A new chapter is up.
Come in, get comfortable, and let’s see what kind of trouble waits this time ❤️ ✦ Edmund arrived at the staff common room on time Saturday afternoon.
Several students were already inside, including the two Ravenclaws Cho had mentioned.
Deborah Baines was a sixth-year prefect with short hair and an efficient manner.
Beside her sat Ian Marshall, another sixth-year Ravenclaw.
Both greeted Edmund as he entered.
Deborah beckoned him over, and he took the seat beside her.
“Good afternoon, Prefect Baines.” “So polite.” Deborah covered a smile with one hand.
“And joining the Transfiguration Club in your first year.
You’ve done Ravenclaw proud.” “Professor McGonagall saw a little potential and decided to let me experience the club early.
I’ve been fortunate.” Deborah knew as well as he did that McGonagall did not admit students on the strength of good fortune.
She chose not to challenge his modesty.
“We’re pleased to have you,” she said, lowering her voice, “but the two Slytherins over there are not.
They don’t believe you belong here.” The boys noticed her glance.
Both looked toward Edmund with open disdain.
Neither was handsome, and their sneers did them no favors.
Edmund dismissed them.
He had not spent any of his saved coins since the start of term, but the spells acquired through daily check-ins had accumulated.
System-granted spells began at roughly O.W.L.
standard, and repeated cards had strengthened several of his charms beyond what many adult wizards could manage.
“Don’t worry,” he told Deborah.
“A short assessment won’t trouble me.” Professor McGonagall entered in deep green robes and her pointed hat.
Her gaze swept the room, and she gave a small, satisfied nod when she saw Edmund.
“Today we welcome a new member, Mr.
Edmund Gaunt.” Edmund stood and acknowledged the room before inclining his head to McGonagall.
The other students applauded.
Even the two Slytherins contributed a pair of perfunctory claps.
“Before we begin,” McGonagall continued, “Mr.
Gaunt will complete a brief assessment to demonstrate his current ability.
Who would care to assist?” One of the Slytherins rose at once.
“I will, Professor.” His smile made his intentions obvious.
“Very well, Mr.
Bulstrode.” McGonagall summoned two wooden chairs from the rear of the room.
“You will each transfigure one chair into an animal and use it to subdue the other’s creation.
You may not attack your opponent, and you may not use magic outside Transfiguration.
Is that understood?” Both boys nodded and drew their wands.
Bulstrode moved first.
His chair became a heavy-set hyena with gleaming teeth.
It lunged at Edmund’s chair.
The transformation was respectable.
The animal had convincing weight, muscle, and movement, but Edmund remained still until it was almost upon him.
One tap of his wand turned his chair into a massive Cape buffalo.
The buffalo lowered its head.
Its horns caught the hyena and threw it across the room.
Bulstrode’s expression tightened.
He had not expected a first-year with less than two months of formal instruction to produce such a large, stable transformation.
Unwilling to concede, he pointed his wand at the fallen hyena.
Its body began to change again, fur drawing inward as wings and feathers slowly emerged.
An airborne transformation required finer control than a land animal.
Bulstrode’s spell crawled through the process.
In a real duel, an opponent would have interrupted him long before he finished.
Edmund allowed him the time.
There was no value in giving Bulstrode an excuse to claim the result was unfair.
Nearly half a minute later, a large eagle stood where the hyena had fallen.
Its wings were uneven, but it managed to lift itself into the air.
‘All that time for an unfinished eagle?’ Worse, Bulstrode had chosen an eagle to challenge a Ravenclaw.
Edmund’s interest in prolonging the demonstration vanished.
He flicked his wand, and the buffalo became a northern goshawk with a wingspan of nearly six feet.
It launched itself upward with a piercing cry.
The goshawk climbed above Bulstrode’s malformed eagle, folded its wings, and dropped.
Iron-hard talons drove the other bird into the floor.
The eagle lost its shape on impact.
Splintered pieces of chair scattered across the room.
CREATORS’ THOUGHTS AuroraVale Thank you for reading.
I hope this chapter pulled you a little deeper into the story.
Stay close, because things are only getting more interesting.