chapter 8

1973, Hogwarts

Charms had ended and now he had a pause for the next two hours before the next classes: transfiguration and then flying.

"So are you ready to tell me how?" asked Gilderoy to Allanon in his mind.

"It's not like the answer is that different from what you have been doing till now. To raise the magical abilities of your body there are some body strengthening methods, but unfortunately I don't posses one good enough for you to practice. While for the mind, the best way to raise its level is to practice the mind arts. When you'll be able to reach the second floor it will be like a new word is opening to you, as you becomes able to access a lot more of the power your mind can achieve. I went from being an average spell caster to being a master when I accessed it in my time. For the will, I think you should just practice like the others, you'll also soon learn that you can chant some spell better based on your preferences. For example, when it came to me, I was particularly good with spells connected with nature as I always had a great interest for it. While a person who doesn't like fighting and killing may be better with spells that disarm or bind the enemy" explained Allanon.

"So, you have no way for me to train my body" lamented Gilderoy.

"I wasn't really interested in it as all methods to train the body require a lot of training that often result in pain. My true vocation were the mind arts, and I dedicated all of my time to them, I had some druid friends, who specialized in the body, but people tend to not divulge their techniques to others. I may have an hint for you to find one good technique, but you'll have to postpone finding it for now, as it is outside of Hogwarts. If you want an immediate help I can teach you of a way to read books faster, this way you'll be able to study better all the wand movements and incantation" said Allanon as Gilderoy walked toward the great hall to have lunch.

"Didn't you say that chant and wand movement are not important?"

"I indeed said that they are not important, especially if you want to master a spell completely, but this doesn't mean that they aren't useful. In my time magic was a privilege for few. There were many magical people in my time, but not many were talented enough to learn useful spells. The majority limited themselves to increase their strength and release some elemental powers. Even those who were good usually concentrated on a few branches of magic. While thanks to chants and wand movements you are able to decrease the requirements needed to do a spell, and because of this you have a vast array of spells that can be learned easily. I don't know how this works, but whoever created this system was a genius, who allowed everyone to become good at magic." Exclaimed Allanon in admiration, as this system was able to solve one of the biggest problems of his age.

There had been many who tried to create armies of competent soldiers, but all they could do was to raise the power of the individual, but no his skillset.

Maybe these spells lack the grandiosity of the spells of his time, but the fact that everyone can now reach such a result with little training is a statement of how revolutionary this method is.

When Gilderoy arrived in the Great Hall, it was already packed with students, but the long tables were big enough to allow everyone to sit down and have enough space to not be attached to others.

Moreover, thanks to the many couples, who tried to enter a symbiotic relationship by staying stuck to one another, there was more than enough space for Gilderoy.

Unfortunately, the only person he wanted to seat near, which is Pandora, sat among some other girls, so Gilderoy opted to just sit in a casual place.

The lunch was proceeding normally as Gilderoy tasted the many delicious dishes prepared by the house elves, when a girl with glasses from Ravenclaw, used a spell to make many papers fly to all the tables.

The reactions of the people were either eager or negative, but all of them still took the papers in front of them and started reading.

"What is this?" Asked Gilderoy to the student who seemed to be a second year on his right.

"It's the newspaper created by Rita Skeeter, she is a Ravenclaw in her fifth year with a passion for journalism. Every month she gave this freely to the students and on it you can find both incidents and events that took place here in Hogwarts. Having this said the reason why everyone reads is the gossip you can find in it. There is a saying in Hogwarts that you need to create a anti-Skeeter ward before even thinking of entering into a relationship." Explained the Ravenclaw as he read the papers in front of him.

"Damn! How did he get a girlfriend, when he is uglier than me!" commented the same boy, after seeing the news of another student, who seems to have been caught kissing with a girl.

Gilderoy read the news paper and he was surprised by the style of the writer.

It wasn't good for narrative, but it was perfect for journalism.

There were many exaggeration and complots, it made sure to raise the curiosity of the reader and convinced the latter that what the writer wrote was the only truth.

Soon the lunch break was about to end and many first-years Ravenclaws, Gilderoy included, got up and went toward Transfiguration.

When Gilderoy entered the class, there were only two Ravenclaws inside and obviously, no Gryffindor was already present.

The only strange thing in the room was the cat on the desk, who looked at the students with a stern gaze.

"I'm quite sure it is an animagus" commented Allanon and Gilderoy after sitting in the first row tried to look for any peculiarity in the small animal.

"How can you be so sure about it?" Asked Gilderoy, not seeing anything exceptional in the cat except for its stern gaze, but cats all have their own personal quirk, so even this behaviour feels normal.

He knew what animagus are thanks to his mother book, where one was mentioned, but he never saw one.

"Although I don't want to risks entering other minds in my state, I can still perceive a great intelligence from that cat" said the old druid.

"Then it must McGonagall. Now that I think about it, her behaviour is similar" though Gilderoy.

The cat has taken a rigid posture and is looking at the students with attention. There is no laziness in her and you can feel just how strict the cat is with just one look.

An idea suddenly formed in Gilderoy mind and Allanon, who could access his thoughs, had to admit that the boy had guts.

"Are you sure you are not going to get yourself into troubles?" asked the old druid.

"Sure enough. Moreover, it is worth the trouble" replied Gilderoy.

Thanks to his mother, who was a friend of the McGonagall, he had an idea of her character and he also knew one little secrets that probably the other younger students don't know.

Although the McGonagall looks like a middle aged woman, in reality she is just forty years old and for a wizard that is not a lot.

In reality her true appearance, from what his mother said, was that of a thirty years old sexy woman.

Obviously Gilderoy's mother didn't use these words, but this is what Gilderoy extracted from the long presentation of her friend.

For Gilderoy using a spell to hide one's true appearance is the worst sin, as he thinks that his face is something to be proud of, but for the transfiguration professor, her young and beautiful appearance only caused her troubles.

From what he knows, when she was younger she had to leave her loved one, and from then she has not been interested in relationships anymore. Moreover some of her early students liked to try entering her own dormitory, just to fail obviously, or take pictures of her.

In a few words, she used to be the favourite fap material of many students, and after she became the head of house of Gryffindor and had to pass more time with those reckless and perverted boys the situation just got worse.

So in the end she took the drastic decision to change her appearance to an older one and only showed her true face to people behind closed door, like when she has tea with Gilderoy's mother.

The practice of aging your appearance wasn't something new to the wizarding society.

Just like muggle's nobles once liked to wear enormous and unconformable wigs, that looks horrible, in the wizarding world it is not rare to use this kind of aging spell, especially when you have a public and important position in the ministry.

Convinced of his decision, the raven, with the smile of a snake and the guts of lion, walked toward the desk and tried to pet the cat, which evaded the hand.

This was not enough to stop Gilderoy, who kept trying, but the professor seemed to be quite adept in evading being petted, she must have had a lot of practice during the years, considering the beautiful appearance of the small animal.

"Are you going to give up?" asked Allanon.

"No, I'm going to take things to the next level? Animagus can't use magic while in their anima form, right?" Said Gilderoy in his mind, as he took the silence of the shocked Allanon as an affirmation.

The old druid couldn't find words to describe the boldness of his students, who was doing all of this just for the satisfaction of petting his teacher.

"Wingardium Leviosa" said Gilderoy and for a moment the cat was fluctuating in the air, since the levitation spell works on small animals.

Now it would have been a great time to become a human again for the professor, but the gag she does at the beginning of every year, is one of her favourite moments and she didn't want to ruin it.

Anyway it is not the first time she gets petted as a cat and she has come to terms with it.

Gilderoy then, with a gentle smile which hides nefarious and perverted intentions, grabbed the cat, but the professor could only see the face of happy and innocent young boy on his face.

"Do you now understand the usefulness of practicing your smile every day in front of the mirror!" said in his mind the young boy.

"Maybe you are right…" conceded Allanon, as Gilderoy walked back to his sit and put the cat on his lap.

With the mastery of a man, who practiced often with his sister cat, he caressed all the good spots and Professor McGonagall kept getting less adverse at being petted by Gilderoy.

The situation changed when a Gryffindor student, who had just entered inside the class approached Gilderoy.

"You have courage to bring your cat to McGonagall's class, yesterday she caught me trying to enter the girls dormitories and put me in the detention. Not like I would have succeeded since I found out it was charmed to block any males from entering. The prefect, who brought us to the common room, though it would have been funny to not tell us and let us find out by ourselves." Said the boy wearing a necktie with red and yellow stripes.

A poor choice of colour in Gilderoy's opinion, who liked more the stylish colours of his house.

"It is not my pet, but I would like to have it" replied Gilderoy as he turned the cat and looked at it in the eyes.

"Would you like to be my pet?" asked Gilderoy and this seemed to surpass McGonagall limits, who freed herself from the boy's grip and run away.

Some good scratches are okay, but being asked by one of her students to become his pet was too much, so she left the class and decided to not do her usual gag with this class as she was too embarrassed to let the kids find out she was that cat.

Moreover she also couldn't punish the boy as he did nothing wrong and this didn't sit right with her strictness, but her rational side told her it would have been petty to do so.

Little did she know that the boy was aware of who she was from the start.

She soon entered the class again, in her human form this time, and after a presentation she started the lesson.

"Why do all this just to pet a cat?" asked with a sight Allanon.

"The spiritual satisfaction I got from treating my strict and sexy teacher as my pet felt fulfilling" boasted Gilderoy happy with his achievement.

Who beside him could say he got the chance to have this hot and rigorous teacher on his lap!

The difference between him and the bold Gryffindors is that differently from them he succeeded in his plans. A success worth of the next greatest adventure in the world.

(The most alert and fanatics potter heads may have noticed that I have made Rita Skeeter a little younger, but I really wants Gilderoy to come in contact with her, after all they'll have a great business partnership in the future. Also I decided to go with the age the McGonagall has in the books, since in Crimes Of Grindelwald she appeared to already be a professor in 1910, while for the books she was not yet born in that year.)