"How you feeling?" Charlie rubbed his eyes, wearily turning his head to look at Anthony.
In total contrast to Charlie's exhaustion, Anthony was bright-eyed and buzzing as he stared back at him.
"Freaking awesome."
"I dreamed monsters invaded the school. I took them all down and became the big hero."
"What kind of monsters?"
"Dragons, Dementors, and a bunch of others." Anthony shook his head. "There were tons of them, anyway."
"Sounds like you had a pretty solid dream." Charlie shifted his gaze to his own desk.
"Not exactly a horror story, though—too bad." Anthony sounded a little disappointed.
"Looks like this is turning into something like Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans..." Charlie murmured, analyzing it to himself.
The thunder had made the dream sand unstable. Eating it led to all kinds of wild, unpredictable dreams—literally anything could happen.
As for whether it had real potential as a solid product, Charlie still needed to think it over.
"You gonna keep sleeping?" he asked, looking at Anthony.
"Obviously, mate." Anthony had already burrowed back under the covers. "What about you? You're not heading to the club already, are you?"
"I want to wait for the first snowflake to land on my shoulder."
Charlie smiled as he stood up. "See you later."
"See ya." Anthony nodded, yanked the blanket over his head, and slipped straight back into his dreams.
Charlie headed to the bathroom to wash up. When he came back, he grabbed a Material Vial—the freezer kind.
He glanced out the window again. It was still pitch black outside. At this time of year, the sky probably wouldn't start lightening up until close to eight.
From what he'd seen in the weather oracle crystal ball yesterday, the sky had looked gray and dim.
The snow was supposed to fall right around the moment dawn broke.
It was about time.
Carrying the vial, he was just about to head out of the dormitory when a faint thumping sound came from near his feet.
Alice had followed him.
"Alright, buddy, let's go together." Charlie scooped her up.
The little creature instantly transformed, turning into a felt hat.
The castle was completely silent.
Weekend. Winter. Early morning. Who else would be out here with him? The thick stone walls seemed to block out everything, leaving only the faint echo of Charlie's own footsteps in the corridor.
The orange-yellow candlelight flickered, casting dappled shadows between the frames of the moving portraits.
In the middle of that quiet solitude, a random thought popped into Charlie's head: Maybe I should be carrying a candlestick. It would fit the scene better.
With that in mind, he raised his hand, and a candle floated gently into his palm.
He held it up and walked a short distance.
"Forget it—my arm's getting tired."
He gave the candle a light toss, and it hovered in midair.
Soon he reached the first floor.
He waved at the candle. "See you. This is as far as you go."
The candle didn't say anything—it just watched Charlie leave before slowly drifting away.
Of course it couldn't talk, and these candles couldn't fly outside the castle anyway.
Charlie had checked them before. They didn't carry any magic of their own. If anything about them was special, it was probably the wax composition.
But that still didn't explain how they could float, show low-level intelligence, or burn forever.
Charlie guessed these candles weren't individual enchanted objects. What gave them their magic was the castle itself.
Outside the castle, he walked straight ahead, left the path, and stepped onto the grounds. He kept going down until he reached a slope, with the Black Lake right in front of him.
He sat down, letting out a small puff of white breath, then took off his hat. Alice popped back into rabbit form with a soft poof, happily hopping around on the grass. Her little nose twitched as she curiously nibbled on a blade of grass.
"Tasty~"
Charlie had no idea how it tasted to her, but the way her ears trembled suggested that's exactly what she meant.
The sky gradually began to lighten, outlining the silhouette of the Forbidden Forest.
Suddenly, a single icy flake landed on the tip of Charlie's nose.
The snow had arrived.
He looked up. Tiny white specks were drifting down from the pale blue sky.
Rustling sounds came from the grass as Alice quickly scampered back and launched herself into Charlie's arms. She frantically kicked her legs, as if something urgent was happening, then scrambled up his arm and leaped from his shoulder. In midair she turned back into the felt hat and landed neatly on his head.
Charlie gently patted the brim. "Good girl," he said softly.
The snow grew heavier. Charlie started to feel the cold air settling around him.
He pulled out his wand and began waving it through the air.
...
...
By nearly noon the snow still hadn't stopped. It had piled up thick on the ground.
A few students were passing by the edge of the Black Lake, laughing and playing in the first snow of the year.
The next second, a snow-covered figure suddenly stood up and scared them half to death.
Charlie shook the snow off himself, glanced back at them, and gave an apologetic wave.
In his arms he carried a glass jar filled with pale blue fine sand.
He hugged the jar and hurried back to the castle.
The moment he stepped into the dormitory, Anthony and Hector—who were in the middle of a chess game—both looked up at him.
"How's the snow?" Anthony asked.
"A little over an inch deep." Charlie answered.
"Looks like we're in for a fun afternoon." Anthony slid his queen forward.
Charlie glanced at the board. It was a risky move, and he figured Anthony had maybe ten moves left before Hector finished him off.
He put the jar back in his drawer and took a quick breather. Lunch was still an hour away.
Perfect time to test the winter snow and see what this element could do.
He took a teaspoon, scooped out a small amount of the snow sand, and slipped it into his mouth.
The snow sand felt icy cold, like eating mint, then quickly melted and sent a crisp, refreshing energy flowing through his body.
And then...
Nothing.
He looked out the window, trying to command the snow or call it to him.
The snow gave him no response at all.
"Doesn't work like the autumn wind, then..."
But he wasn't in a hurry. Just like with the autumn wind and dream sand, figuring out an element's properties often came down to finding the right trigger.
Since it didn't have any obvious, instant effects, he might as well do his homework.
Charlie put the jar away, pulled out his books, spread out a sheet of parchment, and got to work.
At lunch in the Great Hall.
"Hey, Harry, you guys want to join us for a snowball fight later?" Anthony called over to the Gryffindor table.
"You guys are having a snowball fight this afternoon?" Hermione asked, looking at Charlie.
"Yeah. You in?" Parvati added as she walked up.
Hermione turned to Parvati, who nodded. "My sister already invited me, and Lavender's coming too."
Hermione's first instinct was to say she'd rather spend the time in the library.
But she looked at Charlie, then at Harry and the rest of their friends.
"Alright," she said with a smile.
After they finished eating, the whole group headed outside. The grounds were covered in a thick blanket of white, and snow was still falling, but nobody cared.
They started pelting each other with snowballs, and somehow they naturally split into two teams.
Ravenclaw versus Gryffindor, obviously.
"Glacius!" Charlie waved his wand, using a Transfiguration charm to raise a snow wall for his side.
Anthony ducked behind the wall and quickly rolled a snowball the size of his head with another Transfiguration spell.
"Watch this—Wingardium Leviosa—"
He flicked his wand. The head-sized snowball wobbled unsteadily over the wall toward the Gryffindor side.
The Levitation Charm could control an object's direction and path with precision, but Anthony clearly hadn't mastered that part yet.
Instead, because he was concentrating so hard on steering the snowball, his head poked out from behind the wall—and Harry nailed him square in the face.
"Wow, he's accurate!"
Anthony staggered and fell. From the other side came Hermione's voice: "Wingardium Leviosa—"
"Anthony, they've taken control of your snowball!" Padma shouted.
The head-sized snowball came hurtling back toward them.
"Get out of the way!" Hector yelled.
"Softening Charm—" Charlie cast on the snowball.
At the same time he yanked Anthony up and shoved him in front of himself like a shield.
The next second the now-squishy snowball smacked right into Anthony's head.
"Ptui—"
Everyone burst out laughing at the sight of Anthony with snow in his hair, on his clothes, and even in his mouth.
"Traitor! I'm reporting you to the Headmaster's office!" Anthony spat out the snow and yelled.
Snowballs flew in graceful arcs through the air. Ron tried a sneak attack from the side but slipped and fell, instantly becoming the target of concentrated fire and getting buried in a snow pile in seconds.
Harry, on the other hand, threw fast and dead-on. No surprise—the kid was a natural at dueling and causing chaos.
Charlie's Transfiguration snow wall couldn't stop him, and Parvati and Lavender had both hidden behind Hermione's wall, busily rolling snowballs just for Harry.
"Hector, General, we're gonna lose at this rate! Where's all that chess-board strategy of yours?" Anthony shouted.
Several snowballs whizzed past his head.
"Private Anthony, cover me!!" Hector bellowed. "Even if we die, we die gloriously!"
"Give it up, Charlie!" Ron called out. "We've got Harry—you guys can't win!"
Right then Seamus tried some spell or other, but it backfired and exploded right between the two teams, kicking up a huge cloud of snow mist.
In the middle of the whiteout, Charlie's figure shot forward. "Thanks, Seamus."
A swarm of snowballs floated above his head as he waved his wand.
"The final winner is me—" he laughed.
In an instant the entire Gryffindor position was buried under his barrage.
The snowflakes drifted down slowly, leaving Charlie standing alone in the center of the battlefield.
On the Ravenclaw side, Hector said calmly, "That was my plan all along, Private Anthony. Did you learn anything?"
"General Hector, what exactly did you have to do with this victory?" Anthony shot back.
At the same time, after a brief silence on the Gryffindor side, Ron mimicked Professor McGonagall's voice and yelled, "Mr. Finnigan!!"
The mood got even more cheerful.
The snowball fight lasted nearly an hour. The snow had stopped by then, and they'd used up every bit of it in the area, exposing the grass underneath.
Back in the common room, everyone showered and changed clothes before heading together to the Room of Requirement.
They'd had their fun. Time to get back to studying.
Unfortunately, neither during the snowball fight nor while casting spells had Charlie figured out what the winter snow sand could actually do.
He had clearly run into a tough one.
"Charlie, you still practicing the Undetectable Extension Charm?"
"Of course." Charlie nodded.
"I still don't get why you're suddenly tackling such an advanced spell, or how long it'll take you to learn it."
Charlie gave a slightly uncertain estimate. "Maybe...
A month?"