"Class! Class!"
As dawn broke, the new students at Hogwarts eagerly climbed out of bed. They made their way to the Great Hall in groups of three or five for breakfast, then spent ages wandering through the maze of staircases before finally finding their first classroom: the Charms classroom. They waved their wands as they excitedly flipped through The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1, discussing the many spells described inside and the theories they couldn't yet understand.
The other House taking Charms with Hufflepuff was Slytherin. Yet there was only one person in the entire classroom wearing a robe with green lining. He sat quietly, reading his textbook.
"Baron?"
The moment Avada walked in, he spotted the lone student seated in the front row and couldn't help feeling surprised. "You're up early too?"
As a transmigrator, he'd been even more excited than the average first-year the night before, and he'd slept even worse. He still felt a little sluggish.
"Good morning, K."
Baron greeted him with a smile. "I didn't expect to see you again so soon. Want to sit over here? It's hard to get a seat in the front row."
"I'd be delighted. Thanks."
Avada thanked him, pulled out a chair, set down his bag, and sat beside Baron. He pretended to read his textbook—he'd already pored over the thing during the summer holidays.
Gradually, the Slytherins and the Hufflepuffs who'd slept better filed into the classroom. They sat together according to their Houses, forming two distinct sections, one yellow and one green. That left Avada and Baron as the only ones sitting at the boundary between them.
At last, a wizard as short as a Goblin came in, his robe trailing along the floor. With a wave of his hand, he moved a stack of books beneath the lectern, then hopped up onto it, just high enough for half his body to show above the top.
"Allow me to introduce myself," he said in a high-pitched voice. "I'm Filius Flitwick. I teach Charms, and I'm also the Head of Ravenclaw House."
"Before class begins, let's take attendance..." He pulled out a piece of parchment and studied the names, his brow furrowing slightly.
"Mr. K!"
"Here," Avada replied listlessly, drawing a few curious glances and hushed comments. Cedric had only warned the Hufflepuffs not to ask his name; the Slytherins didn't know.
"Mr. Baron Shafiq!"
"Here."
Baron paused before answering, unsure why his name had to be preceded by "Mr."
"Mr. Shabi Nott!"
"Here."
Only then did Avada realize that after saying his name, Flitwick had added "Mr." or "Miss" before every student's name.
"Excellent, everyone's here."
After calling the last name, Flitwick put away his parchment with satisfaction. He looked around before speaking. "When I walked into the classroom just now, I noticed that most of you were already looking through your textbooks. That's a good habit. So, what do you think of the material in the book?"
Several hands shot up at once.
"Mr. Macnair." He called on a Slytherin.
A tall, thin boy stood up and answered proudly, "The spells in there are all very simple. I already knew quite a few of them from home!"
"Very good."
Flitwick smiled warmly, then called on a Hufflepuff girl. "Miss White, what do you think?"
"I think... it's amazing!" she replied shyly. "I never imagined there could be so many wonderful spells in the world, or that they could do so many unbelievable things!"
A burst of snickering rose from the Slytherin side, making Baron frown.
Flitwick called on a few more students and heard a variety of answers. Then he nodded and said, "It seems you're all quite eager to study magic. Let me ask something else: has anyone read the book's preface carefully?"
The classroom fell silent. They were all eleven-year-old children, and with so many fascinating spells to discover, who would bother with a long, obscure preface?
After quite a while, a hand slowly rose from below a desk.
It was Avada's.
He'd read the whole preface, and it had helped him understand the Wizarding World. He'd been planning to keep a low profile, but couldn't bear to let the atmosphere Flitwick had worked so hard to build fall flat, so he'd reluctantly raised his hand.
"Oh! Someone actually did!"
Flitwick looked surprised. "Not one first-year in the last few years has read the preface... Mr. K, would you share your thoughts with us?"
So that was deliberate?
His face twitched as he stood up. After a moment, he replied, "The preface is pretty deep, and there's a lot I can't understand. But I can tell it discusses the nature of magic, why we can use it, and some of the latest developments in magical research. As for the various terms it mentions—'Essentialism,' 'Covering Theory,' and so on—I don't understand those at all."
"That's exactly as it should be. If everyone could understand everything in a book on their own, what would you need a professor for?"
Flitwick happily told Avada to sit down. "Ten points to Hufflepuff."
"K is right. Ever since wizards discovered their extraordinary abilities and distinguished themselves from Muggles, the debate over magic and magical power has never stopped. It continues to this day."
His expression grew solemn. "Why can wizards cast spells when Muggles can't, though both are human? Why does the seemingly orderly natural world allow 'magic' to exist, despite its violation of natural laws? And what exactly is the nature of 'magical power'?"
"These questions remain unanswered to this day."
"But as the ages have passed, research into the mysteries of magic has advanced. We've ruled out many false theories and drawn ever closer to the truth. For example, in ancient times, 'Essentialism' was widely accepted. It held that magical power was a supernatural energy innate to wizards. But discoveries in newer theories have since proved this claim false. At the very least, we've confirmed that magical power permeates the natural world, and that wizards can only influence and control it through some quality within themselves."
"Then, Professor, what do the leading theories say about magical power now?"
A Slytherin asked impatiently, without even raising his hand.
"There are three leading theories at present."
Flitwick didn't reprimand him. Instead, he continued, answering the question. "They are Essentialism, Covering Theory, and Intrinsic Theory, which only emerged in the last few decades."
"Essentialism holds that magical power is the essence of all matter and energy in the world. Anything can transform into magical power, and everything is affected by it unilaterally."
"Covering Theory holds that magical power is a form of matter or energy that transcends all physical entities. It covers the entire world from a higher dimension, thereby influencing everything in existence."
"Intrinsic Theory, meanwhile, was inspired by Muggle science and developed at the beginning of this century. It quickly became popular. It holds that 'magical power' doesn't actually exist in nature. Rather, it is an intrinsic property of all matter and energy. Anything can produce magical effects spontaneously, without being influenced by an external force. What we call magic is merely a medium that triggers these effects."
Flitwick looked around at the students' expressions—some shocked, some confused, others thoughtful—and smiled as he stopped explaining, giving them time to reflect and digest the ideas.
"Of course,"
he continued after a while, "none of these three theories has been proven beyond doubt. If anyone here can conclusively prove or disprove even one of them, then congratulations: you'll go down in the history of the entire Wizarding World. Not even the Order of Merlin, First Class, could recognize one percent of your contribution!"
"I hope that one day, the great wizard who makes history will come from this classroom."
Seeing the students' eyes grow more eager, Flitwick knew he'd stirred their enthusiasm. He nodded in satisfaction, then took out his wand and tapped the blackboard. "So, let's take the first step toward that goal and begin exploring the mysteries of magic!"
"For our first lesson of the year, we'll learn the Levitation Charm!"
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