"Let's get started, Neville. Your goal is to master the first spell that Professor Flitwick taught us in class, the Illumination Spell."
Ivan looked through the basic spells in the textbook and carefully broke them down. He explained the principles of these spells and the tricks for casting them to Hermione and Neville, sharing his own understanding.
Hermione, being very bright, took notes on everything Ivan said and asked questions whenever she didn't understand something.
Ivan noticed that Hermione had a very delicate control over her magic. It wasn't just willpower; it showed her high level of thinking.
In contrast, Neville faced a much tougher challenge than the other two realized. Ivan felt a lot of pressure to teach him.
"I'm sorry, Ivan," Neville said, looking down, tears forming in his eyes. "I really feel so stupid."
Ivan glanced at the clock and saw it was already 8 o'clock in the evening. They had been practicing for three hours. After the initial guidance for Hermione, Ivan had spent almost all the rest of the time trying to help Neville.
Even though this helped Ivan notice his own gaps in knowledge, not seeing results from Neville was still frustrating.
"There's no reason to feel bad," Ivan reassured him. He was patient and didn't mind Neville's struggles at all.
A transparent light shield that emitted a faint glow surrounded the three of them, protecting the dormitory from any accidental damage during their spell practice. Ivan had specially created this for Neville.
The shield was based on a protection spell, and Ivan combined it with techniques from the armor spell and a universal protection spell. This was the most complex spell he had successfully created.
He called it the "Body Protection Spell," which could also be referred to as "Exorcism and Body Protection." While its upper limit wasn't very high, it was designed for durability and effectiveness.
Right now, Ivan divided their practice area into two sections, like two bubbles touching each other—one side for Ivan and Neville and the other for Hermione.
Without this shield, Ivan wouldn't have felt so confident letting them practice spells in the dormitory.
"I need to think this through, Neville. For now, why don't you look at the herbology book?"
Ivan wasn't sure how to help Neville at the moment. He suggested that Neville read by himself, and Neville, despite his feelings of frustration, followed Ivan's advice obediently.
"What do you think about Neville?" Hermione quietly asked Ivan. He frowned as he replied, "I think he might have been affected by a rough forgetfulness spell when he was younger, which hurt his ability to think."
"What can we do about it?" Hermione asked. She had learned from Ivan about the six basic attributes he planned to teach.
These attributes included reaction time, body control, spell control, memory, and calculation. If any of these reached a score of 4, it counted as a thinking attribute of 4.
Ivan believed he and Hermione both had a thinking attribute of 4, but in different ways. Harry's strength was in his quick reactions, which gave him an advantage in Quidditch and in battles.
Hermione's strength lay in her learning ability, but she was just like everyone else when it came to physical practice.
"I need to think about this more," Ivan said, feeling helpless regarding Neville's situation. He was sure that Neville had good potential and a bright future. The reason he struggled now was probably because he was too young and his mind wasn't fully developed yet.
"I'll do my best to help Neville build a strong foundation," Ivan finally decided. He wanted to help Neville practice spell control to develop his muscle memory.
There was little else he could do. Neville's memory was poor, whether it came to memorizing facts or understanding concepts.
So, the three of them studied together for the night. Even though Ivan spent most of the time teaching Hermione, Neville managed to learn something as well.
At least, before he forgot what he learned, Neville felt that he had a grasp on it.
When he went to bed and woke up the next day, he thought, "Wait, what did I master?"
Ivan and Hermione were having breakfast in the hall when they silently shook their heads in frustration at Neville's forgetfulness.
Thankfully, neither of them gave up. They were patient with Neville's struggles, which meant a lot to the shy boy.
Throughout his life, aside from his family, Ivan and Hermione had treated him the best.
Neville was persistent. He truly worked hard to learn and paid close attention. However, his memory was just too weak. He believed he had learned many things, but he forgot them after a while.
To prevent Ivan and Hermione from wasting their time, Neville had to keep repeating his studies.
"In this class, we will learn how to turn a match into a needle," the Transfiguration teacher announced as class began.
Ivan didn't even need to use his wand. He simply waved his hand, transforming a match on the desk into a very thin silver needle.
Not only that, he carefully engraved patterns onto the needle, making it even more delicate.
"Wonderful Transfiguration!" Professor McGonagall praised, noticing Ivan's performance right away. No wand, no noise, and such careful casting—despite being prepared, she was still amazed by Ivan's talent.
"Gryffindor earns 5 points for Ivan's excellent performance!" she declared.
Soon after, Hermione also transformed her match into a silver needle, earning Gryffindor another 2 points.
Professor McGonagall was pleased by this for half the class until Seamus, their explosive genius, demonstrated his knack for turning every spell into an explosion.
"Hold the wand firmly and picture the shape of the needle you want to create," Ivan advised, sitting with Hermione and Neville, while Harry and Ron were on his other side.
At that moment, Harry asked Ivan how to transform the match into a silver needle.
Ivan shared everything he knew, explaining the key points of Transfiguration to Harry based on his current understanding.
"I did it!" Harry exclaimed excitedly after Ivan's guidance. He picked up a match, now pointed at one end, and said, "Thank you, Ivan! You're amazing!"
While turning the match into a pointed end seemed minor to Ivan, it was a significant first step for Harry.
As for Ron...
"Honestly, I think you should get a new wand," Ivan said bluntly. He didn't harbor any negative feelings toward Ron, but he also didn't have any positive ones.
So he stated frankly that Ron's problem wasn't himself; it was the wand he was using.
The old wand simply didn't match Ron's magical abilities at all. Plus, Ron's basic attributes were rather average, meaning he would likely struggle to achieve great success.
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