Fraud at Snowfields Page 12

  But today they would be told how to do it. And Will was not the only one who was so excited. All around him his classmates buzzed; Freddy was easily the worst of them by far. Will looked over to Freddy when he heard his excited babbling and saw he was so excited his red face actually seemed to be glowing. He looked like a bonfire, and a rather nervous one at that. Will grinned. He reached into his bag, took out his wand, and placed it carefully on his desk in front of him. The door opened, and Miss Dustfall walked gracefully into the classroom. The noise died down.

  ‘Good morning.’ She smiled at them. ‘I know you are all excited about this. Today will be your introductory lesson in the use of your personal wands.’

  Will saw excited smiles all around, and smiled broadly himself.

  ‘I am sure none of you have tried your wand yet.’ Miss Dustfall raised her eyebrows and looked around the class. As soon as her gaze fell on one of them, they looked away rather embarrassed. Will was rather surprised to see that even Sabrina looked away.

  The stern expression melted away from Miss Dustfall’s face, and she smiled. ‘No need to worry. I am positive you have all tried and...nothing happened. Nothing at all, no brilliant sparks shooting out of the wands, no princes or treasure chests appearing? No? Of course I know all this. Hard as it may be to believe, even I was young once, and I was a student at this school. And right after I received my wand, I immediately tried doing magic, feeling like a witch. But of course nothing happened. I was so disappointed.’

  They all laughed. Everybody was listening intently to what Miss Dustfall was saying.

  She continued: ‘First of all you have to remember why you have been given wands. We do not intend to turn you into wizards and witches who run free in the world to spell all and everything. You are going to work for the White Christmas Organisation. You are going to help in the production and distribution of presents. That is where you are supposed to use your wands, where you are to do magic. I am sure a few of you will even have tried some magic that would be related to these uses, but still nothing happened. There is a simple reason for this: the wands have to be charged before they can be used. And how do you charge them? Any ideas?’

  She looked around the classroom, and Will was surprised that even Sabrina could not offer an answer.

  ‘With Bluerin, of course,’ Miss Dustfall provided the answer herself. ‘The wands need to be charged with Bluerin to work. But this is not all. Apart from that you will have to learn spells and the corresponding gestures with the wands to do any magic.’ She smiled a bit apologetically. ‘I am sorry, but there is a lot of learning and hard work waiting for you before you can wield magic proficiently.’ There were a few groans throughout the class, the loudest coming, of course, from Freddy.

  ‘I said the wands have to be charged with Bluerin to work, so how is that done? We have got special containers here in Snowfields that hold Bluerin, at which you can charge your wands. Yes, Fredorgius, you have a question?’ she said to Freddy, who was waving his hand enthusiastically in the air.

  ‘Yes, Miss. Where are these containers?’ he asked.

  Miss Dustfall laughed. ‘Now don’t get your hopes up too high! Although the containers are spread throughout Snowfields, they are well-guarded to prevent any theft or misuse. There’s no way you will just walk out of here at the end of the lesson, find the nearest container, fill up your wand with Bluerin, and start waving it around.’

  There were quite a few disappointed faces throughout the class, and Will even heard a quiet, disappointed ‘oh’ from Freddy. He had to admit he was also quite disappointed as he learned how complicated this was going to be. This was not at all the easy, waving-your-wand-around-and-conjuring-up-wonder-after-wonder he had imagined when he was told he would get a wand to do magic. This sounded like a complicated, technical procedure they would only be able to apply under close supervision. That did not sound very promising. Almost absently, Will noticed that Richard, for one, looked rather annoyed by this and leaned over to Michelle, whispering a comment to her. Michelle seemed to be similarly annoyed, and responded with a grim nod.

  Then Miss Dustfall went on: ‘Well then, let’s get right into it. Please take out your wands and lay them on the tables right in front of you.’

  There was a rush and a clutter all around Will, and then everybody had their wands lying in front of them.

  ‘I want you to pick up your wands and hold them in your right hands—if you are left-handed then please use your left hand. Ready? Now then, please pay close attention to what I am going to show you. We will start with the first basic movements. Every complicated spell is made up of basic movements arranged in complicated patterns. Watch!’

  She picked up her wand, which looked rather old and used now that they compared it to their shiny new ones, from the desk beside her. She held it up for them all to see and lowered it again. Then she moved the wand round in a perfect circle in front of her.

  ‘Now, that did not look too complicated, did it?’ She received a few low calls of ‘no’ from the class.

  ‘I am sure you all believe I just waved around the wand in a simple circle.’

  Some of the class, including Will, were nodding.

  ‘But,’ Miss Dustfall continued, ‘what you have seen is far from easy or simple. Let me explain. First of all the circle has to be perfectly round. Secondly it has to have depth, meaning it is formed a bit like a cone, a wider circle at the far end of the wand and a smaller circle at the near end. And finally it has to be a complete circle, with the starting and ending points in the same place. When you do not draw it far enough, you will not get a complete circle. When you draw it too far, you overreach and already begin with the next element.

  ‘Now, why all this detail? Why make it so complicated? It might not seem to matter much when, for example, you overreach when drawing the circle. But imagine you are performing a complicated spell where the circle is followed by another element. Then, by overreaching, you would already start an element you do not need, and when you then start on the correct element the circle will not be connected in the correct way, and the spell will not work. Do you understand?’

  She looked around the classroom, mainly into questioning faces. ‘Well, I admit that sounded rather complicated. In short: just learn it correctly right from the beginning, then you will not have problems later on. And, just to motivate you even more, always remember that most of you will already need these skills next Christmas, when your task will be to help with the delivery of the presents.’

  This sounded great to Will, and he vowed to himself that he would be really diligent in his studies for this subject.

  ‘Now then,’ Miss Dustfall continued, ‘let’s get down to work. I will demonstrate it once more and then you will try it. Do not worry if you make mistakes or do not get it right in the beginning, for your wands are not loaded with Bluerin yet, so no harm will be done. Only if you wave your wands around too wildly you might rap somebody over the head or stab each other in the eyes.’

  She lifted her wand again so they could all see it, and slowly drew a perfect circle in the air in front of her, wide on the far end and tighter on the near end, forming a perfect cone.

  ‘Now it is your turn,’ she said. ‘First we will do it together. Hold your wands in front of you and make sure there is enough room on your right and left sides so you do not interfere with your neighbours. Everybody ready? On the count of three: one…two…three!’

  Will held his wand in front of him, and as Miss Dustfall said ‘three’, he tried to imitate the perfect circle she had drawn in the air. And then he had to admit she was right—it looked and sounded quite easy, but was actually quite hard when he tried it. He realised his attempt was rather like some sort of ellipsoid than a smooth, round circle, and the starting and ending points did not meet at all.

  Miss Dustfall looked around the class at the students’ rather feeble tries. ‘I think you now see it is not so easy at all, and a lot of practising and training is r
equired before you can achieve anything with your wands. But do not worry, I will help and train you. It is really a bit like dancing: first you have to know the moves and then it is practise, practise, practise. Some of you have a talent for it and will learn easier and faster, and some have not. But at the end of this term, every one of you will at least be able to perform the basic spells. And there are some tricks to make it easier. I will show you the first one right now: Yellowrin! Anyone heard of it before?’

  Nobody in the class raised their hand, and a few, including Will, shook their heads silently.

  ‘It is a very useful substance. We can use it to charge the wands, just like with Bluerin, and when you wave the wand Yellowrin will leave a trace in the air so you can follow the path of your wand and see the figure you have created. Then we can analyse the pathway and see what is good and what can be improved. The advantage of Yellowrin is it just marks the pathway and does nothing else—no magic will be done and nothing can go wrong.’

  She went over to the side of the classroom, where something covered by a grey cloth stood against the wall. Will had noticed it right away when he had entered the classroom, but had not thought much about it. Miss Dustfall removed the cover, and Will could see a small box made out of glass with a bright-yellow substance inside. On the front of the box and pointing towards the desks was some sort of device that looked a bit like a round window.

  Miss Dustfall pointed at the box. ‘This is the kind of box I told you about earlier in the lesson, in which Bluerin can be stored to charge wands. But instead of Bluerin, Yellowrin is stored in here. You can charge your wands with it, and we can continue practising, but then we can track the exact pathways of your wands. Charging your wands is really quite simple: all you have got to do is insert your wands tip first into the charging device on the front of the box and wait a moment. The wands will be charged automatically. You do not have to worry about anything. There is nothing that can go wrong. The device is designed with valves so it cannot leak, and you cannot overcharge your wands. The only thing you have to be careful of is that you do not remove your wands too quickly. Then they will not be charged fully. Watch closely!’

  And she took her wand and demonstrated the process.

  ‘When you look closely at the thicker end of your wand, where you are holding it, you will see something that looks like a small, dark window.

  ‘On your wands this area will be dark,’ Miss Dustfall went on to explain. ‘When you look here at my wand, you will see that this area is bright yellow.’ She pointed at her own wand.

  ‘That is an indicator that shows the level of charge in your wand. As my wand is currently fully charged with Yellowrin, the indicator is yellow. When the wand is charged with Bluerin, then it will turn blue. Now I will show you the use of Yellowrin. Please watch closely.’

  She lifted her wand, and again she slowly drew the circle figure that was really more like a cone. Only this time, when she started to move her wand through the air, Yellowrin came out of the tip, leaving a small trail of yellow that marked the pathway of the wand. When she finished the circle, a fine, yellow, perfectly round circle glittered brightly in front of her. She lowered her wand.

  ‘You see? It will be visible for a minute our two, then it will fade away. Now, I want you all to try the circle figure again, but this time with Yellowrin. So please charge your wands. Orderly and row by row, please.’

  She stood next to the Yellowrin tank and helped them charge their wands. Will waited for his turn and then followed Annabel eagerly to the tank. There he carefully put his wand tip-first into the device on the front. He could see the indicator on his wand turn yellow as it quickly filled up. Then the whole oblong of the indicator window was completely yellow, and after a nod from Miss Dustfall he pulled out his wand and returned to his seat. After everyone had finished charging their wands, Miss Dustfall went back to the front of the classroom and held up hers again.

  ‘Now we will repeat the circle, but this time your wand will leave a trace of Yellowrin in the air, so you will be able to see what you are doing and we can then look for improvements. On three: one…two…three.’

  Will again draw a circle in the air and watched in amazement as a trace of Yellowrin appeared. After he had finished the circle he could not resist the urge to touch the Yellowrin hanging right in front of him. His finger passed right through the fine yellow line without any resistance. He could not feel a thing as he moved his finger several times back and forth through it. The line was not even smeared, but just glittered undisturbed in the air.

  Then he looked at the circle itself and had to admit it was far from perfect: it was rather wobbly, it was not round at all, and at one point there was even a right dogleg in it. It bore no comparison to Miss Dustfall’s example. Will looked around the classroom at the circles his classmates had drawn. Then he felt better—much better—for he saw lots of misshapen figures. Only Sabrina had, of course, done exceedingly well, and a perfectly round yellow circle was hanging in the air in front of her.

  Miss Dustfall wandered through the rows, looking critically at the odd circles shimmering in front of the students. Here and there she merely nodded, but more often she pointed out mistakes. As she reached Sabrina she nodded, smiled at her, and said, ‘Well done! That is what it should look like. Good.’

  Then she looked at Will’s result, while he stood sheepishly behind it. Of course she pointed out the prominent dogleg, but Will did not get the impression that he had failed totally. And, when he looked around the classroom again, he had to admit his result seemed to be one of the better ones. By then the Yellowrin was beginning to fade away, and Miss Dustfall was back beside her desk in front of the class.

  ‘I quite like what I have seen so far. You did well for the first try. As you can see, the Yellowrin will fade away quickly. It will disappear completely and leave no residue. Let us try once more.’

  And they drew another set of yellow circles in the air.

  ‘You can judge your performances yourselves: just see if the circle is evenly round, and that the starting and ending points match, without any gap in between.’ Miss Dustfall glanced at the clock on the wall of the classroom. ‘As homework you can practise the circle on your own. When you run out of Yellowrin, try drawing the circle without it, for that is the goal. Then recharge the wand with Yellowrin and check again to see how much progress you have made and how much of a feeling you have developed for drawing the circle. You can recharge your wands as often as you like—there is a tank in the entrance hall that is always full. That is all for now. I will see you tomorrow.’

  Right on cue the clock marked the end of the lesson. Will and the others reluctantly put away their wands, stood up, and left the classroom.

  After that Will sat through another boring hour of Letters to Father Christmas, in which he mostly thought about the thrilling first experience with his Yellowrin-charged wand. He decided to practise in the afternoon, for this was something really exciting and something he definitely would not learn at an ordinary school. He could not help feeling elated again. He would become a real wizard, conjuring up real magic—something he had only read about in fairy tales or fantasy books.

  After he had survived Mr Parchmentinus’ lecture, Will went to the Ferum for lunch. He got himself some meat, gravy, potatoes, and vegetables and carried his tray over to his customary table, which was deserted so far. But he was soon joined by Sabrina and Wendy.

  Sabrina put down her tray next to Will’s. ‘That was a great lesson, wasn’t it?’

  Will looked at her most seriously and replied, ripping off quite a good imitation of Mr Parchmentinus’ dry and wheezy droning, ‘Yhes, hindeed, my good ghirl, Lehtters to Fahther Christmas was absolutely fhas-cih-nah-tin.’

  Sabrina made a face and punched him in the ribs—hard.

  ‘Ouch!’

  ‘You deserved that, you git!’ she told him. ‘You know very well I meant Miss Dustfall’s lesson.’

  Wendy was laughing
hard.

  ‘Oh, did you?’ said Will innocently. Then, as he saw that Sabrina was striking out again, added quickly, ‘Okay, okay. Yes, of course, it was really great. After all that’s what we came here for, to learn about such things as magic and spells, and not to have some manual read to us.’

  They started to eat. Sabrina had the same as Will. After a few bites he looked at Wendy’s plate. She was rather listlessly poking her fork into the homogeneously brown mass on it.

  ‘Just what are you eating there?’ he asked her.

  She looked up unhappily. ‘I thought I’d give the vegetarian menu a try. Supposedly it’s carrots and tofu, but nobody told me it was mash like this.’

  ‘It looks really revolting,’ Sabrina said.

  Wendy nodded sadly. ‘And it doesn’t taste any better.’

  She took a few more hesitant bites, then she suddenly put down her fork.

  ‘Why don’t you get something else?’ asked Will.

  ‘No, that’s it for me. I’m not hungry anymore. I’ll go over and see what’s for dessert.’ She returned shortly after with a huge bowl of chocolate pudding, looking far happier than before.

  Will looked at Sabrina meaningfully, ‘Ah, yes, not hungry anymore.’

  She nodded and said, ‘No, of course not! For girls chocolate pudding has nothing to do with hunger. It’s one of the bare basics of survival. Just like lip gloss.’

  Wendy smiled sheepishly. Will looked back and forth between them both, and finally shook his head.

  ‘Girls...’ he muttered under his breath.

  Sabrina and Wendy laughed, and Wendy attacked her pudding much more vigorously than she had her lunch. Will thought again about his wand and the Yellowrin.