Dark to Light Prodigal Finished

The 26th of May, 2020
Late Morning

This time Meenauh was requested to join the actual lesson along with third-years, some of which have already used to her studying charms with them. They even knew her name, especially those from Gryffindor. She entered the room among the first students and faced the change in the room's layout — no desks, but sort of a maze constructed from boards. She looked at the professor and then followed his quick directed glance at the ceiling. A few black bubbles were attached or, she couldn't see properly, floating near the ceiling. If she remembers things correctly after reading about them in the books, they could be filled with Darkness Powder. The maze only proved her theory. If there was darkness, there should be light — that was the thought to be confirmed by Professor Vernatis after a few lines of quick dialogue with confused students.

As the bubbles popped and the darkness filled the classroom, Meenauh automatically pulled out her wand. It was sort of a reflex after what happened at the Quidditch Stands. She had to stay vigilant at all times now. She even thought of joining the Duelling Club, once it's open to train her reflexes. She was no warrior, but after the recent events, additional training wouldn't hurt at all. She was not afraid of darkness (especially now), but she wasn't fond of it either. Darkness wasn't natural for human beings to operate in, it is the form of natural instincts programmed very deep in our mind — to be afraid of darkness. Ancient people tried to illuminate the caves before entering and sleeping there. They tried to keep the fire on to scare away the beasts. Light is natural for people. Light is necessary. Because when you can't process the surrounding, the surroundings are unknown to you. And people are naturally afraid of the unknown.

The incantation and the wand movement were studied in advance, but still, she lighted up her wand to double-check the boards with instructions. As soon as the beginning was announced, Meenauh slid her wand to from one side to another then pointed it forward and pronounced the new incantation:

"Lumos Duo!"

The difference from the first-year spell was obvious — instead of spherical lighting on the tip of the wand, a beam of light broke forth, shining brighter than she had expected it. She could bet that it could easily be used to temporarily blinded if directed right into the eyes.

She started to move through the maze on her own, hearing lots of voices trying to enable their wand-torches. She was moving in circles before some student suddenly appeared from the side and accidentally pushed her. Her wand fell out of her hand, the light flickered and disappeared. The other student's light had gone as well, probably because she (detected based on the sudden shriek) was too busy with apologising rather than concentrating on keeping the light on.

"It's okay, but would be much better if you could turn the light on, please," Meenauh addressed the girl, who was breathing heavily, but for Merlin's sake stopped apologising. After a couple of attempts, she still couldn't return the beam of light to help her search the wand.

"A simple Lumos would do just fine, thanks," Meenauh requested. She realised that she hated to lose her wand because she had never actually lost it before. The girl nervously apologised again and turned on her basic wand-light. The girl was red-headed and obviously frightened of the darkness. Meenauh looked around the place they stood and found her wand in the corner just behind the girl. She quickly snatched it and closed her eyes to remember the Maxima spell. It would be easier to finish the maze with it because she wouldn't need to have her wand out for other students to hit it off her grasp.

Flick, draw back, flick again. Flick, draw back, flick again. Flick, draw back, flick again.

"Lumos Maxima!" she said louder than usual and so unexpectedly that the red-head, who was now following Meenauh for the obvious reason of not staying alone, let out a short scream and started apologising again.

The light started to expand around the wand but quickly went off again. She repeated the incantation with more determination and more precise gestures. The light shone brighter but failed to leave the tip of her wand collapsing into darkness once again.

"Lumos Maxima!" she almost shouted with a sort of irritation, but that actually worked. The light quickly reached every visible corner where they stood and it was really extreme. The small orb of light seemed to fly up a metre above their heads and illuminated the maze nicely. She put away her wand to not lose it again and started to follow the maze escape techniques, successfully leading her, and her temporary companion, out from the improvised maze.

Word Count: 813