A Perfect Love

Chapter 5: The Incident in Charms Class

"Quiet down, class. Quiet down," Professor Flitwick said. "Today we will be learning the more complex Freezing Charm, which effects are permanent unless you learn the extremely difficult stream of Defrosting Charms. Now the incantation for this is "Congelo." Now watch me, class."

He made a huge circle in the air with his wand and a small jab and said, "Congelo." The box he waved his wand at instantly was covered in ice. A student who was near the box reached out and touched it, and he immediately drew his hand back and produced hot water from his wand and put it on his hand.

"So you see, the box is now completely frozen. Now, I shall place a series of boxes on your desk." He waved his wand and boxes appeared in each one of them. "You shall freeze them with the charm Congelo. Now go."

They immediately went at it. It was a very difficult charm. Even Hermione couldn't get it for a while. Ron was getting frustrated, so he drew out the spell. "COOONNNGELLLLOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!"

An extremely long blue line of light shot out of his wand ran across the room and hit Hermione, who was going to Professor Flitwick to ask him something, directly in the back. She gave a hideous shudder, and immediately froze. She keeled over and landed on her back on the floor.

"HERMIONE!!!" Ron yelled.

"Mr. Weasley!" Professor Flitwick called angrily. "How dare you?"

"I didn't mean for this to happen. I just tried to freeze my box, and I missed. I swear."

"That may be so, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to talk to the Headmaster about this."

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"Mr. Weasley, why did you do this?" Dumbledore asked.

"Professor Dumbledore, please. I didn't mean to do this. In fact, I would do anything to learn those Defrosting Charms."

"Mr. Weasley," Dumbledore said, "even the most learned wizards have extreme trouble with those charms. How do you think you could do it? I wish I could do it for you, but only the caster of the original spell can undo it."

"Please, Professor Dumbledore, I ... I love Hermione. I would do absolutely anything to bring her back."

"All right, Mr. Weasley. I will set up a private tutoring session with Professor Flitwick. He is actually one of the few wizards that actually knows those spells. Now go back to the common room."

But Ron didn't go back to the common room. He went to the hospital wing to see Hermione.

"Don't worry, Hermione. I'm going to get you out of there."

"It's no use, Mr. Weasley," Madam Pomfrey said. She had a cup of 500 degree water in her hand. "Look." She poured it over Hermione, and not even a puff of steam came up. Ron touched her and a freezing cold sensation went through his hand. He took the scalding hot water, stuck his hand in it and said, "Ah."

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"Now, Mr. Weasley. You must pay attention. Now there are ten words to this spell, and very precise wand movements. Now the words are "Econtra congelo secus commoror glacialis tanquam hactenus utique diutius mulier."

Ron's jaw dropped. "Elantra congelo sexy comrade glacier tancam ...

"No, no. Econtra congelo secus commoror glacialis tanquam hactenus utique diutius mulier."

"Econtra congelo secus commoror glacialis tanquam hactenus utique diutius mulier," Ron said.

"That's exactly right! But that's the easy part, I'm afraid."

"The easy part?" he said indignantly.

"Yes. Each word has its own wand movement. You might want to write this down." Ron got out a quill and a roll of parchment."

"Now for econtra... you flick the wand downwards, jab it upwards and swish it forward. Like so." He demonstrated what he had just described.

"Flick down, jab up, swish front."

"Now for congelo. The exact same as in class. A circular motion with a jab forward."

"Move in circle, jab front."

"Now, Mr. Weasley. For secus. The movement is a slight, very, very slight back and forth sweeping motion. You do this three times, then move in a horizontal direction and say the word."

"Move back and forth three times. Move sideways, and say word."

"Now. Commoror. You must jab left and right, flick left and right, and swish up and down."

"Jab left, right, flick same, swish vert."

"Now. Glacialis. You wave your wand slightly to the right, jab it at a 45 degree angle downwards and to the right.

"Wave right, jab 45 angle down right."

"Well," Professor Flitwick said, "that's where we'll conclude tonight's lesson."

"What?!" Ron cried. "But we've only got half of the words!"

"Mr. Weasley, this is one of the most complex spells in the entire world! You not only have to say the words and move your wand correctly, but you have do it extremely fast! Let me demonstrate. Congelo." He jabbed his wand at the desk Ron was sitting in, Ron immediately jumped up. Flitwick began to move his wand faster than Ron had ever seen.

"Econtracongelosecuscommororglacialistanquamhactenusutiquediutiusmulier," he said, and a tiny spark of red slowly emerged from his wand and sluggishly went to the desk. The ice disappeared.

"Oh, my ..."

"Now, I would suggest that you go back to the common room, and practice the wand movements."

"Yes, Professor."

He left and practiced the wand movement, but the only thing that happened was that when he said the word "Congelo" the blue line shot out of his wand and out the window and went sailing off into the night.

"I am in serious trouble."

The next day he went to Hermione in the hospital wing to talk to her.

"Don't worry, Hermione. I'm learning the spell to get you out of there. Professor Flitwick is teaching it to me. It won't be long before I can do it." Then, he had an idea. He brought his head over hers, and kissed her. His lips went numb instantly, but he kept at it. Finally, he brought himself off. Nothing happened. "Well, it worked in Frozen Beauty."

"That's Sleeping Beauty, Mr. Weasley," said Madam Pomfrey. "And I think you had better leave now. She needs her experimental treatment, although I doubt it's going to work."

"Yes, Madam Pomfrey," he said, and walked out the door.