Chapter 14 — Transfiguration
"I am so sorry..."
"Penny, none of this is your fault. You brought us to our lesson on time -- it is your colleague who..."
I shook my head.
"...though let us not dwell on it."
"All right."
Penny gave a quick nod and led us through Hogwarts' hidden passages at a brisk pace, taking the fastest route to McGonagall's classroom.
When we finally reached the door she knocked, and at the sound of permission being given she eased it open.
"Ah... at last... the explorers have returned..."
"Explorers?"
Penny looked at the professor in surprise.
"I have already been informed that these students slipped away from their prefect to explore the castle. I imagine it was rather inconvenient for you to search for them during your lesson..."
McGonagall gave a slight shake of her head.
"Professor, I must ask your forgiveness, but you have been misled."
"Is that so?"
"Yes."
Penny gave a steady nod. McGonagall, however, regarded her with open scepticism -- it was plain she did not entirely believe our prefect.
"Professor Flitwick pulled Robert and me out of Potions -- not because these first-years ran away from my colleague, but because he neglected his duties and failed to count his students when collecting them from the greenhouses. As it turned out, Mr Black and Miss Daphne had been delayed inside, and were not among the group. When Miss Granger and Mr Potter attempted to bring this to his attention, he refused to listen -- so they stayed behind to wait for Professor Sprout and their missing classmates, and to pass the information on."
McGonagall pressed her lips together.
"I believe you can confirm the details with Professor Flitwick or Professor Sprout."
"Mr Weasley. Minus twenty points from Gryffindor."
"What for?!"
"For lying to a teacher and misrepresenting your fellow students. You are also assigned detention. For the next month you will assist Mr Filch in cleaning the castle. Without magic."
Scattered laughter broke out among the students.
"Silence. Thank you, Miss Clearwater, for bringing the students, and for telling the truth."
"It is my duty as prefect."
A brief nod.
"May I go? Only Professor Snape..."
The professor's lips curved in a knowing smile.
"Run along..."
"Thank you!"
Penny made her escape. The rest of us were admitted to the classroom, and I was promptly directed to a separate desk.
"Your questions, Mr Black. I expect a thorough, detailed answer to every question on the scroll. The quality and completeness of your answers will determine whether I agree to conduct the practical examination."
"I shall do my best not to disappoint you, Professor."
I gave a nod, unrolled the scroll she handed me, produced a clean piece of parchment, a quill and an ink bottle, and set to work. The questions from the Head of Gryffindor were not difficult. Basic principles of Transfiguration law, and theoretical questions on the spells covered in first and second year.
"Now then, my dear students -- Transfiguration is a demanding subject that tolerates no imprecision, whether in wand movement or in the wording of the incantation..."
The professor moved to stand at her desk, surveying the class as she spoke.
"...I am aware that Professor Snape usually delivers a rather formidable speech that compels students in his lessons to listen very carefully indeed. His approach to teaching, however..."
McGonagall paused for a couple of seconds, then shook her head and continued.
"...never mind. I, for my part, tend to say this: a student who dedicates themselves to Transfiguration will never find themselves cold, barefoot, or without shelter. Having learnt and mastered what I teach you over the next five years, you will always be able to provide yourself with clothing and a roof over your head. Yes, all of it will be temporary -- on the other hand, there is nothing to stop you renewing the Transfiguration as many times as you see fit."
The children were listening, but with nothing like the focused attention Snape's speech had commanded. McGonagall simply lacked his skill as an orator. Snape had made you lean in for every word; this was a dry recitation of facts. There was certainly a place for that approach -- but it would have landed far better with students of seventeen than with students of eleven.
"If you choose to remain with me into sixth and seventh year, we will progress to permanent Transfiguration, which resolves those questions once and for all. Unfortunately, not everyone possesses the patience required to master a discipline as complex and multifaceted as Transfiguration -- but that does not mean I will permit you to do nothing."
McGonagall paused for about twenty seconds, looking across the class.
"Now, let us look at the simplest spell you will study in my lessons. It is quite straightforward..."
She produced a matchstick and, holding it in one hand, performed the incantation with her wand directed precisely at it.
"As you can see -- a very simple spell. To perform it successfully you will need to meet the following conditions. First, learn the incantation..."
A wave of her wand, and several lines appeared on the blackboard. The first was the incantation itself; the second showed it broken into syllables with annotations on how each was to be pronounced; the third consisted of general notes.
"As you can see, there is nothing complicated in the incantation itself. Mr Black, do please look up for a moment -- if you would not mind, could you transfigure a matchstick into a needle?"
A matchstick was levitated to me, and I turned it into a needle -- not quite so elegantly as I might have, but adequately -- and levitated it back to McGonagall.
"As if that matters! Show-off and swot!"
"Mr Weasley, I did not ask for your opinion. Minus five points from Gryffindor."
"But..."
"Do you wish to cost your House still more points?"
"No!"
He shook his head quickly.
"Then kindly be quiet. Now -- as you have just seen, a student your own age has performed this spell with ease. He has, of course, put in a great deal of practice to reach that level of fluency. Mr Black -- roughly how long did the training take you?"
"The first transformation took about an hour..."
I paused to consider.
"...at that stage it was nowhere near a proper needle -- only a slight wooden point and the very beginnings of an eye. A fully formed needle took around seven hours altogether. After that first success I made a point of returning to completed spells at least once a month, running through each one a set number of times. Initially the number of repetitions was small -- about ten per spell -- but later on..."
I shrugged.
"A sound approach, Mr Black. I am glad your guardians had the sense not to overwork you."
Yes, the sense not to overwork me... they kept me permanently on the edge of my limits. Though I cannot honestly say I minded. This was magic, after all -- and to this day I threw myself into its ocean with nothing but pleasure, hoping each time to bring back some small piece of it that would take root in my head.
"Very well -- you will each have five lessons to master this spell. Those who do not manage it within that time will attend additional sessions. I will not permit any student to leave without having fully absorbed what is, after all, a perfectly accessible school curriculum. And now..."
McGonagall resumed her lecture while I returned to answering the questions on the scroll.
This continued until the end of the lesson, at which point I was asked to remain behind.
"Now then, Mr Black -- let us see whether your knowledge meets the required standard..."
She read through the scroll, and with each passing minute her eyebrows rose slightly higher.
"I must say, you have genuinely surprised me. After your remarks about not having spent much time on Transfiguration, I had not expected you to answer every question on the scroll."
I shrugged.
"Professor -- Mum Cissy and Mum Bella always told me that I might consider a subject unlikely to be of use to me personally, but that the school curriculum was something I was required to know. That is why, even though they did not press me towards advanced or accelerated study, they expected me to demonstrate knowledge worthy of an Acceptable."
"Hmm... I shall have to write to them. To have prepared a young man so thoroughly..."
McGonagall looked at me, and in her expression, quite unexpectedly, I caught a flicker of something like pity.
"...ah... no, never mind, forget I said that, Mr Black. I take it Professor Sprout also conducted a theory examination?"
"Yes, Professor. She asked me to come to her after lunch for the practical."
"Good. Then once you have completed her practical, you may come to me. I will arrange a practical examination in Transfiguration. Although, given your answers today and the ease with which you transfigured the matchstick, it will likely be something of a formality. Now off you go."
"Thank you, Professor."
I gave a brief bow and left the classroom. Daphne held the door for me as before, and outside I found Penny and all the Ravenclaw first-years waiting.
"Only you we were waiting for."
She gave me a slightly pointed wink and gestured for us to follow her. I took my usual place at the back of the group, and we made our way to the Great Hall, where we settled at the Ravenclaw table.
"So then, Draco -- how has your day been?"
"It is not over yet, Penny..."
"Hmm?"
She, like everyone else, had noticed the change in my meals -- and Daphne's -- but chose not to remark on it.
"Sprout and McGonagall. I have only sat the theory with both of them so far. They were satisfied with it. The practical comes this afternoon."
"Hmm... should I take you somewhere?"
"Don't worry..."
I shook my head.
"...I know my way around Hogwarts well enough -- not perfectly, but well enough. My mothers made me memorise the main landmarks."
"Hmm, so you could have found your own way to McGonagall?"
"I could have..."
I shrugged.
"...but I still would not have made the lesson on time. The route you or Robert would have taken is direct -- straight from the greenhouses to McGonagall's classroom. My way would have been via the Great Hall, and then from there to the professor."
"Right..."
Penny shook her head.
"...anyway, let us not dwell on it. Robert got what was coming to him, and I will not be letting him anywhere near the first-years again. You are my responsibility now, all of you."
"Won't you burn out?"
I looked at her thoughtfully -- and in the same moment drew my wand and cast Protego, which caught a chicken leg that had been thrown in our direction. Exactly who it had been aimed at I could not tell, but I had seen Weasley throw it, and it had very nearly hit Penny.
"Mr Weasley!!!"
McGonagall's voice cut across the entire Great Hall.
"How dare you! Finishing your meal does not give you the right to throw food. I think I shall have a word with the house-elves about limiting your portions. Perhaps then you will learn to appreciate their efforts -- and stop behaving like an animal at the table. And yes -- minus ten points from Gryffindor."
I looked at the Gryffindor hourglass, which was now showing only five points remaining.
The Gryffindors were quite visibly unamused.
"Mr and Mr Weasley -- please get your younger brother under control. At this rate your House will run out of points entirely, and we stand a genuine chance of seeing you finish the year with nothing."
"Why stop there, Minerva -- I shall personally go through the points ledger and add up everything taken from and awarded to your House this year. If things continue at this pace, you could very well finish in the negative."
Snape's voice was profoundly sardonic.
"Severus..."
"What?"
He looked at McGonagall, and she found she had nothing to say to that -- only a sharp, irritated exhale.
"Well... thank you."
Penny gave me a nod.
"Oh, come now -- we are colleagues. Is it not a colleague's duty to help when they can?"
"Yes... of course..."
She gave a slow nod and bit her lip thoughtfully.
"Don't let it weigh on you..."
I smiled at her.
"...nothing actually hit you, so..."
"Oh, that's the least of it..."
She shook her head.
"...it is just that this much has never happened in the first two days before. And since you arrived there has been event after event. I cannot say I find this level of activity to my taste."
"Well, I cannot be blamed for that..."
I shook my head.
"...I am not the one behaving provocatively and forcing extreme reactions from everyone around me, am I? I am simply responding to the actions of others. Though..."
I gave a slight shake of my head.
"...I may soon need to take certain steps of my own, to settle certain individuals who are becoming genuinely tiresome."
"Draco, please -- nothing lethal..."
Penny looked at me with pleading eyes.
"Pfft! My lord is not a maniac and he is not going to harm any children. Kindly do not say such things about him..."
Daphne felt moved to intervene, and I gave her a grateful nod. Penny, for her part, simply lowered her gaze to the table with a faintly sheepish expression.
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