Chapter 4: Magic & First Quest

He entered a vast drawing room, dark but for the flickering firelight from the ornately carved black marble chimney. Underfoot, black tiles mirrored the glow of the chandelier overhead. Ancient crests adorned the walls, while plush lounge chairs encircled a small table atop a thick carpet.

Narcissa already awaited him. When his gaze met her's, she spoke, "Since we have only limited time before Hogwarts start, I'm going to only teach you charms and counter-spells, transfigurations and other magic will be postponed since charms and their counters should prove most useful currently". 

Spells were classified in seven categories: transfiguration, charm, jinx, hex, curse, counter-spell, healing spell. Charms, altering an object's inherent qualities, like Expelliarmus changing the target from armed to disarmed, were the most commonly used spells.

Transfigurations altered an object's appearance, jinxes were minor dark magic, a hex is consistently affecting an object in a negative manner. The curses, like the killing curse Avada Kedavra, where the worst kind of dark magic, intending to bring irreversible harm to an enemy. Jinxes, Hexes and curses are all dark charms and can in some way be seen as a subcategorie of charms. Counter-spells inhibited or counteracted the effects of other spells and lastly healing spells could improve the physical condition of a target. 

"We will start with the most simple charm, but a quite useful one, the Wand-Lighting Charm", the Wand-Lighting Charm would alter the property of the wand to execute a strong light. Basically a magical flashlight. "The wand movement is a loop, and the incarnation is 'Lumos'". As she spoke it without the wand motion, its tip glowed in an intensly white, illuminating the whole room. Suddenly, a system message appeared before him.

[ You have gotten a new quest, please open the Quests Tab, to see more details ]

'The quest tab... haven't checked that yet' he thought, as Narcissa spoke "So it's your turn now, show me that you're worthy of being a Black".

Swiftly thinking 'Quests', he viewed the new windows that appeared out of nowhere. 

[[ Quests ]]

[ 1. Learn your first Spell ]

[ Learn to cast the any spell of your choice ]

[ Timelimit: None ]

[ Reward: Spell Tab ]

[[ --- ]]

'So that's how it is', he mused. The system was triggered by him witnessing a spell for the first time, grating him a feature for doing what he intended to do anyway ...

Taking out his wand - a 13½" Yew wand with a dragon heartstring as it's core, he incarnated "Lumos" while making the loop motion. The light was rather weak and flickered until it extinguished.

But this was to be expected, since he never had cast a charm, neither had his predecessor. So while he knew the theoretical knowledge, it was quite different from performing it for real, since he needed to let his mana flow to wand. Basically speaking, the incarnation and the wand movement were only ways to make it easier to make the mana change in a desired way, to give a different command, so if a experienced wizard casts a spell without chanting, it only works because he can reproduce and remember the way his mana would change through the incarnation and movement. 

Mordred casted the spell again, this time more focusing on his mana flow, to give the wand a more stable and larger supply. Which was not entire as he wished it would work, but still the wand lit a lot more stable with only light flickering from time to time and a lot brighter. Still not satisfied, he casted the spell a few more times, getting better by the moment. A few minutes later he was rather proficient with it, but still the System haven't marked the Quest as completed, so there was more to it. After a few more times, finally the System gave him the eagerly awaited message. 

[ Gratulation Host on learning your first spell ]

[ You have completed your Quest to learn a spell, check the Quests Tab, to claim your Reward ]