The students did as they were told. Professor Babbling opened each box before quickly closing them, pausing on only five of them. She eventually jotted down a few notes onto a spare piece of parchment.
"Brilliant work, class. Five of you were capable of accomplishing the feat within an hour's time, which I assure you is very impressive. Congratulations to Ms. Greengrass, Ms. Granger, Mr. Boot, Ms. Turpin, and Mr. Potter."
Harry noticed Daphne eyeing him critically from the corner of his eyes, and Hermione's eyes narrowing in distaste, though nobody else reacted strangely. They were all soon dismissed, with Harry being asked to stay behind.
"Mr. Potter," started Professor Babbling, picking up his box, "I noticed that the runework and patterns on your box are rather bizarre, although they clearly do work. Do you know why that is?"
Harry shrugged.
"I suppose that's just how I understand runes, Professor."
Professor Babbling nodded slowly, gently placing the box back onto the desk.
"It is very impressive for someone to create something like this at your age, let alone someone attending their first class. As long as you are capable of completing the assignments properly, I have no issue with your methods. Now off you go, you have your next class." Harry waved farewell to his new professor, before turning around and heading off towards the Transfiguration Classroom.
Hermione was waiting outside for him, her back hunched over due to the number of books in her bag. She was looking strangely at Harry, eyes narrowed in suspension.
"How did you manage to complete the assignment?" she asked, her voice bland.
"By writing runes onto the box, how else?"
"I saw your rune clusters earlier; they were all wrong, nothing like what was shown in the books." noted Hermione.
"Like I said earlier, maybe people are just looking at it the wrong way." said Harry, the two friends hopping off a staircase that had suddenly begun to move.
"You mean the authors of a ministry-approved text?" asked Hermione, disbelievingly.
"I guess. Either way, I did it differently and it worked, right? So no harm done."
Hermione shook her head disapprovingly, but said nothing. The two of them soon arrived outside Professor McGonagall's class, where the rest of the Gryffindors were already waiting for them. Ron, who had been talking to Dean, Seamus, and Neville, turned to Harry.
"Harry!" exclaimed the youngest Weasley, "Regret your change yet?"
"Actually, I was one of the only five students who was able to complete their assignments." said Harry. Ron paused in shock, clearly not expecting the given answer.
"Although I am impressed with your supposed achievement," came a stern voice from behind, "I must ask you to refrain from speaking of other subjects when in my class."
Harry turned around, nodding quickly at what Professor McGonagall had said. He could have sworn she had sent him a quick smile as he entered the classroom. It had been small, yes, but it was better than any of the smiles he had ever seen her send another student, even Hermione.
Unfortunately, Harry was not capable of replicating the perfect success he had achieved earlier. Unlike runes, he had not yet received any special teaching from a certain portrait. He did, however, do much better than he normally did, though Harry suspected that might have been because he actually tried for once. He was beaten only by Hermione and Ernie Macmillan.
Harry was more than fine with the results. He had realized that actually concentrating was especially important in the magical art of transfiguration. Visualizing what he was attempting to do also helped. It was slightly comforting to know that when he tried, he was actually quite talented. Harry would work especially hard at Transfiguration, if only to wipe the smug smile of Ernie's face. Ernie Macmillan had been one of the Hufflepuffs that had made Harry's second year so horrible by spreading false rumours throughout the school.
...
After an hour had passed in the Transfiguration classroom, the students were sent off to lunch. The fourth year Gryffindors were led by an eager Ron, arriving much sooner than anyone else. The redhead hurriedly sat down on the table, stuffing his mouth with chicken.
As the rest of the students joined the table, Harry pulled a book that Salazar had told him to read earlier. It was a very old book entitled 'Rituals: An Obscure Art', although if anyone else took a look at it, the title would appear to be 'Advanced Defensive Magic'. That was thanks to a spell Salazar had shown him before leaving the chamber, which created an illusion for everyone other than the caster.
Salazar had told Harry that reading the introduction of the book might be able to persuade him that rituals weren't evil or dark. Harry was beginning to agree with the portrait. While the branch of magic was given a bad reputation, it seemed fairly interesting, and very useful, as shown by the first few paragraphs of the book's foreword.
'Normal Rituals are a combination of Ancient Runes and magical absorption. Essentially, the user of the ritual is to absorb the magic from a given object, using runes to smoothen the process. The magic absorbed combined with certain rune clusters will give the user permanent abilities.
As an example, if a witch or wizard was to absorb Dragon Scales, Gryphon Claws, and/or a few other body parts belonging to especially tough creatures, they may themselves gain tougher skin (this is if the rune cluster used matches the aforementioned ability). If someone was to use magical components that are flexible, they might find themselves to be flexible as well.
.....
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