A Web Of Magic - Volume 1 Chapter 86 Expelled?

Magnus was walking towards the library after attending a full day of classes. The last class was potions and Prof. Snape was especially brutal with the homework. He’s been grumpier ever since the year started for some reason. ‘You are not going to faze me professor. My magic quill will write everything out for me,’ Magnus smirked in his head. Homework had become very easy ever since he made this quill. He only has to think the answers and the quill will write it all down in his own handwriting. It was much better than Dicta-quill where you have to dictate for the quill to write. Unfortunately, such quills are banned in Hogwarts. But Magnus’s wasn’t going to tell them that. ‘It’s plain stupid if you have magic and can’t use it for your own use as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone,’ Magnus thought.

He entered the library and moved towards the deserted end. There he saw a familiar back and bushy hair. Magnus grinned as he moved towards the person slowly and tapped her on the back.

“Ahhh,” Hermione squeaked in surprise. She immediately knew who it was. This guy hasn’t changed his habits from school. He knew she gets scared when someone suddenly taps in the middle of her back. ‘I shouldn’t have told him that back then,’ she sighed in her mind.

“Magnus!” Hermione glared at him. Madam Pince the librarian somehow heard the commotion and gave Hermione a warning glance. Hermione felt embarrassed. She never liked it when teachers got angry at her. Once Madam Pince was gone, Hermione looked at Magnus in blame.

“Look what you have done! Now she’s going to hate me and-”

“And what? Reduce your marks in the library? Come on Hermione the most she’s going to do is throw you out of the library,” Magnus told her with an innocent smile on his face.

“Throw me out of the library? Oh my god! What should I do?” Hermione started fretting. Only then Magnus recalled that her brain worked differently. ‘She’s always got her priorities mixed up,’ he chuckled in his head.

“Relax. She won’t do anything of that sort as long as you don’t damage any of the books,” he comforted her.

“Damage books? Who’d be so barbaric?” Hermione couldn’t believe it.

“Surprising, I know. But it is what it is. So, what are you doing today? How’s Hogwarts treating you?” Magnus asked. If he didn’t divert the topic, she’ll be stuck on it for a long time.

“I’m doing well. Thank you for asking. The classes are amazing. I even scored some points for answering questions in Transfiguration and Charms. But History is somewhat different than what I imagined. I don’t think Prof. Binns is teaching from the text book. How are we supposed to do well in the examination if he doesn’t follow the textbook?” Hermione asked in disbelief.

“Well, Prof. Binns is different. You’d be better off reading it on your own. I don’t think the professor even recognizes any students. He just teaches what he wants. You can ask me if you have any doubts,” Magnus shrugged. He gave up on the subject in his first year. It was all self-study from then on.

“Oh thank you very much. I wanted to see if I can borrow someone’s notes from the class just to cross-check, but I don’t think anyone else is taking notes,” Hermione said surprised. How can anyone not take notes in class? How else will they do well in the exams?

“That’s quite normal,” Magnus said. He’ll be surprised if anyone did take notes in that subject. Well, probably Roger does, but that was due to Magnus’s meddling. ‘That guy got way too much into history now,’ Magnus smiled in his head.

“The rest of the classes are quite good, but I think Prof. Snape hates me,” Hermione said sadly. She didn’t understand why he never let her answer any questions. Not answering questions in class made her very uncomfortable. It was like an itch she couldn’t scratch.

“Prof. Snape? Why what happened?” Magnus asked in surprise. Prof. Snape usually doesn’t target anyone specifically. He hates them all equally, except for maybe the Slytherins and the occasional student like Magnus who can meet his absurd standards. Well it’s more like he doesn’t care enough about the students or anyone really. To young students that are staying away from home for the first time it might be no different from hating them.

“He never lets me answer any questions in classes. He always only asks Harry knowing that he couldn’t answer any of them. If I raise my hands, he keeps deducting points. I don’t know what to do. How else would he know how much I’ve studied? How will I score good marks?” Hermione shared her worries. She was already stressed that she might lag behind her peers, but Prof. Snape’s actions is only making it worse.

“Did he now? Strange he usually isn’t like that. He doesn’t bother students that know the answers. Anyway, Prof. Snape is different from other professors. He’s very knowledgeable but not the best at teaching. What qualities in students other professors might encourage he would see as an annoyance. You better tone down your enthusiasm in his class. He’ll punish for the silliest of things if he’s annoyed,” Magnus advised.

“But how can he do that? That’s highly unethical not to mention unprofessional,” Hermione was baffled. How can a teacher be like that? They are supposed to be role models for the students. Hermione still doesn’t realize that the world isn’t as ideal as she had imagined.

“It is. Unprofessional is the theme of the wizarding world Hermione. The sooner you get used to it the better it is for your mind,” Magnus advised her. ‘I’m sorry to do this Hermione. But you need to toughen up to survive in this world,’ he thought.

“But-but how can Headmaster Dumbledore allow that?” Hermione asked. Isn’t he the legendary wizard that everyone respects?

“Headmaster Dumbledore, as capable as he might be, is just one man. He can’t change the wizarding world by himself,” Magnus shrugged in response.

“But he can at least change to a good professor, right?” Hermione asked in hope.

“That he can. But I’m not sure why he won’t. Maybe there’s something that we don’t know. He’s a great wizard. He’s surely smarter than us, right?” Magnus said. Hermione nodded her head in agreement. ‘The Headmaster probably has everything planned up,’ Hermione thought. She went into thought and the events of the previous days came to her making her feel guilty.

“Alright, what is it? Your face is looking all guilty,” Magnus urged her. She wasn’t the best at concealing her feelings.

“I think I might be expelled,” Hermione said softly. Magnus who was lying half lazily on the desk was startled into sitting properly.

“Wait what? Expelled? For what?” he asked in surprise. Hermione was highly rule abiding. If the twins who broke almost all rules in the book and didn’t get expelled, there’s no way she would. Hell, even he himself broke plenty of rules that he thought were stupid. But he was always smart about it and made sure no one knew anything about that.

Hermione then started narrating about the events that started during their first flying lesson. A boy named Neville had a broom accident and was taken to the medical wing. Then Draco Malfoy took the injured boy’s possession, a Remembrall, and flew off while challenging Harry Potter. Harry who was somehow a natural flyer, took the Remembrall from him and was caught in the act by Prof. McGonagall who somehow made him seeker of the Gryffindor quidditch team.

Then Draco Malfoy challenged Harry to a duel which Ron accepted in his stead for some reason. He apparently quoted “wizard’s honor” as a reason. Hermione and Neville had to follow Harry and Ron due to circ.u.mstances. Draco ditched the duel and snitched about them to Filch who chased their group to the third-floor forbidden corridor. They hid in a room which held a big dog with three heads. They escaped back to their tower but now Hermione’s worried that she might be expelled for breaking the rules. She was worried that everyone in the castle would know about her rule-breaking somehow.

At the end of the story, Hermione looked at him fretting. Magnus himself was in disbelief. There were so many stupid moments in that story that he didn’t know where to start from.