The next morning at nine o'clock, the first-years attended their very first class at Hogwarts.
Charms.
Slytherin and Ravenclaw shared the class.
The professor was Filius Flitwick, Head of Ravenclaw House.
He was a small old man barely over a meter tall with a white beard. It was said that one of his ancestors had been a goblin.
Despite his size, he had once been the undefeated champion of the Hogwarts Duelling Club.
"Students, I'm very pleased to teach your first lesson," Professor Flitwick said cheerfully to the Slytherin students.
"I am Filius Flitwick, Head of Ravenclaw House."
"Today we will learn a very practical beginner spell—the Levitation Charm. Please open your textbooks to page three."
Sean carefully flipped open his nearly disintegrating ninth-hand textbook.
Did he really need to learn the Levitation Charm?
He could already cast it without a wand.
Still, this was the first class. He needed to leave a good impression on the professor.
"First, read about the origin of the Levitation Charm and its magical framework. I'll demonstrate shortly," Flitwick said.
"This spell is easy. My mom uses it at home all the time," Cassius bragged to Graham beside him.
Full of confidence, he waved his wand and chanted toward the feather on the desk.
"Wingardium Leviosa!"
Sean watched with interest.
The feather did indeed move.
But in the next second, it shot forward like an arrow and embedded itself into Flitwick's lectern.
Flitwick jumped in surprise.
"Mr. Warrington… I think you should put your wand down."
Cassius lowered his head awkwardly as the class burst into laughter.
Sean sighed in amazement.
"The Levitation Charm can be used like that?"
He patted Cassius on the shoulder and whispered,
"Cassius, how did you do that just now?"
Cassius had already embarrassed himself in front of the class. Hearing Sean ask him about it made him think Sean was mocking him.
"Are you making fun of me too?" he asked unhappily.
Sean quickly shook his head.
"No, no! I actually think that was impressive. I want to learn how you did it."
"I… I don't know," Cassius admitted, scratching his head.
Sean felt a little regretful.
He hadn't activated his magic vision earlier.
Normally it wasn't worth the effort during such basic classes.
But if he had used it just now, he would have seen exactly how Cassius had messed up the magical framework.
That mistake must have transformed the Levitation Charm into something dangerously aggressive.
"If I'd had my magic vision on, I could've seen the flawed framework…"
Ten minutes later, Professor Flitwick raised his hand for silence.
"I'll now demonstrate the Levitation Charm."
Sean quietly activated his Magic vision.
"Wingardium Leviosa."
Flitwick flicked his wrist gently, pronouncing the incantation clearly.
It was a perfect, textbook example.
The speed of that magical framework… definitely the work of an experienced professor, Sean thought.
But at least for the Levitation Charm, Sean's skill was now almost on par with Flitwick's.
"Now, who would like to try?" Flitwick asked, looking at the thirty students expectantly.
But after Cassius's embarrassing failure, no one dared volunteer.
No one wanted to make a fool of themselves.
"Professor, I'll try," Sean said, raising his hand.
"Sean Grylls, please demonstrate for the class."
All eyes turned toward him.
Even Chris, sitting in the front row, turned around to watch.
Sean calmly pulled his wand from his robe.
"Wingardium Leviosa."
The feather rose gently under the wand's guidance.
When Sean moved the wand left, the feather drifted left.
When he lifted the wand upward, the feather floated higher.
"Excellent," Flitwick said happily.
"That is a perfect Levitation Charm."
"For the first points of the new term, I believe Slytherin deserves them. Five points to Slytherin!"
The Slytherin students burst into applause.
Flitwick himself hadn't expected Sean to master the spell so quickly.
Most students needed three lessons before they could perform it successfully.
"As expected of the Boy Who Lived," Chris commented.
"With Sean here, the House Cup will definitely belong to Slytherin," another Slytherin girl said excitedly.
After Charms class, the next lesson was History of Magic.
The teacher was Professor Binns, the only ghost professor at Hogwarts.
Professor Binns had already been extremely old when Hogwarts was founded.
But he had been incredibly knowledgeable, sharp-minded, and clear in his thinking, so he was invited to teach History of Magic.
One day he simply forgot to bring his body to class and died.
But that didn't stop him from continuing his teaching career.
History of Magic was an extremely dull subject.
Professor Binns was an extremely dull teacher.
His monotonous voice droned endlessly from the textbook.
Combined together, the result was essentially a lullaby.
Students from Slytherin and Hufflepuff were already half asleep.
Those who weren't sleeping were secretly passing notes.
Suddenly, Professor Binns floated through the podium and appeared beside the students' desks.
"Can anyone tell me what major event happened in the year 1612?" he asked suddenly.
Sean hadn't been listening to the lecture either.
He had been quietly discussing Cassius's earlier Levitation Charm accident, trying to figure out which framework lines had been altered to make the spell turn into a projectile.
If I could turn that into a spell that fires a thousand arrows… that would be amazing, Sean thought.
As for Binns's question—
Sean suspected no one in the class could answer it.
Because Professor Binns hadn't even reached that part of the textbook yet.
It belonged to Unit Seventeen of History of Magic.
Clearly, Binns had asked the question to discipline the unruly class.
"You—answer," Binns said, pointing at Sean in the second row.
Sean and Cassius had clearly been whispering earlier.
"The major event of 1612," Sean replied calmly, "should be the First Goblin Rebellion."
Professor Binns looked surprised.
He had expected no student to know.
"Where did the rebellion begin?"
"At the Hog's Head Inn in Hogsmeade."
"And who was the leader of the rebels?" Binns pressed.
He clearly intended to stump Sean.
Sean didn't really want to show off like this.
Answering Flitwick's question earlier had been a natural opportunity to demonstrate ability and earn goodwill.
But here, Binns was clearly trying to make an example of someone.
Now that Sean kept answering every question, the professor was the one losing face.
"Professor Binns," Sean said politely, "perhaps we should discuss that when we reach Unit Seventeen."
Cedric watched Sean from the side.
He could already sense it.
Sean Grylls was going to be a formidable rival.
After all, he had just heard that in Charms class with Ravenclaw, Sean had been the first student to successfully cast the spell.