Chapter 31 - A Surprise
"Right then..."
I surveyed the classroom with a faint smile. The children tensed up at once, though by now they knew me well enough to know I rarely did anything genuinely unpleasant. More than that, nearly everyone I had ever taught actually liked me, with the exception of a handful who merely endured my presence and dared not let it show. Well, in the beginning a couple of them had tried to cause trouble and disrupt lessons, but whenever my personal authority and knowledge fell short, Flitwick stepped in, so they had no choice but to keep quiet.
And now, with the New Year almost upon us, the children had absolutely no leverage over me. Ninety-nine percent of first-, second-, and third-year students considered me a wonderful teacher.
"...if I recall correctly, at the very beginning of the year, around the second or third lesson, I promised you a small surprise before the Christmas holidays. Does everyone remember that?"
Silence was my answer.
"You forgot? Never mind..."
I shook my head, doing my best to convey how deeply disappointed I was at being forgotten.
"...it will all come back to you now, because I have decided, with Professor Flitwick's approval, to hold a small competition among the students."
I picked up a short roll of parchment from the desk and held it up for the class to see.
"Right, this is a list of every student in every House, with a note of how many points each of you has earned over the past half-year in Charms and Spellwork. Some of those points were awarded by me, some deducted, and some added or removed by Professor Flitwick. As you can see, the average student earned somewhere between five and ten points over the half-year. Of course there are outliers, such as Ronald Weasley, who went into negative figures and currently has minus twenty points in Charms specifically, and there are students who made very little effort and earned one or two."
I looked carefully around the classroom, where I had gathered all the first-year students today.
"But there are also positive outliers. Pansy Parkinson, for instance, earned twenty points..."
The girl lifted her chin proudly at being singled out, though I noticed she colored slightly.
"...then we have Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown, who earned fifteen and sixteen points respectively..."
I gave the girls a nod, and they smiled back at me.
"Susan Bones and Neville Longbottom..."
I nodded to them as well. Truthfully, I had been genuinely surprised when, around the second month of lessons, Neville began making real progress in Charms. I even asked Flitwick to find out whether things had improved for him in his other subjects too, but it turned out the rest were much the same as before. He was still excelling in Herbology, and he had pulled himself up considerably in Charms and Spellwork, but everything else...
And honestly, at that moment I thought that perhaps I really was a decent teacher, that I had managed to give a boy who, in that first month, had not struck me as someone worth my time a measure of confidence in himself.
"...earned sixteen and fourteen points respectively. Tracy Davis and Daphne earned nineteen and twenty-one points, respectively. And our frontrunner, Hermione Granger, who managed to earn no fewer than twenty-seven points in half a year. Well done, Hermione..."
The girl practically glowed.
"...though don't let it go to your head. Your effort has given you a small advantage, but if you cannot manage the task today, you won't receive the surprise at all."
She looked at me in surprise, then gave a slow nod.
"Yes, if you thought this was simply an announcement of the rankings and the winner, you are mistaken. The list is rather long, and I haven't read out the middle of the pack. I will only say that even those students have a chance at the surprise, but to earn it..."
I shook my head.
"...you must have genuinely been studying Charms and Spellwork. But let me tell you a little about the surprise itself. Not long ago I visited the ice cream parlor on Diagon Alley, the famous Florean Fortescue's, and I have here..."
I held up a small card.
"A twenty-visit voucher for the winner of today's competition."
The children reacted with considerable excitement, though not all of them.
"For the Muggle-born students, let me explain why the rest are so worked up. The thing is, this parlor does not only serve ordinary ice cream, which is, incidentally, very reasonably priced and quite delicious, but also ice cream made from magical ingredients. And I promise you, if over the Christmas holidays you ask your parents to take you to Diagon Alley and you try some..."
I closed my eyes briefly, as though the memory alone were worth savoring.
"...you will understand that ordinary Muggle ice cream is really nothing special in comparison. Now, this voucher does not cover the ice cream made from the rarest and most expensive ingredients. I am not quite wealthy enough to throw money around on that sort of thing, but even the kind made from ordinary magical ingredients will genuinely astonish you."
I waited out the small burst of noise that followed, giving the children a moment to satisfy themselves that I was being serious.
"Quiet..."
I did not raise my voice, but everyone heard me and fell silent immediately, and even Weasley the Sixth was watching me with anticipation.
"Now, I expect most of you are wondering what you need to do to win this voucher."
An agreeable murmur from the children confirmed this.
"It is quite simple. Throughout this half-year I have pointed you toward various supplementary texts and reference materials in my lessons, and I have also shown you a variety of spells that are entirely within the ability of a first-year student to cast. In a moment, I will call out those spells one by one, and for every one you manage you will receive one point. These points will also count toward your House totals."
"Right, everyone stay in your seats, take out your wands, and produce some light. Yes, I am not going to give you the incantation, and I am not going to show you the wand movement. That is something you should all remember, or you can look at what your neighbors are doing..."
I looked around the class. Every single student managed Lumos.
"Good. Now put it out."
That went equally well, and I gave a satisfied nod.
"Everyone has just put two points on their tally. Next: Levitation. Professor Flitwick, if you would be so kind."
"Of course, colleague..."
Flitwick flicked his wand and a feather drifted down onto every desk in the room. That was well beyond me for now. I could manage two or three desks at once, but certainly not the whole class. What struck me, however, was how Flitwick had addressed me just now.
"Thank you."
I gave him a nod.
"Your task is to lift your feather and hold it steady for ten seconds. Begin..."
Ten minutes later, we had worked through all five spells aside from Lumos and Nox, which had been covered during the first half of the year. The only student to perform poorly was Weasley, who failed on the third and fourth spells and was now quietly furious.
"Excellent. Nearly all of you have added seven points to your score. Now we move to the less obvious spells. Throughout this half of the year, I have repeatedly recommended certain textbooks and study guides during my lessons. Those books contained spells and charms, and we are about to see who actually opened those supplementary materials, and who did not..."
I continued the lesson, which lasted nearly two hours. Hermione was, if I'm honest, a disappointment. I knew she had read the books I recommended, but she had not attempted to learn the spells themselves, and so she earned only five more points.
"You have all done well..."
I gave the class a warm smile. Not a single student had managed every spell, but there was one student who had achieved the best overall result, and she was now sitting in first place.
"...though we all understand that there can only be one winner. And a winner we do have: Hannah Abbott!"
The girl rose slowly from her seat.
"Come now, Miss Abbott. Please come and collect your prize."
She walked up very slowly and took the voucher from my hand.
"Congratulations, Miss Abbott. You have genuinely impressed me today. I hope you will be every bit as diligent in the second half of the year."
"I'll do my very best, Professor Black."
I smiled at her, and she returned to her seat.
"Swot..."
"Mr. Weasley, envy does not become you. And besides, almost everyone here had a real chance of winning. Almost everyone, except for you, whose appalling behavior and persistent failure to do your homework meant you never had that chance to begin with."
I shook my head, watching Weasley turn scarlet.
"And yes, Mr. Weasley, three points from Gryffindor."
Weasley said nothing.
"Now, for those of you who are disappointed that the voucher has gone to someone else, I would like to announce that before the end of the school year I shall be arranging another surprise. I do not yet know exactly what it will be. Perhaps another Fortescue's voucher, or a guarantee to cover your purchases at a particular shop, or perhaps tickets to some sporting event. But I assure you, the draw will happen. And if the spellwork competition at the end of the second semester produces students who are tied for first place, there will be a tiebreaker in which I test knowledge of the spells from the first semester again. So I am counting on all of you to rest properly over the Christmas holidays, and come back ready to work."
"Miss Abbott, I should like to add something of my own..."
Flitwick took the floor.
"...your progress has been a very great pleasure to see, and I should like to suggest that in the second semester you attend supplementary lessons that I shall be conducting personally."
"I'd love that!"
Hannah sprang to her feet, and I understood immediately that this offer meant considerably more to her than any ice cream voucher, which was perfectly understandable and not in the least bit offensive. Flitwick gave personal lessons extraordinarily rarely. I was an exception because he had taken me on as his formal apprentice, but for anyone else...
"Splendid. And now you are all free to go. I would like to remind you all that magic outside Hogwarts is strictly prohibited. Off you go!"
"One moment..."
I drew the students' attention back.
"...simply as a point of general interest, and with an eye toward the second half of the year, I would suggest having a look at Charms and Spellwork: Household Magic for Beginners by Lisa Golfman. It is entirely optional, but..."
"How much of it do we need to read?"
That was Hannah, who was clearly very determined not to let any opportunity pass her by. A clever girl, she understood perfectly well what she had been offered, and what it meant for her future, even if it stopped short of full apprenticeship.
"The first three chapters..."
I shrugged.
"...that will be more than enough. Now, everyone is free."
And off the children went, chattering cheerfully and stealing envious glances at Hannah. Though not everyone left.
"Well then?"
I looked around at Hannah, Pansy, Hermione, Tracy, and Daphne, who had all stayed behind.
"Is there something you wanted?"
"Yes. What else is worth reading on the subject..."
"For you, Hermione, reading more is pointless. Theory is all very well, but in your position I would focus on practice: honing your spells to a very high level. For that, the book I mentioned is more than enough, along with regular practice, working through the spells whenever you are here at Hogwarts."
Hermione frowned slightly.
"But I know so much, and..."
"Hermione, that knowledge is just sitting in your head doing nothing. And Miss Abbott demonstrated that rather clearly today. I'll be direct with you: if this had been a written test, you would most likely have won by a very wide margin. Hardly anyone at Hogwarts can claim knowledge as encyclopedic as yours. In fact, I honestly doubt I could recall as much of the materials you have read as you can."
A proud little smile appeared on Hermione's lips.
"But I can explain things, demonstrate them, and teach them, but you cannot. Not yet. And all because you learned the information and decided that was enough. The trouble is that magic, or at least Charms and Spellwork, is first and foremost a practical subject. Yes, in sixth and seventh year, when you begin to study the basics of creating your own spells, you will need a stronger theoretical grounding, but even then..."
I shook my head.
"...even then it will not be a matter of memorizing meaningless facts, but of genuine understanding and knowing where to look when you need something."
"My young colleague is entirely correct, Miss Granger. Your eagerness and desire to learn are most admirable, but at the same time you are spending hours you could devote to practice. My advice to you is to concentrate on the practical side of Charms and Spellwork in the second half of the year."
"I... yes, Professor Flitwick."
"And you?"
"We wanted to ask about more reading material."
"Bear in mind, though, that even if you read everything over the holidays, you won't have had time to absorb it, so you'd do better to simply work through the book I mentioned, and no more than five or seven chapters at that. Believe me: if you simply understand what is written there and practice the wand movements with an ordinary twig in your hand..."
"You can do that?!"
"You can... Do you remember those wrist and finger exercises I taught you at the start? Same principle: copy the diagram from the book, pin the paper in front of you, and work through the movements..."
I shrugged. With that, the conversation ended and the girls hurried out.
------------------------------------------
"Chapters on Patreon progress: Currently at;
1. Harry Potter: Satan? Nah, Just My Family Crest = CHAPTER 205
2.Marvel: Cosmic Forger of Infinity = CHAPTER 140
3.Harry Potter: Beyond Good and Evil in the Wizarding World = CHAPTER 203
4.Harry Potter: Reborn as Draco Black = CHAPTER 67
support me on Patreon for instant access to the 80+ advance chapters: patreon.com/redofic"