It wasn't that Kelvin didn't trust his friends, he fully trusted them not to find embarrassing what he found embarrassing.  Which was why after the underwear incident in charms the day before, he'd been in the common room during his free time working on the box in front of him.  Thankfully he was ahead on just about every assignment, so he'd had plenty of time to work on it.

He held his wand against the box, copying the last rune from the book sitting next to it on the table.  If this worked he'd do the same thing to his trunk.  It had taken him most of the night before to find the right spell.  Most of them seemed to destroy everything inside the trunk if opened by the wrong person.  And all Kelvin wanted to do was protect his underwear from being used in a prank, not reduce everything to ash. 

But he had found an enchantment that would make it unpleasant if someone other than him took something out of his trunk, and it would be quite obvious who did it.  He wasn't sure if muggles had gotten the ideas somehow from wizards, but part of the spell worked like the anti theft devices on clothes that sprayed the person tampering with it with ink.  Of course, this was an enchantment, so the only thing that would change colors was the thief, and it would be all of them, not just what could get sprayed.

He'd also added some runes that would give the person a shock if they touched anything inside the box, and eventually his trunk.  He set his wand down on the table and double checked the runes that were carved into the box.  They looked right.  And he double checked each one as he went.  So all he had to do was cast the charm to activate them.  He cleared his throat, picked up his wand and quietly said the incantation.  The runes glowed purple, the color he'd chosen for the person to turn who opened the box, and then the color faded away.

He opened the box and dumped some sweets his brother had sent him from Weasley's and shut the box.  So far so good; he opened the box again and plucked out a couple  pepper imps, and popped on in his mouth.  A small amount of smoke started leaking out his ears, but he didn't change colors, or get a shock.  Now he just needed to test it on someone else.  Which yes, Kelvin felt a bit guilty about, but at the same time there was no other way to make sure it worked other than to try it out.

He closed the box and pushed it to the middle of the table, "Anyone want some sweets." He said to the common room at large, "Patrick always sends me more of his favorites than mine."

Lenora was sitting in the common room working on a water color painting of mermaids. She loved to paint- and after reading a romance novel featuring merpeople she decided to try to depict some. Maybe she could even get the charm right this time to bring them to life. She had just finished a basic outline of the mermaid when she heard one of her housemates speaking. Sweets? Lenora's ears perked and she sat up straighter, looking to see where the question came from. Kelvin Watkins- a fifth year boy, and by all account a nice kid. So she stood up, gathered her painting materials, and joined him at his spot on the couch. She carefully placed her still wet painting on the table in front of them and set her paints beside it.

"What kind of sweets?" Nora asked. "Have you got anything in there that is sweet and fruity? I love fruity flavored sweets! They're my absolute favorite! That and chocolate of course. Oooh anything chocolate with jam in the middle? That would be absolutely divine!"

[1]

1.	((I'm sorry this is so short- my next post will be better I promise!

This was the problem.  Kelvin generally did like most of his the people in his house.  So when Lenora asked about the sweets in the box, he almost opened the box and dumped them out on the table.

But the part of him that really didn't want to see his personal belongings gone through by his friends won out.  So instead, he pushed the box over towards Nora.[1]

"Not sure about anything stuffed with jam but there are definitely some fruit flavored candies in there.  There are still some chocolate cauldrons in there though."

He gripped his wand in his hand, ready with the counter spells for the enchantments.  He didn't want the seventh year to have to go to the nurse to get de-colored.  And he wouldn't ever have used an enchantment that he couldn't counteract.  That would just have been crazy.  And he'd have been stuck with a purple arm since he'd tested the charm on himself first.

"Have at 'em."

1.	The box will work mostly as intended, the color is random and (should) only affect the skin, and the shock is just enough to keep someone from wanting to grab something from inside.

Lenora peered into the box. "Oh I love chocolate cauldrons!" she said with a bright smile. She saw one partially beneath a few other candies. The Ravenclaw girl reached in to push them aside, and gripped the chocolate cauldron- and was surprised to feel a sharp jolt. She jerked her hand back- cauldron still gripped in it- and let out a yelp. "Ow! What the hell was that?"

She dropped the cauldron in her lap, and looked down at her hand- and her eyes grew wide. Her skin... Her skin was a putrid shade of green! Lenora held out her other hand and pushed up her sleeves- it was spreading quickly up her arms. "I'm green!" she said to Kelvin, turning to look at him with absolute horror

"What on earth is going on? What is wrong with those candies?" She hadn't even opened one to eat it yet! How on earth was she turning green? Lenora looked to Kelvin. "Did you do this?" she asked- her tone was more incredulous than angry. Nora was generally pretty laid back. She was used to her skin being weird colors from paints- but this was altogether different.

"Sorry.  I—uh—was testing an enchantment."  And Kelvin was sorry.  But he was also excited.  And a bit of the excitement might have leaked into his voice.  The enchantment had worked perfectly.  Though perhaps the shock wasn't quite discouragement enough, since Lenora had still made off with the candy.

Though perhaps that was for the best.

He pointed his wand at her, "I can—uh—fix it."  With a flick and a poke of his wand he said the spell, not a particularly complicated one but not a standard one either, and the color faded...mostly.  There was still a greenish tint to the older girl's skin.

"Um... so sometimes it leaves a tint behind with certain colors on certain people.  It should fade completely in an hour," Kelvin paused, "or possibly a day."  The spell worked 99% of the time according to the book he'd gotten it out of.  He hadn't expected one out of a hundred to be the second time he used the charm.

Instead of being angry, Lenora was actually relieved when Kelvin told her that he was just testing an enchantment. Thank god that was all it was. She laughed- a jovial chuckle- and nodded enthusiastically. "That's a brilliant enchantment! I'm glad it worked for you. Well- glad since it didn't really hurt me, you know? Is that what the shock in there was for, too? Because it's not really strong enough I don't think."

Kelvin told Lenora he could fix the color of her skin. He flicked his wand and poked her- and Lenora watched as part of the green washed away. She waved away his concern. "I spend half my days elbow deep in paint, charcoal, oils, and everything else. Having some green on me isn't anything for you to worry about. As long as it goes away soon I'm not worried. And if it doesn't then I can always find someone else to help reverse the enchantment- or do it myself, I guess."

The Ravenclaw held up the chocolate cauldron that had fallen into her lap. "Is this safe to eat, though? Because I'm pretty sure using me as your guinea pig has earned me one chocolate cauldron at the very least- if not more if you've got any left."

"So how did you do that anyway? I'd love to figure out something like that for the chest I keep my art supplies in. People are always wanting to borrow my stuff or look at my stuff and I don't like people to mess. I mean, I don't mind showing people what I'm working on, but I've been working on experimental paints and stuff and I don't want the wrong people to get hold of them. Not worried about our house, really, but if I take it out with me where ever I'm painting people get so nosy."

Kelvin sighed with relief when Lenora wasn't angry.  And that she hadn't hexed him.  And that she wasn't too upset about the lingering green all over her.

"The color is for identifying who got into the box, and shock was there to hopefully make the thief drop whatever they had in their hand.  I didn't want to hurt anyone though so...." So he had deliberately made sure the shock wouldn't hurt just...shock.  "I guess I could make it a bit stronger next time."

When she asked about the chocolate cauldron, he nodded a little too enthusiastically.  Adding a sheepish "thanks," to her being his guinea pig.  Even if she hadn't volunteered.

"Yes.  The enchantment is just when its in the box...or more precisely being removed from the box from someone who isn't the owner."  Well he hadn't really tested the last part yet.  He'd dumped the candy into the box but he hadn't tried to take anything out yet.

Kelvin pulled the box over to him and doing his best to be confident in his work, reached in and pulled out two more cauldrons.  And without trying to be obvious about checking that his skin was still skin colored, he handed the sweets over to the seventh year.

"Its just several enchantments and then ruins to set them.  The goal is to put it on my trunk.  There was an incident in Charms, and—well... I'd rather my belongings don't end up being used next time."

"That's a really brilliant way to guard your stuff. I bet you could do it for other people and they would pay you for it. Lots of people can't do those kinds of enchantments- and a lot of people don't know anything about runes. It would be a great way to earn a little extra money. Once you get it perfected I'd pay you to do it for my art chest. And for my trunk at the foot of the bed. Girls like to dig in other people's stuff. They're nosy and don't ever ask for stuff- they always ask later or not at all."

Lenora unwrapped the chocolate cauldron and took a bite out of it. Good Godric she loved chocolate and it was damned delicious. "I want a stronger shock, though. And I'd suggest you do it too if you don't want another incident like what happened." Nora had heard- but she wasn't going to directly address, there was absolutely no reason to embarrass him any further. She was nicer than that.

"Does the enchantment change colors or will it always be green? I think it would be fun if instead of a solid color it made someone polka dotted or checkered or plaid. But that would probably be a lot more complicated than it needs to be. But it would be hilarious for sure."

She finished the last of the cauldron cake and unwrapped another one. "I bet I know a few other people who would like to have their stuff guarded up, too. So if you decide you want to try to make some money I can ask around for you. You know I bet some of the professors could find it useful, too, to guard some of their stuff."

"Does it stop working after someone trips it once? Do you have to reinforce it? Or will it just last forever or like a certain amount of time?" Nora asked. She was genuinely interested in the way he'd done this. Lenora was a Ravenclaw after all- she liked to learn things.

"The color is random," Kelvin answered, trying not to enjoy the praise too much, especially while Lenora was still not her natural color, "and I wasn't sure about the shock, I didn't want to hurt anyone.  But you're right, you were supposed to drop the candy- back in the box that is."  He smiled then, she had technically beaten at least part of the enchantment.

"I don't know about selling it yet.  I still have to practice.  I'd like it to be a set color.  Easier to identify the person and all, but I can make you one for sure."  He hadn't really thought about making money with it, but there were people who did that kind of thing.  Custom enchantments and such. 

Though he wasn't sure if they made the objects the enchantments were put on.  He wasn't a woodworker or anything, and didn't really see himself becoming one.  He was proficient enough with his wand to carve what was needed, but that was it.

An enchanter though.  Surely there was a better name for it though.  Because enchanter sounded like something Connor would want to be called.

"It should last essentially forever.  Or at least as long as the box itself isn't damaged.  But I'm not really sure.  Depends on if I got everything exactly right."