Mending Charm

"Reparo."

Ron watched with bated breath as the badly torn first page of 'Standard Book of Spells: Grade 1' begun to mend slowly. While it wasn't possible to mend all the tears, it was still in much better condition than it started.

He felt a little giddiness in his chest. No matter how many times he did it, Ron couldn't help but feel excited. This was magic!

It had been a week since his first trip to Diagon Alley, and aside from eating and chores, all his time was spent learning.

However, it hadn't been for naught as he began seeing results.

[Ronald Weasley]

{Transfiguration (Low White)}

[White: Softening Charm (LV2 19/20), Match to Needle (LV2 13/20)]

{Charms (Low White)}

[Green: Mending Charm (LV2 3/200)]

[White: Levitating Charm (LV2 4/20), Unlocking Charm (LV1 6/10), Wand-Lighting Charm (LV1 4/10), Wand-Extinguishing Charm (LV1 4/10)]

{Potions (Low White)}

[White: Cure for Boils (LV2 9/20), Antidote to Common Poisons (LV1 7/10)

{Dark Magic (Low White)}

[White: Leg-Locker Curse (LV2 15/20), Curse of Bogies (LV1 4/10)]

{Herbology (Low White)}

[White: De-Gnoming (LV4 16/40), Asphodel Root (LV1 4/10), Dittany (LV1 3/10), Devil's Snare (LV1 0/10)]

{Other}

[Blue: Wizard's Chess (LV7 6704/7000)]

[Green: Broom Flying (LV2 28/200)]

[Points: 964]

Now, his panel was starting to look a little respectable, having elements from the four main magical classes on it. Once he gained multiple skills of the same type, they were placed into categories, though instead of levels the categories were just classified as 'Low White'. Ron wasn't quite sure how the category ratings were compiled, but he could figure that out in the future.

Most of Ron's efforts had been focused on the Mending Charm, 'Reparo', barely pushing it to White LV5. This week had showed him the slow crawl that was 'free-to-play' Magic. On average, he gained three skill points per hour of earnest studying.

That meant three hours for LV1, six for LV2, and on. Plus, getting from LV1 9/10 to LV2 0/20, took an hour by itself. At this rate, it would take another 100 hours to reach Green. Moreover, his growth would slow as he got to higher levels.

This was the problem with being self-taught. As he practiced, he repeated the same mistakes. While he could go to Percy or Molly, they were busy and not trained teachers. At Hogwarts, he could go to the Professors, but for now, his growth could only stagnate.

Plus, this was in Charms, the subject he was most talented in. In Transfiguration and Dark Magic, his growth was slower, at two points an hour. As for Potions, it was a pathetic one point an hour since he could only read theory.

As for fancy things like learning Occlumency and Legillimency, how could he have the books, time or money to learn those? He just hoped that avoiding eye contact with Dumbledore and Snape was enough until he could afford to put some money into Occlumency.

But free-to-play wouldn't work for long. It was time for some pay-to-win! He hadn't touched any of the 964 points he'd gotten from his little chess hustling at Diagon Alley, but it was about time to start.

"Let's go to Green LV1 to start." Ron muttered to himself, urging his panel in his mind.

Then, he started. White LV5 2/50… Then White LV5 5/50… 25/50… 40/50. Soon, he reached White LV6! But he kept going, using up a total of 348 Points until…

[Mending Charm (White) LV9 89/90]

Ron sucked in a breath. He was at the final step. If he could add a point here… his pay-to-win life would truly begin. Praying to Blizzard, EA, Epic, and all mobile games, he added a final point.

[Mending Charm (Green) LV1 0/100]

He made it to Green!

Sucking in a breath, Ron could feel his expanded knowledge. Looking back at his form, he was ashamed of how sloppy it was. His wrists were too stiff, his fingers too high on the wand, his flourish poorly timed… there were dozens of flaws. But now…

"Reparo." Ron tried again, on the same ratty old page.

This time, the charm had a much stronger effect, mending all but the most serious of tears and even those had improved greatly. Ron's eyes lit up, feeling a rush as he saw this.

He quickly moved onwards, going to every damaged page and trying his hand at fixing it. Some had been damaged by magic, and were beyond what Reparo could fix, but most were easily fixed. By the time he was done, over an hour had passed, but his eyes were still sparkling. If the old book had been a clear hand-me-down, this version could pass as mildly used. He felt giddy just seeing this.

Of course, this level of magic wasn't beyond something Molly or Arthur could do. They simply hadn't the time to repair it page by page. But for Ron, this was very important.

But that wasn't all. Accompanied by his rise to Green LV1 Mending, his Charms had gone from Low White to White. At first, Ron couldn't understand what had changed, but once he tried practicing his levitating, he understood. Raising his basic Charms level improved his understanding of Charms theory, allowing him to quickly advance any under-levelled skills to that level.

"Brilliant." Ron gasped.

"Ronnie, I'm doing a round of laundry, have you got anything?" Molly called out, entering Ron's room.

Seeing the look of excitement on his face, her expression shifted into a little pout.

"I know you like the bigger room, but the twins are back in tomorrow. You'd best start packing up soon." She reminded.

"Sure thing." Ron said with a nod, setting down the book and digging up his laundry.

"Is this Charlie's old book?" Molly asked, bending over to pick it up. "It's in better condition than I remember. Did you get Percy to mend it for you?"

"Mhm." Ron lied, as he got his laundry.

"Hmm… This is almost O.W.L. level. Very good for something casual. His Charm-work is coming along quite well. That's good." Molly muttered as she appraised the book.

Ron felt a little pride welling up in his chest, knowing that it was his work, not Percy's.

"Still, don't be bothering your brother with this. He's got studying to do." Molly scolded lightly, before picking up the laundry and heading off.

Ron waited until Molly had left before breaking into a broad grin. Almost O.W.L. level… Now, he finally had an appraisal of what his levels meant. Green was probably the minimum level to pass an O.W.L. with a spell. With Green LV1 Mending, he might barely be able to scrape an Acceptable.

Of course, this was only one charm. A dozen charms would be tested in the Charms O.W.L, and these were randomly selected out of over a hundred. He wasn't nearly O.W.L. level yet. Still, this only cost one galleon!

"Ahh, pay-to-win is still the best." Ron said with a smile.

Then, he looked at his remaining points.

[Points: 615]

He'd used over a third of his hard-earned points for this. Even if he depleted the rest of them, he'd only reach Green LV4.

"That should be enough for now." Ron thought.

Green-level Mending was enough to mend most non-magical damage with little effort. If he found that it wasn't, he could always upgrade it later. Coming back to reality, he prepared to return to his old room.

While he tidied the bed, Ron noticed an odd lump in the mattress, barely noticeable but it caught his eye. Opening the mattress up, he searched inside until he found a small bag, filled with the twins pranking equipment. Dungbombs, stink pellets, permanent-sticking chewing gum and more.

Most of it was from Gambol and Japes, but there were a few early indications of their inventing spirit popping up. Ron chuckled.

But as he was about to put the stuff back, his eyes narrowed as he saw a small, folded up piece of parchment among the things, barely noticeable, amid the pranking supplies.

"Is that… the Marauder's Map?"

Withdrawing his wand, Ron pointed it at the parchment. Then, he uttered the famous phrase.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

Thin ink lines spread like spiderwebs from the point of his wand, joining together, crisscrossing and fanning to each corner of the parchment. Then words blossomed across the top:

Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs

Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers are proud to present THE MARAUDER'S MAP

Ron broke into a wide grin.

"Mischief Managed." Ron reset the map, pocketing it.

There was no way he was leaving this to the twins to squander. Five years with this cheat code and they only used it for pranks? No way.

Ripping a piece of parchment from his notebook, he folded it up, smeared dirt on it and left it on the bed. Soon, Molly would tidy the room, find the parchment, then vanish it like she did the rest of the rubbish. If the twins asked, they'd discover it was gone for good. A perfect crime.

With that, Ron quickly packed his things to leave.

The next week passed quickly. At one point, Molly and Arthur came to repair his hand-me-downs and Ron excitedly asked to watch. They'd been confused, but hadn't refused him, getting to work at once.

It was a wonderful sight. While Ron couldn't see his parents' skill panels, he guessed their Mending Charms were at the Blue level at least. He'd learned a lot watching his parents and he spent the rest of the week just dedicated to Mending Charms. By the end, with the help of some points, he reached Green LV2. His business could finally begin.

His parents had also tried handing Scabbers over to him during that check-in, figuring he'd want the company. Percy's new owl, Hermes, kept trying to eat the fat rat, so Percy couldn't keep him anymore.

Ron had refused without a second thought.

What a joke? 'Scabbers'? More like Peter Pettigrew, traitor and mass-murderer. He'd prefer that fat little fucker be as far away from his as humanly possible.

At first, he'd considered leaving Scabbers behind with Ginny, but the thought of a 35-year-old man sleeping with his 10-year-old sister was chilling. He'd tried convincing Percy to keep him, but he'd 'moved up in the world' and couldn't have Scabbers 'holding him back'.

'Ugh, what a prat.'

Ultimately, he left him with the twins, who were more than happy to get a free 'experimental subject'. It was the best arrangement. Scabbers would suffer, and Ron could sleep soundly at night.

As for telling his parents or turning Scabbers in to the ministry, Ron didn't have a death wish. Peter Pettigrew was no average wizard. He'd killed 12 muggles right under the nose of Sirius Black, an expert duellist.

By the time he managed to convince someone that Scabbers was an animagus, Pettigrew could kill him 20 times over. No sir! He was either going to wait until Sirius came to kill the bastard or until he was confident in beating Pettigrew himself.

To that end, Ron had been putting in work on his other subjects. He'd reached White LV3 in Match to Needle transfiguration, and other spells had similarly improved. Using 10 points, he'd also brought his Cure for Boils to White LV3. Now, he ought to be the best first year in most every class.

Waking up on the morning of September 1st, Ron took in a deep breath. His Hogwarts journey was about to begin.