8 First classes

The room already had a few students, but there were still several empty seats.

At the teacher's desk, a cat looked at the arriving students without much interest.

Adam looked at the cat for a moment and smiled as he waved before taking a seat not far ahead.

''I didn't know you liked cats,'' joked Anthony

Adam chuckled and shifted his gaze to the cat, who was now looking at him curiously, something Adam was also doing.

'No matter how I look at it, I can't tell it's an Animagus. There are no apparent magical fluctuations.'

One of the spells that Adam found most interesting was undoubtedly the Animagus, he had already had contact with some other Animagi, mainly during his trip to the African continent.

But at the time he was not as near as he is now. But even from a few meters, it was impossible to tell that it was not just an ordinary cat.

'In a few years, when I feel that my magical power is at a safe level, I'll try to become an Animagus' Adam decided.

He knew it wasn't an easy thing, and he wasn't a fool to try before he was sure there would be no problems.

A short time later, all the students had arrived, then something happened that left everyone with their mouths open, some were red with embarrassment for having commented about the cat being cute out loud.

In front of everyone, the cat turned out to be Professor McGonagall, seeing the cat transform right before their eyes, served even more to reinforce their willingness to learn, some Ravenclaws were already thinking about looking for more books in the library.

McGonagall, who had just returned to human form, shifted her gaze to Adam and asked curiously, ''Mr. Davies, may I ask how you knew it was me?''

Adam was surprised, he didn't think the teacher would ask that question, but soon an answer popped into his head.

''It wasn't difficult teacher'' He grinned from ear to ear and continued. ''After all I've never seen a cat sit up so stiffly before''

After Adam said that, some of his classmates laughed, but when they saw the teacher's serious face, they lowered their faces trying to hide it, but the smile was still there.

McGonagall looked hard at Adam, clearly not amused.

Adam knew the teacher was serious and didn't like jokes, but he couldn't miss the moment of the sentence.

Making an apologetic face he added, ''It's not really surprising that I know teacher. After all, there are few registered Animagi in Great Britain, and curiously while I was analyzing who my teachers would be at Hogwarts, I discovered his name''

Then he spoke with a voice containing admiration ''Imagine how surprised I was when I saw your name teacher, knowing how difficult this magic is. It was actually at that moment that I understood why Hogwarts was so famous, its teachers are so qualified.''

McGonagall was already amazed at how easily Adam had to be bold, and talk nonsense.

It wasn't just the teacher who looked at Adam as if he were a rogue, all the students present thought the same.

McGonagall didn't continue on the subject, she looked around at the students and said seriously.

''In my class no jokes will be tolerated. Transfiguration is one of the most dangerous areas of magic. Anyone who does stupid things in my class will leave and not come back, be warned''

When McGonagall said this, she glanced at Adam, but was surprised to see his serious and focused look, totally different from the smiling and somewhat cheeky one before.

Satisfied and somewhat surprised, she continued.

''Transfiguration is a branch of magic that works with the alteration of form or appearance, this alteration in molecular form. ''

''It should be understood that in the Transfiguration there are some sub areas, for this year, we will learn about the transformation''

Then the teacher gave a long explanation about the transfiguration and its dangers and its grandeur.

For Transformation, which would be the subject of the first classes, she explained the difference between transformation into objects and into organic beings.

She turned a table into a pig as an advanced example of what students could achieve if they took the study of the Transfiguration seriously.

Throughout the first part of the class, the students copied the rules and notes they should always remember, the teacher gave some advice on focusing and visualization.

Only in the second part of the class, the long-awaited practical class arrived.

''Wave your wands as explained earlier, I want you to try turning these sticks into needles. '' said McGonagall.

In front of each student a small toothpick was on the table. Most of the students were nervous, as for many it was their first spell.

Adam was clearly not part of this group, for him this task was so simple that he could do it with his eyes closed. But he still took each spell seriously, in magic repetition was never overdone.

Adam visualized a silver needle in his mind, he thought of its entire shape, to give more power to his visualization, the memory of an actual needle came to mind.

When Adam waved his wand, the stick began to change shape and half a second later it gave way to a beautiful silver needle.

McGonagall looked in surprise at the needle that was in front of Adam. She could tell it wasn't just the outside of the stick that had changed, the entire needle was metal, it was a perfect transformation.

McGonagall looked back at Adam with interest, it wasn't hard for her to guess that Adam had studied and practiced before coming to Hogwarts. She didn't know much about Adam's family, all she knew was that he came from a noble and ancient family in the wizarding world, and that its last members had died during the last war, and Adam was the last member.

Maybe that's why he was free to learn magic before going to school, a practice that most Wizard families didn't adopt.

But no matter how she looked at it, it was still something surprising. It should be understood that before the age of eleven, the magic in little wizards was extremely unstable. Not only that, she was well aware that no matter how talented someone might be, in transfiguration only hard work would bear fruit.

But she couldn't imagine a child who would have the patience and self-control to focus on studying during childhood, she was really surprised.

"Well done Mr. Davies," said McGonagall, her voice making everyone look at Adam. "Fifteen points to Ravenclaw."

McGonagall sighed at the thought of how her friend, Professor Flitwick, would boast about having the best student of the year, she who was already excited to see the performance of Miss. Granger during morning class. But seeing Adam's performance she knew she had lost, after all, as talented as Miss Granger was, she only managed to finish the transformation near the end of the class, and it wasn't as perfect as Mr. Davies'.

Terry pointed to the needle in front of Adam and asked in surprise.'' How did you make it so easy? ''

Adam shrugged. ''Not surprising, I was able to study magic before I came to Hogwarts''

Terry can't help but weep when he hears this.'' Really? you are so lucky. My mom didn't let me learn anything at home.''

''Try to remember when you saw a needle before, don't focus too much on the details now, just think about the outside look….''

Adam gave his tablemates a few tips for the rest of the class, and they didn't let him down, however ugly and rough the needles they turned, they were still needles, or he thought they were...

That same afternoon they had another class, this time on History of Magic with Professor Binns who, to the surprise of many students, was a ghost.

There was no way to rate this class other than boring, boring in the extreme. Professor Binns' monotone voice made the students want to sleep. There was no practical or interesting part, many students couldn't help but think, 'WHO CARES ABOUT HISTORY, WE WANT MAGIC'

Adam didn't find the class any less boring than the others, although he enjoyed hearing about some of the old times, he found it much more practical to read from a book.

After class came to an end, Adam returned to the Ravenclaw common room, and together with the others they played some wizard chess, until he was expelled for winning too much.

It wasn't his fault, he liked to play chess in his old life, and considered himself particularly good, he liked other games too, mainly rpgs and board games.

''It's a pity that the diversity of games here is low..'' he muttered and an idea of what to do during the next vacation crossed his mind.

Throwing that idea to the back of his mind, Adam grabbed a book on spells from the house's exclusive library and began to read. So he spent the rest of the night, stopping only to eat, where he was the guide of his companions who feared getting lost again.

Before going to sleep, Adam didn't forget to drain most of his magic power, since he started the exhaustion training he didn't go a day without stimulating his magic.

So Adam's first week of school began. The next day he had Charms class, where Professor Flitwick spent the entire class with a ton of theory. And Herbology, where they went to study some plants, with Professor Sprout.

On Wednesday, they had Astronomy at night.

Adam woke early, did his usual exploration of the castle and had breakfast before heading to the library.

The library was empty in the morning, but Adam recognized a girl who was sitting alone deep in reading.

Adam walked over to the table and sat across from the young woman.

Hermione was deep in her reading when she realized that someone had sat down in front of her. She knew that the library was almost empty and there were free places everywhere, why would anyone sit right there?.

'A friend maybe?' she thought, but dismissed the idea instantly, she didn't have any friends.

Perhaps it was Isabella whom she met on the train and spent quality time together, but they were still getting closer, they couldn't truly call themselves friends.

Curious she raised her head, in front of her was a somewhat familiar young man, he had a gentle smile on his face and looked straight into her eyes. Hermione was stunned for a moment when she saw that scene, the young man's smile seemed to melt any loneliness she had had in the last few days.

Only when she realized she'd been staring too long did she turn her face away, her cheeks slightly red.

''So freshman, what are you reading?'' Adam pulled out the book Hermione had been reading with interest. ''A Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi,'' he muttered as he read the title of the book.

Hermione snorted and pulled the book back. ''You tricked me that day on the train''

Adam laughed and rested his head on the hand that was resting on the table. ''You were the ones who mistook me for a senior, I just went with the flow.''

Hermione wanted to say something but realized he was right. But it wasn't her fault, after all she had seen him use magic without a wand and without incantation.

Her eyes widened as a new thought came to her mind.

''How did you do that, anyway?'' She asked curiously.

Adam didn't mind the question and didn't take long to answer.

''I'm different from most of you,'' he explained. ''I was able to study magic from a very early age, so I learned a trick or two''

''Besides, in magic, not everything is a rule,'' he said as he looked at Hermione.'' What might be unusual here, might be the simplest thing elsewhere. What you call advanced magic might not be a big deal to some in a faraway country''

Adam couldn't forget what he saw during his trip, wizards of all ages with unique talents and above average performances. Countries with teaching methodologies that ignored the common sense seen in Great Britain.

Of course, one of the most striking scenes in his memory was undoubtedly the young Animagi he saw on the African continent. Compared to turning into an Animagus at a young age, what was it like to make a book shrink without using a wand?

Hermione still looked like she wanted to dwell on what she had studied. ''But the books..''

''Books are not absolute,'' Adam interrupted her. ''Books can change from place to place, each teaching method in the books, are the personal experiences of the wizards who wrote them''

''Of course, there was a lot of study and testing before they arrived at such teachings, but as I said, in magic not everything is a rule. ''He explained, trying to get Hermione to start thinking outside the box, in terms of magic.'' I'm not telling you to ignore the books, far from it in fact. Just try to learn and absorb it for your own opinion and understanding, rather than memorizing pages in a book.''

Adam saw that Hermione seemed to be thinking about his words and he didn't interrupt her, he got up and started walking around the library, looking for some interesting book.

There were many books at Hogwarts, far more than Adam had seen in his lifetime. There were basic books on simple Spells or advanced Transfiguration.

'There's nothing about dark magic, and even defense against the dark arts doesn't seem to have the best catalog,' he noted as he passed most of the shelves.

Adam then stopped, his gaze drifting towards the part where he could find some interesting books, the reserved section.

''When I get the chance I should get permission for the reserved section,'' he muttered, before turning and leaving.

When he returned to the table where Hermione was sitting, he had a book on Defense Against the Dark Arts with him.

Hermione didn't pursue the previous matter any longer, she looked at the book Adam had and asked. ''Getting ready for tomorrow's class? ''

She knew that the next day Ravenclaw and Gryffindor would have their Defense Against the Dark Arts class together, and many students were eager, barely waiting for the chance to learn some amazing spell, or study a scary creature.

Adam can't help but chuckle at the question.'' If I were you I wouldn't hold out too much hope for tomorrow,'' he said, opening the book as he spoke.

''Why?'' asked Hermione.

Adam shrugged ''Foreboding''

Adam knew that the first two years at Hogwarts would be frustrating in Defense Against the Dark Arts.

And only in the third and fourth year would they have a real teacher in the subject. He had already made good progress in self-study, but it was just a drop in the ocean of the rich and interesting field of Magic.

So Adam and Hermione spent the morning in the library, lost in reading. As time passed, the library filled up more and more, mostly with Ravenclaw students.

Terry also passed by the library at some point, when he saw Adam he thought about approaching, but when he saw that he was sitting with a girl he gave up.

Adam saw Terry and rolled his eyes at the knowing look and thumbs up Terry got.

Adam stayed in the library until noon, Hermione had already left a little earlier.

After leaving the library, Adam met Terry in the cafeteria.

''So,'' said Terry, when Adam sat down. ''You and the girl from Gryffindor''

''We were just studying,'' said Adam.

''Speaking of studying, are you excited for tomorrow? '' Terry asked, clearly speaking from Defense Against the Dark Arts class.

Adam sighed and already began to anticipate the stench of garlic.

After staying up late for Astronomy class, what motivated the students was the excitement for the most anticipated class, but the reality was quite different.

Much to the disappointment of everyone who was excited, the Defense Against the Dark Arts class was a tragedy. The whole room reeked of garlic, and Quirrell's stutter was unbearable.

They didn't learn about any amazing spells or scary creatures. When class came to an end, the students were already trying to decide which class was worse, between History of Magic and Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Adam couldn't help but sigh as class came to an end.

It was sad to think that in one of the most important classes, students would have terrible teachers most years at Hogwarts.

'It's a pity that Voldemort doesn't teach a little dark magic during class, maybe getting some more followers when he comes back' Adam thought, even though he knew it was impossible, after all they were at Hogwarts and where dark magic was repudiated

But I couldn't say it wouldn't be interesting.

He hated Voldemort, after all he was responsible for the deaths of his relatives, in addition to the mass genocide that the war caused.

But he wouldn't mind learning a little dark magic from him, Adam doubted there was a better teacher than the snakeface in the dark arts.

That afternoon Adam had his first Potions class, and nothing interesting happened. Ravenclaw was paired with Hufflepuff for this class, and without Gryffindor and Harry Potter, Snape wasn't all that unpleasant.

Adam partnered with Terry to prepare a potion for boils, the potion was at a level that Adam believed was better than expected, since doing it in pairs worsened his performance.

Snape seemed to agree with the quality of the potion the pair made, as they were one of the few not to be criticized.

But Snape wasn't so easy when it came to not Slytherin, and he didn't dole out any points, just taking them away whenever someone got it wrong.

As the classes went by, Adam took more liberty to ask some questions to the teachers, and to clarify some of his doubts, he always started with a simpler question and when he felt that the conversation was flowing well, he pointed out a more advanced doubt.

Some teachers like McGonagall didn't respond and reminded him to take it easy. But Adam was lucky, in spells Flitwick hadn't yet taught them any spells in class.

But the half-goblin was friendly with Adam and liked to call him into his office for tea and answer his questions, always doling out house points like candy whenever Adam showed great reasoning.

Adam met Harry, Ron, Isabella and Hermione in the hallways, they greeted each other and chatted a bit. But Adam's free time he usually spent in the common room or the library, and if he wasn't studying he played chess with his housemates.

So the first few weeks at Hogwarts passed. The only event of note was that in the second week, during flying class, Harry and Draco had had some sort of dispute and Harry had been chosen as Gryffindor's new Seeker.

When Adam heard this he wasn't surprised, he already expected a similar result.

''Damn man, Potter is so lucky.'' Anthony grumbled.

Adam and the others were in the dining hall when they heard the news, of Potter joining the Quidditch team, it was kind of an open secret, passed by word of mouth.

Adam didn't care anymore he was curious. ''Are you jealous?'' he laughed. ''If you want to join the Quidditch team I can make a donation to the school''

Terry was speechless hearing this, how rich was this guy?

Anthony was the same, but as he thought of the question Adam had asked, he shook his head and shuddered at the memory of the flying lesson.

''I prefer to keep my flights limited to class, and I'm grateful that next year I can choose not to do it''

Adam chuckled and remembered the flying lesson, he didn't think it was too bad but there wasn't anything special about flying on a broomstick.

Flying certainly interested him, but he didn't want to do it on a broomstick, no. He wanted to dominate the sky, like a certain dark wizard did. But that was something for a future time.