Chapter 33
The following days went by faster than nothing, Allen tried to get the most of it, so each day he practiced transfiguration, hoping for the pain to go away whenever he used his wand.
Of course, he didn't forget about the Wand Raising charm, almost every morning, evening and even before going to sleep, he would cast the spell, and his wand answered happily in return, accepting his magic, Allen also casted the charm before any practice using his wand, to see if something would change. It did hurt less whenever he used the charm before practicing, but he didn't know if it was because of the charm or because he was getting used to casting transfigurations.
One thing that he did is that he stopped casting the transfiguration spells without a wand, and while it did made him a bit slower, it didn't change much compared to the other kids.
Allen was usually the first one to manage the spell, but now that he started using his wand more, Armand sometimes would be first, which only motivated Allen more to get a hang of his wand.
After one class of transfiguration, Professor McGonagall called him to stay behind.
"Do you think she favors you?" Armand asked as he continued to put back his books in his backpack.
"Honestly, I don't know, I think it's an in-between, since she did want me to be in Gryffindor:" Allen let out a long breath. "Right then, I'll catch up with you guys."
"Alright then, we'll be waiting for you in the Great Hall!" Exclaimed Elsie, waving as they left the classroom.
"Those are some good friends you've found, Mr Lionheart." Allen cringed a bit at the mention of his last name, while he wanted it to be a source of fear amongst the students who wanted to make fun of it, the truth is that he still couldn't accept it. It was better than before, that was for sure, but sometimes it did made his skin crawl.
"Yes, they are Professor. Can I ask you why you asked me to stay behind?" Allen crossed his arms, wondering if the rumours about him scaring the other kids reached the faculty's ears.
Professor McGonagall just nodded her head. "I won't keep you much longer, I was just curious about the sudden performance drop in my class while casting the transfiguration spells." She raised an eyebrow, a quizzical look showing on her face. "I've been told by the other professors that your studies are progressing smoothly, yet it is only in my class where you seem to be having trouble, but in the first couple of days wasn't like this. So I would like to know if there is something bothering you that I can help with."
I didn't expect it to be so noticeable, damn. Allen tried to think of an excuse as to why his performance suddenly dropped only in her class. His eyes darted from left to right yet nothing came to his mind.
Allen looked down. I didn't actually thought someone would notice! And I was getting better already, but I don't want to lie to Professor McGonagall, but I also don't want to tell her about my wandless magic, is bad enough that I showed it to William and Armand in the Hogwarts Express. And it's even worse now that half of Slytherin house knows. It's just an open secret at this point. A frown appeared on Allen's face. Cold sweat dripped from his back. No, this wasn't how it was supposed to be, I was supposed to keep my wandless magic secret, yet it's all I'm doing, fuck. Maybe I can still fake it, if I grab my wand while doing wandless magic, maybe they'll forget.
"Are you okay, Mr Lionheart?" The stern voice of Professor McGonagall took him out of his thoughts.
"I… I… It gets a bit difficult for me Professor, I'm not sure why exactly, but whenever I try to cast a transfiguration spell…" Allen doubted for a moment before he continued. "It feels like my magic can't do it, and I overexert myself." He finished saying. Allen didn't want to tell anyone his exact problem, it was enough with half of his house finding out about his wandless magic, he didn't want any more rumours.
So he told Professor McGonagall a half truth, not really specifying the reason for the sudden drop in performance.
"Hmm, I see… Can you show me? Cast the match-to-needle spell" The professor asked, pulling a box of matches and giving it to Allen.
He took the box and pulled out a match, grabbing it with his right hand, then, before he casted the spell, he first let out the Wand Raising charm, preparing his wand, and himself for the pain, it stopped hurting as much after a while, but its still worse than when used magic that he wasn't used to without a wand.
Allen shouted the spell towards the match, transfigurating it into a silver needle at his first try, it didn't take as much magic as the first time, but he still felt like it was too much for a first year spell. "Here Professor." He showed the needle to McGonagall and she grabbed it, looking it from all sides, casted a few scanning spells, then she put it down on her desk.
After a moment of silence, Professor McGonagall spoke. "Transfiguration is not permanent Mr Lionheart. We are not doing Alchemy, these spells are not supposed to last forever."
Fo- Forever?! Have I been casting these spells with the idea of them lasting forever?!That's why it takes such a toll on me?! But I just think about the transfiguration, not even how long its going to last. His mind spiraled down more and more towards a rabbit hole the more he thought about it. Wait, so does that mean than when I don't use my wand to cast transfigurations, they are gonna last forever? Or is that different?
Professor McGonagall cleared her throat, calling back Allen's attention to herself. "What is it going through your mind whenever you cast the spell Mr Lionheart?"
He doubted for a second before answering. "I- I just think about the match becoming a needle in my mind, I don't think about the duration or anything like that."
"And certainly, the spell doesn't require us to think about the duration of it, since it is already ingrained in the incantation, so I do wonder how is it that you managed to bypass that, and even more than that, how can you manage an almost permanent transfiguration." She hummed for a bit before continuing. "Try, Mr Lionheart, to think about the transfiguration to last for a day, whenever you cast a spell.
Here, try it again with another match."
Allen picked up a new match from the box, and just like before, he casted the match-to-needle spell, this time, thinking not only on the transfiguration, but also on the duration of it. It took him almost nothing out of his magic, but the pain from the previous spell was still present, yet when the transfiguration happened on the match, he didn't felt any kind of pain, and not only that, it didn't even take a fraction of his magic.
He let out a chuckle before looking back towards Professor McGonagall. "I think you were right Professor."
She just nodded, a small smile appeared on her face before it disappeared to a stern look. "Now, I hope you to keep up in my class Mr Lionheart, now, off you go, you don't want to be late, for your next class."
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"Right!" Allen picked up his backpack and ran towards the door. "Thank you Professor! I'll be the first one next class!" He waved his hand, saying goodbye to Professor McGonagall as he activated his magic again, this time, without his wand, enhancing his physique to run faster towards his next class.
After his little meeting with Professor McGonagall his magic seemed to improve, not only in transfiguration but in other classes as well, the only thing he needed to do was to be specific about what he wanted to happen whenever he used magic with his wand. Almost like a search engine, needs to specify exactly what I want. Allen let out a small laugh and his wand responded in kind, vibrating a bit.
Allen knew that this wasn't normal for a wand, since nothing of the sort appeared on the books or movies, and while yes, wands posses intelligence, or some kind of will, it's not supposed to be to the point of it that they can laugh wit him, or even send him shocks through his body, or almost read his mind whenever he thinks about casting spells without her.
That's another thing, he started to refer to his wand as 'her' since her core used to be from a female phoenix, or so said Mr Ollivander. Can phoenixes even have gender? They are immortal creatures basically, but if not, then how is one born? Do they spontaneously appear in the air?
"So are you excited about the flying lessons?" A voice came from his side, taking him out of his thoughts about phoenixes and wands.
"Mm? Oh, I think, maybe, I did thought about flying before." Not with a broom though, but I never tried to do it in the orphanage because it scared me to fall down an break a bone or something.
"What about you Armand?" Asked Allen back.
He shrugged his shoulders. "I guess I am a bit excited about it, but I can fly with my broom at home, so I don't see how different this can be."
"Ah! No fair! My parents never brought me one, or let me ride theirs, always telling me that is dangerous." William said.
"Well, it can be dangerous if we don't have someone watching over us, but we have Madam Hooch, so I think we'll be fine." Finished Armand as they arrived at the field.
A few meters away from the Slytherins were the Gryffindors, looking at the Slytherins with a frown on their faces, most likely because they had to share class together.
"Ugh. Why couldn't we have this class with any other house?" Allen asked looking at the Gryffindors.
"I think that they Professors like to pair us up either so we fight or get along. Which sounds dumb to me." William answered Allen and the two boys looked toward him, as if he was a different person.
"What? You think I couldn't tell? It's pretty obvious if you ask me, but I try to not think about it." He crossed his arms letting a small breath leave his mouth. "I've seen how they look at Allen, whenever they cross paths with him they always frown or get scared, if they want to say something they should just do it instead of being cowards!" William cried.
"Ah wait, let's not fight here, can't get more detentions now that the month is almost over."
"Right, I agree with Allen. It's not like they do it on purpose, probably their housemates have been telling them all bad things about Slytherin, and sadly, it is up to us to make sure those things are not true."
William sighed. "You are right, sorry."
"All good, let's just try to stay calm and enjoy the lesson, alright?"
William chuckle as he looked at Allen smiling at him. "Alright alright."
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A few minutes later Madam Hooch arrived with a few brooms behind her. "Good morning class. Today and the next couple of days I'll be your flying instructor. Now, grab a broom and we can begging the lesson." She finished with a loud voice.
After they all took a broom, Madam Hooch ordered them to put them on the ground, besides them. Now, this is the basics, you need to hover your right hand over your broom and say 'Up!'"
Then a bunch of 'Up' could be heard all around Allen, but to no avail, since not even one kid managed to do it. It is supposed to be command, like if you are ordering a dog something, isn't it?
"Up!" Shouted Allen, and the moment he did, he could see his magic leave him, not exactly like how he used what he called telekinesis, but more of a pull effect. His magic touched the broom and it immediately jumped at his hand, as if it was afraid of him.
Armand and William looked at him, puzzled about it, then, before anyone could say anything, Armand's broom shoot upwards toward his hand as well.
"Ah! No fair! You two always get it first time!" William exclaimed while the other two just laughed at the situation.
"Just command the broom to listen to you."
"Yeah, what he said."
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A few minutes later everyone had their brooms already on their hands, some took longer than others. The lesson continued as normal, and apparently, Armand's way of mounting a broom was correct, which surprised Allen, but didn't want it to show, and she reprimanded a few boys from Gryffindor, since their way of mounting was incorrect, and had been for a few years apparently.
After lifting up and staying in the air for a bit, Madam Hooch called them back, congratulating them for a job well done.
"Can we give a few laps around the field Professor?" Asked one of the Gryffindor boys.
Madam Hooch thought it over for a moment before agreeing. "Alright, but make sure to not bump into each other."
The same boy then came over towards Allen and his friends, with the other boys from Gryfindor behind him. "You heard her Lionheart, why don't we race a bit, and whoever wins, needs to do whatever the other asks him to do."
Allen just raised an eyebrow, wondering where this was coming from. "Uh, no? Sorry. Why would I do that?"
"Wha- Are you not, Are you scared? Is that it?"
"Not scared, just don't see the point of it." Allen shrugged his shoulders and went back to return the broom.
The Gryffindor boy ended up red as a tomato while looking at Allen, but then, another boy whispered something on his ear, calming him down.
"I see." He cried. "So little moggy is scared!"
At the mention of the word, Allen snapped his neck towards the boy, a frown on his face. "What did you call me?"
"You heard me, moggy!"
Allen closed his eyes and took a long breath, trying to calm himself down. "I don't where you heard that word, but if you value the rest of your school years, you should stop using it."
"Why don't you race me, then you can ask me to never say that word again!" The Gryffindor boy continued to provoke him while his goons just encouraged him.
Allen massaged his brow while looking down.
"Hey mate, you don't have to do this, we can just leave."
"I agree with William, its not necessary, nor useful to engage with these kind of people."
"No, it's okay." Allen looked towards the boy. "I'll race you, I just hope you don't regret it." His eyes shined with a dangerous green light which made the rest of the Gryffindor boys flinch in fear.