Under Hermione's astonished gaze, the grass on the lawn in front of Altair began to grow wildly. It even changed in kind, transforming from ordinary grass into thorny vines covered in sharp barbs.
The vines spread for more than ten meters before finally stopping, but even then they continued to crawl and writhe across the ground, as though searching for something to seize.
The strangest part was that from time to time, a flash of emerald light ran through them, making them look faintly eerie.
"These vines can bind an enemy, then inject a paralyzing toxin into them, leaving them unable to control their body. At the same time, they drain the target's life force and feed it back to the wizard."
Altair explained it to Hermione.
"And these vines are protected by magic, so ordinary spells and weapons can't damage them. All in all, it's an excellent spell."
"But this spell does have one limitation."
Altair looked at Hermione without explaining further, and after thinking for a moment, she gave a proud little huff.
"I know. This spell needs plants to work!"
"Exactly."
Altair nodded. Hermione was clever enough that it did not surprise him in the slightest that she had figured it out.
"This spell can only be cast where there are plants. Any plant will do, of course, but there are always places where there isn't a single one."
"But that doesn't mean there's no solution. Think about it."
Hermione frowned and thought for a while, then looked at Altair with some uncertainty.
"Transfiguration?"
"Correct."
Altair raised his wand again. Hermione watched as a tiny pebble in front of him turned into a single blade of grass. Then, with another flash of light from his wand, the blade of grass became a thorny vine and began growing madly.
"In places where there are no plants, Transfiguration can be extremely useful. Try it. The incantation is Entangling Thorns. The important thing is..."
Hermione listened carefully all the way through. After only a few attempts with her wand, she was already able to cast it successfully.
Her magic, however, was not quite strong enough yet. She could only create a single thorny vine and make it spread to a length of about five meters.
"That's already very good. If it were Neville, it might take him a year just to make a blade of grass grow an inch."
"You are not allowed to make fun of people behind their backs."
Hermione put away her wand and shot Altair a reproachful glance.
"You said the wizard who created this spell was called Saruman? I don't think I've ever heard that name before. Maybe I ought to look for it in the library."
With a wave of Altair's wand, all the thorny vines turned back into ordinary grass.
The two of them lay on the lawn and chatted for a while, until Hermione decided that this was far too wasteful a use of life. So she dragged Altair off to the library.
...
After dinner in the Great Hall, Altair said goodbye to Hermione and returned alone to his dormitory.
Malfoy and the others were chatting away happily inside, but the moment Altair walked in, the whole room fell silent.
Malfoy seemed as though he had something left unsaid. He shot his two lackeys a look, and the three of them quietly slipped back out of the dormitory to continue talking in the common room instead.
The next morning, after a good night's rest, Altair woke up in excellent spirits.
Once he was dressed and washed, he took out his wand, cast a spell on Goyle, and then left the dormitory.
Malfoy and Crabbe could only stare in horror as he walked out. The moment he was gone, they rushed to Goyle's bed and started shaking him frantically.
Goyle stretched lazily and woke from his deep sleep.
"That was a wonderful night's sleep. Morning, Malfoy. Morning, Crabbe."
"Oh, thank God. I thought you were never going to wake up!"
Malfoy looked at Goyle with lingering fear all over his face.
"Do you know what happened? Altair cast a spell on you last night. He said, he said your snoring was too loud, and then he pointed his wand at you. After that, you just stopped moving."
Crabbe nodded frantically.
"That's right. You were like a corpse. You suddenly stopped moving completely. We were terrified, but we didn't dare go get anyone."
Crabbe looked a little embarrassed.
In truth, it was more than just not daring to get help. They had not even dared move.
"But I don't feel anything wrong."
Goyle carefully checked himself over, but he could not find anything unusual. In fact, he had slept remarkably well.
"Maybe it was a Silencing Charm. I've heard my father mention those before."
Malfoy thought of a possibility, and that eased his fear a little. Even so, he still looked shaken. Staring furiously at the door, he shouted,
"How dare he cast spells on fellow students in school whenever he pleases! Dumbledore only just warned him yesterday! I'm going to tell my father. He's a governor. I'll demand that Dumbledore expel him!"
"Don't forget the Dementor from that night. If you get him expelled..."
Goyle's words made Malfoy's face stiffen.
The moment he remembered that night's experience, all the color drained from his face again. He shook his head and muttered in a low voice,
"Forget it. A noble Malfoy would never stoop to his level. Now get ready. We're going to the Great Hall for breakfast. We've got Charms this morning."
...
By the time Altair was eating in the Great Hall, Hermione had already come running over again.
Compared with yesterday, she looked much more at ease today. She even gave Pansy a little huff as she passed, while Pansy said nothing, though the anger in her eyes was impossible to hide.
Being humiliated by Hermione, whom she looked down on, made Pansy want to scream.
But she did not dare do anything.
Because Altair had genuinely frightened her yesterday.
And for some reason, Pansy had also begun to feel an unusual jealousy toward Hermione. She thought the one sitting beside Altair ought to be her.
Altair was a little snake, and so was she...
Hermione was only a Muggle-born lion.
Altair paid Pansy no attention. She kept sneaking glances at him, but if she wanted to look, then she could look. It was not as though he would lose a piece of himself for it.
After breakfast with Hermione, the two of them went early to the Charms classroom.
Their Charms professor, Flitwick, was a tiny old man with greying hair and goblin ancestry. When he taught Altair and the others, he even had to stand on a stack of books.
In the first Charms lesson, Flitwick explained a number of theoretical points, and besides that, he taught them a very simple spell, the Wand-Lighting Charm.
The incantation was Lumos.