
The next day came and with it classes. I had my fun teasing Sophia in the morning once again. The girl is horrible with mornings, she actually fell asleep while taking her shower. Because of this we had to rush over to the dining hall otherwise we would have had to go without breakfast.
“I don’t know how it's possible for someone to fall asleep while standing.” I complained a little while taking a bite off a piece of sweet bread. Of course I made sure to speak in such a way that only Sophia who was sitting next to me could hear.
“I said I am sorry.” I wasn’t really angry or anything but I couldn’t help myself. Teasing Sophia was quickly becoming one of my favorite things to do. The girl’s reactions were just too cute. Like right now, she is blushing while hiding behind a piece of bread nibbling at it like a small animal.
“Maybe next time we should shower together, that way I can keep you awake.” And boi is that one atomic blush she is sporting right now. The way her pupils dilate and while her body freezes up tells me I might have gone too far with the teasing.
“Relax, I was just joking.” I gave her a reassuring smile though to my surprise I could see a tinge of disappointment on her. Thinking about it, I am probably the first girl her age to ever treat her kindly. In that vain of thought then, it wouldn’t be rare for her to develop a sort of sibling bond with me. Even more so when I am constantly treating her like a little sister.
Pushing those thoughts to the back of my mind for the time being we continued eating with some chatter here and there. Most of the girls were talking about the dorms and how happy they were with the charm expanded closet. The boys on the other hand were chatting about quidditch, the size of the castle and such. Of course, there was nerding about magic included but it was rare in the firsties.
From what I could hear from the older students, the nerding around became more prominent from the third year onwards. Understandable really seeing as third year is when the elective classes come into play.
“Well people, I believe we should get going to class.” I said while standing up. There was around ten minutes before breakfast was over. After that we would have ten minutes to find our way through this maze towards the transfiguration classroom.
From my walk yesterday I realized that the only way to make it from the dining hall to class in ten minutes through the unchanging path would be by jogging all the way. Of course that wasn’t the only path, someone with enough experience could make it there in five minutes while walking leisurely. However, they would need to go through the changing paths, something us firsties shouldn’t do as it's almost guaranteed we will get lost.
“Why? There’s still time before breakfast ends.” Asked a rather curious Padma Patil. Explaining my train of thought took but a moment and so I ended my small exposition with:
“-With that being said, I don’t want to run around this early in the morning, much less after eating.” Seeing the logic behind my words every ravenclaw firstie stood up as well as we began navigating the halls and stairs of the moving maze named Hogwarts.
It took our group all of fifteen minutes to get to the designated classroom. I had made my calculation to reach it, missing only one or two minutes for class but our walking speed had increased due to the presence of the boys as well as excitement and nervousness. Not like it mattered much. We weren’t so early that we would get bored waiting.
As we began entering the room I realized that our group was the first to enter the classroom. After that I noticed the weird looks my peers were giving the random tabby cat sitting on top of the professor's desk. Of course I knew that the cat was in fact professor Mcgonagall.
Funnily enough, the cat’s fur pattern gave it a way a little. The gray cat’s black markings formed in such a way that if you were to pay attention you would realize it looks like glasses on the cat’s eyes and robes on its body.
Passing by the cat I gave it a small smile and a respectful nod. Once again, someone observant would have realized that the cat is abnormal by how its eyes seemed to follow each student's actions, moreover, by how it gave the tiniest of nods back to me.
With that done, I found myself a nice spot on the second row of seats. After preparing some writing material for taking notes I just sat there waiting for class to begin as more and more students entered the room.
“Silver… why did you nod towards the cat? and… did it nod back?” Looking to the side Sophia had a mixture of intrigue and confusion on her face as she asked those questions with the same sentiment behind them. Seeing this I couldn’t help but smile.
“Just good manners towards a scholar, don’t mind it.” I had to try really hard not to cackle seeing Sophia’s confusion skyrocket to the point I could almost physically see the question marks above her head.
It took a moment for her to realize that I wouldn’t elaborate on my answer earning my quite the cute pout from the girl. Sure, I could have told her the truth but what would be the point? It would only serve to diminish the wow factor when the professor actually went and showed herself.
A few minutes later class was set to start. I found it incredibly amusing how some of the students started to complain about the professor being late. It was too satisfying seeing their expressions as the cat jumped off the table only to turn into the stern professor Mcgonagall a moment later.
“Transfiguration is a complex and dangerous form of magic. Allowing wizards and witches to turn things-” Mcgonagall began and with a wave of her wand, the desk she had been on turned into a pig.
“Into other things. That being said, I will not accept any of you playing around in my class-” Another wave of her wand turned the pig back into a desk.
“Know that you should do as I say to the letter. Should any of you not do so I will make sure you never step foot in this class again.” I had to give it to the woman, she had the stern professor persona down pat. I could see my peers stiffening up instantly.
“Now, before we begin, five points to Ravenclaw, for Silver noticing my transformation. Could any of you tell what kind of magic was used?” I could tell that Mcgonagall was asking everybody but me so I didn’t bother to try and answer. Afterall, it was pretty obvious that if I could figure out the transformation I could also figure out what it was.
“Miss Granger?” Yeah, I expected that much, as soon as Mcgonagall made the question she was the only one to raise her hand and it looked like she would explode if she wasn’t selected.
“The animagus transformation professor.” Mcgonagall just nodded with a faint smile before awarding the girl five points as well. Mayhaps a bit of favoritism there for her house but if Snape could do so blatantly then it was only fair. The only reason as to how Hermione could know about the transformation was due to the transfiguration book’s mention of it as the pinnacle of human transfiguration.
After that little display class started in full with a lecture. It mostly involved the history behind transfiguration as well as the aspects to be mindful of. It was a short exposition after which Mcgonagall wrote instructions on the blackboard for reading through certain parts of our books. After that she turned back into her cat form as she sat on her desk.
All of this took five minutes and a minute after she transformed a pair of gryffindors appeared walking through the door. Would you know it, they were Harry and Ron. I had to fight hard from laughing when Ron said he was glad they made it without Mcgonagall not finding out. It became even harder when I saw the expression the cat had.
A moment later Mcgonagall stood before the gobsmacked pair. I could tell she was both disappointed and a bit angry. Afterall, these two were from her house and as such their conduct would impact the house as a whole. Unfortunately the first thing to come from Ron’s mouth after his brain rebooted was:
“That was awesome.” I could tell Mcgonagall was done when her sassy reply came. Old may the woman be, she still held quite the fire within her.
“Thanks for the compliment, mister Weasly thought it would be more useful if I were to turn you two into clocks. Maybe, that way you would be on time.” Seeing the scene on the big screen couldn’t compare with seeing it in the real world. It was just so much better to witness it in real time.
“The castle is a maze.” Harry tried to defend himself with the weakest argument ever. We had been foretold that yes, the castle is a maze. We were also given the whole of yesterday to navigate it and make yourself familiar with the place. I could almost hear Mcgonagall’s internal sigh.
“Then a map, that way you two could find your way to your seats.” And so she walked away having said her piece. The rest of the class was more lecture and reading. Understandable really. I doubt we would be trying any form of transfiguration until next week at least. I won’t lie and say I am not a bit disappointed but it is what it is.
Once class finished we had to walk to the next one. Potions class all day way down in the dungeon. Thankfully we had the whole half an hour to go to our dorms, get our stuff and then walk to class. From asking the older students I learnt that these large gaps between classes were only for firsties. All other years I only got half that time.
“Hey, silver, how is potion brewing?” Sophia suddenly asked while we were walking towards the potions classroom. Her presence brought back memories about Snape bullying Harry and so I began feeling a bit worried for Sophia. Even so, I answered honestly.
“It's interesting for me, though most would say boring. It requires a lot of patience and fine tuning as well as a certain measure of talent to work it properly. Oh, and a lot, and I mean a lot of rot learning. You will need to remember the effects of a lot of materials as well as their interactions with other materials. Having a good memory helps a lot. Otherwise, I do recommend taking a lot of notes.”
I could see I had intimidated Sophia slightly. It wasn’t my intention but what I said was the truth. As much as the wizarding world likes to deny it, potion making and alchemy is extremely similar to muggle chemistry.
“You don’t have to worry though. Most of what I said is applied to high grade potions. Low grade potions like cure for boils are far more forgiving to make. I also doubt we will be brewing potions right off the bat.” I said with a shrug while pushing open the doors to the potion’s class.
There were a few students already inside but class wouldn’t start until another few minutes so I got to work. First I found two seats for me and Sophia after which I meticulously began seating up my cauldron and tools. I also made sure they were pristinely clean.
Sophia tried to copy me which I found cute, like a duckling following her mother. Seeing this I began explaining to her what I was doing and why I was doing it. It took a while for me to set everything up and I couldn’t help but cringe seeing my peers doing their setups so poorly.
The reason we were doing this was due to a note in our curriculums that asked us to. I suspect this is Snape's way of doing a hidden test. The man probably wants to know who has prior experience and who will need more work. Sure, the man may be an ass but he takes his job seriously.
It didn’t take long for the man bat to enter the room with all the flair in the world making me wonder if he ever took acting classes of some sort. Because damn the man could be dramatic when he wanted to be.
As he reached the podium he gave the class a quick scan as his eyes stopped on two people for a moment longer than the others, those being, you guessed it, Harry and Sophia. I couldn’t help but feel a bit nervous thinking he would try to bully Sophia as well. However, I saw something I did expect.
When his eyes landed on Harry I could see a tinge of hatred combined with melancholy and sadness. None in this room should have been able to catch it but I did. It was his eyes, sure, his face remained as impassive as ever but the eyes never lie. That wasn’t what was unexpected though.
What caught me by surprise was the way his gaze softened ever so slightly when it landed on Sophia. That is when it clicked. While Harry looked like a copy of his father with his mother's eyes Sophia is the opposite, a copy of her mother with her father’s eyes.
“Interesting.” I murmured to myself as I couldn't wait to see where this would lead to.
Tftc
Will it stay once a month now that your other work is finished?
Just curious
Yeah, I will soon start publishing a second story and after that a third. I realized that writing chapters for the same story weekly made me burn out. Instead, by having multiple stories with a far slower release rate I can focus on one if I feel burned out by the others.
I fear for the next chapter.
A dark FF I read had it's version of Snape wanting to date a young female version of Harry....
FBI alert...
Nah nothing like that.
I am tired of reading fanfics were everyone is secretly evil. So here those that are originaly portraid as good are, just a bit incompetent thats all. Silver doesn't know this though so it will be funny with her being all paranoid for nothing XD
This rollercoaster is approaching another loop-di-loop.
Snape, honestly I pity the guy.
Ummm, is the next button broke? I think SH is having some coding issue, if that is the cause >×<
On a more serious note, I'm enjoying the wit and world building so far, specific of the Silver and her scientific method to exploring magic and it's effects, adding in dark and sometimes mischievous humor.
I'll admit, I hope the MC goes through a sort of evolution to regain elements of humanity, but I find that to be a slim possible, since her acts are long term habits at this point, but that doesn't detract from my desire of an other chapter or to see the direction of the plot ^_^
tftc
Thanks for the chapter !