Fin. Light in the Dark pt.3 PV Avery Chen

His eyes lit up as Pax passed half of the delicious jammed toast to him (albeit the smaller half). Avery had meant it when he said Pax could have the rest of it, so their kind offer was unexpected. "Oh, uh, wow thanks! You didn't have to!" he exclaimed, taking the other half happily, moved by their generosity. And what was that? Did Pax say that he was their friend? Avery's lopsided grin beamed larger. Imagine that, friends with Gryffindor co-captain and beater Pax Zhang!

He hummed happily in between their conversation about athletes and their Charms abilities, nodding in agreement. Yes, Duelists probably had the best wandwork and Charms skills, with Broom Racers coming in second (at least the ones who preferred to use spells), with Quidditch players the least likely to worry about their wandwork. "Yeah, nah, of course that doesn't make quidditch players rubbish at Charms," he agreed, batting a hand as if saying: 'certainly not me!' He returned Pax's gaze head-on as they sized him up for his Charms abilities. "Oh yeah, I've previewed the chapter for today's class already, so feel free to ask me any questions you'd like!" he proclaimed confidently (outwardly, that is). He didn't elaborate on the fact that he found the chapter half confusing. Although his eyes had glanced over the words last night, about 50% of it didn't sink in, or was too advanced without Professor Fresnel's patient explanations. "I always take some time to preview the next day's classes, just to be well-prepared, you know? It's become a habit," he explained, leaving out the part about often not understanding exactly what he'd read, or that his grades were only slightly above average at the very best. Our boy tried hard, but he wasn't often very bright.

They snuck in quietly to the back row of the classroom. Avery gently took out his materials: Battered and frayed quill, but ink bottle mostly filled. Dog-eared textbook with many sticky notes peeking out in a rainbow of colors for his various notes and markings from nights of confused studying. Parchment with notes already on it from last night.

Pax addressed him and he turned around to a set of big, pleading eyes. Oh no! Pax forgot their textbook? The tragedy! But, he took a second to recollect himself. "So, do I get an autograph for sharing this very small, single-person textbook with tiny text?" he teased, tapping a clean sheet of parchment. If Pax would sign it, he would gladly offer to help (though he would still help if they didn't). "Don't worry, I got you covered!" he whispered back, and plopped his textbook on the desk space between them, feeling like quite the champ that he was able to help in some way. "You don't have to worry about a thing this class!" he said confidently, as if he were sure that he'd be able to help Pax once they'd started practicing spells, too. "So, I'm pretty sure we're doing the Wand Lighting and Extinguishing Charms today," he proclaimed as if he knew exactly how they were cast. "Shouldn't be a problem at all."

She/They
Sorry for the horribly late reply

With a roll of their eyes, Pax leaned over to swipe Avery's bottle of ink (well, what were they going to do, use their own, almost empty bottle?) "The book isn't even that small," they commented, dipping their quill into the ink and scribbling a messy signature onto the parchment.

"There you go, one freshly signed signature. Will you help me out now?"

They could see some sort of smug smile on Avery's face as he dropped the textbook onto the desk, and shaking their head, they flicked through it casually to find the correct page as he continued to talk.

"You probably ought to not be so arrogant," they joked. "Otherwise you'll look stupid when you fail miserably. How do you know it won't be me helping you out with the spell?"

Of course, they couldn't be sure that they also wouldn't fail completely horribly at the spell when they would attempt it. However, they at least hadn't been bragging about it. Though, they would still look pretty stupid if Avery was able to cast the spell perfectly on his first try.

"Go on, let's see what you can do," they encouraged in a jokey tone. "I have to know what to beat, after all."

Reducio

Word Count: 206

Mention: @Avery Chen

Date: June 3rd 2022

Pax scrawled away, and he couldn't believe it! A Pax Zhang autograph, all for himself! "Wow, awesome! Thanks, man!" he exclaimed, neatly and carefully folding the sheet and tucking it back into his bag. He eagerly shared his textbook with them. All of a sudden, the book didn't seem so 'small' anymore. Heck, he might even let the textbook sit a little more on Pax's side than his own.

In response to Pax joking that he shouldn't sound so arrogant in case he looked stupid if he failed, Avery chuckled. He hoped it sounded like a knowing "of course I got it" chuckle, and not a nervous chuckle. But to be honest, he was sweating inside, and maybe Pax could somehow guess. His notes were a mess, and what oh what in the world did half of that chapter even mean??

"Oh, of course I'm not going to fail," he said with mock-haughtiness -- a faint sniff and his nose in the air. A wag of the brows. "Maybe you'll be the one who's embarrassed for doubting me," he teased. "I'm something of a... talent, you know. You might be the quidditch talent. But just watch my wand work."

He breathed deeply in and out, a bead of sweat forming on his forehead just from how much he wanted -- needed! -- this to work out perfectly. He talked the talk, now he just had to walk the walk or look like a loser. He just had to shove all his doubts out of his mind, right??

"Lumos!" he incantated, and with a small flick of his wand, a very bright, steady light illuminated at the tip of his wand, casting all shadows aside. Avery's mouth gaped as he stared at it, willing it to last. "Look, Pax, I did it! Bright as day!" he said, waving it around for all to see, thankfully missing Pax's nose. He looked to his friend, trying to see if they were as impressed as he was. "Now, let's see you try!" he challenged them with a wink.

Thank goodness, crisis avoided. No one would ever know that he didn't even understand that chapter. What a freak stroke of luck.

She/They

Seeing Avery so thrilled over a messily scrawled signature almost made Pax laugh. And now they had a book for class. So a win-win. Their eyes skimmed over the chapter, only half absorbing the information. Hopefully, Avery had more of a clue of whatever was going on. Though, if his smug expression said anything, it would suggest that, luckily for Pax, he did.

"Sure you're not, dude," they laughed. "But go ahead." They were definitely interested to see if Avery's spellcasting was as good as he boasted it was.

They could see Avery's eyes light up alongside his wand as the spell worked out for him. "Nice work, man," they congratulated, attempting to hide the full extent of how impressive that had been. He was a better spellcaster than they'd given him credit for.

"Alright. I got this, no problem."

A bold declaration. Would Pax be able to live up to it?

"Lumos!" they made sure to pronounce carefully, hoping to see their wand light up. However, their expectations were woefully let down when their wand didn't light. "Damn! Why didn't that work?"

Taking a breath, they tried again. "Lumos!" But still, there was no light. "What the hell? Why isn't this stupid thing working?" This was getting more frustrating by the second. Plus this was also making them look bad.

Reducio

Word Count: 221

Mention: @Avery Chen

Date: June 3rd 2022

Pax's congratulations only made him prouder. He puffed out his chest and held his brightened wand high. The bright light was reflecting the joyous pride emanating from our small boy. Maybe that's how it was powered.

He let his light go out and watched in anticipation for Pax to try the spell. However, no matter how many times his friend tried, the tip of their wand stubbornly refused to light up even a flicker. Avery blinked at the unlit wand in confusion, just as befuddled as Pax was, minus the frustration.

"Ummm, I don't --" he stopped himself from admitting that he had no idea why this was even happening. He was supposed to be the Charms prodigy between the two of them, right? Then he had to look and sound the part or be proven a fake. "You know what! I think I know why it's happening," Avery rushed back into pouring words out of his big mouth. His mind spun in circles until it came up with something. "There must be something bothering you besides Charms class. I think you have to keep your mind calm and clear, and your emotions bright and positive like the light. Is there any inkling of darkness in your emotions right now? And I don't mean your annoyance with your wand or the spell or whatever this minute. Let's get to the root of the frustrations in your life right now. Is there anything bothering you, Pax? Or keeping you up at night?"

Wow, Avery could really make up a crapload of stuff off the top of his head in a split second if he wanted to. But he thought it sounded really deep and insightful.

She/They

Pax raised an eyebrow at Avery's suggestion. Personally, they thought it sounded a bit ridiculous, but at this point nothing seemed to be working to cast the spell. They had gotten everything correct, but still it would not work. So they saw no other choice but to give Avery's idea a shot.

"Well..." they hung on the idea for a little while, scanning Avery as they did so. They weren't sure if they were ready to bare their soul to somebody they didn't really know just yet, so they had to make sure this guy could be trusted.

"I suppose I'm a bit worried about living up to the standards of all the other quidditch captains. After all, they're all really talented, and I'm only a young first-year. I hope I can keep up."

That seemed personal enough of a level to pass, or so they hoped. Taking a breath, they closed their eyes and tried once more.

"Lumos!"

Finally, a glow illuminated at the tip of their wand, and they let out a sigh of relief. "Thank god that worked. I guess you do actually know what you're talking about then," they nudged Avery. "Are there some secret notes in your textbook that I don't have in my basic generic one?"

Reducio

Word Count: 212

Mention: @Avery Chen

Date: June 3rd 2022

In truth, when he had made the suggestion to Pax about getting to the root of their frustrations and thinking about what's been bothering them, he was just hoping to learn a bit more about his friend. There wasn't much chance that this little bit of hokey-pokey story-sharing would directly lead to a charm working, but who knows? Didn't people meditate and whatnot before doing stressful things? Didn't people go to therapy to clear their minds?

He listened as Pax shared their worries about performing well as a new, young quidditch captain. Pax, who was so talented themselves, worried about keeping up? He was a bit surprised, but at the same time grateful that Pax was willing to share this with him out loud. "I can see how that would be stressful, being a first-year captain," he said, thinking about how he would feel in the unlikely scenario that he was chosen to be captain of his quidditch team. "But I guess that also shows how much we care about something, right?" He thought about violin practice, and how, even though he had won many competitions, each new competition or exam would cause his nerves to spike. "I feel like we naturally get more comfortable facing certain challenges over time, so all it would take is some more experience for you to feel better about getting the hang of things, but even then, a bit of anxiety is still a good reminder of how much we want to do even better," he mused, simply speaking from his experience.

He beamed as Pax's wand lit up. "Hey! Looks like it worked!" he exclaimed. "Of course I know what I'm talking about!" he scoffed, in mock offense that Pax would even doubt him. "These notes are the makings of the next textbook on Charms, you know? Be glad I shared these insights with you first, before publication!" he joked, now closing his future bestseller as class was ending.

She/They
Apologies for the late post!

After hearing his advice, Pax felt a bit calmer, and considerably more reassured about the situation. Avery was right after all, although they'd never care to admit that out loud. "Wow, so wise and only in your first year," they joked. "Maybe you'll have a future in divination or some other career where you get to spout your words of wisdom."

At his words, claiming to be some Charms genius, Pax scoffed, though still amused. "Well, if you do end up getting this new charms textbook published some day in what I must imagine is the far, far future, I had better be credited for helping you realise your true potential."

They gathered the rather worn supplied from their desk, sweeping them into their bag with little care for what would befall the bag's pre-existing contents, as the Charms lesson drew to a close. Once they had been dismissed, Pax turned to Avery. It had been a fun morning, and a nice change of pace to have a friend accompanying them as they rushed to class, instead of having to rush on their own. However, they suspected that, now, their paths would diverge.

"Well, I think we have different lessons now, unless by some miracle you also have Herbology. Though, I gotta admit, it was definitely an entertaining Charms lesson, so thanks for that. Maybe I'll catch you on the quidditch field sometime soon?"

They weren't fully sure when their paths would next cross with Avery, but they hoped it would be soon enough. They had to admit (though never aloud), they had appreciated his company this morning.

Reducio

Word Count: 268

Mention: @Avery Chen

Date: June 3rd 2022