Chapter 45: James and Lily professors
James sat in a chair next to Lily. Across from him was Mary, and next to her was Toby, who didn't want to cross glances with James.
Near Lily was the book "A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration" open at the first few pages and the parchment they made the day before with James in the library. There was also a box of matches.
"You're finally here," said Lily, stretching out the parchment.
"Breakfast took longer than expected," said James as he yawned and greeted Mary and Toby.
"H-hi, James," said Toby awkwardly.
"Hi..." said Mary in a barely audible tone.
'They have a similar aura,' thought James, observing the boy and girl in front of him.
Mary was a lanky girl. She had chestnut-colored hair and eyes of the same color. Her figure seemed smaller as she was always hunched over, looking like she didn't want to be noticed.
On the other hand, Toby is stockier, and his hair is blond. However, his aura is much like Mary's, nervous and not wanting to draw attention to himself.
"Okay, before we start teaching you, I'd like you to try transfiguring a match. Just to assess your current skills," said Lily in a firm tone.
"Who wants to start?" she asked as she placed the box of matches near them both.
Toby and Mary looked at each other, but neither said anything, "It's okay if you don't get it right. It's just to see how you do," Lily added as she noticed that neither responded.
"I'll do it..." said Toby, taking a match out of the box. He set it down on the table and pointed his wand.
"Ignitum Mutatio," he said after several seconds of contemplation. Half of the match turned into a needle, " Good job! You're only missing half!" praised Lily, and Toby scratched his head in embarrassment.
"Now you Mary. Easy now, we're here to help you," said Lily, being more good and patient with Mary. She had seen a lot of the first-year boys and girls teasing her, even those in her own house.
"W-well..." said Mary, grabbing a match. She held her wand in her hand shaking. After a few seconds, she said, "I-ignitum Muta...tio..." Her voice was shaking, and she didn't sound confident at all.
The match barely moved and didn't have a single change. Lily put on a surprised expression, which quickly returned to her normal face.
'It's been 20 days since we started classes, and she can't even change a part of the match...' thought James without changing his expression. His hopes of saving himself from punishment were beginning to dwindle.
It was one thing to teach Toby, who just lacked some practice and a better understanding of some concepts, but Mary barely and barely moved the match.
"Well done both of you. Now look at me, maybe you can learn something," Lily said, pulling out a match.
"Ignitum Mutatio!" she exclaimed in a firm voice, and the match quickly turned into a perfect needle.
Mary and Toby both put on astonished expressions, "H-how did you do that? It seemed so easy," asked Mary, concealing jealousy.
Both Mary Toby and Lily had non-magical parents, meaning that a couple of months ago they didn't know about the existence of the magical world. However, there was a big difference between the two of them and Lily.
Lily was of slender build and had one of the shortest stature among girls in her year. Despite this, she demonstrates great talent in magic being among the top students in the first year, and displaying a confident attitude and a stubborn, short-tempered nature.
"When transfiguring, it is important to make firm and purposeful wand movements. Do not move or twirl your wand unnecessarily. Otherwise, the transfiguration will be unsuccessful," Lily explained. This explanation she remembered from McGonagall's memory.
Toby and Mary were paying attention, "This is the move. Repeat it with me," said Lily as she waved her wand slowly so that both of them could follow her.
They were practicing the move for a while, without saying a word, "It's your turn," said Lily, looking at James, "Of what?" asked James, who was looking at the high ceiling of the room.
"Of helping them. I won't do it all by myself. Or do you want me to tell the professor that you left all the work to me?" said Lily, looking at James menacingly.
'That girl...' thought James, as he stood up straight in his chair.
"In addition to the correct wand movement, you must form a clear mental image of the object you hope to create before attempting the spell. In this case, you must form a mental image of a needle," said James as he took the needle that Lily transfigured and showed it to the two of them.
"It's too small," muttered Mary, who was having a hard time making a mental image with such a small sample. James picked up a quill and asked Lily for the notebook. In a few minutes, he drew a large-sized and very well-done needle.
"Here you go," said James, putting the drawing in front of Mary and Toby.
"You draw well," praised Lily in surprise.
"It's just a needle," said James, although the drawing was very well done it was not something of great difficulty. However, for someone who had never drawn before, it would be difficult to replicate James' drawing.
This was because Edward Rothschild, his mother Elizabeth had him practice drawing with one of the most renowned artists, although she did not consider drawing a very important skill, Edward as the heir to the Rothschild family should have a wide range of skills.
With Lily and James' guidance, both Mary and Toby managed to get better at the transfiguration spell. The furthest behind was Mary, but by the end of the day's study, she managed to transfigure part of a match into a needle. An accomplishment that Lily was very pleased with.
They also went over the transfiguration formula. James and Lily explained it to them in a different way, to see if they could understand it better. Toby also made a breakthrough, and his match became 75% needle.
"Hey, James!" said Sirius, approaching the group, "Are you still at it?" he asked, feeling a little sorry for his friend.
"Yeah, we're done," said James, seeing that it had been almost two and a half hours since they'd been sitting down, explaining to them with Lily the spell.
"Are we done? We have to study for another hour," said Lily, disagreeing with James and looking at Sirius with a frown.
"One more hour?" asked James, Mary, and Toby at the same time.
"Okay... we're done. However, you Mary will have another session later at 9. And you James will help me," said Lily in a bossy tone.
"Well..." said James, getting up happy that he now had some free time. As for the other session with Mary he agreed, since, if they don't do it, Mary won't make it, despite having an extra day.
Toby with one more day will make it without much trouble, even if he keeps practicing on his own today he might make it.
"You missed a great event!" said Sirius, who had returned alone to the common room.
"What happened?" asked James curiously.
"Some fourth-grade boys had a little duel in the bathroom and accidentally blew up a toilet. The whole bathroom is full of shit!" recounted Sirius with an amused grin.
Many boys who were at the tables with books doing their homework upon hearing this looked up and stood up quickly, 'Shit in the toilet?" they all thought.
"Are they still in there?" asked James.
"If we hurry we might see it. If a teacher hasn't arrived yet," said Sirius, and along with James and more boys, they herded out of the common room in the direction of the toilets.
Lily and all the girls rolled their eyes. The only boy left in the room was Toby, who headed for the dormitories. After being able to witness the little incident in the boys' toilets, James wasted time exploring the castle with Sirius, Lupin, and Peter.
After dinner, he joined Lily again to teach Mary for another hour. Sunday's day was almost identical. The good thing was that Toby managed to cast the transfiguration spell well, and Mary took a few more hours until she was 80% effective.
In these two days, it seemed that her relationship with Toby had improved, but James still noticed that the boy was keeping his distance.
"Tomorrow is the day. Do you think they'll do well?" asked Lily nervously as it was the first time she had ever taught anyone. She was now standing next to James at the common room table tidying things up. Toby and Mary had already gone to bed to get a good night's rest.
"They both practiced a lot. Toby out of ten tries misses one, and Mary misses two or three, but it will depend on them not getting nervous," James replied.
"Yes, you're right. If everyone is looking at them they might get nervous," said Lily, worried about this issue. In these two days, she could tell that Toby and Mary didn't like to be the center of attention, even if it was just raising their hand and asking about a doubt.
"The only thing we can do is trust them. By the way... thanks for helping me. If it weren't for you, I don't think I would have successfully taught them the spell," said James, taking Lily by surprise. She couldn't believe that the cocky James Potter is thanking her.
James' reputation was very high. Most thought he was cocky and arrogant. He was the best in Transfiguration, Charms, and Flying and was given special permission to join the Quidditch team. And in the other classes, he also performed well.
James was being sincere. If instead of Lily there had been his friend Sirius, they would not have achieved at all the result he achieved with the red-haired girl. Lily was very strict, and thanks to that James didn't waste time and fulfilled his task as a professor. Besides that, the study plan was her idea.
"I didn't do it to help you..." said Lily in a soft and different tone than usual, "But, you're welcome," she said with a slight smile as she grabbed her things and quickly left for the girl's dormitory.
Lily before walking up the stairs stopped and without turning around said, "Good night."
"Good night," said James.
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