God knows how long William had been secretly practicing for this class.
"Concentrate!"
"You must really want it, try hard to let the broom come to you!"
"Oh my god! What are you doing!?"
...
Ian and his roommates were waiting for the other little wizards to get familiar with the process. They didn't see the show-off who took off on their own but did see a little wizard trying to take a bite out of a flying broom.
Hmm.
It was Michael's favorite Little Black Sister, muttering as if it were sugarcane, when Madam Hooch caught her and gave her a good scolding.
Michael's expression showed he was clearly pained.
"Rebecca was just hungry, what did she do wrong..."
That's how it is with sycophants.
Ian and William couldn't take it anymore, but luckily, a few bites on a broom wasn't a big deal, and Madam Hooch soon continued with the next step of takeoff instruction.
"I'm only going to demonstrate once, make sure you remember this, you must hold on tight here." After demonstrating, Madam Hooch began inspecting and correcting the little wizards' mistakes.
Ian had been quite comfortable straddling his flying broom, but after Madam Hooch corrected him to the proper position, his expression became less cheerful.
This thing was uncomfortable... awkward.
The Cushioning Charm seemed to have little effect on these old brooms.
"No more than a few feet in height, don't let me see you flying over ten feet. So far, I want to maintain my injury-free classroom record."
Madam Hooch's tone was very proud, but Ian knew she might only be proud for this year; next year would definitely bring a real challenge to her career.
"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh~"
Learning to fly wasn't that difficult, not nearly as tough as Ian thought the discomfort was. Thankfully, he could change his broom to have a small cushion secretly.
Everyone was practicing according to Madam Hooch's instructions, and Ian was enjoying the pleasure of flying in the air, so free and comfortable... with an indescribable familiarity.
"Transform into a raven and fly over!" Lady Ravenclaw's request seemed to drift back into his ear, and if he could learn to be an Animagus, Ian really wanted to transform into a free and unrestrained raven.
"Even the preliminary preparation work takes long enough, and it's still a genuinely dangerous magic, with a chance of accidentally creating a new species if not careful."
With anticipation in his heart.
But Ian wasn't going to start learning Animagus transformation immediately. He already had a lot of courses piled up, and learning Alchemy first wouldn't be considered late.
"Flying Cloak..."
After landing on his broom, besides some little wizards who were afraid of heights, most little wizards felt a bit unfinished. Ian just felt that the flying broom experience was truly uncomfortable.
When the flying class ended.
He immediately shook off his two gluttonous roommates, intending to return to the dormitory to study. The books he borrowed were almost finished, and Ian had made considerable progress in Alchemy studies.
Thanks to the gown fragments Teacher Mara provided, along with the many works of sages in the Hogwarts Library, Ian's Alchemy skills broke through to Level 3 last night.
This was already quite a respectable level.
Even though wizards' lives are inseparable from Alchemy, Wizard Chess, flying brooms, Memory Balls, and even things like candles and bonfires everywhere bear Alchemy's mark.
However.
As a subject involving material changes, Magic Potion, Ancient Runes, Magic Curse, and Transformation Technique, even upper-year students find it challenging to master and learn Alchemy.
So-called genius.
It's really just the entrance ticket to this subject. As the most challenging discipline to enter in the Wizarding World, even Hogwarts upper-year students have only a few geniuses choosing it as an elective. Among them, some might master the skill, but again, reaching a level of achievement is still not easy.
It's nothing more than being able to live off the skill after graduation, and becoming an Alchemy Master with honor is almost out of reach.
Besides requiring a meticulous, gear-like precision and rigorous attitude, mastering Alchemy also demands a complete set of knowledge from various fields. Becoming a master further requires an imaginative and creative mind.
"Fortunately, I'm not just a genius; I'm also a hanger-on." In Ian's eyes, Alchemy wasn't that difficult, merely a process of learning, mastering, and innovating.
Seeing, learning, applying, that's all—when Ian quickly walked back to the Ravenclaw Common Room, he saw a Dementor standing guard on the eighth floor.
Many wizards avoided the eighth floor.
Faces full of fear.
Most people in the Wizarding World grew up this way, hearing about the horrors of Dementors from childhood. To little wizards, Dementors were as terrifying as the stories Muggle parents used to scare their children with.
The difference is that Dementors really exist, while those stories might just be made-up tales by parents to scare children into obedience.
Dementors aren't biological, but evil spirits. They have no features, and where the mouth should be, there's a hole that can suck away people's souls and happy memories.