Making the Most of Things Prodigal Finished

With the Shrinking Charm having been performed to Jack's satisfaction, he next turned his attention to it counter-spell, the Engorgement Charm. The Slytherin believed it was very important to be able to undo any magic one had cast, so just like teachers in class often taught certain spells in pairs, he liked to learn them in pairs as well. It also helped when one charm countered another because then he could use whatever he practiced on for multiple purposes.

In this case, the quill he had shrunk to half its size still sat on a classroom desk next to its normal-sized partner. Jack much preferred the idea of trying to re-grow something that had been shrunk rather than enlarging something beyond its normal size. If he messed up somehow, it was more likely things would go wrong with this spell which was why he had made sure to learn the other well first.

The redhead thought of all the uses for such a charm if he would be able to master it, attempting to summon the motivation to do his absolute best. He could make a small snack last longer or return a shrung possession to a its normal size. If he was able to learn it on living creatures and even dared to test it on himself, he could potentially even sneak around, eavesdrop, and hide in places previous inaccessible to him. He could make himself a giant pillow if he wanted or turn a piece of string into a handy, strong rope.

Once he had come up with a number of useful ideas he was eager to try, Jack opened his book and reviewed the spell. In the charms text, it had said that the light would be icy blue and instead of an arrow shape like the Shrinking Charm, the Engorgement Charm was an almost-complete circle ending in parallel lines at the top like the opening of a bottle. Jack supposed it made him think of someone's round belly swelling as they gorged themselves on food. It wasn't a particularly pretty image, but at least it helped him remember the wand movement better.

Whispering the pronunciation of the word under his breath, Jack tried to memorize the size of the quill that was normal and strongly envisioned the smaller one growing to match the other once more. When he thought he was ready, the Slytherin pointed his wand at his target and kept his gaze locked on the quill as he spoke the necessary incantation.

"Engorgio."

As described in the book, an icy blue light shot from the tip of his wand and began to enlarge the quill. Everything was going fine until he wanted it to stop. Perhaps he had to think of the spell as ceasing more finally or maybe he had been sloppy with the wand movement at the end, but the quill still continued to grow even when he tried to lift his wand away.

Eyes wide with concern, Jack tried not to panic and attempted to remember the proper counter-spell. "Reduci - " No, wait; that wasn't right. He had to stop it from growing before he tried to shrink it again or something could go wrong, like part of the quill might continue to grow while another other part might start to shrink. "Finite Incantatem," he tried with a quiet voice, not sure if he had pronounced all the syllables correctly. Nothing happened. "Finite Incantatem!"

The quill stopped growing. It was now large enough to lay across the entire desk, surpassing its original twin by a good margin. Jack sighed. "Reducio!" he said, careful to make his motions strong and sharp. It shrunk again, but he wouldn't let it stop shrinking until it was once more half the size of the other. Magic completed, he took the normal-sized quill and returned it to his bag. He wondered if he could manage to match the other quill in size without something to compare it to. With the right imagry conjured up in his mind, he thought he should have been able to do it.

"Engorgio," Jack spoke once more, concentrating this time on his wand movements and pronounciation rather than the object he was targeting. The quill grew again and this time it ceased its growth when he withdrew his wand. "Heh."

Smirking with some triumph, Jack took out the unchanged quill from his bag again to compare it to the other. Perfect. It was nice to know he could get something back to its proper size by memory alone. It would have been weird to try to grow or shrink himself, for instance, only to end up a few inches shorter or taller than he had started with.