Sitting at the Ravenclaw table, devouring my pancakes, I notice that my house's participation in breakfast is lower than I thought. I remember my roommates reading books as I went to sleep, and I figured it was the reason they were sleeping in, but the entire house having similar habits was a bit shocking. Not that I can speak of course, for I did it before it was cool.
Finishing up our breakfast, I look towards the ceiling and am greeted by the stars. Wondering why the stars were visible during the day, I stare at the ceiling to try and understand the constellations that were projected across its surface. Slowly the noise of students eating and talking starts to fade away as I become engrossed with star gazing. More and more, I concentrate on the constellations and the wandering stars. I soon notice that there were some aspects of a galaxy missing as if what is projected is through an unfocused lens, unable to capture the minute details of the universe, such as the pillars of creation.
Before I can continue taking it in, I hear a meow coming from my left. Waking up out of the daze I was in, I look towards Meowser who seemed to be looking at me with resignation.
"It happened again, huh?" I said.
"Meow."
Patting Meowsers head, I look towards the pancakes which have now gone cold and soggy.
'I really need a watch.'
Every time I go into a Daze I lose track of time, but usually I would have an alarm clock nearby or a clock in general, though it seems most mechanical things don't work in magical environments, which makes me think how normal wizards deal with magic affecting everyday items.
"Do the stars interest you, too?" Luna asked.
"They are very interesting."
Earning a stare from Luna, I get up from the table and walk out of the great hall, not before earning some looks from my fellow students.
"Where too now?" I asked
"Lets-"
Before Luna could finish her sentence, a group of three walked towards us, one noticeably faster than the others.
"How do you know Hagrid? What did you feed that was invisible? How can you see us under the invis-" The ginger girl had started.
"Hermione!" Shouted the brown-haired boy.
"Oh, right."
Staring at the three, I answer her questions with another question.
"What do you mean invisible? You couldn't see it?"
The moment I asked this, I hear the brown-haired boy look towards the girl named Hermione with interest.
"Yes, invisible! I thought you were mad feeding the air, and then the food just disappeared!" She exclaimed.
"Hagrid called it a Thestral, you were there, you should have heard it."
Seeing Hermione go red in the face, I leave before she could ask more questions.
Walking away, I head towards the stairwell that decides to change its mind on where it leads every so often.
'I'll have to ask someone how they work.'
As we entered the stairwell, they started to move regardless of whether students were on them or not. Walking up the shifting stairs, we continue on with our journey to find somewhere interesting in the castle before our classes started. Walking around the Castle, we end up outside an ordinary door in a pretty secluded part of the Castle.
Opening the door, my nostrils are assaulted with what feels like years of dust, and my eyes faired no better. Sneezing into my robes, I retreat and wait for all the dust to settle down in the room before exploring it further. After sneezing for a few minutes, my nose calmed down enough to enter the room.
*Achoo!*
'It seems Luna faired no better.'
"Wipe your nose on Meowser, she is used to it," I said.
"Ok," she said, and began blowing into Meowser's fur.
"MEOW!" You can guess who's grief-filled meow that is.
Walking into the room, we are greeted by a by-all-means ordinary classroom that hasn't seen a good clean in presumably years. The floor was creaky, the wood rotten and the windows were broken. The chalkboard itself had numerous cracks in it, with a date in the top left of the chalkboard and numerous random writings across it, with things like 'Adam was here, 22'. I am unsure if that is still within the 1900s at this point, as the date in the top left is '13-4-1792'.
"You know, it just dawned on me how old Hogwarts is, and this is a good place for a hideout," I said out loud.
Earning eager nodding from Luna, I fold my sleeves up and start to clean the dust disaster that is this room. After quite some time had passed, I sit in the corner of the room with Luna beside me, both sweaty messes.
‘Moving all of the furniture was harder than I thought, but the Nest V2 is almost done!’
Smiling at the room, I go to ask Luna what she thinks before I notice that the sun isn’t shining into the room as much anymore. Getting up and going to the window, I look outside and observe the sun, only to see it pass the centre of the sky, and starting to set again!
“Luna… We might be late for our first class,” I said.
“Quick, let’s go!” I said, before running out the door and towards the Transfiguration classroom.
Running through the halls, quite a few paintings warned us not to run, some more vocal than others. We reached the stairwell of change(ing stairs) before realizing that we had no idea where the Transfiguration classroom was.
‘Whelp, no choice.’
Looking at the stairs, I decided to try something that I had been thinking of for a while.
“Transfiguration classroom, please,” I said while looking directly at the stairs.
After waiting a few seconds, I was about to turn around and try to ask one of the paintings, before the stairs suddenly started to move. One by one they all moved into place, forming a clear path to the first floor. Walking down the stairs, we reach a corridor that leads to the middle courtyard and the great hall. Looking at the walls, I ask the paintings where the Transfiguration classroom is.
“Down there, laddy,” I get a reply from a very Scottish painting.
“Thanks!” I said, before running towards the middle courtyard, and following some students who looked to be in the same year as me and Luna. Following them into a room, I am greeted with rows and rows of desks, and a cat on the teacher's desk looking at the students menacingly. Feeling a primal urge to pat the cat, I do just that.
Walking up to the cat, I put my hand out and attempt to pet it before the car jumped away faster than one could sneeze. Looking at the cat, who is now on guard against me, I figured it wise to walk away and find a seat amongst the rows of desks. Finding a desk, Luna sits next to me, something which I am used to at this point.
After looking around the classroom, trying to entertain myself, the doors to the classroom slammed shut, before all the students start to quiet down. The cat on the desk looks around the classroom, before jumping off the desk and morphing into a human seamlessly. The human, or who I've figured out to be our professor, Ms McGonagall, gives me a death stare before walking behind her desk.
“Welcome to your very first Transfiguration class, a few rules before I get into the content. Firstly, if you see a cat and have the desire to pet it, check if the cat wants them,” she said, before giving me a death stare. Meeting her stare with interest, mainly on her cat form, she continues, “Secondly, this subject is one that is constantly evolving and new techniques are coming out every few years. I will only be teaching you the basics of this subject in your first year, but it is also your most important year. I will simply not tolerate any misuse of Transfiguration inside or outside of this classroom. If you are reported to have misused Transfiguration for any reason, you will be expelled from my classroom, and depending on the severity of the misuse, from Hogwarts altogether. Am I clear?”
“Yes.” The classroom answers in synchronicity.
“Good. For our first lesson, open up your textbooks and flip to page 5,” She continued.
Looking towards my desk, I realized both me and Luna had forgotten our textbooks. Looking towards each other, I let out a wry smile before I hear the Professor walking towards us.
“You two don’t have textbooks?” She asked.
“No, forgot them,” I said.
“A Ravenclaw who forgets textbooks, that’s minus 5 points to each of you. How do you expect to learn without even having the textbooks?”
“By listening,” Both me and Luna said at the same time. Letting out a silent chuckle at the exchange, I turn my attention to her reaction.
“Another minus 5 points for talking back to a teacher,” She said, before walking back to her desk and writing out material on the board.
“Listen,” she stares at us, “closely, the main idea behind turning an object into one that you desire, such as a handkerchief into a stool, is imagination. If you can not visualize what type of stool you want to turn the handkerchief into, your attempts at Transfiguring it will fail. Let's start with breaking down the word Transfiguration and explaining the concepts behind it…”
As Professor McGonagall started to explain the theory behind it, I pull out Dororthy and start to take notes of what she is saying, with Luna chiming in to add some additional context to my notes, something that baffled me. You should understand that writing in the code I had developed when I was younger had come second nature to me, and I was unconsciously writing in it when Luna was telling me to add certain things I had missed.
“… Alright, that’s it for the theory. Let's get you to try Transfiguration for yourselves,” Saying that, she started to hand out a box of match sticks to everyone except for me and Luna.
“I need to see the notes you took during the class to be confident that you can perform the practical part.”
Nodding without thinking, I show her the notes I took, which were still in the code I had developed.
“You call these notes?” She explained.
“Yes, I wrote them myself, you know,” I replied.
“I am not confident you can do this next part, so you two will be sitting out, as well as minus 5 points for incomprehensible note-taking.”
Without giving us any chances to explain, she huffed back to her desk before going over some key points about transforming matchsticks into needles. Tuning out the noise at this point, I turn my attention to the notes I took throughout the class, trying to comprehend something from the basic theory that the Professor had explained. This lasted a while before McGonagall clapped her hands and drew attention back to her.
“Good work today, you’ve all made progress in the art of Transfiguration. I am interested to see what you end up doing in the future if you decide to pursue Transfiguration further. You are all dismissed, don’t miss your next class. Mr Zouglas and Mrs Lovegood, please stay behind.”
Waiting until everyone left, Professor McGonagall walked up to us before starting her lecture.
“I've never seen two Ravenclaws forget their textbooks before, one was something to write home about! And why are the two of you so dirty? And why are you still wearing your pyjamas underneath your robes Mr Zouglas? Do you two have something to say for yourselves?”
Hearing an onslaught of questions, my motivation to reply drained until I couldn’t muster a response anymore. Simply shaking my head in disagreement with her last question, before getting up and leaving the class, with Luna following me.
“According to the timetable, we have about 10m to get to our next class, which is potions,” I said out loud, for Luna to understand our next destination.
‘No textbook for this class either, this is going to be fun.’
----------
Author Corner:
Im FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. Uni exams are all done! I have some free time now before I start job searching because my life is consistently unstable! I had considered starting a Patreon like every other HP fanfic writer a few times but I can not in good faith take the money and promise chapters ‘Sometimes’. I could probably maintain a chapter a day until I got busy again, I will see how I go.
2k words in this chapter, that’s a first. After this day I want to into detail so much about what the classes are, do, and the theory behind them. In retrospect, teaching students how to change anything into anything within reason of that first anything is a pretty dangerous thing to do, and im not sure why is a first-year course.
I MIGHT do another chapter today, depending on my motivation and creative juices left over after this chapter.
Sitting at the Ravenclaw table, devouring my pancakes, I notice that my house's participation in breakfast is lower than I thought. I remember my roommates reading books as I went to sleep, and I figured it was the reason they were sleeping in, but the entire house having similar habits was a bit shocking. Not that I can speak of course, for I did it before it was cool.
Finishing up our breakfast, I look towards the ceiling and am greeted by the stars. Wondering why the stars were visible during the day, I stare at the ceiling to try and understand the constellations that were projected across its surface. Slowly the noise of students eating and talking starts to fade away as I become engrossed with star gazing. More and more, I concentrate on the constellations and the wandering stars. I soon notice that there were some aspects of a galaxy missing as if what is projected is through an unfocused lens, unable to capture the minute details of the universe, such as the pillars of creation.
Before I can continue taking it in, I hear a meow coming from my left. Waking up out of the daze I was in, I look towards Meowser who seemed to be looking at me with resignation.
"It happened again, huh?" I said.
"Meow."
Patting Meowsers head, I look towards the pancakes which have now gone cold and soggy.
'I really need a watch.'
Every time I go into a Daze I lose track of time, but usually I would have an alarm clock nearby or a clock in general, though it seems most mechanical things don't work in magical environments, which makes me think how normal wizards deal with magic affecting everyday items.
"Do the stars interest you, too?" Luna asked.
"They are very interesting."
Earning a stare from Luna, I get up from the table and walk out of the great hall, not before earning some looks from my fellow students.
"Where too now?" I asked
"Lets-"
Before Luna could finish her sentence, a group of three walked towards us, one noticeably faster than the others.
"How do you know Hagrid? What did you feed that was invisible? How can you see us under the invis-" The ginger girl had started.
"Hermione!" Shouted the brown-haired boy.
"Oh, right."
Staring at the three, I answer her questions with another question.
"What do you mean invisible? You couldn't see it?"
The moment I asked this, I hear the brown-haired boy look towards the girl named Hermione with interest.
"Yes, invisible! I thought you were mad feeding the air, and then the food just disappeared!" She exclaimed.
"Hagrid called it a Thestral, you were there, you should have heard it."
Seeing Hermione go red in the face, I leave before she could ask more questions.
Walking away, I head towards the stairwell that decides to change its mind on where it leads every so often.
'I'll have to ask someone how they work.'
As we entered the stairwell, they started to move regardless of whether students were on them or not. Walking up the shifting stairs, we continue on with our journey to find somewhere interesting in the castle before our classes started. Walking around the Castle, we end up outside an ordinary door in a pretty secluded part of the Castle.
Opening the door, my nostrils are assaulted with what feels like years of dust, and my eyes faired no better. Sneezing into my robes, I retreat and wait for all the dust to settle down in the room before exploring it further. After sneezing for a few minutes, my nose calmed down enough to enter the room.
*Achoo!*
'It seems Luna faired no better.'
"Wipe your nose on Meowser, she is used to it," I said.
"Ok," she said, and began blowing into Meowser's fur.
"MEOW!" You can guess who's grief-filled meow that is.
Walking into the room, we are greeted by a by-all-means ordinary classroom that hasn't seen a good clean in presumably years. The floor was creaky, the wood rotten and the windows were broken. The chalkboard itself had numerous cracks in it, with a date in the top left of the chalkboard and numerous random writings across it, with things like 'Adam was here, 22'. I am unsure if that is still within the 1900s at this point, as the date in the top left is '13-4-1792'.
"You know, it just dawned on me how old Hogwarts is, and this is a good place for a hideout," I said out loud.
Earning eager nodding from Luna, I fold my sleeves up and start to clean the dust disaster that is this room. After quite some time had passed, I sit in the corner of the room with Luna beside me, both sweaty messes.
‘Moving all of the furniture was harder than I thought, but the Nest V2 is almost done!’
Smiling at the room, I go to ask Luna what she thinks before I notice that the sun isn’t shining into the room as much anymore. Getting up and going to the window, I look outside and observe the sun, only to see it pass the centre of the sky, and starting to set again!
“Luna… We might be late for our first class,” I said.
“Quick, let’s go!” I said, before running out the door and towards the Transfiguration classroom.
Running through the halls, quite a few paintings warned us not to run, some more vocal than others. We reached the stairwell of change(ing stairs) before realizing that we had no idea where the Transfiguration classroom was.
‘Whelp, no choice.’
Looking at the stairs, I decided to try something that I had been thinking of for a while.
“Transfiguration classroom, please,” I said while looking directly at the stairs.
After waiting a few seconds, I was about to turn around and try to ask one of the paintings, before the stairs suddenly started to move. One by one they all moved into place, forming a clear path to the first floor. Walking down the stairs, we reach a corridor that leads to the middle courtyard and the great hall. Looking at the walls, I ask the paintings where the Transfiguration classroom is.
“Down there, laddy,” I get a reply from a very Scottish painting.
“Thanks!” I said, before running towards the middle courtyard, and following some students who looked to be in the same year as me and Luna. Following them into a room, I am greeted with rows and rows of desks, and a cat on the teacher's desk looking at the students menacingly. Feeling a primal urge to pat the cat, I do just that.
Walking up to the cat, I put my hand out and attempt to pet it before the car jumped away faster than one could sneeze. Looking at the cat, who is now on guard against me, I figured it wise to walk away and find a seat amongst the rows of desks. Finding a desk, Luna sits next to me, something which I am used to at this point.
After looking around the classroom, trying to entertain myself, the doors to the classroom slammed shut, before all the students start to quiet down. The cat on the desk looks around the classroom, before jumping off the desk and morphing into a human seamlessly. The human, or who I've figured out to be our professor, Ms McGonagall, gives me a death stare before walking behind her desk.
“Welcome to your very first Transfiguration class, a few rules before I get into the content. Firstly, if you see a cat and have the desire to pet it, check if the cat wants them,” she said, before giving me a death stare. Meeting her stare with interest, mainly on her cat form, she continues, “Secondly, this subject is one that is constantly evolving and new techniques are coming out every few years. I will only be teaching you the basics of this subject in your first year, but it is also your most important year. I will simply not tolerate any misuse of Transfiguration inside or outside of this classroom. If you are reported to have misused Transfiguration for any reason, you will be expelled from my classroom, and depending on the severity of the misuse, from Hogwarts altogether. Am I clear?”
“Yes.” The classroom answers in synchronicity.
“Good. For our first lesson, open up your textbooks and flip to page 5,” She continued.
Looking towards my desk, I realized both me and Luna had forgotten our textbooks. Looking towards each other, I let out a wry smile before I hear the Professor walking towards us.
“You two don’t have textbooks?” She asked.
“No, forgot them,” I said.
“A Ravenclaw who forgets textbooks, that’s minus 5 points to each of you. How do you expect to learn without even having the textbooks?”
“By listening,” Both me and Luna said at the same time. Letting out a silent chuckle at the exchange, I turn my attention to her reaction.
“Another minus 5 points for talking back to a teacher,” She said, before walking back to her desk and writing out material on the board.
“Listen,” she stares at us, “closely, the main idea behind turning an object into one that you desire, such as a handkerchief into a stool, is imagination. If you can not visualize what type of stool you want to turn the handkerchief into, your attempts at Transfiguring it will fail. Let's start with breaking down the word Transfiguration and explaining the concepts behind it…”
As Professor McGonagall started to explain the theory behind it, I pull out Dororthy and start to take notes of what she is saying, with Luna chiming in to add some additional context to my notes, something that baffled me. You should understand that writing in the code I had developed when I was younger had come second nature to me, and I was unconsciously writing in it when Luna was telling me to add certain things I had missed.
“… Alright, that’s it for the theory. Let's get you to try Transfiguration for yourselves,” Saying that, she started to hand out a box of match sticks to everyone except for me and Luna.
“I need to see the notes you took during the class to be confident that you can perform the practical part.”
Nodding without thinking, I show her the notes I took, which were still in the code I had developed.
“You call these notes?” She explained.
“Yes, I wrote them myself, you know,” I replied.
“I am not confident you can do this next part, so you two will be sitting out, as well as minus 5 points for incomprehensible note-taking.”
Without giving us any chances to explain, she huffed back to her desk before going over some key points about transforming matchsticks into needles. Tuning out the noise at this point, I turn my attention to the notes I took throughout the class, trying to comprehend something from the basic theory that the Professor had explained. This lasted a while before McGonagall clapped her hands and drew attention back to her.
“Good work today, you’ve all made progress in the art of Transfiguration. I am interested to see what you end up doing in the future if you decide to pursue Transfiguration further. You are all dismissed, don’t miss your next class. Mr Zouglas and Mrs Lovegood, please stay behind.”
Waiting until everyone left, Professor McGonagall walked up to us before starting her lecture.
“I've never seen two Ravenclaws forget their textbooks before, one was something to write home about! And why are the two of you so dirty? And why are you still wearing your pyjamas underneath your robes Mr Zouglas? Do you two have something to say for yourselves?”
Hearing an onslaught of questions, my motivation to reply drained until I couldn’t muster a response anymore. Simply shaking my head in disagreement with her last question, before getting up and leaving the class, with Luna following me.
“According to the timetable, we have about 10m to get to our next class, which is potions,” I said out loud, for Luna to understand our next destination.
‘No textbook for this class either, this is going to be fun.’
----------
Author Corner:
Im FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. Uni exams are all done! I have some free time now before I start job searching because my life is consistently unstable! I had considered starting a Patreon like every other HP fanfic writer a few times but I can not in good faith take the money and promise chapters ‘Sometimes’. I could probably maintain a chapter a day until I got busy again, I will see how I go.
2k words in this chapter, that’s a first. After this day I want to into detail so much about what the classes are, do, and the theory behind them. In retrospect, teaching students how to change anything into anything within reason of that first anything is a pretty dangerous thing to do, and im not sure why is a first-year course.
I MIGHT do another chapter today, depending on my motivation and creative juices left over after this chapter.
