Allen spent the majority of lunch time wondering why Professor McGonagall would call for him, or if it was because of what happened yesterday. Could be, just because Professor Snape gave me detention doesn't mean that the rest of the teachers agreed with that punishment, maybe.
Armand looked towards him. "Alright there Allen? If you are that worried, why not just go now?"
Allen just nodded his head. "You know what, you are right, I'll be back in a bit." He picked up his backpack and jogged towards the exit, trying to remember the path to the transfiguration classroom.
He walked around in stone hallways while some portraits looked at him and whispered things, inaudible for him, but he more or less knew what it was.
Allen turned around towards one of the portraits. "What are you all whispering to yourselves?"
The portraits just looked back to him, horrified when they saw him pull out his wand from his pocket. "No- Nothing kid! Now move along! Don't you have to be in a meeting with a professor?"
Allen raised an eyebrow. "And how, pray tell, do you know that? Is that a hobby of the portraits around here? Spy on people and spread rumors? Then I hope you can spread this as well, if I was able to burn the Sorting Hat, what's stopping me from burning portraits?"
The moment he finished talking, all the people inside the portraits ran in different directions, screaming bloody murderer. Allen dropped his shoulders, wondering if this event is ever going to be forgotten as he walked to the transfiguration classroom. Just give it time, it's only been a day, can't do much about it.
"Professor I'm here" Allen peeked inside the transfiguration classroom, trying to see if McGonagall was inside or if she went to eat like the rest of the castle.
Yet, contrary to his expectations, she was not only there, but also busy grading a couple of papers. "Ah, Mr Lionheart, please, come in."
The classroom seemed bigger than before, most likely because there were no students making noise all around, or his friends to distract him from his thoughts.
Each step felt heavier than the last and the more he got closer to professor McGonagall, the worse his nervous got. He knew it wasn't anything bad, but he couldn't help but feel like this.
McGonagall pulled a chair from her side and levitated it to be in front of her. Allen sat down on it and looked towards the professor.
"If you would just give me a minute, I'm almost done with these."
"Yes professor."
Allen waited for the professor, trying to calm his nerves, he put his right hand on top of his chest and activated his magic, a green light appeared, calming himself down. I've used this magic more these last couple of days than the other things I practiced in the orphanage.
"Alright then Mr Lionheart" McGonagall levitated the papers in one big tower, moving it to the side.
"What I wanted to talk about with you is about yesterday's incident." Allen evaded her gaze and the professor just let out a sigh.
"The rest of the professors and I talked about it with the Sorting Hat. He told us that it was his fault for looking more than necessary, but I'd like to hear your version of the events if you would be so kind" She offered a helping hand.
Allen didn't really know what to do, he didn't really want to tell anyone his past, and no one would believe him anyway. "How much did the Sorting Hat tell to the teachers?"
"Hmm, it did not specify exactly what it saw, only that it saw something that made you mad, and sad, which made you react that way."
"That is… correct, it made me enraged, not because he saw it, but because he said that I could avoided it, even thought I was powerless…" Allen looked down on to his hands, they were emitting a faint light of magic.
Allen continued to practice his powers, no, his magic, not only because it was something he enjoyed, but also because he didn't want to feel that powerless ever again.
He closed his hands in a tight fist, then he looked back at professor McGonagall, a few tears were forming on his eyes but he wiped them before she could say anything.
"So, y- yeah, that's it professor, sorry"
McGonagall stayed silent before saying anything. "… I understand, well then, I won't keep you here long, you have a long day ahead of you Mr Lionheart, but if you ever feel like talking, I'm here for you, I might not be your head of house, but you are still my student."
Allen stood up and excused himself. "Thank you professor"
"Oh, and one more thing" She added before Allen could leave.
"Yes?"
"I understand that you will have a month full of detentions with Professor Snape, but if you ever feel like cleaning cauldrons with your hands gets too tiring, you can come to me and maybe we can arrange a different detention."
His tears became into a laugh, out of all the things she could have said, this is the one thing he didn't expect, it sounded ridiculous even, change detentions as if it were a day job.
"I'll- I'll consider it professor, thank you!"
McGonagall looked at him with an endearing smile as he left the classroom.
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On the corner of his eyes, after Allen exited the classroom, he saw a bunch of figures running away turning the corner. Instead of following them, Allen activated his magic, trying to see if they were who he thought they were.
While the whole castle was a monument of magic, after what happened in the feast, he has been able to ignore its light whenever he wants and now is able to concentrate on specifics, like the four people running away from him.
A smirk showed on his face, when a grey, yellow, green and blue light showed on his vision. Allen adjusted his backpack, stretched out a bit, giving them a head start and then used his magic on his body, the magic permeated around him, an orange light this time. Before anything, he looked around, searching for Filch or Mrs Norris, seeing how there was no sight of them, he ran.
Allen ran as fast as he could, approaching his friends who were running away from him.
When one of them looked back, they screamed. "Ahh! Allen is right behind! Catching up to us!"
"Wha-?! How did he know?! No, how did he reach us?!"
"That's why I told you that we should've waited" Armand stopped on his tracks but the other three continued to run.
Allen passed him, nodding his head, and he nodded back.
"Who are we running from?" Allen said from the side after catching up to them, Elsie, Sophia and William all stopped and screamed in surprise.
Between breaths William responded. "Bloody hell mate, how can you run so fast? Is the second time today!"
Allen just shrugged and right behind him was Armand.
He crossed his arms, looking at every one of them for a few seconds. "Now, I'd like an explanation as to why you all were spying on me."
They all looked at each other before saying anything. "We were just worried, what if they expelled you on your first day?"
The thought of being expelled after just one day made Allen's skin crawl. "There's no way they would have done that… I think."
"You never know, that's why we came, so we could defend you in case something like that happened!"
Allen let out a breath. "Okay, thank you guys, but next time, warn me first, alright? Now, did anyone bring anything to eat? I'm kinda hungry after talking with professor McGonagall."
"Oh yeah mate, here, brought you some sandwiches, Sophia told me to bring them in case you were hungry"
He looked at her, giving Sophia a warm smile. "You did? Thank you Sophia."
"Don't misinterpret me! You helped me, I help you back, simple as th- that." A blush appeared on her face as she evaded Allen's gaze.
"Sure, thank you." A chuckle left his mouth as he ate the sandwiches. "Should we go to the next class now?"
"Right, I think it's about time for Defense Against the Dark Arts, so we should be going" Added Armand.
"Ah! Before going, Sophia, do you know where the classroom is?" Allen asked her.
She coughed for a bit, trying to compose herself. "Yes, I do, apparently it's on the third floor corridor, classroom 3C, close to the charms classroom"
"Alright! Thank you Sophia, thank you Elsie!" Exclaimed William, making a fist pump.
Armand waved to them as they were walking towards the moving stairs. "Right, we'll see you in Herbology."
"See you later boys." Elsie said before they made a turn around the corner.
"They seem nice for Slytherins, right?"
"Hmm, they are okay, let's go Elsie, we need to get to our next class as well."
Elsie agreed with her and walked beside her going towards their next class.
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Allen wondered exactly who would be the teacher for this year while they walked to the classroom. While he knew that in his fourth year Quirinus Quirrell would be the teacher, he didn't know about the previous ones, and even then, he couldn't take a good look at the staff table in the Great Hall when the sorting happened. He was rather curious to see if it would be an evil professor like every year at Hogwarts or if that trend only started with Harry Potter when he enrolled in the school.
"Armand, do you know who is the teacher for the class? I couldn't pay attention and it doesn't say in the time table, only that we have that class. Wait, it doesn't says the classroom! Only the class and the time. How did they expect us to find it?!"
"But we did it anyway, right?" William asked with a grin on his face.
"Hmm, I believe they do it so we can relay on the older students or the portraits or ghosts, there are plenty of help around so I guess they just didn't thought it was important." Armand said while looking at his own time table from front to back.
"And about the professor… I also don't know. I'm also wondering who will it be."
William ran ahead for a bit and looked back towards them after a few meters. "Ha! So it's the first thing you guys don't know that I do!"
"Eh? You know the teacher?" Allen asked him, while Armand looked shocked by the revelation.
"Yeah, hehehe. Come on, let's go, I'm sure you guys will like her."
So it's a her, and William knows her, probably a relative or a family friend. "Alright then, let's go!" Allen quickened the pace and his friends followed suit, almost running in the stone floor, a few portraits called them out, but they ignored their whining.
Allen looked back to Armand. "Who do we have class with again?"
"The Gryffindors, Defense Against the Dark Arts and Potions are with the Gryffindors for some reason. History of Magic and Astronomy are with the Ravenclaws."
Allen thought about how the class could go in either direction, the same as the other two, or the Gryffindors will jump on him for being a 'traitor' of some kind. "I see, well, can't be helped, should we go in?"
"Right, let's go! We might be the first ones to arrive, then I'll be able to introduce you to her." William talked excitedly.
When they entered the class they could see a bunch of trinkets here and there on top of the desks around the classroom. Glass phials and containers with dubious liquids. Bookcases filled with what Allen assumed to be defense books.
A blackboard was at the end of the class, where the contents were being erased by a woman no older than twenty-five, she looked back and saw William and her face lit up.
"William! I wondered when you'll have my class!" She shouted from across the classroom. "Come here!"
William grabbed the two boys from the wrist and dragged them with him. "Let's go!"
Both Allen and Armand let themselves be carried away by William since they were curious about the teacher.
"Hi Leah! How is the first day of class?" William asked with a grin on his face.
"It's professor Baker for you young man" She crossed her arms and puffed her cheeks in a playful annoyance.
"Oh, I'm sorry Professor Baker, please don't give me detention" William pleaded in a joking manner while the two boys just looked at them in silence.
"You rascal, come here" She gave him a slap on the head before looking at the boys.
"Sorry, where are my manners, hi, kids, I'm glad my dumb cousin could met some friends so early. My name is Leah Baker, and I will be your professor for Defense Against the Dark Arts." She finished saying with a smile.
Allen looked perplexed before returning the professor the greeting. "I'm Allen Lionheart, nice to meet you professor."
"I'm Armand Malfoy, likewise, it's a pleasure to meet you professor."
She saw them strangely for a few seconds, before clapping her hands in a swift motion in front of her chest. "Alright, go take your seats, class is about to start and we don't want the others to know you are chummy with the professor, do we?"
"I don't mind" William said.
"But I do, now go and take your seat Mr Cooper! And I want you on the front seat row!" She grinned back at him. Before turning back again to clean the rest of the blackboard.
"So she's your cousin?" Allen asked looking back at him.
"Yeah, she is, from my mom's side. We get along" William said smiling.
"That's good, yeah, family should be there for you and get along instead of causing problems…" Allen said, more to himself than to William, but he just agreed to it.
Sitting down, all Allen could think of was about the curse that Tom Riddle left in the professor position and how it would affect his friend's cousin. Wondering if there was a way to evade it.