Most of Sean's time next was spent planning one thing:
Halloween.
Early that morning, a sweet, tempting smell of baked pumpkin drifted through the corridor. He glanced out the stained glass; the Quidditch pitch looked especially empty beneath the gray sky.
A hulking figure was crossing the yellowed lawn like a moving hill, cradling a giant pumpkin—truly enormous, its orange rind already carved with a jagged, grinning face. Through the hollow eye sockets you could see the shaggy moleskin of his coat.
Few people know this, but the jack-o'-lanterns at Hogwarts on Halloween come from Hagrid's pumpkins; each one is as big as a garden shed.
The Hope Nook.
Bat decorations were already up. Justin was rushing to make sweets; a light dairy scent wafted off the tables.
The door eased open—no one in sight—and eased shut again.
Hermione was working hard at the nonverbal Levitation Charm, but the instant she had to keep silent, she kept losing focus. That lapse made her notice Neville trembling—he stared at the door, lips quivering, clearly wanting to speak but unable to.
"Sean!"
"Sean?" Hermione and Justin spoke at once. Sean appeared in his chair as if shrugging off an Invisibility Cloak.
He looked at the two of them with mild curiosity, as if waiting for something.
"Your scent, Sean—easy to recognize," Justin said, shaping a soft candy base while grinning up at him.
"The light, Sean—in the dark I'd never spot you," Hermione frowned, not quite believing it. "Is that… the Disillusionment Charm?"
Sean nodded.
"It really is—I thought it was some magical gadget… That's a spell for upper years! I've only seen it in The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 6…" Hermione breathed, then eyed the feather that still refused to float nonverbally, then Sean, a bit vexed.
She hadn't even finished Grade 1, let alone Grade 6. There were two whole books in between.
Neville, who'd been shaking, froze—and relaxed the moment he saw Sean. "Oh—it's Sean…"
The little interruption ended quickly.
Sean studied the Biting Vine on the table; it loved to squeak, faithfully keeping him company while he practiced the Quieting Charm.
And today, his Quieting Charm was ready to rank up.
[You practiced the Quieting Charm once at an Expert standard. Proficiency +50]
[A new Charms-domain title has been unlocked]
Expectant, Sean opened his panel:
[Title: Charms Adept]
[Greatly increases perception for Charms; greatly boosts Charms aptitude]
More perception?
That afternoon's Disillusionment practice showed him exactly what that meant: with heightened perception, he could feel the fluctuations in a spell's power as he cast and adjust his pronunciation and wandwork accordingly.
He reached Beginner in no time.
Opening the panel again, the gains were visibly substantial:
[Name: Sean Green]
[Identity: Wizard]
[Title: Charms Adept]
[Proficiencies]
[Levitation Charm: Expert (600/9000)]
[Finite: Expert (120/9000)]
[Quieting Charm: Expert (10/9000)]
[Disillusionment: Beginner (6/300)]
…
[Advance: Twelve Expert-level Charms or five Master-level Charms unlock the Charms—Expert title]
How many?
Sean thought he'd misread. He closed the panel, reopened it—maybe he was opening it wrong.
[Advance: Twelve Expert-level Charms or five Master-level Charms unlock the Charms—Expert title]
This time he saw clearly—and accepted it calmly.
He fully absorbed Madam Miranda's words from Theories of Magic:
"One truth of learning magic is to master as many spells as possible, including ancient ones—the more you know, the more you can do. Another truth is to practice a spell until you are fluent—the gap between fluent casting and clumsy casting is enormous."
In short—
The more you know, the stronger you are;
the more fluent you are, the stronger you are.
The panel's advancement path combined both.
Still, becoming a Charms expert would not be easy.
By his earlier reckoning:
Adept was the level of some upper-years and many adult wizards;
Expert probably corresponded to Auror caliber.
Which suggests
Master would be professor level.
Beyond Master, Sean had no idea.
…
Before the Biting Vine.
Sean sipped hot pumpkin juice; his shorthand quill scratched busily.
It wouldn't be long now—Halloween was nearly here.
For students, a festive day meant another chance to run wild; for Sean, it meant change was coming.
On Halloween night, Professor Quirrell would release a troll as cover to steal the Philosopher's Stone, and Hermione would face mortal danger in the girls' lavatory. The troll's arrival would also mark the start of Harry's second open clash with Voldemort.
The Chosen One, the greatest white wizard, the Dark Lord, the two-faced man… all would be drawn, uncontrollably, into the drama.
As the prophecy said: "either must die at the hand of the other, for neither can live while the other survives."
For Sean, a stable plotline was best—it meant he could learn safely.
In the original story, the troll comes, Harry and the others defeat it, and the trials behind the fourth-floor door form the first-year's main arc.
In theory, everything should be in Dumbledore's hands. But Sean couldn't help thinking: there was no "Sean Green" in the original. If his arrival added new variables, then what?
Would Hermione face real danger? Would others?
So Sean made a new plan—master as much as possible.
If he could avoid Voldemort and covertly watch the troll at all times, then even if something changed, he'd know at once.
In that plan, the Disillusionment Charm—and his own practical skill—were the keystones.
~~~
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