CHAPTER ELEVEN

FROM HOLLY TO HOLLY

O

"Haven't you had enough holly from all the Christmas celebrations?" joked Alec quietly for the third time.

"You've made that joke already," grumbled Albus, trying not to let Holly hear. They were sitting in their first History of Magic class after the break, their first class on Mondays. Alec had taken a seat next to Albus when they walked in, and Holly had taken the seat on Albus's other side.

"I know, but you didn't laugh the first two times. I thought maybe you didn't hear it."

Professor Binns began their lecture in the front, and Holly's eyes drooped. "Do you ever stay awake in this class?" she asked him softly.

She was making an awful lot of conversation with him, that was for sure. Albus didn't quite know what to make of it, so he just went along with it. "Sometimes. I find that reading the book usually gets me good grades even if I'm not paying attention."

"You read the book?" Holly whispered, impressed. "I just skim it. It gets me by. I don't like doing it, but this class is just… brutal."

Albus grimaced when she wasn't looking. Did she think he was a nerd for reading the book?

"What did you get on the exam?"

"A 93%," said Albus.

Holly gaped.

"Wow, you should be in Ravenclaw with me! Most of the Ravenclaws didn't score that high."

Alec started sniggering at "You should be in Ravenclaw with me," which did not help Albus's concentration as he tried to engage himself in the conversation. "Oh. I think I got lucky, I just studied all the right things, I guess."

"You're being modest, I'm sure you studied everything."

"Well… not everything…"

"Most of it, then. We should study together sometime!"

Alec gave him a sideways glance; Albus's brain started to jam up. He studied with his friends already. If he left his friends and studied with Holly, he'd never hear the end of it, and he might grow apart from them—because they were all in different Houses, studying together was really the only time he regularly saw them. On the other hand, if he said "no" to Holly's offer, she might take that as a rejection, and she might grow apart from him. He liked her company more than he cared to admit; she was a very nice girl (and very pretty, too). He didn't like the idea of inviting her to his friends' study group, either… He didn't quite know why this idea didn't sit right with him, but it didn't. And the only other option available was to study with both Holly and his other friends at two separate times, although anyone who saw his grades knew it was clear that he certainly did not need two different study sessions for tests.

"Sure," he said finally, smiling back at her.

Holly beamed and then turned her head down and started doodling on her notes. Albus let the wind out of his lungs in a long breath and wondered if he'd said all of the right things, or, indeed, any of the right things.

O

When they left History of Magic, Holly walked out of the classroom very close to Albus, and Alec was whispering excitedly to Riley and Scott. Albus was just thinking that he couldn't get any more embarrassed when the unspeakable happened.

Holly bumped her head against Albus's shoulder and said, "You're such a nice guy, Albus."

And then came a maniacal cackle from nowhere and a scream of, "WHY, POTTY WEE POTTER'S GOT A GIRLFRIEND!"

A stout little man zoomed through the air above them, carrying an armful of eggs.

"Peeves," groaned Albus.

"That's the one!" the little man shouted. He halted just above them. Then, he laughed and opened his arms, and a cascade of eggs rained down on Albus and Holly.

"POTTY WEE POTTER'S GOT A GIRLFRIEND! ICKLE FIRSTIE ROMANCE! WHAT A LADIES' MAN! BABY POTTY AND SMALLY HOLLY! HOW CUU-UU-UUTE!" And then he swam away through the air, singing a loud song apparently just made up on the spot about Albus and Holly smooching away, as Albus and Holly stood in shock, dripping yolk and egg shells.

"Egg on your face, Potter?" said Scorpius smoothly as he walked by.

Albus wanted to board a Soundsplitter and take off for Australia.

He and Holly exchanged glances; Holly looked terribly upset. Should he comfort her? Should he say he was sorry?

He was saved the job of making that decision when a voice spoke in his ear.

"Egg on your face, Albus?"

"You're too late, that joke's been made," muttered Albus, turning around to face Professor Desulgon.

"Ah, darn. I thought I was being clever." He pointed a wand at Albus in his left hand and a wand at Holly in his right hand. "Tergeo itero." The egg was siphoned off, disappearing when it touched the tip of Professor Desulgon's wand.

"Thanks," said Holly, quieter than a mouse, and then she disappeared into the crowd.

"How do you do that?" asked Albus. "Control two wands at once, I mean?"

"I was taught," he answered, walking with Albus. "It's very possible to use two wands at a time. The problem with the technique is that too often, people can't keep their minds on doing things with both wands at the same time, and they get confused; a wand can't work with a confused master. It takes an unbelievable amount of skill and instinct. It also helps to be ambidextrous, which I am. Mostly two wands are just useful to have when you need to perform a Diwand spell—that is, spells that cannot be performed unless you do have two wands, like Frostflames or Shatterbolts."

"Is 'Itero' the word you use when you want to do something with both wands?" asked Albus.

Professor Desulgon smiled and nodded. "You pick up quick."

Albus paused for a moment, checking out a sign on Professor Westerling's office door—the same one he'd seen with Aidan, Eftan, and Alec on the library doors. It was advertising the Defense Association; Albus was most interested in the first half of the meetings, which were the Dueling lessons.

"Oh, are you interested in the Defense Association?" asked Professor Desulgon, noticing Albus fall back. "I think you'd be a fantastic duelist."

"I'd like to learn to duel," said Albus, thinking about his father's words on how worried he was that his kids would be targeted.

"I believe you'll actually be hearing about the Defense Association whenever you have Defense Against the Dark Arts. I'll look forward to seeing you there if you come."

"I think I will," said Albus. It was to his advantage to learn as much defense as possible, in the face of what could possibly be an oncoming war.

O

Albus's next class was Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Professor Westerling did indeed offer membership in the Defense Association, as extra credit. Almost everyone in the class, which was Gryffindor and Slytherin, signed up—the only ones who didn't were Exo, Parker, and Ava Vaughn, the part-Mermish Slytherin girl. After that, they went back to their syllabus of studying Dark creatures, and Albus found that he had not only remembered everything they covered before break: he remembered it thoroughly. Again he coasted through the class with little effort, answering almost as many questions as Rose; again he needed far less effort than his classmates.

Alec, on the other hand, seemed to be suffering worse than ever. The only exam he had passed was Transfiguration, and this plunged him back into a dark mood. Tyler Emmett, his mentor, was working himself sick trying to get Alec back on the right track, but Tyler had Quidditch practice to attend to, as well as the growing workload of his own fourth year, and Alec avoided his help anyway for a reason Albus didn't quite understand.

Albus decided to confront him about it at breakfast on their second Wednesday back. He walked down the Ravenclaw table until he found the familiar head of scraggly blond hair.

"Alec, what's going on with you?" he asked quietly. "You haven't been taking any notes, or paying attention in any classes, or making any effort at all."

"It doesn't matter what I do," huffed Alec back. "I'm still going to fail everything."

"You passed Transfiguration!" argued Albus.

"Yeah. One class. By luck. That's all that's gonna matter for me anyway—luck—'cause I don't have any skill, that's for sure."

"With that attitude, of course you're going to fail," said Albus through clenched teeth. "You have to get your mind right!"

"I can't get my mind right!" Alec half-shouted, and several people at the table turned to look at him curiously. Alec lowered his voice and leaned closer to Albus, hissing at him. "I can't hold facts in my brain for more than a few seconds at a time, I can't concentrate on work without getting all fidgety and losing focus, I get distracted super-easily—hey, look, someone's got a Howler!"

Albus looked up, vaguely aware of the humor of the situation and strongly aware of the annoyance he was harboring for his friend, when his stomach dropped and his blood seemed to freeze solid in his veins, his heart thumping—

It was Taya, the Potters' family owl, flying amongst the owls who delivered the post at breakfast, and she was heading straight for him with a red envelope in her beak that was most certainly a Howler.

What did I do? he wondered vaguely, unsure if he should sprint out of the room the second he caught the letter, or open it immediately in the room, debating on which would be less embarrassing. He made his decision and bent his legs, ready to run, still unsure as to what he did wrong that would merit a Howler from his parents, when Taya streaked straight over him and made for James.

That made loads more sense. He wondered why he hadn't expected it to be for James from the get-go. He stalked back into his chair and leaned over the table, watching.

James was looking confused—apparently he hadn't done anything wrong lately that could have been connected back to him—but he looked around, glanced at Albus, glanced at the name on the letter, took a deep breath, and slit it open gingerly right as it began to smoke.

"JAMES—SIRIUS—POTTER!"

Albus was expecting his mother's voice—sending a Howler seemed more like something his mother would do—but it was his father's voice that exploded through the hall, shaking dust from the ceiling.

"I SINCERELY HOPE YOU REMEMBER THE WORDS I SPOKE TO YOU JUST TWO WEEKS AGO, BECAUSE I DO. 'I'M GIVING THIS TO YOU BECAUSE I TRUST YOU, JAMES, YOU'RE MY FIRST SON. MY FATHER PASSED THIS ON TO ME AND I'M PASSING IT ON TO YOU.' REMEMBER? AND THEN YOU USE IT TO SNEAK INTO THE GIRLS' LAVATORY A WEEK INTO YOUR RETURN TO HOGWARTS!"

Everyone in the Hall was now staring at James, who had gone redder than the envelope he'd just opened. He was staring at the letter with utter shock, as if it had some strange power to read his mind, because obviously, whatever he'd done in the girls' lavatory, he had not expected anyone to know about it.

"I DID NOT RAISE MY SON IN A LOVING AND CARING HOUSEHOLD SO THAT HE COULD GROW UP TO BE A PERVERT WHO SNEAKS UNSEEN INTO THE PLACES WHERE HIS CLASSMATES GO FOR PRIVACY. I DID NOT GIVE YOU MY MOST VALUABLE POSSESSION SO YOU COULD USE IT FOR YOUR SICK PLEASURES. I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU DID IN THERE, BUT I KNOW THAT MONICA MADDEN, JADE ANDERSEN, TANIA MACALLAY, HAZEL BLUEREED, CORA DAVIES, TESSA TAXTON, CHARLOTTE TEMPLETON, AND MYRA LACRALOSE WERE ALL IN THAT BATHROOM WHEN YOU WERE THERE. YOU HAD BETTER APOLOGIZE TO EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM, AND YOU HAD BETTER STAY OUT OF THAT BATHROOM FOR GOOD, OR I'M HEADING UP THERE IMMEDIATELY AND TAKING BACK THAT GIFT ALONG WITH YOUR BROOM AND YOUR LAST SHRED OF DIGNITY! YOU CAN COUNT ON IT!"

As the Howler ended, and a ringing silence was momentarily left in the hall, two girls not far from Albus suddenly started whispering to each other.

"So that's who jinxed me!"

"I'm gonna punch him in the mouth next time I see him—"

Meanwhile, James was floundering around for speech.

"How the heck did he know I was in there?! He's the jerk—gives me this present and tells me its mine, but obviously he'd put some sort of tracking charm or locating device on it—can't believe he doesn't trust me—and I'm not a pervert, I wasn't checking them out or anything, I was jinxing them, what's wrong with that?!"

"You honestly can't believe that he doesn't trust you?" laughed Barry as several angry girls came stomping at James from various corners of the room to demand an apology from him.

I wouldn't have trusted James with any important item either, Albus thought, grinning at his brother's embarrassment. He wondered what item James had received from their father over Christmas—that must have been why James was so happy when Harry took him away to talk to him—and what sort of power it had that let him sneak into the bathroom unnoticed…

The Invisibility Cloak! Of course. But how in the world had Harry known that James used it to sneak into the girls' bathroom? Did he have some sort of tracker that told him where James was at all times? But how had he known which girls James encountered while he was in the bathroom? Did he have some device that told him where everyone in Hogwarts was at any given time? He hadn't heard of anything like that, from his father or anyone, really; the prospect even seemed impossible. He'd ask his father in his next letter.

Somewhere deep inside, he felt a strong pulse of jealousy; his father had given his Invisibility Cloak to James. What would he give Albus? Or were family heirlooms reserved for the oldest son?

O

Later that morning, when Albus settled into his seat in History of Magic, Toby sat on one side of him to ask why James had gotten a Howler at breakfast. On the other side, before Alec arrived, Holly settled in and gave him a warm smile. Alec sauntered in, noticed that people were sitting on either side of Albus, and looked slightly dejected. He settled into a seat on the opposite end of the room near the Greengrass triplets.

"I heard you when you came over to Alec at breakfast," said Holly quietly near his ear as she extracted her notes from her bag. "That was really good of you to do. It's so nice that you care about your friends that much."

Once again, Albus's brain seemed to be coming unhinged. "Er. Thanks. I think he… just needs a little push in the right direction."

Holly raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, a hard shove in the right direction," said Albus. "Maybe a long drag."

Holly laughed, a cute little girlish giggle that made Albus's collar heat up. "That's a good one," she said. "I gotta remember that."

Professor Binns began his lecture, but Holly continued talking to Albus.

"Look what I got for Christmas," she said, pulling up from around her neck a necklace that looked like it had a little shard of ice where a jewel might be. "Isn't it pretty?"

"Yeah," said Albus, wishing he had something as witty as his previous remark instead of a boring assent.

"It does something cool, too," whispered Holly. She flicked the shard of ice, and suddenly it melted into a big drop of water that then divided into five smaller droplets that hung at the bottom of the necklace like pearls. "I love it, I never get tired of that." She dragged her fingertips through the pearl droplets, and they all slid back into one large droplet, and then solidified again in an icicle.

"That's really neat," whispered Albus, admiring the necklace closely. "Is it cold against your skin when it's ice?"

"No, actually, I think that's part of the enchantment. But it does feel slightly wet when it's water."

"Water's sometimes wet, yeah," said Albus, and Holly giggled again.

He felt like he should have been trying to pay vague attention to the lecture, but he very rarely had success in that anyway. He spent most of the class playing Reusable Hangman, part of his Christmas gift from Uncle George, with Holly, gaining accusing looks from Alec every time he glanced in that direction.

"How do you know all these words?" moaned Holly through a laugh as Albus revealed his last word at the bell, which was "Occlumency."

Albus shrugged and said goodbye to Holly for now, hoping that she'd sit next to him again in double Transfiguration that afternoon.

He got more than his wish—during Transfiguration, a very exhausted-looking Professor Desulgon announced that they'd be working in groups of three, and Albus was joined by Alec, and by Holly, who clung to his arm so fast after the announcement that one would have thought Albus was a Portkey that was just about to leave.

"We're going to have some fun today," announced Professor Desulgon, rubbing his eyes, and the class cheered. He yawned before continuing. "I'm going to throw this little Frisbee around the room."

He held up his hand, and displayed a small Frisbee, about two inches across.

"Whoever correctly answers the question I ask will win each member of their group a chance to Transfigure this Frisbee into a picture frame. Answering a question correctly gets you three points, and a correct Transfiguration gets you ten points. The most points after ten minutes wins a special prize, and then we're going back to normal stuff. I'm going to be weaving the Frisbee all around the room while you try to shoot at it. Don't hold back—I covered the walls with Mrs. Skower's Miracle Spell-Absorber, the shots won't bounce off or cause any damage or anything."

Dorothy Cyrosta and Pallie Bell, who had joined forces with Rose, were looking triumphant, as though certain that Rose would win them whatever prize was being offered.

Professor Desulgon cast the Frisbee into the air, and shouted, "Which of the four Founders of Hogwarts taught Transfiguration?"

Rose's hand was first in the air, and Professor Desulgon called on her. "Rowena Ravenclaw," she said confidently.

"Correct! One at a time—shoot."

The class watched as Rose missed by a hair, Dorothy missed by a mile, and Pallie clipped the Frisbee but didn't manage to fully Transfigure it, and it plopped onto the ground, a hollow ring.

"Sorry, can't give you the ten," said Professor Desulgon as he restored the Frisbee to normal and threw it in the air again, weaving it over their heads with a tracing motion from his wand. "Who wrote the first Transfiguration O.W.L.?"

Albus shot has hand into the air before Rose's, before Professor Desulgon had even finished the question. Professor Desulgon called on him, and he realized his gamble had failed… He'd been hoping that the question would be easier than this.

He said the first random name that popped into his head from the textbook. "Imractus Rant?"

"Hey, that's right!" said Professor Desulgon happily, and Albus was dumbstruck, as was the rest of the class. "Three shots, one at a time!"

Albus took a shot, and barely missed the Frisbee, just like Rose. Alec jabbed his wand and also barely missed. Then Holly took her shot and struck the Frisbee dead center, and it morphed into a perfect picture frame, complete with grooved and patterned edges. She beamed with pride.

"Whoa-ho, fantastic! Ten points to team Mc-Pot-dale. Didn't expect one that fast, Miss Glissendale, I'm quite proud of you!"

Holly blushed and sat back down, leaning against Albus happily. Albus started to sweat profusely.

Professor Desulgon had thrown the Frisbee up. "What is the—" Rose's hand shot up. "—blanket spell for Vanishment? Rose?"

"Evanesco," said Rose.

"Bravo, take your shots!"

Rose concentrated for a long time, watching the path of the Frisbee, and then she struck—shouting, "Evanesco!"

Some of the Frisbee vanished and it clattered to the floor. The rest of it was slightly transparent.

Rose groaned exasperatedly at the ceiling. "Argh—that was the answer to the question, not the spell I was supposed to use!"

Professor Desulgon laughed. "That's still an O.W.L. level spell!" he roared. "And you still managed to do it better than some of my fifth years! I should give you points for that anyway, but, sorry, I set the rules already!"

Dorothy's shot was closer, but still not as close as Rose's first shot. Pallie went, and struck again, but again she failed to completely Transfigure it, and she sat back on her chair and huffed gruffly.

"What—" Professor Desulgon started; Albus's hand shot up.

This time, he did not finish the question. Instead, he just smiled. "I'm not finishing the question anymore if someone puts their hand up before I'm done," he said. "Sorry, Albus, but those are the breaks. Well? What do you think the answer is?"

The strangest thing happened as Albus flushed with strong embarrassment. His wand twitched, and he felt it kick back a bit. His eyes unfocused, and he plunged into darkness, and then out of nowhere, he was looking at his textbook, which read,

In the year 1365, Transfiguration was instituted as an official subject of English schools.

"1365," said Albus.

The class laughed, but most of them stopped almost immediately when they saw the look on Professor Desulgon's face.

"Albus?" he said softly. "Was that a guess?"

The class all turned and looked to him as one.

Albus swallowed. "Er—I—I think it was a guess, yeah."

"You think it was a guess?"

The silence was painful.

"Albus, did you just read my mind?" laughed Professor Desulgon.

"Are you being serious, Professor?" asked Riley. "Or are you just joking with us right now? That wasn't really the right answer?"

Professor Desulgon took a piece of parchment from next to him, folded it, and walked over to Riley.

"Andersen, would you mind reading aloud the fourth question on this list I've written?"

Riley stared at the paper for a moment, then held it up and read it. Professor Desulgon pushed it back to the table so that the other answers on the sheet wouldn't unfold and be visible. Riley, completely oblivious, tried to pick it back up again, but Professor Desulgon kept his hand on the paper. Riley swallowed and read.

"Question Four: What year did Transfiguration get instituted as an official subject in all English schools? Answer: 1365."

Other people got out of their seats and crowded around Riley's desk, to see for themselves. They gawked at the paper, then gawked at Albus, and then gawked at the paper again, and then gawked at Albus again.

Holly was gawking, too. Albus shrunk back in his seat. "Lucky guess?" he mumbled.

"I don't think so," said Professor Desulgon. "Your wand—silver lime, isn't it? And a playful one, too. I think it just let you probe my mind for a moment; I was thinking pretty hard about the answer just then."

Riley raised his hand. "Can Albus be disqualified if he can read minds?"

"No more raising your hand before the question is finished," said Professor Desulgon. "And no more probing other people's minds. Let's continue, shall we?"

Albus and Rose did not sweep the game by themselves, because everyone developed the strategy of shooting their hand into the air the second the question was finished. The Greengrass triplets went on a tear and passed Albus and Rose in points when they got a question right and then all three of them successfully Transfigured the Frisbee. But then Albus and Rose started to heat up, and towards the end, they each got the question and the Frisbee twice, until it was the final round and Rose's team led by four correct questions—twelve points—over Albus's team.

"Last question! Last chance! Greengrass trio, you guys are only twenty-nine points behind the lead, you could still take first with a perfect run—Team Mc-Pot-Dale, you're only twelve behind, you get the win if you get the question and one hit on the Frisbee! So here's the question…"

He stared them all down for a moment, and then smiled.

"What—is my first name?"

Albus and Rose were dumbstruck with their hands halfway in the air. Professor Desulgon tutted and looked at the clock. "Not much time left to answer, folks! Come on, someone's gotta know this!"

Riley's hand was in the air.

"Andersen?"

"Is it Joe?"

"No."

Riley's hand was back up.

"Is it Chris?"

"No."

Riley's hand was waving again.

"Is it Robert?"

"No, and I'm instituting a new rule," said Professor Desulgon. "No more than three guesses per team per round."

Riley slid mutinously back into his seat.

Albus probed his memory, and when that didn't work, he tried to probe Professor Desulgon's memory—but it was an accident the first time, and there was no way he was going to replicate what he did. He just tried to picture Helio Wilcox introducing Professor Desulgon at the start-of-term feast… He had used first names…

Rose's hand was in the air, and Albus looked over nervously.

"Rose?"

"Is it… Donald?" she asked.

"Nope," said Professor Desulgon.

Rose was apparently on the right track, though, and a similar-sounding name popped into Albus's head, spoken in Wilcox's voice—

"Albus?"

"Is it Dalton?"

"That's the one!" exclaimed Professor Desulgon. "All right, this is exciting! One try for each of you; you win if one of you gets it."

Albus raised his wand, following the path of the Frisbee with his eyes. He waited, waited until right after it changed direction, and then—

"You can do it, Albus!" called Holly.

The shout startled him, and he missed by several inches. He groaned and fell back into his seat.

"What'd you do that for, you made him miss!" shouted Alec.

"No, she didn't," lied Albus.

Holly's face saddened, even with Albus's denial, and when she aimed for the Frisbee, she hit it—but nothing happened; the Frisbee didn't even change its shape at all. Holly sat back down, too, looking distraught.

Albus was about to shoot a nasty glare at Alec, but felt that, then, the distractions would have come full circle—he probably would have caused Alec to miss. Instead, Albus just watched as Alec turned to the Frisbee with a strange determination on his face, and focused harder than Albus had ever seen him.

"Conviso Verto!" he cried, and his spell struck the Frisbee dead-on, transforming it into a picture-perfect frame.

Professor Desulgon thrust out his arms. "That's the game, and there are our winners! Congratulations, Team Mc-Pot-Dale!"

Alec looked stunned at his own success. Albus knocked him on the shoulder, grinning, but Holly was still looking somewhat upset over Alec's previous remark. The fact that the boy who had insulted her was now their group's hero didn't seem to be sitting well with her.

"Go apologize," muttered Albus.

Professor Desulgon rubbed his hands together. "Now, your prize is a simple one: You three get to skip one question on the next test! If you don't know the answer, just draw a big X through the question, and I'll mark it correct."

Alec bumped Holly on the arm, and when she looked up, he whispered something to her that made her smile.

O

"There's the mind-reader!" roared Toby at dinner as Albus sat down with them. He laughed and helped himself to some potatoes as people started shooting questions at him.

"How did you do that?"

"Did you look at the questions before class?"

"Can you teach me how to read minds?"

"Was that all a joke you and Desulgon set up on us?"

"Can you control someone's mind and make them buy me a Soundsplitter?"

"I don't know how I did it!" Albus burst out in a laugh. "I definitely couldn't do it again, I'm sorry, something weird just happened. My wand just…" He tried to find the right phrase. "…Got a mind of its own, I guess."

"Can you read your wand's mind?"

Exo leaned over and was staring closely at Albus's wand. "Silver lime is said to be really good for Legilimency," he said. "What's the core again?"

"Devil's Snare tendril," said Albus.

Exo looked startled for a second. "Oh yeah. That's really unusual, who'd you buy it from?"

"Ollivander's," he replied. "It was one of Luna Lovegood's experimental—"

Suddenly, he remembered a promise he'd made to her, and he gasped—she'd asked him to write to her monthly and describe how the wand was behaving, what it was doing well and doing poorly.

"Oh, no," he said. "I totally forgot!"

"Forgot what?"

Albus ignored Exo's question, and immediately whipped out a bit of parchment and his quill; he was going to do this before he forgot any longer. At least he had some very interesting things to tell her—maybe that would make up for the lateness of his letter.

Dear Luna,

I am so, so, so sorry that I've been forgetting to write to you and tell you about my wand's behavior. I won't forget anymore, I'll do it on the first of every month this year.

My wand has been really good; best in Transfiguration, I think, and maybe worst in Charms? Although that could just be me. I think you're right about me being able to perform magic with less theory, because I've noticed that I can do things that my classmates take much longer to figure out.

Oh, and I read one of my professor's minds today in class. I think my wand did it, it sort of kicked back in my hand and then I was looking at what he was thinking. Is this normal? Is this my wand? Do you think it will happen again?

He bit his lip in thought, and then added,

Can I control it, do you think?