Chapter 5
Harry and Ron walked into the empty classroom and sat down. However, unlike with Charms and Flitwick, McGonagall was nowhere to be seen. All that could be seen was a lithe tabby cat licking her fur. Harry took out his wand, textbook, parchment, quill and inkwell, but started looking around as he was tried to find the professor while they waited for the Slytherins to join them in the classroom.
"Why are you looking around?" Harry's eyes twitched as he heard Hedwig's whisper.
"Trying to find our professor."
"But she's right here. It's the cat." Harry's eyes widened as he studied the cat on the table. The cat caught him staring at her and stared back, making Harry look away.
"Are you sure? How?"
"The cat smells like you're the professor who led us into the great hall yesterday."
"And you can smell all that from inside my clothes?" snorted Harry.
"Of course. I'm a magical snake." Harry rolled his eyes and nudged Ron in the arm. Ron looked over at Harry.
"Guess where McGonagall is."
"What? You already located her?" asked Ron as he twisted in his seat trying to spot the professor as Slytherins started to file in. Harry noticed Draco giving him a nasty glare.
"Yep. She's in the front on the table."
"What do you mean she's in the front? The only one up there is the cat…wait you can't really mean to tell me that McGonagall is the cat sitting in front of us?" Harry just smiled and nodded. "But how did you figure that out?"
"Hedwig. Apparently being a magical snake allows her to differentiate the smells of our professors. And she said the cat up front smells like McGonagall." Ron rolled his eyes.
"Well, what do you suggest we do?"
"Well, if I had the ability, I'd conjure a bunch of catnip and give it to McGonagall. Unfortunately, no one in the class has that ability. I guess we just tell the rest of our house." Harry turned around to Susan and Hannah, who were sitting in the desk behind them. "Hey Susan."
"Yeah?"
"Want to know where McGonagall is?" Susan raised her eyebrows and nodded. "She's the cat." Susan and Hannah's eyes widen as the look at the cat then back at Harry and then back at the cat again.
"You're positive?" asked Hannah.
"Guaranteed by Hedwig the magical snake, herself." Hannah rolled her eyes at the mention Harry's pet snake. "Go ahead and roll your eyes. I will totally tell you, 'I told you so', if she is right."
"Want to bet on it?" asked Hannah.
"You're on. 5 Galleons."
"Done. 5 Galleons. And when McGonagall walks into the room and picks up her cat, you are going to regret it!" crowed Hannah as she grinned, completely confident in her victory. Harry smiled.
As soon as the clock in the room hit the hour mark, the cat jumped off the desk and turned into a cat. Hannah's jaw dropped as the other members of the class stared in shock. Everyone that is, except for Ron, Harry, and Susan. Harry turned to Hannah and smirked.
"Pay up." Hannah grumbled as she passed 5 Galleons to Harry.
"I see Mr. Potter was able to deduce that I was the cat," said a barely smiling McGonagall. "10 points to Hufflepuff for deducing this fact. Now let's begin the lesson. Did you all go over the theory of magic in your previous class?" The Hufflepuffs all nodded while the Slytherins shook their head.
"Who did you have before me?" asked McGonagall, look at the Slytherin half of the class.
"We had Professor Snape and potions, Professor." McGonagall nodded. "I see. Well then, I will be doing another presentation on the theory of magic. Hufflepuffs, feel free to listen and follow along or start reading the Transfiguration textbook. And if you finish the chapter, begin practicing the spell in the first chapter." McGonagall waved her wand and matchbooks floated over from the table at the front to each student. "The spell will be one that transforms the matches into a needle." Harry and Ron had already tuned out McGonagall as soon as they had received their matches and started writing to determine how they were going to do the assignment.
'How complicated do we go?' wrote Harry.
'Really pointy needles. Duh.'
'That's a given. But should we embellish it. Like transfigure that matchbook itself along with the matches?'
'You could just do it wandless again'
'I don't have the energy to do that again, especially if we're going to be embellishing in things. Doing it for as long as I did in Charms exhausted me.'
'Let's see who can get nine needles first. One silver, one gold, one black, one green, one red, one yellow, and one blue.' Harry nodded his agreement, and both took out nine matches and placed it in front of them.
Harry stared at the first match and began picturing the object within his mind. First, he constructed what the needle should look like and how it would feel between his fingers. He imagined how it would feel if one of the points punctured his skin. He imagined the deep red color, similar to the color of blood. Harry waved his wand and muttered the incantation.
"Conmuntocus." The first match quickly turned into a deep red needle. Harry took the needle and felt it in his hand before touching his thumb to the end of the needle and was pleased that he could actually feel the stinging sensation. Harry pulled his thumb away before the needle could actually pierce his skin. "One down," said Harry as Ron transfigured his first match.
"Yeah, yeah, so did I. Keep up the pace." By this point, McGonagall had already finished her talk on magic theory and looked over to the Hufflepuff side and was shocked and horrified to see Harry and Ron holding their wands with matches out instead of reading their books.
"Mr. Potter! Mr. Weasley! What do you think you are doi- " McGongall's words died in her mouth as she saw the perfectly transfigured needle. She grabbed Harry's red needle and Ron's green needle, feeling them and testing their sharpness. "Very well done boys. 20 points each to Hufflepuff for being the first two to get the spell down. But I guess I shouldn't be surprised based off of how much you two practiced this over the summer. Try transfiguring your other matches into different colors and then reverting the process. The incantation is the same." Harry and Ron nodded and smiled when they noticed Malfoy glaring at them with a huge douse of jealousy present on his face.
"Yes ma'am." As McGongall began her lecture on transfiguration as a subject and on the first spell that they would be learning, Working quickly and efficiently, Harry and Ron focused on creating more needles from the other eight matches. Soon enough they had all nine matches turned into needles, with both of them finishing at exactly the same time. Harry and Ron both frowned.
"We're going to need to see who can revert all of them the quickest in order to determine the winner of this match," grumbled Harry. Ron nodded silently as he quietly pointed his wand at the needles. Quickly, Ron muttered the spell over and over again, picturing the needles turning into matches. One after another, each needle returned to its original form along with the coloring becoming uniform amongst all the matches. Ron turned to grin at Harry when he saw that his friend had his wand on the table and all of his needles transfigured back into matches.
"How?" asked Ron. "There's no way you could have had time to put down your wand and lean back! Even if you were faster than me, there's no way you had THAT much time." Harry grinned.
"The secret to my speed is that I was more efficient."
"Come again?" asked Ron as he noticed Susan out of the corner of his eye attempt the spell but only managed to change the color of the match.
"Instead of transfiguring them all one by one, I transfigured all of them at the same time. Since I was transforming all the objects into the same object with uniform features, there was no need to do it one by one." Ron blinked and looked at Harry back at the matches and then back at Harry before slamming his head into the desk.
"Stupid!"
"Mr. Weasley, is there a problem?" Ron glanced up to see McGonagall standing before him.
"No. Just Harry outsmarting me in changing the needles back into matches. Didn't think that I could transfigure all the needles back into matches with one spell rather than nine individual spells."
"Did he now? Very impressive Mr. Potter. Take another 10 points for Hufflepuff. Seeing as you two have finished the spell, please read ahead for the next chapter until class is over or help out your classmates." Harry and Ron immediately turned around to Susan and Hannah.
"You two need help?" As they did this, Ernie and Justin had scooted over to try and hear some tips.
"We do as well, please." Harry nodded.
"Okay, please do the spell once for me." All four Hufflepuffs waved their wands and said the incantation. Harry and Ron watched as each match changed. Susan's merely turned into a silver match. The wooden part of Hannah's became pointy, but it remained wooden. Ernie's match turned into metal, but it still looked like a match. Justin's just became thinner. "Okay, I know what's wrong."
"What is it?" asked Susan.
"What are you imagining when you say the spell?" asked Harry as he looked into the eyes of each of his housemates.
"Uh, a needle?" responded Hannah.
"Yes, but what does the needle look like. What does it feel like? When you roll it between your fingers, is the material coarse or is smooth? Does the point of the needle sharp enough to break the skin when you prick your finger on it or is the point blunt and harmless? Is the color of the needle reflective and clean or is muddled and blotched? When you say the spell, you must know all this. You must be able to picture all this in your mind before the spell will work."
"You thought about all that?" asked Ernie. Harry nodded. Ernie sighed and grabbed a needle from Hannah's matchbox. They all watched as Ernie furrowed his brows in concentration. After a few minutes, he waved his birch wand over the match and loudly pronounced the word, "Conmuntocus."
Before all their eyes, the match lengthened and thinned. The red tip disappeared as the match turned to a silver color. The tips sharpened into two sharp tips before the match thinned even more and taking the form of a needle. Ernie smiled ruefully.
"You did it!" Ernie turned to see Justin smiling. "Up top!" Justin gave Ernie a high five, a resounding slap echoing through the room. McGonagall walked over to the group of students and gave them a tight smile.
"Very good Mr. MacMillian. Another 10 points to Hufflepuff. As with Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley, please transform the needle back into a match. I hope the rest of you get this done as well. I would hate for the three of you have to do homework while your friends have none." McGonagall walked away to go assist one of the Slytherins. Harry looked at the other Hufflepuffs.
"Well? If Ernie can do it, there's no way that you can't do it. I have given you all the advice that you need to complete the task. It is now up to you to complete the spell." Harry turned around from his housemates and continued to continue reading his transfiguration textbook. As he read, Harry could hear Ron mention a few extra tips before he turned around as well to continue reading from his textbook.
"Harry?"
"Yeah?"
"You do realize that because we helped them that they are now going to be included in the study session tonight? Harry blinked.
"Ah fuck."
"We're going to need to find a classroom to conduct our nightly study sessions, aren't we?"
"Unless Madam Pince has some study rooms that we can use, yes. Want to just grab lunch from the kitchen and then head over to the library to see if we can secure a study room?"
"Definitely. So far, we have Daphne, Susan, Hannah, Ernie, and Justin. How much do you want to bet that by the end of the month, we also have students from Gryffindor and Slytherin?"
"Well based on my luck, that's a fool's bet. I might as well just give you the money if I make that bet."
"So that's a no?" asked Ron.
"That's a hard no." Harry and Ron continued to read their textbooks, and practice other spells from the textbook. McGonagall observed them from afar, but didn't comment on the action as she walked through the classroom to help students as they attempted to nail the spell down. By the end of the class, only Harry and his friends as well as Malfoy and Zabini had managed to complete the spell. Harry had noticed Zabini paying attention to his words when he had given Susan, Hannah, Ernie, and Justin the clue that had led to them completing the spell.
"Alright everyone," said McGonagall as she concluded the class. "Everyone who managed the spell will have no homework except to read the next chapter and to bring me a list of uses for this spell and why would it be useful. The rest of the class will do that in addition to explaining how to cast the spell and why you were unable to do it in class. I expect 3 feet of parchment from those who completed the spell and 6 feet from those who did not. I will see you all at lunch." All the students packed up their belongings and exited the class. The Hufflepuffs were met by Gabriel who smiled.
"How was class?" asked Gabriel as he started walking towards the Great Hall. Susan and Hannah began to talk about how Harry and Ron helped them. Gabriel turned to congratulate the two Hufflepuffs, but to his surprise, Harry and Ron had disappeared. "Where did they go? Don't they know it's lunch time?"
"They headed towards the common room. I saw them heading that way while I was walking back from the common room." Gabriel turned around to see one of the sixth-year prefects, Evie Baker, walking towards them. "Hello everyone, I am Evie Baker, one of the sixth-year prefects for Hufflepuff."
"What could they need from the common room?" wondered Gabriel. "Whatever the case may be, they know their way to the great hall. We'll see them later."
|Kitchen|
"Excuse me?" Harry peeked his head into the kitchen and looked around, seeing a number of house elves bustling around, preparing food. When they heard Harry, they all stopped, looked at him, before resuming their tasks with an exception of a few elves.
"Mister Harry! What is yous doing down here?" asked one of the elves. Harry looked at the elf, who was wearing a light blue linen cloth with the crest of Hogwarts stitched into the left hand side.
"Hi Mipsy. Ron and I were wondering if we could get some sandwiches to go so we can go to the library during the lunch hour." Mipsy looked around Harry to see Ron conversing with another one of the elves, Letty.
"Fine, Mister Harry, but next time, please ask us in the morning if you are planning on grabbing lunch from the kitchens so you don't have to go to the great hall."
"I will Mipsy. Sorry Mipsy." Mipsy rolled her eyes and snapped her fingers. Plates of bread, cheese, sliced meat, and a tub of butter floated over to where she was standing. With another snap, the bread buttered itself before laying itself down on a new plate as the cheese and meat layered laid down on the bread. Finally, a second piece of bread buttered itself and laid on the meat, finishing the sandwich creation. MIpsy did the process three more times. "Here yous goes, Mister Harry."
"Thanks Mipsy. Ron, our sandwiches are ready!" Ron looked over and smiled. He lumbered over and grabbed one of the sandwiches and began to chow down on the meal. Within 15 minutes, Harry and Ron had cleaned off the plate and were finishing a glass of water to wash the meal down.
"Thanks Mipsy!" said Ron as he and Harry exited the kitchens. "Can we do anything to repay you?"
"Eat in the great hall!" yelled back Mipsy as she took the plate and headed deeper into the kitchen. Harry and Ron shrugged at each other and left to go to the library. When they got to the library, Harry and Ron saw there were only fifth years and above currently in the library. Harry and Ron walked up to Madam Pince.
"Excuse me?" Madam Pince turned from her desk where she was reading a book to look at the two first-years standing in front of her.
"Yes? How can I be of assistance?"
"Well, Ron and I were wondering if there were any group study rooms in the library? Some of our friends want to study with us, but we are all in different houses and we don't want to disturb people in the library." Madam Pince looked at the two Hufflepuffs with a piercing gaze, making the two very anxious and look anywhere but her eyes.
"Very well. We do have a large study room that students can use, although it is not frequent. About how many people do you expect to show up?" Harry began to mentally count who would show up: Ernie, Justin, Hannah, Susan, Daphne, Ron, and himself. Harry also threw in a few other people as he was sure that someone in another one of the houses would find a way to join.
"Around nine or ten people or so."
"And at what time?"
"Right after dinner is over."
"I'll have the room ready for you by dinner then. Just come up and ask me for your room when you come back to the library."
"Thank you Madam Pince."
"Uh-huh. Now scram."
"Should we head back to the Great Hall or read?" asked Harry.
"Well, I vote for the food. Why would I want to stay?"
"So we can either start learning the runes from the book Charlie gave us or do the homework that you and I both know we can finish within ten minutes." Ron glared at Harry before relenting.
"Damn it, Harry. You're supposed to also agree to go get food. There's no way those two sandwiches did it for you!"
"No, but this way I'll stay awake. If I eat a heavy meal for lunch, I'm more likely to fall asleep and that is not a good thing if I'm going to have potions after lunch." Begrudgingly, Ron agreed with Harry's decision.
"Fine, damnit. Let's study some bloody runes." Harry and Ron sat down at the table and pulled out the runes textbook from their bags and began to look at the different runes that were depicted in the first pages. "Since this was your idea, how do you reckon we go about learning these?"
"Probably practice drawing each rune, and memorizing what the rune represents?" responded Harry, half-confident, half-questioning.
"Are you sure?" asked Ron as he brought out some parchment to start copying down some of the runes. "I mean, we only know this semester's curriculum. We don't have anything from after the winter break down pat."
"…well for now, we're just learning the structure of the basic runes. We're not going to be able to implement any of these in actual situations for years. It's like building the foundation. If we have a strong base, then once we get to understanding the meaning behind each symbol, we won't have to learn how to draw them. We just have to understand how to connect them."
"Fine, fine. But I would have thought you have wanted to focus on things that come after the Christmas break."
"We'll start on that stuff on the weekend. Besides, I can't make you brain dead today. We have broom practice today. And I know how much you love flying."
"Thank Merlin," muttered Ron as he traced one of the runes onto the parchment, following the stroke order that the book demonstrated. "Some way to exercise that isn't doing the grueling exercises that you enjoy putting us through."
"I don't see you complaining about the results though."
"Doesn't mean I have to like how we got them."
"Again, not complaining about the results."
"Whatever. At least I can more now that I exercise. Who are we paired with broom practice?"
"Guess," answered Harry as he examined the rune he had drawn, comparing it with the one in the book, trying to find any discrepancies between the two.
"Slytherin?"
"Yep."
"Eh? Well looks like we have to look forward to Draco Malfoy lording it over that he is a better flyer all class." Harry stared at Ron.
"Really? He's that bad? I mean he was a prat on the train, but he can't be that bad all the time…can he?" asked Harry, looking over at Ron.
"Well, my dad has never had anything nice to say about his family."
"Well, I'm certainly going to steer clear of him if at all possible," muttered Harry. "Hey, does this look good to you? I can't see any differences when I'm comparing the rune to the one in the book." Ron leaned over to look at Harry's parchment.
"Uh, everything looks good to me except that line at the bottom. It looks a little off to me. But that's just my opinion."
"All right. Thanks. I'm going to redo the entire thing."
"Yeah, I will as well after I finish this attempt." Harry and Ron continued to work on their runes for a good ten more minutes before Harry looked at the clock that was hanging in the air.
"Ron, we had better get going. Our next class is in 10 minutes, and I do not fancy being late to class, especially when that teacher is Snape. And after all the horror stories that you have heard from your brothers…"
"Yeah, let's get going." The two boys shoved their textbooks back into their bags and started to make their way towards the potions classroom. Using their map, Ron and Harry traversed the castle, though they did end up on the wrong floor on their first try due to the moving stairs. When the two boys finally made it to the classroom, only the Gryffindors were already there. Harry and Ron once again took seats together, their cauldrons already set up at their workstations. At each black table were two seats. At each upper corner were two runes inscribed into the table, one green and one red. In the middle of the table were two muggle-like gas burner stoves.
When the other Hufflepuffs arrived, Harry just flashed the peace symbol and grinned. The other Hufflepuffs including Gabriel were flabbergasted that they had arrived before any of them. Again, Hannah and Susan sat together while Ernie and Justin paired up again.
"How did you two get there before us?" asked Ernie as he took out his textbook and opening it up to page 5, where the first potion was listed.
"The map, duh. We were in the library during the lunch period, although we did get lost once when the staircase put us on the wrong floor. We had to ask one of the ghosts for directions," replied Ron.
"Did you eat anything?"
"Two sandwiches. Ham, cheese, and mayonnaise. Delicious," replied Ron. "But since we ate a small lunch, that means I can pig out at dinner time." Ron smiled contentedly as he imagined all the food that would be available to eat in the great hall that evening.
"…you really have a one-track mind about food, don't you?" asked Ernie.
"And don't you forget it. Anything food-related and I'm your guy. Need extra snacks? I got you. Want to know where the kitchen is? It'll cost you extra, but I got you. Need some muggle food imported into the castle? I know a guy."
"What are you? A muggle salesman?" asked Justin.
"What's a salesman?" asked Susan as she tried to follow the conversation.
"Never mind. Purebloods," muttered Justin. Justin was about to say something else before Snape stormed into the classroom, his black cloak billowing and surrounding him like a shadow.
"Welcome to potions," whispered Snape, but everyone could hear his words. Snape took roll call, pausing when he got to Harry's name. "Ah, Mr. Potter, our newest celebrity. Let me officially welcome you to the wizarding world." Snape finished taking attendance for the rest of the class, before putting his clipboard down and started walking through the classroom, speaking as he did so. "There will be no wand-waving or incantations in this class. Instead I will teach you the subtle art of potion making. For those who possess the pre-disposition, I can teach you to bewitch the mind and ensnare the senses; I can tell you how to brew glory, bottle fame, and even put a stopper on death. Now a few questions before we begin. Ms. Kachmer."
"Yes?" Ria sat up straight as she paid apt attention.
"Where would I find a bezor?"
"Uh…in the cupboard?"
"Tsk, tsk. How about you, Mr. Finch-Fletchley?"
"That would be in the stomach of the goat."
"Mr. Longbottom, what is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?" Harry watched as the pudgy boy from the train wrinkled his eyebrows in concentration.
"Um…I t-think that they are the same plant, sir?"
"In this instance, you are correct. And Mr. Potter, what would you get if you put asphodel and wormwood together?" Harry furrowed his eyebrows as he tried to think about what those two ingredients had created. He remembered reviewing that exact question last night.
"I believe it is a very powerful sleeping draught. I am sorry sir, but I do not remember the exact name, but I believe death was prevalent in the name."
"Acceptable answer. The name of the potion is Draught of Living Death, the most powerful sleeping potion created thus far. 5 points to both Hufflepuff and Gryffindor. Now, today you will be brewing boils cure potion. You will find the recipe on page 5 of your textbooks. Gryffindors go retrieve your ingredients, Hufflepuffs grab any equipment you might need. Once you have done so, switch. After you get back to your desks, I want you to read each step carefully before executing any steps. I expect there to be no incidents. Am I clear?"
"Yes sir," chorused the class.
"Now, before we begin, I want to make sure that all of you know how to use the burners." Snape stalked to the front of the room where a table similar to each desk sat. "Now, so you all do not have to light the flames yourselves, we will be using rune powered stovetops. The green button will start the flame, which will instantly heat your cauldron to the desired temperature. All you have to do is think about your desired temperature. If you need to adjust the temperature during the brewing process, tap the green rune and think about the new temperature. The red rune will turn the heat completely off. Any questions?" Susan raised her hand.
"Yes, Ms. Bones?"
"In today's recipe, one of the steps is to take the cauldron off the heat. Is it better to take the cauldron itself off the heat or to press the red rune?"
"It is better to take the cauldron off the stovetop itself rather than kill the heat as there will still be some residual heat. Anyone else? No, then get to work. If you are confused, don't be an idiot. Ask. While you are waiting for your potion during the 40 minute brewing period, you are allowed to do some self-study or work on homework from other classes. But make sure you are periodically checking your potion. I do not want any mishaps."
Harry walked over the drawer labelled supplies and he made sure that he had all the correct instruments: a measuring spoon, a stirring utensil, and a mortar and pestle. He also made sure to get the same utensils for Ron as well. Meanwhile, Ron went ahead and got all the ingredients necessary for the potion that they would be brewing.
Once Ron had returned, Harry made sure that he read over each step carefully. First, he took 6 of the snake fangs and placed them into his mortar. He carefully started to grind the fangs into a very fine powder. Harry pressed down with his pestle, using the blunt object to crush the fragile fangs into pieces. With each mash, the fangs slowly began to break down until, they were little more than a very fine powder. Harry grabbed his measuring spoon and spooned four spoonfuls into the cauldron. Harry then pressed the green rune while thinking '250 degrees' and lit the stove top.
Harry then placed his cauldron and counted to ten in his head before waving his wand over the potion. Harry raised his hand and Snape walked over to Harry.
"Yes, Mr. Potter? What is it that you want?"
"Sir, I am at the step where I have to wait for 35 minutes, but I have no way of using a timer as I don't have a watch and I don't see a clock in here."
"Do you not know the timer spell?"
"No."
"Just say the word tempus and think of how long a timer you want. The spell will take care of the rest."
"Thank you, sir." Snape grunted as he walked back down to his desk. "Tempus," muttered Harry, setting a timer as an ethereal timer appeared above Harry's cauldron displaying the number 45. Harry turned his attention from the cauldron to the rest of his ingredients. Harry went over and grabbed two cups and placed four horned slugs in one cup and two porcupine quills in another. After making sure that all of his materials were prepped for when the timer went off, Harry dug into his school bag and pulled out his charms textbook.
"Psst... Harry." Harry looked over to Ron who had finished up the first part of the potion was now on the brewing step.
"Yeah?" whispered Harry.
"Isn't Snape supposed to be mean to everyone except his Slytherins? Why is he being nice to us?"
"I have no idea! If he were going to be nice to anyone, I thought it would be to the Ravenclaws. I thought Hufflepuffs were seen as the bottom of the barrel in Hogwarts' house popularity."
"Based off of what Fred and George said, that's what I thought as well. I'm just as clueless as you are."
"Well I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth." Ron looked at Harry in confusion like he had sprouted another head.
"Why would your gift be in a horse's mouth?"
"It's an expression. Basically, if there is a favorable situation, I'm not going to complain about it."
"Oh! Okay, yeah. Are you reviewing where we left off for the charms?"
"Yep. I'm on the softening charm. Can't really practice it in here, but I can review the theory for it."
"Does it seem to be easier or harder to do than the smokescreen spell?" asked Ron as he dug into his bag for his own charms textbook.
"I think it should be a little bit easier since we're not creating a bunch of smoke. But I couldn't exactly tell you until I actually try out the spell," replied Harry as he checked on the contents of his cauldron.
"Makes sense," shrugged Ron. "Hey, what do you think you're going to write for why the match transformation spell is useful in the real life? Off the top of my head, I can't think of a single place where it would have a real-life application."
"Well, I would say that it does have an application, just not in the way you are thinking. Yes, there are no applications of specifically turning a match into a needle, but that isn't the point. It's to use the concept of turning one object into a similar, but completely different object. For example, if you were to take a sword and transfigure it into a wooden stick, the sword would become next to useless."
"So it's not exactly the act of actually turning a match into a needle that is the point of the spell, but the idea of transforming one object into another object that is a similar shape, but completely different int purpose?"
"Yes!" replied Harry as he checked the timer, which read 20 minutes, and the contents of his cauldron. Harry and Ron ceased talking as they took out parchment to do the homework from charms while periodically double checking their cauldron. Around the classroom, all the Hufflepuff and Gryffindors were doing something similar, with the sound of quills of scratching parchment, with periodical checks on their cauldrons.
Around the five minute mark, Harry put away all of his parchment and textbooks, save his potions textbook. Harry grabbed the bowl of horned slugs and waited until the timer went off. As soon as the timer went off, Harry dumped the horned slugs into the cauldron before immediately taking the cauldron off the fire.
"Harry, that pudgy boy is about to add the quills before taking it off the fire!" Harry widened at Hedwig's announcement and saw Neville about to drop the quills into the cauldron. Acting quickly, Harry pointed his wand at Neville.
"Windgardium Leviosa." Harry levitated Neville's cauldron off of the fire and back onto the table just moments before the quills fell into the cauldron.
"Fifty points from Gryffindor!" Neville looked up to see Snape glaring down at him. "You idiot boy! I told you to read the instructions before you do any of the steps! And the most important step was to remove your cauldron from the fire before adding the porcupine quills! Something which you couldn't even do. It took Mr. Potter levitating your cauldron off the fire to save you from getting a nasty case of the boils! You will get half off for your final product. Understood?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good. And Mr. Potter?"
"Yes sir?"
"I don't want to see you ever do that again in this classroom. There will be no spells that aren't used for the potions. Let him make a mistake next time. It will teach him to reach the instructions." Harry nodded. "Good. 5 points to Hufflepuff." Snape stalked back down to his desk.
Harry carefully took his cauldron off the fire and added two porcupine quills to his cauldron before grabbing his stirrer and stirring the mixture five times in a clockwise direction. Harry waved his wand, finishing off the potion.
Harry went over and grabbed four vials, one for himself, Ron, Susan, and Hannah. His friends all nodded in thanks when he set the vial down for them on their desk. Harry ladled a portion of his finished product into the vial and corked it. Harry labeled his vial with his name and the potion that was in it before walking up to the front of the classroom and placing it in the vial stand.
"Clean up your workspace Mr. Potter. Put your cauldron back in the cupboard after I vanish the rest of your potion." Harry nodded as he went back and took his utensils and rinsed them before putting them back to where it should be. When Harry returned to his desk, Snape had already vanished his potion and Ron was gathering up his utensils to begin cleaning. Harry grabbed his pewter cauldron and placed it back into the cupboard, watching it disappear until it would be used again in the next class.
"Sir, I have cleaned up. Is there anything else that I should be doing?"
"No. Anyone who has finished cleaning up their station and handed in their potion is free to go. For homework, you are to write 1 foot of parchment on the uses of cure boil, why porcupine quills should be added after the cauldron is taken off the fire, and an overview of the next potion, which will be found on page 7 of your textbooks. Now the rest of you have five minutes to hand in your potions or you will be given a failing grade for the day." The majority of the Gryffindors with the exception of Hermione and Ria rushed to finish their potions and clean up their station.
The Hufflepuffs all exited the room to see Gabriel waiting there, ready to lead them to their final class before flying lessons.
A/N So, I completely didn't get this out before the new year or even the first weekend after the new year. Or this past weekend. I kind of lost all the chapters that I had written all the way up the chapter 8 right before Christmas. So, I've been trying to rewrite them. Since I no longer have future chapters, updates will definitely be more sporadic that what I had planned. I'm going to try to have a chapter a month, but no promises. Please let me know what you think about the class scenes, especially the potions one. This was definitely not my best work.