After Harry had finished lunch he entered the library as he had the rest of the day free and he wanted to research more advanced magic, he recognised Hermione sat in the corner, deciding he could do with the company he sat down, when she failed to look up he coughed and said "Hermione?" she jumped in shock then looked up at him and smiled
"Hello Harry, I didn't expect to see you here"
"I came to research some more magic, also I am a Ravenclaw, I should be the one asking what you are doing here" he said with a grin, enjoying being able to spend time with someone who could talk to him normally without being affected by his unwanted fame
"I'm doing my homework" she replied, indicating the roll of parchment and open book of potions
"You guys got homework? We didn't"
"Professor Snape asked Ron Weasley questions at the beginning of class and when he couldn't answer he gave it to us as homework"
Harry glanced at her work and said "While aconite is used for some poisons its most common usage is actually in the Wolfsbane potion, in medieval times aconite was combined with meat to kill wild wolves, which is why another name for aconite is Wolfsbane, which the potion is named after, it is suspected the Wolfsbane potion uses aconite to either 'kill' or defeat the inner wolf of a werewolf leaving the human mind in control of the body."
Hermione looked at him agape "How did you know that? I knew Wolfsbane and monkshood were another name for aconite but I didn't even know about the Wolfsbane potion, how did you know that!"
"Potions was one of the few arts of magic I couldn't practice at the Dursleys so I read up on it as much as I could, I was interested in the fact that in the muggle world aconite had practical uses in medicine while it was used in poisons in the magical world, so I looked up ways that aconite was used to benefit and stumbled across the Wolfsbane potion"
"What about adding powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"
"That depends on the other ingredients, mixing the two together by themselves would result in a dough like mixture that is incredibly deadly, it was often mixed with regular dough and baked into bread, it was impossible to detect once baked but once consumed the victim would die within an hour, this assassination method was quickly phased out however for a bezoar could absorb the poison, this was why goats were so popular during this time period as a bezoar a can cure most poisons.
"When you combine the two with dittany the poisonous values of the two and healing values of dittany cancel each other out resulting in the potion draught of living death which leaves the drinker appearing dead until the potion wears off were they will reawaken perfectly fine, often used in medical procedures as the heartbeat drops to one beat a minute when spells like the stasis charm would be ineffective, the draught of living death is one of the few 'poisons' unaffected by a bezoar as for it to work the poison needs to be circulating the body."
Harry noted that as he was talking Hermione was frantically writing down all he was saying, feeling more self conscious he continued
"The final major use of the two is when unicorn blood, unicorns are seen as creatures of life, while the other two are ingredients of death, which is why the two previous uses are death and near death, with unicorn blood it makes a potion commonly called Apollos Blessing, it is one of the strongest health potions known and if consumed by a vampire of similar 'undead' magical creature it will make them fully mortal, however the unicorn blood must be freely given, if it is taken unwillingly then rather than reverse the effects of wormwood which is the part that is deadly, the unicorn blood will enhance the properties, a true potion of Apollos Blessing is purest white with gold streaks, the corrupted version is pitch black with silver streaks and will kill anyone the moment the potion is digested. Luckily the potion is distinct in both cases and impossible to mask, however due to how fast acting it is a bezoar has no effect as in almost every case the victim is dead before a bezoar can even be thought of."
Unknown to the pair Severus Snape was lurking in the restricted section behind them invisible, he overheard Harry explaining the subtle arts of potions, he now knew if the boy was still so well mannered next year he would start tutoring him, Severus had seven years to watch the boy, there was no rush and he wanted to have all the facts before he started anything drastic.
Harry awoke early the next day and wanted to practice his own magic before breakfast, he dressed quietly and wandered down the empty corridor, once he had gotten far enough away from the common room he opened the first door he found and poked his head inside, it was clearly an abandoned classroom with desks lining the far wall and a small layer of dust settling on everything, he quickly looked at the state of the door and walls and felt they were suitably strong and stepped inside and shut the door behind him, with the desks out of the way he had more than enough space to practice, eventually he would try and get a spare cauldron so that he could brew his own potions without requiring his school cauldron.
As Harry planned what to do he wandered the room kicking up dust behind him, he then sneezed and blew up even more dust and realised his first step would have to be to remove the dust, deciding to experiment he willed his magic out of him and into the air particles around him, he felt the magic seeping out of him and felt incredibly weak despite only having woken up a few minutes ago, however his effort was not in vain as the air around him glitter and seemed to shine, glad of his success he willed the air to swirl around the room, the air started to move, slowly at first but gradually picking up momentum until there was a small tornado swirling around Harry, the dust that had laid dormant for perhaps decades began being pulled towards the tornado as it gained in power, eventually the tornado was clearly visible even without the magical shine from the power and speed of the air Harry controlled, realising he needed to actually remove the dust not just move it Harry willed the air to slip off from the circular route around the room and directed it to one of the large windows behind the desks.
The dust tornado slowly unraveled as a stream of air and dust flew towards the window, due to the joy of this new discovery Harry forgot to actually open the window, as the air was moving at a considerable speed and had such a dense amount of dust within it when it slammed into the glass it sheared straight through and as the stream of air increased the hole expanded, by the time all the dust had gone the window had a hole big enough for Harry to crawl through, embarrassed at his lack of fore-thought he hastily repaired the window with a swish of his wand and a muttered "repairo", looking around the now clean room however Harry couldn't help but be happy at the result and with glee realised he now had an area he could practice magic as much as he liked without anyone coming in and complaining about how noisy he was or any damage he accidentally caused, with that he began to practice for what was left of his morning.
The only lesson Harry had that day was charms taught by professor Flitwick, this was one of the few lessons shared with the Gryffindors, choosing a seat near the front next to Hermione, Harry waited for the rest of the class to turn up, once they did Flitwick called out the register and once he had finished he stood before the class
"Charms is one of the most varied magic you will learn here at Hogwarts, sometimes a charm will seem to be a curse or a transfiguration, as such for today's lesson you will be learning the difference between the branches of magic."
He swished his wand and at a bookcase and a book flew towards him "Now, that was a charm, for now all you need to know is that a charm is a predictable, reliable cause and effect, in this case the summoning charm directed at that book, I can cast that charm as many times as I like and the effect will always be that the object I am summoning will be pulled towards me"
He then waved his wand up and the book turned into a pig "That was a transfiguration, to transfigure something is unpredictable but reliable action or inaction, for example I just transfigured the book into the pig, but should I ask Professor Mcgonagall to do the same, she too would end up with a pig, does anyone know why I called it unpredictable if two or more people can end up with the same result?"
Seeing that nobody else had an answer, not even Hermione who looked confused, Harry shyly raised his hand "Yes Mr Potter"
"Well while the result of the transfiguration would be the same for how the book goes from a static object to a living creature it would be unique to every witch and wizard, I would suspect that in this case the two pigs would also have differences while a charm to turn a book into a pig would mean that each pig would be identical?"
"Ten points to Ravenclaw Mr Potter, yes as he so rightly said how a witch or wizard does transfiguration at the very base layer it is unique to said witch or wizard, transfiguration is considered one of the hardest subjects for that very reason, which is why I am glad I chose to teach charms instead!"
As the class chuckled at that as Flitwick then turned to the pig and jabbed his wand straight at it, a bolt of red light flew from his wand and stuck the pig which keeled over onto its side asleep.
"Now finally that was a curse, in later years you will learn there are many subcategories of curses but the majority of curses are predictable but unreliable, in this case I cast a stunning curse and if I were to get another professor to case the curse it would act the same, the unreliability comes from what you would be trying to curse, for example my stunner on the pig knocked it unconscious, if I were to cast a stunner at Professor Dumbledore he would most likely barely feel it, can anyone tell me why?... yes Mr Potter"
"Is it to do with the magical power of who or what you are attacking? So obviously a pig has little to no magic, that pig may even have been more resistant than a normal pig as it is innately magical due to being transfigured, however Professor Dumbledore is meant to be the strongest wizard in Britain and so quite a bit more powerful than a pig, the curse is predictable because so long as it was cast properly it would have the intent to knock somebody unconscious, however unreliable because it would act differently to different targets. I also suspect even a curse a witch or wizard made up during a battle would still be technically predictable as although it would be new to their opponent and as such 'unreliable' the caster could cast the curse again with the same affect."
"Exactly, take ten points to Ravenclaw for the answer and another five for a sound hypothesis. As Mr Potter eluded to, most theorists agree that magic is made up of three factors, can anyone name them? Miss Granger"
Harry raised his hand but this time so did Hermione, she knew little about the theoretical side of magic for first year books didn't go into detail for each teacher often taught magical theory differently, however she had an extremely accurate memory and remembered Harry had told her the answer to this question on the train.
"Magic requires three major factors; imagination, planning and power. You first have to imagine what you want to achieve, for example send the pig to sleep, then you have to plan every detail on how to achieve this, then finally you need enough magical power to make them do what you want." She looked at Harry expecting him to be upset for using his own theory but he smiled and nodded at her.
"Excellent, ten points to Gryffindor for quite advanced magical theory. I would change your response Miss Granger to magic requires Intent, Focus and Force for the 'official' names, as Miss Granger explained you have to Intend on what you want to happen, Focus on how you want that to happen then finally Force your magic into doing what you want. Accidental magic happens when at least one of the three are absent, here at Hogwarts you will learn how to focus you magic, intent and force of magic is up to the user, you will find that the three compliment each other, say you struggle with force, by spending more on focusing or intending you magic you will need to force it less, likewise if you struggle with the focus you could increase intent and force, few magicals ever learn to master all three, Professor Dumbledore being such an individual."
The rest of the lesson was Professor Flitwick doing a charm, transfiguration or curse and making the class vote on which it was, it became obvious to all that Harry got every single time, a notable one was when Flitwick had waved his wand at the pig and turned its skin bright blue, almost all of the class voted curse except for Harry, Hermione and Ron Weasley who had started to just vote for whatever Harry voted for.
"Why is it a transfiguration instead of a curse Mr Potter?" Flitwick had asked, eyes twinkling
"Well to start with I ruled out it being a charm as it is affecting a living creature and charms only work on inanimate objects, I also ruled out it being a curse for every single curse you have shown previously had magic leave your wand and strike your target, here you controlled the magic of the creature against it, another reason I ruled out a curse was so far every curse wand movement has ended in a jabbing motion while this was just a wave of your wand, like every transfiguration, for argument's sake that also rules out a charm as they have ended up in a swish of the wand." What Harry kept quiet about was the third reason, he had done that very transfiguration that morning in his new training room and knew what it 'felt' like.
"Very good Mr Potter, yes it was indeed a transfiguration, five points to everyone who got it correct, another ten to Mr Potter for a correct answer, I wonder Mr Potter, what would happen if I had attempted that transfiguration on another wizard?"
"The wizard would have to fight off or over power the magic, they might also be able to hijack the transfiguration to their own need, for example rather than turning their skin blue they could hijack it and turn it orange"
"Take another ten points, it is with cases like this where the line between the three major magic types blurs, the main difference for this is how it was cast, in a duel I could transfigure my opponents robes into lead while sending a burdening curse at them, they could fight off the transfiguration but would most likely be hit by the curse, or deflect the curse but let the transfiguration take affect, for this reason professional dueler's and Auror's keep a constant magical aura that prevents that sort of tactic, the more powerful the witch or wizard the stronger or larger the aura, during a duel I prefer a large but weak aura, a witch or wizard cannot transfigure anything inside that aura however they could over power that aura, by keeping my aura weak I raise the chances of it being overpowered but prevent the chance that any transfiguration would take place near me, it also allows me to lose less magic in maintaining the aura meaning I can concentrate more on my opponent, an Auror would most likely have a small but strong aura as they would need the stronger protection at the cost of allowing transfiguration near them."
Eventually the bell rang and as people packed up Flitwick called out "For homework you are to write an essay, that is at least six foot long, on the key differences between charms, transfiguration and curses, with examples! Mr Potter could you stay behind for a quick word"
"Professor?" Harry asked once everyone had gone
"Don't worry, your not in trouble, indeed I was extremely impressed with your answers, I have never had a first year answer as accurately as yourself! Now, Severus, or Professor Snape to you, told me you were already casting lightweight charms on your cauldron? He said he was pleasantly surprised by the level of aptitude you had displayed in you magic and given your answers in lesson I am inclined to believe him! Professor Dumbledore also mentioned to me after the opening feast that when he went to visit you had displayed a level of magic beyond that of a first year, I was wondering if you would mind showing me just what you are capable of so that I and the other teachers can properly test you? This will remain strictly confidential you understand, nobody needs to know if you don't want them too"
Harry nodded and held out his hand to the pig that Flitwick had used throughout the lesson, he forced his magic onto it and forced Professor Flitwick's magic off, normally even someone with an above average level of knowledge and power would not be able to over power a teachers magic however Flitwick often used the least power needed from his experience dueling where wasting magic could result in a loss, as well as being low powered the transfiguration had happened an hour ago and had already fought off numerous low powered curses so when Harry's magic surged on top of it and fought for control Flitwick's magic gave in fairly quickly, once in control Harry then changed the pig into a life size marble statue of Flitwick.
When Harry had given Dumbledore the mithril statue of his head Harry felt the detail was inadequate for such a creation so spent a long time after learning how to make statues higher detailed, it paid off now as Flitwick looked at the statue which was a mirror image to himself, the fact it was made from marble, made from a pig which was originally a book and was forced out of his own magical control stunned the man, apart from the level of detail within the statue he theorised he could replicate the feat but it would have taken time, Harry had done the whole process in under five minutes, the fact the boy was still standing and apart from sweating heavily looked perfectly fine also stunned Flitwick, he cast a diagnostic spell on the statue and realised that there was enough magic within the statue that it would last about a week before needing to be replenished, while that may sound like a short amount of time for the level of detail, density and being made of marble which was a hard substance to use due to its resistance to magic, a week was an exceptionally long time for it to stand.
Flitwick rapped his knuckles on the statue and heard the sound reverberate inside, revealing that the statue was hollow, Flitwick turned to Harry and said "I am extremely impressed Mr Potter, for exceptional use of magic take 50 points to Ravenclaw, I see now that I may have underestimated your power level, clearly you are more powerful than your peers, would you like me to look into moving you up a year? Or perhaps two…"
"If it's okay professor, I would like to stay in my current year, I taught myself a lot of what I know and I fear if I jumped years I would miss something, likewise I normally focused on what I could do, I only recently started wondering how I do it so the theory side of magic is quite fascinating to me, which I would miss by skipping a year"
"Oh that's fine with me, just let me know if you do find your classes too basic as I will arrange additional work either during or after lessons should you require more, for instance this statue alone proves you are far beyond turning a matchstick into a needle."
"I think I would quite like that additional work later in the year professor and I've been trying to get greater control of my magic for example in yesterday's lesson I was seeing how little magic it would take to change a match into a needle."
"Of course! Minerva mentioned she was surprised at how little magic you had used compared to your peers… well you have given me a lot to think on Mr Potter, you may leave, oh may I keep the statue, for experimentation purposes only of course."
"Feel free" Harry said before leaving, alone in his classroom Filius waved his wand over the statue in complicated patterns, he made his magic settle over Harry's so that his was identical and then forced Harry's magic out, as the statue was originally his transfiguration Harry's magic gave way easily and Filius' replaced it, he also raised it up a foot and added a plinth underneath, he then cut a neat line along the back of the statue and enchanted it to act as a door, for a long time now he had wanted something just like this but had never gotten round to it, now that he had exactly what he was looking for he gleefully brought it back to his office.
So I recently realised that Justin Finch-Fletchley is actually a Hufflepuff rather than Ravenclaw, I think as I remember Justin wearing blue in the Chamber of Secrets movie and he said he was down for Eton, which upon a quick google reveals is "one of the most prestigious schools in the world" so I just fell into "Ravenclaw smart, Hufflepuff dumb" while Justin could be either as he would have to have worked hard to get considered, despite that Justin will remain a Ravenclaw is this, consider it the first non-Harry related change.
On another change you will most likely notice that the way I describe the magic differs to cannon, this is fairly deliberate as I feel like the magic of Harry Potter is lacking… like you have this world were you can wave your wand and do whatever you want yet in cannon there are like five commonly used "useful" spells then a bunch of other spells that are fairly pointless… that is one of the reasons 'For the love of magic' is one of my favourite fanfictions as the entire fanfic is expanding on magic.
Also in case it wasn't entirely clear Harry was able to transfigure the statue for a few reasons 1. He has been doing mostly transfiguration magic since he discovered magic, 2. He has been practising how to make lifelike statues since Dumbledore visited so he had practise magic statues easily, 3. Harry didn't realise marble is considered hard to summon (Will be expanded upon properly in a chapter) and finally he has a higher magical store than an average first year, he is not more powerful than Flitwick but caught Flitwick by surprise, Flitwick thinks he wouldn't be able to copy it because he just doesn't have the level of detail needed to make it, he could transfigure something into the size of the statue made of marble but it wouldn't look like him, he has the power just not the eye for detail.