The next morning, Oleandra received a letter from her mother, stating that an inspector would drop in by the end of the day to inspect her wand. "It sure is nice having connections," she thought to herself.
As she continued reading the letter, a horrifying screech resounded through the Great Hall, almost making Oleandra tear her letter in half from fright. She looked over to the Gryffindor table, where the screaming had originated. It seemed cousin Ron had received a Howler from his mother. The red letter yelled at the top of its inexistent lungs, berating the poor boy for all the troubles he had caused his father. Oleandra felt slightly guilty as she tried to keep her lips from twitching into a smile; after all, Ronald had saved her from getting pummelled into a fine meat paste.
Professor Snape had some of his seventh-year students pass out the class schedules. Oleandra glanced at hers; the first class of the year was going to be Transfiguration. She hadn't transfigured a single thing all summer, she hoped Professor McGonagall wasn't going to make them do anything too complicated.
Oleandra was dead wrong. Professor McGonagall made all of the students demonstrate the spells they had learned the previous year. It was with great shame that Oleandra failed to Transfigure even a single object correctly. Even the Transfiguration spell she was the most proficient at, Ducklifors, failed her. The only person to achieve perfect results in each of her Transfigurations was Mafalda. Oleandra stared at her enviously. What was it with the muggle-born and being naturally talented at magic? No wonder pure bloods hated them with a passion! This was, of course, gross generalization, as there were plenty of muggle-born wizards with mediocre talent.
By the end of class, Oleandra had seriously been considering using Hagal, the hailstorm and lightning storm rune to render the classroom completely unusable, but she abstained from doing so. She was in enough trouble already.
"You should be thankful that I spared your stupid class," thought Oleandra angrily. "What's the use in Transfiguration anyways?"
Oleandra was dead wrong about this subject. For example, what made Dumbledore so powerful? Was it his magical capacity, his vast knowledge on spells, his artefacts or even his phoenix pet? None of the above! What truly made Dumbledore the greatest wizard of his time was his dedication towards Transfiguration! A master of Transfiguration can rework the very terrain around them to their advantage, a sort of invincible domain, if you will.
What made Voldemort invincible against regular wizards was not his talent, but his mentality. Yes, he had talent on par with Dumbledore's, but he wasted his potential in favour of using dark magic.
Even the most murderous of people could only cast the Killing Curse a very limited number of times, because it required pure killing intent and hatred towards the target. Voldemort was different in that his mentality made the casting of the Killing Curse as easy as breathing. Since the Killing Curse penetrates all magical defences like a hot knife through butter, he could easily kill any ordinary wizard. (Most wizards can't even properly master Protego, the Shield Charm, so you can imagine how easy a time Voldemort had.)
Yes, the Killing Curse goes through everything, until it hits a living target that it can kill. Everything, that is, except good old solid matter, which is literally everywhere.
This is why Voldemort has never attempted to face Dumbledore head on, because once he gets into a fight with him, he must fight on Dumbledore's terms, who can raise walls from the earth to block the Killing Curse and Transfigure things into moving statues that cannot be killed. Voldemort can also do all these things, but as previously stated, his overreliance on the Killing Curse turned into a liability, and as a result he did not practise such complex Transfiguration magic regularly.
At any rate, in the afternoon came the class Oleandra was most looking forward to: Defense Against the Dark Arts. Last year, she was subjected to the stuttering ramblings of a parasitized Quirrell, so she didn't learn much. However, this year THE Gilderoy Lockhart was teaching the class. Thanks to Ingwaz, she had quickly read through his books before classes had started. She had to admit, the stories were very entertaining, as well as informative.
As she was heading towards the Defense Against the Dark Arts class, she encountered a strange sight: Potter posing for a photograph for a first year.
At her side, Draco couldn't help but exclaim: "Signed photos? You're giving out signed photos, Potter?"
Oleandra stared at this scene with incredulous eyes. Was Potter a glory hound after all?
"Could I have one too?" she asked jokingly.
"Everyone, line up!" Draco said loudly. "Harry Potter's giving out signed photos!"
Potter refuted this angrily. Colin Creevey, the first-year Gryffindor, had simply asked him for an autograph. He wasn't going to make a habit of it!
Professor Lockhart, somehow sensing the presence of a photo op, descended upon Potter and young Creevey, somehow managing to insert himself into the situation.
"Why doesn't anybody ask me for autographs?" she grumbled. Oleandra was still slightly grumpy from her morning class.
And then the bell rang, which meant they were about to be late. She glanced at Professor Lockhart. He didn't seem particularly bothered by the fact that he was about to be late to his very own class.
A few minutes later, and the teacher was standing in front of the class, and the students were at their seats. After a brief bragging session, he handed out a pop quiz.
Oleandra's brows frowned when she saw the questions. All of them were about Professor Lockhart's personal life, as well as his likes and dislikes. Nevertheless, she knew all the answers, so she quickly wrote them down. Memorization was a cinch when using Ingwaz!
In the end, only she and Granger got full marks, which netted them both ten points for their Houses.
As Oleandra was beginning to despair, Professor Lockhart pulled up a large cage, which was covered with a sheet of cloth.
"Now — be warned! It is my job to arm you against the foulest creatures known to wizardkind! You may find yourselves facing your worst fears in this room. Know only that no harm can befall you whilst I am here. All I ask is that you remain calm," Professor Lockhart said with a grave tone.
Oleandra's ears perked up. Finally, some good content!