I own nothing.
Alaric had no idea how to get to the Charms Classroom, but following the rest of the crowd was a fairly safe bet. He memorized the route even though most of them barely managed to avoid showing up late, as it was a rather long trek from Potions to Charms.
Professor Flitwick, a diminutive man who needed to stand on several books just to see over his desk, took the whole event in good spirits though and he suspected most students would end up arriving late for the first couple of Mondays if they took the same route.
"Good morning, everyone, and welcome to your first Charms lesson here at Hogwarts! My name is Professor Flitwick and I am the Charms professor and Head of Ravenclaw house!" After his introduction, the small man took roll and was so surprised by Rose's name that he almost fell down his pedestal as laughter spread across the classroom.
Alaric found his way of teaching oddly endearing— the man did not demand respect from his students, yet they all gave it to him nonetheless because of his natural charm and powers in magic that few in the castle could match. The man was a Master of Charms and a former dueling champion who had apparently breezed through the International Dueling League when he was just twenty-five.
"To put it simply, Charms very well may be the most important subject we teach at this school and I assure you, my own biases towards the subject have no impact on that statement. Charms is, in my humble opinion, the most versatile branch of magic, as Charms can be used to achieve almost anything a witch or wizard would like. The subject has applications in self-defense, household upkeep, day-to-day tasks, leisure activities, and almost anything else you could come up with.
And the lesson continued.
No practical magic was performed that day aside from Flitwick making objects fly around the room as a demonstration of what was to come. The lesson was spent entirely as an introductory lecture, both for expectations, future lessons, a yearly outline, and a bit on the correct grip on one's wand for Charms and some other safety measures.
Flitwick also became the second of two professors to assign them prep, his being six inches on safety measures in his class, much to the dismay of the first-year students.
Alaric had already concluded that the year would be a rather easy one, at least in that subject. He had practiced the night before and could already perform most of the first-year charms before and though it would take some time to master them properly, he suspected would probably finish the second-year curriculum before Christmas break. He was already reading third-year materials before his arrival when it came to pure theory.
Absently, he wondered just how far ahead he could actually get.
They had lunch next, and though Alaric definitely ate more than he had at breakfast, he spent most of that time with his nose in the potions book. It was the one subject where he had not completely outshined his peers.
Much to his surprise, that honour had instead gone to Daphne when who had marched confidently up to the front of the class and presented Snape a vial of clearly perfect potion with a third of the allotted time remaining with a rather smug grin plastered on her face. He was trying to find what Daphene could have possibly done differently, but his search came up empty and his mood had dimmed by the end of lunch when his research had turned out to be fruitless.
His low spirits had not lasted long, as now, he was walking into the class that he may have been most excited about — Transfiguration, and a double period at that. The Slytherins were not too fond of the professor out of principle, but Alaric was eager for the subject and he really did hope she was as brilliant as her reputation seemed to indicate.
When they entered the room, they were surprised to see a cat seated atop the Professor's desk, reading from a book that did not seem to have a cover. The students were a bit disgruntled because of the Professor's absence and whispers soon spread across the classroom.
However, the students were instantly silenced when the seemingly innocent cat suddenly turned into a stern witch with a gentle swish accompanied by the warm caress of magic that only he could sense when the last Gryffindor entered the room. Alaric could feel a smile of admiration grow on his face at the impressive display of magic performed without a wand even as others around him exclaimed in surprise.
Professor McGonagall glanced around the room, her countenance as strict-looking as it had been at the welcoming feast if not even more so. She waited, rhythmically tapping her foot against the floor until the bell rang to signify the start of her class. With a lazy flick of her wand, the door softly closed, and the lesson began.
"Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts," she said. "Anyone who wishes to mess around in my class can voluntarily leave and not come back, I do not think it would be pleasant if I were to do it myself. You have been warned."
Silence followed her words and Professor McGonagall pointedly glanced at each one of them before nodding in satisfaction. With a wave of her wand, she transformed her desk into a pig before effortlessly reverting it back again. "Can any of you tell me which branches of Transfiguration I just used?"
Several of them raised their hands with Alaric being one of them, he had spent quite some time studying the theoretical portions of this subject after all. But he was not picked to answer since the highest hand belonged to someone else and it was obvious that Hermione took no small amount of pleasure in being the first whose hand hit the air.
"Master Granger?"
"Transformation and untransfiguration, Professor." The bushy-haired girl stood up and answered clearly. "Transformation with turning the desk into a pig, untransfiguration for turning it back."
"Correct, three points to Gryffindor." The older woman nodded and indicated for Granger to take her seat once again, "There are branches involved in the overarching form of magic that is Transfiguration, namely— Transformation, untransfiguration, vanishment, and conjuration.
"Transformation is the branch of magic concerned with turning one thing into another which I used when turning my desk into a pig. Untransfiguration is concerned with not only reversing transfigurations but also recognizing that they have been applied in the first place. This is more difficult and will not be spoken of until later years.
"Speaking of which, conjuration is the magic concerned with making something exist that was not there before." McGonagall waved her wand, sending a flock of brightly coloured parrots soaring around the room. One of them landed on the head of Rose Potter, chirping loudly and causing the rest of the class to burst out in laughter which was silenced a moment later with a single glare from the old professor.
"Vanishment, allows you to make objects disappear," she continued sharply, suddenly swishing her wand and the vibrant parrots were gone as quickly as the wind, leaving not even a feather to signify they had once existed at all. "Where the vanished objects go remain a mystery to this date."
"In your initial years at Hogwarts, you will almost exclusively be working with transformation and untransfiguration. You would work on conjuration and vanishment in your O.W.L years and beyond." Professor McGonagall explained, "There are subbranches to each major branch which also be touched on much later. For example, human-to-animal transfiguration would be a branch of transformation. There are deeper divisions among the subbranches as well, but those would not be covered for quite some time."
The older woman paused to let her words sink in before proceeding to begin a long lecture on standard safety procedures, as well as the course curriculum for this and future years. Had it not been for the fact they had a double period, Transfiguration would have been yet another class in which they performed no magic at all.
"Keeping all of that in mind," Professor McGonagall finished her rather long lecture, "I believe it is time for you to begin your practical education,"
She gave her wand another wave. A drawer on her desk slid open and a box floated out of it, landing atop the well-varnished surface before opening to reveal hundreds of matches tied in bundles which vanished from her desk only to appear in front of each student a second later with a wave of her wand.
"Your task," she continued as if the magic she had performed just now was something trivial, "is to transfigure one of these matchsticks into a needle. Do not be discouraged if it isn't something you manage. I do not expect any of you to achieve it this period. The instructions are on page eleven of your textbooks. Begin when you are ready."
The sound of scraping chairs could be heard as everyone scrambled to their feet, and Alaric leaned over to whisper at Daphne who had taken a seat beside him. "I'll grab the matchsticks if you find the right page?"
The blond nodded, reaching for her textbook. "Be my guest, Alaric."
A minute or so later, both children were sitting with their matchsticks poised and their wands at the ready. Alaric glanced down at the diagram and description in the textbook, though it was fairly redundant. He really had read a lot about this subject and he remembered everything the diagram showed by heart. The incantation was Acusignis, and the wand movement was vaguely circular, ending in a sharp jab towards the matchstick.
"Acusignis," Daphne said forcefully, doing mostly as the book instructed.
Nothing happened.
"Tighter wand movements, Miss Greengrass," instructed Professor McGonagall, who had been looming nearby. "The spell will never take at your level unless your wand movements are very precise. They become less and less necessary as you progress in the subject, as is the case for any other."
Daphne sharply nodded at her advice even as Alaric closed his eyes and began working on his own matchstick. He pictured the desired end product, just as the book had described, and let out an exhale of breath as he drew his wand in a perfect textbook movement.
"Acusignis."
At first glance, it appeared he'd had fairly more success than Daphne who was too engrossed in her work to notice that his matchstick had now had a hole in it, was pointy at one end, and taken on a rather metallic hue.
Alaric lay down his wand and frowned thoughtfully. As the lesson drew on, Daphne had perhaps made her matchstick a bit pointier but that was the extent of her success.
Glancing around, he could tell that Theodore had merely achieved a metallic hue and Pancy had yet to achieve anything at all, even Hermione who had always been the first in each of their lessons together was glaring furiously at her desk whereas Rose was repeatedly trying to cast the spell without success.
Despite his relative success on the first try, something just felt wrong to Alaric, as though some unknown impediment was halting his progress. He had not achieved the final effects he needed and he had been stuck here for the last twenty minutes. After going through the magic he was supposed to do several more times in his head, he felt as though he had identified the problem, though it made absolutely no sense. He felt as if merely envisioning the final product was too restrictive?
It was hard to explain nor had any of his schoolbooks even barely touched the subject of gathering intent for a spell, but he knew he could perform better if he followed his instinct.
Closing his eyes and readying his wand just as the class's end ticked near, Alaric instead imagined the final change taking place. Not that it had taken place, but it physically taking place in a sort of slow-motion in front of his very eyes.
"Acusignis."
He knew at once he had succeeded. He was greeted by the sight of Daphne's mouth opening wide in palpable surprise when he opened his eyes and could feel the shock emanate from those around him in waves. He had been able to masterfully gauge the emotions of those since his awakening and could not help but rue that instinct for what it sometimes represented.
Looking down, he found himself completely unsurprised to find a perfect needle in front of him and he could not help but smile. Not for the praise Professor McGonagall showered him with, nor even the points given to Slytherin House.
Alaric smiled because he knew that he had just gotten to the bottom of his troubles and suspected he had just made a major breakthrough. He would confirm with the several matchsticks he borrowed from Professor McGonagall to practice with, but he was quite sure he was right.
Thanks for reading, I have taken the branches of transfiguration from the books and the wiki to be more canonically accurate.