{Platform 9 3/4, King's Cross station}
{29th June 1991}
{Rigel's POV}
*Whee-Whee*
The train whistled as it slowly stopped to a crawl. My eyes wandered around outside. Many parents were eagerly waiting to pick up their kids, which felt a bit weird since almost everyone on this train was above 18.
'Then again, for most of them, this is their first time outside their homes for an extended period.'
"Wingardium Leviosa~" I heard Hermione chant, and curious about the effect of it, I looked back to see how her attempt went. The heavy trunk buged slightly along with the flick of her wand and then stilled. She frowned and tried to move her wand, and the brown box budged at every flick of its motion, but it was not enough to move from its place.
"Hmmm, you don't lack the control over the spell, it's an issue of power." I shrugged. "Try and force more mana into the spell." I tried to guide her and flicked my wrist simultaneously. My wand slid comfortably into my palm as I got ready for her inevitable failure.
Hermione didn't notice my preparations, but instead nodded and focused on her trunk. Her gaze was firm as the box wobbled and then slowly floated. It was shaking like a leaf on turbulent waters, but she managed to lift it. Her expression brightened as she moved her wand, trying to control it with her wand, the trunk shakily slid out of the upper compartment, but then her control wavered and it fell sharply towards her and Ron, who was close to her.
I flicked my wand and focused. I felt a brief resistance and had to pour mana into the spell to overpower Hermione's charm. The velocity of the box dropped sharply, and it stopped a good few inches away from the two of them. Still, it was a good thing they stumbled; otherwise, they would have gotten a good whack.
I controlled the box to slide onto the seat and began working on the rest of the trunks while Hermione and Ron stumbled back onto their feet. Meanwhile, Harry hurried over to the two, ensuring they were okay.
"Maybe it would be a good idea not to try this in an enclosed space," I said as my trunk floated on top of my head. There was only so much space in the compartment, "...and maybe start it with something lighter, like a heavy book or a small stool," I suggested, getting a nod from Hermione. She looked a little pale, but otherwise, almost getting plastered onto the Hogwarts Express didn't seem to faze her that much.
'Then again, she is the one who thought getting expelled was worse than death.'
My eyes flickered to the plitter-platter of footsteps as students began to shed their identity as they began dragging their trunks towards freedom. I noticed that some of the upper years didn't seem to have their trunks on them, which brought me back to the charm that I hadn't completely mastered yet.
With a flick of my wand, I cancelled the charm and flowed the motion into an alpha-shaped circular cross as I chanted, "Diminuendo~". An almost pale red light left my wand and collided with the falling trunk. Mid-air, my trunk slowly shrank, and by the time it fell into my palm, it was already the size of a thicker matchbox.
After pocketing my trunk, I looked up to find three gazes staring at my pocket. "Shall we go?" I asked to break them out of their stupor. My fancy handling did seem to work as the earlier fright incident was pushed back as Hermione eagerly asked, "That was the Shrinking charm. When did you learn that that's not a part of the curriculum?" She thought about it and then continued, "I think it is taught during our sixth year in advanced charms class. It's a NEWT-level spell." Her excitement slowly gave way to slight disbelief as she reached that last conclusion.
"Yes, but we were in a magic school for almost 9 months, you don't think I would just learn to make things float right. Plus, the only reason it's not taught early in Hogwarts is that this charm works on humans, so they don't want students to fail to cast it on fellow classmates and cause accidents. Otherwise, it's not a hard charm to learn." She nodded at my explanation and then turned toward her trunk.
"Can you do mine as well?" She asked, clearly wanting another demonstration of the wand movements and incantation.
"Yes, but how will you undo it since you can't do magic when you leave the express?" I asked, and she nodded, but then frowned.
"What about you then, neither can you right?" She asked.
"Officially, Sirius can undo my charm since both Harry and I will be living with him. Unofficially, as long as I cast the charm inside the house and no one sees it, it doesn't matter." I shrugged.
My words got three wide-eyed stares in response, and it was Ron who finally spoke, "You mean we can do magic during the holidays?" His tone did nothing to hide his incredulity at his question.
"Well, as long as one adult wizard lives with you, then yes, though you should not overdo it. However, in reality, the way the trace works is that it can detect if magic was performed around your wand. For example, Mrs. Weasley does some cooking, or Sirius is pranking Harry. If anyone does magic around you, then the trace would be triggered, so we can indeed cast magic during the summer." I finished my explanation and got an excited look from Harry, though he quickly frowned and then looked toward Hermione, whose expression was slowly crumbling into a frown.
"...But that's not fair." She responded after a long time, her tone turning a little whiny at the end.
"True, but life isn't exactly fair, plus you can al-" My words were cut off by the sound of knocking coming from the window.
*Knock* *Knock*
I turned around to see Sirius rapping his knuckles on the glass. Behind him, a sea of redheads were already standing, Molly Weasley looking at us and indicating with her hands for us to come off.
"Right, we should go," Harry said.
I nodded and fired the charm two more times.
"Diminuendo~"
"Diminuendo~"
Noticing Hermione's frown, I completed the first part of my plan for the summer, "You can always come to our house. That way, you can practice magic during the holidays. It's a bit inconvenient, but nothing that we can't find a workaround."
My offer did cause her frown to lighten as she nodded. Her shoulders, though, remained a bit stiff as she grabbed onto her trunk and softly stomped off. Harry and Ron shared a look with me before they grabbed their shrunken trunks and followed behind her.
'Please tell me that I didn't just encourage her to create SPEW or something equally bullshit...'
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AN: Trying to fix my update schedule. 50+ chapters on P.atreon.