Charms and Pain

Hadrian continued through the large hallway, eager to make it to his next lesson. Hadrian wanted to see if he could put the rudimentary lessons on magic given to him by Charlus to good use in his Charms class.

He was brought out of his musings when suddenly he dropped to his knees. The runes on his arms began to glow, pulsating and flaring brightly. Hadrian felt his heart rate slow, he was struggling to breathe. He felt a slight pain in his forearms, where the inscriptions for his Wand Artifact was.

Just as suddenly as the pain appeared, it ceased. Hadrian laid panting on the floor, a few seconds later he stood up.

'What on earth was that...!?', Hadrian exclaimed in his mind, 'That pain... It feels familiar?'

Hadrian pondered on it for a few seconds before shaking his head and deciding to continue to his charms lesson. He didn't want to think about it anymore.

Hadrian reached the classroom and saw his friends seated together in a near-identical classroom. The only things that were different were the teacher and the order his friends were sitting in.

In particular, Oliver had seated himself right next to Daphne on the opposite end of the classroom and the only seat available next to his friends was on the side furthest away from Daphne and Oliver.

Hadrian knocked on the door, as he did so - all the students swiveled their heads to see who it was.

A tall brown-haired woman with short hair and glasses opened the door. ''Sorry I'm late, Miss...?

''Professor Vinchetti. You must be Hadrian. Your friends have already notified me that Professor Goldhorn wanted to speak to you after class, however, you must still show me your permission slip. Formalities' sake, of course.'' said the brown-haired professor.

Hadrian noted that she was Italian, at least that was what he ascertained from her accent.

Hadrian nodded and made his way to the seat beside Crow. Crow nodded to him, the rest of his friends smiled at Hadrian.

Hadrian grinned a wide smile back in response. Daphne's ears began turning red as she rotated her head suddenly to face the front of the class.

Hadrian turned as well but not before noting the look of disappointment on Oliver's face. Hadrian shrugged and brushed it aside.

''As Hadrian wasn't here for the beginning of the class I will once again show you the wand movement and incantation for the Levitation Charm. The incantation is 'Wingardium Leviosa' and the wand movement is a swish, followed by a flick. Practice it until you get them both down.'' Vinchetti said as she performed the levitation charm on the feather in front of Roan.

Hadrian sighed in irritation, something that wasn't missed by Professor Vinchetti.

''What is the problem, Hadrian? You can't be expected to perform the spell without knowing the wand movement and incantation.'' Vinchetti said, clearly annoyed at the raven-haired boy.

'' I apologize-'' Hadrian started before he was interrupted,

''Ha!'', shouted Sammie Primrose, sneering in Hadrian's direction.

'' I apologize, Professor Vincetti. I already know how to perform the levitation charm.'' Hadrian finished, a roguish grin adorned on his face.

Professor Vinchetti looked slightly surprised but schooled her features quickly, ''Could you perform the charm for everyone to see, Hadrian?'' she said, a pointed gaze aimed at Hadrian.

Hadrian nodded and aimed his wand at the feather in front of him, ''Wingardium Leviosa'', he muttered.

Hadrian lifted the feather into the air before moving it around in circular loops, demonstrating his control and experience.

Professor Vinchetti nodded in satisfaction, ''Well done Hadrian! Let's see if we can get you performing the charm on heavier objects. The rest of you continue practicing! I expect you all to be able to levitate the feather by the end of the lesson.''

She turned to Hadrian and transfigured the feather into 5kg weights. ''You are to levitate this and exhibit a satisfactory level of control. It is clear to me why Professor Goldhorn decided to hold you back, I expect you already know the offer we give to talented students. I will see to it that you will be put on a more demanding course, that is only if you show the same amount of proficiency with other Charm spells.'' she finished, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips.

Hadrian looked around and saw Sammie Primrose glaring at him, almost as if she was trying to burn holes through his head with her eyes. Hadrian was, of course, unaffected, he found it funny even.

He continued surveying the room and saw Daphne flicking her wand rather furiously, Hadrian chuckled at this.

''Will and Intent.'' He murmured, loud enough for the whole classroom to hear - including Vinchetti.

Everyone turned to look at Hadrian and thought back to the last lesson. A look of understanding and newfound determination rose in the expressions of Hadrian's classmates. Hadrian smiled and saw that many people were now were looking at him.

Some of them were whispering amongst themselves whilst shooting looks at Hadrian. The only ones who didn't were Sammie and Daphne. Sammie because she seemed to have it out for Hadrian, which confused him to no end. Daphne on the other hand, whilst she didn't whisper to anyone, she was certainly listening intently.

Some of the boys in the class were looking at Hadrian with jealousy, children at that age often wanted to be the strongest, the smartest, the fastest. Whilst those didn't matter to Hadrian the most, he couldn't help but be all of those things.

He was taught early on about how to use Magic; his mind had some semblance of structure when it came to Occlumency. He was athletic, Martial Arts training and running helped majorly of course. He was smart, his eidetic memory could be thanked for that. Above all, he was dedicated.

If you were to ask some of the girls in his class, they would tell you that he was cute as well. All in all, Hadrian was trying to be the best in all avenues of life and as a Potter and a Black - he was told to be unapologetically himself. He had worked for it, so he refused to dumb down his talents and abilities to cater to those that couldn't keep up. His pride as a Black and the stubbornness that came with being a Potter didn't allow it!

Hadrian thought that some might view this as arrogant but when he thought about it and asked his Grandfather his only answer was, 'It is only arrogance when you use your knowledge and skill to belittle others in attempts to make them feel embarrassed or make you feel better about yourself.'

Since Hadrian wasn't the type to indulge in negative habits, he was free to demonstrate his expertise as much as he wanted!

Hadrian finished the lesson with a suitable amount of control by lifting the weights. It wasn't to the same degree as the feather but It was expected - his magic hadn't matured yet after all.

Those in the Ministry forbade all children from wizarding families - and by extension muggle-borns, from practicing magic. The main reason is that 'their core is highly volatile and it would be dangerous to perform magic when they are still having bouts of accidental magic'. Although this should hold no relevance because it is noted that many people above the age of 11 perform accidental magic when they experience strong emotions. This was of course done to cater to the muggle-born students who never had the opportunity to perform magic before their 11th birthday.

Hadrian read about this in a book in the Black Manor study. The book claimed that performing magic before their first magical maturity, which occurred at 11 years old, would help the child with the ease they can draw out their magic and in turn cast spells. It also got the child more familiar with their magic.

Hadrian was brought out of his thoughts when Daphne tapped him on his shoulder.

''Um... Hadrian. How are you so good at magic already?'' she said, a curious expression directed at Hadrian.

At that question, everyone stopped and turned towards Hadrian, keen to hear his explanation.

'' I guess I just practiced a little at home before coming here. I've only learned a couple of spells.'' Hadrian said whilst clutching the back of his neck and smiling sheepishly.

Everyone nodded in acceptance at this. It was a well-known fact that wizarding families allowed their children to perform magic at home regardless of the Trace. This could be attributed to the fact that the 'Trace' only 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘴 the magic in an area, not who performed it.

''What do we have next?'' asked Oliver.

''Lunch.''

''Lunch.'',

Was the reply from Roan and Theo.

The others all sweatdropped at this. Roan and Theo proved quite the combination; in the few lessons they have attended, they have sat next to each other and chatted about comic book heroes.

Theo came from the Noble House of Nott. This meant that he was expected to carry himself with a certain level of decorum, something his father has been meaning to instill into him for a very long time. Theodore would much rather watch muggle TV and read comic books and do pranks. Something that Roan also valued.

Oliver was quite confident, he hadn't performed any significant amount of magic so far except from the one spell that Hadrian had shown and taught him, the Tempus spell. It seemed that he had a crush on Daphne, who spent her spare time pestering Hadrian.

Hadrian brandished his wand and whispered ''Tempus.''. The charm showed that it was 10:58 am.

''We should probably hurry to the canteen,'' said Hadrian, to which everyone nodded and began walking faster.

Daphne tapped Hadrian once more, ''Could you teach me that spell later? It seemed very useful.." she said, smiling slightly and looking away.

Hadrian nodded and smiled, ''Sure.''

Oliver scowled and said, ''I know how to perform the Tempus charm too!''

Daphne smiled wryly at him, she had wanted Hadrian to teach her but she couldn't just be as rude as to ignore him.

They all made it into the canteen and sat down in their self-designated seats. Hadrian in the middle with Daphne on his right and Theo on his left. To the right of Daphne was Oliver and to the left of Theo was Roan. Last but not least, sitting opposite Hadrian was Crow. When they sat down, their food appeared on their plates automatically.

The group began talking about the classes and how happy they were about learning magic.

Hadrian had more disturbing matters to think about. What was it that gave him that searing pain after Transfiguration? Why did it hurt his forearms and why did it feel familiar?

Hadrian thought about it and then remembered! This pain feels slightly like when he was assimilating with the Wand. This pain wasn't to the same level but it felt similar!

'That must be why the inscriptions on my forearms were hurting. It was the rune inscriptions that were pulsating- like when I assimilated with my wand!'

With answers came new questions he now needed the answers to.

Hadrian was pulled out of his musings by the bell that signified the 5 minute period before a lesson starts. They all made their way to their next lesson, Duelling tactics.