Chapter 56

Albert wanted to teach the twins the Scouring Charm when Fred and George returned to the dormitory. He thought they would have enough time to learn the basics,basics, although they will not have the time to learn it properly. At least that would reduce their work by the tiniest margins. Filch said they couldn't use magic, but as long as they didn't get caught, who would know? However, the twins could not learn the wand movements, so Albert gave up and went to bed.

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The next day, their first lesson was Charms with Professor Flitwick. Flitwick checked their 1500 word essay after he had done the register and went around the class to see their progress in the Wand Lighting Charms and also to see if anyone had learnt the counter curse for it. Less than a handful of student had mastered the Wand Lighting Charm since last lesson.

Professor Flitwick then took fifteen minutes from lesson time to review what they had gone over in the last lesson to refresh their mind and let the students practice again. Because of this, two Hufflepuff students had successfully cast the Wand Lighting Charm for the first time. Swiftly afterwards, they moved on to today's contents.

The professor showed the counter curse for the Wand Lighting Charm can be used on most light sources as he pointed his wand at the candle.

"Nox."

The flame of the candle had been snuffed out like an opportunity that went over your head because you couldn't be bothered.

"Turn to page seven to see the wand movements. Once you are confident, you can practise on your own. I will call you back together at the end of the lesson the go through the rest of the content and issue you homework," Professor Flitwick said.

"Lumos... Nox," Albert said as he tried to cast the spell several times. He succeeded on his ninth attempt. In order to see if he fully understood the complexity of the counter curse, he looked to the candle at the edge of the room. Lo-and-behold, he snuffed that flame, too. After that, he returned to his desk.

"Albert, guess what? I did it. I actually did it. And I did it without your help," Lee Jordan said in a jubilant tone. While he was attempting to perform the counter curse, he saw Albert trying it on a candle, so he tried that too.

"Children, sit back down at your desk. We have five minutes till the end of the lesson," Professor Flitwick said as he waited for all the students to sit back down. "A few points I wanted to mention. First twenty points to Gryffindor and ten for Hufflepuff as Mr Anderson, Mr Jordan, and Mr Diggory had successfully cast the counter curse. Secondly, I saw some of you trying to extinguish a candle. As I had mentioned before, the counter curse was able to extinguish the light from a multitude of objects. However, I would suggest you do not try it on an open flame. Although the counter curse get runoff the light effect of the flame, the heat aspect will remain. If you are not careful enough, you may indeed remove the light, but the heat will remain and may potentially harm somebody. You will learn to extinguish flames in your Herbology class, so try to not do that until then. Next, I expect a 1000 word essay on the counter curse and those who have not completed the essay I set last lesson, I expect to see it next lesson. And finally, don't forget to practise and you are now dismissed."

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"One thousand words," George muttered softly. "That man must have gone crazy. That's way too much for eleven years old to do."

For pure bloods, who have not had basic education needs met would find this very hard. Although most had tutors, they would only listen and try to remember the information they had been told. Although effective when they were younger and learning at their own pace, they were now in a class where the teacher taught to the ability of the average student. They tailored lessons to their needs, and they showed the results.

"it's not that hard," Albert said. "All you have to do is write an introduction including a brief history of the counter curse, a paragraph explaining the wand movements and what you think it does, the incantation and its etymology as well as what you think it means, what the spell actually does and a conclusion. You could also quote books to make up you word quota. Don't forget to mention the bits you found hard when trying to cast it and how you overcame it."

"It's not that hard???" Lee Jordan said as his eyes popped out due to disbelief. He stopped listen when Albert mentioned books.

"If you don't know what you're doing, then yes, it is hard," Alicia said in a certain tone. "If you use the structure that Albert just said, you would easily reach the word count and exceed it."

On the way out of the corridor, the twins felt daring today. So they sneaked up on a group of Hufflepuff boys and give them the scare of their life. They had brought inflatable pop up life size acromantulas and were prepared to distract them while the other placed it on someone's shoulder.

So the twins approaches the Hufflepuff boys while the rest stayed behind at a safe distance. While Fred distracted them, George placed the pop up on a boy's shoulder. Then they discussed how they planned to do Professor Filtwick's homework before they snuck away.

However, they would fail. Their dear cousin Cedric appeared as they were walking away.

"Fred, George, are you guys trying to play your stupid pranks on a group of defenceless Hufflepuff boys?" Cedric said as he walked past them.

"Cedric, don't say stuff without having proof," George said.

"For all you know, we could just want to be friends with them and wanted to talk to them. Not to prank them," Fred said.

"I've known you long enough to know when you're planning something," Cedric said as he inspected the fr oil up of Hufflepuff boys. "Look at what I found. An inflatable life size pop-up acromantula. You two should know Marcus here is absolutely terrified of acromantulas and would've probably fainted if it weren't for me. I believe apologies are in order."

"Fine, you caught us. We're sorry and bye," Fred said as he walked towards his friends.

"We would've got away with it if it was for you meddling kid, but yeah, sorry," George said.

~~~~~~~~~~

"Marcus looked horrified when Cedric Cedric mentioned an acromantula," Lee Jordan said. "I almost bursted out laughing when I saw that."

"That's a little mean, isn't it? You're laughing at somebodies' fear. That's it, next time you see him, apologise, otherwise I'll tell Professor McGonagall, do you understand?" Katrina said.

"Yes mother," Lee said.

"Moving on, I can't believe we'll have our first flying lesson today. Does anyone know when it is?" Angelina asked.

"It should be on the notice board in the Common Room, but according to my brother, it's always in the afternoon, and we'll find out after lunch who we're doing it with," Fred said.

"Also, Charlie put up a notice saying that first years can join in with Quidditch training as long as they have permission from the Captain or Professor McGonagall. We'll only be doing drill and they'll try to find out what position we play best that so they can tailor our training next time," George said.

"When is it's and who's the Captain?" Angelina asked frantically.

"It's a half-past six and you can just go there. Just remember to tell Charlie that you're our friend," Fred said.

"Can I also go?" Alicia asked.

"Yeah, both of you can go. Also, remember to ask for a temporary broom from Madam Hooch," George said. "The Quidditch team does not have enough broom if there's at least five of you going."

"We also have Transfiguration in the afternoon and if you haven't done your homework, I'm pretty sure McGonagall will keep you behind to complete it, so you'll be late to flying class," Shannon said as he glanced at Angelina.

"What? Albert, can you be a dear and let me copy your homework, please?" Angelina asked with pleading eyes.

"You can copy it at lunch," Albert said.