'Why am I facing such difficulty? It feels even tougher than customizing the Spongify spell.' Leon wondered as the Roman numerals refused to turn into Arabic numerals.
Seeing as the time was 7:20 am already, Leon headed towards the common room.
The first years and the two prefects were already present.
'Damn, they are waiting for me.'
Leon greeted everyone and apologized for making them wait.
The prefects just smiled at him and gestured for the firsties to follow them.
"No one came to wake me up, didn't the prefects say we would be woken up?" Leon whispered to Susan.
"Why will people wake you up? The bed is charmed to rouse you from sleep at 6:45 am gently." Susan replied, frowning.
"Oh! I woke up early and the room didn't have a clock. So, I was waiting for someone to check on me to know the time."
"You should have waited in the common room then. What were you doing in your room?"
Hannah asked, her pigtails shaking as we followed the prefects.
"Learning spells," Leon replied, memorizing the route to the great hall.
After a hearty meal, the Hufflepuff entered the dungeons for their first potions class.
Hannah and Leon shared a seat as Susan was accosted by the 'I am superior' boy Hufflepuff.
Unlike the silent Ravenclaws, the Hufflepuffs chatted with each other and even with the odd Ravenclaw.
Professor Snape entered the classroom, extinguishing the warm murmurs of the puffs.
After the roll call, Snape dived right into the lesson. He explained about the potion ingredients, where they grow, and how to identify them.
Leon belatedly followed his yearmates as they started jotting down every word that left the professor's mouth.
Snape ended the class by giving the last half an hour of the class as free time to digest today's class.
"An oral quiz will be taken in the next class on the first 100 ingredients in your textbook, prepare well. You wouldn't want to be the first student who lost points for their house." Snape's soft voice echoed in the class as he left the class with his cloak billowing behind him.
'Just when I thought the potions class wasn't bad, there he goes assigning work on the first day. Though the homework could mighty interesting.'
Leon's eyes shined as he remembered the unique properties of magical herbs and how they interact with each other.
He silently followed the first years who were quiet, even the puffs, as they left the potions, each lost in thought.
'Snape left quite an impression on the young minds it seems.'
"It wasn't so bad," Hannah murmured.
Leon looked questioningly at Susan as Hannah was in a daze with her head down.
"Tonks told some scary stories about how Professor Snape treats his students. Hannah was scared because of that," Susan replied.
"I wasn't scared," Hannah retorted.
"Of course, you are not scared," she said, giving Hannah a small hug.
"Hmph!" Hannah huffed but returned the hug.
After a delicious lunch, the first-year students were herded into the charms class.
The classroom was rowdy even before the Hufflepuffs entered.
The Gryffindors were making a racket, arguing about the best quidditch team as one of their fellow housemates dumbly looked at them.
The loudest one was none other than the girl who lived.
Hermoine sat in the first row and was reading the Charms textbook, unlike her other housemates, who occupied the back and middle benches on one side of the class.
The Hufflepuff students occupied the other half of the class, it wasn't long before the Charms professor entered the class.
After a roll call, the professor started the class with Charm's history and things that must be kept in mind while performing charms.
Everything he said can be summed up to believe in yourself, don't get frustrated if the spell doesn't work, and take your time and some history.
"Ok, Students read about the Lumos spell in your textbook and start casting it." Professor Flitwick stepped down from the pile of books he was standing on to reach the teacher's table and smiled at the students.
'Ok, it's time to see if I am a protag or not. If I can do Lumos in a single try then there are good chances I am a protagonist,' Leon jokingly thought, ignoring the whole transmigrating into a fantasy world, and opened the page the Lumos spell was in.
'Lumos- Create light at the tip of the wand. Useful for exploring in the dark....'
Shaking his head at the unhelpful description of the spell in the book. Leon memorized the wand movement and pronunciation and took out his wand.
Clearing random thoughts from his mind, he concentrated on the glow of the fireflies he saw near the orphanage.
"Lumos," He incantated.
The tip of his wand lit up with a yellow and white glow before the yellow glow disappeared.
'Did I see a yellow glow?' Leon rubbed his eyes.
"Well done, Mr Astraeus. 5 points to Hufflepuff. Why don't you try Nox?"
Leon nodded and looked up at the wand movement before using the spell.
"Nox." Like a switch has been flipped the light disappeared.
"3 more points for Hufflepuff. Now Mr. Astraeus repeat the wand lighting and extinguishing charm a couple of more times, try to reduce the casting time, and get creative with the spell." With a wink, the professor walked away.
Leon nodded. He didn't need a reminder, as he wasn't going to leave the class without finding the limits of the spell.
Seeing that Susan and Hannah were only a little behind him with their wands flickering with light, volatilely, he cast the spell again.
The tip of his wand sprung to life.
Leon could feel the light at the back of his mind, the sensation wasn't much but he could feel it. The light was connected to him.
It was like the weight of his clothes, nearly unnoticeable but present.
Remembering how easy it was to change the color numerals in the tempus spell, he decided to change the color of the Lumos spell.
Grasping the feeling at the back of his mind, he sent out of his will to change, through it.
The white light at the tip of his wand flickered with shades of yellow.
"Awesome," Leon muttered. He didn't know how he pushed his will through the feeling(link), it just felt right.
After two more tries his wand tip lit up with yellow light.
With a big grin on his face, he turned towards his housemates.
Only. No one noticed a 20-year-old man perfectly doing a spell meant for a 14-year-old kid.
"Good work, Mr. Astraeus. 5 more points for Hufflepuff for good thinking."
That did it.
Everyone turned to see Leon grinning like a loon with his wand glowing yellow.
Leon nodded and went back to experimenting.
After 15 minutes of practice, he could turn the light to any color he wanted, he even tried disco lights.
As he played with the spell, a thought hit him. 'The spell directly translates to light, why not a laser light instead of a standard torchlight,' Leon wondered.
Deciding to put it to the test, he again yanked the connection he felt to the light and willed it to change shape.
He was successful after wrestling with the spell- willing it to change.
With a smirk, he began changing the color of the laser.
"15 more points to Hufflepuff. Mr Astraeus, you are full of surprises, are you not? And you have to forgive me, I cast a charm on you to not let your light show disturb your classmates." Professor Flitwick appeared before Leon, his eyes twinkling with happiness.
Leon sheepishly rubbed his head at the mention of the light show and turned to see that even Hannah, who was beside him, didn't seem to notice him, fully concentrating on her spell work.
He even shook his hand in front of her, but she was mumbling the incantation of Nox spell.
'Notice me not charm?' Leon wondered.
"I will lift the spell, later. But bear with me for this class, Mr Astraeus. I want your classmates to associate their first charms class with wonder and fondness, not frustration." The professor's smile dimmed a little.
"I won't be suppressing your talent in my next class, you don't have to worry," Flitwick said, smiling.
"What is that charm professor?" Leon asked, not bothered about the charm he was under. He can understand where Flitwick was coming from. He has literal magic to play with, so he decided to not stress on little things.
"Don't rush now, Mr Astraeus, everything will be revealed in time," Flitwick said with a mischievous smirk and continued helping the students.
'Damn, why does he like to knowledge block me?' Leon wondered, looking at the charms professor.
Time passed and eventually, the class came to an end.
Professor Flitwick climbed on top of his pile of books and cleared his throat, catching the students' attention.
"Everyone has learned the Lumos spell, and I expect the ones who didn't master the Nox spell to master it in their spare time. In our next class, which is on the day after tomorrow, we will see how adding prefixes and suffixes to charms will change them. We will start with experimenting with how adding affixes will change the Lumos spell, so don't forget to master the Nox spell," Flitwick announced and ended the class.
As students were organizing their books, Leon poked at Susan and Hannah.
"Do you want to see something cool?"
Hannah quickly nodded.
Not waiting for Susan's reply, Leon swirled his wand in a loop and cast the Lumos spell.
A green laser light extended from his wand tip.
He quickly pointed at Potter who was talking to Weasley.
"What is that?"
"A laser light – Of course, the spell didn't especially indicate any form of light…" Someone exclaimed behind the Hufflepuff trio, before continuing to murmur in a low voice.
They turned back to see a girl, a Gryffindor, murmuring to herself.
Hermione blushed at their stares and introduced herself, prompting a round of introductions.
"Why don't you explain what laser light is to my friends, Ms Granger," Leon said before going back to his task of messing with the Gryffindors.
'Friends huh? The headache-ridden squirt would have been trembling with happiness.' Leon shrugged and started to turn the light off and on, messing with Weasley, who was rubbing his eyes, noticing the green dot on Rose.
The Weasley didn't believe his eyes at first and he even tried to catch it while the laser point was on the Potter, only for her to dart back and smack him.
He started to search the classroom to look for the light with no success as Leon turned off the laser with a flick of his wand and a whisper.
He turned around to see that Hermione was explaining the dual nature of light to the wizards, so he cut in.
"It is just a concentrated form of light, that muggles invented. Now watch."
Leon performed the spell again and pointed at the Potter.
The laser light's body was colorless mixing with the sunlight whereas the light dot on Potter's head was green.
Leon didn't know how that worked but it happened as he played with the laser earlier, so he was going to take advantage of the magic.
Weasley rubbed his head and started to argue with Rose. He even roped in another Gryffindor.
The fun didn't last long as Rose believed them after a couple of Gryffindors supported Weasley. The Muggleborn, the guy who stayed silent during the Quidditch team discussion, most likely pointed out that it was a laser light, making the Gryffindors fan out.
Rose and the muggle-born started to look at the Hufflepuff students instead of the roof and windows to catch the 'bug' like Weasely whenever Leon dispelled it.
Deciding it was enough fun for now, Leon walked away with a grin.
Susan and Hannah followed him making the lone Gryffindor stand there, flipping her charms textbook and muttering to herself.
After they walked out of the classroom, Rose called out to them to stop.
"Hey! You guys wouldn't have any idea about the 'laser light' right? It is a muggle toy, it seems," she asked, suspiciously eyeing the Hufflepuff trio.
Leon and Hannah quickly shook their heads, though Susan let out an apologetic smile at Rose.
"Please, I was just being polite. The Cogniti spell pointed towards you and seeing you are the only one with a muggle background here, I know it is you, Leon." Rose huffed.
Seeing the Weasely and the Gryffindor gang coming towards them, Leon admitted, not wanting to tangle with the loud Gryffs.
"Ok! It's me."
Rose held out her hand.
"What?"
"Let me see the toy," She beckoned.
"It's not a toy, I just used Lumos differently. After all the charm was meant to create light and there are different types of light," Leon replied with a shrug.
Rose raised her eyebrow before walking away, thoughtful.
"What is that spell, she talked about?" Leon asked the purebloods beside him.
"It's a charm that points towards the thing you want," Susan replied.
"Wow, isn't that charm too powerful?" Leon asked after he let the information sink in.
'I can use this spell and pass any test with MCQs,' he thought thinking back on the full nighters he pulled to prepare for some exams.
"Of course not, it's a basic ward-breaking spell and has many restrictions. It doesn't work for complicated, abstract queries or queries not related to the caster. Any stealth or shield charm will block it, it won't be able to overcome even a basic ward- anchored protection spells- of a house." Susan patiently explained.
"Still awesome," Leon muttered as he digested the spell's limits.
After they reached the Hufflepuff common room, Susan and Hannah opened their charms textbook and started to practice the Lumos spell.
"Didn't we just come from the Charms class why are you guys practicing again?" he asked as he joined the duo in the corner of the common room.
"I want to change the color of light and turn it into laser light too," Susan said making Hannah.
Leon gave them a thumbs-up and sat down.
"Cushioning charm, here I come," he muttered and started to terrorize the Hogwarts floor.
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A/N: Leon won't be a Uber Op MC, the best in every subject. The chapter has a hint that shows which subjects he will be good at, so THOUGHTS?
Suggestions? STONES?