Inspiration from Flying Class

"Thank you. Because of you..."

Su Er left the Headmaster's Office laden with newfound knowledge, along with a book and a roll of parchment in his hands.

He had asked Dumbledore for the parchment during the latter half of their little lesson, and it was covered in hastily scrawled notes.

Dumbledore had pulled the book from behind the shelves and lent it to Su Er.

"Return this book to me when you've finished it. Its author went to meet Mr. Merlin long ago, and this is the only surviving copy."

"Of course, Headmaster." Su Er carefully cradled the book, which was on the verge of falling apart.

Inside the Headmaster's Office, Dumbledore watched Su Er's cheerful figure disappear and sighed softly.

"His talent surpasses even his parents'. What do you think, Fawkes?"

Fawkes lifted his head and gave a soft cry, as though agreeing.

"Actually, it isn't his talent that I admire most." Dumbledore rested his large hand on the phoenix's warm feathers. "It's his warm heart."

"Family..."

"Ariana..." Dumbledore raised a hand to wipe the corner of his eye. His sigh gradually faded into silence.

Several headmasters in the portraits who knew the story cast sympathetic looks his way.

Inside the Library, on the Castle's fourth floor.

"What? What did you say?" Hermione shot up from the table, her round eyes widening even further.

"Ahem." Madam Pince cast a cold, ominous glance their way and gave a warning cough.

"You mean, just now..." At the warning, Hermione immediately wilted and lowered her voice. "Professor Dumbledore gave you a Transfiguration lesson?"

Facing Hermione's excited, shining eyes, Su Er carefully laid the book and parchment on the table and raised his eyebrows.

"Not just that. He said I could go to him whenever I had questions about Transfiguration."

"That's wonderful! Why didn't you call me?" Hermione carefully opened the book, unable to keep the complaint from slipping out. "Hogwarts, A History mentioned that Headmaster Dumbledore taught Transfiguration before becoming headmaster."

"I actually went up to the Seventh Floor to clear my head. I didn't know the Headmaster's Office was there." Su Er shrugged. "Still, I've got a new idea about layering transformations."

"Professor Dumbledore told me about it. There's a little trick involved. Remember that red-haired Auror? That's how she did it. If we have enough time, we don't need to do everything in one go..."

"Shall we try it?" After listening for a while, Hermione nodded in understanding and lifted her chin toward Su Er.

"Let's go." Su Er had no objections. "After dinner, though. I'll put the book back in my dormitory first. Professor Dumbledore told me it's the only surviving copy, so I have to be careful."

They ate dinner at the Hufflepuff table. Hermione sat beside Su Er, constantly offering ideas even as she stuffed food into her mouth.

Her face flushed with the excitement of brainstorming, Hermione polished off her plate as quickly as she could, gulped down some pumpkin juice, and began urging the unhurried Su Er along.

"Hurry up! Even a donkey wouldn't dare take a break this long."

"We're short on time and have a lot to do! Come on, come on, come on!"

Su Er ignored the puzzled and suggestive looks from the little badgers around him, letting Hermione's voice wash over him like a passing breeze. Only after finishing dinner at his own pace did he follow the impatient Hermione out of the Great Hall.

Bang! A tremendous crash rang out in an empty classroom on the Second Floor. Su Er reacted swiftly, pulling Hermione aside before a flying piece of wood could hit her.

"Why did it fail?" Hermione stared blankly at the spot where the horse had vanished and the chair that had become a pile of splintered wood. "It should have worked."

"Let's try again. There's no rush," Su Er reassured her. "Dumbledore said my idea was right. We just need a little patience."

Not far from Su Er lay more splintered wood. Clearly, he had already failed many times.

Both Su Er and Hermione could turn a chair into a horse, but adding a horn to the horse's forehead raised the difficulty by several levels. The results spoke for themselves: they hadn't succeeded once.

"You two again!" Filch stood in the doorway with a dark expression, interrupting Hermione and Su Er's discussion.

Filch surveyed the mess in the classroom and suppressed the urge to lock the two young wizards in the Castle's dungeons. He had no choice but to accept Hermione and Su Er's apologies.

There was nothing he could do. Su Er and Hermione had a note granting special permission from Professor McGonagall, and they hadn't broken any school rules.

"Clean this classroom up! Otherwise, I won't mind asking Professor McGonagall to take back that note of yours."

In the end, Filch stormed out of the classroom with his cat.

Sighing, Su Er gathered the broken wood into a pile to one side. He planned to try opening the Room of Requirement again over the next few days. Now he could appear on the Castle's Seventh Floor openly.

Using Headmaster Dumbledore as a shield gave him the perfect excuse.

Several more days passed, and Hermione and Su Er's practice seemed to hit a bottleneck. They had managed to produce a horn on the horse's forehead, but it only lasted a short while before disintegrating, followed immediately by the wooden chair exploding.

Hermione and Su Er had left several classrooms in a mess, and Filch's patience seemed to have reached its limit.

He got his way. Professor McGonagall approached Su Er after a Transfiguration lesson, though she didn't confiscate the note.

Professor McGonagall merely suggested tactfully that he might practice less often, at least giving Mr. Filch time to clean the classrooms.

Another Flying Class came around.

"Remember, grip the front of your broomstick with both hands, and push off the ground evenly with both feet." Madam Hooch's shrill voice echoed over the lawn.

A group of young wizards sat crookedly on their broomsticks, struggling to stay aloft without falling off.

Flying required skill, so Su Er had to put his other thoughts aside for the moment.

"That's it. Now lower your bodies and give your broomsticks the command to fly forward." Madam Hooch paced back and forth.

"See that tree ahead with the sign hanging on it? Today, you need to fly there and back. If you don't fall off your broomsticks along the way, you've succeeded."

"Remember what happened to Mr. Longbottom. Don't push off too hard when taking off."

Madam Hooch's words prompted a ripple of quiet laughter, which she promptly reprimanded.

The young wizards hurriedly began maneuvering their broomsticks, moving forward and backward in twos and threes. Every so often, a startled cry rang out as someone accidentally tumbled off.

"Balance! I've told you many times: your body, broomstick, and arms must form a stable triangle!..." Madam Hooch's voice rang out again.

Her shrill voice made Su Er's head buzz, but it also flashed through his mind like a bolt of lightning.

"That's it!"

"Balance!"

Thump. With a soft impact, the distracted Su Er made close contact with the lawn. Dirt and grass clippings clung to his wizard robes, leaving him looking rather disheveled, but his face was beaming.