Chapter 20— Professor Yan?

~Fun Fact: Hagrid tells Harry that "There's not a witch or wizard who went bad who wasn't in Slytherin." However, Peter Pettigrew betrayed Harry's parents and he was in Gryffindor. While Hagrid didn't know at the time that Pettigrew was the traitor, he did believe that Sirius was and he was also a Gryffindor— therefore contradicting himself.

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The usually noisy Great Hall was subdued today. Not that it was any surprise, it was early in the morning after all. A day had passed since the Potions incident and besides attending lessons, I spent my time socialising with my roommates and checking in on Harry. And I had to say, he seemed to be doing well. He usually hangs out with Tracey and Daphne and when we have the same free periods, me and Neville. Ceasing my pondering, I took a bite out of the toast in my hand. My lessons today weren't too bad in all honesty. Potions with Ravenclaw, followed by Transfiguration with Gryffindor.

'Nothing could go wrong right?' I thought with not a single care in my mind as I turned around to converse with my fellow first years.

*****

I had temped the very gods of irony. Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. It happened in Potions, Professor Snape had instructed us to brew the 'Forgetfulness Potion' and when I say instruct, I mean that he wrote the steps on the blackboard with no demonstration and was now prancing about the classroom in an attempt to intimidate everyone.

And here's where it gets worse. While brewing the 'Forgetfulness Potion', Neville miraculously managed to douse himself in it. I don't even know how he did it. Not only did it cause him to suffer burns from the heat of the cauldron, but also memory loss. This once again, caused Professor Snape to send him to Madam Pomfrey along with his unfortunate partner, Anthony Goldstein, who was also splashed with potion.

After that debacle, it was time for Transfiguration. Neville was understandably excused from the lesson due to his accident in Potions so it was just me and the rest of my roommates walking to Transfiguration. We entered the classroom and were faced with a few student spread sparsely around the room. I looked around the class for any sight of Professor McGonagall when I instead spotted a black cat sitting on the teacher's desk.

"Where's the Professor?" Wayne whispered to me, walking to the cat in an attempt to stroke it.

The cat hissed and scratched his hand. He turned to me with an aggrieved look.

"Why's this cat such a menace to society?!" He cried.

"I don't know." I said, holding back my laughter. "But we may as well sit down since we're already here."

'Imagine how McGonagall feels after being called a menace to society! Even better, I can't wait for Wayne's reaction' I thought in anticipation.

The tables in the Transfiguration classroom were able to seat four people in a row. I picked the second row from the front and sat down next to Wayne, Ernie, and Justin; who were on my right. My gaze settled on the black cat on the table: A.K.A Professor McGonagall. She had markings under her eyes in the shape of glasses and her eyes glittered with intelligence.

'I wonder what my animagus transformation would be...' I thought curiously.

As time passed, more and more people flowed through the door and eventually, everyone had entered the classroom. It was then that Professor McGonagall chose to initiate her big reveal. Turning back into her usual stern-faced self, she began her lesson with a speech.

"Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts," she said, staring at Wayne as her eyes narrowed. "Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned."

The number of facial expressions Wayne's face cycled through was hilarious. Eventually, he turned to me, laughing nervously. I, being the lovely friend I am, held back the laugh that threatened to tear from mouth and patted his shoulder sympathetically.

Professor McGonagall then changed her desk into a pig and back again. Everyone all seemed very impressed and couldn't wait to get started.

'Damn, she baited them hard. I wonder when they'll realise they won't be able do this for quite a while...' I thought.

After taking a lot of complicated notes, we were each given a match and instructed to turn it into a needle.

'Well, here goes nothing.' I thought confidently.

I willed my magic to turn the matchstick into a needle, my wand pulsing in agreement as I waved it over the matchstick. The features of the matchstick morphed as the colour changed to a metallic silver. The back end of the matchstick became the eye of the needle and the front end became even more pointed and reflected its surroundings.

Professor McGonagall, who was checking everyone's progress, walked towards my table. Looking at the now transfigured matchstick, her eyebrows rose in surprise.

"Well done Mr. Barak." She said, a smile on her face. "Take ten points for Hufflepuff."

By the end of the lesson, only Parvati Patil had made any difference to her match; Professor McGonagall showed the class how it had gone all silver and pointy and then showed them my perfectly transfigured needle. Parvati looked at me angrily as if I had offended her.

'Why's she looking at me like I stole her thunder?' I thought. 'Oh wait, I did!'

I held back my laughter at the fact that I had unwittingly become an eleven year-old's rival.

As for the rest of the day, it went swimmingly. I had no lessons after Transfiguration so I spent the day finishing next week's homework. Opening the book to chapter two, I was sat on a comfortable armchair in the common room.

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'Chapter 1: What is magic?'

This Question has been asked many times and many have tried to answer it, many thought they found the answer yet upon further inspection all answers have been found to be insufficient in one way or another. Don't expect an answer to be given here for there will be none given, that doesn't mean that there won't be any answers, just not 'the Answer', only answers that have been found to be close to the truth.

Magic is often said to be an energy, this is mostly sufficient for basic uses such as spells, a spell being a magical act that will always gain a similar result for everyone skilled in magic, they do need no understanding or idea of how it could work or why it works, they always work for the group of beings the spell was created for, basic spells need no sacrifices or runes to be drawn beforehand and work mostly on the believe that the spell will work, the intend for the spell to work and power, power is here referring to the energy, the amount of magic used, if you think of magic as an energy only then many things cannot be explained.

One of them being the sentience that magic sometimes seems to have, there are even beings made purely out of magic, now, some may say that these beings get their sentience from nature, it is however not proven for nature to be sentient, additionally does that only work for beings like elementals which are comprised of only their element and magic, what about those magic entities that live in the void with no connections to anything[discussions about the void and its impossibility have been had and it is therefore assumed for the convenience of the reader that it is still a void, even with the being existing]?

Now that would mean that magic has an inherent sentience or that there is no absolute Answer anyone has as of yet thought of.

An inherent sentience is something often accredited to magic but can be disproven as if magic had an inherent sentience, let's call it 'Lady Magic' would mean that all magic works for one goal, has one purpose, but then how come that magic acts sometimes with and sometimes against the 'host', and how come someone can 'own' magic of their own with the absoluteness that is? As long as one does not shun ones magic, creating an Obscurus, it will always be loyal to its user, that would mean that magic only wants to be free, some may say it wants to be used but that is easily disproved by the fact that even if you never use your magic it won't harm you. Additionally would magic, if it had a 'Lady Magic' some kind of preference, making some magic easier to cast than other, difficulty of magic is only determined by seeming complexity of what is cast and the power and control needed for the act.

Additionally if a 'Lady Magic' existed then how come purely magic entities have been seen to fight without anyone controlling them, they would all be part of the overall 'Hive-mind' that is 'Lady Magic' making infighting a nonissue.

If magic only wanted to be free, as said earlier and not yet disproven, then it would never obey any rules, it would always try to break them and it would definitely follow no such rigid rules as many wizards impose upon it.

Some even said magic is only imposing your will upon the world, changing the perception of the world, the world being regarded as somewhat of an entity, and by changing its perception changing 'the truth', this is of some interest for some rare magics but for most it is wrong and would contradict upon which that is build.

Therefore we can say that magic can be seen as an energy in many ways, has some kind of sentience to it but at the same time it doesn't as well. Another important fact is that magic is formed by what and how we believe it to be. Never believe something to be impossible to achieve with magic as that makes it impossible for you to achieve, magic has no rules but the one you believe it to have.

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My reading was disturbed by Neville, who had finally returned from his trip to the infirmary.

"Hello Neville!" I said. "How're you doing?"

"I'm fine Yan, thanks for asking." Replied Neville, slightly abashed. "It's time for dinner so I was just coming to get you. Justin, Ernie and Wayne were kind of worried when I asked them where you were and Zacharias kind of just stared at me while growling, I think..."

I looked around and saw that besides the older students, there was no-one else left in the common room. I couldn't stop the embarrassment from showing on my face as I looked at Neville, slightly flushed.

"Ahem, right you are my friend. And it's okay, Zacharias is just upset over the boils incident, don't worry though!" I said, clearing my throat as I stood up. "Now, off we go!"

Neville and I turned around and walked towards the passage and made our way to the Great Hall.

'I really need to find a spell that can tell me what time it is...' I thought.

*****

It was the next day and I was bubbling with excitement, ready to see my favourite professor. I say favourite, but I've never actually met the man. Regardless, Professor Flitwick was a personal favourite character of mine in the books, though Sprout and McGonagall were close seconds.

I arrived in front of the charms classroom ten minutes earlier than necessary and peered inside the open door. The room was arranged in a similar way to Professor McGonagall's classroom. There were tables along the left and right sides of the room as well as along the back, forming the shape of the letter 'U' but the curve of the letter was straight lined.

In the front of the room was a blackboard, and a teacher's desk and in the centre of the tables was a stack of books, presumable for the diminutive professor to stand on. The professor himself was sitting at his desk, marking what I presumed to be homework of some sort. Professor Flitwick was an old man with receding white hair. He wore oval rimmed spectacles and had a impressive moustache extending outwards (See Paragraph Comment).

By some stroke of fate, he looked up from his desk and saw me, breaking out into a smile.

'Damn, there's no need to hide any longer then.' I thought as I walked through the door and made my way towards the Professor.

"Why hello there!" He said in a squeaky but kind voice. "What's your name young man?"

"I'm Aayan Barak, sir." I replied respectfully.

Upon hearing my last name, his eyebrows shot upwards.

"Ah! Is your mother by any chance Sophia Barak?" He asked excitedly.

"Yes she is."

"Your mother was a joy to teach, indeed! Always had one question or another when it came to charms. It was no surprise to me when she chose to become a duelist."

"My mum is pretty cool, isn't she?" I said, a proud smile blooming on my face.

"That she is Mr Barak, that she is." He said, shaking his head with a smile. "Now, go find a seat. Since you're here early, I'll tell you what you'll be studying today. I'll be introducing you to Charms as well as teaching you all how to cast the levitation charm, 'Wingardium Leviosa'."

'Alrighty, here's my chance to impress him!' I thought, throwing caution to the wind.

"I already know the levitation charm, sir!" I said, sounding awfully similar to a certain fuzzy-haired girl.

"Truly?!" Said Professor Flitwick excitedly. "Do show me, my boy!"

I flicked my right wrist as my wand shot into my hand. I felt a familiar pulse of magic as if my wand was saying hello to me.

'What's up, Wandy!' I thought, as my wand pulsed in reply.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" I intoned, waving my wand as I focused on levitating one of the papers on Professor Flitwick's table.

I felt a rush of what I could only assume to be magic flow through my body before travelling through my wand. The paper began to float upwards and the higher it rose, the happier the expression on Professor Flitwick's face became.

'Heh, let's kick it up a notch then!'

I rotated the paper, moved it around the room and floated it around Professor Flitwick's head before finally setting it down atop the pile of papers it was originally on.

"Bravo my boy!" said Professor Flitwick, clapping excitedly at my display. "Twenty five points to Hufflepuff! Would you mind demonstrating the charm for me in class?"

"No sir" I replied, grinning. "I'd be happy to."

I walked back to find somewhere to sit. Settling on the back row, I sat down, closing my eyes as I waited for the rest of the class to arrive.

Once everyone had arrived, Professor Flitwick completed the register, stood atop the stack of books, and lectured us on the proper way to cast the Levitation Charm as well as the history behind it.

"Now, don't forget that nice wrist movement we've been practicing!" squeaked Professor Flitwick in warning, perched on top of the pile of books. "Swish and flick, remember, swish and flick. And saying the incantation properly is very important, too — never forget Wizard Baruffio, who said 'b' instead of 'v' and found himself on the floor with a buffalo on his chest."

He set us off and ten minutes later, I looked around to see if anyone had got it. Hermione had nailed it after her third try and was grinning at Padma Patil and an Asian girl sitting next to her.

"Oh, well done!" cried Professor Flitwick, clapping. "Everyone see here, Miss Granger's done it! Five points to Ravenclaw!"

Soon afterwards the Asian girl and Padma Patil had succeeded, eliciting an excited response from Professor Flitwick.

"Very good!" He said. "Five points to Ravenclaw for Misses Patil and Li's wonderful work!"

'Ah, so she's Sue Li.' I thought.

Another ten minutes had passed when Professor Flitwick called me up to demonstrate the spell.

"Now everybody, since some of you seem a little stumped, I've asked Mr Barak here to demonstrate for you." He said amicably.

I was suddenly the focus of attention as I felt a bead of sweat go down my back.

'I know they're kids but that's some pressure..' I thought apprehensively as 15 pairs of eyes looked at me expectantly.

Clearing my head of distracting thoughts, I focused myself on the task at hand. I flicked my right wrist once more, my ash-coloured wand shooting into my hand.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" I said in a voice filled with confidence, waving my wand and levitating the feather of a Ravenclaw.

'Although he didn't ask me to explain, I'd like to help since it's of no consequence to me... should I?' I thought. 'Ah fuck it, why not.'

"Now, the most important thing to succeeded in levitating your feathers is intent and imagination." I said. "You have to feel your magic as you cast the spell and visualise what you want to happen. Obviously saying the correct words and making the right motions is a requirement for this to work so make sure you are one-hundred percent confident in doing that first."

"Well said Mr Barak!" Said Flitwick happily. "Five points to Hufflepuff!"

I looked around the class as the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws furiously scribbled down their notes. Nodding my head appreciatively, I walked back to my seat. By the end of the lesson, the entire class was able to at least levitate the feather while half of them, with varying degrees of accuracy, could move it while in the air.

"Well done everybody!" Said Professor Flitwick, standing at the door. "Now, I hope you're looking forward to the wondrous charms we'll be covering in the future. Your homework will be to research the uses and history of the 'Wand-lighting Charm' for next lesson. Goodbye, until we meet again, and have a lovely weekend!"

As everyone was leaving the class, I stayed behind, waiting for Professor Flitwick to notice me.

"Ah Mr Barak, what can I do for you?" He asked.

"Sorry for bothering you sir, but I have a question." I began. "I know I'm not ready to learn how to duel, but what do you suggest I do to prepare myself in the coming years?"

Upon hearing the world "dueling", he shifted from good-natured Professor to Professional Duelist in seconds.

"I see you have an interest in dueling." He said. "Now while dueling as a club is discontinued here at Hogwarts, if there's enough interest, I may be able to petition to the Headmaster to reinstate it. Training-wise, I recommend that you work on your flexibility, balance, and overall fitness. Go on runs everyday and train your body's strength. If you can adhere to this, come see me at the start of your third year."

"Thanks sir!" I said gratefully, walking out of the classroom. "See you next week."

"Not at all, Mr Barak!" He said, waving at me as I walked through the door.

'Lets go!' I thought excitedly. 'He all but offered to teach me how to duel!'

Since I only had one lesson on Fridays, I was pretty much free for the entire day.

'Well, I'll go to the library to complete Professor Flitwick's homework and then go train I guess...' I thought as I walked down the corridor and onwards to the library.

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