The next morning, the Slytherin first years received their class schedules. They had transfiguration, history of magic and potions with Gryffindors, herbology and defense against the dark arts with ravenclaws and astronomy and charms with Hufflepuffs. They had charms, transfiguration, potions and herbology today. Techna ate some grilled sandwiches for breakfast and then went back to her dorm to grab her The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) and the rest of the books needed for today's classes. Her dorm mates' names were Lauren Smith, Cassiopeia Blackwater, Ally Campbell and Jade aThirwall. She then hurried to her first class. She had some trouble finding the Charms classroom but was thankfully on time. She sat down next to Jade Thirwall who was a half blood. She had gotten to know Jade better last night and her bed was right next to hers. They both sat at the front desk. Professor Flitwick, the Charms teacher, was a tiny little wizard who had to stand on a pile of books to see over his desk. At the start of their class he took the roll call and then started telling them about Charms.
"A charm is defined as a spell that adds or changes certain properties to an object or creature. Charms focus on altering what the target does, unlike transfiguration spells which focus on altering what the target is. In this textbook," he said holding up the textbook. "You will explore the endless number of charms that exist. All spells will be described with the finest detail, but how you use them is up to you, the reader. The more you practice these spells, the better your skills become, and soon enough some spells would become a second nature."
He then started giving them tips on how to cast charms.
"If your brain wanders elsewhere, the charm will fail. If you don't focus on a task at hand, the result would be poor. The same deal applies to casting charms. Attention is key," he said. He then continued telling them the importance of wand movements and pronunciation saying "Some charms require a little flick of the wand, while others require a complicated swirl. the wand movement is slightly off, so will the outcome of the charm. Each charm has its own pronunciation, specific stress to specific syllables. If a caster stresses the wrong syllable, the spell would fail."
He then gave them homework to read the first chapter of the book which was about Wand-Lighting & Extinguishing Charm.
Their next class was Transfiguration. Professor McGonagall gave them a talking-to the moment they sat down in her first class.
"Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts," she said. "Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned."
After taking a lot of complicated notes, they were each given a match and started trying to turn it into a needle. By the end of the lesson, only Techna and James Potter had made any difference to their match; Professor McGonagall showed the class how it had gone all silver and pointy and awarded five points to both Slytherin and Gryffindor.
Their next class, Potions, was also with Gryffindors down in the dungeons. Professor Slughorn was the head of Slytherin house. He put them all into pairs and set them to mixing up a simple potion to cure boils. Professor Slughorn was just praising the perfect potion made by Evans and Snape when clouds of acid green smoke and a loud hissing filled the dungeon. Potter, who had somehow managed to melt his cauldron was moaning in pain as angry red boils sprang up all over his arms and legs. Sirius then took him to the hospital wing. By the end of the class Techna's potion was the same color mentioned by the book.
They then went out to the greenhouses behind the castle to study Herbology, with a dumpy little witch called Professor Sprout, where they learned how to take care of all the strange plants and fungi, and found out what they were used for.
Their last class was History of Magic which was the only one taught by a ghost. Professor Binns had been very old indeed when he had fallen asleep in front of the staff room fire and got up next morning to teach, leaving his body behind him. Many students found History of Magic boring but Techna found it quite interesting and made many notes throughout the lesson.
In the evening, she and Jade went out to explore the grounds and were joined by two Ravenclaw first years named Harmony and Grace. They had a lot of fun and even got to see the giant squid. They explored the starting area of the forbidden forest. After that day, Techna, Grace, Jade and Harmony became very good friends and always sat together during classes.
Author's note: It has been a long time since I have updated but I want you to know that I am not giving up on this story. I might post a new chapter after a month or two but I will complete it.