It didn’t take long for Snape to go into his little spiel about potioneering. I mean, sure, potions are awesome and all but the man had to say it in such a convoluted and theatrical way it reminded me of a little fanfic I read in my past life. Maybe I could also get the man to open up a theater club… Nah, too much work. 

 

“Mister potter…” And here we go. Snape went ahead to bully poor Harry while Hermione looked like she would pop from raising her hand as high as she could. Throughout the entire thing I couldn’t hide my amused smile. Sure, Snape was being petty, but he did have a point. Fame, no matter in which form, would not help them out in their classes. Just look at Lockhart, the man is famous despite being an unfunny jester. 

 

Throughout the entire thing I noticed Sophia being a mix of angry, concerned, and frightened. I could tell her smarts figured out Snape had something against her brother. It would then be easy to make the connection that he might as well have something against her too.  

 

Fortunately for both Snape and myself the man’s aggression was solely concentrated on Harry throughout the class. If he had tried the same thing with Sophia I would have probably made a snide comment or two. Say whatever you want but the girl had wormed herself into my stone cold heart by now. 

 

“What’s his problem? This was the first class and he still did something like that.” I could only smile wryly at Sophia’s ranting. The rest of the class had gone fairly well as Snape went ahead with a lecture about safety measures and other important things. Next class he would be teaching us proper workstation setup procedures and other important things. 

 

“Well, he did have a point. Fame won’t help in learning. I take it he chose Harry since he was the most famous one from our class. He could have driven the same point home choosing my brother.” I then went on to explain the hidden exam he had prepared. All this worked to calm down Sophia as she realized I had a valid point. It didn’t however make her dislike the professor any less. 

 

After a rather uneventful lunch, in which I once again asked for a special meal, paella for those of you interested in knowing, we went forth to our next class. Class with professor Flitwick was a delight. Unlike potioneering or transfiguration, charms, especially the simpler ones, are rather harmless. No matter how badly you mess up the lumos charm no real damage would be dealt.  

 

“Alright students, I am professor Flitwick, your charming professor for the next seven years!” I couldn’t help but giggle a little at the diminutive man’s energy. I knew for a fact I would very much enjoy this class. 

 

“Now, the first spell we will be learning is the lumos charm. A rather simple charm but a very useful one. Now, please open your books to page four while I explain the spell.” After that it was a small lecture on why certain wand movements had certain effects and the importance of proper pronunciation. 

 

I of course had already read and pretty much memorized the entire book. From it all and other books I had read I managed to craft myself a pretty little theory on magic. To put it simply, magic could be compared with sound. Spells on the other hand would be music, the lumos charm then would be a single toned sound or wave length of magic. 

 

The more complex a spell the more tones and frequencies in it. That is why really complex spells could very well be compared with a whole orchestra playing a piece. The most intriguing part of the whole thing and one I had worked seamlessly into my theory was emotions. 

 

Some spells like the killing curse or the patronus charm require specific emotions to be cast. I always wondered why that was the case. Now, however, I think I might have the answer. Like how there are frequencies of sound that can’t be heard by the human ears, there are frequencies of magic that can’t be naturally created without emotions. 

 

Where the killing curse would be a super energetic, destructive low frequency then the patronus would be all the way on the other side of the spectrum. Kind of like ultrasound and infrasound. Of course I could be wrong in my speculations but so far with the little amount of experimenting I have done so far, the idea seems to hold ground. 

 

“Now, please try the lumos charm.” I was brought out of my thoughts by the professor instructing us to try the spell. Unfortunately for me, my mind was still a bit into lala land and so I just waved my wand lighting its tip without even doing the proper motions or saying a word. 

 

Instantly the whole classroom fell silent as the professor looked at me with his mouth open. It was then that I realized I had shown off more than I wished. I had figured out chantless magic a while back, wandless wasn’t all that hard either. This is why my theory held ground. As long as you knew the frequencies needed for a spell by heart you could do the spell without either wand or chant.    

 

“Espectacular! Ten points for ravenclaw!” The diminutive man looked like a kid who had just been told he could buy anything he wanted in a candy store. Giddy as he might be at the moment he quickly regained his composure. 

 

“Ahem, Miss Malfoy, would you mind helping your fellow classmates seeing as you have no problem with the charm?” Giving him a nood I began looking around as the other students began trying again to do the simple charm. Quite a few of them got it in one go, like Sophia, Hermione, Daphne and others. Some got a flickering light that would go out moments later. Lastly there were some that got at most a spark or two or outright no reaction. 

 

Funnily enough, Harry and Ron were in the last group getting no reaction. It took a glance from me to figure out what was wrong with their attempts. Ron was simply doing everything wrong. He was too stiff and so his movements were jagged where they should be fluid. Harry on the other hand was a far more interesting case. 

 

One of the reasons it is so easy to learn magecraft using wands is because the wand actively draws out the mana from the wizard or witch. Normally, said wizard or which would feel a slight pulling sensation from the wand. If they resisted, the wand wouldn’t be able to draw out the mana and so the spell would fail. Harry wasn’t doing that, matter of fact was, his wand wasn’t trying to pull mana out of him.

 

Looking to my side, I realized Sophia’s wand wasn’t pulling her mana either. She had somehow figured out how to push her mana into the wand instead. I could tell from her behavior she wasn’t even doing it consciously. From this alone I could already tell the girl had a frightening potential for charms, kind of like her mother really. 

 

“Ron, you need to relax your muscles. Your movements are too stiff, that’s why it's not working for you.” I decided to give advice to Ron first seeing as his problem is the easier one to fix. Though from how he tensed up even further I could tell the guy still had his misgivings about me. 

 

“As for you Harry, you are doing the movements correctly as well as the pronunciation. Your problem is that you aren’t putting any magic into it.” Both Ron and Harry looked confused at me. I couldn’t help the small sigh that escaped me having to think on how to explain. 

 

“Normally, wands actively pull magic from the wizard or witch, for some odd reason, yours isn’t doing that for you. So, you will need to figure out how to push your magic into the wand instead. My recommendation? Go talk with your sister, her wand also doesn’t pull her magic.” With that done I went back to looking around and see if anybody else needed help. 

 

I wasn’t all that surprised when my dumb brother was having trouble. Matter of the fact is, he is getting worse results with each attempt. At the start he actually managed to get a flickering lumos, by now he is getting nothing more than a spark or two. I was just about to go help him when I heard a small bang. Turning around I saw Finnegan with soot on his face. 

 

‘How can someone mess up the lumos charm so badly as to have it explode?’ I was truly in awe of this. That was when a rather amusing thought entered my mind. Would finnegan be a gifted prodigy when casting the bombarda spell? Shaking my head to drive away unneeded thoughts I once again turned around to see my brother still failing. 

 

“Calm down Draco. You did well the first time. Take a deep breath and try again with a clear mind. Don’t focus on the movements or the chant too much. They are there only to help guide your magic. Instead, focus on the intention of lighting your wand.” I ignored the glare my brother gave me as he reluctantly did as I told him to. 

 

His first attempt right after was about as good as the first he had done over all. The second was much better with the light only flickering a tiny bit. It took a moment for him to realize he had succeeded before his brow furrowed as he looked at me. I couldn’t help giving him a cheeky grin which made him huff in annoyance. 

 

“Gloat all you want, I bet I will beat you in the flying classes.” At that I couldn’t help the bark of laughter that came. As expected, that earned me another glare from my brother. 

 

“You wish, I might not be as into quidditch as you but I am still a better flier.” With the same cheeky grin as before I left him behind to huff indignantly. The rest of the class went by the same until it was over. 

 

“Ah! Miss Malfoy, could you please stay for a moment?” I could guess why professor Flitwick would want me to stay behind. After all, it’s not every day a first year student pulls a stunt like mine. Then again, I am very much disappointed with modern wizards and witches. Tricks like the one I used should be common knowledge. 

 

“Sure thing professor.” It didn’t take long for my peers to leave the classroom. Next class would be the one I dreaded the most. History class with professor Binns. In the books the man was a complete bore, so much so I don’t think he ever appeared in the movies. 

 

“I must say Miss Malfoy, I was very surprised by your skill in charms. A simple spell lumos might be it is still incredibly rare for a student to cast it silently. Even more so without the proper wand movements. That is why I would like to know how you did it.” I had to think about how much of my abilities and my understanding I would like to reveal. In the end, I decided to go with mostly the truth as I understood it.    

 

“A chant and wand movement is nothing more than a crutch to aid us in manipulating our magic. Should someone know the hows behind a spell's workings, then it is a matter of performing the spell internally instead of externally.” Saying this much I decided to show off a little more and so, with a simple wave of my hand a small orb of light appeared on its palm. 

 

“Wands, chants, movements. All are nothing more than crutches, tools to aid us in the understanding of magic. I find it unfortunate and frankly insulting the state in which magic can be found nowadays.” I said while admiring the little ball of light on the palm of my hand. 

 

“Most wizards and witches are nothing without their vaunted wands. Take them away and they are no better than the muggles they despise. Take away their wands, and they are no different than this light. One that can be snuffed away with ease.” Finishing my little monologue I closed my hand extinguishing the lumos spell. 

 

I might have revealed more than what I had wanted to. Unfortunate as it might be, my love for magic simply took precedence. I truly find it repulsive how modern witches and wizards believe themselves to be better than muggles. Where muggles continue to advance they instead stagnate and even regress. 

 

“I wouldn’t mind finding you at a later date to talk about magic, professor. However, unfortunate as it might be, I still have classes to attend, so with your permission.” I waited for a moment until Flitwick nodded. As I turned around to leave the diminutive man spoke once more. 

 

“I too would enjoy to discuss about magic, at a more… accommodating time.” And so I left for the final class of the day. I am sure this little talk would place me firmly within dumbullydoor’s radar but to tell the truth, I didn’t care all that much. Don’t get me wrong, if we were to come to blows I would most probably lose. That doesn’t mean we would, at least not yet. 

 

With those thoughts in mind I entered the history class. To say the next few hours were a riveting experience would be an absolute disgusting lie not even the most buffinish of fools would believe. More than once I was tempted to try one or two spells I had designed with ghosts in mind out of pure and unadulterated boredom. 

 

I wasn’t all that surprised when by the end of the class half the students were asleep while another third were dozing off. The only thing keeping me away was my unrelenting will and formulae on my notebook. Truly Binns' droning could put even the most enthusiastic of history scholars to sleep. 

 

“I won’t be attending this class anymore. It is an absolute waste of my time and I would be better off studying history by myself anyway.” My comment seemed to be reciprocated by quite a few other students. If they were to do as I planned or not was another matter.

 

I wouldn’t be entering that class again until exams, not even if baldymort and dumbullydoor both held me at wand point. It was simply egregious that someone in their right mind would put such a bore as a professor. It was almost like someone didn’t want the new generations to learn about history.

 

Sure the bore of a professor was bad enough but the lesson plan was even worse. It was propaganda, a lot of it, like ridiculous amounts of it. Sure, the wizards and witches won the goblin war, I believe that, I truly do and please not my sarcasm. Goblins run the only and I mean the ONLY bank in the wizarding world. You want me to believe they lost?

 

A war is run on money, money the goblins manage. In other words, no matter what, wizarding kind can’t ever declare a new war against goblin kind because they don’t have the funds for it. More like they would instantly lose said funds if they tried but my point stands. 

 

With all those thoughts in mind I spent the rest of the day grumbling under my breath about useless politics, useless policies, and over all, how annoyed I was with my world selection. Sure, it was a relatively safe world to learn magic in, that didn’t mean I wouldn’t complain every step of the way.