"Why a Venus flytrap? Fire makes sense but I don't get that one." Terry asked confused.
"Venus flytraps are carnivorous plants and unlike most plants get most of their moisture not from the soil but in the form of dew or rain. Water them regularly and all you accomplish is drowning the poor plant thus killing it." The prefect answered for me surprisingly enough.
"That does qualify for the riddle I suppose, not the first answer you'd think of though." Mike said.
"Yeah but even I have to applaud the answer, it's bloody brilliant." the prefect said clearly pleased.
From there the prefect led us into the doorway that opened up into a wide well furnished area. There was a fireplace with a warm gentle flame burning within it and several couches and tables with chairs. Along the far left side of the room was a large bookshelf covering the whole wall with various books on it. Next to the entrance was a massive sculpture of a pretty woman in robes wearing an ornate diadem that had the inscription "Wit beyond measure is mans greatest treasure" Rowena Ravenclaw herself.-
The rest of the common room had banners of our house and a few knick-knacks like an old globe or ancient coin collection in a glass case. In the center of the room however a small man about three feet tall with a wrinkled but kind face stood patiently.
"Good evening children! I am Professor Filius Flitwick, your head of house as well as the master of charms here in Hogwarts. Now before you go shuffling to your rooms I feel a few things need to be addressed. First as some of you no doubt noticed Ravenclaw has the unique privilege of having a private selection of books. These tomes were chosen not for merely their academic aid but for those who wish to learn beyond the scope covered in your textbooks or classes." he said motioning to the large bookshelf.
I raised my hand.
"Yes Alexander?" Flitwick said curiously.
"I prefer Alex. But my question is if alchemy is included in the shelves tomes?" I asked without hesitation.
"Oh ho? That may be a fair bit beyond you at the moment. May I ask why you wish to know?" he asked not directly shooting my question down but trying to understand why I wanted to know.
"Perhaps it's just a vain hope but with Dumbledore in the school I can't think of a better opportunity to learn the art fully and I have learned it's not usually offered as a course at the third year or beyond unless demand is high enough. Self study is the only option left." I answered honestly since I had no reason to hide my interest in the subject.
"Marvelous! Five points to Ravenclaw for the brilliant initiative! I look forward to seeing your performance in class young Alex. But your research is correct. Alchemy is not offered unless demand is high enough as the subject is quite pricey to learn. While I can appreciate your eagerness to jump right into the subject in self study I can say with certainty that you don't reach the minimum requirement for studying the subject." he said seriously.
"What do you mean?" I asked with a frown.
"Alchemy even in it's most basic form requires a level of mastery in charms, transfiguration, potions and ancient runes that only a third year student might have. I can't in good conscious suggest self study for now. However I give my word that if you can show me the proper level of mastery in the named subjects at any time I will personally tutor you on the subject." he promised sincerely.
I nodded in agreement and didn't push for more since even if I hadn't gotten quite what I wanted I did still get a VERY important piece of information. See the thing about alchemy books is they tend to make the assumption you already have a certain level of knowledge and skill in certain subjects and thus don't specify what those subjects are or what level that is, Flitwick just told me exactly that knowledge.-
This was the benefit of a teacher compared to a book, important context. Truthfully I already had a sneaking suspicion about the potioneering skill needed as well as the ancient runes but knowing the full set made me breath of a sigh of relief for not attempting to study the subject over the summer.
"Where was I? Ah yes! The next order of business is the post board." Flitwick said as he walked over to the right side of the doorway where a large board was hung up that was mostly empty for the moment save a single piece of parchment. Pointing at it he continued "This parchment contains your schedule for this term. Geminio!" he said casting a spell that caused the parchment to double before doubling again and again until there were enough copies to go around.
06:30 a.m. - 08:30 a.m.: Breakfast
09:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.: Classes
12:00 p.m. - 01:00 p.m.: Lunch
01:00 p.m. - 04:00 p.m.: Classes
06:00 p.m. - 08:00 p.m.: Dinner
09:00 p.m. - 06:00 a.m.: Curfew
This was the general schedule for everyday except saturday and sunday that were off days. The Astronomy classes were the only exception since there was no point in studying the stars during the day. The first set of classes we had were charms and then herbology for the day after tomorrow. After that it was history of magic and DADA, then Transfiguration, herbology then astrology at night after dinner. Then charms again with history of magic and then double potions on Friday. The schedule left plenty of time for free study and homework since classes only lasted a total of six hours and with the weekends off I'd easily have the time I needed to deal with the ROR and rapidly improve my magic skills this year.