13. Classes

Another month passed and I could finally concentrate on my studies again, I was loving my classes, I mean I was learning magic! And learning it in new and different ways that was truly just awesome to experience.

The loss of Felix passed like everything does, at first it hurt, but with time it started to fade.

Thursday, second period heading to transfiguration with Eddie, we were finally going to try turning a mouse into a snuff box. It was a step up, since this touched upon living transfiguration!

As always we sat on the front row, wands out and ready to start, this was mimicked by most of the class since Professor McGonagal can be quite the strict teacher! But it did make sense, since transfiguration has the potential to be a very dangerous form of magic. I spent a lot of time speculating about what could be achieved with it, the more gruesome aspects were something dangerous turned into an edible item, which would then be consumed by a person, but then when the magic stopped it would try to revert, but since the item has been consumed, it would mean it would have spread through the stomach, intestines maybe even the blood, it would end up very badly! This also reminded me of the book from the Lamorak vault about transfiguration, since it mentioned that permanent transfiguration could be achieved, but as of yet had not explained how.

As the rest of the students arrived along with the Professor, we finally started.

"Now students, today we will be turning a mouse into a snuff box, this will also most likely be a task for your end of year exam so be mindful and watch carefully as I demonstrate", McGonagal performed the transfiguration and explained in detail the intent, and showed several ways the snuff box could look like if we got it wrong, and explained what we most likely did do wrong if it for example had whiskers.

After the demonstration we were set to it, it was really difficult to get your head around, you had to have the image of the snuff box in mind, and you also had to apply your will so the mouse would actually turn.

By the end of class, I had a half decent snuff box, unfortunately it had a tail and still squeaked, Eddies still had legs and whiskers and quickly ran away when he wasn't looking. I laughed at that, while Eddie scowled at me, but he held a smirk, because it was just such a ridiculous situation!.. Afterwards we had Charms with Professor Flitwick. It was one of the more diverse subjects in my opinion, so it was always interesting. The Professor always had a happy disposition, and he seriously knew his stuff!

Charms was really useful, it had applications for both defense, moving stuff around and repairing stuff, that was at least for the stuff from the first year curriculum.

We learned the Unlocking and locking charm, handy to open doors or locking them.

Today we were going to learn the Knockback Jinx, a very valuable spell since it could be used as defense or to move stuff.

"Today we will be learning the knockback jinx, with the incantation of Flipendo, a useful spell to push something back, very good for creatures or even in dueling since a properly cast Flipendo will knock the target back, and if powerful enough will send them flying through the air.

Watch closely as I cast the spell, FLIPENDO", and with a small swish of his wand towards a book, it was pushed back and sent flying until it slammed against the wall.

"Now, your turn, these will be your targets, remember to clearly say Fli-pen-do, and focus on your target". He swished his wand again as he set us to the task, and wooden figures appeared in front of us all.

I looked at Eddie and smirked, "Last to cast it, has to pay for sweets next time?". He just laughed and nodded and quickly set to work.

I had already been taught the spell by Moody so it was a quick win,  but Eddie was quickly behind me, and we both ended up earning 5 points. It was a simple spell so most of the students by the end of class ended up completing it, the fact that I had learned it before even starting school I chose to keep to myself.

Now although magic is well magical and AWESOME.. For the most part, I just couldn't muster the interest in Herbology! Astronomy was a close second on the dislikes, but I did love the thought of traveling the stars, I just couldn't care about the constellations..

Herbology was more of a chore than anything else, it just didn't feel magical to me, more in the horrifying category than the magical. Plants that want to grab you, plants that can poison you, infect you, hit you! The list goes on..

Professor Sprout is a kind and caring teacher, but as a herbology teacher, she was also a no nonsense grab em by your bootstraps kind of teacher. She is the kind of teacher to tell you once how to do something, and then throw you to the wolves (plants). Herbology is terrifying in ways that I will never overcome!

Eddie ofcourse found it hilarious!

Astronomy was boring, staying up late to look at stars, remembering constellations and deciphering their meaning, blahh!

Now maybe a bit controversial but I actually liked History of Magic, not the Professor mind you, but the class itself. Learning and discovering the history of the magical world was intriguing, the war with the goblins seemed more misguided by both sides than anything else, I could understand the goblins wanting more equal rights, and if it was up to me all should be equal. So in class when most slept through it, even Eddie, I read the course material, even studied through other books borrowed from the library. I read of legends, history of old civilizations and of the powerful organizations that once were.

It was truly fascinating, and I couldn't wait to graduate, so I could explore those ancient places, maybe even discover the lost city of Atlantis?

Now my favorite classes were by far potions and Defense against the dark arts,

Potions were almost mystical to me, the concoction of powerful potions and elixirs to create truly powerful and unique effects. I was especially interested in healing potions, like the Wiggenweld potion, which could heal wounds or reverse the effects of the sleeping drought. It inspired me to start searching for more complex healing potions. I wondered if there were potions that could truly heal almost anything like seen in games or in other fandoms. Maybe if I could create that, I could gain a mastery in potions, it would be a valid career in the future with potential to earn a lot of galleons.

Now don't get me wrong, Potions is a difficult subject and I was barely mediocre by this point, but the more I studied the ingredients, saw examples of the different shades the potions were supposed to get and how to properly cut the ingredients and why, things started to make more sense. I had a feeling that I could actually do this in the future!

Although by how Snape seemed to look at us, none of us seemed to be up to par, but he did direct us to the reading materials to better ourselves, even if we weren't Slytherins.

Now the last of the subjects was defense against the dark arts. Professor Knott was truly different to the rest, besides being, well eccentric doesn't quite fit the bill, but unpredictable YES unpredictable, that fit him nicely. We were all seated in class ready for the lesson, most had already heard that Professor Knott was a truly awesome teacher, and he taught exciting classes, so everybody was excited. 5 minutes after the class was supposed to start, there was still no sight of him. Finally 10 minutes passed and the door banged open and the Professor walked in, clothes completely torn to pieces, hair with twigs in it, and he looked like he was bleeding from his arm. "That's the last time I help Hagrid feed his STUPID hippogriffs, stupid birds and their stupid honor!". As he reached his desk, he suddenly realized that he was in a class filled with students, he looked down at his clothes and then up at us, and showed a sheepish grin, he flicked his hand and his wand came out, it looked completely black with what almost looked like stars shining in a void, flicked it and he looked as good as new.

"Well class, never mind that, you are here to practice the art of defense! Now I take a different approach to classes, you will not be assigned homework like many other teachers do, I will not have you write useless parchments of theories, Defense against the dark arts is about living it, practicing! What I will ask, is for you to read up on spells for the next class, only the theory is needed, and then we can spend the class learning it in practice. I also run drills, games, exercises and dueling!". Murmurs ran through the class since it sounded exciting!

"Now let me introduce a simple spell, it is well used for target practice, and since this is your first class, I can only imagine you will love getting started with casting some actual magic!" He waved his wand, and we were all scooted out to the sides, with the chairs and tables melting off around us and disappearing leaving us standing with our things.

"Now ma-ha-su is a very low powered striking hex, but the great thing about it, it's easy to cast, and with a little practice you can even change the speed of it, and by the end of this year, you will try casting it wordlessly! Now! Split up into fours and gather around these dummies". Wooden dummies with small wheels rolled out into the room and spread out among us.

I gathered with Eddie and two others, and stood around a dummy.

The professor looked around the room pleased "Now, let's play a little game, you each stand in a circle around the dummy, and your task is to push it away from you with the striking hex, so casting fast, and accurately is key! Ready? Begin!".

Mahasuu, mahaasu mmaahaaasuuuuuu, everybody started casting, it took only a couple of tries until Eddie and the others got it, and we all started blasting at the dummy, I was ecstatic! I felt like a proper mage blasting out magic at my foes, although it was a weak little striking hex that made a small ping sound, every time it hit, it was still really fun! It reminded me of working with Moody, and I could definitely see the difference between me and the other students. I always hit my target, and I was a lot more powerful. The dummy moved backwards from the hit whenever someone hit it, and moved around the circle as we all hit it. By the end of class none had won, but we were all very tired and much better at hitting the target. We all got hit by spells flying around but it didn't hurt much.

Professor Knott ended the class and told us to read up on the next spell he was going to teach us, and this was his way of doing things for now. We read up on the theory of the spell between classes, he demonstrated it in class and did exercises with us, so we could both practice the spell and the actual casting of it, making us able to hit things! It was almost like being back training with Moody!

He told us that by the second year we were going to be starting on dueling and team battles, I couldn't wait! With my training from Moody I hoped to be able to win some if not all.

The year was mostly getting used to the classes, learning new skills and hanging out with friends. I got better at potions, by a lot! Transfiguration I still hadn't gotten quite the nack for, I felt I was close, like I almost had it, but most classes felt like that.

One very fun class was an introduction to riding brooms, or flying class like most called it.

Madam Hooch is a flying maniac, as the class started and we all stood ready at our brooms it was immediately clear she loved flying, and she loved quidditch.

"Alright class, ready at your brooms, hands out, and with a firm will and voice, say UP. Come on now, get to it, we wanna be flying not standing about like spectators at a quidditch match right?".

A chorus of UP, and my broom flew up in my hand, as well as Eddies, several others followed suit, and we all mounted our brooms under instructions from Madam Hooch, and we all set off.

She led us in a follow the leader exercise while she kept an eye on us, we flew around the castle, and got to see it from above, and around the Quidditch pitch and finally back on the ground. Flying is a feeling like no other, you imagine sitting on a broom to be hell and really uncomfortable, but with all the charms added it felt like sitting on a nice couch.