章 7: Will and Intent

Hadrian awoke at 6 in the morning - like always, and began his morning exercises. His ever-increasing capabilities in Martial Arts and all other manners of combat require him to keep up his athletic physique.

He made his way outside and started his conditioning and muscle building exercises.

His training could not be described as rigorous as he was still very young - but it could still be considered challenging to most people above his age.

He had adopted a fighting style that mainly focused on evasive maneuvers as well as counter-attacking. He figured that this will help him the most when he broke into the dueling circuit - something he had been meaning to ask Charlus about soon.

An hour had passed and finally, Hadrian was finished. He made his way back into the dorm and decided to check his schedule.

-Hadrian Charlus Black-

8:00 : Breakfast

9:00 : Transfiguration

10:00 : Charms

11:00 : Lunch

12:00 : Dueling Tactics

13:00 : Defence against the Dark Arts

14:00 : Potions

15:00 : Study of Ancient Runes

Hadrian knew that these were basic lessons and that they wouldn't be diving into anything advanced, but he was still pleased that he would be learning magic. He wasn't phased by the challenge of remembering the information he was taught; his eidetic memory took care of that.

Although having an eidetic memory could be considered a boon by some people; at times Hadrian is plagued by the memories of Voldemort and his family's abandonment. Hadrian was not scared of Voldemort, he believed that the man was a very scared person and Hadrian thought less of him for attempting to assassinate a child out fear. Hadrian also wasn't emotional about his abandonment; he found the memory very delightful actually - his Grandfather and Grandmother had adopted him - why would he feel any sadness about that?

He did, however, feel annoyed, it served as a constant reminder that his birth family was self-absorbed and fame-seekers. He knew that 'The-Boy-Who-Lived' was the moniker that is rightfully his but he did not care.

He was eager to meet his brother, his twin. Hadrian felt no animosity towards his brother - he had no part to play in the whole incident.

Hadrian brushed his thoughts away as he began to get changed into his new uniform.

His uniform was a silk black shirt - it did look quite regal. The shirt had the Aunriton badge plastered on the right side of his chest - the letter 'A' in blue.

On the collars of the silk shirt was a small black dragon with a white outline to make it visible on the dark shirt.

Hadrian then put on his black capris shorts that got tighter near the cuffs. The shorts reached up to slightly above his knee and fixed in place. He then put on his regular school shoes and socks - also branded with the Aunriton badge.

Hadrian looked into the mirror - admiring himself until he heard the stirring of Oliver Gooseberry.

''You're already awake..?'' he groaned out - still half asleep.

'' I was ready ages ago, breakfast is at 8 so you might wanna get ready.''

''Ugh-ahh'', was the intelligent response from Oliver.

Hadrian chuckled and decided to wake up his two other friends with a spell he had learned before he arrived at Aunriton.

''Baubillious .'' Hadrian muttered, bright white lights shot out of his wand and started dancing around, like firecrackers.

''AARHH-''

''AH HEY-''

Roan and Crow awoke with a violent shudder and shake. The two brown haired boys fell off their beds and onto the floor with a groan.

'' I SAID NO PRANKS.'' Shouted Crow, a pointed glare aimed at Hadrian.

'' Uh- sorry?'', Hadrian bashfully looked away - a laugh threatening to come out any second.

Hadrian looked at Oliver - the two looked at each other in the eyes before bursting on the floor laughing.

''Did you see their reactions! '' Oliver said tears in his eyes as he continued to laugh, ''Crow was all like - 'WHAT?' and Ro was all like 'AUGGHR!'', Oliver mimicked their expressions while he and Hadrian rolled on the floor laughing.

''You got us there Hadrian, but this is not over!'' said Roan - he too found it very amusing.

''What!? Yes, it is! No PRANKS - I said this yesterday!'' Crow shouted, clearly not seeing what was so funny with breaking the rules they had agreed on.

''I just thought I should wake you up since class starts in half an hour.'' Hadrian lifted his wand and cast a Tempus charm. The charm showed the time; it was 7:27 am.

'' Wait a minute - how do you even know these spells anyways?'', asked Oliver, ''I was under the impression that no one knew magic and we were all in the same boat...'' Oliver finished with a pout.

''I took it upon myself to learn some basic spells at home, these spells are very easy to do, I'll help you learn them when you've finished getting ready.''

Oliver nodded and smiled appreciatively which was immediately copied by the rest of the boys.

The boys got ready quickly and had 15 minutes to spare so they practiced the easy spells in Hadrian's Charms book.

It was 7:55 when the boys exited their dorm together and found themselves in the corridor which was filled with their peers.

Hadrian made out two familiar faces in the mass of bodies, his friends Theo and Daphne!

They both seemed to be looking for something, Hadrian walked over to them with his friends quickly in tow.

''Daph! Theo! Meet my new friends, you're gonna like them.'' Hadrian said whilst gesturing towards his dorm mates.

''We were looking for you, Hadrian! Where were you!'' Daphne said with a pout and glare fixed at Hadrian.

'' Sorry, that was our fault - we made Hadrian here teach us some basic spells. I'm Oliver Gooseberry'' Oliver said with a blush on his face.

Daphne nodded her head at him and looked at the other boys expectantly.

''Roan, no last name. A pleasure to meet you Daphne Greengrass and ...Theo was it?'' Roan gave a questioning look at Theo.

'' I'm Theodore Nott, 'Sup.'' Roan grinned at Theo - it seems he found someone very similar to him.

'' Crow Pinescrew. Hadrian had no choice in the matter, he had to make it up to us for pranking us at the very start of the day.'' Crow growled out while glaring at Hadrian.

Daphne and Theo chuckled at Hadrian which was soon joined by the rest of the group.

Hadrian then suggested that they should begin heading to the canteen to eat when he was met with firm nods, they began walking.

Naturally, Hadrian was in the center of the group with Daphne on his right and Theo on the left.

Theo was standing next to Roan while they both conversed about superheroes and other such stuff. Crow and Oliver were on the right side of Daphne. Oliver attempted many times to catch Daphne's attention by telling a fake tale of how he saved a horse from drowning while Crow argued with him about the muscle strength it would require to carry a horse; outright calling him a liar.

Hadrian chuckled at them and turned and saw Daphne looking straight at him. He smiled at her and she blushed and turned away. Oliver saw this and pouted.

A few minutes later, they returned from the canteen and made their way to their first Transfiguration lesson.

They sat down on the long desks that stretched through the whole class room's length. Everyone had the same schedule so they all attended the same class.

Hadrian and his friends sat down together of course and awaited the teacher's instructions.

''Welcome class. I am Professor Goldhorn - your transfiguration teacher for the foreseeable future.'' The professor had a no-nonsense expression fixed on his face.

He did the roll call and looked directly at the students who answered to remember their names.

''We will first talk about the essence of transfiguration. What is transfiguration? Raise your hands if you wish to speak.''

A couple of hands raised.

''You - what is transfiguration?'', Goldhorn pointed at Theo who said,

''Changing one thing to another?'' Oliver and Roan nodded at this as though the answer was very clear and easy.

''Not wrong but not entirely right, anyone else?'', Goldhorn searched again for another student.

It was at this moment that Hadrian raised his hand, very nonchalantly. Goldhorn saw this and pointed at Hadrian. Hadrian took it as a cue for him to start speaking and said,

''Transfiguration is the branch of magic that focuses on the alteration of the form or appearance of an object, via the alteration of the object's molecular structure. There are several factors a wizard must take into account when carrying out Transfiguration spells. The intended transformation is directly influenced by body weight, viciousness, wand power, concentration, and a fifth unknown variable. Another type of transfiguration is trans-species transformation - namely becoming an Animagus.'' Hadrian said, looking out of the window and looking at the fishes that were swimming whilst he was explaining.

Hadrian turned and saw that Goldhorn as well as his classmates, were looking at Hadrian with looks of reverence and shock.

His friends were looking at him with their mouths slightly ajar, Hadrian didn't understand why so he gave a very confused, ''What?''.

''That was a perfect explanation, Hadrian, I wasn't expecting an answer as detailed as that but it saves me the job of explaining what transfiguration is.''

Hadrian nodded - still confused as to why people were staring at him for answering a question.

''First, we begin with the very basics, we will learn to transfigure a match into a needle - this will be a week-long challenge in which every day you will come and re-start the transfiguration, improving it from the day before.'' Goldhorn walked around the desks, placing matches onto their desks.

He then gave them tips on what to do, such as picturing the needle transforming whilst performing the spell.

Once all of them received their matches, they made quick work of trying to transfigure it into a needle.

Hadrian tried a couple of times but wasn't met with any reaction until he recalled the lesson his Grandfather gave him on the basics of magic.

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Flashback:

''There are three things you need to know about magic. It isn't just waving a wand and saying an incantation - these three things are the base of all magic and is something you will need to remember in your lessons at Aunriton.'' Charlus said, making sure Hadrian was listening attentively. ''These three things are Intent, Will, and Control. The intent is what you want you're magic to do. Will - the belief that your Spell will work. Finally, Control - the ability to use your magic efficiently and using the right amount of power in your spells.''

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Hadrian cleared his mind and closed his eyes, he had basic experience with occlumency so he found this task quite easy. He decided to start with intent, he pictured the match slowly morphing into steel, pointy needle. Next was will, he had to believe he could do it. Hadrian knew very well that he could do this, he was in no way insecure or with no confidence in his abilities.

Then came Control, this would probably be the hardest part. Hadrian stretched out his magic and felt it brush against the match, he imagined the magic slowly seeping into the match - his eyes remained closed.

He felt his magic slowly change the form of the match to become sharper and harder material. Hadrian focused his mind and magic on the task. A few seconds later - he opened his eyes and saw a shiny needle on his desk. He knew that this was simple transfiguration but couldn't help but feel proud of himself.

Hadrian looked around and saw that his friends were struggling.

He cleared his throat and said, ''You have to focus your intent on changing the match into a needle and believe that it will change, there is very little importance in how you say the incantation or how hard you move your wand.''

Hadrian's friends all looked at him, then looked down - he had already transfigured the match!

Goldhorn also heard the encouraging words and saw that Hadrian had finished the transfiguration already, he opened his mouth in shock before schooling his expressions so that nobody saw him.

Just as he finished speaking, the haughty brown haired girl that they saw in the sorting ceremony sneered in Hadrian's direction and said, ''Who do you think you are, lessons just started and you think you can teach people just because you know what transfiguration is? Stop attention seeking!''

Hadrian's friends all glared at the girl, Daphne's glare being the strongest.

They were about to defend their friend before Goldhorn said, ''That's enough Miss Primrose. If you had looked at Hadrian's desk before speaking then you would have seen that he has already changed his match into a needle. '' Goldhorn picked up Hadrian's needle and said,

''What Hadrian just said is also correct, that goes for all manners of magic be it transfiguration, charms or defense. Will and Intent are very important. Hadrian, your work is not over, I still expect you to continuously improve your needle each day.'' Hadrian nodded and smiled at Sammie Primrose's direction.

The snooty girl just 'hmpf'-ed and went back to doing her work. Now and again she would send looks of contempt at Hadrian which was returned by Daphne.

Hadrian told his friends that his Grandfather had taught him about the basics of magic and explained to them what to do to transform their matches.

The lesson had just finished and Hadrian and all his friends had the most progress. They had transformed the matches into something. Although the shapes were not that of a needle's, they at least made some progress. This was all due to Hadrian's support.

Hadrian now had a shiny steel needle that had flower stems swirling around the shaft.

''Hadrian. Stay behind, the rest of you can proceed to your next lesson.''Goldhorn announced as the students began packing up.

Hadrian smiled at his friends and nodded before saying, ''Save me a seat.''

His friends smiled and nodded back in confirmation before leaving.

''Hadrian, I understand you are more talented in Transfiguration but I expect you to carry on with the same determination and effort I expect from all students.''

Hadrian nodded, ''Of course sir, I always strive to do my best.''

Goldhorn smirked and said, '' Yes - if you carry on like this, I will have to give you extra work and put you on a slightly more challenging course. You'll still be with your friends but the things you'll learn will be slightly more difficult.''

Hadrian sighed in relief - he didn't wish to be separated from his friends so soon.

Goldhorn gave him a note that explained his tardiness and sent him off to his Charms class.

Hadrian left and while he was walking looked at his Potter heir ring - he knew that potters were very good at Transfiguration and his Heir ring also boosted his capabilities a little so he expected to find Charms class slightly harder.