Speedrunning Mistakes Wren Mornstern closed

He'd spent half a year without casting a single spell. It was rather impressive how mediocrity could thrive at Hogwarts. It wasn't that there weren't tests, nor exams, nor homework. It was simply that no one cared if he failed them. He missed one class, he missed two. He missed 20, and it was all the same to the professors. They didn't know his name, didn't recognize him the halls.

He was. Invisible.

And that had allowed mediocrity to spread to every aspect of his life, from his hair to his clothes. Nobody gave a damn, and it was as isolating as it was freeing.

Draven looked at the wand clutched between his fingers. He'd found it at the bottom of his bag, and it had burned him when he'd picked it up, fingers gluing to the wood. Unable to come off. He'd tried to set it down since, drop it back at the bottom of his bag and forget about it.

And the wand had stuck to his hand, forbidding his fingers from opening. He could adjust his grip on it and that was about it.

In theory, Draven could cast. In theory, the magic still flowed trough his veins. In theory, his tongue was supposed to work.

Draven licked his lips.

He was hidden in the corner of the large dueling club room, a textbook of basic first year spells open on his lap. He'd stolen it from the Charms classroom, found it abandoned in a desk the last time he'd actually attended class.

Fourteen. He was fourteen. And he could barely cast basic charms.

Draven took a shaky breath, flexing his fingers as much as his bastard wand would allow. "Okay. You old goat." he told the wand. "Lumos." The movement of the wand was half assed. Sloppy.

It was like a floodlight had been suddenly pointed at the duelling club room, brilliant white light exploding from the tip of Draven's wand and banishing all the shadows. Every corner of the room was illuminated, every spec of dust visible. Draven's mind went blank as several pairs of eyes turned in his direction. Sheepishly, the raggedy boy tried to hide the wand underneath his hoodie. What was the word. Non? Norm? Noz?

Dear Merlin.