Chp 4: The First Day

Instead of a cat, Professor McGonagall was already waiting when Brian entered the Transfiguration class. Alas, he was hoping to see her transform into a cat. He found Animagus to be incredibly fascinating.

All of the students straightened their backs as Professor McGonagall sharp eyes swept over their faces. She then began the lesson by turning a desk into a pig, which shocked and amazed the whole class.

Brian watched the pig with great interest. It grunted and trotted across the room like a real animal would.

Professor McGonagall started delving into the theory after warning everyone about the dangers of Transfiguration. When she asked everyone to start practising, Brian failed to turn a match into a needle. In the end, all he did was make the match slightly thinner.

And so he made the decision to try out his system. He brought up the status and reached for the plus sign next to the Transfiguration and clicked it. His Transfiguration immediately went up by one rank.

[Transfiguration - Troll → Junior Wizard!]

The effect was immediate. As soon as Brian tried again, he had the familiar feeling of having practised this spell many times before. Even though he didn't do it right the first time, he got better at it over time. By the time the class was over, he managed to transform the match into a fine silver needle.

Professor McGonagall, who noticed this, gave Brian a nod of approval and awarded Slytherin five points.

When asked by Malfoy how he did it, he just said lots of practice, much to the former's irritation.

As he was leaving the class, his mind wandered back to what he had experienced during the class. While the system did help with his transfiguration, it did not impart any relevant knowledge about the subject. He also realised that the only point he got was wasted because he could have improved his magical abilities on his own.

While he was deep in his thoughts, the blond-haired witch who he had seen during yesterday's sorting suddenly came up to him.

"Good afternoon, Fawley. I'm Daphne, Daphne Greengrass." She offered a friendly greeting before introducing herself. "You can call me Daphne."

"Good afternoon to you as well, Daphne. I'm Brian, it's nice to meet you," Brian replied with a polite smile.

"I've heard of you, Brian. Mrs. Fawley often comes to my mother's tea party," Daphne spoke casually.

"Ah, yes, I do believe I have had a few encounters with Mrs. Greengrass at my home," Brian said helplessly, "They do love their tea time."

Daphne chuckled, "Yes, they sure do."

"By this is Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle," Brian introduced his roommates to her.

Daphne greeted them briefly before resuming her cold demeanour. Together, they went to the History of Magic class. After separating from the group, Daphne sat down next to her friend.

In the meantime, Brian took a seat next to Goyle and opened his new copy of Bathilda Bagshot's "A History Of Magic." He eagerly began reading it right away.

The History of Magic teacher, Professor Binns, was a real master in hypnosis. He spoke monotonously, recounting the ostensibly important historical events as though he were reciting at a funeral.

Everyone in the class was already dozing off, as though Professor Binns had bewitched the lot of them, save for him, Daphne, and a few others.

Brian stopped paying attention to the lesson because he felt it would be best for him to study on his own.

The next class was Defense Against the Dark Arts, which was unquestionably the worst of all. They had to spend two hours in a room that smelled strongly of garlic.

Brian watched as Professor Quirrell stuttered through the entire lesson, and he couldn't help but wonder how Voldemort put up with the smell. As if he could hear his thoughts, Professor Quirrell glanced over at Brian, who quickly scrambled to take notes.

For the rest of the subjects, like Herbology and Astronomy, they were okay. Overall, though, he was only interested in Transfiguration, Charms, and Potions.

Speaking of Potions, Brian thought back to the time he first met the Golden Trio in the class.

*Flashback*

As soon as Brian sat down, he noticed that three familiar people wearing Gryffindor robes were seated at the table next to him.

One of them was a little, skinny boy with unkempt black hair covering a scar on his forehead. His emerald green eyes shone brightly behind his round glasses. He was Harry Potter, the famous boy who lived.

A lanky boy with fiery red hair and freckles was sitting next to him. The moment he saw Brian was looking at him, he shot a menacing glance in Brian's direction. Obviously, this was Harry's sidekick, Ronald Weasley.

A little more away from them sat a little child with long, bushy brown hair and large front teeth. This was Hermione Granger, the brain of the Golden Trio. Her friendship with Harry and Ron was not very close at the moment. She was currently reading the potions textbook by herself.

Professor Snape began the class with a roll call, and when Harry's name was mentioned, he stopped and started mocking Harry nonstop. Seeing it unfold in person, as opposed to reading about it or seeing it on screen, was an entirely new and unique experience.

After Harry was given a ruthless beat down, Professor Snape continued on. He paused slightly when his name and Draco were called. Professor Snape must have known his father, Brian thought.

Then there came the bit where Snape asked a few questions to make things difficult for Harry. Brian had zero plans to take part in it. No, thank you, sir. He simply took notes as he flipped the pages of his textbook.

Later on in the class, when the students were learning how to brew potions, Snape found numerous ways to deduct points from Gryffindor, particularly Harry Potter. He was always breathing down Harry's neck and came up with all kinds of reasons to dock him points.

On Slytherin's side, it was the opposite. Brian paired up with Malfoy. Both of them tacitly agreed not to partner up with Crabbe and Goyle. Anway, whenever Snape came to their table, he would always nod in approval and disregard everything they had done wrong.

Even more embarrassingly, he demonstrated to every student how flawless their potion was, causing Brian to blush. There were lots of students that did their potions as well as he did, including Daphne's group, and he'd seen Hermione do far better than him.

However, Draco, being the proud peacock that he was, lifted his chin and smirked provocatively at Harry, making the latter grit his teeth in resentment.

Harry scowled bitterly and said to Ron, "That damn Malfoy! Look at him. He's so happy because Snape hates my guts."

As if to vent his anger, he chopped the slug on the cutting board repeatedly, pretending it was Draco's smug face.

The similar expression that Harry had was mirrored on Ron's face. "Don't forget, there is also that Brian Fawley, who's together with Malfoy. According to what I've heard, his family is very close to the Malfoys. They were once You-know-Who's supporters."

Harry, hearing Ron's comments, peered in Brian's way, just in time to see Brian raise his head in his direction. The Slytherin acknowledged him with a nod and turned his attention back to his concoction.

Harry looked back at Ron and said hesitantly, "Uh... I guess he's all right?"

Ron threw him an incredulous look. "Are you out of your mind? Can't you tell that he and Malfoy are good friends? Both of them are slimy snakes!"