8 Apr 2020, 20:51
Magic Mystery Messages
Though it was a rather obscure and seemingly less practical charm to learn than others in the second year Charms curriculum, Jack thought that the Illegibility Charm could very possibly have come in handy for him in the near future. With the mischief he tended to get up to and the many enemies looking to discover and exploit any weaknesses any way they could, it didn't take too much imagination to think of how Jack could have found it useful.
If Ruka, as a second year, also learned the charm and the counter-spell, sending messages to each other would be easier without as much concern for interception - especially because the majority of Jack's peers and enemies were first years who still had a year to go before being taught said charms themselves in class.
Furthermore, as a student who Erin Ryan was certain went by the name of Parce, Jack had every reason to try to keep his true name as unfamiliar to her as possible. This was particularly true because they were both in Slytherin and she was far more likely to hear his name mentioned by housemates or see it on papers around their common room.
If he could make it so that she wasn't exposed to the visible name as often, whether subliminally, in passing, or otherwise, he thought it was worth the trouble of learning how to charm it to be illegible whenever he could. After all, there were other Slytherins aside from Erin who actively sought out his true name; knowing he wasn't Parce, but unsure what else he went by other than the alias of 'Fox' - nickname given courtesy of Selim Faust, aka 'Fangs'.
And so it was for the sake of self-preservation and self-interest that Jack undertook the task of reading up on the Illegibility Charm. He practiced the pronunciation and wand movements multiple times, making his own notes and thoroughly studying them before actually taking up his wand to attempt performing the spell for real.
After writing his name on a scrap of parchment for test purposes, the Slytherin took careful aim and spoke the incantation as clearly and eloquently as he could, enunciating each syllable with care.
"Illegibilus."
At first, Jack thought he had failed. There was no change that he could tell to the ink marks on the paper. The books he had read up on hadn't exactly been specific about the details of how the spell worked, so he hadn't been sure what to expect, but he'd had a few ideas. Perhaps the writing might have become so messy it wouldn't be possible to read it or it would shrink to an unreadable size or at least become blurry beyond recognition. Yet none of those things happened.
It wasn't until the redhead actually tried to read the words on the page rather than examining them for some sort of change that he realized his brain wouldn't comprehend what he was seeing. The writing, as lines and shapes, hadn't moved or transformed in the least, but it may as well have been a different language to Jack, because he couldn't read it. If he tried to delineate the shape of one letter from another, thinking of them as pictures more than symbols that stood for sounds, he thought he was able to manage. But even just looking at a singular letter without the context of those around it, it remained unidentifiable as such.
Fascinating, Jack thought, enthralled by the subtly of the the spell's magic. Anyone who didn't know that the writing had been charmed might have simply believed themselves to be spacing out every time they tried to read it. The first-year bet that even wizards and witches familiar with the spell would have had trouble recognizing it for what it was without great difficulty. Experience and practice might have helped, though; at least enough to think to try the revealing counter-spell.
Exhilarated by his discovery and mightily pleased with his success, the boy hastily dove back into his spell books and notes to find out how to reverse the effects of his new capability. Though there wasn't an official, exclusive counter-spell to undo the Illegibility Charm, aside from the General Counter-Spell (which he already knew), it was taught that there existed a Revealing Charm. While it was certainly able to make legible again what had been made illegible, it also seemed to have a good many other uses, which was all the more reason for Jack to take it up as his next self-taught spell.
If Ruka, as a second year, also learned the charm and the counter-spell, sending messages to each other would be easier without as much concern for interception - especially because the majority of Jack's peers and enemies were first years who still had a year to go before being taught said charms themselves in class.
Furthermore, as a student who Erin Ryan was certain went by the name of Parce, Jack had every reason to try to keep his true name as unfamiliar to her as possible. This was particularly true because they were both in Slytherin and she was far more likely to hear his name mentioned by housemates or see it on papers around their common room.
If he could make it so that she wasn't exposed to the visible name as often, whether subliminally, in passing, or otherwise, he thought it was worth the trouble of learning how to charm it to be illegible whenever he could. After all, there were other Slytherins aside from Erin who actively sought out his true name; knowing he wasn't Parce, but unsure what else he went by other than the alias of 'Fox' - nickname given courtesy of Selim Faust, aka 'Fangs'.
And so it was for the sake of self-preservation and self-interest that Jack undertook the task of reading up on the Illegibility Charm. He practiced the pronunciation and wand movements multiple times, making his own notes and thoroughly studying them before actually taking up his wand to attempt performing the spell for real.
After writing his name on a scrap of parchment for test purposes, the Slytherin took careful aim and spoke the incantation as clearly and eloquently as he could, enunciating each syllable with care.
"Illegibilus."
At first, Jack thought he had failed. There was no change that he could tell to the ink marks on the paper. The books he had read up on hadn't exactly been specific about the details of how the spell worked, so he hadn't been sure what to expect, but he'd had a few ideas. Perhaps the writing might have become so messy it wouldn't be possible to read it or it would shrink to an unreadable size or at least become blurry beyond recognition. Yet none of those things happened.
It wasn't until the redhead actually tried to read the words on the page rather than examining them for some sort of change that he realized his brain wouldn't comprehend what he was seeing. The writing, as lines and shapes, hadn't moved or transformed in the least, but it may as well have been a different language to Jack, because he couldn't read it. If he tried to delineate the shape of one letter from another, thinking of them as pictures more than symbols that stood for sounds, he thought he was able to manage. But even just looking at a singular letter without the context of those around it, it remained unidentifiable as such.
Fascinating, Jack thought, enthralled by the subtly of the the spell's magic. Anyone who didn't know that the writing had been charmed might have simply believed themselves to be spacing out every time they tried to read it. The first-year bet that even wizards and witches familiar with the spell would have had trouble recognizing it for what it was without great difficulty. Experience and practice might have helped, though; at least enough to think to try the revealing counter-spell.
Exhilarated by his discovery and mightily pleased with his success, the boy hastily dove back into his spell books and notes to find out how to reverse the effects of his new capability. Though there wasn't an official, exclusive counter-spell to undo the Illegibility Charm, aside from the General Counter-Spell (which he already knew), it was taught that there existed a Revealing Charm. While it was certainly able to make legible again what had been made illegible, it also seemed to have a good many other uses, which was all the more reason for Jack to take it up as his next self-taught spell.
Word Count: 759 words
PC: Jack Burnett | iNPC: Ginyami Midorimori
9 May 2020, 16:59
Magic Mystery Messages
Jack Burnett has learned the spell: Illegibilus
OOC: Any further prodigal spells that you learn, please wait for me to write the message above or respond to your prodigal post before adding it to index as you will need proof that you completed the lesson. I try to get to each one as soon as I can.
Artemis Vernatis
Professor of Charms