Harry Potter And The Other Boy Who Lived

The next morning I woke up earlier than the rest of the boys. I meditated for about 1 hour. I've been taking longer on my meditation technique ever since I realized the importance it has in my blue cells. I've been trying to access each of my chakra points while I meditate too. I can feel I'm progressing somehow as I'm more s.e.n.s.i.t.i.v.e to magic powers and lately I have been able to feel which chakra point got activated first with more clarity.

It is almos seven now, I take a bath and decide to let the boys sleep a little more. Let me get down and see the Common Room better. Over there I find Hermione talking with Percy and some other girl. As I approach, she notices me and says I was late, then she starts to lecture me about ponctuality and the importance of sitting in the first rows in class... I simply agree with her and tell her I will grab my stuff quickly.

When I arrive at the dormitory, Harry is waking up and his hand are over his scar...

"Hi, Harry. It is about time for you guys to wake up."

"Oh, Hi, Nevile. What time is it? "

"It is almost seven o'clock now. Are yoy okay, Harry? You look a little pale.

"Naah, I'm fine. It is just that I have such a weird dream today and when I woke up my scar was itching a bit."

"If your scar is hurting I think it is better to go to the medical center at the school. They say Madam Pomfrey is excelent."

"No, I don't think it is necessary. It is not hurting, just itching a little. Nevermind."

"No, Harry, I think it is better to be sure. You know people say your scar may be related to 'You-Know-Who', thus it's better to be safe than sorry."

"Is it really related to Voldemort? I don't know much about it, but they say Voldemort is dead anyway..."

"There are people that believes he is still alive, but more important don't say his name."

"Oh, sorry, I forgot. I'm just not used to not saying a name."

"It is not just a name, Harry. It's a word invented by the Dark Lord, it's full of dark intent, and there are legends that says he knows everytime his name is said by someone. "

Harry wonders. "But, he died, didn't he? Why people still fear saying his name if he is dead?"

"Well, I don't know, but I guess it is related to the terror he used to stir in people's heart. When something aterrorizes you so much, it is hard to overcome this fear. But as I said, there are people saying he is not dead..."

"Not dead? What do you mean?"

"Well, again, I don't know anything precisely. But he was a super strong wizard, you know? People said only Dumbledore could rival him, so they tend to not believe he died because of a baby... I'm sorry. I didn't want to say bad things about you, but you have to understand that your story is almost a fantasy, Harry. A baby defeating the Dark Lord. That is why you are so famous."

"No problem Neville. I have no issues with that. It is just that I don't remember anything, and people look at me like they are expecting great things from me, but I don't even know how to make magic properly yet..."'

"It doesn't matter, Harry. You are the boy who lived, have some faith in yourself. You are a wizard, everything will be alright. If you need anything you can ask me. I will try to help you, we are in the same house after all." I smile and try to reassure Harry a bit. He really needs to become more confident...

After some seconds, he thanks me. I tell him to go take a shower and get ready. I wake up the other boys and go down. Hermione is, as expected, furious.

"Why did you take so long? I've already told you about the importance of classes, you have to understand the importance..."

The first three days of class were a bit disapointing. It was the presentation of the subject followed by theory, almost everything as in the books I've already read. Yesterday I was a little bit anxious as it would be the second day of class of Defense Against the Dark Arts, but it was a complete waste too. Quirrel was really stuttering and didn't talked about any spell. I know he is sort of faking due to Voldemort, but a decent class would do no harm. Including, Voldemort have always wanted to teach the subject, he should teach something, even if it is the dark arts by itself. Quirrel didn't leave the first part of the first chapter of the book. He simply keeps telling histories that I know are not true. Anyway, it's best not to get Voldemort's attention now.

Astronomy was not much better, it was tiring and there was not a lot of difference from the books too, it is a subject that I will pass by just decorating the book.

Another thing that has been frustrating me is the Hogwarts' library. It is simply huge, I would have to pass at least 10 years to read it all I want.

I'm trying to select the best books, but I don't know which books are good or not. It takes time to read some content and then decide if it will be helpful to me. Besides, the restricted section is almost as huge as the common one. I have to find some way to filter books better. I guess I will need help from the professors.

Today is a good day to gain their respect. It is my second class of Transfiguration and Charms and they tend to be more about practice than theory. And I will still have the first flight class today. A promising day indeed.

I looked around the students of my year after dinner yesterday and everybody looks anxious to do some spells, some out of fear, some out of excitement, like me. I woke up early and ate my share for breakfast at the Great Hall.

When the class started I confirmed that Professor McGonagall didn't disapoint me. She start the lesson by reviewing some concepts and asking some questions in which Hermione was always the first to raise a hand to answer. After the review, she take a box of matches and give one match to each student. She grabs one of those and says "Parutacus" then the match transformed in to a needle.

"Now, everyone should try to transform it in to a needle. It is a basic transfiguration as it has minimal weight in both sides of the transformation. If you read your books and studied my notes from previous class that will not be a problem for you. Can someone spell correctly the magical words that helps in the transfiguration?"

Hermione raised her hand super fast. "Ms. Granger."

"Par- ut - acus".

"Very nice, 5 points to Gryffindor. Now you all may start to try. Don't forget when you do a transfiguration, it is important to make firm and decisive wand movements. Do not wiggle or twirl your wand unnecessarily, or the Transfiguration will certainly be unsuccessful."

Imediatly, there is a lot of Parutacus in the room. Everyone tries without success, Hermione didn't succed either. She was not being very decisive with her movements. I was about to help her, when... "Mr. Longbottom, may I know why are you not trying to do the Transfiguration? Do you not understand something or do you thing you should just copy Ms. Granger?

Everyone stopped. They all look at me like I was trying to somehow cheat by copying Hermione. And just like in any more desperate situation, we usually act before we think properly.

"Oh, just the opposite Professor. I was trying to help Ms. Granger as I observed her movements were not decisive enough to perform the spell."

"Oh, I see, so I suppose you have already completely mastered the spell to be able to teach to others. I thought I was the one supposed to teach you all. I didn't knew we had another professor in class."

"I'm sorry Professor, I'm far far far away from reaching your status. I didn't mean to ofend you at all. I'm really sorry. I was simply trying to help a friend..."

"Enough Mr. Longbottom. Help? That sounds like an excuse to me. You should help yourself more before trying to help others Mr. Longbottom. Minus five..."

"I'm sorry Professor, I said I'm not a Transfiguration master as yourself, but I didn't said I was not able to do such a simple spell. 'Parutacus' ".

The match turned in to a needle. Professor McGonagal opened her eyes wide.

"Very nice, Mr. Longbottom. It seems you have your grandmother talent in Transfiguration, but as you have yourself said I am the professor here, and as you know the transfiguration spell you should know the proccess to be able to do it. Don't interfere in the progress of others. You may end up hindering them. 5 points for Gryffindor."

Everybody is shocked, including me. Professor McGonagall is obviously right. At first you think you just have to say some words and do the right movements and the Transfiguration happens. But it is far from the true, you have to know all about the object you are using to Transfigure and all about the object you are Transfiguring into. In this case, you have to understand what is a match, what are his components and what is a needle and his components. In that way, the image you form in your head is 100% accurate and so the transfiguration spell happens perfectly. It is clearly written in the 'A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration', but you take a while to understand the meaning the correct interpretation of the phrase 'Form a clear mental picture of the object you are using and an even more clear image of the object you are hoping to create before attempting a Transfiguring spell'.

So in the beginning it is a proccess for simply understand this phrase well enough to perfom such a transfiguring spell. Of course with such simple and weightless objects you can succed even without this simple knowledge, but as you progress in the study of Transfiguration, this lack of knowledge will hinder you.

After some moments, the other students start to practice the spell again. As in the books, only Hermione had made some difference to her match.

"Come on, Neville, we can't get late to Charms class." Hermione was urging me to run out of classroom quickly.

"Go ahead and grab a nice place for us. I want to talk to Professor McGonagall a bit."

She looked at me like saying don't do anything stupid and left the classroom like a bullet. She really cares about getting better places in classroom. After everybody left, I approached Professor McGonagall table.