"My goodness, Anduin! Your personal journey... it's truly magnificent! It has not only broadened my horizons but has deeply reinforced my conviction that there are absolutely no shortcuts to mastery in magic. Only persistent, focused, diligent study is certain to be rewarded with true control,"
Professor Filius Flitwick exclaimed, practically vibrating with excitement. He looked ready to spring across the room and write a treatise. Anduin's story—the years of solitary, unguided practice—had resonated with the professor's own academic passion, making him see the young wizard less as a student and more as a profound case study in magical development.
"I agree completely, Professor Flitwick," Anduin replied, recognizing the critical moment to solidify his advantage. He maintained a posture of sincere respect, subtly guiding the conversation toward his goal.
"In fact, I feel acutely dissatisfied with my current level of knowledge. I am profoundly grateful for your willingness to share your insights, and I sincerely hope to receive more structured guidance from you, Professor. I have largely accounted for the mastery of the first-year compulsory material and believe my time would be best spent advancing my studies further. My goal is to exceed the standard curriculum as rapidly as possible."
"Yes, absolutely, Anduin! I will not be the one to tell you not to aim too high. An insatiable thirst for knowledge and the dedication to satisfy it is, in my professional opinion, the strongest and most reliable motivator a wizard can possess," Flitwick declared, beaming.
He then moved rapidly into action, mapping out a personalized course of study. "Here is my immediate plan for your development. Firstly, you have my permission, and I highly recommend you visit the Advanced Spells classroom on the sixth floor. Older students often leave many of their older, sometimes annotated, textbooks behind in the storage cabinets. These resources can be invaluable for filling in the gaps in foundational knowledge that the core curriculum often ignores."
He pulled a fresh sheet of parchment from his desk and scrawled rapidly on it with a self-inking quill. "Secondly, I will prepare a suitable, personalized reading list for you. This list will guide you through the theoretical underpinnings of second and third-year Charms, allowing you to borrow the official texts from the Library. Furthermore, if you encounter any specific difficulties or require clarity during your self-study, please know that my door is always open. I am delighted to offer my personal instruction and clarification."
Flitwick paused, a mischievous glint in his eye. "Finally, I would like to formally invite you to join my Spell Learning Club. While I have never extended an invitation to a first-year student before—we usually focus on NEWT-level theory—I believe your unique approach will fit right in. You might start by sitting in the back, but I think you'll quickly prove your worth. You know, Lily Evans, your guardian, performed exceptionally well in that very club during her own time here. It's a challenging environment, designed to test the limits of theoretical magic." The professor was undeniably enthusiastic, perhaps seeing in Anduin the opportunity to mold a prodigious talent, much like he had done with Lily years ago.
Deeply touched by the professor's trust and the offer of mentorship, Anduin executed a perfect, respectful half-bow, a gesture of profound gratitude. "Thank you, Professor Flitwick. I am truly honoured by your recognition and appreciation of my efforts. I accept your invitation and your guidance without hesitation."
"Go on, Anduin! Go on and keep striving! Your future is truly limitless, and I look forward to watching you shape it!" Flitwick cried, looking up at the now-towering young wizard with immense pride.
Anduin left the Charms classroom, clutching the reading list and the club invitation as if they were maps to hidden treasure. It was truly unimaginable to have accomplished so much—securing a high-level alliance, gaining access to forbidden study methods, and confirming the validity of his military-style training—all on his first full day of school.
His immediate goal was clear: resource acquisition. "We must take things methodically. First, the practical texts," he decided.
He went directly to the Great Hall for a quick, functional lunch—ignoring Vivian's attempt to draw him into gossip—and then began his systematic search of the upper-year Charms and Transfiguration classrooms scattered throughout the Main Tower and the connecting academic wings.
Upon locating a locked classroom designated for Fifth-Year Charms, Anduin drew his wand and performed the simple, yet effective, Unlocking Charm.
"Alohomora," he whispered, the click of the lock a small, satisfying sound of professional entry.
His earlier reconnaissance of the castle paid dividends now. He meticulously searched the back of the classroom, focusing on the dusty, recessed storage closets where students routinely dumped items at the end of term. His efforts yielded a massive haul of old, used textbooks, often far more informative than the pristine copies he was issued.
He had previously searched many of the lower-year classrooms, but the older grades were where the real treasures lay. He found a range of texts:
The Damaged Texts: Some were incomplete; he found copies of Standard Book of Spells, Grade 4 that had been clearly exposed to a small fire, the pages curling and blackened, yet the marginalia within provided hints of spells and counter-curses not covered in the required reading.
The Vandalized Texts: Others were missing pages—clearly torn out by mischievous students for paper airplanes, as he suspected—but the intact sections were still highly valuable.
The Annotated Texts (The True Prize): The textbooks themselves varied wildly, but the most prized possessions were those densely packed with student notes. These marginalia were often far more valuable than the core text, containing practical warnings, simplified mnemonics, and personal insights into the difficulty of casting complex spells.
Anduin meticulously searched the classrooms of the remaining six grades across both Charms and Transfiguration subjects, selecting only the most promising books. He settled on a haul of seven particularly valuable textbooks.
Why seven? Because two of the Sixth-Year Charms textbooks contained extensive notes from two different students, the contents contrasting sharply, yet both providing invaluable, unfiltered, practical knowledge.
The emotional climax of his search came in the Fifth-Year Charms classroom. Tucked beneath a stack of dusty quills, he found a slim, worn copy of Standard Book of Spells, Grade 5. Written elegantly on the inside cover, in a precise, familiar hand, was the name: Lily Evans.
The book was a treasure trove. It contained not only Lily's meticulous understanding of advanced Charms but also many detailed, early records of protective and defensive magic concepts. He saw careful diagrams and theorems for casting layered shields and defensive barriers that transcended the simple Shield Charm.
This provided a direct, tangible link to the genesis of the protective wards that Lily had created and discussed with him years ago. He realized that this book contained the embryonic ideas that would eventually lead to the powerful magic she would later use. Anduin treasured the find, carefully placing Lily's book in a reinforced pocket of his robe.
Checking his watch, Anduin realized that the afternoon session—History of Magic—was nearly upon him. Gathering his haul of books, he made his way to the classroom.
The classroom arrangements at Hogwarts were surprisingly inconsistent. The compulsory practical subjects like Charms, Potions, and Transfiguration were typically organized by year, but the theoretical subjects were often amalgamated. History of Magic, to Anduin's initial surprise, was taught to an enormous class of mixed years.
He quickly realized why: the professor was a ghost.
"It is said that many, many years ago, Professor Binns Cuthbert simply fell asleep in front of the fireplace in the faculty lounge and passed away in his sleep," Vivian whispered conspiratorially as they settled into their seats.
"When he woke up to run to his next lesson, he completely forgot to take his body with him. He just floated up, mistook his physical form for a dressing gown, and left it behind. The rumour is he's not even aware he's dead, and he's been teaching ever since." Anduin noted Vivian's rapt attention; she seemed to possess a boundless enthusiasm for any information, no matter how dry.
Anduin looked thoughtfully at the spectral figure floating at the podium, a wispy, translucent apparition that looked remarkably like a wrinkled, faded photograph. Professor Binns was droning on, recounting the intricacies of the International Statute of Secrecy and the subsequent efforts to hide the magical world from Muggles.
"It seems that after becoming a ghost, one's memories do not merely remain stuck in the past," Anduin mused. "The history the professor is recounting clearly covers events that happened long after his death."
But any interest Anduin held ended there. Professor Binns's voice was an absolute monotone—a low, continuous hum that was utterly devoid of inflection or emphasis. It was the sound of white noise distilled through a hundred years of detachment. Within ten minutes, nearly all the young wizards in the room were fighting a losing battle against sleep, their heads drooping precariously.
Vivian, miraculously, was listening intently, her quill scratching notes with focused energy. Anduin, however, decided to treat the class as a mandatory quiet study period. He pulled out the Second-Year Charms textbook he had just liberated.
Under the cover of the Professor's spectral drone, he began flipping through the pages, finding the curriculum on Color-Changing Charms and basic Disarming Spells.
He quickly discovered the high value of his stolen texts. The Third-Year texts offered rich details on complex structural charms and the earliest theories of transfiguration. The Fourth-Year books delved into defensive magic and more nuanced counter-curses. The Sixth-Year materials, thanks to the annotations, offered practical advice on preparing for the N.E.W.T. exams.
The content for the Seventh-Year textbooks, while less voluminous than the earlier grades, was extremely dense and focused. This was because Seventh-Year students often chose to pursue internships or graduate early, with the remaining students preparing for the Ultimate Wizarding Exam (U.W.E.).
Much of the high-level content, including instructional material on the complex process of Apparition—teleporting oneself—was concentrated here, detailing the "three D's": Destination, Determination, and Deliberation.
The history lesson drifted on. Anduin ignored the shifting tides of the modern magical world being recounted by a man who had long since ceased to be a part of it, instead focusing on the immediate future. He meticulously cross-referenced the found texts with Flitwick's reading list, creating a master plan for his education.
Two days passed in this rigorous fashion. Anduin, overjoyed with his successful acquisition of advanced materials and his private mentorship, devoted nearly every waking hour outside of the compulsory classes to intensive study and magical practice in the quiet solitude of his dungeon cell.
His academic progress, thanks to Flitwick's abnormal recognition, was already months ahead of his peers, setting him on a trajectory far removed from the petty squabbles of House pride and political allegiance. His sole focus was on one thing: superiority of skill.