Ch.6 - A place Under The Shade
-Hogwarts, Charms classroom, 1991, September 13, Friday-
My prediction on 3/4 spells per week which would be easier for me for the first part of the year was thankfully shattered when I saw Transfiguration's curriculum. Right now keeping up was easy I knew all the spells, so I took my time to try and master them nonverbally and experiment, without success, on a couple of uses and combinations. If learning spells is going to be difficult for me then I will need to play tricks with easy, quick, and generally underestimated spells. But to do that I will first need to master them, your run-of-the-mill Depulso will not stop Voldemort in case I would ever need to.
For the first few weeks, however, security is ultra high, between professors, prefects, and Filch the corridors were tight, everyone was there to try to help the first year, and exploration without being spotted once was impossible, meaning trying to enter RoR was very risky, a pipe dream for now. They will, of course, calm down after a while, and I will strike at the right time, I feel like Lupen targeting a jewel.
Right now I am walking towards Charms Class with Susan and Hannah, the two seemed happy to be able to talk together again.
"We need to hit the library later, me and Susan want to do McGonagall's parchment as soon as possible to have the weekend free..." says Hannah leaving the rest of the sentence up in the air
"Yea I think I will do the same, wanna study together?" I ask, trying to keep the conversation pleasant and interactive
"Sure, it would be nice to have another person on this, you have lesson till 4:35 pm you were saying, right? Susan asks eagerly
"Yep" I confirm with a nod
"Ok then, from then to 7:00 pm I guess? Then we will need to get ready for dinner..." ends Hannah, these two are very organized, I believe we will get things done quickly
"Sweet fine by me-"
A familiar voice interrupted me "Thomas! So that's where you were... Bloody hell man, I have been looking for you for ages" the man comes running and panting
"Oh Michael, didn't Terry tell you I would go on ahead?" I ask confused
"What? No, I did not even see him! I thought he left with you! You haven't seen him?" he asks now bewildered
Massaging my temples I sigh defeated "Hope he doesn't get another scolding from the professor... Well anyway lemme introduce you to these ladies. She is Susan Bones, and she is Hannah Abbot. Girls this fine gentleman is Michael Corner"
"Pleasure" he says with his now signature charming smile worthy of a top 10 position on Witch Weekly
The conversation went along nicely till Terry arrived and after a brief introduction, we separated for our seats.
...
"Welcome back for today's lesson and sorry for the delay, as you might have already heard two students tried an advanced dancing charm and a couple other charms at the same time on their clothes, the result was that of a very difficult chain to break, and chaos ensued for the whole morning."
We all laughed a bit thinking back at the hilarious scene at Gryffindor's table.
"At least we learned a valuable lesson" the professor started but was quickly interrupted by a quick-witted Hufflepuff his name being Wayne Hopkins if I remember correctly
"Don't be like the Twins?" laughter ensues in the classroom, and I admit I also let out a couple chuckles
"Very funny Mr.Hopkins, but no, don't try charms on yourself if you are not sure about the result. Now back to business" said the minute professor who with a couple words already managed to catch the attention of the whole classroom.
"Today we will start working on the levitation charm, we already did a lot of theory and movement practice, today we will put the pieces together, and hopefully everyone will be able to do it by the end of the class, a little bit of revising first, remember that when casting the spell you need to...."
The class went on and on until the practical
"Great job, Mr.Rashford, 5 points to Ravenclaw" the small ball of joy and happiness called professor Flitwick praised
"Remember to always maintain a constant flow of magic throughout the casting and only change it in response to either environmental causalities or personal needs, the spell is still a little shaky, and the response time from cast to movement can be improved. Nonetheless great start!"
Look at that... if I find those fanfic writers that say professors here teach nothing and that magic is easy, I swear Merlin I'm going to... umh... Lumos? them so hard they will see reason via desperation.
"Thanks professor," I say eagerly taking notes, a smile present on my face, I am having fun...
...
"Oh! What do we have 'ere, it is almost seven o'clock you should be heading back now, wouldno wanna end up in detention if I were you" a voice interrupts my reading in the best place I found in the whole school, it was located near one of the side exits of Hogwarts, there was a spot under a big Acacia tree, the shade in the afternoon was wonderful completely covering completely the part near the lake, a wonderful location for a silent read or just for thinking.
The man was huge, with a big beard a bucket on his left hand, a glove and a hammer?, or what looked like a hammer, on his right, his chest completely covered by a heavy work suit.
"Oh hello Mr. Hagrid, thank you for the heads up, how was your day?" I always wanted to speak to him but I never had the chance up until now, he was a bit stupid but a good man with a huge heart, if you are nice to him he will give you the world. This type of person is extremely rare, that's why it Is imperative to cherish them.
He was surprised by my tone with him but he nevertheless responded in kind while we started advancing towards the castle
"I wouldn't say a bad day per se, my manticores keep refusing to breed with my fire crabs, I think I will have to try some new method... But all in all a tiring yet positive day, thanks for asking... umhh.." he stopped not knowing my name I kindly provided
"Thomas Rashford sir, please call me Thomas, have you tried using magic?" I ask the big man
"None of tha sir deal, just call me Hagrid Thomas, I will try that very soon, I have high hopes for this project... I see you foun' yourself a nice spot" he says pointing back at the spot we were a few seconds ago.
"Yes, I found that it is an extremely nice spot to relax" I say without elaborating further
"Sometimes... a man does need his place under the shade no?" he asks with a smile that said more than a thousand words
I smiled back at him, "indeed Hagrid, indeed"