Chapter 5: The first week of class
At breakfast, Oleandra checked her class schedule.
First-year students all had to take the same seven subjects; Astronomy, Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, History of Magic, Potioneering and Transfiguration. Flying lessons were also provided later on in the month. It also seemed like each class was going to have a mix of all four Houses, except for Herbology and Potions.
This Monday morning, she had a Charms class, followed by History of Magic, and then a double class of Herbology with Ravenclaw in the afternoon.
Oleandra quickly gulped down the rest of the omelette she had been toying with, and headed for the Charms classroom up in the Astronomy Tower. There, she found that the class was taught by a diminutive professor by the name of Flitwick. However, no one was actually looking at the strange teacher.
"It must be the saviour, everyone's staring at him," she thought to herself. "He looks rather ordinary, though."
"Ahem," said Professor Flitwick. He clambered up a pile of books to let himself be seen better, and started his introduction.
"Good day, class! I am Professor Flitwick, and I will be teaching Charms throughout your stay at Hogwarts. Now, who can tell me what a Charm is?"
A curly-haired girl sitting in front of Oleandra raised her hand high.
"Yes, Miss Granger?" said Flitwick.
"The Standard Book of Spells defines a Charm as a spell that adds a property to its target, as opposed to Transfiguration, which changes the shape or nature of the target."
"Excellent answer! Five points to Gryffindor," he said. "Now, you can put down your textbooks, as we are going to be practising some actual magic. Today, we will be learning the wand-lighting spell. It's very easy, no need for any movements, simply say, Lumos!" His wand lit up. "Now, pair up and get practising!"
Hermione took a glance at the students around her, and quickly looked away as soon as she saw Oleandra. Oleandra pretended she hadn't noticed, and also searched around for a partner. Soon enough, magical lights started popping up all over class. It wasn't a very difficult spell, after all.
And then they came back. Illusory threads of light filled the room.
"Are you all right?" said Seamus Finnigan, somewhat concerned for the strange Slytherin girl who was rubbing her eyes.
Oleandra nodded, and demonstrated her mastery over the wand-lighting charm. "Lumos!"
"Lumos! Lumos! Lumos, blast you!" shouted Seamus.
Somehow, the end of his wand caught on fire. He yelped, and managed to put out the flames by blowing on them.
Oleandra snorted rudely. The flow had been all wrong.
"Hold on," she thought to herself. "It's magic. All the lights I've been seeing, they're magic! It's everywhere!"
Oleandra put down her wand and started watching her surroundings. When her classmates called out "Lumos!" bands of light gathered around them, turned into threads, passed through them, then through the wand, and finally produced magical fluctuations! It turned out that wizards didn't produce any magic themselves, they were just conduits and temporary storage units for the magic floating all around them.
Seamus must have somehow been clenching his magical muscles, because when the lights flew through him, they stopped in place, as if he were a clogged drain pipe. And then they came out all at once … rather explosively.
Sadly, though, seeing was very different from doing, or Oleandra would have instantly become the strongest witch of the century. On a more positive note, by the end of the class, she did manage to cast the wand-extinguishing charm.
And then came History of Magic. As she settled into her seat, she was surprised to see a ghost floating through the blackboard. The surprised feeling hardly lasted five minutes, because it soon became apparent that it would prove a challenge to stay awake for the entire duration of the class. Oleandra didn't care much for history, and Professor Binns certainly didn't help. She did try listening, but she ended up practising turning her magical vision on and off again, and finding a cool name for her ability. (She was hesitating between Seventh Sense and Mystic Eyes.)
The rest of the day wasn't as bad as second period. Oleandra won Slytherin five points in Herbology for correctly differentiating a Venomous Tentacula from a Devil's Snare.
Tuesday came and went, and Oleandra faced the reality that she might not be very good at transfiguration. Then again, most other students also had this thought, since Transfiguration was a very complicated discipline. Furthermore, the rules were extremely strict; never transfigure anything that isn't food into food, never attempt transfigure yourself or your fellow students ("You'll be doing that in your sixth year at Hogwarts," Professor McGonagall had said), and never, ever, transfigure something solid into something liquid or gaseous.
Even Hermione only had some partial success at her first transfiguration, halfway Transfiguring a match into a needle.
The next new class was Defense Against the Dark Arts, which was a total letdown. Firstly, the classroom reeked of garlic, and secondly, Professor Quirrell only told stories about his adventures, which might have been more convincing if he stopped stammering even for a minute. Oleandra really hoped the next teacher was not going to be like this too.
Wednesday came along, and a special course was to be given on this day. This one really was a head-scratcher, Oleandra thought. There didn't seem to be any magic associated with this course, and students were exceptionally allowed to break curfew in case classes were extended until midnight. In any case, the class was given at the very top of the Astronomy tower at night, where one could clearly observe the heavens.
Oleandra was actually kind of excited for this class. When she had been young, she had always enjoyed stargazing, climbing onto the roof of her mansion from the attic to dispel her worries, with her telescope clutched in her little hands.
"Welcome, children," said Professor Sinistra. "I am your astronomy professor. Together, we shall watch the skies, and you shall learn the names of stars. I shall teach you to plot the movements of the astral bodies."
"Sorry to bother," interrupted Malfoy with a tone that did not sound sorry at all, "but what's the use in learning this, exactly?"
"Stars have always been there for us," answered Professor Sinistra, as if she had anticipated the question. "They guide us when we are lost, and there is much we can learn from them. You'll learn all about it in divination when you are third years. The centaurs can read the future through the stars, and —"
Professor Sinistra continued her explanation while ignoring the snoring noises Malfoy was making, but Oleandra had long stopped listening.
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