Private Lessons

After Ancient Runes was over, I couldn't stop thinking about the legend Professor Babbling had mentioned, Atlantis. Supposedly, there was an Atlantean empire, which was an ancient magical civilization that spanned the globe more than ten to fifteen thousand years ago.

While there are many theories about how the empire operated, most researchers who specialize in ancient runes agree that a titanic apocalyptic incident occurred roughly ten thousand years ago. Whatever it was, the central hub of the empire collapsed and disappeared.

No one is quite sure what happened to the Atlantean capital. There are dozens of theories out there. Some say it sank, others that it was banished into a hidden pocket realm. Out of all the theories, the one that claims Atlantis sank is the most popular. People who believe this theory argue that there are ancient myths and legends from around the world that speak of sunken cities, and they claim that what these myths are describing is the fall of Atlantis.

Hearing about the supposed Atlantean empire made me think of the ancient underwater pathways my uncle uses to get around. He once told me that no one knew who made them, but they spanned the globe. Perhaps, they were the primary method of travel by ancient Atlantean witches and wizards.

In the end, I turned my thoughts away from ancient magical empires. Because of the large gaps in ancient records, it's not like we will ever know the real story. Whatever disastrous event happened back then, life went on. While disconnected from one another, magical communities from around the world went on to create many unique societies.

The rest of the first week blurred by like it had the two previous years. Having such a regimented schedule always ensured that it took some time to get back in the swing of things. I was so swamped with everything that part of me wished I had a time-turner like Hermoine did in her third year. But, time travel is for suckers, and I will have no part in it.

Soon enough, it was Saturday and time for my first private lesson with Professor McGonagall. I was looking forward to it. The last two years in transfiguration had been slightly frustrating. We normally could spend up to a few weeks on a particular transfiguration in class, only for me to be finished after a class or two. But now, with private lessons and the ability to work ahead outside class, I finally felt like I could move forward at my own pace.

Knowing that punctuality was important to Professor McGonagall, I was outside her office ten minutes before our appointment. At precisely nine, the door to her office opened, and Professor McGonagall peered out.

"Mr. Fawley, come on in."

Unlike Professor Dumbledore's office, Professor McGonagall's office looked like a normal teacher's office. Old books lined the shelves, and on her wooden desk were stacks of parchment, most likely homework turned in by other students.

Professor McGonagall motioned for me to take a seat in the chair opposite hers. After a few moments of intently studying me, she said, "I only agreed to these lessons because I sensed you have been getting rather bored in class. I would rather supervise you moving ahead rather than you going off on your own and experimenting and blowing something up."

My face flushed a little. I had been planning on doing exactly that, and being called on it was a little embarrassing.

Seeing that she had made her point, Professor McGonagall moved on. "Now, before we start, I want to explain what the next two years of classes will cover. The first and second year was all about introducing you to transfiguration by having you transfigure small items like matches, buttons, and even small rodents. You also learned how to undo a transfiguration in your second year. All of this laid a foundation for you to move on to more complicated transfigurations. The next two years are all about learning to do bigger and more complex transfiguration. You will find that the difficulty increases exponentially as the transfiguration becomes more complex."

Professor McGonagall reached down and opened a drawer, pulled out her long pointed hat, and set it down in front of me. "Your first task is to turn this hat into a rabbit."

Having already read the textbook, I knew the spell she wanted me to cast. She was talking about the lapifors transfiguration spell. I thought it was a little amusing that she wanted me to practice on her hat. The spell had a bit of an infamous history in our world.

Louis Comte was a muggleborn wizard who decided to become a traveling magician in the muggle world. His magic act inspired and was loved by muggles who had no idea that the 'tricks' he was performing was real magic being disguised as sleight-of-hand.

It didn't take long for the Ministry of Magic to come down on him like a ton of bricks. But, by then, it was too late. His act had been seen by too many, and he inspired others to try and emulate his tricks. Pulling a rabbit from a hat became one of the most standard tricks a stage magician would show.

At his trial, Louis argued that performing so-called magic tricks was actually a benefit to the Statute of Secrecy. He claimed that the more muggles got used to seeing magic at shows and dismissing it as mere trickery. The easier it would be to explain away any accidental magic that was seen by muggles. Surprisingly, he won his case, and now you can apply for a permit from the Ministry of Magic to perform magic tricks in the muggle world. So, if you ever go see a magician perform and see an unbelievable trick, it may be real magic.

"Did you bring your textbook?" Professor McGonagall's voice rang out, bringing my thoughts back to the hat sitting in front of me.

Nodding, I pulled out my text and flipped it open to the correct chapter.

"I've already read the book, so I already know all about the spell."

A slightly raised eyebrow was all the response I was given.

I pulled out my wand and focused my full attention on the hat. Twisting my wand like a drill, I chanted, "Lapifors."

I could tell right away. I didn't entirely succeed. Rather than turn into a rabbit, fluffy bunny ears grew from the top of the hat, and the bottom rim grew hoppy little legs.

I also must have given the hat some level of awareness, because it immediately got up and tried to hop its way to freedom. As it leaped off the desk, Professor McGonagall snatched it out of the air and set it back down in front of me.

A little embarrassed, I muttered the counterspell, and the hat returned to normal.

Sensing my dissatisfaction, Professor McGonagall encouraged with a slight smile, "That was an excellent first try. I'm surprised you managed to get anything. Most fail completely when moving on to more complex animals. Even with your skill level, it will probably take you some time to get this spell down."

If anything, Professor McGonagall telling me it would take time made me more determined to master this spell. Again and again, I cast the spell. With each attempt, I got closer and closer to successfully casting the spell.

Thirty minutes later, with sweat beading on my forehead. A small rabbit sat on the desk in front of me. Unlike my first attempt, it didn't try to run off. When the Lapifors spell is cast correctly, the rabbit is entirely under the control of the caster.

I looked up at Professor McGonagall and grinned at her astonished expression. She had clearly expected me to take far longer to cast the spell correctly.

She narrowed her eyes at my smug look, "Very good, Mr. Fawley. Now that you have achieved the basics. We can move on to other aspects of the spell."

She waved her wand over the rabbit turning it back into a hat.

"Now turn this hat into a rabbit with black fur."

Inwardly I groaned. I had a feeling this was where she was going. We spent the remainder of the hour with me trying to control every aspect of the rabbit. Between the coloring of the fur and eyes, I was kept busy.

As my private lesson was winding down to a close, I looked down at the innocent white rabbit with blue eyes I had transfigured and asked. "Is this rabbit alive?"

Professor McGonagall shook her head, "No, I'm afraid as realistic as your rabbit is, it's not really alive. One of the exceptions to Gamp's law of elemental transfiguration tells us that life cannot be created."

"What are the other exceptions?"

Counting off with her fingers, Professor McGonagall said, "Food cannot be created from nothing. Real-life cannot be created. The dead cannot be returned. Magical creations like wands and genuine gold cannot be created.

I blinked in confusion. I knew for a fact that one of those wasn't true. Having spent the summer with Nicolas Flamel, I knew that he had used the Philosopher's stone to transmute lead into gold.

"What about the Philosopher's Stone," I countered. "Nicolas Flamel was able to create real gold."

A frown appeared on Professor McGonagall's face. "Where did you hear about the Philosopher's Stone?" She asked suspiciously.

Her reaction confused me for a moment before I remembered that the professors at Hogwarts had been tasked with protecting the stone. It probably wasn't the smartest thing to mention that I knew what it was.

"I spent the summer with Nicolas Flamel." I hastily explained. "Apparently, we are distantly related on my mum's side."

After mulling over my reply, Professor McGonagall explained, "The Philosopher's stone doesn't count. It's the product of supreme alchemy, and alchemy is all about bending and breaking magical rules."

Seeing that I wasn't satisfied with that, she went on, "There are some wizards and witches out there that have dedicated their lives to proving Gamp's rules to be false. But, other than the Philosopher's stone breaking the rule on gold. Thus far, they have been unsuccessful."

"I guess that means that it would be a bad idea to eat a transfigured animal." I mused out loud.

Professor McGonagall made a face that seemed to doubt the intelligence of anyone who would try such a thing.

"Of course! Not only would it taste wrong. But imagine the transfiguration failing, and whatever you consumed reverting to its original form inside your body."

Professor McGonagall shook her head in dismay as if she were imagining the consequences in her head.

"I can't imagine any witch or wizard would be foolish enough to try that. Even if they were starving, a simple summoning charm would be far more effective than trying to eat a transfigured animal."

After a few more points on transfiguration, Professor McGonagall dismissed me after telling me to continue to practise variations of the spell during the week.

The rest of the day was mine to do as I pleased. My only other obligation was tonight the Silver Spears were inducting our newest members. After dinner, I needed to head to our secret dueling arena that was hidden away in a secret passage on the fourth floor.

Coming face to face with the full-size mirror, I tapped the surface with my wand and saw a ripple pass over the surface. Passing through the mirror, I made my way through the tunnel on the other side.

Although the secret tunnel led to Hogsmeade, our secret arena wasn't that far into the passageway. I kept an eye out for a particular mark in the stone wall on my way through the tunnel. It was a subtle marking, and if you didn't know about it, you wouldn't think anything of it and would pass right on by without noticing.

Once I spotted the mark, I stopped and tapped a pattern into the wall with my wand. A section of the wall unfolded, revealing a large room with a dueling arena in the middle. Since Mason and Harper had graduated last year, we were down to five members.

Inside, I saw three of our Hogwarts members waiting, Addison the brown-haired Huffleput, the oldest remaining member. Lelah, a fifth-year fellow Ravenclaw with auburn hair. Adam the Gryffindor, who was now in his fourth year, and my frequent sparring partner. Next to them was our blond-haired representative to the professional members of the Silver Spears, Jean Batt.

"Zack getting the newbies?" I asked.

"He will be here soon," Addison confirmed.

Lelah muttered something about Zack to Addison, which made her flush red in embarrassment. She had finally given in to Zack's advances, and they were officially a couple.

Ignoring the two, I leaned up against the wall next to Adam, "How many newbies have been invited?"

"I'm not sure, more than one, I think."

"Nice, we could use some more members." I mused.

Adam grunted in reply. Seeing how he seemed to be in a non-talkative mood, I stopped speaking, content to wait in silence.

It wasn't long before the door unfolded, and Zack entered, following him were three second-year students. There were two boys and a girl. I raised my eyebrows in surprise at seeing three newcomers. It was rare that more than one or two students were chosen by an aspen wand in a single year. It was easy to see that they were each from different houses from their robes, but it seemed as Ravenclaw's colors were missing.

Seeing that the dark-haired girl was from Hufflepuff, Addison smiled, pleased that someone else from her house was joining. The other two boys had on Gryffindor and Slytherin markings. Seeing how Mason and Harper had each belonged to those houses, I found it appropriate for our new members to fill those empty spots.

Once the newcomers were settled, Jean introduced himself and gave a similar speech that he gave me last year. While he was answering all their questions, Zack approached me with a smile.

"Alex, I'm glad you could make it. I was a little worried after the fiasco at the tournament that you may not return."

I snorted, "I'm not going to let a little thing like almost getting killed stop me."

Zack clapped me on the shoulder, "That's the spirit."

Seeing the newcomer's excited expressions when Jean told them how our club would help train them for professional dueling if they wanted made me curious. Leaning over to Zack, I whispered, "So, what happened with Mason and Harper? Did they each get a sponsor?"

"Yeah, both of them did well in the tournaments for the last few years. Word is they both got sponsored by different masters. It will be interesting to see what happens if they meet again on the professional dueling circuit."

After a moment's pause, I asked, "What about you, are you going to go pro?"

Zack shrugged, "Maybe, I already have an offer to be trained from a master who graduated from Tianlong. Although he retired, during his prime, he won the International Dueling Conference three times."

Impressed, I let out a whistle. Even winning one conference is incredibly difficult, not to mention doing it three times. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that Zack had gotten such an offer. Like me, he had jumped a year to duel older students and ended up winning. Right now, Zack was unquestionably the best dueler at Hogwarts.

Hearing about his offer made me muse about the future. I doubt I will end up going into professional dueling. By the time I graduate, Voldemort will have returned. That doesn't leave a whole lot of time for me to go off and get trained. I need to keep in mind that being in the Silver Spears is merely a means to an end for me to get some dueling experience.

Even after Voldemort is dealt with, I doubt I will have the time. One day, my family will inevitably go head-to-head with the Whithorn syndicate, and I'm going to be prepared.

After introductions were out of the way, members started leaving in ones and twos. Just as I was about to leave, Adam grunted, "Alex, want to get some practice in?"

As much as I wanted to call it a night, I decided to stay behind for a few dueling rounds. I hadn't dueled all summer and was bound to be a little rusty. Besides, the only way to stay at the top of your game, according to Mad-Eye, 'was constant vigilance!'