16 training and results.

"One hundred ten..."

"One hundred eleven..."

"One hundred twelve..."

"One hundred ... thirteen, haaah I'm done " Richard collapsed as he gave the stone sword in his hand a final swing. Staring at the grey twilight sky blankly, he let the obsidian sword in his hand crumble into sand. It was a projection of the sword he had first identified from the castle entrance, with slight alterations in size and weight reaching barely one fifth of the original.

It's been some time since his visit with Fluffy, weeks infact. But that had been enough for Richard to get his life back on the right track. He completely ignored Malfoy after getting his payback by destroying his transfiguration homework. He began putting more weight into charms class, as well as taking time to put extra effort to visit the library and learn enchantments while directly ignoring useless subjects like history of magic, and astrology. Mostly because he couldn't stand the drivel they taught there. He only gave the bare minimum of attention needed for both herbology and potions, focusing on the uses of a few useful plants and their applications as well as special potions, selectively removing the rest from his memory, while he gave extra effort in the transfiguration classes, hoping to develop his auxiliary magic circuits to the point of wandless magic.

He gave up on the flying lessons as he saw no point in learning to fly on a broom stick when he was sure of learning to fly unaided jn the future. Infact, he was able to grasp the framework he needed for it using the enchantments he had glimpsed off the broom. Meanwhile he stopped going to the DADA classes altogether. What was the point of learning self defense only theoretically? And that too from a stuttering fool housing a dark lord. He swore himself only to attend the DADA classes in his third and fourth year. Others can sue him for all he care.

Addition to that, he began his training his physical body. And it was not simply limited to push-ups, crunches and squats. Instead it was something of a series of Katas, that were ment to wear out all the muscles in his body as he practiced with and without the obsidian sword. This was practiced while he entered a specific mindset, so to utilise the nodes, as well as his spells so to taint the body with physical aspect of magic.

Listening to the waves of the black lake right infront of him while embracing the first rays of the rising sun, Richard finally propped himself up to his elbows. He watched the lake absentmindedly,  spotting the giant squid emerge by for a split second before submerging. All while thinking on how to deal with today's events. It was the Halloween. The night of the troll. Something the golden trio survived because of their reckless courage and sheer dumb luck. If a single thing happens differently,  there might not be a need for Voldemort to look for Harry. That was something Richard genuinely believed.

The dungeons are the farthest from the dining halls. Something Quirrel,  and Dumbledor must've taken to consideration before acting as they had. If not, there's no way Dumbledor would risk the safety of the students. And With the dorms being greatly enchanted, there was absolutely no danger for the students there.

Cleaning himself up with a single spell and a wave of his wand, Richard put on his discarded upper garments before heading back in. Formulating one plan after another . He couldn't simply take care of the troll, or talk to Hermione first.

Afterall,  only after the troll incident,  did Hermione finally loose some of her bossy and stuck up nature and make friends with Harry and Ron. Which was essential,  because those two were dumb. And if she wasn't there, then Richard would have to baby sit them till they reach the conclusion. And he was too busy to do that. So Richard was determined get this done right.

The day began merrily, almost festively. Especially the charms lesson,  where professor Flitwick finally began teaching them how to make an object levitate. While having seen him multiple times, Richard still couldn't help but stare at the diminutive professor as he climbed on to stacks of books onto a makeshift stage. Something Richard clearly disliked. He was taught to treat books with respect. Even if he had taken out a page or a few in his life, he had never, once done something like standing on books intentionally. Shaking his head, to pull himself out of his train of thoughts, he pushed that issue to the back of his mind before paying his attention to the instructions.

"...today we are going to learn one of the most rudimentary skills a wizard must have, levitation.  Or in other words, the ability to make objects fly. The incantation goes Wingardium Leviosa. Now do it with me, and don't forget the nice wrist movement we practiced. The swish and Flick"

"Wingardium Leviosa" the whole class choruses before practicing the wand movement.

"Wingardium Leviosa, Wingardium Leviosa, Wingardium Leviosa"

Richard looked with dread, at his partner for the Seamus waving his wand without a care for the world. Everyone was partnered up with someone. Harry was set with Neville while Ron, who seemed to be quite unsuccessful at the ordeal was partnered up with Hermione,  who looked less than pleased.

"You are saying it wrong" she snapped at Ron's fifth attempt. "It's Levi-O-sa not Levio-Saaar!". Ron seemed Irritated. "You do it if you are so clever, go on". Unfortunately for Ron,  she managed to do just that.

"Well done!" Flitwick exclaimed as he waved his hands animatedly."see here everyone, Ms Granger has done it, splendid... "

Flitwick was interrupted by a loud explosion, while Richard almost felt his heart stop for a moment. Seamus had incinerated his feather to ashes. And he seemed content with it too. Though it was hard for Richard to make out because of the soot covering his face.

'His magic circuits are definitely based on explosion magic' Richard thought as he fanned the air , trying to dispel the charred smell and the smoke unsuccessfully. 'I wonder what might happen if he learnt explosion magic from Megumin' 

However the storm passed soon, and people quickly lost interest, before focusing on their own feathers. Except Seamus who had lost his feather.

"C'mon mate, do it" he started egging on Richard, the only person who had a feather in their group. "Everyone's doing it"

"I'd rather not" Richard replied as he tried to avoid doing it. But Seamus was persistent.

"Hey, I'd  do it, but you are the only one with a feather here. Besides, what could be worse ?" . "Yeah, come on" Ron chimed in from their left while both Harry and Neville looked at him with encouragement.

And so, convinced by the group, Richard pulled out his wand, gently pointing its tip at the feather with an elegant touch.

'Swish and flick'

Richard followed the wrist movements as he recited them in his mind before speaking in a clear and loud voice.

"Wingardium Leviosa! "

Richard was only able to catch a glimpse of metal , before the feather disappeared,  which was followed by the sound of heavy objects falling, and laughter.

His head snapped around, only for him to see a comical sight. Flitwick buried upside down in the tower of books used to build his makeshift stage, as his short legs seemed to wag in the air from the top of the book pile.

However he quickly pulled himself up, floating the books to their original positions with a flick of his wand, holding a book that had a feather embedded into it's spine.