Harry Potter : Chapter 80: Full Moon I
The green-eyed cat stalked its prey with some sort of uncaring interest, more focused on everyone's reaction to the one she was following rather than the target himself. Or rather, the lack of a reaction.
Filius Flitwick, save for some rare stretches of time in the Ravenclaw Common Room, and hadn't it been a thrill sneaking in only to prove to her Gryffindor friends that she could do so, spent his time in Hogwarts not unseen, but unnoticed.
And that was a sign as good as any to demonstrate that he had managed to make his the strange combination of magics that allowed Rubeus to walk unmolested in the hallways.
Well, he has proved that he can learn materials beyond his years... what could I ever test him on? Minerva walked silently on padded feet around the aisle that Filius Flitwick was perusing, noticing, while remaining unnoticed herself, that the first-year student was selecting a number of books that had nothing in common one with another.
The real question was what she, Tom and Rubeus, wished and expected from any potential candidate to the Rùnda. Her tallest Slytherin friend had already made his selection, obviously proving what he deemed most important, taking as a given the fact... Of course.
The realization brought up the instinct to purr in satisfaction in her feline form, and Minerva was quick to suppress it.
While it could be argued that being able to learn, as a first-year no less, the decidedly unique combination of meditation and shadow manipulation capable of generating a 'Notice-Me-Not' targeted to a specific characteristic of the user was proof enough that the caster was able to think about something original, it wasn't quite the same as having an original idea when it came to magic.
The boy managed to go through the routine life of any other first year with nobody taking notice of just how short he was, or of the faintest pointy situation of his ears.
Which clearly marked his goblin roots, only to deepen the Notice-Me-Not to encompass of his being once he wished to be alone to study, away from the ever questioning peers that, aware of his brilliance, often made just too many questions about their homework to let him get anything done about his real interests.
The cat followed Filius as he walked with his selection of books bobbing up and down behind him to a secluded table near one of the windows that rested above the School Grounds, giving just a hint of the Forbidden Forest to the side, which rested still in the lack of wind typical of those days, while still almost glittering emerald-like under cool, winter sun.
As soon as he had settled himself, a pile of books to read on his left, away from the window so as not to cast any shadow upon the rolls of parchment he undoubtedly was about to fill with his notes, Minerva made her move.
In the now habitual world-shifting blur that marked the transformation, the cat-animagus shed her secondary Shape only to keep walking as a seventh-year student towards the desk in her sights, her Head Girl badge glinting casually in the sunlight, as she left the blindspot in the first-year vision.
Not that he would have noticed her transformation even had it happened in front of his eyes, after all, he seemed to be already engrossed in the first of his selection of tomes.
In her Gryffindorish-ness, Minerva didn't stop to consider how to approach the diminutive boy, or even to plan an eventual line of attack. After all, the shortest path was often the optimal one, and she hardly needed to hide anything.
She cast a small silencing ward with a negligent twitch of her fir and dragon heartstring wand, and spoke: "Mr. Flitwick?"
Startled, the boy raised his eyes from the tome he was reading, revealing a startled expression as he briefly glanced around before looking straight at the Head Girl: "Y-yes? That's me, how can I help you? And how did you notice me?"
Minerva gestured silently towards the other chair present at the table, sitting when the boy nodded towards it, eager to receive an answer to his question.
"Rubeus took a while to come up with the combination that you made yours." she flashed him a proud smile, "The mental shift required to deepen or lessen the effect comes from my studies about the animagus transformation..."
Eyes wide with wonder, Filius felt a minor smile appear on his visage, only to assume a slightly more dejected look: "I guess I shouldn't be surprised that I wasn't the only one..."
"Rubeus could hardly have come up with everything he has by working entirely alone." Minerva hunched forward on her chair, elbows resting on the desk as she studied the first-year boy with uncommon intensity.
"There is a little group we founded you see, made with the idea of giving a Common Room to the extraordinary that come through these halls, and..."
Filius chuckled softly as he dropped the quill he had been using in order to lean back in his chair, clasping his hands in front of his belly: "And Rubeus didn't offer the result of is studies out of the kindness of his heart, but as a test for this group of yours?"
Spotting something akin to disappointment on his face, the Head Girl was quick to disabuse him: "I cannot truly speak for his reasons, you'd have to ask him.
But in my experience, Rubeus does as he pleases because he can... Besides, more than one thing can be true at the same time: he did mark you as one with potential, is it truly hard to believe that he was both thinking of the advantages that having you on board would bring, and of the reprieve that his studies could bring you were you to master them?"
Filius eyes lost a bit of the edge they had assumed before, and his expression turned just a bit eager as he asked.
"And since you're here, I'm guessing that there is another test for me? I must say I don't enjoy the idea of jumping through hoops for anyone, even with the nebulous prize of a 'Common Room for the Extraordinary'."
Minerva laughed at that, resting her back in her chair before leaning her head on her left hand, her elbow still on the table. As she obliquely stared at the diminutive first year, she kept a smile on her lips.
"Yes, I must have spent the last couple of months trying to think of a test, but I'm not much for subtlety, so I guess I'll just get to know you, and about the Room, well, I'm not really the last one to have a say in it. What are you studying? Any extracurricular project that I could help you with?"
The clever eyes of Filius didn't leave the beautiful witch's eyes as she spoke, and his keen mind easily worked through the implications that Minerva didn't realize she had let slip.
He had of course heard of the Head Girl before: as the youngest animagus on the Register, she had given a big boost to the interest in Transfiguration, not that Professor Dumbledore needed it to make his lessons memorable.
While being Quidditch Captain at the same time as a member of the Chess Club and Head Girl demonstrated that any student could achieve anything they put their mind to.
Thinking of chess, Filius found himself mirroring her question. It wasn't that he disliked the girl, or that he wasn't interested in this mysterious 'room' where Rubeus and Minerva apparently had peers capable of their same level of original.
Complex studies about the magic that wouldn't be found in regular classes, simply, while he had long since made his mind up about being judged and mistreated because of his evident ancestry, he wasn't about to let his elders push him like a pawn only because they had years of studies on him.
"What are you studying that isn't covered in the normal curriculum?"
Minerva raised her eyebrows at the deflection, but during the brief conversation, she had been studying Filius as she had been during her limited free time in the previous days and weeks, and she could easily spot the interest in his eyes, restrained by the caution of someone wise beyond their years.
So, she simply shrugged, not seeing a reason why she shouldn't answer with the truth.
"Professor Dumbledore put me in contact with Alchemist Flamel, who agreed to teach me if I manage to create something truly original ... my problem is that I surely don't know enough to do anything with alchemy that he hasn't already seen a thousand times, so I'm a bit stumped."
Genuine annoyance seeped into her tone, but Filius was predictably fixated on another matter entirely.
"Flamel? The Flamel? Wow, that's... What exactly is Alchemy, by the way? You heard it mentioned here and there, but I didn't have the time yet to look for more information, there is just so much to find..."
"Yes, it can be overwhelming." Minerva nodded at the second part of the boy's words, before grinning proudly: "And yes, the Flamel.
I just don't have any original idea that I'd also be able to execute with alchemy, never mind something he hasn't already seen in one way or another.
As for what is Alchemy... well, at its heart, it's the art of truly changing what something is. Transfiguration, as Professor Dumbledore undoubtedly already showed you, is about changing the Shape, while charms act upon the properties of any given object.
At which point it is natural to ask: if a masterfully transfigured and charmed rock quacks like a duck, flies and swims like a duck, and has all the properties of a duck, is it truly still a rock?
Rubeus called Alchemy the science of Metamorphosis and declared that he'd need years to forge his own understanding of the subject, but he's stubborn that way: he never takes anything for granted.
Even if it came from Alchemist Flamel himself, he'd waste years to prove with his own means even the most basic of principles.
Of course, one of the many pinnacles of the Art of Alchemy is the creation of a Philosopher Stone, but from what I gleaned from my talks with professor Dumbledore, that is a side-product on the quest of creating a self immune from the ravages of time."
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