Chapter 11 - Transfigurations
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3rd Person POV:
The first day was rather simple for Hadrian. He looked around the castle, found all his classes, and had some food from the Great Hall. Life was already buzzing around Hogwarts as the older students rushed to complete their summer homework and remember their previous schooling, and some decided to 'initiate' the younger students.
*Cough* Fred and George, *Cough*
But eventually, the day of freedom came to an end, and the first lesson wasn't far behind.
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It was a rather chilly autumn morning for the school as, despite its abundance of magic, it didn't have any heating charms set up, leaving the inexperienced new wizards(and witches) vulnerable. Of course, this didn't include one Hadrian Peverell.
"No, I will not use a heating charm on you, Zabini," Hadrian grumbled for what seemed to be the millionth time, irritation seeping into his voice as he subtly scooted away from the overzealous boy.
"Well, why not?" he complained, looking at Hadrian with large wholly ineffective puppy dog eyes.
"We've been over this, I do not have the concentration to use the charm on two at the moment, less you want to be set on fire or depending on how badly it backfires have a hole through your forehead, although that will probably be on purpose."
Despite Hadrian's rather strong response, he actually had been doing rather well with Zabini, becoming something close to associates, although he wouldn't tell anyone that. Much less that Bones girl who despite him only knowing for around two days has been rather desperate to become his friend.
If anyone was close to becoming something even resembling the title it would be Nott, who's quiet nature and intelligent comments had let the boy be closer to Hadrian than any of his roommates.
Especially closer than that Malfoy kid.
Not caring to listen to Zanini's ramblings, Hadrian tuned him out, his gaze landing on the odd tabby cat in front of him. His eyes once again caught onto the rather strange orange aura that seemed to seep out of the cat.
It was stronger than anyone else in the class that was for sure.
He looked around the classroom trying to see if any of his classmates were looking at the cat but to his surprise, no one seemed to be examining it. In fact, some looked like they wanted to pet the damn thing.
'This can't be something normal for cats in the wizarding world, can it?' he thought, his mind racing once again.
'Maybe this cat is a familiar, it is rather common at least from what muggles believe about witches and wizards for cats to be their familiars. It was even on the school list then, and we have seen some muggle theories to be true, like ghosts, for example. Although I've never seen a witch with green skin and warts all over their body, and the traditional cat familiar is black-'
His internal ramblings were cut off by the swing of the door, and two rather loud Gryffindors entered. 'The redhead,' Hadrian recalled, his mind going back to the train incident. He couldn't remember the name of the student beside him but he was sure it wasn't relevant.
"Whew, made it!" Redhead exclaimed, sickeningly sweet relief washing over his face. "Can you imagine the look on old Mc. Gonogall's face if we were late?!"
His friend nodded, letting out a victorious smile.
Before the smile could get any wider, however, the 'tabby cat' transformed in front of the student's very eyes, making a few sleepy students widen their eyes and give the woman it turned into their full attention.
"That was bloody brilliant!" Redhead, yells, verballing what the students all seemed to be thinking.
"Thank you for your assessment Mr. Weasley," the woman responded, a stern undertone to her voice. "Perhaps it would be more useful if I were to transfigure Mr. Finnigan and yourself into a pocket watch? That way, one of you might be on time."
You could see how the Slytherins grinned while the Gryffindors frowned, two very distinct expressions and their faces. Of course, some students, like Hadrian, just looked on with indifference and potentially hidden curiosity.
The professor proceeded to lecture and ramble about transfigurations but by that time Hadrian's mind was already lost to the theories. Let's just say he wouldn't be sleeping that night.
Eventually, the class moved on to practical applications. The woman, or professor he should say, handed out a match stick to each student raising a few eyebrows.
"What are we going to light the castle on fire?" a Gryffindor asked innocently.
"More like turn it into something else. You know, transfigurations," his classmate replied, practically rolling their eyes at the question.
The wo- professor, instructed the children to turn the matchstick into a needle. A silver one to be exact.
It was finally time for their first attempt at magic.
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Hadrian POV:
It was rather simple, at least in my head it was.
In application, not so much. Charms I could get easily, just a flick of my fingers and some minor concentration. This, however, was different.
'Turn into a needle you idiotic toothpick!' I screamed in his head, a vein bulging on my forehead as the matchstick once again refused to change.
I'd tried so many different ways, from imagining the toothpick to be something else, to mentally chanting some Latin phrase to change. But no matter what I did it wouldn't budge.
It didn't help my pride that some Gryffindor girl got the charm to work before I did, her matchstick turning into an almost perfect silver needle on what was around her 10th attempt. Meanwhile, I was on his 100th attempt and was nowhere close to her wonderful example of how bad I was.
I ended the class with the toothpick half transformed and needing a lot of work.
"Damn transfigurations," I muttered under my breath, stuffing the thing in my pocket for later use. I would master that damn spell if it was the last thing I did.
The next class was Charms which helped me regain some of that pride I had lost, gaining Slytherin 10 points for my excellent knowledge.
But of course, now I once again had a practical challenge.
I let out a sigh, knowing that I could do the Lumos charm with my eyes closed. Or at least hopefully, could use the Lumos charm. Who knows if all my magical talent just disappeared over the night?
I ignored Zabini rambling beside me and focused on the wand, letting out a constant flow of magic power and feeling the magic run through my veins. When I opened my eyes a white glow was shining from my wand and Slyherin had gained twenty points for the "Exceptional demonstration."
But it wasn't enough.
It wasn't enough.
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Sneak Peak
The next morning the mail finally came in at Hogwarts and boy did people have things to say. There were titles all over the newspaper like, "Boy who lived not at Hogwarts?!" and "What happened to our savior," but the most amusing one had to be the rumor mill.
While I, in general, wasn't one for gossip I had to admit, this was rather entertaining. Aside from the fact that the rumors were about 'me' or a former persona of mine. That really did take a lot of the fun out of it.
"Can you believe the news?!" Bones exclaimed, her hair once again getting in front of my face. I ignored her, choosing to eat the little food I put on my plate.
"It's morning, child, and I don't have the energy to deal with whatever this is," I said, gesturing to her face. I was at the Slytherin table attempting to enjoy my morning meal, but it seems like my bad luck had stricken again.
You could see the other Slytherins eyeing me and my little 'companion,' as she hung around the table, trying to make conversation. It wasn't working.
I had already learned that ignoring the menace's presence would do no good, and the only for it to go away was waiting for our lord and savior: the school bell.
It was a free period for me the first thing that morning, and the library was the first place I was going to go. Obviously.
It was quiet in there, few students taking advantage of the plethora of knowledge hidden in between the bookshelves. The library was large and very poorly organized.
(A/N: What did you prefer, the first person or third person perspective?)