Chapter 10

In Professor Flitwick's class today, we studied levitating charms. Thanks to the fact that I had a head start over the others and could practice magic for a whole month, I excelled. For my efforts, I was awarded 15 points, which weren't particularly important to me. 

"Mr. White, could you stay after class?" Professor Flitwick asked me when our classes were over. 

The professor, seeing my puzzled look, just smiled and said, "Don't worry so much, Mr. White. I will provide you with an explanation letter for Professor Slughorn." 

"I'm probably a little late," I told my company. 

As soon as all the students had left, Professor Flitwick looked straight into my eyes and decided something for himself, "Mr. White, I assume that you have studied the book for the first year completely?" Having received a nod from me, he continued smiling. "Could you show your skills?" 

"Of course." 

After that, the long process of showing my progress in the 1st-year material began. As soon as this little test was over, the professor literally glowed with happiness, "Seeing how well you are coping with the program of this course, I would like to raise the issue of allowing you to move on to the lessons of the 2nd course." 

"And so it was possible?" 

"But why?" 

"Because you're talented, Mr. White. And I say this not only because you have read all the material of the 1st course. What you have recently demonstrated is to show your skill and diligence. Considering all this, it would be blasphemy to limit your talent." 

"Is it worth going to such a thing for this? In addition, I am sure that my friends, in particular Lily, can also demonstrate a similar talent." 

"Miss Evans and Mr. Black clearly have talents in this area, Miss Evans is more than Mr. Black, yet it seems to me that Mr. Black finds it easier to study ZOTI. But despite this, Miss Evans is not yet ready to move on to the next course. However, if everything continues at the same pace, I think I will make a similar offer to Miss Evans. And now you are ready." 

"Is that the whole reason?" 

"The main reason why I suggested this to you is to suggest that in the future you try your hand at dueling art." 

I knew that there was a Dueling Club at Hogwarts, but they took students from the 2nd year. So I didn't even think about joining at the moment. 

"Are you saying that I have a chance in a more serious arena?" 

"If you do not slow down the pace and diligence, you will definitely be able to get to the European Duels." 

Duels are a very important part of the magical world, and those who performed well in such events received recognition and influence. Due to my lack of desire to play Quidditch, duels remained one of the ways to improve and gain influence in the society of wizards. 

"Do you agree, Mr. White?" 

"Of course, I will only be glad to learn something new. And thank you for giving me such a chance. But isn't the guardian's permission required to participate in duels?" 

"I would ask your guardian first, but seeing how mature you are for your age, I think we can come up with something." After that, the professor wrote something on a piece of paper and said, "Here you go, Mr. White, and see you soon." 

"Thank you and goodbye." 

After that, I ran to potions classes. Fortunately, Professor Slughorn, after reading a letter from Professor Flitwick, only nodded and said to sit next to Sirius. 

"So why did Professor Flitwick ask you to stay?" 

"It's better to talk about it after school. Still, I don't think Professor Slughorn will be happy that we're interrupting him." 

Sirius, seeing the professor's gaze, only swallowed and nodded. 

"So we need to follow what is written?" 

"Are you as creative as Severus?" 

"..." 

"I thought so." 

Still, Severus' talent was already showing itself now; he had a certain creative streak. Well, besides, he seemed to know how to do better. At least all of his potions came out an order of magnitude higher than everyone else in the room. 

"Oh my God! Severus, you have a talent! Mr. Potter should learn from you," the professor said, looking at the potion. "However, as well as Mr. Black and Mr. White." I think we can already call the team Zebra. 

Severus only smiled awkwardly from the corner of his lips, although you could see that the edges of his ear were slightly reddened. While Severus was being praised, there was someone who looked at it with a slight anger on his face. Apparently, the conflict between James and Severus was something predetermined. 

But I could no longer afford to further inflame the conflict. 

"Adam?" 

"What?" 

"Are your eyes glowing?" 

"What are you talking about?" 

Sirius just silently pointed to the reflecting surface, where indeed a faint redness could be noticed. Apparently, this served as a deterrent to James because after my glance, he stopped looking at Severus askance in any way. 

"Are you okay?" 

"Sirius, I'm glad you care about my health, but I'm definitely fine." 

"Are you sure?" 

"Yes, my friend." 

"I still don't understand what you're talking about," Lily said, slightly displeased. 

After a long explanation from Sirius, I was rewarded with probing looks from Lily and Severus. 

"Haaa... I'm seriously fine. Better tell me how are you doing Severus?" 

"In general, not bad... There are both good and bad sides to Slytherin." 

"If something makes it difficult for you, you know that you can count on us, right?" 

"Yeah. Severus' sincere smile was the answer to my question. 

"Well, now let's go eat." 

"After some time..." 

After the guys and I talked with Severus and ate in the Great Hall, I had time to think about my new opportunities. And after quite a lot of training, I was able to identify the following assumptions: 

The new spark did not give me any new ability but only expanded my capabilities. 

Most likely, the reason for the improvement is the Soul or a fragment of this very soul. 

And now I could create one long-range ball at the same time as strengthening my body. But I was faced with another question: am I ready to kill for the sake of my growth? 

"Well, can you tell me what Professor Flitwick wanted from you?" Sirius asked while we were sitting in the living room playing chess. 

"A knight on F-6." 

At the same moment, my knight captured Sirius' queen. Meanwhile, Lily was sitting nearby, reading a book, occasionally engaging in rare conversations with a friend named Marlin. 

"Well, how should I put it?" As soon as I started talking, I noticed that Lily was also listening. "The professor said that I should move on to the tasks of the 2nd year. He also mentioned that he wanted to offer you and Lily a similar workout." 

"But why start the 2nd-year curriculum so early?" Sirius asked in bewilderment. "The King is on C-5." 

"For The Dueling Club. The professor wants to see Hogwarts excel in this field. Sirius and Lily were slightly shocked by my words. "Well, he also mentioned that he'd like to see both of you in the Duel Club next year." 

If the previous statement shocked them, the last one filled them with joy and excitement. At least, I could see those emotions in their eyes. 

"But shhh, not a word about this to anyone." 

"Heh, got it. But does that mean you want to become a duelist?" 

"Sounds at least more interesting than Quidditch," Sirius said, shrugging his shoulders reflexively. 

"Hmm, in that case, I think I can ask my grandfather for some books about dueling. He was very interested in this, as far as I remember." 

"Aren't you interested in dueling yourself?" 

"Why wouldn't you be interested?" My friend was naturally surprised. "My grandfather just said he would start helping with this by the end of the 1st year." 

"Lily, are duels interesting to you?" 

The girl who was reading the book thoughtfully looked at me and said, "I don't even know since I haven't seen a wizard duel. Maybe if I see one, I can form an opinion about this kind of entertainment." 

"Hmm, I think that's a reasonable stance. Sirius, did your grandfather participate in duels?" 

"I remember him saying that during his youth, he participated in many duels. But after the War, he didn't have as much time for this entertainment. At least, that's what he said." 

"However, your grandfather is quite accomplished." 

"Yeah, Grandpa Arcturus is like that, but you can't just become a Knight of the Order of Merlin of the first degree." 

Apparently, his grandfather is indeed one of the most famous representatives of the Black family. I'd like to meet him. 

After all, the Order of Merlin is the highest award in the wizarding world, with three degrees. It is awarded for outstanding achievements, usually in the field of combating dark wizards or saving the lives of wizards and Muggles. The Order was established in the XV century by the Council of Magicians, the authority that preceded the Ministry of Magic. Currently, the order is awarded by the Ministry of Magic. 

The Order of the first degree is a gold medallion on a green ribbon and is given for extraordinary bravery or exceptional magic. Legend has it that the green color symbolizes the Hogwarts house where Merlin studied. 

The Order of the second degree, for outstanding achievements or activities, hangs on a purple ribbon. 

The Order of the third degree is on the white, awarded for a contribution to the treasury of knowledge. 

Surprisingly, there is an opinion that the Ministry awards the Order biasedly, mainly to its favorites and privileged wizards. But personally, I think that the truth is somewhere in the middle, and I believe that there are both people who bought this award and people who deserved the Order through their actions. People like Newt Scamander and Albus Dumbledore probably deserved these awards. 

After the kids and I finished our classes with Professor McGonagall, I went to search for more information about the Invisibility Charm. After all, these charms would be the most useful for my current situation, making it easier to avoid being noticed. 

Fortunately, with Madame Pince's help, it was straightforward to find the necessary books. Explaining the reason for needing these charms was also easy. I mentioned a task about understanding how these charms work, and voila, there were a couple of books in front of me. 

"Yeah... This is not like Lumos... It requires more diligence," I muttered to myself. 

Approaching Madame Pince with books in my hands related to Disillusionment spells, I faced an incredibly challenging task. Madame Pince jealously monitors the order in the library and the condition of the books, many of which are several centuries old. 

It is known that she casts anti-vandal charms on books, and when a student tries to write something or damage it, the book defends itself by attacking. Witnessing a book trying to bite off a student's nose... What a sight. 

"Hello, Madam Pince... Can I take these books with me?" 

Madame Pince scrutinized me with her scanning gaze and nodded briefly, saying, "I hope you know that you should be careful with the books?" 

It sounded eerie, and all I could do was nod like a dummy. 

"In that case, take them, Mr. White." 

"I'll make sure to return the book in excellent condition," I replied as Madame Pince noted it down. 

The next morning 

Breakfast proceeded as usual until the newspapers arrived, as I heard from the upperclassmen. They wrote about the murdered Muggle-borns, brutally murdered, to be precise. The newspaper reported that the killer was still not found. On the next page, it detailed the murdered Muggles. All this pointed to only one thing: Purebloods and their gang of maniacs had been operating for a long time.