Harry couldn't look away as his hand gently touched the letters that many years ago had been written by a young woman with bright red hair. "... thank you, Professor."
The older man reached up and patted the boy on the shoulder, and left. He knew that Harry probably needed to be a bit alone for now.
Harry left the classroom and almost got squashed by a brown-haired tornado of worry. "OH HARRY I was worried! Did you lose points? I shouldn't have put so much energy into the spell, maybe I did it too quickly or something..."
He grinned, not seeming to realize he had tear tracks on his face. "Mione, don't worry! We just had a bit of a conversation. Professor Flitwick wanted me to help other people out during the practical parts, since I can actually see what they are doing wrong."
Harry also held up a bound journal, carefully held by his left hand. "He also gave me a book made by my mother, one he got from her when she left school."
Padma leaned in and smiled. "She had a humor streak then. 'Why I hated'... better not let Hermione see that."
Hermione sniffed. "You know I wouldn't do anything to something Harry's mom wrote. Besides, I bet she was a brilliant writer." She blushed at the look Harry gave her and turned away. "A... Anyway, we should get going, right? Anyone know the way to Transfiguration?"
Harry wiped his eyes and gently placed his new treasure in his hand storage. This book would never leave his presence. "Well, I may know a pretty good path."
Four ladders, three stair-cases, one rope swing ('WHY IS THIS HERE?' Padma screamed), and two trap doors later and everyone stumbled into the Transfiguration classroom. It was so orderly if felt wrong... no windows, a perfect cube with a door in the exact middle on one side and a desk on the other.
As everyone found seats, Harry paused at the front of the class. "Professor McGonagall?"
She looked up from her class roster and gave a slight smile. "Good day, Mr. Potter. Staying out of trouble I trust?" Her smile almost faltered seeing a VERY James-like expression cross his face before it melted into innocence.
His face was like a wee babe. "Of course no trouble professor. Wouldn't want me marauding around the school after all." She gave him a glare. "Let me guess... Professor Flitwick? SOMEONE had to tell you so early... I was hoping for at least a week before... oh well. I will say this young man. Your father may have been a prankster, but he was one of the finest young men I ever taught. Your mother was just a darling all over." She mumbled what sounded like 'Except for her temper, Merlin'.
Harry grinned. "Well, I promise to try and not interrupt classes, would that help?"
She sighed. "Frankly, I will take what I can get. Mr. Weasley and ... goodness there are so many of them here now. George and Fred are a handful enough as it is. I would REALLY appreciate you following the rules, understood?"
Oh Merlin, that innocent look again. She was in deep mud this year. The class quickly got underway. All the children were impressed by the pig transformation, while Harry was really impressed by how she did it with no special wand movements or words. Did she really need desk-to-pig transformations that often? Maybe after years of teaching...
Well, now they had matches. Yeah.
After working on it a bit, seeing Padma get slightly depressed and watching Hermione get it to shift colors slightly, he raised a hand and got the teacher to come to their desk.
"Yes Mr. Potter? Problems?"
Harry grinned. "Could you do me a favor and change the matchstick really slowly with the movement and incantation? I would like to watch it a few times... especially if you could do it once with all of it, once with only wand movement, and once with neither." After a pause, Professor McGonagall nodded. "Very well Mr. Potter. Please pay attention."
His eyes were glowing before she even began the first movement... The spell seemed to wrap the object, to soak into the fibers... then it was just different.
"Could you please change it into a button instead?" Seeing her raised eyebrow, he cleared his throat. "I saw you impregnate the matchstick with magic, but I want to see if the process looks different when you change it to other things."
Minerva had a clear look at his eyes and a strong suspicion of what was going on now... and she REALLY wished he was one of her cubs. With a bit of a sigh she converted the matchstick into a button each of the three ways...
Harry was frowning at his matchstick. It was really hard getting ENOUGH magic to leave the wand, as it felt like he was trying to paint a house with a toothbrush. It took really odd hand motions to coat the whole thing.
Finally he just reached down and wrapped it with a rope. 'BECOME A NEEDLE, you matchstick son of a...' Oh. Well, that was straight forward.
He looked up to see an astonished teacher, Hermione with her face in her hands, and Padma poking at her matchstick like it was about to eat her. "Oh... I found out I wasn't covering it with enough magic, so I just stopped using the wand. Wand makes it harder. Too precise."
Man he was bad at explaining stuff. Now she was looking at him like he was a fire breathing turtle.
Classes were hard.
A black haired boy was slumped at a library table. "It's not that bad, Harry." Padma was trying to get support with her eyes, but Hermione still seemed stunned.
The boy just lightly thumped his head on the table again.
Susan felt like giving it a shot... why not? "Look, I am sure this stuff happens all the time." She paused... "Well, not the part about two teachers basically making you teaching assistants. Or the transfiguration thing." She finally noticed that Hannah was making frantic 'What are you saying stop you are making this worse' motions. "I mean, we could do it too, right?"
The boy mumbled. "But then you told them that I showed you... I was trying to make it look more normal, Suze. Not... another me thing." He gave a tired look. "I already have ENOUGH people whispering about me in the school." He sighed and leaned back. "Well, I guess I have to get used to this kind of thing eventually anyway. Being the 'Boy-who-lived' pretty much promised that my life would be thrust into the public." He looked over at Hermione, who seemed REALLY happy that Harry was not going to mope... uh. Continue contemplating life. Yeah. "Hey Mione, why do we only have two classes today? Not that I mind, but yeah."
The brown haired girl nodded. "Most first-years have to build up a bit of stamina the first year using their magic, getting used to their wand." She gave a shrug. "Part of the reason is because most of our classmates are already tired just from what we have done so far."
Hannah nodded. "Yeah, I would normally have felt used up I think. I did some spells with my dad's wand once, and even the basic stuff made me tired. I think when you settled our cores it helped a lot." Susan grinned. "I think the wand part was better." She blushed at Hannah's expression before thwapping her shoulder. "Not that, I mean for spells and stuff. I know I never felt such an amazing connection with my wand before."
Terry looked around the library. "So what is the plan for today? I hate to admit it, but I do feel a bit weak magically after all that practice so far."
Harry's eyes glinted as a smile brightened the room. "Research, my friend, research." His grin looked hungry. "First thing we need to find are librarian spells. I want to know how to search a book for topics or words, how to search a library for books, hopefully how to search a library for books ON a topic or search term. We also need to know how to make temporary or permanent copies of books or notes or just random paper, how to protect books, paper, and scrolls from damage..."
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