Chapter 110: Grind in Progress
For ordinary wizards, talent in magic was critically important. Talented wizards grasped concepts instantly. Without talent, hard work alone was not enough.
The wizarding world did not emphasise effort. Hermione studied hard, but when people praised her excellent grades, they called her "very talented," not "very hardworking." She truly was a genius. She learned everything quickly. Effort was merely icing on the cake.
That meant unlocking a new Charms domain title first was more important, because it would directly boost Shawn's Charms talent.
After unlocking the title through three other Expert-level spells and raising his talent, grinding proficiency in other difficult spells would be twice as effective.
The strategy was simple: build the foundation first, then let the talent boost do the heavy lifting.
Shawn quietly crossed out Disillusionment Charm in his notes and wrote Quietening Charm(Quietus) instead.
Now the first row of spell combinations he planned to grind to Expert became Finite and Quietus.
As Shawn practised Quietus on the Fanged Geranium during breaks, three more students gradually filtered into the classroom.
Mr Owl squawked, "Young wizards! Silly young wizards!" as he let them in.
"I heard Hogsmeade has massive Fizzing Whizzbees. When you suck them, your feet lift a few inches off the ground," Justin said with a smile. He pulled a notebook labelled "Charms" from a sky‑blue wooden bookshelf near the entrance, then tucked his own "Herbology" notebook back onto the shelf.
"Mmm, I am more interested in a sweet from Honeydukes – Toothflossing Stringmints. According to the description, they clean your teeth like dental floss when you suck them. Sounds quite nice," Hermione said, naturally taking the Herbology notebook and replacing it with one labelled "Defence Against the Dark Arts."
Shawn's notes were shared throughout the classroom. Thanks to his strong summarising and organisational skills and his scientific, precise descriptions, his notebooks easily outpaced those vague, confusing textbooks that sometimes baffled even their own authors.
At a single glance, students would toss their old books aside, as if the original texts had not been written in English at all.
If they were, then why could the students never understand them?
"I really wish we could get to third year sooner," Justin sighed.
"Perfect timing, though. Shawn, Levitation Charm again today?"
"Yes."
Shawn nodded. The two began their usual Charms practice. Justin practised Levitation while Shawn practised Finite.
[You practised Finite once at Expert standard, Proficiency +50]
[You practised Finite once at Expert standard, Proficiency +50]
…
The small wooden block on the table slowly spun twice, then stopped. Justin caught it in his hand.
Shawn waved his wand silently. A chart with photos of the group's faces flew into his hand.
He wrote the word Proficient in the Justin – Levitation column, then returned the chart to the easiest‑to‑reach spot on the entrance shelf.
Justin took the chart excitedly, murmuring, "Not bad. Finally reached Proficient…"
Below Proficient Levitation Charm were Entry Finite and Entry Aguamenti.
Hermione pretended to glance over casually, then walked off with her nose in the air.
She had reached Proficient ages ago.
The wizarding world had no clear grading system for spell proficiency. Only in the O.W.L.s – Ordinary Wizarding Levels – were marks divided into Outstanding, Exceeds Expectations, Acceptable, and so on.
But that was obviously a comprehensive assessment. For different wizards, the gap in proficiency for different spells could be too vast to compare.
Yet the Ministry's education system could hardly evaluate every wizard's individual spell level one by one. That would be an enormous, pointless undertaking.
Perhaps because spells themselves were affected by a wizard's state and their strength fluctuated unpredictably, students found it hard to judge what level their spells had reached. That made it hard to generate interest in practice.
But Shawn had clearly streamlined the process. The origin of all this was actually just his exploration of Finite: he wanted to know which levels of spells could be countered by Finite at different proficiency levels.
Unexpectedly, it had produced excellent results. His assessment standards were based on his own spell performance at different proficiency levels, making them exceptionally accurate. The novel spell mastery tiers immediately sparked enthusiasm among the students.
Suddenly it felt like a boss's health bar had appeared. Not casting a few spells seemed like a disservice to the wand in their hands.
"For spells or jinxes of equal difficulty, Finite at the same proficiency can counter them quite easily," Shawn wrote in his notebook. Then he added:
Its effectiveness against higher‑level spells drops noticeably. Some difficult and powerful spells cannot be ended with Finite alone.
Maintaining is always harder than casting. More magic is required. Simply cutting off the flow of magic will not work.
Shawn suspected this was why some powerful spells required specific counter‑curses to undo them.
Transfiguration and the Untransfiguration Charm, for instance. Or Sectumsempra and its counter‑curse.
The sky gradually darkened again, turning a hazy, faint purple.
The cold remained sharp. By the warm fireplace, Shawn put away his wand. His Finite level had risen from (2200/3000) to (2650/3000).
A full four hundred and fifty proficiency points. It looked like he would unlock Expert‑level Finite by tonight.
Unlike the difficulty of learning nonverbal Levitation back then, nonverbal Finite was much easier to learn.
The difficulty with nonverbal spells lay in the fact that a wizard accustomed to speaking incantations felt extremely awkward when attempting silent casting.
There was a strong, physiological urge to speak the word aloud, so it took powerful willpower to suppress that impulse. The result was tense lips or soundless mouth movements – which was itself a distraction.
But Shawn had already overcome that when practising Levitation. Besides, nonverbal spells required three things: emotion, firm will, and precise knowledge of the incantation.
None of those were difficult for Shawn.
So when he stood in place, said nothing, and flicked his wand smoothly and gracefully, dispelling Justin's entire Aguamenti stream in one clean motion, Hermione still could not help staring for a long time.
As for Neville, his mouth hung open. It looked like you could fit a goose egg in there.
Looking back at the pitiful Entry Levitation on his own chart, a long‑dormant drive surged through Mr Longbottom's heart.
"Now that is a wizard," Justin said. His praise was always sincere and heartfelt.
"But it is time to switch with the older students. Shawn, should we head out now?"