Chapter 61 – Illusion Magic!
{Library, Hogwarts}
{4rd Sep 1991}
{3rd Person POV}
"Hey, you have already scoured the library a lot right? Did you find any spell that can copy and repeat certain sounds?" Rigel asked. He needed to copy roosters crowing before whoever had the diary began his murder spree.
"A spell to echo sounds?" Hermione questioned, she turned her head toward the bookshelves as she went through the books she had read in the last 3 days in her head. There was nothing that exactly matched what Rigel was asking about but there indeed was a book on illusion magic that dealt with auditory illusions.
"I don't remember any spell that does exactly what you are asking, but there was a spell I read about in a book that can make copies of books, maybe there was something like what you want in there," Hermione spoke and upon seeing Rigel nod in interest, she motioned for him to follow her.
"Follow me, it was right here in that section over there... is this your first time coming to the Library?" Hermione asked.
"Well yeah... being labeled as the dark lord kind of makes it difficult to move about in the castle," Rigel shrugged and Hermione turned around to look at Rigel only to notice that his eyes were looking down at her ass.
She turned back around and blushed as she tried not to sway her hips too much. Hermione knew she was quite beautiful, back in the muggle world she had many suitors because of her intelligence after being bullied in her teenage years. Her confidence actually took a hit when realized she was lacking only after coming to the Wizarding world and comparing herself to the witches like Daphne.
The freckles on her face were quite pronounced and her chest was flatter than most witches her age, still, the fact that her chest would grow if she practiced more magic gave her some comfort. Even before coming to the wizarding world, she had heard some whispers about comments made by boys about how her breasts were rather small.
She shoved the indecent thoughts from her mind and focused on the situation she found herself in. Rigel was smart, that much she could conclude based on his insights into magic and the way he approached learning. He was open-minded about her blood status although she was aware that the rest of her house was not too friendly with her fellow muggle-borns. A couple of days ago, Dean Thomas, another muggle-born from Gryffindor, had already faced some bullying at the hands of some Slytherin second years.
'But is it worth it to interact with him and bring trouble for both of us in the long run?' Hermione questioned. For the first time even though the answer was particularly clear, it logically being a resounding NO, she felt herself reluctant to actually follow through with her reasoning.
Was it because she could empathize with the situation that Rigel was in, probably? Was it because she found him a little attractive...
'Who am I kidding,' Hermione berated herself for lying to herself and admitted that the boy was attractive. He was lean with a hint of muscle, his dark locks curled slightly as his hair was on the longer side. He may not be the most handsome guy she had ever seen but he felt more real.
There were slight bags under his eyes that were likely the result of late-night studies. A picture of Rigel working hard in a small room in an Orphanage sprung to her mind and she wouldn't lie that she found that image a little attractive. And above all else, she knew the reason she was reluctant to walk away from this small interaction she was having with him.
He walked away from that gorgeous blond simply because he could see that she was nervous. It was a simple gesture and one he did unknowingly perhaps but she couldn't help but feel a little grateful toward him.
Her train of thought came to a stop as she suddenly came to a stop. Maybe it was too sudden as she felt Rigel barely stop himself from colliding with her, his attention likely focused on her swaying ass which she unknowingly had begun doing again. She felt his strong hands wrap around her tender waist for just a second as he stooped himself from colliding with her.... the second was agonizingly long before he backed away.
...
"Sorry about that... err I was looking at the title of the books and didn't notice you stop," Rigel immediately fired an excuse.
Hermione gave him a look that he couldn't decipher but she was blushing slightly as she nodded. Rigel was relieved when he saw no negative emotions filter onto her face as she reached up and picked out a book from the shelves. He read the title of the tome.
'''Illusion Magic: The Realm of Lies'''
He gave Hermione an inquiring look with his eyebrows leaning upward, her choice of reading material was quite unique.
"It seemed interesting..." Hermione defended herself with a lame shrug to which Rigel nodded. At the very least the author knew what he was doing as he extended his hand and Hermione placed the book in his grasp. In a swift motion, he took the book from her and opened it. His focus shifted from the beautiful brunette to getting a piece of the puzzle that might be his biggest trump card against the danger that he might end up facing this year.
The first few pages of the book were rather simple with the author rambling about the usefulness of his magical art that Rigel somehow doubted, still the first spell did surprise him.
...
'''...Take for example the Fire writing spell, more commonly known as the Flagrate spell. Flagrate is the incantation of a charm that allows one to write or draw in midair with fiery lines. The shape lingers for some time. But have you ever noticed if you can actually get burnt by these floating lines of firey words? The answer to that question is No because even though the incantation of the Fire writing spell is very close to that of the Burning Touch Curse (It's incantation being Flagrante), this spell had nothing to do with the rest of the fire-conjuring charms.
The incantation closely resembles most family commonly known fire spells because Fire is already linked to the Latin words in your mind so it makes focusing on the effects a little easier. In addition, since this spell doesn't require wand movements except the slight twisting of your wand, it is easy to mistakenly classify the Flagrate spell with the Flagrante curse and the rest of the Fire conjuring spells.
So what is the Flagrate Charm, the charm works by conjuring a small mist that magically alters the light that touches it giving it the appearance of fire to anyone who sees the spell, another interesting fact you would notice is if you try to use the spell in complete darkness it doesn't work and you couldn't see your writing floating in front of your. Illusion magic is a branch of magic that combines charm and Transfiguration, so even though it might look like a simple spell, beware that the difficulties of these spells might be greater than most 3rd year spells...'''
AN - Had a rough day, feeling a little under the weather today so the chap is a few minutes late. Slept a little too much!
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