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Taako was, more than anything else, focused. He kept his breathing even, and his eyes on the prize. The prize, of course, being a small pocket notebook. A hush had fallen over the room, and it’s inhabitants waited with bated breath.
With a flourish, he lifted his hands into the air, making exaggerated gestures that should have looked ridiculous, but instead seemed oddly graceful.With a few soft, spoken words, he brought his hands back to his body, holding them together for a brief moment as he shut his eyes.
Or, so it seemed. In reality he was peeking out from under his eyelashes, as he made a dexterity check, getting a fairly high score, distracting his audience by lifting one hand into the air, speaking loudly, as he reached the other into a hidden pocket, pulling out a bit of iron dust, and launched it at the notebook.
All at once, in a poof of smoke, the pocket notebook became the size of a regular one. “Abra-ka-BAM, kiddos! And just like that, you’ve got more writing space! The Enlarge spell can work wonders, huh?”
“Uh, sir?”
“What’s up Ango?”
“How long does this spell last? I need my notebook to fit in my pocket, sir. It’s where I write down important, on the go details!” Angus said, coming to stand beside him while his classmates cheered. Ren gestured for them to all settle down after a moment, before describing the process in which Taako had casted the spell.
“Ease up, boychik, it lasts like, a minute. You can cast it on creatures, too. Maybe you should look into that, huh?” He teased the short boy, who was looking at the notebook, then the watch on his wrist. “Well, that’s good, then!”
“Hey, check this out, Ango!” Taako said cheerfully, before picking his notebook up, and flipping open to the back of the book. “Sir, maybe you should be careful with-” Angus started, before watching Taako rip out a page. “Oh. Well, okay, I guess you can do that?” He said lamely, before perking up as he watched the page flutter and shrink back to its original size. “Oh, wow, sir! So if it leaves the subject of the spell, it reverses the effect? That would mean if you casted it on a person to enlarge them, and they dropped, say, a shield, then the shield would shrink! And if the person were-”
“Reduced, instead of enlarged-” Takko supplied, cutting him off as he looked over the tiny page.
“That would mean their shield would go back to its bigger, normal form! This sure does seem like it could come in handy, sir! Imagine if I had to get into someplace a bit smaller than me, I could just cast the spell, and slip right through!”
‘Ease up on that train of thought, pumpkin. You’re not gonna be casting it on other living things for a while yet, let alone on yourself. Actually, part of the reason I picked an inanimate object to demonstrate with, was because I didn’t want any of you getting the dumb idea to try it on eachother. This is a level 2 spell, and above your paygrade.”
“But, sir, you already know I can cast level 2 spells! Like when I casted Silence, and saved you form the alarm tripping in-”
“Shhhh, Ango. I didn’t teach you that spell, I’m working with you from the ground up, and if I say that I don’t think you should try casting something, then as your mentor, you are obligated to listen to everything I tell you.”
“I don’t think that’s how being a mentor works, but, okay. I guess you’ve got a point, there?”
The notebook shrunk into Taako’s palm, where he bent over and tucked it inside the boy’s vest pocket. “There you go. Now, class is ending in like, five minutes, right? Go and have a class discussion. Like the class is already doing. But hey, I’m sure you can get notes, right Ango? Now that you’ve got your teeny tiny notebook back, huh?”
“Right, bye, Sir! Thanks for the magic lesson!” Angus said, before hurrying back over to his classmates, and sitting down.
While the class went back to talking amongst themselves, Ren hung back to stand by Taako. “I really liked the trick you did, with the iron dust coming from ‘nowhere’. The kids loved it. I don’t think Angus was fooled, though.”
He shrugged, watching them begin to pack up while he admired the lustrous finish on his nails, clicking his tongue with a frown when he noticed some dust got beneath them. “Yeah, not surprising. Boychik’s a detective, go figure he’d detect, huh?” He said, sounding unimpressed. Ren gave him a knowing smile.”Either way, I think today’s lesson went over really well.”
“No dip. Just do me a favor, okay?”
“What is it?” Ren said, curious.
Taako turned to her, and for a moment his face was serious. “Do NOT let them cast any transmutation spells before I give the go ahead. Don’t let them think, for even one second, that it’s okay. Angus is the only one here that could actually manage it. And if he did, he’d get it in his head that he could try it on people to test the limits of his powers, and we’d end up with a kid the size of a rat for the rest of the school year. Or their life. Spells go wrong, Ren. But!” He said with a smile, and just like that his serious expression was a distant memory, because how could a face so chill ever be serious? “I’m sure you’ve got it covered.”
Ren nodded, being just as serious, before smiling back at him brightly. “Thank you for trusting me, Taako.”
He had made it over to the window, and glanced out it at the clouds. “Eh. Trust is a strong word. I just know that if you don’t do it, and An-” He closed his eyes for a brief second, Ren could see in his reflection, before he opened them almost instantly like nothing had changed. “And someone gets hurt…” He walked to the door, Ren following along. He took his umbrella, this one non-magical, save for a color changing enchantment to match his outfit, before stepping out onto the steps. He turned, and gave her a slow smile.
“There’ll be Hell to pay.”
With that, his cape billowed out behind him with his sharp turn, and after popping the umbrella open, it began to pour, thunder rolling in the distance. As he walked down the path for a few minutes, he heard behind him the bell ring to end class.