"Merlin's beard, you almost gave me a heart attack," said Christian, holding his chest. "What are you doing here?"
"I saw you," said Hermione. "I heard everything you discussed with Professor Flitwick."
"I don't think you want to pick eavesdropping as a new hobby, so I suggest you don't do that anymore," said Christian.
"I won't lose to you," declared Hermione before departing, leaving Christian baffled. "I remember now she was bossy and filled with the desire to prove herself in the early books." Christian shook his head before heading to today's last class, Transfiguration.
Professor McGonagall explained how dangerous this field of magic was before teaching everyone the Transfiguration Alphabet, followed by a lecture. Christian took notes as this lesson contained much of the basic knowledge he needed.
"Now, you can try," said Professor McGonagall, handing out matchsticks and asking them to turn their desk into a needle. The students, excited after seeing her turn her desk into a pig before reverting it, soon lost their enthusiasm when they realized how difficult it was.
"What's wrong, Mr. Malik? Why aren't you trying?" asked McGonagall, standing before his desk. Christian smiled embarrassedly. He did not want to draw attention to himself by finishing the assignment so swiftly, but his inaction still garnered him unwanted attention. Additionally, he was distracted by how Professor McGonagall looked like Maggie Smith from the movie instead of the younger self as described in the books.
So, without a word, he placed his wand on the matchstick and used the incantation. A beautiful gold needle with flower designs perfectly etched around it appeared on his desk.
"Beautiful," commented Professor McGonagall as she observed it closely. "Good job, Mr. Malik, and ten points for Gryffindor."
"Thank you."
McGonagall did not ask his students to follow Christian's example, as she understood that no first-year student could reach such a level. Only the best of her seventh year could make such a needle.
By the end of class, only Hermione had transformed a matchstick, and Professor McGonagall gave Gryffindor an additional five points. After class, Christian also wanted to ask a few more questions.
"What can I do for you now, Mr. Malik?"
"Huh? Professor, what's with that tone? Did I do something wrong?"
"Do you know how much trouble you've caused, and it's only been a day since school started?" asked Professor McGonagall.
"Trouble? Is it the ghosts?"
"They first started bothering Professor Sprout, but as soon as she told them I was in charge of the school's supplies, they began targeting me."
"Oh, I apologize for that. I just wanted to know. I had the thought in my head for a while, but never met a ghost."
"It's fine. Curiosity is not a crime, but you should be careful with magical experiments."
"I'm always supervised," replied Christian.
"Very well. What do you want to ask?"
"My question is about human transfiguration," said Christian, who immediately used a spell to change his hair color to red, as he did not want to have the same conversation as Professor Flitwick. Professor McGonagall looked at him, not hiding the shock that she saw a child perfectly use human transfiguration.
"So, my question is… Thank you for your help, and I'll see you in the Transfiguration Club."
As Christian left the class, he checked the corner for Hermione. Luckily, she was not there. So, with his trusted map, he headed to the library. When he first saw these rows of books, Christian knew this place would be his haven.
The first book he checked out was about magical theory. There was an entire section in the library, and he was determined to read all of them over the course of the next few years. Then, he searched for books about the Extension Charm and learning Parseltongue. He did not find what he wanted, but found a book about learning Gobbledegook, the goblin's official language.
'Let's learn it next year,' he thought before walking to the librarian, Madam Pince. She found his request odd but still helped him by showing him a book written by Paracelsus, a notable alchemist and 'medical genius" credited with the discovery of Parseltongue in the 16th century, despite records of old wizards like Salazar Slytherin and Herpo the Foul existed before them and knew the language.
Madam Pince told Christian he could not read the book in the library because it contained an auditory recording of how to pronounce these words. Christian checked, and she was right. You could hear a snake-like noise on a random page when touching some words. So, he put this thick dictionary in his bag after borrowing it.
Christian then spent the rest of the afternoon reading about magic theory in the library after writing a letter to his mother and Aunt Arielle. He saw Hermione, but they were both too focused to talk. He left briefly to get something to eat before returning and only left when the library was closed.
It was only 8 PM, but Christian was not hungry. So, he decided to find the Room of Requirement. He looked at his map, asked it to lead him to the seventh floor, and walked front and back before the corridor, thinking he needed a place to study and practice magic.
As expected, a door appeared, and Christian entered. He found himself in a large room. On the far right was a desk with a small library. Meanwhile, the center was empty, with a few practice dummies holding a wooden wand.
"Excellent," muttered Christian as he looked around. "I wondered how this place was created. It should be the pinnacle of Transfiguration. No, the entire castle is a work of magical wonder." He really wanted to learn all the enchantments and bewitching techniques used to build this castle.
Christian stayed in the room until midnight, reading and practicing. The Fat Lady was unhappy to be woken up at such a late hour, but after a few compliments, she was happy to let him in.
"Christian, where have you been?" asked Harry, who woke up after he returned.
"Night tour of the castle."
"You didn't get caught by Filch?"
"Nope," replied Christian. His Disillusionment Charm was excellent, and he learned a spell to hide the noise made by his shoes. So, even if he stood before Filch, the latter wouldn't know. However, Christian suspected his cat, Ms Norris, might be able to sense magic, so he wouldn't do something like that.
"You guys should sleep," complained Ron, half awake. Christian undressed and meditated; he had already used the Room of Requirement to bathe and brush his teeth.
The following day was Herbology, Care for Magical Creatures, and Defense Against the Dark Arts. Christian had prepared enchanted noise plugs to deal with Quirrell's stench and asked questions in class. Although Quirrell stuttered through all the answers, he was very knowledgeable.
While in class, Christian suddenly had a plan to try to use Voldemort's desire to be the Defense Against the Dark Arts. Maybe he can ask for some difficult answers, and Voldemort would provide the answer to Quirrell.
'If I do this, it would be better if I'm not near him,' thought Christian, so he won't join the DADA Club or stay after class to ask questions. That would be too dangerous. So, he decided to become a pen pal with Quirrell and asked him all his questions.
Wednesday's class was interesting as they had Astrology, and the class was at midnight. They learned about the names of the stars and their movement. During this time, Christian wrote Entry 13 in his journal about the possibility of creating spells or even an entire magic system based on the Zodiac Signs.
Friday arrived, and it was a Double Potion Class with Slytherin. Christian had mixed feelings about this class since he did not know what to expect.