Chapter 12 — Transfiguration
"That was incredible!"
The moment we stepped out of Flitwick's office, Penny became a small explosion of energy. She was not simply walking alongside me -- she was circling me as she moved, her hands seemingly operating independently of the rest of her. She was, it became apparent, a highly expressive person. It suited her, all things considered.
"Honestly, there is nothing particularly unusual about any of this."
I shrugged, as if to say it was all perfectly ordinary. Though I was well aware that in normal circumstances, not only a schoolboy but a fully grown wizard would be unable to answer a fair portion of Flitwick's questions.
"You are wrong!"
Penny stopped right in front of me, every line of her expressing how thoroughly she disagreed.
"In what way am I wrong?"
"In the way you say there is nothing unusual about this! You simply do not understand! At eleven years old, to pass an examination in one subject -- but covering four years of the curriculum in one sitting?! To become a professor's assistant?! It is absolutely extraordinary!"
"Well..."
I shrugged.
"...I can only repeat what I said in the professor's office. My Gift does not permit me to be casual about my studies -- least of all about Charms and Spellwork. So the result is a natural one. Besides, I have been studying theory from a very young age. In truth, I could probably sit theory examinations across all subjects for every year of the curriculum..."
I added a vague wave of the hand.
"Not all of it would be flawless, of course -- there is knowledge that you only truly grasp and learn to apply after trying something in practice. But nonetheless..."
"Good Lord, we have a genuine prodigy..."
"Penny..."
I shook my head and looked at the prefect.
"...it is not genius. It is daily hard work. Very hard work."
"All right..."
She raised her hands in a conciliatory gesture.
"...forgive me -- I am not trying to diminish your effort. It is genuinely difficult to take in the fact that a first-year could know more theory than I do."
I shook my head.
"You simply lacked the motivation. Motivation..."
"Motivation, yes?"
She gave a sad smile.
"And what motivation could I possibly have?"
There was a note of genuine unhappiness in Penny's voice.
"I am a half-blood. A junior position at the Ministry, perhaps assistant to a department head -- that is my ceiling."
"Well, perhaps that was true once..."
I studied Penny carefully -- she did not yet seem to have grasped how fortunate her position now was.
"...but even setting aside the present situation, you always had options. St Mungo's. The Auror Office..."
"Oh yes..."
Her voice took on a bitter edge.
"...the Auror Office especially. I have heard the stories about what some girls end up doing there."
I gave an indifferent shrug.
"If they went to the Auror Office without the necessary skills, that was their choice, was it not? They knew what they were walking into, did they not? And if they went anyway, then they ought to contribute however they can. Even if their contribution amounts to that -- at least they should keep up with their potions and look after themselves."
"You..."
Penny stared at me with a measure of shock. But she could not argue. As a half-blood she was familiar enough with the realities of this world to understand that, however unacceptable such standards were by the norms of ordinary Britain, in its magical half they were entirely commonplace.
"But I did not say any of that to hurt you. After all, you are a prefect -- which means you would never have gone somewhere that offered you no room to grow. I was simply pointing out that you had options, and those were only the most obvious ones. Now, however..."
I gave her a brief, appraising look from head to foot.
"Are you asking me to sleep with you?"
She winced slightly.
"You must be joking. You are a very attractive girl, but firstly, until a witch is fully seventeen, that sort of thing is simply harmful to one's magical development -- so the most I could offer you is something to cuddle. And I have Daphne for that. She is sweet, and..."
"She has no chest."
Penny glanced down at herself, and I did the same, for a moment.
"True enough -- but that is hardly the most important thing in the world. Though that is not what we were talking about. You are in your fifth year?"
"Yes."
A short nod.
"Well then -- you will be prefect this year and next, which gives you time to make a genuine impression with your abilities."
She fixed me with a somewhat stern look.
"And in that time -- not very much of it, admittedly -- you also have the opportunity to put together a business proposal. If you manage both, I would have no objection to sponsoring you. Say, up to ten thousand, on the condition that I hold forty-five per cent of the shares. With the option to buy those shares back once you have repaid me double the original investment. And I mean you repay me -- not that I receive my share of the profits as a co-owner of the business in the ordinary sense."
"I..."
She simply stood and looked at me. Disbelief and shock written plainly across her face.
"...this... Heir Black, I... please... tell me you are not joking..."
Her eyes were imploring. In that moment she would have agreed to almost anything, just to hear that this was not a jest.
"I am not joking. However, I will say this plainly: even though you have two years, if you decide to take me up on this offer, you will need to work very, very hard."
"I won't let you down!"
She pulled me into a hug, pressing my face into her chest, and I had no choice but to wait out her wave of warmth and gratitude.
"Just bear in mind -- this arrangement must remain between us. I am a Black, but I am not in a position to sponsor every Hogwarts graduate."
"I understand! No one will hear a word from me!"
"Excellent. Now let us go to the kitchens and ask the house-elves to put together a little celebration in the common room -- in honour of my passing the examination."
"Yes!"
Penny nodded eagerly, and we set off for the kitchens, where the house-elves practically went into raptures at our request and at the amount of magic I released in their direction. For me it was not exactly nothing, but it was not a significant expenditure either.
Though if one considered how much magic I had been obliged to use throughout the day, I was running fairly close to empty. That, however, did not concern me. Afterwards we went directly to the common room, where the house-elves had already begun laying out the tables.
"Penny, what is all this?"
The boy prefect gestured at the various tables being set up around the common room.
"This? Our young prodigy just passed an examination with Professor Flitwick -- four years of Charms and Spellwork in a single sitting."
Penny's words brought the entire Ravenclaw common room to a halt, and every student turned to stare at me.
"Moreover, the standard of knowledge he demonstrated was so exceptional that the professor has decided he will serve as his teaching assistant during lessons -- naturally, only in those classes that Draco himself attends."
"Congratulations, my lord."
Daphne appeared before me and gave a brief bow.
"Thank you."
And that, it seemed, was all the dam needed to break. Celebration erupted from every corner. For all that Ravenclaw was regarded as a House of individualists, it was still one House -- and an achievement like this could not fail to make everyone rejoice together.
"Let the feast begin!"
Those words of mine served as the trigger, and a remarkably noisy party commenced -- so noisy that when Penny eventually decided it was time for dinner, the House collectively decided to ignore the meal. It was perhaps the first occasion in Hogwarts history when an entire House failed to appear at dinner en masse, on the very first day of term.
This could not go unnoticed, and so roughly twenty minutes into dinner, Flitwick arrived in the common room -- visibly suppressing a smile behind his whiskers -- followed by McGonagall and Headmaster Dumbledore himself.
"Well, colleagues, as I said -- nothing has gone wrong. My House has simply decided to hold a small celebration."
"And what is the occasion for this celebration?"
Deputy Headmistress McGonagall was not particularly pleased with what she found.
"I believe the reason is me."
I stepped forward to meet the professors and gave a slightly abashed nod of my head.
"You, Mr Black?"
"Indeed, him..."
Flitwick bobbed happily.
"Minerva, can you imagine -- I gave him an examination and he passed my entire first four years of material with distinction! More than that! From now on, during Spellwork lessons, he will serve as my assistant, helping me to monitor his classmates and correct any errors they make."
"The boy's knowledge is as extensive as all that?"
"He is more than competent to do so for the next three years at minimum. Unfortunately he is not exempt from his other subjects -- otherwise I would have campaigned for a full formal assistantship."
"Hmm..."
McGonagall and Dumbledore looked me over from head to foot.
"My boy..."
I winced faintly at the mode of address, but chose not to make anything of it. I was not foolish enough to form a negative opinion of the Headmaster over a term of affection. He undeniably had certain shadows in his past -- but they were shadows, and we did not know the true nature of his relationships with various individuals during that period.
"...and how broad is your knowledge in your other subjects?"
I shrugged.
"In terms of pure theory, I am confident up to the fourth or fifth year across the board. As for practical work, my strongest area is Charms and Spellwork, followed by..."
I considered for a moment.
"...Potions, Astronomy, and Herbology, with Transfiguration last."
"An interesting order... why arranged so?"
Dumbledore was entirely genial about it. McGonagall, however, pressed her lips together in clear displeasure. Her subject had been placed last.
"The thing is, my Gift requires a very high level of knowledge in Charms and Spellwork, Astronomy, and in certain applications Potions -- and consequently Herbology as well. This does not mean I neglected Transfiguration, but..."
I shrugged.
"...I simply did not have sufficient time to maintain it at the same level as the rest. Particularly since Transfiguration is unlikely to be of much use to me beyond an everyday level."
"You are underestimating Transfiguration, young man?"
"Minerva..."
With a single inflection Dumbledore gently reproved his deputy.
"Mr Black has made it quite clear that he does, in general, respect your subject and devoted time to it. You understand yourself that a Gift imposes certain priorities. Take myself -- I have never made any secret of the fact that my Gift lies in Transfiguration, and it was always to Transfiguration that I devoted the greatest portion of my time. That is not to say I did not develop in Charms, Potions, or Alchemy, but..."
Dumbledore spread his hands.
"...Transfiguration always came first. So there is nothing remarkable in Draco having chosen to focus his efforts primarily on understanding and developing his own Gift."
The Headmaster stroked his beard, and the small bells woven into it chimed softly.
"What if we were to arrange examinations for Mr Black? He tells us he has at least some familiarity with all first-year subjects. So let us set them and see -- and if he passes them all, then I shall formally endorse his role assisting Professor Flitwick in his lessons. I will even set aside a stipend -- a modest one..."
Dumbledore gave a small shake of his head.
"...but entirely respectable for an assistant's position."
I went very still, because I had not expected anything of the kind. I would have thought it far more logical for Dumbledore to refuse any out-of-schedule examinations altogether -- and instead he was...
"If it can be arranged..."
I realised that teaching -- or rather, assisting Flitwick with lessons -- across the first three years would, if I was remembering the timetable correctly, actually leave me less occupied than simply attending all my own classes.
"...then I shall do my best not to disappoint you."
I gave the Headmaster a grateful nod.
"I shall think it over... Let us see how Mr Black performs in his first lesson tomorrow. If I am satisfied with his level, then very well -- I will arrange a short first-year examination. However, even if that comes to pass, it will not mean Transfiguration can be forgotten. Because next year I intend to set him an examination in the first-year material, to ensure nothing has been lost."
McGonagall delivered this with a slightly compressed expression. It was clear she was not fond of the idea, but equally clear she had no desire to oppose Dumbledore.
"Splendid!"
Flitwick clapped his hands together.
"I am so glad this has been resolved so neatly! Mr Black -- do not let me down! I do hope you will pass all your examinations and be ready to assist me in lessons from next week."
"I will give it everything I have, Professor Flitwick."
I gave a nod, and the Headmaster and professors took their leave.
"Did you all hear that? Draco is going to have examinations -- and he might become Professor Flitwick's assistant... Let's celebrate properly!"
This was shouted by one of the older students, and after that the party shifted into a considerably higher gear.
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