After leaving Professor Flitwick, Ethan Jones quickly finished his meal in the Great Hall and returned to his dormitory. On the way, he tried to cast a few fire spells that he knew, but perhaps the spells recorded in books like Advanced Potion-Making (or likely intended Advanced Spellbook context, but keeping generic "Advanced Spells" if title is vague) were still too advanced, and he was unable to cast them successfully.
"Am I really gifted in fire magic?" He even began to doubt what the professor was saying, but he comforted himself: "Maybe it's too advanced. I'll try some less difficult spells later."
They had no classes tonight, and he didn't want to go to the library for the time being. He just wanted to digest and understand what Professor Flitwick had taught him.
He repeated this phrase many times, exclaiming, "The wizard is the god—what an incredibly accurate metaphor!"
He recalled what he had seen in the Harry Potter movies and the Fantastic Beasts series, and there were indeed many phenomena that could not be explained by spells.
The magical world, including prophecies, holds countless mysteries waiting for him to explore and discover.
"Let's start our exploration by controlling magic!" He was now full of motivation.
The three roommates are not in the dormitory right now.
Draco, who loves socializing, is chatting with upperclassmen in the Slytherin Common Room with two of his followers.
As the only son of a Pure-blood family, he was taught from a young age the importance and role of connections. This teaching from his father has been deeply ingrained in his mind. So, since the start of the school year, whenever he has free time, he stays in the lounge, playing games with different people, chatting with them, and making as many friends as possible.
Ethan Jones didn't want to comment too much on his behavior, because it wasn't wrong, but in his mind, connections were unreliable in crucial moments, and only strength came first.
"Lumos!" Following the technique taught by Professor Flitwick, he chanted the incantation while waving his wand, all the while trying to adjust the spell's effect.
He continued to practice the same spell, constantly waving his wand, the light at the tip of the wand going out and then coming back on.
"Phew~ Still no luck." Ethan Jones was a little frustrated. His hands were getting sore, and his mind was very firm, but he still couldn't seem to make the light at the tip of his wand change in intensity.
He put his wand back in his pocket, rubbed his aching wrist, and suddenly remembered that he had made an appointment with Hermione to go to the library at noon.
"Oh no!" He glanced at the clock on the dormitory wall; it was already 8:30, and the library was closed.
"I'll explain properly tomorrow." Not only was his magic control practice going poorly, but he also stood Hermione up, which made him even more frustrated.
Feeling rather down, he decided to take a stroll around Hogwarts before curfew to clear his head.
He walked out of the hall and came to the Black Lake. He sat cross-legged by the lake, enjoying the damp evening breeze, and stared blankly at the lake.
He was unwilling to accept that his practice of more than an hour had brought about no change.
"Is this all I can do? Am I just not talented enough?" he questioned himself inwardly.
"No, I can't be just that kind of person!" he roared inwardly, filled with resentment.
"Lumos!" He pulled out his wand and shouted the spell towards the Black Lake.
He recited the spell merely to vent his anger, without even waving his wand, but the result was beyond his expectations.
A blinding light flashed from the tip of the wand, like a small sun, illuminating a large area of the Black Lake and shooting towards the bottom of the water, lighting up the dark underwater world.
Ethan Jones stared at his wand in disbelief.
He slightly raised his hand, and the beam of light followed his movement, turning from the bottom of the water to the sky, disappearing into the endless starry river.
"Holy crap!" he exclaimed excitedly.
Wielding the towering pillar of light, he made slashing and hacking motions as if he were wielding a giant lightsaber, all the while making "whoosh" sounds.
"I will destroy you in the name of the moon!" he yelled incoherently, slamming the beam of light into the Black Lake.
"Splash!" A huge head popped up and started spraying water at him.
"Brother, I was wrong! I'll leave right now!" Ethan Jones chickened out at the sight of the Giant Squid, quickly extinguished his wand, and ran toward the castle.
He ran into the castle, panting, went down into the dungeons, entered his bedroom, and was still thinking about the spell he had just cast.
"Lumos!" He chanted the incantation again, trying to reproduce the effect, but unsurprisingly failed.
However, he discovered that the earth-shattering magic he had just unleashed hadn't left nothing behind; the spell he cast this time was brighter than before.
"Huh? What does this mean? What I want is either the freedom to adjust the spell's effect or to reproduce the towering pillar of light from before. You're not doing either right now."
He tried several more times, and no matter how much he concentrated, he couldn't replicate his previous emotional state. It seemed that it was just an accident under his emotions at the time, but this also made him realize that he still had great potential to explore.
He gave up trying to replicate the pillar of light and instead continued practicing magic control.
Perhaps it was an over-limit spell casting that improved his understanding of the Wand-Lighting Charm. After several attempts, he found that the brightness of the spell he cast began to fluctuate around its original brightness.
"It's not bad, it's alright." He had achieved part of the result he wanted, and although the unexpected surprise did not materialize, he was still quite satisfied.
However, after practicing a few more times, he stopped because his three roommates returned.
He was a little curious as to why the three of them had returned so early today: "Why didn't you go out and play some more?"
"Head of House Snape had something to do and called away several Prefects, and the rest of the people have dispersed as well," Draco said, somewhat annoyed.
"Oh? What happened?"
"I don't know, the Head of House didn't say."
"Alright."
Although they had spent four days together, Ethan Jones's relationship with the three of them remained at a normal level, and they didn't have much to talk about.
After all, one grew up in a Muggle community, while the other three grew up in wizarding families; they simply couldn't connect.
Since he couldn't practice spells, Ethan Jones read before bed and went to bed early, looking forward to the Potions class early the next morning.
The next morning, Ethan Jones, who had been thinking a lot the night before because of the unexpected spell, came to the Great Hall yawning. He first explained to Hermione why he had stood her up the day before, and then sat down listlessly to eat breakfast.
After drinking a cup of coffee, he finally felt a little more refreshed and started thinking about whether he should get some kind of energizing potion.
"Aren't you finished eating yet? Class is about to start." He was still thinking about where to get some potions when Hermione, who had already finished eating, came to his side, looking a little anxious.
This was their first Potions class, and also the first time Gryffindor and Slytherin had a class together.
"Aww, almost done." He stuffed the last bite of sausage into his mouth, wiped the grease off his lips, and continued chewing as he followed Hermione toward the Potions classroom located underground.
As he walked out of the Great Hall, he saw Mrs. Norris—the Caretaker Filch's cat—wandering in the hall.
This skinny, gray cat is Filch's good helper. Whenever someone breaks the rules, it quickly lures Filch over and punishes the offending student.
However, this not-so-cute cat had a very good attitude towards Ethan Jones.
The moment it saw Ethan Jones, it meowed and ran towards him, rubbing its head against his trouser leg.
"It's so good to you. We can't even get close to it." Hermione was a little envious. She loved small animals and had once tried to pet Mrs. Norris, only to have her hand ruthlessly swatted away by a claw.
"Haha, maybe I'm a druid."
Ethan Jones took out a few dried fish that he had prepared especially for it and fed them, while Filch, who was looking at him with a bright smile and bright eyes, waved and greeted him.
"Come back, Mrs. Norris!" Filch clearly didn't want any students to touch his cat.
At its owner's call, it reluctantly left, turning back every few steps.
Ethan Jones shrugged helplessly and went into the basement with Hermione.