and a certain degree of concentration from the caster."

Hermione stood up and answered crisply.

"Wow~ Perfectly correct! Five points to Gryffindor!" Professor Flitwick became even happier; Allen was slightly afraid he might faint from joy.

"Just as Miss Granger said, to successfully cast a spell, if even one of these four conditions is not met—for instance, if the caster does not use the correct wand movements during the process, does not chant the spell correctly, fails to concentrate, or does not have a clear image of the spell's effect in their mind—then the spell will not be successfully cast..." Professor Flitwick was about to continue when Hermione, sitting in the front row, eagerly raised her hand high again.

"Miss Granger, do you have another question?" Professor Flitwick asked, not in the least unhappy about being interrupted.

"I read in a book that some powerful wizards can cast spells silently and without a wand; in that case, they lack specific wand movements and the correct incantation, so how can they still successfully cast a spell?" Hermione stood up once more.

"I am very glad that my student can raise such a constructive question. Although this topic is slightly beyond the syllabus, I am prepared to briefly explain it. To correctly release a spell, these four conditions are mandatory! Silent casting and wandless casting merely transform one of the conditions into another form to satisfy the requirement; it is much, much more difficult than normal spell casting and very prone to failure. Therefore, only some powerful wizards can master them proficiently. Moreover, the scenarios where these two casting techniques are applied are relatively few, so Hogwarts will not arrange courses on silent spells before the sixth year, nor do we encourage everyone to practice them," Professor Flitwick answered patiently.

Allen quickly wrote down Professor Flitwick's words in his notebook.

"Therefore, everyone should still learn the normal method of casting spells well. The normal method is the simplest, fastest, safest, and most successful approach evolved over a thousand years, whereas the failure rates of those two other methods are much higher, and failed spell casting can bring about various unexpected consequences." As Flitwick said this, he quickly glanced at Allen.

"Next, I will discuss the basic characteristics of spells; everyone should take notes on this part."

"When casting a spell, it often manifests as a beam or energy ray emitted from the tip of the wand. These beams and energy rays come in a wide variety of colors, and their thickness, firing speed, duration, and the energy radiated outward all differ. Some spells have obvious identifying characteristics upon casting, such as producing smoke of a certain color. However, there are still some spells that are invisible to the naked eye after being cast, or even imperceptible to the body. Furthermore, some spells emit sound when cast, with a few accompanied by tremendous noise."

"Theoretically, magic itself has a time limit, so as a form of magical application, the duration of a spell's effect is also limited; meaning the effect produced by a spell will not exist permanently. For some spells, such as the Disarming Charm, the effect occurs only in the instant after casting, while for others, like the Stunning Spell, the effect lasts for a long time and fades slowly. A counter-spell can immediately end a spell's effect, and the death of the caster will also dispel the spell's influence. However, as far as we know, powerful Memory Charms can cause the recipient to completely lose their memories with no possibility of recovery, and can even permanently damage the recipient's brain."

"Finally, regarding the classification of spells: based on magical principles and effects, we generally divide known spells into seven categories: Transfiguration (), basic spell (Charm), Jinx, Hex, Curse, Counter-spell, and Healing spell," Professor Flitwick said, rattling off a long list in one breath.

This time, Hermione did not raise her hand to interrupt Professor Flitwick but was diligently taking notes.

Allen, however, had no mind for note-taking, because a question that had always troubled him floated back to the forefront of his mind:

Why was there no concept of magical power when releasing magic in this world?

Where was the magical power for releasing magic found in so many fantasy novels?

Why was magical power not included as one of the four elements?