Professor Potter’s Secret Talent

She laughed at his answer and clipped him on the shoulder with her fist. "Seriously, Harry. It is good to see you in such good spirits. I'm glad you were able to find peace with… everything."

Harry gave her a genuine smile as they approached the portrait hole. Hermione spoke up as they came up to the fat lady. "Gryffindor Quidditch rules."

Harry laughed out loud at the choice of passwords. "Let me guess, Ron picked that one out."

"Right in one," Ginny told him. "Wait. If you didn't know the password, how did you get into the common room last night?"

"You forget, Ms. Weasley," Harry replied formally, "that you are speaking to a professor. I have access to all the common rooms, no password necessary."

"Pardon me, Professor Potter," Ginny mock apologized, giving him a slight curtsy. "How silly of me, just a mere school girl, to forget I am in the presence of a soon to be legendary Hogwarts professor."

Harry glared at her but the effect was ruined when his lips twitched upwards into a grin. "Shove off, Weasley," he told her, giving her a playful shove. He ran up the boys' dormitory to escape retaliation. He heard her call after him.

"I'll get you for that, Potter!"

Harry, Hermione, and Ron walked through the corridors together to the first class of term. Ginny had gone off with some of her dorm mates to the dungeons for her potions lesson. As they entered the classroom, Hermione immediately steered the other two towards seats in the front row. She sat in between the two boys at the first desk a little off to the side of the middle of the classroom.

The rest of the class soon arrived followed by the entrance of Professor McGonagall. "Good morning, class," she greeted sternly. "You are all here because you demonstrated yourselves to be exceedingly gifted in the art of Transfiguration. I expect all of you to work hard in this class to keep up your grades. If at any time I feel that any of you are not up to the standards of the class, you may be asked to either seek tutoring or to leave the class. These next two years will be difficult, and I will make sure that each and every one of you who remain in this class will be prepared for your NEWT exams at the end of next year. Are there any questions?"

She looked around the room for a moment to make sure she wasn't missing any raised hands. "No? Good, then we shall begin today's lesson. Please open your books to page 23 and read over the theory for conjuring inanimate objects. When you have finished going over the theory, you may begin by trying to conjure a thimble. Most of you will find this spell extremely difficult, so do not become discouraged if you do not see immediate results."

Harry opened up his book and skimmed through until he came to the section on wand movement and incantation. He read it over carefully and decided it sounded simple enough. He closed his book and slipped his wand out of his sleeve. Just as he was about to cast the spell, a voice interrupted him.

"What do you think you're doing, Mr. Potter?" his stern Head of House demanded.

"I'm practicing the creo spell," Harry explained.

"I highly doubt that you have finished reading over the theory in just five minutes," she replied tersely.

"No, but I've already read through that. I just skimmed through to remind myself of all the details and of the proper wand movements. I think I'm ready to try the spell," Harry responded confidently.

"I think it would be wise to do more than skim over the text, but if you insist that you are in fact ready, then we shall just have to find out for ourselves," she reluctantly abated, looking at him expectantly.

By now the rest of the class had stopped reading their texts and were all watching the unfolding drama closely. Everyone in their year was used to Hermione being the first to try and succeed at each spell they worked on. To hear Harry Potter claim to have already read the theory behind the spell before class even started was unheard of. And to see him stand up to a teacher and make the bold claim that he was ready to perform the spell right away was all the more unexpected.

Harry took a moment to gather himself before setting his mind to the task at hand. He built up a small reservoir of magical energy within himself to prepare for the spell. He clutched his wand firmly in his hand before waving it in a clockwise circle before jabbing it forward slightly and muttering "Creo." He felt the kickstart of magical energy in his right hand. He cultivated it and merged it with the buildup he had already created, adapting the preexisting magic to match the new magic. He released the magic and a light briefly flickered at the end of his wand. On the desktop that he was pointing at, a small thimble suddenly materialized.

He heard a gasp to his side, and he looked over to see Hermione holding a hand to her mouth in shock. Ron looked dumbfounded. The rest of the class still had their eyes glued on Harry, their gazes occasionally flickering to either the thimble on the desk or the astonished professor at his side.

"Extraordinary, Mr. Potter," Professor McGonagall exclaimed.. "I didn't expect anyone to manage a successful conjuration until next class at the earliest. Take 20 points for Gryffindor. Now can you do it again?"

"Thanks," Harry replied as he vanished the thimble. He quickly duplicated his earlier results, another thimble appearing on his desktop. By the end of the class, Professor McGonagall had him conjuring thimbles of all different colors and eventually conjuring a plain glass. The rest of the class barely started the actual spellwork, and only Hermione was able to manage to conjure up anything resembling a thimble.

"Where did you learn to do that?" Hermione asked the minute the bell rang.

"I told you that I had nothing to do but study all summer," Harry shrugged. "Listen, I have to ask Professor McGonagall about something, so I'll meet you guys later, ok?"

"Alright Harry," Hermione said looking upset that she hadn't got to ask all of the questions she had wanted to.

After all the students had left, Harry approached the Professor's desk. "Professor McGonagall?"

She looked up from her papers and regarded him closely. "Yes, Mr. Potter? How may I help you?"

"Professor Dumbledore said last night to ask you to show me where my office was. I was wondering if you would have time sometime today to point it out to me."

"Certainly. I have a short break if you would like to go right now."

"That would be great," Harry replied, then added, "if it's not too much trouble. If you're busy or anything I can come back later."

"Nonsense Harry," she said with a thin smile. "It's the first day of classes, and I've only had one class so far. It's not like I have anything to grade yet."

Harry returned her smile. "You called me Harry," he commented.

"I suppose I did," she thought out loud as she rose from her seat. "Well, you are a professor, after all. I suppose it couldn't hurt to loosen the formality of our relationship outside the classroom."

Harry was shocked at her candid behavior. "I don't know what to say." He paused a moment. "Thank you."

"For what, Harry?" she asked as she led him out into the corridor.

"For not treating me like I'm just a little kid," he replied frankly.

She glanced at him as they continued their trek up some staircases. "I don't imagine you ever had much of a childhood, Harry. You have often displayed the maturity of one well above your years, but you have also fallen into the same downfalls that many others your age have succumbed to. As long as you continue to grow and act with maturity, I will treat you that way. But should you act like a child, I will treat you as one."

"That sounds fair," he stated honestly.

....

Join my exclusive P@treon community for 60+ thrilling chapters!

Link: pa*treon.com/MidnightWonder (Remove the *)

If you join now you will get 2 Chapters for free as well.

Don't miss out, join now!