I own nothing.
A loud thump echoed slightly in the previously silent Hogwarts library, the result of the noise was a frustrated Alaric Peverell, who had just tossed his first-year Transfiguration book from the large oak table at which he was seated and picked up a reference tome from his side instead. It had taken Alaric a surprisingly short period of time to find the library after their first Transfiguration lesson of the year with Professor McGonagall.
He had never thought he'd say this, but his class material was quickly turning boring. His first-year books were nearly identical to the books his father had when he was at Hogwarts and he'd finished reading those well before his tenth birthday…
The only book that seemed to be different was his book on Potions and as much as Alaric enjoyed his grandmother's lessons, he loved raw magic much more than brewing.
That was not to say that he was not good at Potions, he was one of the few students whom the mysterious potions professor seemed to approve of but he just shined brighter everywhere else.
He knew he had impressed most of his professors during his lessons— they had all given him several challenging tasks and Alaric had correctly answered every single one, even the ones that weren't even mentioned in the first-year curriculum. He had even earned several points for Slytherin in the process. But though the professors awarding him points seemed to increase the respect the upper-years had for him, Alaric had not really made any friends other than Daphne and Tracy yet.
In fact, he found that his stellar academic performance was pushing him further away from his dorm mates, who now seemed to shift between envy and wariness around him, not that he wanted to be friends with a bunch of idiots anyway.
After picking up his book, Alaric made his way up to Madam Pince who was seated behind a large mahogany counter. "Hello, ma'am, you wouldn't happen to have a copy of Intermediate Transfiguration would you?"
Madam Pince smiled at Alaric, she'd taken a liking to the polite boy after he had asked her to explain the different sections of the library on his first full day at Hogwarts. "I do actually, but that's advanced material. Are you sure you want to read a third-year book? It's only your first week."
"I'm sure, ma'am. I've already finished the theoretical part of The Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration."
Madam Pince merely nodded her head, it was generally frowned upon to teach children any magic before they go to Hogwarts but that had never stopped generations of purebloods from trying to give their heirs an edge before starting school.
The education of underage magical heirs was largely theoretical since the use of a magical focus during the developing years could damage the potential of a young wizard, there was a reason why Hogwarts was only open to kids older than eleven.
As such, it came as no surprise to Madam Pince that the young boy in front of her was well ahead of his peers when it came to theory at least, it was a waning practice since education had long been standardized but also something she could overlook since others usually caught up to them by the second year.
"Very well, Alaric," she said. "You can take this book for one week. Let me know if you need to check it out longer, okay?"
"Yes, ma'am," Alaric nodded seriously as he put the book into his bag and quickly went back to his secluded table in the back corner of the library, ignoring the bushy-haired Gryffindor muggle-born push past him to ask Madam Pince about the library.
It was one of the nicest evenings since the students had arrived at Hogwarts and he did not wish to sour his mood just because of Granger who had a penchant for annoying him over the most trivial things.
The sun was protruding out from under its position of rest behind the clouds, casting a soft orange glow upon the lands below. The grass was still green, the leaves had begun to shift colours, and there was the slightest hint of a cold in the air that implied the coming of fast-approaching autumn temperatures.
The first-year Slytherins only had classes in the morning on Fridays, with the sole exception being the History of Magic. From what Alaric could tell, many of the upper-year Slytherins skipped the class altogether on principle and he could not really blame them.
It was not as though Binns would ever notice. He started every class by floating straight through the wall, unrolling his comically long parchment of notes, and beginning to read. He had never once taken the roll call, not even on the first day of class. Alaric rather enjoyed reading about this world's history, but its corresponding class was wholly and completely disappointing.
Ever since his transfiguration lesson with Professor McGonagall the day before, his mind had been wrought with the intricacies of the complex subject— the way his magic had moved to change the matchstick when properly directed. He had been in a pleasant mood all day, partially as a result of that fact.
Most of his classmates had quickly grown bored of their lessons once they understood that they would follow the same monotonic schedule for almost the entire term but he could not quite force himself to feel that way even if he understood their woes perfectly— to him magic would always remain a majestic, a wonder to behold.
The very thought of growing bored of magic and its endless wonders was something he had trouble comprehending. Perhaps it was this very mindset that ensured his magic remained leagues ahead of peers. Their first lesson in Transfiguration had taught him that being in the right state of mind and visualizing things in the correct way was essential when casting magic.
Alaric sighed and scampered away toward the common room. The excuse about needing some air actually wasn't all that out of the ordinary— a fair few Slytherins did need to retreat to the grounds at least once or twice a day to see some light and being in constant darkness was not good for most people's mental state according to Tracey at least. But he was starting to suspect that he might be the first student using that as an excuse to sneak out of the Common Rooms and visit the School Library on his lonesome.
Alaric got about halfway down the corridor just outside the Dungeons when he heard swift footsteps echoing behind him, very obviously following in his wake. His hand twitched instinctively as he glanced over his shoulder but he quickly became more confused than worried.
"Daphne?" He asked, glancing behind his shoulder to see a blond and a brunette behind him.
"Good afternoon, Alaric." He inclined his head in greeting, not entirely sure of why she had subconsciously fallen into step beside him but not entirely averse to the idea, either.
"Where have you been since class?" asked Tracey curiously, rushing to his other side. "Everyone else was in the common room working on prep."
"The library," he answered honestly, seeing no reason to deny it.
"Don't tell me you're studying already?" asked Tracey, eyes incredulous, "It's the first week!"
"Better ahead than behind," he justified, shrugging nonchalantly.
"As if, you're definitely not ahead already or anything," sighed Daphne with a roll of her eyes as her two friends looked about ready to start another round of bickering amongst themselves.
He smiled indulgently at her, he added in an attempt to divert the conversation, "I have to keep the same attitude if I want to stay as far ahead as I am right now. Professor McGonagall nearly caught me in transfiguration,"
"And how exactly did you do that?" asked Tracy, and there was no doubt what she was thinking about as she peered at him curiously. He had been the quickest to succeed in Transfiguration, having managed to perfectly turn his matchstick into a needle in just a single class when no other student had even managed to cast the spell successfully even once.
"I just read ahead. I'm interested in the subject and I have a fairly good memory." Alaric answered, that was certainly a part of it but magic just came naturally to him in a way that he had not seen with anyone else, even with his grandparents who were all powerful magicians from what he knew.
"That was a fairly impressive showing," admitted Daphne with what sounded like genuine respect, her cerulean eyes observing him thoughtfully.
He inclined his head and grinned at her, somewhat pleased because he had never heard her praising someone before, "Not as impressive as your brew though."
"Daphne is very talented with potions!" Tracy gushed, her focus now on her friend as she turned towards the blonde with sparking eyes full of admiration, "Her whole family are geniuses when it comes to potions, they own a bunch of businesses but one of the main ones is a major company that specializes in potions and their ingredients. She could probably brew some of the O.W.L ones already!"
Alaric could not help but nod in agreement, Daphne was perhaps the only Slytherin who had truly caught the eye of Professor Snape and her potion had been vastly superior to his own. "I do understand how your potion turned out to be so much superior to mine when I followed the recipe perfectly,"
"Professor Snape's teaching style is unorthodox because he is not exactly teaching us how to brew potions." The blond explained, raising a brow in amusement when Tracy snorted, "All of the recipes that he gives us are inefficient in at least one major way."
"We're supposed to improve on them?" Alaric caught on first as he frowned thoughtfully.
Daphne nodded, and Alaric suddenly remembered that Professor Snape had invented at least a dozen new potions throughout his career. All Hogwarts Professors were accomplished masters in their respective fields with the sole exception of two, "If we can improve potions, then we can most certainly brew them. I suspect it prepares us and starts building the mindset for us to invent Potions on our own."
"Okay..." Tracy finally looked more interested, evidently she had not discovered the secret either despite being paired with Daphne in the potions class. "So, for yesterday's potion, what exactly were we supposed to improve on?"
Alaric remembered that the potion they had brewed yesterday had used honey from Thristran Bees and blue poppy flowers, which were much less magical but had connections to even mundane drugs.
"We all spent our time juicing the leaves and separating the honey from the honeycombs," Alaric thought carefully for a moment and answered, pleased when he saw Daphne nod.
"That's what the instructions told us to do," Tracy countered.
"Yes, but then why did Professor Snape provide a filter?" Daphne countered, "We could have dumped leaves and honeycombs straight in and filtered them out at the end. Professor Snape seems to focus on extracting ingredients, at least for now. I think in the future there might be more processes to improve, such as cooking at a lower temperature and using seven stirs instead of six.
Tracey just looked disgruntled at the talk of all this studying and groaned, "That's just sooo troublesome, why can't he just teach us normally? I hope none of the professors give us any more prep tomorrow."
"It's the first week; how are you complaining already?" Daphne asked with a roll of her eyes, apparently used to her antics.
"Because we have so much prep!" Tracey moaned dramatically once again, making Alaric laugh.
Alaric continued to walk towards the common room, replacing his previous distracted gait with confident strides as his friends made to follow— light-hearted discussion breaking out as Tracy regaled everyone with plans for her future escapades.
The sound of conversation was accompanied by the soft patter of the group's footsteps, his own now indistinct among them. He found himself enjoying the cheerful atmosphere that had arisen because of the company and realized it was the best mood he'd entertained in a long while.
Thanks for reading.