Cassius twirled his wand between his fingers, the pale light of his Lumos spell gleaming faintly against the oaken surface of his desk.
Around him, the classroom buzzed with the clumsy excitement of first-years — muttered incantations, frustrated sighs, the occasional pop or crackle of misfired charmwork.
Professor Flitwick was darting from desk to desk, his tiny form nearly hidden behind a dozen anxious Gryffindors all trying to coax light from wood.
Cassius watched with detached amusement.
The fundamentals were clear, almost insultingly so.
Intent, focus, direction.
That was what Flitwick had said.
And with enough imagination you could do just that, summon forth light, in this case Muggle-borns would have the greatest trouble since they'd need to render muggle thinking moot, since this light came from will and intent not science.
Nothing made this magical light appear, it simply just was light.
He leaned back, lowering his voice to a whisper.
"Lumos."
The tip of his wand bloomed with light again, perfectly stable — golden this time, not the harsh white it had been before.
Warmer.
Alive, almost like the sun itself but without the solar addition the the spell Solem.
(Lumos Solem: produces an orb or ray of sunlight)
He tilted the wand slightly detaching the miniture sun from the tip of his wan, considering the glow like a sculptor eyeing a half-finished piece of marble.
Then, he wondered… could he change it without ending the spell?
He focused keeping his wand pointed towards it.
The light hung, weightless.
Flitwick had said intent was everything.
So he pressed his intent further.
The sphere began to change.
Its edges softened, curling inward as though kneaded by invisible fingers.
The glow twisted and folded in on itself, shrinking until it took the shape of something vaguely human — a small, delicate silhouette with outstretched arms and fluttering wings.
~
A murmur rippled throughout the classroom.
It started small but quickly became infectious as a few at first noticed Cassius was up to something, then the nudging started and head nods until more and more turned to check out what the lone inhabitant of Draconis was up to.
Cassius barely noticed.
His focus was absolute.
He began refining the details — etching lines into the light with thought alone.
A suggestion of hair.
Fingers.
Eyes that seemed to gleam independently within the glow.
Then, a shimmer of color — faint green hues rippling like silk through the form until it resembled a strapless dress tightly hugging the curvy form.
The tiny figure hovered in the air, its wings present but not flapping simply hanging like a leaf in the wind.
It looked up at him — or seemed to.
The luminescent eyes brightened, and the fairy before him tilted its head as if curious.
Cassius's heart skipped.
He had created not a construct of light, but a kind of mimicry — a semi-autonomous manifestation of will.
A thought, sculpted into being.
Almost like he was a puppet master at this point controlling every action of this form before him, but it was still just a spell, when he stopped providing magic it would cease to exist.
The Lumos charm, at its core, was just a light.
Yet he had given it form, behavior, almost a hint of life.
"Fascinating…" he whispered.
The word broke the stillness.
Something clattered sharply.
Cassius blinked, his focus snapping — the tiny fairy-construct flared brilliantly, then steadied again, still hovering but having moved to now float beside his head facing out towards the source of the sound.
Every head in the room had turned.
Professor Flitwick stood frozen at the front of the class, his wand lying forgotten on the floor.
His mouth opened and closed twice before he managed a sound.
"By Merlin's beard…" he breathed. "...Lumos?"
Cassius blinked once, unsure what to say.
The room was utterly silent.
The fairy-light turned lazily, casting soft emerald hues across the faces of the gawking Gryffindors.
Seamus's jaw hung slack.
Even Ron looked too stunned to be angry, like he was entranced staring at a Veela.
"It's— it's moving," whispered Parvati Patil. "It's alive!"
Flitwick approached slowly, eyes shining like a man glimpsing something sacred.
"Remarkable control… young man! A such a complete modification to the spell, you are already at six... no seven consecutive castings of the spell, Most impressive, five points to House Draconis!"
Cassius hesitated, then shrugged slightly. "Oh Um... i was just..."
"No need to explain carry on, class will be over soon enough anyway!"
Cassius nodded his head returning his focus to the tiny tink that floated before him, as the rest of the class seemed split some wanting to watch the floating fairy light, while the rest were determined to be able to simply cast the spell itself so they too could form their own beauty.
the minutes ticked by but aside from the initial transformation Cassius hadnt changed anything else about tink, simply playing around seeing how wide her actions could be using his thoughts alone, of course just like the real Tink, being a conjuration of light she could not speak.
Around the room he could plainly here the other students who were watching.
"Did you see she curtseyed."
"So cute!"
"Bloody hell, he's a level ahead even fred and george! Probably Percy too!"
In the end the number of point handed out during class were a paltry five towards the griffindors, a point each for those who managed a fail of lumos but still light nonetheless.
On the other hand Cassius had earned six points for Draconis all on his own.
If Draconis competed for the cup Cassius would have ammassed six times the number of points the other first years had in the exact same class.
But rather than discourage them, instead the griffindors seemed to be burning with intent.
Intent to snag his points, they themselves could not do it, but come lunch the first years would surely mingle with the upper years trying to get the six years, or possibly fourth years to 'challenge' Cassius to claim his 'six' points for their own house.
"Alright everyone, that's time, best collect your books and be on your way, don't forget to practice on your own time we'll be continuing on again next week!"
Cassius nodded his head, scooping up his book before heading off out the door as the others either stared at the place the fairy has disappeared at, just after waving goodbye to Cassius, or trying one final attempt to cast the spell.
Cassius on the other hand was making a bee-line for his next class.
Transfiguration!