Chapter 7
A/N: I was originally going to have Harry change his major at the end of the first semester. But then the characters got a hold of the story and decided otherwise. It happens. I was going to have info about his muggle classes and describe his first muggle day, but it got long. So we'll cover that in the next chapter. Everything you recognize belongs to J.K.
"So why are you minoring in religion?" asked Harry. Harry, Lee, Ashley, and a friend of theirs from orientation and MMM Carolyn, were at the Unicorn's Horn. After introducing Harry to the wonders of a mocha, they sat down at one of the tables and started to chat about the pending start to Emory. Just two weeks away.
"Oh! I'm a Unitarian."
"A what?"
"A Unitarian Universalist-" Lee attempted to reply, but Ashley interrupted.
"-A UU. Don't get him started. He's taken everyone he's ever met to his church."
"Congregation!" corrected Lee.
"Fine, Congregation. They're nice and all, but not for me. I'll stick to sleeping in on Sunday mornings."
"You'll have to come with me sometime James."
"Oh. Is it anything like the Baptists?" Harry asked thinking of the kind stranger from his flight over.
Lee looked horrified. "No! Geesh. You need that intro to religion course bud."
"Moving on," said Carolyn in a desperate attempt to change the conversation, "Two weeks of freedom left."
"Freedom? I'm thinking I'll have more freedom at college!" replied Ashley.
Carolyn rolled her eyes. "Seriously. Have you two at all been enjoying your post-graduation pre-college summer vacation? Did you go anywhere?"
Lee shook his head, but Ashley nodded. "Visited the extended fam up in New York. Always a fun trip."
Carolyn turned to Harry. "And you James?"
"Well. Yes. See, I traveled to America. But decided to stay."
Carolyn rolled her eyes and politely ignored the snickering from Ashley and Lee. "Ok, I walked right into that one. We went to the Caribbean. Saw some amazing beaches."
"Did you see any tribal magic?" asked Lee.
"Why would I even bother looking?" replied Carolyn. "A) SUMMER VACATION, hello, and B) we're a potions family. If anything, my Dad would have searched for some weird potions ingredient. But Mom forbade it so we could have a good time and not bother with customs."
Harry nodded. "That was by far the worst part about arriving in America."
Carolyn grinned. "You said it! Hard to explain wonky potions ingredients."
"So," began Ashley in an attempt to veer the conversation away from Potions, knowing that Lee and Carolyn would inevitably get into a discussion about their future major, "I hear we need to take a certain foreigner on a tour of Atlanta."
Carolyn cheered. "I'm SO in. Got a list yet Ashley?"
As the two of them began working on a list of places to drag Harry off to, Lee looked at Harry, shrugged, and drank some more of his mocha. Harry took another sip of his, but didn't chug the stuff like Lee did. When Lee came up for breath, he asked Harry if he was ready for classes to start.
"I think so. I've been flipping through some of the books already."
"Oh?" asked Lee. "Which ones?"
"Mostly the ones for my muggle classes. The English class looks…well, some of those Transcendentalist books don't really look like they're even in English."
Lee snorted. "Those guys and gals were Unitarians too, just sayin'"
"Enough Lee!" shouted Ashley, a little too loudly since most of the cafe looked over to their table. She blushed and went back to plotting with Carolyn. "I really do think four malls is enough Carolyn…"
Harry blanched, and turned back to Lee. "Uh, well. Looks to be a tough class."
"You wouldn't believe some of the potions books I have to read. And it's only for Intro!"
"I thought you liked that sort of thing."
"Well, got me pegged pretty quickly James. Anywho, so, what else. Sports. Got a favorite Quod team?"
"Err, not really. Never seen a game to be honest."
"Well, I'm not a fan, although Carolyn's a regular Quod groupie."
"That's right," added Carolyn with a smile. "Go Drakes!"
Lee rolled his eyes. "Quidditch? That's bigger in Australia, right?"
Harry nodded. "No favorite team though…other than the national team."
"I don't pay much attention to it, I have to admit. So, where are you staying? A dorm?"
"Oh, no, I bought a house."
With that, Ashley and Carolyn paused from their plotting. "Wait, you BOUGHT a house?" asked Carolyn. "I thought you weren't from here!'
"I'm not."
"So how'd you get a house? How'd you afford it?" she pressed.
"Well," began Harry, "when my parents died I sold everything. Needed a place to live. Since I decided to go to Emory, I bought a house with that money." Harry didn't want to get too much into his wealth…he hardly knew them and wasn't sure how'd they take it.
"Oh man. I'm stuck living at home for the first year," said Ashley. "My parents wouldn't let me move out. Or share an apartment with Lee. Didn't want me to room with a boy, even though he wouldn't want to shack up with me anyways."
"Damn right!" laughed Lee.
"I've got an apartment too. Had to get out of the house," said Carolyn. "I'm pretty close by Emory. Same complex as Lee actually."
Lee nodded. "Yup. Can walk to the Magical College from where we are. Anyways, what part of town are you in James?"
"The realtor said it's called Toco Hills."
"Thats right, your floo address. I thought it was just an apartment," said Ashley.
"So when can we visit?" asked Carolyn with a grin.
Harry didn't want to insult them, but he hardly knew them. He paused for time by taking a drink of his mocha. He had long ago learned not to trust anyone completely, especially after just meeting them once or twice, and didn't yet want them to be able to come into his home. He wanted to keep it as much of a secret as he could. He was still thinking over how to politely tell them no when Lee said, "Honestly. Carolyn. We just met the guy. Of course he isn't going to throw a party yet."
Carolyn snapped her fingers. "Ok, ok. But you'll have to show us sometime."
Harry nodded and took another sip of his mocha.
—-
Harry spent the last few weeks before school began skimming through his books, gardening (his Sunlight Sunflowers were already up to his stomach), and learning new recipes. He was able to put off his pending tour of Atlanta until the Winter Break, much to his happiness. Everything he needed was in his neighborhood or he knew how to get to it. He had practiced the drive to Emory multiple times, even practiced finding his assigned parking spot (thanks to Dr. Naomi.)
Before he knew it, it was the first of August and time for Harry to begin his new life as a college student. He woke up much earlier than he needed to on Monday, 6:00am, but he wanted to get into a normal daily routine as quickly as he could, and he had those 8am classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Unlike most mornings, Harry woke up right away and could feel the butterflies already beginning.
He was having a lot of self doubts. Would he be able to handle the classes? Would anyone from Britain track him down? Would his cover story stick? Would he finally move on from his horrid past year with this new endeavor to focus on? Would he like his classes? Faced with more questions than answers, he rolled out of bed and headed to his gym to jog on his treadmill for half an hour. Harry looked forward to being able to run outside at some point when it finally cooled town, which he assumed would happen at some point. It was much, much warmer than it was in Britain. Thank goodness for central air.
After his workout, Harry hopped into his shower and changed into blue jeans and a t-shirt. Harry then turned on his TV to watch a morning news program. He had really taken to one of the morning news shows over the past couple of weeks, and was slowly learning more and more about the current state of affairs in the muggle world. He figured it would be good to know what was going on in Muggle America, especially if he wanted to live as a Muggle at some point. While the news program was on, Harry made himself a large breakfast and sat down to enjoy the banter between the hosts of the program.
Harry noted when it was 7:15. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, he would leave for Emory at this time. Harry wondered what he should do with the spare time on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Harry figured he'd have studying to do or homework to complete, and that would take up his mornings. He could always go ahead to the college early and use the library or hang out in the student centers if need be. Harry decided to busy himself with cleaning up the house and double checking he had packed everything he'd need for later in the day.
—-
Harry left for Emory at 9:00am and had pulled in to his parking space at 9:20. It would be a ten minute walk from his parking space to the College of Magic - at least his parking space was closer to his Muggle classes. His first class was Intro to Transfiguration at 10, followed by an hour long break, than Intro to Charms at 12:30. Intro to Arithmancy would come after a half hour break, and then it was right into Transfiguration Lab.
"Hey! James! Wait up!" Harry turned around to see Ashley walking quickly behind him. "Nice hat."
Harry grinned. "Thanks. So, ready for the first day?"
"Yup. Got here a few minutes ago, wanted to get out of the house. Parents were being a little too overly…yah. So, you ready?"
"Well, I think so. But you never really know."
Ashley grinned. "Well, I guess that's true. Glad I have an easy day today."
Harry nodded. "Well, mine's easier than tomorrow I suppose." Harry yawned, causing Ashley's eyebrows to rise.
"Already tired? Late night last night?" asked Ashley with a grin.
"No. Woke up at 6 this morning."
"Why in God's name did you wake up that early?"
Harry shrugged. "It's what I'm going to have to do tomorrow, so I thought I'd try to get used to it. Traffic was a mess this morning. Hope it's not like that tomorrow."
"Probably will be. Wait - you drove? Didn't apparate?" Seeing Harry's nod, she asked, "Why?"
Harry shrugged. "Because I can?"
Ashley rolled her eyes. "Come on. I told Lee I'd meet them outside the Transfiguration lecture hall before class started so we could get seats together."
"Why would we need to sit together? Isn't it just lectures?" Ashley ignored the question and led Harry to the Transfiguration Building.
The outside of the Transfiguration building looked like all the other buildings in the College of Magic, but when they entered the building that's where the similarities ended. Each school had taken great care to altar the hallways and classrooms to suit their subject. Transfiguration was lined with statues that would occasionally change shape to another form. Ashley startled when one changed from a fish to a lion just as she walked by. "I'm never going to get used to that."
"Well," said Harry, "I think they're brilliant."
"You would," muttered Ashley. "Oh, there's Lee. Hey Lee! Look who I found." She shoved James in front of her and he gave a little wave.
"Great. Come on, lets go!" exclaimed Lee.
"Already in a rush?" asked Ashley.
Lee nodded. "I want to get a good seat. Robert told me Dr. Bowden's awesome." The trio walked into the lecture hall and grabbed seats on the third row in the middle. There were about 10 rows of seats, each row had about 15 seats on average. The seats were a dark wooden color with blue cushions with a lighter blue carpet. There was a big whiteboard spanning the front wall, along with a projector screen that could be raised or lowered depending on the wishes of the professor. Each seat had a small desk, large enough to only rest a notebook. The room began to steadily fill, until it leveled off at around 30 students. At 10:00 on the dot, the doors abruptly slammed shut behind Dr. Bowden.
Dr. Bowden looked the same to Harry as he did at the orientation a couple of weeks ago. Shorter than Harry and with glasses, the man looked to be in his forties. Harry was surprised at how young most of the faculty looked. At least the faculty he had met so far.
"Good morning everyone, and welcome to Intro to Transfiguration. You're in this class because you're either majoring or minoring in Transfiguration, or undecided about it. The College of Magic at Emory University only accepts the best, and if you couldn't do the work you wouldn't be sitting in this room right now. Every one of you has an A right now in my class. It's up to you to keep it. Course syllabi and a course calendar should be materializing on your desk right now. Let's go over some of the highlights.
"You will have three tests in addition to your final. They make up a large portion of your grade. You will have some papers that will be assigned throughout the year making up 15% of your grade, and your work in the labs make up the remaining 20%. Your labs are Mondays, but you won't have a lab today. Even though you might have thought otherwise, your first lab will be today. Your lab instructors will be graduate students working on their Doctorates in Transfiguration. You will treat them with the same respect that you show me. Transfiguration can be the most dangerous branch of magic if you aren't paying attention. Anyone caught intentionally goofing off during the labs will fail my course and be sent to the Office of the President for disciplinary review.
"Your lectures will be just that. Lectures. We'll be covering mostly theory in lectures, although you will be learning spells in the lectures and I might occasionally call on one of you to help demonstrate. I would strongly, strongly recommend you hold off from practicing what you learn in the lectures until after you've covered it in the labs.
"So what will we be covering in this class? Sure, we'll be covering spells, but we'll be mostly looking at the theories behind transfiguration. There are more transfiguration theories and theorems than you can shake a stick at. Indeed we have an entire course on them, but this class will give you the Cliff notes versions. Lets dive right on into a discussion on the basics of transfiguration theory."
Harry had already filled an entire page in his notes, and quickly turned to the next page in his notebook to keep up. He wasn't the only one furiously taking notes. Dr. Bowden sat down on a raised chair behind the podium. "If your high school classes were anything like mine, you spent most of your transfiguration time learning certain wand movements and incantations to change one item into another. But you never learned why those spells and wand incantations work."
"At its heart," Dr. Bowden continued, "transfiguration is an art. Despite the hundreds and thousands of theorems and rules behind transfiguration, it's an art, not a science. Transfiguration is the art of manipulating energy. It's the art of manipulating this energy that changes how we perceive whatever the result is.
"Transfiguration is also the art of changing perceptions. We manipulate the energy, but what we are also doing is changing how we perceive the object at hand. This podium is made of metal. But with a simple swish of the wand," Dr. Bowden demonstrated, "you all now perceive it as gold. But, is it actually gold? How many of you think this podium is now gold?" About two thirds of the class had his or her hand raised. It looked gold to Harry, but Harry figured it was a trick question and kept his hand down.
Dr. Bowden smiled. "Lesson number 1. Just because this appears to be gold doesn't make it so. If I leave this podium alone, which I will do, you will see it revert back to its metallic form by the end of class. Transfiguration is not permanent. Write this down. Transfiguration is NEVER permenant. The Lloyd Principle states that no transfiguration is permanent, with the Lynn corollary that says self transfiguration can last until the death of the subject. But upon a person's death, even self-transfigurations disappear. In the history of transfiguration, there has never been a permanent transfiguration. Everything reverts back to its natural form eventually. How long it takes depends on too many factors to get into right now and we learn more every day what makes transfigured items last longer. It might seem like it would last forever, and it could last decades if done correctly. But it will NOT be permanent. We'll cover what makes transfigurations last longer in a future lecture." Dr. Bowden paused to take a drink from his bottle of water. "Any questions so far?"
There was only one hand raised. Harry had indeed been wondering about the gold transfiguration. "You'll have to tell me your name. It'll be a couple weeks before I've got everyone figured out."
"I'm James Black sir."
"Go ahead with your question."
"I'm curious about the podium. It certainly appears gold to me, although you say it's not gold. If we took it to a chemist and asked him to test the material, what would the chemist see?"
Dr. Bowden beamed at Harry. "James that is an excellent question, and I commend you for coming into this class with the right mindset. Now, keep in mind I'm rather skilled at transfiguration." Dr. Bowden grinned. "If we took this podium to a chemist, his tests would currently show the podium as being made of gold. Because the energy has changed the metal atoms at their atomic level into atoms of gold. And the transfiguration is power enough to change the perceptions of even the chemist's equipment. Chemically, this podium is currently gold. Yes. James?" asked Dr. Bowden noting Harry's raised hand.
"A follow up sir. If it appears gold and at the chemical level the podium is gold, then why isn't it gold?"
Dr. Bowden grinned. "That's a question more suited for the Philosophy of Transfiguration course than here. But I can give it a shot. It's not gold because it's metal wearing a mask. It might be currently golden, but that does not make it Gold. Changing the mask doesn't change the inherent nature of the object, and this object's inherent nature is that of metal. If I were to immediately cease channeling energy into the podium, which is what a reversal spell does at its core, the energy it takes to transfigure the atoms would disappear, and the podium would revert back into its unaltered metal state. This is covered more in depth in a later course in the Transfiguration program. Did that answer your question James?"
"I think so. For now at least."
Dr. Bowden smiled. "Any other questions?" Another student in the class asked him if he would repeat the hand motion for the podium transfiguration. Harry felt a tap on his shoulder, and looked over to see both Lee and Ashley staring.
"What?" Harry whispered hesitantly. Ashley was about to begin whispering back, but Dr. Bowden dismissed the student's question as not relevant and was back to lecturing.
"So we have that transfiguration is the art of manipulating energy and changing perceptions, and no transfiguration is permanent. Now, let's continue."
—
The hour and a half passed more quickly than Harry had expected. Harry turned to Lee and Ashley who were packing up. "I'll meet you outside. I have a couple more questions for Dr. Bowden." Before he could give them an opportunity to respond, Harry made his way down to the front of the class.
"James?"
"Yes, Dr. Bowden. I had another question for you."
"Go ahead."
"You said transfiguration was about manipulating perceptions, how people perceive the object. But how does casting a spell at an object change someone else's brain? Isn't perception all done in the brain?"
"And you're really undecided? You realize Harry, you're asking questions on your first day that seniors cover in some of their classes. Who is your adviser? I hope it's one of ours."
"Dr. Naomi."
"Good. I'm going to have a chat with her over lunch. You need to major in Transfiguration James. Your mind is right for it. You ask the right questions, have the right curiosities. I'll be damned if we're going to lose you to Charms. Ok, I'm kidding. Mostly. But I'm willing to bet you won't find Charms anywhere near as interesting as you found this first class."
"Well sir, if you say so. I'll wait to see it for myself."
Dr. Bowden grinned. "Sounds good. Enjoy Intro to Charms. You know if you declare your major in the first week, you can drop charms and take the Transfiguration ethics course instead. Just sayin."
"Err, ok. So sir, back to my question?"
"You probably haven't studied physics yet, but let's talk a little about how we perceive the color of an object. Our eyes perceive color in two main ways: when wavelengths that compose white light are interfered with on the way from its source to our eyes, think of the sky being blue as an example there, and when something is emitting light of a certain wavelength. When we tinker around with the internal energy of something, like we did with this podium," Dr. Bowden hit his fist on the podium which had reverted back to metal with ten minutes left to go in the class, "the wavelengths of light that's reflected by the podium also change. So we perceive the difference in energy in part as a change in those wavelengths, which our eyes interpret as the color gold. That make any sense?"
"Well. A little."
"You'll probably need a physics and a biology class to truly understand what's at work there. We do cover some of it in a senior level course. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to meet up with Dr. Naomi for lunch. Expect to your ears to burn at some point." Dr. Bowden gathered his suitcase and headed out.
"Wait. What? My ears might burn?"
—-
"That's an American expression James. It means they'll be talking about you. You seriously thought they'd set your ears on fire or something?" Lee was skeptical.
"Well how was I supposed to know."
"What'd you want to ask him?" pressed Ashley.
"A question about how we change someone's perception."
"Oh? What's he say?"
"Well. He said that they cover it more in a senior level course."
"Geesh. James. It really does sound like you ought to be majoring in Transfiguration."
"Yah. That's what Dr. Bowden said."
"Ooh!" squealed Ashley, "He asked you to switch? That's GREAT!"
"Yah that first class WAS really really interesting."
"You should totally be in my ethics course then."
"What's it like?"
"I have it next. But the readings look so neat! There's an entire book on the ethics of animal transfiguration and-"
"-I'll just stand here and hum and talk to myself I suppose," Lee interrupted.
Ashley grinned. "We'll talk about it later."
"I still want to see what Charms is like. Could be interesting too."
—-
It wasn't, at least that's what Harry thought. There was not nearly as much discussion about the why of charms. Most of the charms program seemed to be about memorization, at least that's what Harry thought based off his first class. There was just a little bit of theory mentioned in the Intro class, and it was quickly set aside and mentioned there would be a Theory of Charms course as a senior level elective. People weren't entirely sure why charms worked they way they did, although research mostly revolved around the charm temporarily suspending the laws of physics with whatever the charm was cast on. But the theory was largely incomplete and many charms didn't even fit with the incomplete theory.
Harry left the class feeling pretty unsatisfied. He heard a lot of the other students talking excitedly about the charms they were learning, but it didn't strike Harry the same way that his transfiguration class had. He had a lot of Charms books in his library that he could look up spells in - he didn't need a class in how to memorize them. If he was going to study something for many years, he wanted to at least enjoy the classes. But Harry wasn't sure if he wanted to declare a major after only one class in the intro courses.
Harry had half an hour before his Intro to Arithmancy course. He had already grabbed lunch with Lee and Ashley after their transfiguration class, and although he could get started on his readings for homework, he wasn't sure if half an hour would be long enough. Harry decided to go back to the Transfiguration building and see if Dr. Naomi was in. Maybe she could help him sort through some of his feelings.
Harry caught her at just the right time - she had finished teaching one of her courses, and was back in her office. "Ah, James, come on in. I had the most interesting discussion with Dr. Bowden today. You really made an impression on him! Well done!"
"Thanks Dr. Naomi. I was wondering if I could talk something through with you. But I admit I'm a little worried you might be biased. Can I count on you to keep an open mind?"
"Of course James! If you think I'm being biased at all one way or the other, let me know and I'll take a step back."
"Ok. Here goes. See, I just got done with Intro to Charms. And it, well, sucked. I wasn't interested at all like I was in Transfiguration."
She nodded. "James, that happens. You came in undecided, but when you reach this level in your education, you simply might not find all magic as interesting any more. When comparing Charms and Transfiguration, I tend to see students who enjoy memorizing enjoy Charms more. There's a million charms out there, and there are a lot of students who want to learn those charms and maybe even invent their own someday. Charms is a wonderful branch of magic, but it's simply not everyone's cup of tea.
"Each person has what interests them. James, I know you haven't gotten to enjoy a lot of what interests you. You've been forced to study and perform, or die as a result. Now, that's not the case. You have the opportunity, quite possibly for the first time in your life, to engage in what interests you the most, not what might be the most useful down the road. A great man Rev. Howard Thurman once said, 'Don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.' You've done what the world needs. Now's your time to do what makes you come alive."
Harry started to tear up. Dr. Naomi looked alarmed for a a minute, then told Harry to take his time (and passed him the box of tissues on her desk.) Some weight on Harry's shoulders had been lifted. This was far beyond the decision between Charms and Transfiguration. This was a deeper realization He had been doing what the world needed for a long time but not what made him come alive. He might find what makes him come alive while at Emory but more importantly he was allowed to find it out for himself. And that is what he so desperately needed. That permission.
"I. I don't know what to say. Thank you Dr. Naomi."
She smiled. "You don't need to thank me James. Or, if you want to, promise me you'll spend time each day thinking about what makes you come alive and promise me you'll follow it."
"I, I will."
"Great. Now, as for charms being boring-"
Harry managed a slight chuckle. "Just tell me this - are most Charms classes going to be similar to this one?"
She nodded. "The Charms courses at higher levels are all centered around different families of charms. But in the end, you're mostly memorizing. There is an elective in spell creation, but there's more spell creation in Transfiguration and a lot more of it in your minor, Arithmancy. So you'll have plenty of opportunities."
"So how do you declare a major?"
She grinned. "I've already got the form in my desk. I figured after seeing your MAT scores you'd switch sooner than later. You've just got more of a talent for transfiguration. Now, although this is a serious choice, you can change your mind again if you so choose. But James, I don't want you to send it in to the admin office yet. I want you to go through one more charms class, and if it's still not right and you still want to switch, then I'll endorse it no problem and we'll get you switched over starting Friday."
Harry nodded. "So, if I do switch, I'm not in Intro to Charms anymore?"
She shook her head. "No need. You'd be enrolled in the other first semester first year transfiguration required course, an ethics course."
"Would I be far behind in it? How would I catch up with the assignments?"
"I think the professor would give you some leeway and help you get caught up."
"Oh, who's the professor?"
She grinned.
—-
"Welcome to Introduction to Arithmancy. My name is Dr. Hudson, and I'm thrilled to welcome you to the first class towards your eventual minor in Arithmancy." Harry looked around the room. It wasn't in a lecture hall like his other two introduction classes had been in. There were about 20-25 desks total in the room, with whiteboards covering the span of three of the walls. Harry was sitting next to Ashley - it dawned on Harry if he did switch his major, the two of them would have all of his magical classes together. She had talked excitedly about the Transfiguration Ethics course, and raved about Dr. Naomi's teaching style. That class had about 15 people in it. Which was more than this class - there were only 10 people their year minoring in Arithmancy.
"Arithmancy," continued Dr. Hudson, "is the study of how the laws of magic interact with the laws of nature. Different numbers have different magical properties, and when you combine them in different ways, different things happen. Throughout your time studying Arithmancy, you'll see how much math there is to magic when you break a spell down in to its components. You'll see how breaking a spell down in to its components and adding the components in a different order can affect how the spell performs. You'll see how to create a spell using known Magical components. And you'll see how casting multiple spells can lead to surprising, but predictable, results.
"But most of that you will learn in your later years. You have to have a strong foundation first. In Intro to Arithmancy, we start building that foundation. Your first year studying Arithmancy will be difficult. It's often said Arithmancy is the most difficult minor at Emory, and it's because of this first year. You will get a crash course in Mathematics, ranging from Algebra and Geometry in your first semester to Trigonometry and Calculus in your second semester. The pace will be difficult and if you fall behind you will be lost within a week. Every week there are tutoring sessions with graduate assistants who can help you if you fall behind. There's a schedule of these tutoring sessions in your course syllabus.
'We begin today with some of the basic theorems and postulates and properties. You need to not only know what they do but you need to know the correct name. You will have a quiz on these Friday. But for many of you, this will be a review of what you covered in high school. Let's get started with the Distributive property."
Harry's head hurt by the end of the class. He was already behind in Arithmancy, and it was only the first day. Not having taken any courses in Arithmancy at Hogwarts was coming back to haunt him. He turned to Ashley as they walked together towards Transfiguration Lab and said, "I'm in trouble."
"Hmm? Why?"
"I didn't know any of that. Like, at all."
"Oh. It's kinda basic James. But if you need help, get one of those tutoring sessions, or you can get some help at the Arithmancy Study Group! Did you see when our first meeting was?"
"Uh, no."
"Thursday afternoon before the quiz. Did you not see the sign in the Arithmancy building?"
"Uh, no. Didn't know it was there."
"Club notices are posted in the front lobby of every building. In addition to the weekly paper, but that comes out on Fridays."
"So," asked Harry, "what do you think the first Transfiguration Lab will be like?"
—-
The Lab turned out to be mostly an introduction and going over the extensive lab rules packet. They covered only two transfigurations, both of which they would see later in the week. They were using one material and only changing the shape or color of the material. They were not transfiguring one element to another - this would be taught much later in the year, much to Harry's disappointment.
When the Lab was done, Ashley had to get back home for dinner. Lee asked Harry if he wanted to hang out, but with his early morning tomorrow, Harry said he wanted to get back home. They would see each other in their Intro to Religion course the next day.
Harry walked back to his car, mentally figuring out what he needed to do that evening. He knew he needed to start studying Arithmancy right away and work through the suggested workbook pages for homework. He had some Transfiguration he needed to read, but he was already much more worried about Arithmancy. He decided not to cook that evening and instead picked up a hamburger to go at one of his neighborhood restaurants. He took it home to eat, and by 8:00 he was working through his Arithmancy workbook with the TV on as background noise. He called it a night at 11:00pm and headed up to bed. It would be an early morning and his first day of Muggle Emory.
