Lumos was a fairly simple spell, but it still required concentration to cast properly. Otherwise, it was all too easy to set your own wand on fire instead.
Under Professor Flitwick's guidance, many of the young witches and wizards from Slytherin and Gryffindor managed to learn the spell. Even though a lot of their wand-light was as weak as a firefly, Professor Flitwick was still delighted.
As for Altair, in order to earn points, he displayed the ability to cast without speaking the incantation. Right in front of Professor Flitwick, he adjusted the brightness of the light from his wand at will. At its brightest, it was so intense that people could hardly keep their eyes open.
Professor Flitwick was generous enough to award Altair ten points.
Although Hermione's performance was also impressive, she still fell well short of Altair, so Professor Flitwick did not give her any points.
There was nothing Hermione could do about that.
If she had once thought about competing with Altair in Charms, then after Transfiguration class and after learning Entangling Thorns, she had already developed a very clear understanding of the gap between them. By now, she no longer had any desire to compare herself with him in those two subjects.
Of course, that only applied to Charms and Transfiguration.
As for the other courses, since Altair did not like reading, Hermione believed she still held a very strong advantage.
After Charms, Gryffindor had no more lessons for the day, but Slytherin still had History of Magic in the afternoon.
After lunch in the Great Hall, Hermione went off to the library by herself to read, while Altair went to suffer through History of Magic. At last, he understood why even a student like Hermione, who loved books, could still feel sleepy in that class.
Altair managed to hold out for twenty minutes before finally falling asleep under Professor Binns's slow, emotionless, utterly hypnotic lecture. By the time he woke up, class was already over.
"What a waste of a chance to earn points."
Watching Professor Binns drift away, Altair felt rather speechless.
Binns's classes were so dreadful that they made him feel as though he had returned to his previous life. His old philosophy classes had been just like this. He would listen for a while, then fall asleep without even realizing it.
Hermione spent the entire afternoon in the library, while no one knew where Harry and Ron had gone.
It was still only the beginning of term, so the trio had not truly come together yet. But with Altair now inserted into the picture, whether that trio would ever form at all was an open question.
After all, the thing that had truly brought them together in the original story had been the troll incident.
Ron had spoken badly about Hermione behind her back because of the Levitation Charm, and she had overheard him. Hermione then hid in the bathroom and missed the Halloween feast. After Quirrell released the troll, Harry and Ron saved her, and only then did the three of them become truly close.
But now that Altair was here, perhaps those events would never happen at all.
Today was Wednesday.
After dinner, the young witches and wizards had to go up to the Astronomy Tower, where they used telescopes to observe the night sky, learn the names of the stars, and study their movements. According to ancient astrology, the paths of those stars always foretold something.
But most of the young students were not really interested in that.
They were simply gathered on the Astronomy Tower to admire the night view. Even Hermione dragged Altair off to a corner, where she watched the stars while telling him stories about her childhood.
That night, when they returned to the dormitory, Malfoy and the other two were sitting on their beds. They did not dare speak, and they did not dare do anything either. They could only sit there staring at each other with wide eyes, occasionally sneaking glances at Altair.
Altair looked at them once, and the three little wizards immediately gave a violent shudder.
"Why aren't you sleeping?"
Now changed into his nightclothes, Altair looked at the three of them.
He was not used to having people stare at him while he slept. It made him deeply uncomfortable.
"We... we're not sleepy."
Goyle forced out a smile so strained it looked more pitiful than cheerful.
"If you're not sleepy, then do whatever you like. Read, play chess, chat. There's no need to be so tense."
As he looked at the three of them, Altair was already considering how to bring them under his own control.
In truth, these three were not entirely without talent.
Malfoy aside, that boy had even managed to disarm Dumbledore. True, it was possible Dumbledore had done that on purpose, but if Malfoy had truly been useless, then Dumbledore doing so might just as easily have aroused suspicion.
Since even Voldemort had acknowledged him, that meant Malfoy did have at least some ability.
As for Goyle, he was not bad either. Later on, he even mastered(kind of) Fiendfyre and nearly burned down the entire Room of Requirement.
"We... we were afraid we'd disturb you."
Crabbe's round, plump face was damp with sweat as he watched Altair cautiously with his tiny eyes.
"I'll place a spell around my bed. Even if the three of you hold a dance party in here, it won't affect me."
Altair reached out and tapped the space around his bed. A screen of light flashed briefly, and then Malfoy and the others were shocked to find that they could no longer see Altair's bed at all.
"Still, I'd advise you to sleep early. We have Potions tomorrow, and the professor happens to be our Head of House, Snape."
Altair spoke softly, then looked at Malfoy.
"Good night."
"Ah? Ah... good night, good night."
That one quiet good night was enough to make cold sweat burst from Malfoy's back. By the time he recovered himself, Altair had already vanished. He knew Altair had gone back to his bed, hidden away behind that spell.
"What do you think, he..."
Malfoy looked at his two lackeys, only to see that both were slumped on the floor, their faces slick with sweat.
Crabbe wiped his forehead and said in a low voice, "He actually seems... kind of all right. That time, we were the ones who attacked first. And the spell he used on Goyle didn't hurt him at all. It actually made him sleep really well..."