New Training Direction

"That's brutal..."

"It really is."

After Charms class, Andrew and his dormmate Kevin shared this sentiment.

They were far from the only ones. Everyone else looked at the caught student as if he were a pitiful fool—after a student had recklessly courted disaster in Professor McGonagall's class, the same kind of tragedy had actually happened in Professor Flitwick's class.

After catching the audacious boy, Professor Flitwick assigned the unlucky student a very ingenious piece of homework using the Disillusionment Charm they had learned that day.

As a spell intended for first-years, the Disillusionment Charm was pathetically weak. Its greatest use was erasing misspelled words from parchment; it could not even clear used rubbish off a desk. Yet Professor Flitwick had used charms of varying intensity to erase large sections from every page.

He kindly informed the caught student that if the parts meant to be restored were not restored with the counter-charm by next class, or if parts that were not meant to be restored were restored instead, then this student who had failed to complete his homework could go help Mr. Filch with some odd jobs.

Everyone was delighted by the spectacle, and Andrew was no exception. He was even happier than most—if Dumbledore decided that reading extracurricular books during class made his crime even worse and became motivated to settle accounts, he would be in trouble.

However, by lunchtime, Andrew learned one thing—the students who had been caught were only the ones people had seen. There were also those who had not been caught, as well as those without class.

By noon, the contents of the newest serialized installment of Dumbledore, A Legend had already spread across the dining tables of every House.

Stunned by the editors' wild antics, Andrew had not included the female lead in this submission. Judging from the discussions at the tables, the editors had not been quite so utterly deranged either—but only because they had not been deranged in that particular way this time.

Thus, while still a student, Dumbledore rode a broomstick up and up from the Astronomy Tower, reaching the secret treasure hidden at the very pinnacle of the pinnacle Ravenclaw had left atop Hogwarts. (Entirely original editor content. Andrew's assessment: forcing it when they had no ideas—the treasure had already appeared in the previous installment.)

During a Quidditch match, he chased an out-of-control Snitch into the Forbidden Forest and tamed a dragon. (Andrew's original version had him seize the Forbidden Forest around the castle from a dragon. This was probably some Quidditch-loving editor sneaking in personal preference.) Then he used the dragon to skip class and leave the castle. (The original text had him use the Forbidden Forest to escape a castle full of traps, deciding to establish Hogwarts here after finishing his adventures. Andrew frowned as he listened to this part.)

Without question, the editors' abilities were limited, and combined with Andrew's deliberate mischief, the plot holes in the story were only growing larger.

As expected, blindly avoiding the problem isn't a good solution... If they turn Dumbledore into some champion truant, we're all going to be in trouble...

Fortunately, it can still be patched up... We can't have Dumbledore skipping class on a dragon forever. Add a school-life arc...

As he listened to their discussion, Andrew swiftly added to the story outline.

The academically outstanding Dumbledore easily took first place in his year, but unsatisfied with that, he drank Polyjuice Potion in his second year and switched exams with another of his admirers, then effortlessly took first place in the fourth-year exams. (Gryffindors would definitely love this, Andrew assessed.)

Then he would minimize Dumbledore's time at school, writing school life as a means of recuperation after he had grown tired from summer adventures. (Andrew planned to sort out his thoughts and add more later.)

He would formally put time travel on the agenda, only involving Dumbledore in major events, with the timing set during summer break or the Christmas holidays.

This will do for now. Send a letter to the editorial department... Discuss the direction of the next installment, and I need to get hold of a revised copy of the story to see what exactly is going on...

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

He still had Herbology class that afternoon. After returning to write the letter, he would have to go to class, so he could only make do with this version for now.

++

"Barely caught it, but we absolutely need to communicate properly about the next installment. We can't keep leaving the school all the time. The public may love it, but Dumbledore can't exactly drop out of Hogwarts without graduating..."

Inside the editorial department, after reviewing reader feedback and confirming that nothing had gone wrong with this issue's response, the editors finally breathed a sigh of relief—but with the dragon already defeated, they had no idea what they could use in the story next.

Fortunately, an ordinary owl delivered something that saved their lives. In the letter, the author writing under the pen name Praise Potato had finally agreed to use the Dumbledore storyline in the original manuscript and revealed part of the later content.

"A genius's work!"

"Returning to the past and taking part in major historical events!"

"Dumbledore versus Gryffindor!"

"Later, he can even suppress rebellions, end wars, and use the Elder Wand to create refuge villages suitable for wizards to live in!"

"Genius imagination!"

Their minds opened up, and the editors began searching for stories without even waiting for Andrew's next submission—as long as they could add them into the new story without damaging the overall structure!

--

Completely unaware of the editors' wild antics, Andrew was currently writing a shopping list.

While thinking about Dumbledore's marvelous story, he had found a fantastic inspiration and was now developing it.

What a pity. If only I had a mobile phone to shop with...

After searching for ages through sporting goods that could be purchased by owl, Andrew gave up—he needed a ping-pong ball, a golf ball, a baseball, and plenty of large discs, but no one in the Wizarding world played with such things.

"I can only rely on the all-purpose Transfiguration..."

Though he himself was unreliable, upper-years were different—especially since Andrew was affiliated with a somewhat unreliable club.

"Balls?"

"Yes. A Quaffle, a Bludger, and a smaller ball similar to a Snitch..."

"I can transfigure their appearance, but I can't reproduce their effects at all. What do you need them for?"

"I've suddenly become a little interested in Quidditch and want to try some training, but I probably can't handle real balls, so I want to train with balls of roughly the same size."

"That's easy enough... We just need to find two sticks..."

The other student patted his chest. "It won't be permanent Transfiguration, but keeping them for a month or two won't be a problem. I'll also write you a note. When you plan to practice with real balls, you can borrow some from our House team. I'm good friends with their captain."

Although Andrew was very grateful for the help, he could not help complaining that what should have been an introduction had turned into getting a written authorization.

How should he put it? Although the clubs in our House had strong cohesion, wasn't this a little too bureaucratic...?