Nightlighthouse Prodigal Learner Finished

The engorgement and shrinking charms were versatile tools that any wizard ought to have in his arsenal. A book of charms which George had selected from the library told him as much. However, they hadn't listed any examples of times when the charms could be useful or even practical. That didn't mean that there was no place for them, of course. It just meant that young wizards like George Henry had to get creative in order to apply their knowledge.

Another of Jake's belongings was the test subject for this experiment. They lent themselves well to these study sessions, as Jake paid very little attention to the security of his trunk and was small enough to push over if he caught you with his things. This time, it was his second most prized possession. Just beneath Freddie the stuffed dog on the totem pole was his nightlight. A gift from the real Caradoc Browne, it sat - fully lit, mind you - at the young badger's bedside all through the night. Unfortunately, given the arrangement of beds, that meant George had to lie down in the light and cover himself in blankets to shut it out. The nightlight made George suffer - and Jake needed to earn that privilege.

The on-paper study of a charm is not particularly interesting - at least in the eyes of George. Theory was an important part of practice, but it could only do so much for your application. It was the doing that helped George learn. So he did as much as he could do, repeating the incantation to himself until he had each syllable ready at a moment's notice. He practiced the wand motions with his quill, observing demonstrations by bored second-year students who would oblige his requests for tutoring as well as diagrams in books that he could find in the library.

Finally, it came time to do the deed. It was late enough in the evening that Jake had set his nightlight up in its place beside the bed, the dim glow bothersome, but not insufferable. When Jake slipped out of the dorm for a final trip to the bathroom, George struck. He pulled his wand out of the pocket of his pajamas and got to work.

"Engorgio," he said, his incantation escaping quietly as he tried to subtly increase the size of the nightlight. Subtlety became impossible the larger it grew - swelling up and up until it was the size of a lighthouse's lamp, with the glow to match. George's roommates groaned at the sight of it, realizing that the little twerp was bothering them with his charms once again.

Sleep was impossible, but the other boys in the dorm came up with a simple solution to the issue - stealing all of George's blankets to drape over the light, subduing the radiant nightlight enough for them to get some shut-eye. George slept in the cold, rising with determination to learn reducio before the day was out.

WC: 498
Permission from Jake to use his character. Engorgement charm.
Wand Movement under reducio

Reducio

The sun was shining, the grass was green, and George was shivering as he rose from his place in the bunk above Jake Morris' bed. He had worn his socks and his warmest pajamas to compensate for the loss of his blankets, but it wasn't enough. To make it worse, the nightlight was still down there, like some gigantic blue-feathered dementor bringing out the memories of his past missteps. All was not lost. He had the books checked out of the library already - all he needed to do was take what he did and undo it.

The fundamentals of the spell were familiar to him, having just studied the engorgement charm the day prior. Making something small was just making it big in reverse. The incantation and wand movement were different, of course, but the way you had to arrange it in your head was much the same. They were yin and yang - they existed in relation to one another. An intuitive mind like George's could latch onto the similarities and use them to coast easily through the differences. All it would take was a little application to make the knowledge stick.

George pulled away the blanket from the top of the nightlight like a magician revealing his next trick, which, admittedly, was what he was. With a swish of his wand, he muttered the incantation - a few eager roommates watching, waiting for the incessant light to finally be snuffed out. "Reducio," he muttered. He kept his wand trained on the nightlight, focusing the spell until it was reduced to a more manageable size.

George triumphantly returned his blankets to his bed, preparing himself for a good nights sleep in the hard-earned warmth of the sheets. The dorm room suddenly seemed much dimmer - it took a while for his eyes to adjust to a world with so little light. The badger burrow started to feel like it was some underground cave that they had crawled into rather than the comfy, bright room that Jake wanted it to be. It had only taken a day to adapt to the light - they would adjust to living without it easily enough.

Jake returned that evening, wondering what had been done with his upgraded nightlight - it seemed to have vanished from the floor where it had once stood like a sentinel, guarding him from bad dreams and scary monsters alike. Fortunately, George had come up with a solution that could keep Jake safe wherever he went. With a proud smile, the young Hufflepuff opened up his fist to reveal the newly shrunk nightlight - now small enough to fit in the palm of his hand.

"Keychain!" he said, plucking the handle up with two fingers and giving it an enthusiastic shake.

WC: 463
Permission to use Jake Morris was again granted. Shrinking charm. Wand movement under reducio.(hahaha)

Reducio