Chapter 9- Transfiguration
"Really, just going to her office once a week?", Scorpius asked at dinner, his mouth full of onion soup. "I already told you, she is notoriously tough, she probably has some terrible punishment in store for me", Albus signed, the apple pie in front of him less appetizing than before. "I thought you are going to be expelled for sure", Poppy joined the place where he and Scorpius sat, seeming more eager to talk than eat, "than you don't know yet what your punishment is?". Albus looked at her, apparently her need to gossip was greater than her dislike towards him.
"No idea", he said, hoping the investigation will end at that, but nevertheless, Poppy proven herself to be stickier then Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, trying to attain any piece of information possible. The situation only got somewhat better when Violet and Rollo joined in.
"Hey", the kid with the small head turned to Albus, "thanks for calling out Professor Hooper today". It was the first time Albus heard him talk, he had surprisingly soft voice with cockney accent. "Sure", he was taken aback a bit, watching as the trolish kid began eating some pasties, wondering whether he really was so dumb to somehow think he did it for him.
"Professor Hooper hates Slytherins, he tries to get us whenever he can", Poppy, who saw every moment of silence as a waste, said. "How do you know that?", Violet asked, loading her plate with eggs. "Royal told me that Bren told her that other Slytherins told him that he always punishes them for nothing and that nobody likes him, not even the professors", the burgundy haired girl said amazingly fast.
"And you believe Royal?", Violet raised her brow. "Why, what have you heard?", Poppy leaned forward, forgetting about her food, "tell me, I can keep a secret". Albus scoffed quietly, she seemed like someone who can keep a secret the same way a colander can keep water. Violet looked at Ella and Jacob, who also joined them now, clearly wondering how it is possible to tell a secret in public.
The rest of dinner moved forward this way, with Poppy, who seemed more active than in all the other classes combined making most of the talking. As they all finished eating and started heading down to their common room, Albus wondered if the new pleasantness came, in some way, from the potion master. Perhaps getting targeted for being part of their house officially cemented him as one of them. He wasn't sure whether it was a good or a bad thing. They reached the common room and he, together with Scorpius and Violet found a secluded place to do their homework.
They sat beneath one of the many massive green and silvery banners that offered partial hiding, their books opened in front of them. "Did I miss something in transfiguration today?", Albus asked. In the end, after getting lost in the hallways, somehow finding himself on the fourth floor instead of the ground-floor, he reached the class only at its end, right as the bell rung. "No, we didn't learn anything yet", Violet said, "It was weird, it's like the Professor didn't even care whether we learned or not".
They started from classifying plants in Herbology and moved to rather vicious essay in potions (both made much easier with the helpful aid of Scorpius). After that he and Violet started practicing the levitation spell and the charm shield respectively. He tried aiming a quill at her and she tried blocking it, and while Scorpius became somewhat familiar with his spell Violet wasn't as successful, although she claimed she swayed the feather once. Later Umbra appeared and joined the effort of catching the feather as well, swatting at it with her black paws and hissing whenever it came too close.
"Well, I'm heading down", Albus declared around nine o'clock, closing the sky maps he worked on until this point, "see you two tomorrow". "Don't you want to work on your spells?", Scorpius asked, Umbra's indigo eyes following him closely. "I think I got a grip on that", Albus lied, "I'll work on it later".
He headed down the circular steps, the green snake shaped lamps lighting his way. At one point he will have to confront the fact that his wand seemed unresponsive to him, he thought as he prepared for bed, ignoring Tucker and Oliver, who unkindly stared at him from across the room as he pulled his hangings.
He lied in his bed and touched the old wand, feeling the cracks in the wood. Something with it was wrong, he always knew it to some extent, but constantly kept it in the back of his head. The look on McGonagall face when she saw it came to his mind, and Albus wondered what could have brought such response. With that in mind, without noticing, he drifted into the dream realm.
"You have to cook him", Scorpius stood above him, pointing to the cauldron, where a tiny Professor Hooper floated, yelling disagreements, "I don't like him either, but don't you think it's a bit extreme?". "It's the only way", Scorpius declared aloud, "Only way", repeated the rest of the class, their faces blurred. Albus turned to them and then back towards the caldron. But both it and Scorpius disappeared, instead there was the small hatch, emitting its soft green light on the background of weird noises. He advanced slowly, some movement came and in a moment of fear he drew his wand…
Boom, the explosion shook the whole room, flinging some lamps from the wall with a loud sound of broken glass. Albus quickly got up, tossing his wand to his nightstand as he did. "What happened here?", Oliver, who apparently fell from his bed appeared from behind his curtains with his wand in his hand, feeling his head. "I could ask you the same", Albus called, now everybody was out, and they all looked at Oliver. "It wasn't me, you dunse", ha said and tried to hide his wand behind his back, only cementing him more as the suspect.
"How do we know it wasn't you?", he shot back at Albus. "Don't be ridiculous", Tucker said, his yellow eyes shining with maliciousness in the partial darkness, "you saw him with his wand, his not even capable to light a candle, let alone blow up something". Albus felt rage washing over him like a wave, and almost ousted himself as the culprit just out of spite. He had no good response, so he turned in anger to his bed, again drawing his curtains, separating himself from the rest.
He heard the dim voices keeping behind him, there were some shouts, and finally, after about 15 minutes, the commotion has ceased. All this time no one came to bother Albus, apparently there were all in agreement with Tucker. It would have bothered him more if not to what just happened.
He just stood there, frozen, his back to the drapes, staring at the nightstand. It didn't make any sense, the wand seemed to act only when he wasn't paying any attention to it, which made it all but usable. He laid back in his bed, still staring at the wand in the faint lamp light.
He sent his hand and pulled it with one swoop, but not surprisingly, nothing happened. Frustrated, he flung it back and turned, wondering why he had to be the one with this stupid problem. He rotated back and forth in his bed, the sleep sneaking away from him, Rollo's engine rumbling sounding snores in the background. Despite being tired, he never managed to fall back to sleep, his head buzzing with competing thoughts. At some point his been on the point of dozing off, but right as he did the alarms of the students went off, signing the beginning of another day.
It was the hardest he ever had getting up, his limbs feeling like stone. Until he became prepared everybody, part of Scorpius, already went. They made the way up, to a silent breakfast and then towards the greenhouses, to a double class in Herbology. The two hours seamed the drag on, and when they got out the sky was still dreary, reflecting his mood. Longbottom wanted to speak to him again, probably on the punishment he managed to achieve on just his second day at school. But this time when the bell was heard Albus was the first the get out, pretending to not hear the call behind him.
At lunch Albus, Scorpius, Rollo, Violet, and Amare sat in a separate group from the other first-year Slytherins, eating in a complete silence. After that they went to history of magic, and this time it was Albus who consistently fell asleep and was needed to alternately be waken up by either Scorpius or Violet. Later, even with a wand to his head, Albus had no idea what it was about. The last class of the day, for the excitement of Scorpius, was flying lessons and at three o'clock they all made their way to the renewed quidditch pitch.
As they got there Albus heart fell, again they were assigned with the Gryffindors. "Do any of you know how to fly?", Violet asked Albus and Scorpius with worry as they waited for the Professor. "I read all the books", Scorpius answered, "the basics shouldn't be that hard". "You don't learn it from books", Poppy interjected from nowhere, "Mr. Wood told me that". "The Professor? How do you know him?", Violet acquired.
"My parents sent me to flight camps in Hogsmeade during the summers", she began, "but I usually just spoke with my girlfriends in the side", she finished absentmindedly, not noticing Scorpius clear jealousy. "Hey Mr. Wood", she waved to the Professor, a burly (and a bit out of shape) man, who appeared from the locker rooms with a carrier full to the bream with old brooms, mainly from antique Nimbus 2000 styles. He ordered them to get one and then get in lines.
There was a bit of a commotion as most students tried to get the best brooms, but finely they all had one in hand. Scorpius, uncharacteristically, stole the best one, a good-looking Nimbus 2001, right under the nose of Tom, who would have probably punched him for that if not of the Professor watchful eye. Then, after a brief introduction, most of them already flew a bit, but only high enough for their toes to touch the ground.
After so many years comparing himself to his father, mother, and brother, Albus had to admit that his self-worth has been distorted. He was above average when it came to flying abilities, although, in the moment he didn't show it too much. As it turned up, most of the skill of flying came naturally, and apparently Scorpius had none of that.
He failed twice to summon his broom and once he succeeded, fell from it on three different occasions. The rest of the lesson he spent staring with resentment at the others. Mainly at Hunter, who flew on his broom so easily he looked like a raven with his long black hair, and surprisingly Violet, who was a clear natural phenome.
The end of the class came a bit early as light rain began. Now the roles were reversed, and Albus had to accompany Scorpius as they made their way back to the dormitories. His bad mood was carried on to the next day, that began, weirdly enough, with Albus waking him up and dragging him to reach class on time.
To make things even worse, the day began with double class in potions. Professor Hooper apparently didn't like the fact that Albus escaped expulsion and tried baiting him into another outburst by snide remarks. But Scorpius bad mood aided him as some sort of a shield, almost like the bad luck has shifted between them.
This time Scorpius wasn't sent to the lavatory, but when he added mint to his swelling solution, to combat the bad Puffer-fish eyes taste, his potion was vanished by the Professor for not following the proper instructions. Automatically giving him the lowest grade in the class, even below that of Rollo, who somehow managed to melt his new caldron. Albus, however, followed the instructions to a T and kept his head down, making, for the dismay of the Professor, a pretty good concoction.
After, both him and Violet badmouthed him, but Scorpius himself didn't join in, and just nodded in gloom from time to time. They had another class in defense against the dark arts afternoon, and this time, Violet officially managed to produce the charm shield, earning 30 points for Slytherin for that accomplishment. Scorpius, however, was as bad as Albus, or even worse, waving his wand with such carelessness it dropped from his hand in one time. Something that even the small sleepyhead blond kid from Hufflepuff- Avery Alton, didn't manage to do.
"Hey", Albus caught him aside after the class was dismissed, "I know you bummed by the flying lesson, but it isn't a reason to fall apart. You could probably be the best student in our grade if you set your mind to it". "It has nothing to do with it", Scorpius brushed him aside, lying to Albus (and probably to himself as well).
It didn't help that the next class was Flying again. This class Scorpius was the only one to fall from his an incredibly old and incredibly bent Cleansweep broom, drawing laughs from both the Gryffindors and Slytherins. Albus blood boiled when he saw Tom's glee (his broom struggling to keep him afloat due to his size), making him want to ram into his inflated figure.
When the class ended Scorpius vanished, leaving his broom laying on the ground. Albus quickly picked it up, returning it to the stand before the Professor will notice the violation. He didn't find him in the common room or the dormitories and spotted him nowhere in dinner.
Even at night, when the Slytherins made their way up to the astronomy tower Scorpius wasn't anywhere in sight. Albus was a bit worried as he failed to explain the absence of Scorpius to professor Sinistra. Perhaps he got caught in one of the castle's many hidden rooms, he thought to himself, his mind automatically wandering to the mysterious hatch.
But when Albus returned from the class he found Scorpius sitting in the common room with Brennan, and while not completely cheerful, definitely more strengthened than before. "Good, the man of the hour", the prefect rose to greet him, shaking his hand in mock seriousness. "Well, some of us should sleep tonight, so off you go", he ordered them both to bed.
"I thought you didn't like him", Albus said as they made the way down in the narrow stairs, but Scorpius just shrugged his shoulders. They reached the bottom of the stairs, being the first to get there. "What did he tell you?", Albus inquired, "That private conversations called private for a reason", Scorpius chided, "and to tell you about a secret room only Slytherins know about". "What's in it?", Albus ignored the light snide, "Don't know, he just told me to check it tomorrow on lunch", Scorpius answered.
They began making their beds when Scorpius bubbled up, continuing a conversation he had in his head, "I know I'm not naturally gifted in flying, but if I work hard enough, I will be able to be the best in that", he declared, as if waiting for Albus to challenge him. "That's great", Albus finely ousted surprised as the rest of the Slytherins entered. He watched him as he finished making his bed in a determined look and then pulled his covers. It was something he expected someone like Rollo or Avery to say, but not Scorpius. Perhaps he wasn't as smart as he perceived him to be in the beginning, Albus thought to himself as he drew his own curtains.
After all, just knowing things didn't make you smart, just knowledgeable. It seemed so childish to him to care about such an unnecessary thing, it wasn't like caring about something important, like a proper functioning wand. A jolt of power went through him as he touched it without noticing.
Every other thought but trying to figure out what happened was vanished from his mind after that. It again took him awhile until he fell asleep, running the old wand through his fingers. And when he finely succeeded to slumber, he didn't get any rest. His mind flickering between entrances emitting green light and dark misshapen trees.
Albus couldn't be happier that it was the last day of classes for the week as he dragged himself out of bed the morning after. It felt like ages since he arrived at Hogwarts. They began the day with a grueling double charms class, and the fact that Albus haven't forgot his wand didn't matter too much as it again acted only as a piece of wood in his hands. Scorpius, on the other hand, improved greatly, and was the only one, together with Rosy, to properly succeed in the levitation spell until the end of the class, earning him 50 pointes.
It truly was like the good aura moved between them again, Albus thought to himself frustrated in lunch, watching Scorpius enthusiastically devouring the food, recalling himself stuttering trying to explain to the tiny professor why he's failing. Thay finished the meal (it took a while as Scorpius took a second serving out of everything) and then clandestinely made their way to the secret room. "It should be left here", he recalled after they went beneath the main stairway on the first floor.
"And… voilà", Scorpius pointed to a shiny white marble knight at the end of the small corridor, "Now we just need to find the secret lever, Bren said we need to discover it on our own". "You sure he didn't dope you?", Albus asked after a couple of minutes in which Scorpius had failed to find the secret handle, still with his bad mood. "No, no", Scorpius waved him off in an annoying way, "wait, you really think so?", he stopped trying to pull down the knight's spear and looked at him.
But Albus didn't answer, he looked at the shiny knight, or more specifically, at his dim left eye, which was nearly gray, almost like countless people have touched it before… He stepped forward, and with somewhat uncomfortable feeling, pressed the eye. Similar to the stone gargoyle in front of the headmaster office, the statue came to life and jump aside, revealing the continuation of the corridor behind it. Before he and Scorpius entered, Albus wiped the stone's eye, making sure to clean any evidence for the hidden button.
After a short hallway they entered a large gym. There were countless dusty benches and rusty weights, together with outworn running tracks and bars in various levels of corrosion. However, the thing that caught their eyes was the massive pool in the middle, a huge square full of clear water, shining under the light from the high windows.
They would have probably check it from up close if not for the inhabited in them. The prefect Hayden was there, shuffling around in her floral pink swimsuit. She got so angry when she saw them, she swallowed a substantial amount of water by mistake, and to her yelling have been added coughs as both Albus and Scorpius rushed away.
"Well, I'll not go there again", Albus exhaled when they reached the main hall, "I guess he did set us up in the end", Scorpius agreed. The thought that Brennan used them as a tool to get back at Hayden bugged Albus, but Scorpius himself seemed frustrated that the room hadn't contained something more exciting. They didn't have too much time to ponder about it however, as they rushed towards the transfiguration class together with the Ravenclaws.
Albus, as usual, took a sit at the back of the classroom, Scorpius at his side, waiting for the professor. The students waited for him and looked at each other bamboozled, speaking in an increasingly higher voice as the minutes past. "Perhaps Mr. Doyle is not coming at all and we actually free to go to an early weekend", Oscar Dawlish from the table in front of Albus said, rocking on his chair, only to crush as he entered.
"Apologies", the professor said, not sounding sorry at all, his S ringing long after the word had left his mouth. He began the class immediately after, as if nothing happened, explaining how to perform the spells. Albus understood what Violet meant when she said he didn't seem to care on whether the students followed him or not.
He moved through the motions mechanically, not answering any questions, and even when he demonstrated with his wand it looked a bit awkward, perhaps just out of his laziness, Albus thought to himself. But unlike in other like in Herbology, Charms or History of magic there were not any underline talking when he spoke. His penetrating voice continuing uninterrupted for half an hour, with every S sound of him echoing between the class walls like a whistle.
Finally, they began practicing, trying to turn the matches there were given into needles. But even though Albus followed the professor words perfectly, his use of the wand was, once again, a total bust. Professor Doyle didn't move between the students like the other teachers during practice time, and in the one time he was asked for help he just said that to commit the spell you need to understand it on your own, which made the whole lesson a bit useless.
It was, without a doubt, a very frustrating two hours, but at the least, Albus comforted himself towards the end of the class, also the last for the week. The bell rang and all the students got up in a big commotion, happy they were not given any homework. "let's hope McGonagall punishment is not too bad", Albus said to Scorpius under all the disturbance, placing his wand on the table while putting his papers and books in his bag, "it can't be too bad". But Scorpius didn't answer, and just glared over Albus' shoulder.
He turned, finding the Professor standing behind him. Up close Albus felt like he is looking at him through a cloudy glass. He was extremely thin and dark, with heavy brow, long straight nose, and hollow cheeks. And while clearly old, his hair was still full and dark and his face smooth, lacking deep details, almost like it was made from wax. Albus took it all in a second, before something else caught his eye, his own wand, gripped by the man's long narrow fingers.
Without thinking, he yanked it out of his hands, so quickly the movement was barely visible. He stood there, his wand held close to his chest, fearing he just crossed a red line with another professor. Albus was sure he was going to be yelled at and punished but instead the man reached out for a handshake, "Lets meet officially", he said, not seeming to care about the affair that just transpired. Albus shook the surprisingly soft but strong fingers nervously, transfixed on the dark brown eyes.
"How's the wand working for you?", he asked in a low voice, still holding Albus. "It's working only when I'm mad", the answer came automatically. It shook him up and he stepped backwards, breaking the connection, now leaving the professor a bit surprised, "Interesting", he softly said.
"I'm sorry, I need to be somewhere else", Albus ousted and sped towards the door, expecting to be stopped, but no such thing had happened. Outside he was spotted by Scorpius, who gave him the bag he left in the classroom, "You forgot it again", he said, "such rudeness, its known that you can't take other's wands", he shook his head.
But Albus didn't listened to him, and thought why he said what he just said, it was like his psyche knew it all along. "Al", he raised his head at the new voice, seeing Rose standing in the main hall, "are you coming to Hagrid?", she asked, playing with her red puffy hair as she used to when she was anxious.
"Now?", he suddenly remembered that he was indeed invited to Friday. "Go on without me", he said to Scorpius, finding it as a great justification to not talk about what just happened. Scorpius looked with interest at Rose, who looked back at him with disgust, what promptly encouraged him to move on.
They both began walking, exiting the massive doors onto the green fields. Albus sneaked a peek at Rose, who had her gaze strictly directed forward. He could have bet on all his frog cards collection that someone pushed her to talk to him. "How were the studies so far?", she asked in a forced tone, but Albus didn't answer, he enjoyed her awkwardness, it gave him some clarity of mind. She didn't ask again, and they made the rest of the way in silence, only the wet grass beneath them making any sound.
He just concluded that the Professor somehow hypnotized him when Rose suddenly held his arm in such strength that he felt like the blood has ceased from flowing to his hand. From the vegetable bed next to the hut on the edge of the forbidden forest, carrying some of the largest fruits and vegetables Albus has ever seen, appeared a hippogriff.
The stormy gray creature stared at them with his orange eyes, kicking the ground irately with his huge front bird legs. "It's Buckbeak", Albus shook Rose off, "you've seen him before, remember?", he stood in front of the creature and bowed, keeping eye contact with the beast.
Soon after it bowed as well and let Albus pet his beak. "He always liked you", Hagrid appeared at his front porch, wearing a pink apron, in sharp contrast to his black fur vest, "you remind him of your father". He moved forward and patted the animal as well (next to him it looked the size of a pony).
"Is it safe to keep it outside without a leash? Isn't it dangerous?". Hagrid burst into laughter, his voice so deep it sounded like storm, "He will be, if ye try and put one on him". The hippogriff seemed to lose interest and returned to the garden patch, sniffing and turning the ground with his beak.
"He's looking for rodents", Hagrid watched as the winged creature slowly wobbled away, " pretty helpful, they are destroying my crops", he smiled. "Anyway, come on in", he invited them both inside and Albus and Rose obliged (she made sure to take the long way, keeping her distance from the animal). They insides were, in contrast to the outside, warm and dark, containing ridiculously big wooden dinner table and chairs, elaborate kitchen full of hams and pheasants hanging from its ceiling and a stone fireplace with happy flickering fire.
Rose let out another small shrill as she came face to face with a gigantic darkish hawk that stood on the table, his sharp yellow eyes bright in the darkness. "There is no reason to fear Claw", Hagrid pulled his forearm forward for the bird to sit on. It turned his head for a moment and then jumped onto it, looking normal sized in comparison to the giant arm. "Good boy, here you go", Hagrid pulled a bleeding piece of meat out of nowhere and presented it to Claw, who almost removed one of his fingers as he pecked it.
Hagrid signed them both to the table (that was taller than them) and rolled out a letter into a holster at the hawk's feet as Rose and Albus struggled to climb the chairs. "To the Potter's mansion", he said when he finished, and the bird flew out the window, almost making Rose fall as she ducked from its massive wings. "You're also sending letters to my dad?", Albus stopped himself, fearing he might expose he knew about his father and the headmistress correspondence.
But neither Hagrid or Rose noticed it, "No, I've sent it for yer mum", he turned to pour them both steaming tea, "I have great relations with her and Neville- Professor Longbottom for ye, since they helped me rebuild the hut". "What happened to it?", Rose asked, not touching the huge mug in front of her. "Death eaters broke into the school and burned it down", he as well sat down on one of the huge chairs, which in his case made an alarming squeaking sound.
"But it wasn't the worst thing that happened that night", he said when Rose covered her mouth, "they also killed the great Albus Dumbledore". Albus, who didn't really care now of stories of a man that died more than twenty years ago, wanted to prod more about the letter, but he made the mistake of taking a sip from the drink.
"That's right, that was your name giver", said Hagrid, mistaking Albus painful expression from the liquid that burned his mouth as sadness, "He truly was a great man", he swept a tear away from his eye. After that he and Rose started to babble about her first week, and Albus, who lost any feeling in his mouth, was left to wonder how Hagrid was interested in any of that. After all, he himself already got tired of it, and he only spent a week here. "…so, after that, they decided to change the password to the common room from 'Brave' to…", Hagrid clear his throat, stopping Rose' chatter, "Perhaps you shouldn't share it", he mumbled.
A heavy silence fell, only the tea pot whistling being audible. "What did ye want to say, Rosy?", Hagrid tried to reignite the conversation, but Albus talked instead. "Aren't you interested in how it is in Slytherin?", he asked, the last word with the whistling on the background making him sound like the transfiguration Professor. "No, no, it's not that interesting", Hagrid said unconvincingly. Albus raised his eyebrow, he always knew that the only thing Hagrid was fonder of than gossiping was dangerous animals. "Who told you not to talk to me about it?" he asked quietly.
"It was…", Hagrid began, and caught his mistake mid-sentence, "it doesn't matter, as long as you get along". Albus rage bubbled up again, "Well, on this point", he jumped from the chair, forgetting how tall it is and almost falling over, "I have a punishment in the headmistress office", the feeling returned to his mouth, now stinging with pain. He marched to the exit, barely managed to open the heavy wooden door, and got out, stunned by the sudden light.
For a moment he thought he stumbled into the Hippogriff again, but when his eyes adjusted, he noticed the black leathery skin, thin skeletal body, and the bat-like wings of the now quickly fleeing creature. "Perhaps you should put a leash on your animals", he told Hagrid angrily, who got up to stop him, and walked over the bloody rat carcass the dark animal nibbled on until a moment ago, not listening to the response.
And to think he predicted he could end the week on the right foot, he thought as he made his way up the slippery lawns. It seemed like half of the students in Hogwarts took advantage of the free time under the clear sky sitting in groups beneath the scarce trees, dipping their feet in the lake and playing with flying fanged frisbees. Wanting to get away from them, he went straight to the headmistress office without encountering anyone and reached the ugly stone gargoyle on the third floor in a brief.
"Elphinstone", Albus called, and crushed into the stone when it didn't move. "Ouch, by Merlin's beard", he held his head, "Elphinstone?", he asked again unsurely, but the gargoyle just grinned back at him with his crooked smile. "You really thought I would leave the entrance as it was?", the harsh voice made Albus jump, "Of course not", he turned to the headmistress behind him, feeling as if his heart stopped, "I just felt so bad about my actions I wanted to finish my punishment earlier", he lied on the spot. "Punishment?", her figure was in sharp contrast to the window behind, her head in a straight line with the sun, shrouding her face in darkness, "What punishment?".
It caught him by surprise, "don't I need to be here?", he hesitantly asked. "You do, and you are quite early", McGonagall peeked at her small watch, "but not for a punishment", she signaled him to move, and the stone gargoyle opened as soon as he saw her. "It is not among the headmistress responsibilities to punish students", she got inside the turning stairs. Albus wanted to ask her how it is her responsibility to check up on a single student, but decided not to push his already thin luck as he followed her in.
Her office was the opposite of Hagrid's hut. While the small house was warm, dirty, and dark, the pristine place where Albus now entered was high and bright, the air entering through its endless windows cooling it down. He sat in front of the plaided table, still trying to run in his head whether she ever said she is going to punish him or not.
"I'm glad the mishap three days ago was a one-time thing", she opened, "I will not suffer any disrespect in my school, regardless of personal feelings". Albus had hard time looking at her, feeling like a kid who was caught with his hand in a cookie jar. Although, in the back of his head surfaced the image of Poppy, recollecting how nobody liked Professor Hooper.
"Have you sent any letters to your parents?", she asked. "No, ma'am", Albus shook his head, this thought escaped him completely, "You should, they are worried about you". He raised his head and carefully observed her severe face, the whole ordeal seemed surreal to him. It was something he expected to hear from Longbottom or Hagrid, perhaps even Victorie or Molly, but certainly not from the headmistress.
"I will, ma'am, but may I asked why I was summoned here?", Albus didn't manage to block his curiosity. "I'm interested to follow the progression of my students by observing one of them", she sat down, "and that's the end for this subject. Now, show me what you've learned this week".
"Lies, lies, lies", the thought ran through Albus. His anger stopped bubbling up, now it just remained boiling inside, how stupid she believed him to be? "Understood", it took him all his powers to keep his composure as he answered and even more as he continued describing all the classes he had that week. Still, throughout his cold resentment he observed how all the pictures behind the headmistress followed him as well. Especially when he had to use his wand, whispering to each other and staring, though this time McGonagall kept her face sealed.
Alone, there was no one to hide his incompetence, and he decided he wouldn't suffer anymore secrets as he failed doing any kind of magic. He will send a letter, asking his father about the wand again, that, and he will find out what is the deal with the hatch beneath the school.
"Mr. Potter, you don't seem to concentrate on your spells, that is not at all how you transform wood into metal", McGonagall remark tore him from his thoughts. "Professor Doyle explained how to do it only once and didn't help when asked for help", Albus answered through clenched teeth.
"Hmm, I will check that subject", she said, and then her urge to teach got the better of her, "you already here so let me show you how". She started giving a speech about the subject, "The main forms of spell casting are somewhat separated into three different groups- charms, transfiguration and curses. What are the differences between them?". It was a punishment, Albus thought, watching the sun beginning to set through the windows, being forced into an additional lesson in the end of the week, "The levels of power needed to each of them?", he guessed.
"Power?", she frowned, adding wrinkles to her face, "No, it's about the effect on the subject. Although there something in that…", she raised her eyes to the sinking sun, "Charms rely mainly on the spelling and hand movement of the caster, while curses rely on his intent and raw strength. Transfiguration, however, dements both, that is why so few are proficient at the subject". She pulled her wand and transferred the matches on the table to needles and back to matches, "And now you try", McGonagall said, "Remember, correct movement and spelling plus intent".
The fact that she didn't mention strength didn't went unnoticed by Albus. He tried once and was corrected on his spelling, once more on his hand movement, and finally, on the fact he wasn't concentrating enough on the match. His head throbbed, the sun was now completely gone, the only light source now coming from the yellow bulbs across the walls. Albus just wanted it all to end, some time to relax after this never-ending week, and being here, face with his complete inability to do magic certainly didn't help...
The familiar surge in power came to him as he thought that, and all the lights in the room flickered for a moment. "That's enough", McGonagall suddenly broke the atmosphere, and the feeling with it. Albus looked at her with clear upset, he was so close to be able to do magic and she purposefully denied it from him. She rose, diminishing him with her height, "We will meet again next week at the same time. "So, exercise what we practice here today and keep track of the classes". And with such suddenness, his weekend begun.
