Light November Experiment

It was around ten in the morning two Saturdays after the first Quidditch match and the Great Hall was nearly deserted. It was a Hogsmeade weekend which meant the vast majority of the older students had left to visit the village at the edge of the Hogwarts grounds. Only a select few students in third year and above that were permitted to go had opted to stay behind. Which was why the Great Hall was practically deserted with the only occupants being first years, second years, a couple of teachers and a rare upperclassman or two

This was the second Hogsmeade visit of the school year. The first one had taken place the weekend before Halloween in October while the November Hogsmeade weekend was situated on a free weekend in between the first Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Slytherin and the second Quidditch match between Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw - which was next weekend. The third visit of the year was scheduled to take place towards the end of December and, according to the older students you had asked, usually coincided with the end of the term. It served as a way to allow the older students to unwind and do their holiday shopping before winter break.

Flint hadn’t sprung any more surprise practices on the team so you were done with Quidditch until next term. The Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff Quidditch teams had taken over the pitch in preparation for their upcoming match. This left your evenings and weekends blissfully free. Originally, Flint had said that as Reserves you and Draco would only have to attend one practice a week. But as the match with Gryffindor got closer, Flint seemed to realize that it was useful to have an extra player to pit the Chasers and Seeker against so you both found yourselves attending every practice. You kept your head down and took it in stride but Draco was very vocal about having to work as hard as the starting players while having nothing to show for it.

But now the Slytherin Quidditch practices were done for the year and you were able to turn your attention back to your studies. It was much easier to stay on top of your assignments when you had your nights free. The only assignment you had yet to complete was a winter star chart for Astronomy but that wasn’t due until class on Wednesday. Technically, it was Thursday since the class started at midnight.

You still hadn’t managed to earn back those five points Professor Snape had taken from you two weeks ago. Normally, Professor Snape almost seemed happy to give you points in Potions class since it seemed to upset the Gryffindors. But in your last two classes, you hadn’t earned a single point. In yesterday’s class, you and Goyle and just barely managed to finish your potion before Hermione and Harry - who were working across the aisle from you. Maybe Professor Snape was still punishing you for your stupidity? Or maybe he had been distracted by Neville and Ron melting their cauldron and causing a minor disaster in the back of the classroom.

Harry had turned to you at one point while Professor Snape was ruthlessly berating two of his best friends. “It’s things like this that make everyone hate Snape.” Apparently, Hermione had shared your insight about the spiteful Potions professor with her friends.

“I never said he was perfect,” you argued, “I only said he wasn’t a murderer.”

“Huh?” Goyle grunted. His confused expression was practically a permanent fixture when in class. But this time it was likely because of your relatively civil conversation with the Gryffindors.

“Don’t worry about it and finish cleaning up,” you ordered.

By the end of class, Professor Snape had taken ten points from Ron and Neville and had awarded Blaise, who narrowly avoided getting doused by the acidic concoction that Weasley and Longbottom had managed to create, three points for “not dying” which your morbid friend seemed to find highly amusing since he was smiling the rest of the day.

But you notably hadn’t earned any.

“Hey, Marvolo,” Millicent called out from where she was seated beside you. “You’ve got mail.”

You looked up and saw your ashen feathered barred owl come flying into the Great Hall. Your owl had developed a habit of hanging back to avoid the breakfast rush when it came to making his post deliveries, especially during weekends. The breakfast post delivery had already taken place before the older students had left for Hogsmeade which was why your owl was the only one currently flying over the Great Hall.

“Romeo, how art thou?” you had decided to name your owl after the titular character from the play and gave a proper old-fashioned Shakespearean greeting as he landed in front of you. “Dost thou haveth a parcel for me?”

Romeo responded with a quiet hoot and presented you with his leg. There were two things tied to your owl’s leg. The first was a rolled up catalog and the second was a small brown pouch.

You relieved your owl of his burden and thanked him, “I thank thee, good sir.”

Your owl gave another hoot then completely disregarded you as he hopped over to Millicent who smiled and offered him a scrap from her plate.

“Oh, good grief,” you muttered. Millicent had borrowed Romeo a number of times over the last few months to send letters to her family. You didn’t have a family to sent mail to so you were more than happy to loan him out since it meant he could get some exercise. But your friend had a tendency to feed your owl scraps off her plate when he made his deliveries and that led to times like this were you suspected that your owl liked Millicent more than you. “Bloody turncoat.”

“Maybe you should spend more time with him?” Millicent suggested.

“Hm… maybe...” you discarded the owl-order catalog since you received one every other week and Christmas was still a month away. Instead, you turned your attention to the little pouch.

“What’s that, Gaunt?” Daphne Greengrass inquired from further down the table. Her attention - and curiosity - had likely been drawn by Romeo’s solo flight across the Great Hall. “Did you run out of Potions ingredients again?”

“Nope,” you replied. “But speaking of which, your family deals in plants… do you know of any suppliers that I could get larger quantities of certain ingredients at a reasonable price?”

“We have a small greenhouse but that’s more for personal use,” Daphne admitted. “My father doesn’t really work with those kinds of plants.” You opened your mouth to ask what kind of plants Mr. Greengrass did deal with but Daphne cut you off when caught on to your ploy. “Wait a tick! Don’t try to distract me! What’s in the pouch, Gaunt?”

“Well, Miss Nosy,” you retorted cheekily, “if you must know, it’s something I owl-ordered for an experiment I wanted to conduct with this new spell I learned a couple weeks ago.”

“You still didn’t say what it actually is,” Daphne pointed out.

“So it would seem,” you remarked then you flashed her your most mysterious smile as you dangled the ‘mystery pouch’ in front of you.

“Quit being cute and spit it out!” Daphne demanded.

“Cute?” you repeated teasingly. “Me? Why, Miss Greengrass, you say the sweetest things when you’re flustered.”

“I misspoke,” Daphne corrected herself as her cheeks went pink, “I meant insufferable.”

You knew that not knowing something got the Greengrass heiress more worked up than anything and it amused you to get a rise out of the curious girl by withholding information. Not telling Daphne made what was in your ‘mystery pouch’ made it way more interesting than it really was. If you actually told her what was in the pouch, she’d kick herself for getting so worked up over it.

“The contents of my mail are none of your business,” you informed her.

Daphne let out a huff and flipped her long dark hair as she pointedly turned and looked away from you, “Get over yourself, Gaunt. I don’t actually care that much.”

Maybe she was lying. Or maybe that was just your ego talking. This was where you and Draco Malfoy differed. Draco was always happy to boast about the contents of his care packages when he received them from home. You lacked the caring family required for care packages so when you did get a delivery it was usually something you had owl ordered and you tended to keep it to yourself. You didn’t want that kind of attention. You wanted to be recognized for your achievements and talents… not what shiny new toy someone had sent you in the post.

Once you were sure that Daphne had turned her attention away from you, you turned to Millicent and held up the little pouch, “Now that this is finally here… I know what we’re going to do today. I’ve been looking to experiment with this charm that I learned last week. We can do it in the Clocktower Courtyard that way I can spend some time with Romeo like you said. I’ve got to get some supplies from my room but while we’re there you can grab Mittens and bring him along too. I’m sure he’d like to spend some time outside of the dungeon.”

“Well, Mittens is more of an indoor cat,” Millicent admitted, “But I guess he could do with a change of scenery.” Millicent looked down for a moment, “Um… after your experiment… could you help me with my Potions essay?”

“Of course,” you agreed, “I already finished mine last night. I’m done with Quidditch practice until the new term so I’ve had a lot more time to get my school work done.” You lifted your arm onto the table and pointed your hand towards your owl. “Come on, Romeo, we’ve got work to do.”

Romeo eyed you and your extended arm for a moment then gave a quick flap of his wings as he did what was basically a floating hop off of the table. He briefly touched down on your forearm before he sprung up and landed on your shoulder.

“Atta, boy,” you encouraged your owl. You slipped the little pouch into your pocket and were careful to keep your shoulder steady so you didn’t jostle your precariously perched owl as you stood up. Millicent got up too and you watched as your dirty plates vanish before you turned away from the table. “Walking with him like this makes me feel like a pirate.”

Pansy Parkinson walked into the Great Hall just as you were about to leave and stopped short in front of you. “Gaunt! Just who I was looking for.”

“Aye? What can I do for ya, lass?” you asked in your best pirate voice.

Pansy blinked, “What’s with the accent?”

“Marvolo says that walking with his owl perched on his shoulder makes him feel like a pirate,” Millicent explained.

Your barred owl chose that moment to let out a loud, perfectly timed squawk.

You grinned and reached over with your free arm to give Romeo an appreciative pat. “Atta boy. Now, what was it you wanted?”

“Professor Snape informed me in class yesterday that some of the Gryffindors - other than Granger - outscored me on the last exam,” Pansy informed you. “I need something to boost my grade or Patil and Brown could pass me in the class rankings. You’re the top student in our class so I need your help writing my Potions essay.”

“I already agreed to help Millie with hers later,” you replied. “You can join us and I’ll help you out. But for now, I’ve got an experiment I want to conduct in the courtyard while the rest of the school is still off visiting Hogsmeade.”

“Fine, meet me in the common room after lunch,” Pansy instructed in an attempt to regain a small measure of control after you temporarily brushed her off.

You led Millicent to out of the Great Hall and to the stairway then slowly and carefully made your way down the stairs to the dungeons all while keeping Romeo balanced on your shoulder. You hissed at the wall and you entered the Slytherin Common Room together.

“It’s November in Scotland,” you reminded Millicent, “Don’t forget your cloak.”

You played tour guide for your owl as you headed for your room. “Welcome to the Slytherin Common Room, Romeo. The Gryffindors and Ravenclaws have rooms that are located in towers somewhere so they can get their post and have their owls visit at basically any time. But we don’t have the luxury here in Slytherin since all of our windows look out into the Black Lake. That’s why you haven’t visited before now and why we Slytherins have to get all our post in the Great Hall. The only way for a Slytherin to get a package without everyone seeing it fly over the Great Hall is to arrange for the package to be dropped off at an alternate location.”

Your room was empty when you entered it which told you that Draco had either been eating somewhere else in the Great Hall or was off elsewhere in the castle.

“Make sure you stay in my side of the room,” you instructed your owl. “I’m not doubting the cleaning capabilities of the Hogwarts House Elves but I’ll never hear the end of it if Draco finds a feather… or something worse on his side of the room.”

Romeo fluttered across the room and landed on your desk. This freed you to gather all the materials you needed for your ‘experiment’ in the courtyard. With that done, you donned your black winter cloak and shouldered your school bag then pointed to your free shoulder to Romeo. “I’m all set. Let’s go.”

Millicent was waiting for you in the common room. She was wearing her winter cloak and had Mittens bundled up in her arms. But it was her accessories that made you smile. On her hands were a pair of white mittens that closely resembled her cat’s white paws. They were Mittens mittens. And upon her head was a black wool beanie with cat ears sewn onto it. The hat and the mittens were both presents that you had given Millicent for her fourteenth birthday back on the fourteenth.

Millicent and her cat were now a matching pair... and they looked bloody adorable.

“Aw, don’t you two look cute together,” you remarked. Millicent’s face went pink. “Romeo, this is Mittens,” you introduced your owl to your friend’s cat, “Mittens, meet Romeo.”

Maybe you were supposed to feel silly talking to animals like they could understand you. But Mittens’ yellow eyes lingered on your Romeo while you made the introduction and your ashen-feathered barred owl had twitched his wings in what could loosely be considered a wave. So you didn’t feel like your introduction had been completely pointless.

“Right, looks like the gang’s all here,” you resolved, “Let’s get going.”

You led the way out of the common room, out of the dungeon, out of the castle, and then walked out into the Clocktower Courtyard.

On a normal weekend, this courtyard would have students socializing, playing Gobstones, and all sorts of other things. But since this was a Hogsmeade weekend, it was deserted. You sat down on an empty bench and took your school bag off your shoulder and pulled your supplies out of it.

“So… what’s this experiment of yours?” Millicent finally asked as she sat down beside you.

“I want to see if I can tinker with this fun spell that I learned last week,” you explained as you set a large cylindrical potion vial in your lap along with your dragon hide Herbology gloves. You fished into you cloak and pulled the pouch out of your robe pocket and set it on the bench beside you. Finally, you drew your wand and pointed it into the vial and cast the Bluebell Flame spell that Hermione had taught you and your vial was soon filled with blue fire.

Romeo let out a squawk of surprise and hopped from your shoulder to Millicent’s in an effort to put some distance between himself and the magical fire you had just made.

“These are Bluebell Flames, you chicken,” you chided you owl, “They can’t hurt you.” You demonstrated this by reaching your bare hand into the vial and scooped out fire blue flames. “It’s sometimes called cold fire because - while you can feel the heat from it if you hold your hand over it - the flames can’t actually burn you.” You held out your hand towards Millicent. “Go ahead. You can touch it.”

Mittens looked a bit uneasy at the sight of the blue fire you were holding in front of him while Millicent took a moment to remove her white mitten then extended her hand and tentatively poked the fire with the tip of her finger. She let out a near silent sigh of relief when it didn’t burn her then held her hand over the fire and briefly felt the heat from it.

“What’s going on here?” a high-pitched voice called out.

You turned and saw Professor Flitwick making his way over to you.

“Just conducting an experiment,” you answered. “What brings you out here, professor?”

“I was on my way to Hogsmeade for a drink at the Three Broomsticks when I saw two first years literally playing with fire,” Professor Flitwick stated. “Any responsible adult in my position would come over to investigate.” The Head of Ravenclaw House eyed the blue fire in your hand curiously, but then his attention was drawn to Millicent, her cat, and her matching accessories. “Why Miss Bulstrode! What an adorable hat!”

“Birthday present from Marvolo,” Millicent explained. “He got me mittens too.”

“Oh, well, happy belated birthday,” Professor Flitwick said. “Please allow me to make my contribution.” He drew his wand and gave it a complicated series of swishes before pointing it at Millicent. Your friend flinched but then the black cat ears on her beanie twitched and a pair of yellow cat eyes opened on the brim and blinked at you.

“Oh Merlin!” you exclaimed. “Millie, he did some kind of animation charm on your hat! It’s got eyes now! They look just like Mittens’!” The cat in question turned and eyed the blinking eyes and twitching ears on Millicent’s hat and didn’t seem quite as thrilled as you were.

“Wot!?” Millicent blurted out. Her eyes widened in surprise and you were further shocked to see the yellow cat eyes on her hat mirror her shock while the black ears shot up extra straight.

“Ah-hahaha!" you couldn't help laughing. “Oh, that’s brilliant! The cat hat’s expressions match yours! Well done, professor.”

“Thank you, Mr. Gaunt,” Professor Flitwick replied. “I’d say that’s one charming hat now.”

This was why Professor Flitwick was so popular. He was the only professor who openly displayed a sense of humor during class. He wasn’t above telling the occasional joke or pun to keep the atmosphere light during your shared Charms class with the Hufflepuffs.

Professor Flitwick turned his attention back to you while Millicent pulled her animated cat hat off to get a better look at it. Mittens and Romeo both got closer to her in order to study the charmed beanie too.

“Now, what is this experiment you’re conducting?” the charming Charms professor inquired.

“Well, as you can see, professor, I recently learned the Bluebell Flame spell,” you pointed out as you waved the blue flames that were still going in your hand.

“Yes, it’s always nice to see ambitious students going above and beyond the curriculum,” Professor Flitwick remarked.

“I know that Ravenclaw is associated with the color blue,” you said, “But as a Slytherin, I’m more partial to the color green. So I thought about tweaking the spell to see if I can turn the blue flames green while maintaining the ‘cold fire’ magical properties that allow me to touch them.”

“Mmhmm,” Professor Flitwick hummed, “And what method did you decide to go with?”

“The most obvious one,” you admitted. You looked over at Millicent, “Millie, off the top of your head, what’s the first thing you think of when someone says ‘green fire’?”

“Uh… Floo Powder?” Millicent answered as she put her beanie back on. You were momentarily distracted when Romeo fluttered up onto the square-shaped girls broad shoulder and prodded at Millicent’s hat with his beak. You couldn’t help smiling when you saw both Millicent and her cat hat twitch in perfect sync.

You shook your head in amusement then held up your ‘mystery pouch’ for Professor Flitwick to see. “And that’s exactly what I have here.”

If she were here, Daphne would’ve kicked herself for getting worked up over a simple pouch of Floo Powder. But if Daphne were here, Tracey likely would be too and you expected that she’d be just as entranced by the animated cat hat as you were.

“Ah,” Professor Flitwick said, “Professor Snape often boasts about you being the top Potions student in your year. So it doesn’t surprise me that you went with the approach that involves mixing things together. Go ahead. Let’s see it.”

Suddenly you were the center of attention again. You couldn’t help feeling a little self-conscious with the Charms professor, Millicent, your two pets, and Millicent’s cat-eyed beanie all watching you as you placed the blue fire back in the glass potion vial then opened the pouch. You took a pinch of Floo Powder and sprinkled it onto the Bluebell Flames. There was a bright flash and the bright blue fire turned green just as you had hoped. But this wasn’t the normal green of that Floo Powder turned fire. This was much brighter. You had never seen the Killing Curse cast but you had heard that the spell was a very infamous shade of bright green. Upon seeing the bright green flames you couldn’t help but compare them to the most notorious of dark magic spells.

“Floo Powder is naturally designed to turn fire green,” Professor Flitwick noted. “So it looks like you succeeded in your objective. But why don’t you put your glove on and see how it feels?”

You pulled your dragon hide glove onto your right hand and dipped your protected fingers into the fire-filled vial. But you immediately felt the heat from the fire and yanked your hand back out. Thankfully, dragon hide was not only thick and durable but it was fire resistant which is what saved your fingers from being burned by the magical green fire.

“It didn’t work,” you realized, “It’s green but it burns like normal fire now.”

“I’d say that fire you’ve created burns a fair bit brighter and more intensely than a normal fire,” Professor Flitwick commented.

You looked over at the Charms professor, “You knew this would happen.”

“You’re far from the first student to try this particular experiment,” Professor Flitwick stated, “But I’ll commend you on being prepared and having the foresight to bring your protective gloves. Some of the other students who attempted to combine Floo Powder with Bluebell Flames came away with some rather severe burns on their hands and had to spend time in the Hospital Wing.”

“Well, the point wasn’t to see if I could make the Bluebell Flames green,” you admitted, “But to turn them green so they’d keep the characteristics of cold fire.”

“You see, Mr. Gaunt, what happened here can sometimes be referred to as a double negative,” Professor Flitwick explained, “Hogwarts doesn’t do much in the way of mathematics outside of Arithmancy but when you take a negative number, which is a figure that’s less than zero, and you multiply it by another negative number - the result is a positive number. It’s the same with grammar, if one was to say ‘You are never not going to pass Charms class’, the words ‘never’ and ‘not’ are both negative and they cancel each other out to make the statement a positive so it really means ‘You are going to pass Charms class’.”

You blinked as you digested this new information and tried to figure out how it applied to your failed experiment, “So… you’re saying that fire made by Floo Powder and Blue Flames are both negatives?”

“Yes, precisely,” Professor Flitwick confirmed with a little clap of his small hands. “Fire in its natural state will burn you. Floo Powder and the Bluebell Flames spell both apply their own unique magical qualities to the fire to ensure that it doesn’t burn so since the fire is no longer in its natural state that makes this the negative state. And like two negative numbers, or a double negative in a sentence, the two ‘negatives’ from the different kinds of magic from the Floo Powder and the Bluebell Flames counteract each other and cause the fire to return to a much more intense version of its natural positive state where it can burn you again.”

“Well… that’s disappointing,” you admitted.

“Tell me, Mr. Gaunt,” Professor Flitwick prompted, “While you were preparing for your experiment, did you perhaps consider an alternative method? Perhaps from my own subject?”

“You’re referring to the Colour Change Charm,” you realized. “I read about it while I was waiting for the Floo Powder to be delivered. We’re scheduled to learn I next term so it seemed learnable but everything I read about it in The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1 referred to casting it on solid objects. I don’t think it’s possible to cast it on fire.”

“Oh? Impossible, you say?” Professor Flitwick questioned. He pointed his wand at his hand and gave it a flick. The Bluebell Flames appeared in his previously empty hand. He pointed his wand at the blue flames and called out the incantation of the Colour Change Charm. “Colovaria!”

The blue flames flickered and your eyes went wide as they turned green. It wasn’t as bright green as the fire in your potion vial but to the Charms professor’s credit, he was holding the green fire in his bare hand… which meant… IT WASN’T BURNING HIM!

“YOU DID IT!” you exclaimed.

Professor Flitwick grinned, “You’re a first year, Mr. Gaunt, but as you continue your magical education you’ll find that many things you thought were impossible are actually quite possible with the proper application of magic. As the name entails, the Colour Change Charm is merely designed to change something’s color so it doesn’t alter its natural state. If I were to perform the charm on normal fire, it wouldn’t change its natural state so the fire would still burn you. And, as you just saw, the opposite is also true, that’s why the Bluebell Flames stayed in their ‘negative’ state and didn’t burn my hand.”

“I’ve gotta learn that spell,” you resolved.

“No time like the present, Mr. Gaunt,” Professor Flitwick encouraged you. “But there’s a reason why the grade one textbook focuses on solids. It’s much more difficult to perform the charm on liquids and gasses. Miranda Goshawk eventually covers it in the O.W.L. and N.E.W.T. level installments of her textbook series.”

“I’ve gotta find a solid object to…” you trailed off and stared at the Bluebell Flames that you’d turned green with Floo Powder in the clear potion vial. The clear but still very solid glass vial. You flicked your wand and cast the counterspell to the Bluebell Flames and snuffed them out. “Here.”

You stood up and set the vial in your spot on the bench.

“Miss Bulstrode, perhaps you’d like to join us?” Professor Flitwick suggested. “I don’t often give personal tutoring sessions. But if you ask any of the older students they’ll tell you that I always include the Colour Change Charm on the first year final exam.”

“Uh… okay,” Millicent agreed. She set Mittens and Romeo down on the bench and stood up with you and Professor Flitwick. The cat ears on her hat lowered a bit and clearly displayed her ****.

You couldn’t help but notice that you were both taller than the tiny Charms professor. You were about a head and a half taller than the teacher while Millicent was one of the two tallest students in your year and was actually taller than some of the second years. Gregory Goyle was the only first year who was actually taller than her. So she almost towered over Professor Flitwick.

“Wands at the ready,” Professor Flitwick instructed. Millicent hurried to draw her wand while you gave yours a little flick. “As you heard, the incantation is 'Colovaria'. That’s Co-loh-VA-ree-ah. Repeat it.”

“Colovaria,” you and Millicent chorused.

“There’s no wand movement,” Professor Flitwick continued, “You just have to point your wand at the object you want to change the color of. You’ll want to stand like this.”

You looked down at Professor Flitwick’s feet and did your best to copy his stance. You gave your wand a test wave and pointed it at the glass vial sitting in front of you on the bench.

“The trick to casting this charm is a three-step process,” the Charms professor explained, “First, picture a color in your mind. When you’re starting out with this spell it helps to picture a color that you like so that it’s easier for you to picture it in your mind. Next, focus on the object you’re trying to charm, and then finally, picture the object turning the color that you just pictured. Now… who wants to go first?”

You glanced over at Millicent. She gave you a look that said ‘this was your idea, you do it.’ Her hat looked none too pleased with you either.

“Alright, I’ll give it a shot,” you resolved. Naturally, the first color you thought of was green. But not just any green, emerald green. The color of the Slytherin banners, the color of the emeralds in the hourglass that measured your house’s points, the color of the ink on your Hogwarts letter. With emerald green firmly in your mind, you turned your attention to the vial and committed its size and shape to memory like you did with objects in Transfiguration class. And then you pictured the clear glass vial slowly turning emerald green. “Colovaria!”

Nothing happened.

“This is a common problem for students trying the Colour Change Charm for the first time,” Professor Flitwick informed you. “It’s usually rooted in the third step of the process. Go slowly and draw out the incantation. Don’t try to change the color all at once like I did. Slowly picture the object turning the color that you selected - one part at a time. Imagine you’re using magic to paint the object the color you’re picturing.”

Again, you pictured emerald green and focused on the glass vial and you pictured the vial turning emerald green. “Cooolooohvaaareeeaaahhh…”

It didn’t turn green. But on the very front of the vial where you had been focusing most of your attention was an emerald green splotch.

“You nearly had it, Mr. Gaunt,” Professor Flitwick encouraged you. “Keep going. You know what they say - the third time’s the charm!”

You focused on the emerald green splotch on the front of the vial and imagined it slowly spreading and covering the rest of the glass vial. “Cohloh…” The green began spreading and covered the front half of the cup. You kept pushing and willed the green around the back. “...vaayreeeaaahhh!”

There on the bench was an emerald green potion vial.

“Yes!” you cheered at your success.

Mittens took a couple of cautious steps forward along the bench to the green vial and sniffed it.

Professor Flitwick applauded, “Well done, well done, indeed. Not to be discouraging, but that’s merely the first step on your way to accomplishing your experiment. Charming a liquid is much more difficult and doing the same with a gas is even harder than that. Miss Bulstrode, would you like to give it a try? I hope it goes without saying that you should pick a different color so you can see your progress.”

“Mittens, shoo!” Millicent called out to her cat. The cat backed away from the vial it had been sniffing and Millicent screwed up her face as she pointed her wand at it. “Colovaria!”

But like with your first attempt - nothing happened.

“Slow it down,” you advised, “Draw it out more. Focus on changing one spot and then have the new color spread out from there.’

She tried again. She tried another four times but the vial remained green. You could tell by that point that Millicent was getting frustrated about not getting the spell. And her hat made it blatantly obvious with the way its ears were flattened and its eyes were narrowed into slits. If the cat hat had a mouth, you imagined that it would be growling.

You knew that your friend was sensitive when it came to her self worth and took it very personally that she didn’t have a subject that she excelled in. Repeatedly failing at the charm was clearly getting to her.

Professor Flitwick saw Millicent’s visible frustration as well and called a stop to her casting after another two failed attempts. You both knew that Millicent was no longer in the right mindset to properly cast this new spell.

“Perhaps you can try again another time?” he suggested. “Mr. Gaunt, five points to Slytherin for learning a new spell outside of class.” You grinned because this was the first time you had seen Professor Flitwick award points to a Slytherin. “I’ll award both you and Miss Bulstrode another five if you can both cast the Colour Change Charm by the winter holidays.”

“We’ll keep practicing, professor,” you agreed.

“Good,” Professor Flitwick replied, “I recall you telling me back in September that you made a point to learn the Water-Making Spell to counter the Fire-Making Spell. Once you feel you have a firm grasp on using the Colour Change Charm on a solid object, take a vial like that one and fill it with water then try your hand at changing the color of a liquid. Remember, it’s O.W.L. level magic so I don’t expect you to get it. But if you somehow manage it by the time we cover the Colour Change Charm in class during the spring term… I’ll award you fifteen points.”

You smiled widely, that was certainly an incentive to do something that you were very likely going to attempt anyway. “I’ll do my best, professor.”

“Enjoy the rest of your day, Mr. Gaunt, Miss Bulstrode,” Professor Flitwick said before he continued on his way out of the courtyard and towards Hogsmeade. “Keep up the good work.”

You turned back to Millicent, “Don’t worry, Millie, I've got an entire month to help you learn one charm. We’ve got this.” You pointed your wand at the green vial and this time you pictured silver. The same silver on your tie, the silver on the Slytherin crest, and the silver of a Sickle. You imagined the green vial turning silver and cast the spell, “Cooloovaariiaa!”

A splotch of shining silver appeared on the front of the vial and slowly spread around it until the entire thing was a glinting metallic silver.

Once again Mittens felt compelled to sniff the newly silver vial. You idly wondered if the magic of the Colour Charge Charm made the charmed object smell any different.

“See, it’s not so difficult once you get the hang of it,” you reassured Millicent “We’ve still got plenty of time until lunch. Let’s keep at it.”

Millicent still hadn’t managed it by the time you went in for lunch but you remained optimistic that you’d help her learn the spell before winter break. That had at least caused her cat ears to perk up a bit.

During lunch, you tallied your personal total of points and realized you were back up to forty-six. These five points had been initially given to you by Professor McGonagall for helping Hermione with the troll but were taken by Professor Snape for attempting to brew Headache Cure while impaired and now you had earned them back from Professor Flitwick for extracurricular learning.

That line of thought made you realise something interesting. You had earned points from five different professors - Snape, Hooch, Quirrell, McGonagall, and Flitwick. Professor Binns didn’t even know your names and he never gave out points and neither did Professor Sinistra who likely did this to keep things neutral for her large classes where she taught all four houses at once. That left Professor Sprout as the only holdout.

Professor Flitwick had given you two challenges involving the Colour Change Charm. But you decided to make a new self-imposed one for yourself. You were going to win your little game of house point bingo and by earning points from Professor Sprout before the end of the school year.

Marvolo Gaunt House Point Ledger

Filius Flitwick: +5

Current Total: +46

Points awarded by: SS, RH, QQ, MM, FF