Chapter 80

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We waited while the liquid raced through the structure, changing color, rolling around in various flasks and tubes, until it began to evaporate in one of them. These vapors slowly passed through a flexible tube into the "binoculars." Not a minute later, the reaction was over, and three dry residues of different colors were left in the distillation structure. The professor poked something in the "binoculars" with his finger, disconnected the tube, touched one of the runes on the distilling apparatus, and it was completely clear of residue.

"That's enough for a couple of hours. So," Flitwick took the device in his hands and looked at us with a conspiratorial smile. "Who wants to try it?"

"Me!" Hermione immediately stepped forward. "I want to, Professor!"

The girl was a little embarrassed, but she didn't lose her enthusiasm. Just stood there with a blush on her cheeks.

"Well, please. Put them on like glasses, look this way, strap them on your head."

Hermione gently but impatiently accepted the device in her hands and wondered.

"They are light."

"Of course," the professor nodded.

Deftly putting the device on, Hermione wanted to do something about the straps, but they seemed to tighten on their own, messing up the girl's hairstyle. Hermione immediately began to look around through her glasses.

"It's a little cloudy..."

"It's because of magic, Miss Granger," Flitwick spoke up. "It's everywhere, including the air, albeit in tiny volumes. If you were in the Muggle world now, you wouldn't notice the difference, but here at Hogwarts, it's somewhat different."

Hermione looked at me.

"Oh... And the haze is thicker around Max."

The girl stepped a little closer, somewhat awkwardly - probably because of some kind of distortion. She reached out a hand to my shoulder as if she wanted to brush something away.

"And around me, too..."

She turned back to the professor.

"And around you. Just... A little thicker, or something..."

"It's just that I'm an adult wizard," Flitwick nodded, taking his wand slowly and demonstratively in his hand. "Watch the wand."

Nodding back, Hermione began to stare intently at the professor's wand, accompanying it with her gaze and at the same time moving her "binoculars" in space. Flitwick, on the other hand, moved his wand away from himself so that there was nothing in the background. Simple, slow movements with his hand, his brush, everything together.

"See?"

"Yes!" the joy in Hermione's voice could literally be felt with the hands. I was curious, too.

"Now, let's pretend that I'm a first-year student. Especially for this, I will do everything with academic precision and strictly according to the rules, without resorting to various tricks and experiences."

After waiting for a consonant nod, the professor began an impromptu lecture.

"So. I will now perform a movement for Lumos. Just the movement - no will, no desire, no imagination, no words. Nothing. Watch."

The professor literally drew a loop down with his wand. Nothing happened, but...

"Wow!" exhaled Hermione admiringly.

"There. You saw sparks of magic literally from the wand immediately dissipate without meaning to. Now all I'm going to do is say, 'Lumos.'"

The professor's wand froze motionless.

"Lumos," Flitwick paused dramatically. "As you can see, the result is about the same, only the sparks are slightly different."

"Yes."

"Now, just a wish, an image, a will, whatever."

The professor silently held his wand still.

"As you saw, Miss Granger, the different sparks tried to line up in some order, gathering into a small sphere."

"Yes, Professor. It seems that those sparks simply aren't enough."

"Exactly right, Miss Granger. I'm not ashamed to say it, but five points to Gryffindor. Now I'll say the word and perform the gesture, but without desire."

The professor again drew a simple drop-shaped loop in the air and said: "Lumos." Once again, however, nothing happened.

"Intriguing, isn't it?" smiled Flitwick. "What did you see?"

"There were many more sparks, and they were all different, but almost at once, they scattered haphazardly and disappeared."

"Yes and no. Not disappeared, but fused with the environment and magic, taking on the surrounding background's properties. And now, I will fully perform the spell."

The professor waved his wand and said: "Lumos." A ball of bluish light flashed at the tip of the wand.

"Did you get a good look at it? I must say, Lumos isn't the best spell for such a test. The light is a bit blinding."

"No, no, Professor. Everything was perfectly visible."

"Still, I'll cast another spell."

Flitwick extinguished the Lumos on his wand without any Nox and pointed his wand at the notebook on his desk.

"Wingardium Leviosa."

According to the movements of the wand, the notebook flew into the air, and Flitwick gently and slowly moved his wand from side to side, causing the notebook itself to move in the same way. Hermione accompanied the notebook with a glance until the professor put it back on the table.

"So?" Flitwick fidgeted in his chair, getting comfortable.

"Well..." Hermione took a deep breath, as she always did, before spewing out some lengthy explanation. "During the spell, the sparks of magic were like several different currents, simultaneously forming a small dense sphere. For both Lumos and Leviosa, the shape was a sphere, but... different, it seemed to me. I didn't get a good look at Lumos..."

Toward the end of her speech, Hermione shrank back a little and even stepped from foot to foot.

"Exactly. Would you please pass the magic visor to Mr. Knight?"

"Eh? Yes, wait a second," Hermione reached for the straps on the back of her head with her hands. "Um, ah..."

"Just wish you'd take it off. It's like with a broom here."

"I see."

Hermione froze for a second, and a moment later, the straps of the device relaxed.

"Here you go."

"Well, let's see what so incredible I will see there...."