Reborn As Harry Potter - 10 Meeting Flitwick

Harry made his way to the Great Hall for lunch while being in deep thought. Although the Ministry of Magic was currently out of reach, the same could not be said for Hogwarts. He needed to gain enough influence over the students, especially those of his year, so he could train them so they could be strong enough for the upcoming war. He wanted to save his favourite characters who died in the battle of Hogwarts in the story. He understood that this was no longer a story for him; it was real life.

He met up with Ron and Hermione in the Great Hall. Although he still found Ron annoying and didn’t know if he would form the kind of friendship the story Harry had with the red-head, but he wouldn’t just simply discard him like a nobody. Ron was his connection to the his father who had direct access to the Ministry of Magic. Although Dumbledore was there, Harry wanted to build his connections within the ministry. Aside from Ron, the Weasley twins, Fred and George, were also within his reach, but he had other plans for them.

Then there was the curse-breaker of the red-head family, Bill Weasley and the Dragonologist, Charles Weasley. All the Weasleys had their own unique talents, including Ron, and it baffled Harry why Ron had such low self-esteem. Sure, it was explained in the book, but his mentality should have changed towards the end of the series.

During lunch, Hermione asked Harry why McGonagall wanted to see him, he just brushed it off saying they asked him a could of questions about his control over magic and let him be. They didn’t dwell on it too much since they had already seen changing his hair style. They could understand the shock the Professors would feel upon first witnessing his capabilities.

“Listen, Ron, in Charms class that we have next, you need to be relaxed when you’re handling your wand,” said Harry, looking at Ron dead in the eye. “When performing any kind of spell, your grip on your wand needs to be firm but loose. But before casting any spell, get a feel for the magic that’s within you and in the air. Picture small particles of magic that’s in the air and guide them to help you perform the effects of a spell. Try to interact with them as if they’re someone close to you. Like this.”

Harry took out his wand and waved it over a spoon on the table. The soon slowly started to float in the air.

“See?” said Harry.

“Harry, you can use chantless magic?” gasped Hermione in shock.

“Yes,” nodded Harry. “It’s not that difficult.”

“What’s the big deal, Hermione?” asked Ron, confused. “My parents use magic without chants all the time.”

Hermione gave him a glare. “Harry is using something very advanced and it’s not something first years are able to pull off. In fact, I would not be surprised if even sixth and seventh years can’t perform chantless magic.”

Ron eyes widened in surprise. “That’s bloody amazing, Harry.”

“Alright, you two, calm yourselves,” said Harry. “I’ll teach you both how to use it but it will depend on your hardwork to pull it off. Now let’s go. We don’t want to be late for Charms class.”

The trio made their made their way to the Charms classroom which they shared with Hufflepuff. The two houses soon began chatting with each other and soon the short Professor Flitwick arrived. He was the second favourite character of Harry after McGonagall due to his personality. Despite suffering from immense prejudice during his younger years due to his Goblin ancestory, Flitwick had still managed to become the most authoritative figure of his time in Charms as well as the Dueling Champion. One has to realise that not many are able to have such a careful and humorous attitude from all that discrimination directed at them and become such a prominent figure. In fact, Harry was not sure if could become someone like Flitwick if he in his shoes.

Another key aspect of Flitwick was his keen intellect that helped him with his achievements and that was proof enough for him to become the head of the Ravenclaw house.

In Harry’s opinion, the only one’s who could match this little man’s brilliance in Charms were Dumbledore and one of Hogwarts founders, Helga Hufflepuff.

“Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Filius Flitwick and I will be taking you through the course of Charms,” said the little maestro, standing on his stacked chair and facing his class. “Charms is a beautiful branch of magic that is as important as any other. While taking my class, so long as you are diligent in your studies and follow my guidance, I can assure you that majority of you will be achieving either Exceeds Expectations or Outstanding in your O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s.”

All the students looked at the Flitwick with interest and were already starting to like him. The warm and friendly attitude he expressed, everyone were already relaxing from their nervousness.

“In today’s lesson, we will be covering the Floating Charm using the feather that is in front of you. You need to make the feather float as high as you can. Now watch how I do it, and follow me.” Flitwick demonstrated the chant and wand movement for the spell by making the spell float to a certain height and bring it back down.

Everyone started practicing.

Harry wanted to impress the professor enough so that he could listen to his request. Harry controlled the mana in his body and in the air at the same time so that effect of the spell could be amplified. He waved his wand over the feather causing it to rise into the air. Harry decided to add a little twist. Controlling the mana particles in the air, he made the feather perform a somersault before bringing it back down.

“Very impressive Mr. Potter, ten points to Gryffindor. You just performed a perfect Floatation Charm. You even masterfully added a twist to it,” praised Flitwick, causing Harry to smile.

A few seconds later, Hermione succeeded, albeit without making the feather perform a somersault. Ron remembered what Harry had told him during lunch and after a few attempts, he too succeeded. Both Hermione and Ron earned Gryffindor five points. The students continued practicing but many could not even cause their feathers to float even an inch.

Flitwick eyed Harry with curiosity. “Mr. Potter, could you share your understanding on the Floatation Charms with the class?”

Knowing how good Harry was, everyone perked up their ears, listening in on Harry’s explanation.

“Professor, my understanding of Charms is that of any other first-year student,” said Harry, knowing he’s picked Flitwick’s interest enough. It was time to increase it. “It’s my approach to magic itself that is different, helping me in mastering spells a bit faster.”

“Go on,” said Flitwick encouragingly.

Harry thought for a moment before replying. “Whenever I’m about to perform a spell, I imagine a piece of paper with a small shaded circle in the middle and very faint dots all around the page. The circle is me and the shade is the magic available inside my body where the faint dots are the magic I imagine are the magic in the air. When I want to cast the spell, I imagine the magic from the shade flowing into my wand whereas the faint dots will gather around the target. When I’m ready to cast the spell, both the magic in my body and in the air come together to make the spell stronger, allowing me to more control over the spell. But I’ve only seen that it works if you have the mentality as if you’re communicating to a very close friend or someone you love. I think if you try to be forceful, the spell won’t work.”

“That’s a very unique way of picturing magic,” said Flitwick. “Alright everyone, try to practice your spells with Mr. Potter’s method.”

The class progressed on and everyone continued practicing. By the end of class, pretty much everyone succeeded in performing the Floatation Charm. This was greatly received by a very happy Flitwick. He had never experienced for everone to be so successful for the very first Charms class of first years and it was all due to one individual. Flitwick was so happy that he awarded Gryffindor a staggering fifty additional points. It was a shocking amount because nobody had earned anything greater than ten points. However, nobody raised any questions as the students knew that majority owed their success to Harry’s explanation, especially Neville.

There was one thing that Flitwick noticed with the students that he had never seen before: every single student had a burning desire in their eyes to perform better and earn more points, especially the Hufflepuffs. They had met someone who had the same level of knowledge of spells as them but a very different approach to understanding magic and he had shared that with them. They may only be 11 years old, but they were not stupid. Many of them had come from wizarding families and had some understanding of magic. After practicing the Floatation Charm with Harry’s theory, they had experienced immediate success. They knew they would progress quickly by applying this theory in other classes.

The class had come to an end and everyone tricked away to their respective common rooms.

Flitwick called Harry, asking him to remain behind. Knowing why Harry was called over, Hermione and Ron told him they would wait outside for him.

“Mr. Potter, I must say that was an exquisitely unique display of magic and understanding of magic,” said Flitwick while packing his stuff. “I never thought of such a theory behind spell casting and it works very well. I will be sure to include it to my other classes if you don’t mind.”

“Thank you, Professor,” said Harry. “It’s something I came up with last night. It might help me out in the future.”

Flitwick looked at Harry with a glint in his eyes, immediately understanding what the boy meant.

“You surprise me again, Mr. Potter. I never expected you to accept your fate so readily,” said Flitwick, staring at Harry with great interest.

“I can’t help it, Professor,” sighed Harry. “My fate is linked with ‘him’ and it is one of those things you can’t that you can simply shake off.”

Listening to Harry, Flitwick’s own past flashed past his eyes. He also knew exactly what Harry was referring to. He could already guess from Harry’s expression what was coming next.

“Professor, I would like to make a request, if you don’t mind,” said Harry, looking at Flitwick straight in the eyes.

“What is it, Mr. Potter?” asked Flitwick, returning Harry’s gaze.

“Professor, I’m sure that you aware that I’ll need to face the man that killed my parents and gave me this scar,” said Harry, pointing at his scar. “I cannot leave things to chance for things to work out nor do I have any inclination to do so since I’m not a big believer of it.

I want to be ready when I do eventually face him. With your intellect, surely you don’t believe that he’s gone, do you?”

Flitwick’s eyes shot open with shock as his body trembled. “This boy … This boy’s maturity is too shocking for his age, let alone being aware of his responsibilities” he thought.

“I may have a unique view of magic, but it does not change the fact that I’m weak. As I am right now, I cannot even face a second year if I were to duel one let alone someone as powerful as the Dark Lord. What I need is to learn more advanced Charms and Hexes and how to use them in duels. And who better to learn from than the Duelling Champion to hone my skills to their fullest potential.”

“Harry, while I’m impressed by your mindset and enthusiasm, it’s not that easy to become a master duelist. In order to become one, you need spells that fall outside of simple Charms and Hexes. What you need is something that falls in line with the Dark Arts. To fight against any kind of opponents, you need to uhh understand what kind of spells they can use. As for dark wizards, you need a strong foundation in the Dark Arts before I can even teach you duelling effectively,” explained Flitwick.

“Professor, I understand what you are saying,” said Harry. “I already spoke with Professor Dumbledore and I got his permission to access the restricted section of the library. I am confident that I am able to master the spells in the coming months. What I need right now is the proper guidance from experienced teachers like yourself so that I can better utilise what I’m learning. That would be more than enough for now.”

Flitwick was both surprised and shocked once again and began to see Harry differently, not just as another eleven year old boy. The Headmaster seemed to trust Harry deeply to allow him access to Dark Arts section of the restricted part of the library or he would never allow the rise of another Voldemort. He took out a parchment and scribbled on it with a quill before passing it over to Harry.

“Harry, while the Dark Arts are not banned like the three Unforgivable Curses, their usage can very seductive,” said Flitwick. “They may be easy to learn, but they are very difficult to control and can greatly affect your psyche, causing you to lose control and truly indulge in true evil. In spell casting, it’s the intent that causes the effect of the spell. You have to really want the desired effect from the depth of your soul and this is why those who indulge in the Dark Arts tend to become more and more evil. That is also why those who constantly kill using the Killing Curse tend to lose their humanity as you have to truly want to have the desire to kill, regardless of what they have to sacrifice.

So Harry, before you start practicing the Dark Arts, I have a request first. I want you to learn the Patronus Charm first.”

“Very well, Professor, I’ll be in care,” said Harry, nodding his head. “I also understand where you are coming from. I already had this conversation with Professor Dumbledore. There are a lot of things I want to achieve in life and turning into another Dark Lord is simply not worth the trouble as I would losing out on everything. I promise you with all my heart that I will not be letting you or anyone else who places their trust in me down. I am a man who takes his promises very seriously.”