There were visitors in our abandoned classroom: Percy Weasley and Penelope Clearwater – Ravenclaw prefect, average appearance. The girl almost sat on Percy’s lap, and they were talking very nicely. Our appearance was noticed immediately, and Penelope literally jumped from her usual place, blushing a little. Percy kept up with her complexion. Hermione was not at all embarrassed by this picture. She just smiled out of the corner of her lips.

“Hello, naughty! I waved my hand. A thought popped into my head.” We have not seen anything if you show how to put Protego correctly. ​​

“What? Uh…” Percy tried to find the words, but his girlfriend quickly came to her senses.

“Deal” Penelope nodded. Percy looked at her, sighed, and agreed.

“What is your problem?” asked our prefect, and in his voice, there was slight hopelessness.

“We have no idea,” I decided to conduct the conversation. “Gestures and verbal formulas are correct, but not a single shield charm works.”

“Hmm … Show me.”

Penelope sat down on the table, and Percy stood next to her. Hermione and I took out our wands and took turns trying several versions of Protego. Normal, Duo, Reflecto modification, Totalus. None of them even started.

“I know.” Penelope, pleased with herself, jumped off the table. “You didn’t study from textbooks, did you?”

“No,” I shook my head. There is no such thing in the textbooks for our course. There is not much that is useful in terms of applied magic. “We collected information in the library.”

“Exaaactly,” held out Penelope. “And there is material for already more or less accustomed to magic students. In the textbook for the third year, where shield enchantments are considered, there is a hint to them. It needs a mandatory visual image. In the textbook, for this purpose, magic photos are attached, and the teacher clearly demonstrates. Let me show you, and you will have the desired image.”

We agreed, of course. Penelope took out her wand.

“Protego,” she waved her wand, and for a few seconds, the almost transparent wall of shield charm appeared in front of her. Its center was opposite the tip of the wand.

“The spell does not last long. It is fast. Also, you need to clearly imagine in which direction the shield will be turned.”

“I see,” we nodded and immediately decided to try.

“Protego.”

At the same time, Hermione and I waved our wands, and the shield wall appeared in front of us for a few seconds. We conjured it several times, changing direction, experimenting, and only after a couple of minutes we finished.

“Well done!” Percy praised us. “I, as the prefect, am proud of such first years! Not like some…”

Hermione liked the praise, even though she tried not to show it.

“Ok. Great,” Penelope nodded. “You also tried to study other shield charms? And you know gestures and formulas? I noticed that you have worked them out very well. Let’s move on to Duo then.”

We nodded and watched closely.

“Protego Duo,” Penelope waved her wand once again. In front of her wand, two walls of protective charm appeared – colorless and bluish. The girl slightly twisted her wand in her hands, and the walls began to move to each other as if covering Penelope from different sides. After a few seconds, they disappeared.

“Just like that,” she nodded to herself. “Quite a complicated enchantment. The colorless wall protects against conceptual spells, and the bluish wall protects against physical incarnations. Oh … do you know what that means?”

Of course, we knew. Energy – aimed at changing the state of the object of influence. It can be various: freezing, explosive, incendiary, and other spells that do not carry a material component. Physical – just carrying a material component, attacking with multiple objects. Some ice spears, jets of fire, embodied physical objects. In general, a bluish shield protects against physical impact. So we nodded, saying: “We know.”

Now it’s our turn to try. It was possible to create the shields the first time, but their separate movement only from the third. I had to clearly form a mental image of their movement. Simultaneously. It’s like doing different things with your hands – it takes more practice.

“You guys are quite talented,” Penelope was a little surprised but immediately moved on to the next spell.

“Protego Reflecto,” a round translucent film appeared in front of her wand, but this time it was even and somewhat like glass. She held on until Penelope broke the spell.

“This shield enchantment reflects conceptual spells. It is worth remembering that they do not reflect in the opposite direction, do not reflect at the enemy.”

“The angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection,” Hermione said and received a surprising nod from Ravenclaw prefect.

“Exactly. Try it.”

We tried. On the third attempt, it was possible to put a more or less normal shield charm.

“It looks not very good,” stated Penelope. “But don’t despair. More practice, and it will be great. You are doing amazingly well already. Many people have to make two dozen attempts for a charm of this level, and this is in senior years. Let’s go further.”

The girl made a much more difficult pass with her wand, and this time she was surrounded by a gray transparent sphere, like a soap bubble. She trembled a little and disappeared after a few seconds.

“It doesn’t work well for me,” notes of sadness were heard in her voice. “Wanna try? But if it does not work out – do not despair. This is one of the most difficult shield charms to hold.”

We tried. Five times – and managed to create a quivering sphere. Percy pulled out a piece of parchment, crumpled it into a ball, and threw it lightly at my shield. It blocked the blow but immediately disappeared. The same fate befell Hermione.

“Not bad. Not bad” he nodded. “My first Totalus let me down, and with the same piece of paper, I got exactly in the forehead.”

“Hahaha…” Penelope laughed, patting the embarrassed Weasley on the shoulder, “And I remember your face then!”

Hermione and I thanked the seniors and went to the library. I don’t want to look for a new class, and ours will probably not be free soon.