Chapter 8 - First Day of Classes - Part 1 - v1

Stats as of last chapter:

Aubrey Hawthorne

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Level 7

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Age - 11

Race - Human

Sex - Female

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Str - 15

Agi - 16

Dex - 16

Con - 14

Int - 29

Wis - 27

Luc - 18 (21)

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Stat Points - 30

Chapter 8 - First Day of Classes - Part 1

The next morning, I am woken by my alarm, as planned, at six. I haven’t had as much sleep as normal, but I am so excited it’s enough.

I usually get up at seven everyday anyway, so six isn’t too early. I am an early bird, and I always have been. Breakfast doesn’t start for half an hour, so I’ll begin learning the rules on the billboard and finish off the last chapter of the assigned History book. After lessons, I’ll write to my family.

For now, I go to the First Year bathroom and get a very quick shower, then dress in mine and Sarah’s room, get my bag and go up to the Common Room all before I notice anyone else awake.

I didn’t have time to read the last bit of my History book in the end, but I did spend a good bit of time in the Common Room figuring out the exact rules on how House Points work, what can give or take House Points, and what merits more severe punitive measures. In short, anything can give or take Points if it’s a benefit or detriment to someone’s potential learning. So, theoretically, someone could be deducted Points for breathing too loudly, though it really needs to be heavy to count, per the rules.

So no running or intense workouts for fifteen minutes before classes. Got it.

In seriousness, I would just need to do my heaviest morning workouts on whichever day is the least busy for me and on weekends. I’ll have to see if there are other physical sports that aren’t Quidditch here. I love running and swimming, and the school seems to have the facilities for it. I can hope.

Finally, Quinton comes up out of the dorms a few minutes before breakfast is to be served, so I follow him out, making sure not to forget my bookbag. I hadn’t wanted to go to breakfast alone and none of my Year has come up yet! He smiles at me as he goes to pass and I fall in beside him.

“Are you following me to the Great Hall?”

I nod as we exit the statue covered exit. “Yes. Though I’d have followed anyone. I think I remember the way, but I’d rather have a guide in real light.”

He chuckles and yawns. “Smart. It’s a shame I can’t award Points for good sense,” he tells me.

We are silent as he leads me through a vastly faster route than we took last night. We go through what I am sure is a classroom and come out next to the Grand Staircase, cutting the journey in half and skipping three staircases, one of which being a moving staircase.

“Why did we go the long way last night?” I finally ask.

He lets out a gwaff. “It’s a Ravenclaw tradition that us Prefects and Ravenclaw Head Boys and Girls, when there are any, teach the younger years how to do things but leave out the easier ways of doing it. We always make sure you know how to get from the Great Hall to the Tower in a simple way, for instance, never some convoluted route that’ll leave you confused or something. We don’t do things to make your life harder. But we leave out some of the smarter ways so you have to work for it. Some of you make sure to follow us older students and learn the better ways quickly. And others choose to spend their mornings sleeping in and have to rush down the long way. You’ll all get it in time,” he grins, sliding into the table across from Reese. I hadn’t seen her leave - had she left while I was reading the rules? Or did she have a faster path than we’d taken?

Shoving the thoughts aside, I sit in the space next to him. “Ah, I understand,” I say. I am going to have to keep a really close eye on the older students. “Is it illegal to ask which direction is west, or will you just send me to a compass?” He shakes his head, pointing in the direction of where the Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors had left last night. Some of them are entering the Hall now, coming from that same direction. I smile. “Thank you! I read that is the oldest part of the castle, so I figured anything interesting will be over there.”

He nods. “Well, happy hunting. I hope you plan to eat?”

Right as he finishes his sentence, a plate in front of us, which had been empty, fills with food. “You timed that, didn’t you,” I accuse.

He shrugs, an amused smile slipping out. “Lucky timing.” He grabs a few sausage links and a stack of chocolate pancakes. I follow his lead, taking blueberry instead.

Eating quickly, I get ready to go, but before I can Professor Flitwick comes down from the Head Table and hands me my schedule. I’m grateful I stayed long enough to get it.

First classes are today, and my first class is Magical Theory. According to the timetable, it rotates professors weekly between Babbling and Sinestra, and Flitwick and McGonagall. It’s a mandatory class.

The timetable is simple enough. On Mondays and Wednesdays I have the same schedule, and on Tuesday and Thursdays I have another schedule different to the last. Mondays and Wednesdays have a first period in Magic Theory with the Hufflepuffs, and then a double period of Charms with Gryffindor. Then there’s an hour for lunch, followed by double Transfiguration with Slytherin, which is followed by double Defence Against the Dark Arts with Hufflepuff again. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I have a first period of Flying with the Gryffindors, followed by a double period of Herbology with the Hufflepuffs. After that is lunch, and then a double period of History and a double of Potions with the Slytherins.

On Fridays, we have a full day of single periods for purely theory. I won’t bother trying to remember that just yet, I’ll begin to memorise the timetable later. I am at least happy to see that although we aren’t scheduled breaks, we do have a full fifteen minutes to get from classroom to classroom. We have a full half an hour after our last classes at five thirty to get to dinner at six, so I presume I’m meant to drop off my bag first.

Oh, and I’ll have to be at the Astronomy Tower from a quarter to midnight on Wednesdays until one thirty in the morning! I am going to struggle with that.

I sigh aloud when I see we also have Ravenclaw House Homework scheduled for Saturday mornings. Not that I don’t like the intention, but I prefer to not have to do work as and when I am told. Sometimes I just want to do work in bed, or at my own desk.

On the back, there are basic directions written in neat print to get to the classrooms from the Great Hall. I think for a moment about what to do and ultimately decide there isn’t enough time to go to the west side of the castle now. In the meantime, I will explore the area around the Great Hall!

.*****.

Even with my wandering, I’m the second person to sit in our first Magical Theory class. It’s a classroom at the top of the Grand Staircase, and according to the writing on the back of my schedule, the library isn’t far away.

Professor Babbling and Professor Sinestra are my first ever professors to teach me. I take my seat at the front on the side Professor Babbling is standing, getting a big smile from her. Her name moves with her when she moves around. It makes my heart flutter so I give her a big smile back.

“Welcome!” Professor Babbling greets us as the clock hit's eight. I’ve been here ten minutes watching the room steadily fill up. “Welcome to your first ever class at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry! This class, as I’m sure you’ve noticed, is Magical Theory, but for our first two weeks it would be more accurate to call it ‘How Hogwarts Operates Class’. Well, let me begin with some of the basics and not leave you waiting. You have likely seen a few professors and wonder how there can be just fourteen of us sitting at the Head Table when there are over a thousand of you to teach.

“The thing is, we have about forty professors, three for every subject. Generally, one teaches Sixth and Seventh Years exclusively. One handles half of the First through Fifth Years and the other handles the rest of you. The only professor and subject this is untrue for is Professor Snape, who teaches all Slytherin Potions classes and all Sixth and Seventh Year Potions. The other professor for Potions is Professor Michaels. Since all subjects combine two Houses at a time to get taught in each class, some of you will get taught by one teacher and not the other. I believe your schedules tell you who your classes are paired with,” she says.

I raise my hand at the same moment as a few others as she pauses, but she shakes her head. “Questions at the end.” Our hands go down.

“What is important to know is that we, the teachers who sit at the Head Table, are the Heads of our Departments, arguably best at the subject in the school apart from Professor Dumbledore. We sit in the Great Hall and the other teachers eat in one of the staff rooms. I tell you this as some students get rather confused when they get to their classrooms for the first time and are greeted by professors they’ve never seen before!”

What came next was a wonderful forty-five minutes of the how, why and so forth of details about how our schooling will work, how to navigate the stairs, and by then I’m itching to ask my question. It’s a relief when she finished a sentence with, “Any questions on this?”

My hand shoots up. She calls on me.

“There are fourteen people at the Head Table and not fourteen subjects at Hogwarts - what about the other Department Heads, Professors?” I ask.

She smiles broadly at me. “Excellent question. Five points for Ravenclaw!” She says, and I smile back at her with hopefully just enough innocence to not look like a child with a crush. She continues. “As you should all know, there are twenty-four subjects taught at Hogwarts, but traditionally, there were only fourteen. As per tradition, the Head Table has never changed. And to be clear, there are only seventeen departments. Seven subjects are taught by a single member of staff, or rather, only one member of staff has the expertise to teach one of those particular seventeen subjects. For instance, the Headmaster teaches a special Alchemy class. Often only a few special subjects are held a year as they are very difficult to get into and are generally small classes. If any of you get into one of those special classes, you’ll be doing very well for yourselves!”

This answer is satisfactory to me, not that I think it’s necessarily fair on the other professors to not get to eat in the Great Hall. Although, perhaps they enjoy meals away from the students.

Seeing my question answered, a few others crop up. Mostly on how navigation of specific areas of the castle works - some of which apparently don’t exist and must have been made up by the older siblings of my peers - and if there are any viable maps. The answer to that is that it’s a maze and ever changing. As a result, a map would be incredibly difficult to make, if not impossible. I have to bite my tongue to not argue with the Professors’ answer, as obviously Rowena Ravenclaw’s map is lost to history as far as anyone knows, and no others are known to exist. Professor Sinistra suggests for us to use our Saturdays, on which we don’t yet have classes, to learn our way around.

This leads to them warning us not to go into any boarded off sections of the castle. We still can get into some of them, but they tell us they are “required” to let us know that sometimes there are creatures in there that don’t like getting disturbed too much, like Doxies and cornish pixies. They don’t use, and so don’t maintain, the whole castle. House-elves can only do so much, I suppose. Either way, it is against the rules and we could get hurt there.

I get a Quest Alert as soon as she finishes her sentence. I don’t bother looking at it, knowing it will be something telling me to explore the castle.

The last two questions are on teachers and what to expect. The answer is simple. Reading chapters ahead of class, doing homework with effort and on time. It’s assumed we’ve all already read all our school books in advance to arriving at Hogwarts, as I’ve done. One spell or potion is generally taught every double lesson. None of it seems too difficult. I’m not sure what those around me expected, as this is one of the most revered magical schools in the world - as such the staff must push us and expect the most out of us.

We’re let out early with a solid thirty minutes to get to our next class since it’s our first time navigating alone. I am tempted to check the Great Hall for a snack but since breakfast has ended and lunch isn’t for several hours yet, I doubt there will be anything. I’ll have to grab something to snack on at breakfast tomorrow. I’m sure I’ll manage for one day.

I also want very much to go back to my dorm to get rid of a few books I don’t need for the day now that I have my schedule, but with no real idea of how to get to my next class, I’m too worried of being late to do that. I don’t want to be late on my first day, especially in a class with my Head of House!

.*****.

I arrive to Charms with my fellow Ravenclaws before any Gryffindors have made it. Flitwick looks a bit amused with us and smiles as we take our seats. I choose one on the middle row closest to the wall on my right, away from the windows that will likely distract me with their glorious views. The first spell in our book is levitation, which I’ve not practiced, as I didn't think it was all that useful in the applications I could use it for compared to the spells I learnt instead. It’s not like I regularly lift anything heavier than my bookbag.

It takes until exactly a full minute before the lesson starts for the Gryffindors to finally make it to the classroom. They come in looking stressed and out of breath, and take their seats with mumbled apologies. I see Cormac with three other boys, but he doesn’t see me. The room is packed once they’ve sat down, with about fifty, maybe sixty, of us present. At nine o’clock exactly, the professor looks around the room before nodding and snaps his fingers, making the door close and lock.

Not tolerating any late arrivals, then.

He starts the register. Everyone but Johnathan Perdew is present. Gryffindor and Ravenclaw Charms begin. Flitwick explains what the levitation charm we are learning is and how to cast it, and then shows it off by levitating a feather to each of us all simultaneously. I get to work on the feather immediately, while Professor Flitwick goes outside to assign detention to Johnathan Perdew.

Flick, swish. Incantation during the swish. “Wingardium Leviosa,” I incanted, getting a slight lift, which drops quickly.

Professor Flitwick saw, surprising me with his speed to get back inside the room. “Five Points to Ravenclaw for what was by all means a successful first attempt, Miss Hawthorne,” he calls. I nod as he sweeps the room, granting Points to Gryffindor for someone else getting it as well.

Perhaps constant magic is needed to make it float?

I try that and it flies straight up to the ceiling. No one seems to notice, likely because it had happened in the blink of an eye. I was too shocked to even gasp when it happened! I watch it until it falls back down to me. Then I lower the output to nothing and it starts hovering above my desk like it should.

Easy enough. Like humming. Starting the hum takes more effort than holding the note. I just needed to crack the cast with a small flash of magic and then maintain it with a little magic. I suppose bigger objects will take more magic to do the same thing.

Professor Flitwick is in front of me when I lower my eyes, observing my feather. He is smiling at me. “Can you maneuver it, without moving? Try,” he encourages.

Willing it to move, it twitches left instead of swooping. I do feel more strain on my control to do it but it’s not unmanageable to keep it hovering. Nonetheless, it doesn’t move left nor right.

He nods. “Try moving your wand slightly how you’d like it to go. As little as you can.”

I do, lightly guiding my wand left before swinging it back right, then left again to bring it centre. As I do this the feather goes where I want it to, up or down, left or right, forwards or backwards.

Professor Flitwick is applauding me, I notice, as this type of control becomes easy enough to not require absolute focus.

“Well done, now, try to minimise those movements into nothing Miss Hawthorne! Very impressive!” He says, bounding off to help a student who has yet to get the feather going. A few are like that.

This must be the Potential Perk, and my understanding of Charms, along with my practice during the summer. I have a head start, and an advantage.

It feels good.

By the end of our double period together, twelve of the fifty-six of us had a feather gliding under a Leviosa, and myself and one Gryffindor had since moved onto a five pound block of lead.

Lead is not magically conductive - Professor Flitwick told me - so it is magically equivalent to fifty pounds of almost anything else. It’s a good way to practice magical control without needlessly big weights, as well as perfecting the levitation charm at little more.

As well as this, my Charms skill has risen to Level 5 and I am 20 xp from a Level Up. I suppose I will get it by the end of the day.

I Observe Professor Flitwick when the lead weight becomes as simple as the feather, five minutes before the end of class. The slip in concentration causes the lead to slam into my desk, though, as with the ping of my Observation Skill Levelling Up.

I quickly resumed my levitation, blushing as I hear Professor Flitwick use this as a lesson to always pay attention to what you’re doing.

Carefully, I read my notifications, doing my best to concentrate at the same time.

Observation Level 34!

+34 xp

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Level Up!

You are now Level 8

+5 Stat Points

Well, that’s good! I go to Professor Flitwick’s profile.

Filius Flitwick

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Level ??

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Age - 62

Race - Human (three quarters), Goblin (one quarters)

Sex - Male

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Str - 42

Agi - ??

Dex - ??

Con - ??

Int - ??

Wis - ??

Luc - ??

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Professor Flitwick is well known as the greatest Duellist of the 1965-70 seasons. He still makes twice-a-decade trips into the ring, and has only been defeated once, and the one to beat him is the current Grand Champion of the international circuit of duellists. He is recognised as the foremost Master of Charms in all of Great Britain, and perhaps the world at large. His other achievements include, but are not limited to, writing three bestselling books on advanced Magical Theory, two spellbooks of brand new spells and four books on theoretical magical potential

Aside from this, he is a very strict, but fair, individual. He expects the best of everyone around him. Living up to these expectations and trying your best is the best way to earn his respect

He likes you, someone who is trying their best and exceeding his (admittedly high) expectations

I set my weight down and listen as Professor Flitwick announces what the homework is. Seven inches on the Leviosa charm we have just learnt and its finer mechanics. No doubt we’ll have to write more as time goes on.

“The better you understand the magic you wield, the more effective it is,” he says as I finish packing my bag. “Miss Hawthorne, Mr Rivers, please stay behind.”

Well, damn. Everyone else leaves quickly to get to the Great Hall for lunch. I’m hungry! Well, it’s fifteen minutes until lunch officially starts so I won’t get upset over it. Then I’ll have an hour to eat. No doubt that is to guarantee even the students on the opposite side of the castle have time to get to the Hall and eat before running back there if they need to.

“Yes, Professor?” I ask when I hear the door click closed behind the last student.

He hops off his stack and walks over to where we stand, about ten feet from the door. Looking up, he addresses us. “You two are far more advanced than your peers, this is clear. Your guardians wrote ahead and informed us about this. We’ve also been told you’ve done all the reading for this year. As a result, in my classroom I have decided to give you both different homework that will better suit your current level of success. If at any time this changes and you’d be better suited with the regular homework, I will make that decision then. Your homework from me this week is to write a short essay, less than ten inches, about the limits of the Leviosa charm and talk about two charms that can be used to overcome those limits, as well as one thing the charm can do that those other two charms you choose can’t.”

The two of us agree to his idea and the assignment and take our dismissal.

In the hallway, I look at the boy. “Why are you in Gryffindor? You should be a Ravenclaw,” I tell him.

He shrugs. “I don’t want to learn the way I used to at home. I want to do things and see the world. I thought I’d make better friends and have more opportunities in Gryffindor,” he explains easily.

I nod, surprised by his answer. “I can understand that,” I say. We walk in silence to the Great Hall, thankfully not getting lost along the way. At the Great Hall, I glance at him. “Um, well, see you around Rivers.”

He nods and walks to his table without a backwards glance. Useful. I may have a challenge after all.

.*****.

I get to lunch with a mission to be quick. I want to get to the library to scratch out some ideas for research on Professor Flitwick’s assignment. Professor McGonagall is sure to assign something as homework, perhaps even some advanced work for her too. I would like that.

For now, I suppose I’ll put Transfiguration on the backburner since I haven’t even gotten homework from that class. Bless Magical Theory for being an all-classwork based class.

I eat a quick lunch of grilled chicken and a lovely fresh green salad, much to the disgust of the eleven year old boys sitting next to me, and spot Alicia who I wave to and she waves back, before heading to the library. I’m not disappointed by the library’s size. It is the largest I’ve ever seen in this life. It doesn’t compare to the Citadel-Libratoriums of my last life, but then I doubt anything possibly could. Hogwarts Library is quite massive though. I go to the front desk, labelled as belonging to Madam Pince, and ring the bell since she isn’t here.

A short sound of shuffling and an older lady, probably sixty something, comes out from behind a row of books. “Yes?” She asks me, somewhat wearily.

I smile at her and I try to use the same low-volume tone she used with me. “I have a few questions about the library, ma’am.” She nods at me. “I have three. How is it sorted, how many books can I check out at a time, and what checkout limits are there?”

She walks stiffly further behind her desk. “Sorting is discussed in the Tome.” She flicks her wand and a thick book pulls itself out of a dusty stack behind her desk, sending a small puff of dust outwards. “Here.” I take the book as she continues. “You can check out two books at a time, but you can have as many at your table as you like, so long as you put them back. Most First Year suitable books are on the first shelf of each row, with the second being more for Second Year, the third for Third Year, and so on. The fifth, sixth and seventh are for Fifth Years, with three more per year for Sixth and Seventh.”

That’s thirteen rows of books for all Seventh Years. Funny how that works out. Likely there are lots of rows of general books too, but it is good there is school specific information I am likely to need in my studies already sorted into year groups.

“We also have a Restricted Section. Under no circumstances are you allowed to go in there without a signed slip from a professor. We have a selection of fiction also, if you would like.”

I shake my head. “No, ma’am, I want to take out some books on charms right now.”

“In that case, you want to go to the Charms Section. Do you see that sign behind you? Right there on the left is where the First Year books begin. Oh, and if you can’t reach something, do not try getting it yourself until you have the ability. Please ask an older student or come to me. Okay?”

I smile and nod, walking off to the Charms Section and leaving the giant Tome behind. I don’t need to know that much about the library.

Looking around, there are a few students in the library already but not all that many. When I turn down the Charms Section, I notice the rows are each at least fifty feet along, meaning each shelf has hundreds of books each. It goes by lowest skill on the bottom shelf and goes up in skill, quite literally. By skill level, it then is sorted in alphabet order based on surnames. It isn’t too complex.

It is when I have already spent a full fifteen minutes in the library going through the charms titles I suddenly have the thought that the Come and Go Room might be able to give me every book I want without even looking. I almost smack my forehead for even bothering looking in the library before deciding that relying on the Come and Go Room would be stupid, and I have yet to even confirm it works for me anyway. I need to be able to find things for myself, and I have no idea how that room works. Mipsy never said it brings someone anything from anywhere in the castle after all. So it likely doesn’t work like that.

Nevertheless, after class I intend to see if it can! Just in case.

I spent the next few minutes figuring out which of the books I will need for my assignment before stumbling upon them entirely by accident when I trip over a chair leg not looking as I walk and fall face first into the Second Year shelf and find four books on levitation charms by the same author. I pick the first two based on the dates and decide I’ll make notes from them tonight and come back for the other two tomorrow before Rivers can find them, letting me hopefully finish the assignment without competition for the materials.

Once I have them checked out by Madam Pince, I almost have to run to Transfiguration, thankfully catching up with some of my House members on the Grand Staircase.

.*****.

I have a seat in the middle of the classroom, three minutes early, behind six Ravenclaws and two Slytherins. Professor McGonagall isn’t here so I use my perch to try to find anyone interesting in the room.

I Observe the students already in the classroom not looking at their profiles at all, purely so I can begin Levelling Up my Observation Skill some more. I think with some more Levels under my belt, I might Unlock some new features eventually. Plus, the more I Level Up, the more xp I can gain, and I always enjoy that.

By the time class is about to start, I’ve Observed everyone and all the pictures and portraits, as well as random items around the room, until there is nothing left to Observe.

The door lightly closes, and we sit in the room, waiting, for a couple minutes. People whisper up a storm, wondering where the professor is. A Kneazle sits on her desk, looking at us with narrowed eyes as Kneazles do. That must be the professor's Kneazle, or else a student's pet that had decided to act as substitute. Seeing the creature flit it’s tail reminds me of Tala. As the seconds tick by, my classmates get louder.

With magic, I know she could be anywhere. She could be right next to me, or writing on the chalkboard, or sleeping on her desk and we’d not know. I begin to reread the chapter we are meant to be learning today. There’s no point in wasting my time.

At the end of the third minute I hear the clicking of the doors’ lock and look up to see the tabby leap off the desk and transform into Professor McGonagall. An interesting feat of magic, one of my personal favourites. Animagus Magic. I want to learn it myself in the future, if I can.

“Welcome to Transfiguration,” she says in a clipped tone, and then begins, by reciting, the start of the textbook we were assigned. Stressing the dangers of the art and to not practice without supervision. She then passes out matchsticks to us and tells us the instructions for how to begin the transfiguration from this match to a needle.

Strangely, this is with some heavy modifications and explanations as opposed to continuing to recite the book alone.

I raise my hand when she asks for questions. She calls on me.

“Why have you altered the instructions for the visualisation process? I’m curious, since the book goes over that part quite thoroughly, so I assumed that wouldn’t be something to add onto,” I ask.

Her expression doesn't change one bit as she answers precisely. “Most don’t grasp the visualisations in the beginning, especially those not used to seeing transfiguration performed at home, or any magic at all for that matter. Additionally, I do not assume my students will know my expectations of them on their first day of schooling, the most important of which is to always make sure to read the chapter we will be covering in class ahead of time. As this is your first class with me, I felt it only fair to go over the material more thoroughly than I otherwise would. To make it clear how happy I am to hear at least one student has read the chapter in preparation for my class, take five Points for Ravenclaw. In the future, any student who have not read the materials ahead of time will be losing House Points. Moreover, you’ll be hurting yourself in the long run,” she explains.

After she is certain there are no more questions from us, she leads on to show us one last time how to do the transfiguration. A tap of her wand on the wood with clear pronunciation, and the matchstick is a perfect little sewing needle. “I don’t expect this level of skill on your first attempts,” she tells us. “However, the best way to get into transfiguration is to do it. I’m looking for iron needles - the easiest metal to transfigure. You may begin.”

Nervously, the class pick up their wands and begin, waiting for the first person to cast and then all of them building the confidence to do it. Professor McGonagall walks about the room, assisting those who need it.

I focus on my matchstick. I try to visualise iron. Cold, grey, hard. I start listing magical and mundane facts about it as I stare down the little stick. I tap the match as I say the spell and it turns a steely grey.

I squint at it and touch it. It’s cool to the touch like metal but still has a woodish texture to the surface. It also hasn’t changed shape.

The metal came out almost perfect on my first attempt, so I want another go from the start. Dispelling magic is something this world and my former have in common, so it’s something that comes more naturally to me than actually performing magic itself as this magic is very different to my old magic. It’s all about cutting the right thread to make it drop. Some say it’s like breaking the right note of music, or erasing the binding word in the contract, or similar. Almost every mage hears, see and feels magic differently, and different people have their own styles of dispelling it.

The only issue with that is, although I have enough memories and Skills from my past life to dispel magic now as one of my few ‘gifts’ as being reincarnated, it takes the average Witch or Wizard decades of learning to be able to dispel something such as a half turned match into its original form with a wave of their hand. If I, a child in their eyes, were to wave my hand and reverse the half-transfiguration - which is even more complex than a full transfiguration - I would raise many eyebrows I perhaps don’t want raising. I enjoy pushing myself and not holding myself back academically, but that would be too far at this point unfortunately.

Because of that, I raise my hand for a new matchstick and once Professor McGonagall saw for herself I had made a partial transfiguration, she gives me a handful more to practice with.

With my new matchstick placed neatly in front of me away from my small pile, I focus on the sewing needle in my mind - the purpose and how the blocky matchstick could become more like it - and then touch my wand to the wood as I say the incantation, focusing hard on the memory of my past self sewing.

Instantly, it becomes an iron needle, slightly engraved with… oh. This looks just like my needle from my last life. I had been thinking of it, of course, but I hadn’t expected a replica quite like this. It’s smaller than the one I’d owned, the same length of the inch and a bit long matchstick, so about the size of a regular human sewing needle for most needlework. Despite it being several inches smaller than the original, I can clearly see the engravings the real thing once had - my kind had been larger and had traditionally used needles that were several inches longer in proportion anyway. The needle had been laced with magic that helped make the clothes I made my family and myself that bit stronger, and us to run that bit faster. Seeing it again, though miniaturised, brought a lot of unexpected emotions to the surface.

I swallow hard and take a breath before anyone can notice, forcing my mind to think of something logical instead of emotional. The engravings do not work, of course, as the magic there doesn’t work in this world. We had called the magic infused in the metal Signals, and they were embedded around the beautiful engravings that had been put there for decoration. Signals are like runes, just somehow different. I must have focused too much on that needle, still being so accustomed to it despite the years, and I had accidently influenced this needle to look like that.

Professor McGonagall looms over my shoulder before I can hide it and looks over my needle, congratulates me on being the first in the class to succeed and awards me ten Points without noticing or bothering to mention the engravings. In fairness, they are exceptionally thin and intricate, and the needle is perfectly clean without any darkness in the cuts, so it’s not immediately noticeable at a glance.

I spend the rest of class continuing to practice, doing my best to slowly turn my other matchsticks into even more perfect replicas of my personal needle back home, as they remind me of some good memories and I’d no doubt be able to play them off as being just like the needles Mum have at our home. I doubt anyone will check, or even think to check. They are just needles with a pattern on them.

In the two hour period, I do manage to make what I consider exact, perfect replicas, though I made them to be a good size for my small hands now rather than what I had used to use. I hide them as I go, not wanting anyone to see me making larger and larger needles as I continue. It would have looked odd to them, for me to be making my transfigurations less like what Professor McGonagall wanted.

Well, they aren’t Mythril, but they are as close as I can make. Stainless steel with the same markings. The work earns me a Level Up in Transfiguration. I suppose making needles from splinters isn’t so useless! More than that, needles are weapons, and I’d rather not think about what animating sixteen needles to attack someone would do.

They’d almost certainly die, I suppose.

.*****.

As I walk to Defence Against the Dark Arts, which is on the other side of the school from the Transfiguration classrooms, I hit myself with some basic hygiene spells. Charms to brush and re-plait my hair neatly, straighten my robes, freshen my breath. I do not enjoy being dishevelled or dirty, as I seem to be after wandering around the castle like I have been, so the spells feel good. I prefer to always look my best.

As we get to the classroom for our last double period of the day, I finish casting.

I enter the room with my classmates and jump into a chair next to a Hufflepuff girl that was in an ideal place away from the walls and windows. Around me, the rest of Ravenclaw sits down at other desks, generally sticking together since many of them are still too timid to talk to anyone outside of our little House circle, even though we don’t know each other yet. There is security in sameness, after all. Sarah is sitting next to me at the desk over, and we smile at each other. The last Hufflepuff boy throws himself into the classroom at the last moment entirely out of breath, and all but dives into a chair to avoid being late.

The door to the classroom closes with a boom that echoes in the suddenly silent room. Several students jump and one girl shrieks.

The imposing form of Professor Allsbrook comes out of the attached office and stands in front of the open door looking at us, a strange expression of hardness and some small wariness in his eyes. I doubt any of my classmates could read past his solid exterior, but as someone mentally older, I can see some of those other emotions showing through. What they mean, I’m not particularly sure. I bet Dad would be able to get a perfect read of him. He’s good like that.

He begins to talk after a moment to look us down. “Welcome to Defence Against the Dark Arts. As you are my first ever First Year students to teach, I feel rather conflicted. I was once a Hogwarts student. And, as you may have heard, the position of teaching Defence has long been cursed. I personally had some mediocre teachers that taught me next to nothing, as finding someone willing to teach in a cursed position is not always simple. I had to ask myself, did I want to be easy on you and teach you by the syllabus taught to me when I was a student, or did I want to prepare you for the world and your possibly unqualified teachers down the road should something happen to me? After much thinking, I have chosen,” he now slowly walked to his desk as he spoke, “to push you as hard as I can to ensure you will have the best possible foundation to this subject and your personal defence as you possibly can. Expect lots of homework. Expect leaving my classroom sweating and tired. Expect high standards. Seeing that you are surely all of different levels of understanding and knowledge, I have made a test based on old examination questions to see exactly what I need to focus on to prepare you correctly. I do not expect you to get anything correct. I just want to know who knows what so I can make useful lessons, and to pair you up with people of similar skill levels,” he says.

Now standing beside his desk, he waves his wand with a sudden flick and a five page test comes out from behind the desk and lands in front of each of us. “Good luck.” With that, he spins suddenly and sits at his chair, lowers his head, and begins to grade tests.

He had done this for every class he’s had today, hasn’t he?

Suppressing a sigh, I fill in my name and begin.

The first question reads, “What is the natural weakness of a Werewolf?”

Well, I know for a fact that it isn’t covered in our assigned textbook. The professor had assigned those books, why would he want answers to things he hadn’t even asked us to know about ahead of time? Biting my tongue so I can’t make some sound that Professor Allsbrook would surely hear and be unhappy with, I wrote my answer of “Sliver,” in neat handwriting. Having magic parents gives me an advantage over the Muggleborns who I know will have to guess that answer. What a way to make them feel stupid off the bat.

The second question is, “What is the Charm to banish a Boggart?”

Nowhere in our book once more, but I know from Dad that they try to scare people, since he banished one from our house a few years ago and I had been able to question him, and that they hate laughter. Armed with that, I wrote down, “Something to make them funny or cute. Happiness is their weakness.”

The next question is, “How would you stop a magical fire from burning you?” I had to skip it as I don’t know. I do know there are multiple types of magic fires and I assume they had different ways of hurting someone and would need different ways to stop them hurting someone, so the question feels somewhat backhanded or impossible to answer correctly. Bluebell flames, Incendio and basic cursed fires are all mentioned in First Year books, but no counters.

In total there are sixteen legitimate First Year questions, one from each chapter of the book, and twenty-five other questions. For the most part I am able to answer each with confidence but some I could only take a stab at, and others I had to guess. I wrote things like, “I don’t know if there is a spell to do (whatever it was) but I’d do (this thing) if I could.” Or, as I’d done for the fire question after I had finished everything else, I wrote, “Aguamenti is a First Year charm that would help against most fires.” I didn’t expect full points, or any, but I figured it’s better than nothing. It had worked in Primary School anyway.

I finish the test with ten minutes remaining. First in the class. I wait with my quill down and the professor notices after a minute or so and he indicates with an indication of his hand to bring my test to him. I do and stand in front of the desk as he flips through it.

He nodded. “Good,” he says at full volume, making a few students behind me jump. He doesn’t give it back or mark it, just puts it to the side and continues marking other exams. For a moment I stand there, waiting for a dismissal of some kind, then turn on my heel and go back to my seat.

I do not particularly like his demeanor, but I don’t suppose I’m meant to. He did position himself as commandingly as he could right off the bat. No doubt he has done the same with the older students, if he hadn’t been even more cold. Plus, he had told us he’d hold us to potentially abnormally high expectations.

At least I know where I stand in this class. I’ll receive no praise and a lot of pushing. I will enjoy that, if not his personality.

With nothing else to do, I begin blindly Observing everything to up my Skill some more.

At the end of the test, Professor Allsbrook flicks his wand and the tests fly from beneath my peers' quills and onto his desk. He issues homework - one inch for each question we’d not known the answer to - and then dismisses us, assuming we’ll all remember what we had not been able to answer. I write the homework and the questions I hadn’t known in my planner quickly so I won’t forget, and many follow suit. With very few enthusiastic looks, the other students leave quickly, obviously intimidated or put out by his conduct.

I stay put.

“Yes?” Professor Allsbrook asks, raising his eyes from his parchments and stilling his quill. He remains hunched over the parchment he’s partway through grading.

“I have some questions about the material this year, extra work I can push for, and Curse Breaking,” I tell him.

His expression doesn’t change but he does put his quill down, lean back and cross his arms. I take that as a gesture to continue.

“I have already read the assigned material for the year and I have a good grasp of the spells it teaches. I want to know if you would offer some advanced homework for me to study. Professor Flitwick is doing this for me already. I have heard a lot about how bad some of the Defence teachers can be and I want to study as much as I can while I have a qualified Curse Breaker as a professor.”

He nods a few times before answering. “Well, if you can show me you can adequately do the spells set in the textbook and your test is good, I see no reason why not,” he considers, flicking to the bottom of the test pile to pull mine out. I stand there as he looks it over and starts marking it at rapid speed. He numbers it with how many points he gives me per question as opposed to ticks and crosses, and less than a minute and a half later, he flips through it counting and puts the mark on the front. Thirty-two out of fourty. He puts his quill back down and looks at me with his eyebrows raised slightly. “You seem to have some good knowledge, I admit. If you can come to me tomorrow after classes and show me you can perform some of the spells to standard, I’ll be happy to give you some more personalised homework.”

I grin at him despite his serious expression. I didn’t think he’d go for it! “Excellent! What time do you want me to be here?”

“After dinner, at seven fifteen sharp. I doubt we’ll need more than half an hour for you to demonstrate your skill. Did you have any other questions?”

“Yes, sir. What do you know about the curse on the Defence Against the Dark Arts position, and as a student interested in Curse Breaking, what can I look into to find out more about the profession?”

For the first time, he smiles slightly. “Good questions. We don’t know a whole lot about the curse. If it is a real one, which I am personally inclined to believe, it would be likely hidden behind some warded door somewhere in the castle. No one, not even Professor Dumbledore, has been able to find any traces of the curse though, so who knows?” He tells me, tapping a finger to his head. “But I know it’s in the castle itself. Something about it, how it works. It seems most likely to me. That’s just a gut feeling, and I could be wrong, but it does seem most likely when I weigh all the evidence and follow my instincts. Of course, it would need a power source. A perpetual power source seems likely, along with a secondary one in case the permanent power source is broken. No one creating a curse this powerful wouldn’t take that precaution. And to create such a curse, I think it was perhaps brought about by some ritual.”

He looks ready to continue his musing before focus comes back to his eyes and he realises he’s talking to a First Year. He coughs slightly and adjusts his position in his chair. “It would be something quite horrible, let’s put it that way. Not something for children. Anyway, Curse Breaking as a profession. You’d need at least an O in Defence, Charms, Transfiguration, Ancient Runes and Arithmancy for your O.W.L.s, and a minimum of an EE in them for N.E.W.T.s. Past N.E.W.T.s, you’re going for training outside of Hogwarts, perhaps with an Academy or continuing your education at a University in Defence. Or you could try your luck with Gringotts. Gotta say though, working there can be hard. Less training needed so you can get in, sure, but higher risks all ‘round. Not something I recommend.”

I know I’ll do well to remember that. “What type of Academy?” I ask.

He shrugs. “There are Academy’s designed just for learning Defence. High skill, expensive, difficult to get into. They’re seen as sort of prestigious, and some have flouncy reputations with nothing to do with defence, but a lot of them know their stuff. Curse Breakers that come from an Academy generally have more successful careers. Healers, Aurors and Curse Breakers have them, among others,” he tells me in a smoother voice. He seemed to be calmer now than in front of a class. Interesting. I wonder why he decided to teach if he is nervous in front of others? “They’re different from University’s as the University’s cover a lot of different areas of magic, whereas Academy’s focus all their effort on the one thing they specialise in. They teach things Uni can't, like Mage Sight. That’s widely considered beyond N.E.W.T. level skill, which requires immense magical control, or connection, to achieve. Most Curse Breakers don’t have it because being so closely tied to your magic can have its drawbacks. Curses hurt more when they impact your magic, but your ability with magic increases manyfold.”

“Is that like magical control? The ability increases, I mean.”

He seems delighted to teach me something he’s interested in if his leaning forward and steeping his fingers is any indication. “Yes, Mage Sight gives you something like magical control. The concept is to manipulate your magic in odd ways to make your control finer. It happens naturally as you go through schooling, to a point, but there are exercises you can do to further it. Most don’t even hear of it until they go to an Academy that offers teaching Mage Sight, or they get it from someone, like a Master, who teaches them. Either way, the concept of Mage Sight is easy to figure out when you understand the underpinnings of the magical theory for the cheap and easy way of getting it. Which is through the ritual or spell. I think earning Mage Sight the hard way is much, much better, though. A sort of… mark of prestige, I suppose. The ways of getting it are, ultimately, quite personal and different. The average person doesn’t need more than N.E.W.T. level control, so won’t have or know how to get Mage Sight anyways.”

I nod my understanding. “Thank you, sir. I think that’s everything,” I say, turning my body to leave but not moving. I assume he’ll want to dismiss me after all.

“Ah, one more thing,” he says, leaning back again.

“Yes?”

“Don’t try to learn Mage Sight alone, or try to do the exercises to perfect your magic control. Overstepping your bounds can cause a lot of danger to yourself and others. If you’re going to learn combat magic for fun, learn some healing first. First aid and Healing magics are necessary skills to have before you even want to think of applying for an Academy, so I’d suggest focusing on that for now. Some of it is pretty advanced stuff, so it should keep you busy if nothing else.”

“I understand, sir,” I tell him. Damn.

He nods once. “Dismissed.”

I turn and walk from the classroom, but not before he is already scribbling on someone else's exam. I swear I hear a weary sigh from him as I close the door.