"Um... Altair, the prefects assigned us a task..." Malfoy said, sounding thoroughly annoyed. "Aside from the Great Hall, the whole first floor is supposed to be decorated by Slytherin. We first-years have been told to handle the staff room and Filch's office."
He muttered another complaint under his breath.
"That stupid Filch is a Squib. He can't hang the pumpkin heads from the ceiling himself, so we have to do it for him..."
"Wouldn't a Levitation Charm solve that? It's not exactly difficult."
Altair cut him off. He had no interest in standing there listening to Malfoy complain.
Malfoy spread his hands. "Did you forget? We haven't learned the Levitation Charm yet. Tomorrow's Charms lesson is when we're supposed to learn it."
The moment he said that, Altair remembered.
In the original story, it was precisely because of the Levitation Charm that Hermione and Ron had their falling-out. Then Hermione hid in the girls' bathroom and cried the whole afternoon, and when Quirrell released the troll, Harry and Ron had to go find her...
But Altair had mastered these basic spells long ago, and could cast them wandlessly, so for a moment it had slipped his mind.
"You can't do it either? Surely you pure-blood and wizard-family kids aren't so hopeless that you can't even manage a spell this simple."
Altair had actually wanted to ask Malfoy this for a while now. Ever since term began, the first-years he had met all seemed rather dim. Many of them practiced the simplest spells again and again and still could not cast them properly.
"Did you forget that we can only buy our own wands from Ollivanders right before starting school? When we're little, we can sometimes use other people's wands, but young wizards already have unstable magic, and using someone else's wand makes it very easy for accidents to happen, so..."
Malfoy gave a shrug.
"When I was little, I saw things and knew about them, sure, but I didn't actually practice spells."
In other words, theory, yes. Practice, no.
"I see."
Altair finally understood.
Of course, he also knew what their advantage was. During school holidays, these children from wizarding families could learn from their elders at home and practice more advanced, more powerful magic.
Muggle-born children could not use magic freely, and there was no one around to teach them.
"So what exactly are we supposed to do?"
"We're supposed to help that old man Filch carry all the decorations into his office and the staff room. Then the older students will use the Levitation Charm to hang everything up."
Crabbe, who was busy eating cream pudding, began counting on his fingers as he explained the assignment to Altair.
"The decorations are all in the basement storeroom. There are pumpkin lanterns, fake witch dolls, black cat statues, monster specimens, skeletons, and creature models..."
The corner of Altair's mouth twitched slightly, and he clapped his hands.
"Then let's go assemble."
For once, Altair really did look like the head of the dormitory. Malfoy and the other two behaved quite obediently, tidied up their things, and under Altair's direction filed out of the room.
Altair went with them, and before long all the first-years had gathered in the common room.
The ones leading them were two third-year students, one boy and one girl. Altair had seen them before, but did not know their names.
There were only around twenty first-year Slytherins in all. Once everyone had arrived, the older boy and girl led them out of the common room.
The basement itself was being handled by students from other years. The first-years only had to move the items from the basement storeroom up to the first floor.
Altair knew the Levitation Charm, so he did not have to exert himself at all. With a flick of his wand, more than a dozen pumpkin lanterns and a number of other dolls and statues rose smoothly into the air, then floated along behind him all the way up to the first floor.
Malfoy and the others looked on with naked envy, but since they could not cast the charm, they had no choice but to carry things by hand.
Fortunately, the pumpkin lanterns were not especially heavy, and the little wizards could carry two at a time. As for the other props, they could work together, so no real chaos broke out.
Everything proceeded in an orderly fashion.
Once Altair had finished his own share, he simply stood to one side and watched in contentment.
None of the other little snakes found that strange.
After all, selfishness was one of Slytherin's little trademarks. If this had been Gryffindor, plenty of people would already have been criticizing Altair for not helping his classmates.
"Hmph."
That little bitch Pansy let out a soft snort as she passed by Altair.
A thin sheen of sweat had formed on her forehead. It looked as though she had worn herself out after several trips back and forth.
Altair could read a whole mixture of emotions in her eyes: fear, envy, jealousy... and the tiniest trace of expectation.
"Is she hoping I'll help her?"
Altair rolled his eyes and continued sitting there cheerfully, watching the little wizards rush in and out.
He had no idea how much time passed, but eventually the little wizards finished carrying up all the decorations they needed. After everything had been sorted by type and put in place, the two older students finally got to work.
Under their magic, the pumpkin lanterns floated up and were hung along the walls and ceiling one by one.
Some of the enchanted pumpkin lanterns, once they had spells cast on them, began flying wildly around in midair.
The witch dolls, black cat statues, and other props were placed in corners and along the walls. Once activated by magic, those things would sometimes suddenly move, and sometimes let out frightening noises.
By the time everything was finished, it was already lunchtime. Altair himself felt perfectly fine, but the other little wizards were exhausted and starving. Howling miserably, they charged straight toward the Great Hall.
~-------------------------
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