chapter 7

Hogwarts, 1973

"Welcome all of you to Hogwarts. My name is Horace Slughorn, Hogwarts's Potions Master, and I hope that during these years together we'll get to know each other well. I personally like to think of my students as a big family and I try to maintain contacts even after your school ends, as once a family always a family" said a plump man with neatly combed hairs.

Gilderoy knew of him obviously, as his mother had told him about all teachers she met in Hogwarts. So he knew of all of them except for the current DADA teacher, and some other professors, who only arrived recently.

Thanks to the information he was given, Gilderoy knew that this special treatment extended only to the worthiest students, the ones with famous relatives and the nobles.

Having this said, Slughorn was a fair teacher who was well liked by all, but he certainly had a tendence to try to socialize more with the most promising students.

He had even formed a clique of the greatest students in Hogwarts called the "Slug club".

That sounded like paradise to Gilderoy.

Once inside you were able to get to know the most outstanding people of the school and makes good connections with them; moreover, Slughorn often helped people with their career later on, by using his many contacts.

Some may say that his methods were unfair, but isn't he actually doing the best thing a teacher could do?

He is not penalizing the normal students, but at the same time he is helping the most talented to reach excellence.

Certainly, he reaps some favours and benefits here and there, but that is just a small pay for all the help he has given.

"Oh, you must be Aaron, I'm happy to meet the new generation of the Abbots. It seems like it was just yesterday that I taught your father here. Be sure to send my regards to him in your next letter" said Slughorn before starting the lesson.

"It must be nice to come from a noble family. I bet his father entered the ministry the same year he left Hogwarts" commented in his mind Gilderoy.

Aaron will probably be the first Ravenclaw of this year to be invited to the slug club, just because of his lineage, but this wasn't enough to demoralize Gilderoy, after all he was sure that with his talent it won't take him long to become the best student of his year, if not the whole school.

"Today we'll make the Boil Cure, a very basic potion, that, as the name implies, can cure boils like the ones produced by the Pimple jinx. When brewing a potion, you must pay attention and follow the instructions to the letter. Many in the begging underestimate the danger that comes with this subject, but there will be many melting cauldrons and explosion, especially in the beginning. I can assure you that no one ever encountered a bad fate during my career, so nothing serious will happen, as here at school you have me, but in case you decide to practice on your own, be sure to take the necessary precautions. Now open your book to the right page" explained Slughorn as he walked around the class.

The kids soon started preparing the potion and as Slughorn said there were many failures and sometime accidents, but Gilderoy luckily had Allanon who helped him, as this potion was an ancient one, which existed in his age too.

"Now take the cauldron off the fire and add the porcupine quills in a uniform manner. Remember that even these small details are important for potions, and the quality can be raised if the ingredients are well placed" instructed Allanon and Gilderoy made sure to give his best.

"Finished!" exclaimed Gilderoy after he did the final wave of his wand.

Unfortunately, he was third as there were some purebloods, who had already received teachings at home and were more used to the process, but it was a very good result for his first try. Although having Allanon helping him was a huge help.

"Let me see, let me see. It has the right tonality of blue and it also produce just enough pink smoke. Let's test it" he said touching with a finger the content, as with potions like this there was no need for many precautions, especially when it looked this good.

"It is giving me the right sensations; you did an excellent job Mr…" he pause waiting for me to tell him my surname.

"Lockhart, Gilderoy Lockhart" I replied with a smile.

"You surname sounds new, but your face reminds me of something" he muttered, while looking attentively at me.

"Maybe you are referring to my mother, Elizabeth Jones" I told him, and his face suddenly got illuminated with the realization.

"Ah, you are the son of Elizabeth. It has been a few years, but I already miss her. She was one of the best colleagues I've had the pleasure to work with. She was the last professor of DADA, who stayed here for more than a year. Be sure to give her my best regards. 5 points to Ravenclaw!" he said, before leaving.

"Do you think I have a talent for potions too?" asked Gilderoy to Allanon.

"Potions is a class that everyone can be good at with the right attention and practice, but talented ones are those, who can go outside the schemes and those who invents new potions. Obviously there are also those, who for some reasons are negated with it" replied the old druid and in that precise moment a cauldron melted a few meters from Gilderoy.

The lesson soon ended, and the Ravenclaws went toward their next class in the south tower: charms, which they shared with Slytherin.

"First of all, I would like to introduce myself, I'm Filius Flitwick your Charms professor and also the head of house of Ravenclaw, so if any of you little ravens have any problem, I'm always disponible" said the small man, who seemed to have some blood relations with goblins.

"First let's understand what charms are. A charm is a spell, which allow you to add a certain propriety to an object. The difference between charms and transfiguration is that while the latter alter what the object is, charms deal with what the object does. An object that has a lasting charm placed on it is called bewitched, but a charm can't work indefinitely alone as it may deteriorate with time, but there are some ways I'll teach you in the future to maintain them or restore them. You may have also heard about dark charms: which are jinxes, hexes and curses. Can anyone of you tell me the difference?" asked Flitwick looking eagerly at the class.

There were many Ravenclaw and even some Slytherins, who wanted to answer the question, but they were a little shy, and hesitated to reply, since they were still new to this.

Gilderoy on the other hand didn't have a problem with exposing himself first, so he immediately raised his hands.

"Oh Mr. Lockhart, right? You can answer" said the professor, smiling at the sight of one of his ravens behaving already like a normal Ravenclaw.

"Jinxes are a minor type of Dark Magic, and compared to the other two they have the least severe effects and are made more to irritate the target. Hexes already cause some suffering to the subject and are a moderated type of dark arts, which is slightly worse than jinxes. Curses on the other hand are the wort kind of dark charm and the effect are severe. The three worst curses are called unforgivable and those who use them are punished harshly." Said Gilderoy, who had a lot of knowledge about these things as his mother was a professor of DADA.

"Great answer Mr. Lockhart. 10 points to Ravenclaw! Now, you'll only learn jinxes here in Hogwarts during your DADA classes, while you'll only learn some anti-jinxes, which are charms that exist to prevent jinxes here in my class. As for the other two types of dark charms I do hope that you won't have to ever use one, and they won't be taught in school" stated Flitwick, while looking around, but some of the Slytherins just smiled at him with a mocking expression after hearing his warning.

Flitwick just limited himself to shake his head in disappointment and proceeded with the lesson.

"Now we'll start practising the first spell you'll learn this year in Charms: the levitation spell, first developed in the sixteenth century, and warlock Jarleth Hobart is credited with its creation. If you want to know more about its history you can read it on the book in your free time, but for now I want to concentrate on the practice. The levitation charm allows you to make object levitate and you can then also move them in the air trough magic, a wondrous spell with the only flaw that it doesn't work on living beings, except for few of the smaller ones. Now I want you to make the feather in front of you levitate. I'll show you the correct pronunciation of the spell and the right hand movement, so look with attention and try to copy me later" said Flitwick, before taking out his wand and waving it while pronouncing the incantation "wingardium leviosa".

Immediately the feather flew in the air and the professor made it fly all over the classroom, before letting it go back to its previous place.

"Ok now it's your turn" he said and the class soon became noisy with many students who were chanting the incantation.

"Win-GAR-dee-um leh-VEE-oh-sa" said Gilderoy, but the feathers didn't move. He then made other tries, but he was only able to let the feather tremble a little.

"I think your teacher marked more the oh" commented Allanon.

"Win-GAR-dee-um leh-vee-OH-sa" said Gilderoy, finally able to make the feather levitate, but when he tried to move it, he couldn't make it go as fast as some of the pureblood scions could.

"Magic abilities are related to lineage. Those with a good one are usually favoured when it comes to magic abilities like spells. There are a few exceptions, but usually it is like this." Explained Allanon, aware of the confusion that Gilderoy was feeling.

"How could that be?" asked Gilderoy devastated.

If there was one thing he never doubted was his talent, how could he lack in this? He refused to make a fool of himself in front of others. Even if this meant not using charms.

Gilderoy wasn't lacking, in fact he was slightly above average in charms, but this wasn't enough for him, as he refused to let others know he wasn't good in something.

"Calm down boy" said Allanon understanding where Gilderoy thoughs were going.

"You can't be a wizard if you can't do spells, especially if you want to make it big. So don't you dare try to skip learning charms. I said that lineage is fundamental, but there are indeed some other ways to get over this problem. I too wasn't that good in the beginning, but I later overcome my short comings" said Allanon.

"A body attuned with magic allow you to use more of it, while a mind attuned with magic allows you to use it efficiently. These two are the most important talents that one need when it comes to magic, but in reality the most important factor is the will, which has nothing to do with talent. Every spell needs a will behind, in this case the more you can picture your desire to make the feather fluctuate the better it is. This is also the only factors that can be improved by practice. Chant and wand movement I presume they are things that got invented to help people, but they are not truly important. since when you become accustomed to a certain spell you can discard both and achieve better results. In fact in my time, they didn't exist and while it was harder to practice complicate spells, it also helped people to create incredibly powerful magics and only by using your will can you achieve that.

I know of ways that can help you improve these three factors, but they all will take time and dedication, but if you want to achieve greatness and receive glory, you will need to work the hardest, you won't have an easy journey like these noble kids. Are you ready to know these methods?" Asked Allanon.

The passion in Gilderoy lit up again! He won't run away anymore! If he wants to be the best, he must keep going ahead.