Really hard to learn magic when no one can help me.

Lux stared at the ring in front of him, frustrated how his first attempt at making an artifact had gone so far.

He discussed with Professor Ringhorn about attempting a version of his presentation from class the other day. He agreed, with the caveat that he would probably fail, and with some rules and stipulations. He had a feeling his answer would have been no to any other student, however, Lux had suspicions that his professors knew he had scored high on his aptitude test. The professors just seemed a tad bit friendly and more willing to show the errors in his spellcasting, being much more patient than they were before.

Shockingly, Lindsey only bothered him about this difference for a day or two before giving up. Caleb didn't notice.

Ringhorn advised to only use the Lumos spell, as the worst-case scenario would be a bright light that left his retina's bleached for a few minutes. The backfire the artifact could produce was usually proportional to the strength of the spell, which led to offensive artifacts that helped Aurors and Bodyguards to be a somewhat dangerous craft.

The second rule -, he had to use cheap metal; the school only had a limited supply of titanium that was magically enhanced, and since he was essentially winging it, they didn't want to expend a ton of resources even if it did help a Sorcerer's education. They normally don't try to make their first artifact for a few more weeks, but Lux was impatient. This was one of the main reasons why he was here in the first place.

Professor Ringhorn had said his first step was to make the ring accept a spell; essentially Lux needed to turn the ring into an empty artifact. This is where the art of the craft came in, according to Ringhorn, because every person he had ever met who dedicated themselves to making artifacts all had different ways to make this happen. The professor said he used a series of dozens of spells to change the ring at a molecular level, something that took great concentration and skill. After that, he liked to use wandless magic to slowly trickle out the spell into the ring, as it allowed him to "feel" if the ring was taking a liking to the spell.

When Lux had commented that he spoke of artifacts in the same way that a wandmaker he had met talked about her wands, Ringhorn said for him, it was a very similar connection, although a bit more superficial than the one he had with his wand.

Lux looked around the empty room; a workshop table with a magnifying glass and scraps of iron rings scattered in front of him. Candles in a chandelier provided light to the small room, giving just enough visibility for Lux to work while providing a pleasant atmosphere. A window with a view of the grounds was the backdrop, resting just behind the table, giving Lux a nice pleasant view while he worked.

He finally got the courage to ask the Headmaster for help, and he didn't disappoint. In addition to searching the archives for any previous notes from the last Sorcerer who left school, he mentioned a room that existed on the seventh floor of Hogwarts. On this floor, he would find an empty wall that stood across from a tapestry, which showed a foolish wizard trying to teach trolls ballet. Lux found it quite humorous to learn that the scene was depicted from real-life events. Gembol told Lux that this room has been used by wizards throughout the history of the school, and was affectionately known as the Room of Requirement, or the "Come and Go Room".

Lux was instructed to walk by the seemingly bland wall while thinking of exactly what kind of room he was looking for, advising that he should be as specific as possible as it would help prevent anyone else from finding the room, in case they were looking for him.

I need a room where a Sorcerer can practice his magic in peace, specifically, trying to make my first artifact.

On his third pass, a door appeared right in front of his eyes. When he opened it, he found the current room he was in now.

Amazing.

Lux sighed and opened the Latin dictionary that had also been in the room and looked over the words. The room presented the book to him, so he figured it might think he needed to broaden his magical vocabulary. Although not all spells were spoken in the language, it did seem to have a magical quality since the professor had spoken in the language during his display, and a majority of spells had some likeness to the vocabulary.

For what seemed like the hundredth time, Lux took a deep breath and settled into the chair, and looked at the ring. He had pretty much given up on trying to change the ring's physical properties with straight forward spells; he didn't even know a dozen spells at this point and Ringhorn had made it pretty clear to be careful with spells he hadn't practiced with or making up his own spells, which he didn't even think was possible.

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So instead, Lux tried doing what he discovered last night when he first had set foot in the room. He let his magic slowly flow out of his hands, like a leaky faucet trying to hold back the floodgates of water. What he had experienced so far was that he could feel the magic stir when he casts spells when he used a wand. At first, he thought it was trying to make a connection with the wand and failing. What he now realized was it was stirring because it was frustrated, mad at being used in such a strict way when all it wanted was to roam and move freely. So he did just that and obliged, and he saw the magic slowly escape from his hands in a familiar blue mist that he had seen in previous spells like Protego.

His magic washed over the ring, encompassing it completely in a whirlwind of blue fog. He realized he was letting it get away from him again, and tried reeling it back to control the flow. Right now, it was escaping him like a broken dam rather than a steady stream like he was aiming for. He re-centered himself and took a breath, trying to slow the magic as it left his hands toward the ring.

Lux opened his eyes and found the mist to be lighter and less dense, almost at a controllable speed now. He thought he could keep this up for about a minute, easily three times as long as he had been able to manage so far.

His magic battery now dry, he took a few minutes to recover. No one else in his class had mentioned feeling drained with spells so far, but from what he saw with the seventh year fight, he knew powerful spells could definitely leave people feeling winded. Since Lux wasn't casting anything really, just allowing it to escape, he figured he was not being energy efficient with his powers, something he needed to work on.

After four more rounds of practice, Lux began the next part of his plan. He began to try and see if he could change the shape of the mist after it left his hands. He still felt a strange tether to the magic even as it swirled around in front of him, so he had a feeling he could. Sure enough, after one failed attempt, he created a slow circular motion with the mist, creating a miniature vortex around the ring. Now came the part he felt kind of silly for.

"Salve?" Lux said aloud, using the Latin word for hello.

Just talking to an inanimate object. Don't mind me, just probably going insane.

To no one's surprise, the ring did not respond, nor did it react in any way before Lux had to stop the flow, reaching his breaking point.

On his eighth attempt, with different greetings attempted, he let out a frustrated "quaeso", meaning please. He had tried using the phrase before, but when earlier he was awkward and noncommittal in his tone, this came out as more of a desperate plea due to his frustration.

He didn't get a response, but he felt the tiniest little zap that went through his magic all the way to his fingers like static electricity.

His eyebrows raised in shock, the magic instantly canceling out as he lost concentration.

Now we are getting somewhere.

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Lux got back to the common room late, trying to repeat his semi-successful experiment for another hour before calling it quits, unable to duplicate the response. It was well past 1 am, and on a school night, he walked into the common room expecting to find himself alone.

"Hey ya night owl, whatcha doing up so late?" Lindsey asked, an empty glass of wine settled on the table in front of her, the sound of crackling firewood the only noise echoing in the empty room.

"Studying, like you should be doing." He said as he walked to the boy's dormitory.

"What were you studying?" She asked, not letting up.

"History of Magic."

"Then why are you so sweaty?"

Lux turned and looked at her. "Because I also practiced my charms, because we all know I could use the work."

Lindsey seemed unimpressed by his lie. "By yourself?"

"When you are as bad as I am, it's not like I really need an opponent to make it harder on me."

Lindsey hummed in apprehension as she looked at Lux up and down. She sighed and tilted her head backward, throwing her hands out in mock exaggeration, "I guess you don't trust me yet." she let out, the wine urging her on a conversation she knew wouldn't go anywhere.

Lux looked at her, frustrated. "I already said if I'm withholding for a reason, that that reason is my own. You have, for the most part, respected that."

"Of course I have. You are my friend and I just want to know what the heck is going on with you. You stay up late all the time; professors now think you walk on water or something. So, the obvious conclusion would be you must have crushed it on your aptitude test." She held up a finger, "but, no offense, you kinda suck so far at casting magic. So that doesn't make any sense. Also, I asked a few family friends at the UW if they had even heard of wizards with the name Avery, and they hadn't. And no!" she interrupted, "they said none were in a top-secret department... and yes!" she interrupted again, "they would have told me, or at least eluded to the fact they couldn't tell me. Which means you are lying about your parents."

Lux just stared at her. "Are you done now?"

She scoffed in frustration. "Just tell me who your parents are, or just freaking admit you're a muggle-born! I don't even car..."

Lux cut her off, his eyes wide, "And if you are from a family that has 'family friends in the UW', you know damn well what shouting things like that could cause for me, whether it's true or not." he turned his back and walked toward the dorm. Lindsey tried to open her mouth and say sorry, she already knew she had screwed that up, but Lux had already shut the door.

She fell back down on the couch, picking up her empty glass of wine, and looked at her reflection.

"Smooth, Lindsey. Real fuckin' smooth," she whispered frustratedly.