A New Direction for Training

"Brutal..."

"It really was."

After Charms, Andrew and his roommate Kevin could only shake their heads.

They weren't alone. Everyone else looked at the student who had been caught with pity. After someone had tempted fate in Professor McGonagall's class, another student had managed to do the same in Professor Flitwick's.

Professor Flitwick had caught the brazen boy and used the spell they had learned that day—the Disillusionment Charm—to give the unfortunate student a particularly clever homework assignment.

As taught to First-Year Students, the Disillusionment Charm was pitifully weak. Its main use was erasing mistakes on parchment; it couldn't even clear used rubbish from a desk. But Professor Flitwick had cast it at varying strengths to erase a large passage from every page.

He kindly informed the student that if any passage that should have been restored remained missing next class—or any that should have stayed erased reappeared—he could help Mr. Filch with a few chores instead.

Everyone was delighted by the turn of events, Andrew included. He was happier than most: if Dumbledore decided that reading other books in class made the offense worse and felt motivated to settle the score, Andrew would be in trouble.

By lunchtime, though, Andrew realized something: the student who had been caught was only the one they had seen. There were others who hadn't been caught, and others who hadn't had class at all.

By noon, word of the latest installment of "Dumbledore, A Legend" had spread across the dining tables of every house.

Stunned by the editors' antics, Andrew hadn't included the female lead in this installment. Judging by the conversations around him, the editors hadn't gone quite that far either—but only in that one respect.

And so, while still a student, Dumbledore had ridden a Broomstick straight up from the Astronomy Tower to a secret treasure Ravenclaw had left at the very top of Hogwarts. The treasure had appeared in the previous installment, but the rest was entirely the editors' invention. Andrew thought they were forcing a story where they had none.

During a Quidditch Match, Dumbledore had chased an out-of-control Golden Snitch into the Forbidden Forest and tamed a Dragon. Andrew had originally written that Dumbledore seized the Castle's Forbidden Forest from a Great Dragon; some Quidditch-loving editor must have slipped that change in. Dumbledore then used the Dragon to skip class and leave the Castle. In Andrew's version, he had escaped the trap-filled Castle through the Forbidden Forest and resolved to establish Hogwarts there after his adventures. Hearing this part made Andrew frown.

The editors' limited skill, combined with Andrew's deliberate mischief, was leaving more and more holes in the story.

Running away from it really isn't the answer... If they turn Dumbledore into someone who's always skipping class, we're all going to be in trouble...

There's still time to fix it... He can't keep riding a Dragon to skip class. I need to add some school life...

As he listened to the discussion, Andrew quickly filled out his story outline.

An outstanding student in both conduct and academics, Dumbledore easily took first place in his year. Unsatisfied, he drank Polyjuice Potion in his Second Year, swapped exams with an admirer, and easily came first in the Fourth Year exams too. Gryffindor will definitely like that, Andrew thought.

Then he would keep Dumbledore's school years brief, treating school life as a way for him to recover from his summer adventures. Andrew would sort out the details and fill them in later.

Time Travel would formally become part of the plan. Dumbledore would only take part in major events, with his trips set during the summer or Christmas holidays.

"This will do for now. I'll write to the Editorial Office and discuss the direction of the next installment... And I need to get hold of the revised story to see what's actually going on."

Andrew unhappily finished the last scoop of ice cream. "Those Galleons aren't so easy to earn..."

He still had Herbology class that afternoon. Once he got back and finished the letter, he would have to head to class, so this version would have to do for now.

"We just about pulled it off, but we have to talk properly about the next installment. He can't keep leaving school. The readers may love it, but Dumbledore can't just drop out of Hogwarts..."

At the Editorial Office, the editors reviewed the reader feedback and finally breathed a sigh of relief when they confirmed there had been no problems with this installment. But with even the Dragon defeated, they had no idea what spectacle to put in the story next.

Fortunately, an unremarkable Owl delivered exactly what they needed. In his letter, the author writing under the name Praise Potato had finally agreed to let them use Dumbledore's story in the original manuscript and had revealed some of what came next.

"The work of a genius!"

"Going back in time to take part in great historical events!"

"Dumbledore versus Gryffindor!"

"Later, he could even put down rebellions, end wars, and use the Elder Wand to create a Refuge Village fit for Wizards to live in!"

"What an imagination!"

Their imaginations fired, the editors didn't even wait for Andrew's next manuscript before they started hunting for stories. As long as they could add them without disrupting the overall plot, it would be fine!

Unaware of the editors' antics, Andrew was writing a shopping list.

While thinking about the strange tales being told about Dumbledore, he had hit on an excellent idea. Now he was working out the details.

"If only I had a phone to shop with..."

After searching for ages through the sporting goods he could order by Owl, Andrew gave up. He needed a Billiard Ball, a Golf Ball, a Baseball, and plenty of Large Discs, but nobody in the Wizarding world played those games.

"I'll have to rely on good old Transfiguration..."

His own Transfiguration wasn't reliable, but Upper Year students were another matter—especially since Andrew belonged to a somewhat unreliable Club.

"Balls?"

"That's right. A Quaffle, a Bludger, and a smaller ball, something like a Golden Snitch..."

"I can make them look right, but they won't behave anything like the real things. What do you need them for?"

"I've suddenly taken an interest in Quidditch and want to try training. I doubt I can handle the real balls, though, so I thought I'd practice with ones about the same size."

"That's easy enough... We can just find a couple of sticks..."

The other student thumped his chest. "It won't be Permanent Transfiguration, but they should last a month or two. I'll write you a note, too. When you're ready to practice with real balls, you can borrow some from our House team. Their captain's a good friend of mine."

Andrew was grateful for the help, but he couldn't resist grumbling about how what should have been a simple introduction had turned into a written authorization.

What can I say? Our house's Clubs may be tight-knit, but isn't this a little too bureaucratic...?