"A kitchen knife? Seriously?" Terry asked incredulously.
I chuckled at the sheer confusion they both had on their faces. I had seen far too much anime to dare imagine a sword for my spell. Those blades that cleaved through steel or even split clouds would likely result in a ridiculously potent spell. By comparison a kitchen knife while still more than capable of slashing someone open was much less impressive. More normal and thus perfect for a controlled use of the spell.-
"You could say my image of a sword is a tad too much for simple practice like this." I said and left it at that.
"Well that's the cutting charm but you said you wanted to practice the disarming and fire charms as well." Mike said accepting my answer easily enough.
"For the disarming charm it's a thrusting motion with your arm while wanting to take the item away. I say item because despite the name of the spell it actually works on more than just things you might consider a weapon. It's anything being held at all. Food, quills, umbrellas it all works the same. Here watch." I explained before pointing my wand at the tree.
"Expelliarmus." I said and a scarlet fast spell shot out and struck the tree making it shake as it's leaves all were torn off.
"Uh, isn't that bad for the tree?" Terry asked worriedly.
"It's September mate, the leaves were all starting to fall anyways." I said rolling my eyes.
"Why did they all come off though?" Mike asked confused.
"A slight miscommunication on my part. The spell doesn't only make it's target drop a single held item but ALL held items. In this case that was all those leaves. It can do more too depending on your intent. For example it can take your opponents wand and even blast them backwards as well. It all depends on if you wish them harm or not." I explained honestly.
"Sounds wicked useful." Terry said impressed.
"There's a reason it's a staple in magical duels after all. Since the tree won't work anymore why don't both of you practice on me. Just try not to send me flying okay?" I said with slight joking tone.
"You sure?" Terry asked with a reluctant look.
"Yeah, don't worry about it." I said with a nod.
Mike went first and his spell barely created a slight tugging sensation on the stick I had chosen to use in place of my wand. There was no way in hell I was putting my actual wand at risk with this practice after all. I didn't say anything but motioned for Terry to try next and he did a little better but I still had hold of the stick in the end.-
"For both of you it feels like you lack the resolve needed here. Give me a moment." I said with a sigh as I took out my actual wand and carefully cast the transfiguration spell on the tree.
One of it's lowest branches curled under it's effect and turned into a rough facsimile of a hand that I then neatly placed the stick in.
"There. Now you can cast the spell without needing to worry about hurting me." I said and they both sighed in relief.
To no surprise at all that made things much easier on them as the stick was now launched out of the trees grasp reliably. Teaching them the fire making charm was even easier as we were going to be casting it over the lake. I may have gone slightly overboard on this front as my spell didn't create a normal small burst of flame, it made a flame thrower.-
"Bloody hell!" Terry exclaimed in shock at the sight while Mike just stared in awe.
"Your turns." I said playing it off.
Both created a few small sparks on their first tries but after I explained what they did wrong with the wand movements they both managed a burst of flame. After that we each took turns practicing the three spells until lunch time. We had a few watchers since we were practicing spells in the open but no one bothered us about it.-
Lunch was a simple affair as we went to the great hall, ate and then left again. This time for the common room as Terry and Mike wanted to review their stuff for class tomorrow. I passed on that as it was all stuff I had already mastered for the most part over the summer. For the next few hours I chose to vanish into the ROR to clear out a bit more of the stuff there. It wasn't much progress but it was something at least.-
I didn't walk away with nothing besides coins for my effort either as I found a rather interesting trinket as I was cleaning the place out. It was a small box made of iron with three latches on it and a series of thirteen concentric circles on the lid with runes that spun. It was a puzzle box, one with something in it. Naturally I appraised it to see if it was dangerous but according to my system it was merely hard to open but otherwise harmless. Naturally I was fascinated by the thing and even called it a day to try and guess the combination.-
"A runechest!?" an excited voice called out in the common room breaking my focus.
I looked for the source of the sound and found myself peering at the fifth year female prefect, Penelope clearwater as she snatched the box from my hands.
"Where on Earth did you find this thing? Besides the one in Dumbledores office i've never seen another!" she said excitedly as she moved the circles eagerly.
I calmly reached up and took it back leaving her speechless.
"It would be better if you asked before snatching things from people randomly." I said seriously.