Different from McGonagall, but just like Sprout, Flitwick held me back once more after class to talk to me about something before I have lunch, free periods until dinner, and then Astronomy an hour before midnight.
"Mister Macnair, I get the feeling that you breezed through the charms curriculum for the year?"
'Huh, really? Did Gemma tell him or something?'
"Yeah? How did you know?"
"Intuition," Flitwick answered with a fierce-looking grin as he pointed to his eyes.
"But don't most students do that? Like, those born in magical households... don't they just know all these easy spells because they saw them being used for fourteen years? And then they get their wands and just like Miss Rosier, they simply excel in a few tries?"
Flitwick looked at me like I was stupid for a moment before shaking his head, "No. There are some diligent enough to learn and some with parents who hire tutors. But despite having such a headstart, most children squander it and take their upbringing as an inborn talent. They come here thinking they would squash all these mudbloods with their superior lineage and get good grades merely by existing."
'Holy shit, is Flitwick secretly a badass? I mean, even more than he openly is?'
"You look like you want to smile at my use of the word 'mudblood'. Is that something you should laugh about?" The Charms professor asked with furrowed brows.
"Oh, nono, professor! Thanks to me being raised with muggles, I hold no illusion that blood supremacy is anything but a failed and dangerous belief. By marrying in circles, the magical world would eventually die out, and that's clearly the case - especially when comparing our population to the billions of humans out there. I was merely shocked to see you talk so openly to me."
Flitwick's face turned blank for a moment before a soft smile spread on it.
"Too true, Talion. Too true. Is it alright if I call you by your first name?"
I quickly nodded. That was exactly what I was hoping for.
"Alright, show me," Flitwick ordered as he gestured toward the empty room.
Figuring out he wants me to show him my spell repertoire, I took out the padlock from the day before and did what I did as Gemma watched. This time around, I was much more proficient and even tried my hand at not using the wand movement - the first step in mastering a spell before eventually reaching silent casting.
Flitwick showed nothing on his face as he took out a small doll a little shorter than him with a wooden sword in one of its hands from a chest somewhere in the classroom when I was done with the padlock. A quick silent spell from him activated the doll and made it stand with its sword pointed toward me.
"Try the disarming charm and the dancing feet jinx," the diminutive professor ordered, betraying no emotion at all.
A quick 'Expelliarmus' that sent the wooden sword flying and a 'Tarantallegra' that made the doll do some very awkward attempts at tap-dancing later, the professor looked at me with narrowed eyes.
"Hand in a roll of parchment describing your understanding of intent. It can be however long you need it to be to express yourself fully," Flitwick ordered. "Depending on what you hand in for our next class, I'll see what I can do to make you a more excellent wizard just like you wanted."
I blanked out for a moment before thanking him with a bright smile and a slight bow to express my gratitude. After that, I spent my walk toward the great hall with a spring in my step.
When I sat down to get a nice serving of lasagna as opposed to the brisket and steaks everyone else got, I noticed the first year Slytherin students missing, and my grin only widened.
It was worth running the long way around to not get into another useless discussion with Malfoy and his goons after I saw Malfoy's looks during the class.
"What got you in such a good mood?" Harry asked, uncharacteristically speaking up from the seat next to me.
"Flitwick's willing to teach me if my next assignment is up to snuff. You heard me say he's a former dueling champion during introductions, right? Getting on his good side was one of my most important short-term plans for Hogwarts," I answered in a low voice so that not everyone at the table would hear it.
But Hermione did, and she chimed in with, "You really want to get into dueling? Isn't that a little barbaric?"
"Yes and no. In an ideal world, I would gladly pursue a career as a duelist. But in this world, I just want to be able to defend myself where everyone carries a stick in their sleeve that allows them to blast a hole in a wall," I answered with an embarrassed expression and it looked like Hermione and anyone else listening in got my point.
Forget 'Bombarda' the explosion spell, a magical with the correct intent could do much more damage than simply creating a magical bomb with a wave of their wooden stick. They could alter your mind like the Obliviators do daily to unassuming muggles or kill everyone in an enclosed space by simply using transfiguration on the oxygen in a room.
'Well, that last one is only a theory of mine. Affecting such a high volume, even of a gas, should be an almost impossible feat. For a small room like Harry's cupboard, you could probably do it easily. But forget the great hall, I likely couldn't even do it to one of the shorter hallways here in Hogwarts...'
"You plan to fight wizard battles?" Isobel asked from the side. "Are you sure you aren't secretly a Gryffindor?"
I laughed, especially because this was pretty much the first time Isobel chimed in when the topic was me. My guess was she was interested because I could get Flitwick's attention - and so quickly as well.
"I'd be the smartest Gyffindor ever. They'd call me the bookworm lion in no time if I was sorted there," I argued back with a grin.
Isobel merely smirked, and the rest of the lunch was filled with light-hearted banter. At least I got a good laugh when Hermione pointed out that Dumbledore was a Gryffindor once upon a time. In all fairness, the old headmaster was rather smart.
After lunch in good company, most of us once more found ourselves in the library to do homework or find books to read. Personally, I did my assignment for Flitwick.
I sprinkled in plenty of knowledge the talking hat printed into my brain regarding Occlumency into my answer, but I kept it a bit vague and disguised that knowledge as 'supposed half truths'.
He already thought I was ahead of my peers. Flitwick didn't need to know how much I truly knew about the rather hidden field of mind arts after my session with the talking hat.
"Can I read that?" Hermione whispered to me after I rolled up the assignment and stood up to find a book for myself. It was only half an hour to my dinner date with two Gryffindor witches, but I had nothing else to do until then that I could accomplish in that time.
With a shrug, I gave my little essay on intent to the curious witch and started roaming the transfiguration section to either find some obscure knowledge or flesh out my homework in the subject a little. Thinking that physics, chemistry, and material sciences were a surefire way to immediate transfiguration mastery, these were the only things I truly paid attention to in muggle schooling before attending Hogwarts.
Of course, the books at school and even at the quaint public library near the orphanage were sorely lacking in these subjects, but I still had a rather okay grasp on these fields compared to most magicals. I intended to wow McGonagall with that knowledge, but having actual magical knowledge to back it up couldn't hurt.
To bolster my knowledge before school started, I even had Patrick see if he could find me some more advanced material on these subjects, and it seemed like Patrick really liked stealing. I got more and much more exclusive material than I thought I would.
Finding nothing after leafing through the many books I found which seemed to have once more annoyed Madam Pince, I packed up my stuff, ignored Hermione looking at me with a thoughtful look, and walked toward the grand entrance of Hogwarts near the great hall.
Here one could find the giant hourglasses that kept score for the house points, a statue that held the secret of being a passage toward Hogsmeade and it was the place where I asked Lavender and Parvati to come for our dinner date.
The two Gryffindor witches were already waiting for me when I arrived and were currently engaged in what looked to be intense gossip with none other than Nymphadora Tonks.
"Miss Tonks, Lavender, Parvati," I greeted with what I hoped was a charming smile. "I hope I didn't make you wait too long?"
"Ah, Tali! You're here," Lavender cheerfully greeted, putting it on a little thick even for her.
"Tali?" Tonks asked with a raised brow, and Parvati only started giggling.
I ignored all of that and instead asked, "So, are the four of us going to the kitchens, or do you need some more time alone for girls' talk? I could come back in... half an hour?"
"Hehe, no need. I need to make sure you aren't eating my cute little firsties," Tonks quickly answered before Lavender could. "It wouldn't do for the scary death eater in the making to lead some little lions astray."
I deadpanned for a moment before shaking it off. I hoped she just wanted to rattle me with the twin's accusation and didn't actively want to poison my relationships with anyone. By the way Lavender was pouting at her, it looked like she would need a lot more to actually sway Lavender's opinion of me.
And Parvati largely looked like she didn't care. My interactions with Padma these last days were always remarkably pleasant anyway, so I doubted the Patil twins would be bought by such a baseless rumor.
"Sure, Nymphadora," I said with a shrug and immediately regretted my petty act of calling her by her hated first name. "I take it you know where the kitchens are seven years into your education?"
"I do," Tonks said through gritted teeth. "But I want to see you embarrass yourself if you don't know the most efficient way there. So you lead the way."
Lavender looked like she wanted to object but instead merely grasped my arm and went ahead of the other two girls. To her annoyance, she started leading the wrong way and wouldn't stop pouting until we were down the stairs to the first level basement after I steered her back in the correct direction.
She didn't really stop pouting until we reached the portrait of the bowl of fruit. No, when we were standing in front of the painting and I started tickling the pear. That was when her pout turned into a condescending frown that heavily implied I was an idiot. Her frown did freeze however, once the pear started laughing and slowly turn into a door handle.
"Hehe, you should see your look," I quipped with a silly smile as both Lavender and Parvati looked like their worldview was about to shatter.
"Passable," Tonks commented and moved past me into the tunnel towards the kitchens. "And stop making fun of my cute little firsties."
With a wry smile, I gestured for the two girls my age who were left dumbly staring at me to go ahead.
"How'd you even find this?" Parvati asked with an incredulous expression as she turned back to me while I was walking behind the two.
"Just talk to the portraits. They'll tell you anything you need to know. Well, most of them do..."
"Master Chef! Master Chef is back!" A voice clearly belonging to an elf shouted once we entered the kitchen properly.
Immediately, I was swarmed by a dozen elves trying to talk to all at once - until I raised my hand for them to stop. As they watched me with reverence bleeding into their expressions, I felt pretty uncomfortable.
"Hi again," I greeted. "How goes your experiments to make mozzarella and feta?"
Just like before, the house elves talked over one another like an avalanche until one started snapping his fingers to conjure little blocks of cheese on a platter, which started an actual avalanche of cheese in the room.
I taste tested a bunch of them, giving the elves my honest opinion since they didn't know what the cheese was supposed to smell and taste like, eventually crowning Nitwit, the first elf I talked to down here as the cheese champion.
With tears in her eyes, the elf started sobbing at my feet until I managed to console her... and then Tonks coughed into her hand, and I froze on the spot.
"Right, everyone, these are my dear friends Lavender, Parvati, and Tonks," I quickly introduced the girls with a wooden expression.
"We knows Mistress Tonksy," Nitwit explained with a fond smile on her tear-stained face. "She always be making mess for us to clean up."
Tonks had the decency to gain a slight blush but then just grinned, pretending everything was part of her calculations.
After that, I had the elves prepare all kinds of salads, something I thought the girls might appreciate the most. Under Lavender's and Parvati's impressed gaze, I even helped the elves with the various dressings as the four of us taste-tested our way through a dozen different salad recipes.
Sadly, for all involved, the kitchens of Hogwarts were lacking all kinds of ingredients native to different countries. There weren't any olives to go with the greek salad, for example.
"My dad really dropped the ball. He introduced me to muggle cuisine really early... but all he ever did was beans on toast or spaghetti with tomato sauce. I thought muggles live like savages if that's all they can come up with," Tonks eventually said as we all sat around a table filled with various kinds of little appetizers.
"So you never even heard of pizza? I mean, now that you know, you need to tell the elves to get on it for you. I left them plenty of recipe books and Nitwit's try at mozzarella will only make them even better," I argued and took the recipe books from the shelves to introduce these three witches who grew up in magical households some meals from around the world. Only Parvati, having grown up with Indian cuisine, had any real insights to offer.
And so, a good hour after regular dinner started, Tonks took the two Gryffindor first years with her while leaving me alone down in the kitchens. She had argued that it was a fun experience, but they needed to get back before curfew... which was fair but weird, nonetheless, coming from such a rulebreaker like Tonks.
It was too late to go to the library at this point and I didn't really feel like holing up in the common room again, so I talked to a bunch of portraits on the way and discovered a few shortcuts and secret passages in the course of half an hour.
But then I suddenly felt the extreme urge to dodge and threw myself to the side with all the strength I could muster. Yet, it was already too late. I saw a faint red light traveling through the corridor from the corner of my eyes before it all turned black.