After Professor Flitwick finished explaining the core principles behind the Levitation Charm, he spent the first half of the lesson guiding the class through the proper wand movements and incantation. His high-pitched voice carried clearly across the classroom as he emphasized precision, timing, and intent—three elements he insisted were essential for successful spellcasting.
Once the theoretical portion was complete, he divided the students into pairs for practical training. The requirement for passing this lesson was straightforward: by the end of class, each student needed to successfully levitate a feather. It was a simple benchmark, but one that tested both understanding and execution.
Ryze was paired with Terry.
Unlike most of their classmates, the two of them had already practiced the Levitation Charm beforehand. As a result, they completed the basic task almost immediately. With a flick of his wand and a calm incantation, Ryze lifted his feather smoothly into the air. Terry followed suit, achieving a stable float with minimal effort.
With the basic requirement out of the way, Ryze shifted his focus to helping Terry push further.
"Try something heavier," Ryze suggested calmly.
Under his guidance, Terry began experimenting with objects beyond the standard feather. At first, he struggled slightly with control, but gradually, his confidence grew.
The Levitation Charm was fundamentally different from the Lumos Charm. Lumos, in its basic form, had a clear limitation—its brightness rarely exceeded that of a standard incandescent bulb. To go beyond that required advanced variations, such as Lumos Maxima, which unlocked greater intensity.
The Levitation Charm, however, did not seem to share such rigid constraints.
Once a wizard grasped the underlying theory, the strength of the spell scaled almost entirely with the caster's magical power and mental focus. The stronger the will and the deeper the understanding, the more impressive the results.
After nearly two months at Hogwarts, Ryze had developed a working hypothesis about how magic functioned.
In his observation, a wizard's "mana" behaved less like an abstract energy pool and more like a combination of physical stamina and mental endurance. Casting spells required willpower, and that willpower drew heavily from both the body and mind.
Whenever his mana ran low, Ryze would experience mental fatigue—difficulty concentrating, slower reaction times, and a general sense of exhaustion. It felt remarkably similar to overexertion rather than depletion of some mystical resource.
Additionally, magical strength clearly varied between individuals.
Many textbooks described certain witches, wizards, or magical creatures as possessing "powerful magic," but these descriptions were vague and lacked measurable metrics. There was no standardized numerical system—no way to quantify magical strength precisely.
What could be observed, however, was progression. As young witches and wizards aged, their magical power naturally increased. Experience, training, and certain rare methods could accelerate this growth, but even then, the concept remained somewhat abstract.
Furthermore, magical strength was not simply equivalent to raw spell power.
For instance, high-risk magical creatures such as dragons, Cerberus, and acromantulas were often described as having such strong magical resistance that most spells were ineffective against them. This indicated that magic had multiple dimensions—not just offensive capability, but also defensive resilience.
Based on his experiments and observations, Ryze conceptualized magical strength as a composite system. If it were represented in a structured format, it would likely include elements similar to mana capacity, ability power, and magical resistance.
Even so, this was only a surface-level understanding. The deeper nature of magic remained elusive.
And if Ryze himself couldn't fully grasp it, he suspected that even someone like Dumbledore might not be able to provide a complete explanation either.
Meanwhile, Terry continued practicing under Ryze's supervision.
At this stage, Terry could reliably lift objects weighing between thirty and forty pounds. He could also move them at a speed comparable to a normal walking pace. However, pushing beyond that limit proved challenging.
When attempting to lift heavier objects or increase speed, Terry had to maintain intense concentration. This heightened mental state could only be sustained briefly. If his focus wavered, the spell would destabilize almost immediately.
Ryze, on the other hand, operated on an entirely different level.
After accumulating two months' worth of curse energy, his ability power had reached 159—even without the enhancement from Rowena Ravenclaw's ring. Based on his previous tests with the Levitation Charm, he could easily lift objects exceeding 150 kilograms and move them at speeds approaching 8 meters per second.
This was his baseline.
At this level, the mana consumption was minimal, allowing him to maintain the effect for extended periods without noticeable strain.
If described in gaming terms, the Levitation Charm seemed to scale directly with ability power. The weight of the object corresponded to a near 100% scaling factor, while movement speed scaled at approximately 5%.
Of course, these were not hard limits.
If Ryze chose to expend more mana, he could temporarily amplify these values several times over. The trade-off was increased consumption and reduced sustainability. Unlike rigid game mechanics, real magic offered flexibility—power could be pushed further, but only at a cost.
After helping Terry successfully levitate a chair, Ryze guided him through more advanced maneuvers.
"Rotate it," he instructed.
Terry concentrated, and the chair slowly began to spin in midair.
"Now, move it around you."
With visible effort, Terry managed to make the chair orbit around his body. The motion was uneven, but stable enough to demonstrate control.
Professor Flitwick, observing from nearby, awarded them points for their performance.
With Terry progressing steadily, Ryze turned his attention to other students who were still struggling. It had become something of a habit for him—guiding others while refining his own understanding.
At the same time, he couldn't help but observe Seamus Finnigan.
Paired with Harry, Seamus was… consistent, in his own way.
When learning the Lumos Charm, he had performed reasonably well. However, ever since being introduced to the Fire-Making Charm, he had developed a peculiar tendency: everything he cast seemed to explode.
Unlocking a door? Explosion.
Locking it again? Another explosion.
Now, practicing the Levitation Charm, he did not disappoint.
The moment he attempted the spell, his feather detonated into fragments.
Fortunately, it was only a feather, so the resulting explosion produced little more than sparks and a faint smell of burning.
Previously, when he had blown up door locks, the situation had been far more dangerous. If Ryze hadn't reacted quickly—using Ailey to shield Neville—there might have been serious injuries.
As it stood, Seamus had earned a reputation among the younger Gryffindor students. Whenever he raised his wand, those nearby would instinctively step back.
Watching Professor Flitwick sigh as he used a Scouring Charm to clean Seamus's singed hair, Ryze couldn't help but think that Harry was in for a difficult time as his partner.
In contrast, the rest of the classroom was relatively calm.
Neville Longbottom had shown noticeable improvement over the past two months. His regular physical training seemed to have strengthened both his body and confidence. While he still struggled with spell execution, he no longer froze up or forgot incantations as frequently.
More importantly, Neville followed instructions carefully.
He practiced diligently, without shortcuts or excuses. If he maintained this attitude, his compatibility with his wand—an heirloom from his father—would likely improve over time.
Compared to Neville, Ron's situation was less favorable.
His wand, inherited second-hand from his brother Charlie, was visibly worn. The unicorn hair core could even be seen faintly through small cracks. Combined with the mismatch in personality between Ron and his brother, the wand's performance was far from optimal.
Despite Hermione's guidance, Ron struggled throughout the lesson. It wasn't until the very end that he managed to lift his feather a few centimeters off the table.
"Your progress is slow," Hermione said matter-of-factly. "The main issue is your lack of theoretical understanding. You should focus on completing your Charms homework properly. After that, try joining Harry and Neville for morning practice—it might help."
Ron responded with a lackluster nod, clearly unenthusiastic.
Only when the class ended did his mood improve.
"This is the last day," he muttered to Harry as they packed up. "Once today's over and the bet ends, I'll finally be free."
Ryze overheard the comment easily.
Hermione had heard it too. She simply shook her head, her expression calm but tinged with resignation. There was no point arguing—not when Ron's attitude remained unchanged.
Instead, she turned back to Professor Flitwick, continuing her discussion about discrepancies between theoretical models of the Levitation Charm and their practical outcomes.
As always, her focus remained unwavering.
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