The cost was massive.
Charlie rubbed the spot on his forehead where the book had smacked him and stood up with a grimace. Of course, when it came to keeping himself safe, the spell had zero flaws.
He wasn't standing still the whole time, after all. Its steady, powerful slowing effect was more than enough to handle most of the trouble he could run into right now.
Time to check the second casting form.
Charlie popped a Moonlight Chocolate into his mouth, massaged his temples with both hands, and let his thoughts drift.
At first he'd figured the Impediment Jinx might cost a little more Wish Dust. Maybe eight points. Maybe ten. Ten was already a lot—twice what the Lumos Charm or Softening Charm needed. But Charlie realized he'd still been thinking too small.
Twenty points. Almost everything he had left.
Expensive was one thing. Worth every single point was another. Both were true, and Charlie couldn't find a single complaint. If he had to nitpick, it was only that he was still too poor.
If Chocolate Frogs were my product, he thought, I'd have an endless supply of Wish Dust.
He sighed and left the Room of Requirement.
According to the system, the Impediment Jinx's other form was Area Slow. So he needed somewhere with movement.
He followed the corridor to a tall window and looked outside.
The world was pure white, thin snowflakes dancing through the air. It had been like this for days—no heavy snow, just a constant light flurry. The ground stayed soft and fluffy under a fresh blanket of snow.
Impedimenta.
With a thought, an invisible ripple spread out from his body.
Inside the world wrapped by that ripple, the snowflakes fell like someone had hit slow-motion. They drifted down their usual paths, gentle and unhurried. Everything looked the same—only time had slowed.
Charlie felt the range. About a foot out from his body—more accurately, from his eyes. Roughly three meters.
He could consciously expand the area or strengthen the slowing effect if he wanted. But that kind of deliberate control burned through magic fast.
Moonlight Chocolate could restore magic, but it was a one-time boost. His total reserves weren't huge. Professor Flitwick had said magic was like stamina. It only really grew with age and training—this so-called "magic stamina bar."
Charlie leaned against the windowsill, watching the snow swirl while his mind raced.
If he could keep eating moonlight nonstop—but chocolate melted way too fast.
So… hard candy?
High-concentration moonlight hard candy. Slow melt. Steady magic flowing into his body over time.
The only question was what happened if he kept ingesting large amounts of moonlight at high frequency.
Looked like he had another experiment to run.
Back in the Room of Requirement, he scribbled the new idea in his notebook, then headed back to the dormitory.
Over the next few days Charlie worked nonstop making fresh chocolate.
He used eighty percent of what he had left for stock.
The remaining ten percent went into testing new blood moon and winter snow batches—there were bound to be losses. Especially with the winter snow sand. Charlie had discovered it burned off badly when it got too hot, so he had to tweak the whole process.
With the last bit he also tried blending alchemy and chocolate Transfiguration together.
This was his first real creation—the first one he'd made without relying on natural harvesting.
Charlie planned to give it to his friends as Christmas gifts.
Oh, for Merlin's sake, this was the only thing that felt gift-worthy. He didn't want to hand out the natural-essence chocolates. Those were either basic stock or stuff with safety risks that weren't meant for sale.
Christmas Eve. The Great Hall. Dinner.
Dinner looked exactly like usual.
"I bet tonight's plain food is just making room for something amazing tomorrow," Ron said.
Even as he spoke, his left hand was still clutching a chicken leg.
Charlie smiled and looked at Harry. The boy hadn't said a word, but his eyes kept flicking over, like he was dying to speak.
"I bet you've got something to say," Charlie said with a grin.
He quickly waved a hand to stop Harry before the words could come out.
"Let me guess. Hmm… Christmas Eve, tonight's supposed to be nice… let me think. You want to buy a Dream Chocolate, right?"
Harry nodded fast, even letting out a tiny breath of relief. He knew Charlie had never been eager to sell him that one.
"I'm not selling it to you," Charlie said, spreading his hands.
"Of course, you already know what I was going to say—well, I don't want to sound like a nag. It's Christmas. This is how it should be."
As he spoke, Charlie spun his hand in a quick circle.
Harry and Ron watched nervously. They both knew his little magic trick. Every time he did that spin, two chocolates usually appeared in his palm.
Snap.
Charlie flung his hand open. "Ta-da! Nothing!"
Disappointment flashed across both their faces.
"I'm not selling chocolate anymore. If you want some, go to the second floor. After the stairs, keep turning left and follow the corridor. Past Moaning Myrtle's abandoned girls' bathroom, keep going, turn left again, and you'll see a shop.
If you want any, go there. I put everything there."
With that, Charlie clapped his hands and stood up. "Alright, see you later. I'm heading back to rest. Happy Christmas Eve, guys."
Out in the corridor outside the Great Hall, Charlie smiled.
He really couldn't keep refusing Harry. Harry just wanted to buy chocolate from him—what was wrong with that?
He couldn't keep lecturing the kid from on high: "Don't keep getting lost in those dreams."
Honestly, he couldn't keep playing the "it's for your own good" card forever.
So he changed tactics.
Ever since Harry and Anthony had both admitted one piece wasn't enough—that they always wanted another, always wanted to go back to that beautiful dream—Charlie had quietly lowered the dose of Dream Sand in the chocolates.
The recipe had always been up to him.
With that, Charlie said goodbye to Harry and Ron and left the Great Hall.
As he stepped out, he spotted three students in Slytherin robes heading up the stairs with him. He glanced at them—Slytherins didn't usually wander upstairs for no reason.
The three of them glanced back.
"You heading up to buy something too?" one asked.
"Buy something?" Charlie looked puzzled, then quickly caught on.
"Oh, looks like you don't know yet," one of the Slytherins said with a smug little smile. "If you don't know, you don't know."
The three of them exchanged glances, like they were in on some secret Charlie didn't know, which made them feel superior.
Hmm.
Charlie scratched his head, wondering why they had that look.
When they reached the second floor, the three of them even turned to look back at Charlie, like they were checking if he'd follow.
Too bad Charlie didn't even glance their way.