Chapter 53

When Healer Robbs came back, Allen had already calmed down. Though it did take him some time to do it after the healer's prank.

He brought him a few potions, dropper included, the one for his eyes he'd need to put them three times a day, morning, evening and night, while the other potion was to be consumed every morning and night, for three days, of course he brought them all, so he didn't have to buy anything.

"You see, potions are often fast acting, but in this case, we'll need to take it slow since it's your magic we are talking about. The potion for your eyes on the other hand, they are to help with the burning sensation you feel, once your magic sets down, your eyes, naturally will go back to how they were and you'll be able to use your ability." Healer Robbs explained to him.

Allen nodded along, carrying the small box of potions in his hands, but got interrupted the moment he tried to go out. "We can't do that, let me help you, then your little assistants can do the rest."

He huffed without saying anything but accepted the offer, before going out, he closed his eyes.

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What followed after that was a lot of worry coming from his friends, but the healer calmed them down and asked them to help him for the next three days at the very least, to which both Sophia and Elsie nodded excitedly for some reason.

After Healer Robbs left, the three of them were waiting for Armand, William and their professor, watching the fireplace, or in Allen's case, just waiting to hear something.

"So, what did he tell you?" Sophia asked while her legs swayed up and down, same as Elsie's.

"Well… he told me it was some kind of magic overuse. Since, you know, my eyes wouldn't shut off, it didn't matter what I tried, so, yeah.

The potions are for the irritation in my eyes and to stabilize my magic." Allen explained without telling them the exact reason. He didn't feel confident enough to tell them Healer Robbs' findings, though they might find out sooner or later, he'd rather he told them on his own terms.

Suddenly, a small eruption happened in the fireplace, it was the only thing Allen could hear before a bunch of voices assaulted his ears.

Sophia and Elsie helped him stand up and brought him forward to their friends, and professor.

"Mate, what happened to you? Sophia told us a bit via owl, but since we were coming anyway, she didn't tell us much." William asked, seeing Allen with his eyes closed, he didn't have any visible injury so it looked a bit funny to him walking like that.

"Apparently, magic overuse, but I should be fine after three days or so of taking my potions." He answered truthfully.

"But, everything other than that, all good?" Armand asked from behind.

Allen nodded.

An unknown, deep voice came from behind them."Then I'm glad this lecture is going to be only that, and not a practice one."

"Who's that?" Allen asked, at the same time, Sophia's and Elsie's parents came in, likely alerted by one of the house elves.

"Sorry for the late introductions, my name is Malik Chalá, and I was hired by the Malfoys to be Armand's professor regarding the animagus transfiguration, as well his friends for the duration of the winter break." The man explained.

"Ah, nice to meet you." Said Mr Bailey, the same with Mrs Bailey and Elsie's parents, after exchanging pleasantries, they directed him to an empty room in the mansion, Mr Bailey talked with him while Mrs Bailey walked behind, the kids in the middle, and Elsie's parents behind them.

Of course, the two girls were directing Allen on where to go while holding him, Armand and William laughed a bit at the scene before them, but suddenly got quiet because of the girl's gazes.

When they arrived at the room, the parents stayed behind while the kids sat down in a circle around a wooden table.

There, Allen heard the sound of wood hitting wood.

"Here we go, I did some tests because of what Mr Malfoy said to me, about a cloud covering the full moon while the five of you were taking the mandrake leaf out of your mouth."

The five of them nodded, nervous about the answer.

Professor Chará let out a sigh before he continued talking. "I ran some tests on the leaves to be 100% safe so we could continue with the process, but I'm sorry to say this, the moonlight was affected by the sudden clouds that covered it."

They were all holding their breath until the professors stopped talking. "So, we can't do it?" Armand asked.

"I'm afraid not Mr Malfoy, we'll have to try the process again, but since I don't want you all to do it without supervision, it'll have to wait until another opportunity like this presents itself."

Armand let out a sigh. "Ah… Yeah, I thought so."

"We- Well, no need to feel down, we tried it! And we can try it again, it's not like we can never try anymore!" William tried to console Armand.

All in all, they spent the rest of the class learning more about the animagus transfiguration and how it is done in Uagadou. The professor shared with them some stories about the kids he used to tutor to become animagus and how they managed to do it. Apparently, you can apparate anywhere else where there is a full moon with a clear sky after spending the month with the mandrake leaf in your mouth, this to make sure there are no errors in the first step of the process.

In the case of Uagadou's students, they would be allowed to leave for the night; they'd start their process if they expected the moon to be covered by clouds, or rain, then do the same the next full moon if it was covered as well.

They couldn't do that in Hogwarts since they would need the Headmaster's permission, and seeing how professor McGonagall was insistent in them not trying the transfiguration until they reached adulthood, chances that professor Dumbledore would simply let them leave would be slim.

Class ended with some of them with their spirits down, while the parents talked with the professor about any questions or doubts they had.

In the end, since the mandrake leaves were a failure, they'll have to postpone the next process of the class until they get it right, professor Chalá bid goodbye to them, not without leaving a few notes regarding the process to each of them to read in their free time until they met again.

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When they went back to the living room, Allen tried to lift them up. "Come on, we shouldn't be so down, we are supposed to celebrate Sophia's birthday after all."

"Ah! That's true!" William cried.

"Wait, did you forget?!" Elsie tightened her grip around Allen's arm as she shouted the question.

"N- No, of course not! It's just… I did bring her a gift! The thing is, I forgot about it for a moment because of the class!"

"Hmm… Okay, I'll believe you… for now." Sophia gave him a sharp look before turning her head around.

William gave Allen a look of incredulity, shrugging his shoulders, but remembered that he has his eyes closed, turned to Armand, who shrugged as well, taking out a medium-sized box out of a small backpack.

"Here you go, Sophia. Its nothing too grand, but I hope you'll like it." Armand passed the gift towards her. She on the other hand, let go of Allen's arm and grabbed the box.

"Can I open it?"

"Sure."

"Ah, wait! No fair, open our presents too!" Elsie let go of Allen's arm and pulled a small box out of her pocket.

Allen, on the other hand, told her about where he put her gift, to which Sophia nodded and asked for one of the house elves to pick it up and bring it to her.

After that, the parents came in, and asked the elves to bring the rest of the presents, William also took out his gift for her.

When they were about done bringing all of the gifts, Sophia began to open them up excitedly.

Her parents gave her a new set of gardening tools, paired up with books about the most common plants and how to fight the most dangerous ones, and take care of the mildest ones.

Armand's gift was small boxes of candy in the shape of the plants they've seen in herbology, ending it up with an assortment of seeds of the most safest plants one can grow.

Elsie's gift was a pair of gloves and a scarf, in the same colour of their house, a yellow Hufflepuff.

William's gift was a few boxes of Bertie Botts Beans, but apparently the expensive kind, since they usually sell a batch of only good tasting beans every so often and he managed to grab some for her.

Her aunt and uncle gave her a new winter cloak, an interchangeable one between the colours yellow and black.

Finally, it was turn for Allen's gift. Even if she didn't want to show it, it was clear that she was a bit more excited for his gift than the rest of them.

When she opened it up, there was a small bouquet of flowers, most of them were narcissus, December's flower, then a few small flowers around them to give it a complete look. The last thing inside of the box was a box of chocolate frogs with an assortment of sugar quills and a book about muggle flowers and their meaning.

Sophia hugged each and every one of her friends, as well as her parents, aunt and uncle. Lastly, she hugged Allen at the end, thanking him for the gift.

"You are welcome. By the way, the bouquet is charmed so it won't whiter for at least a couple of months." He patted her on the back as he spoke.

"Thank you, I love it." She said as she separated herself from him.

After that they spent the rest of the day celebrating Sophia, her parents got her an infinite cake, which isn't really infinite, Allen heard the adults talking about how its just a cake being charmed to automatically refill with multiple other cakes that were already prepared and are kept in the stores.

It seemed like an interesting topic. How can the charm know the location of the cake, and how can it refill automatically with no delay whatsoever? Or at least he thought that, since he couldn't really look at the cake.

When they finished eating, the next thing in the agenda was to fly around in the Bailey's garden, but since Allen couldn't really do it, so he stayed out of it.

While the rest of his friends were going in a mix mash of Quidditch, Mr Bailey got closer to him.

"Hello, Allen." He greeted him.

At the sound of his name, he jumped a bit, surprised by the sudden greeting.

"Hello, Mr Bailey." He answered back, calming himself down.

A small silence passed between them, until Mr Bailey talked again. "I was wondering if we could talk about what happened yesterday. Of course, I'd understand if you don't want to share that with your friend's father, but while you are under my roof, I think it would be better to get along."

Allen stayed silent for a moment before talking. He proceeded to explain the relationship with that side of his family, as well as the reason he reacted the way he did, Mr Bailey listened intently without interrupting him, and when he finished, he patted him on the shoulder.

He didn't really know what made him speak so openly about his past to one of her friend's parent, but for some reason, he felt like he could trust him.

'It… feels like talking to a stranger about your problems, I guess you can confide in them because you don't know them.'

He sniffed his nose, holding back the tears that were about to burst out.

"Don't worry, son, I'll make it so they see how wrong they were."

Allen didn't know if Mr Bailey meant it as a threatening tone or a normal tone, but he hoped he didn't do anything too extreme just for him.