Chapter 51: 2nd September 1991, Monday: Part 6

Gemma took the initiative to walk towards the teacher's desk whilst George timidly followed her from behind. He believed that most of the teachers probably thought that he was an extremely nervous boy and was prone to panic attacks. There was no reason to waste a load of time trying to undo a perfectly good persona. Therefore, George wanted to indulge them in their false image of his character. He found the best approach to maintaining this image was by him hiding in Gemma's shadow until they reached the teacher's table.

Gemma stopped a few feet away from the table and called out politely, "Professor McGonagall, I hope I'm not interrupting your reading. George Linwood has asked me to inform you that he would like to discuss his absence from your lesson."

McGonagall lowered the newspaper and looked towards Gemma, she had one eyebrow slightly raised but otherwise, her expression seemed to be one of indifference. McGonagall's clothes were almost identical to the ones she had worn the day before during the ceremony. The only substantial exception was the lack of a wizard's hat on her head.

She folded the newspaper and placed it to one side whilst asking, "and where would Mr Linwood happen to be at the moment?"

Gemma looked confused at first before she turned around and realised why McGonagall had asked that question. She saw that George was standing directly behind her which obscured him from McGonagall's view. Hopefully, she would think he was nervous because his hands were clasped together whilst subtly shaking. Gemma stepped to one side and revealed George to McGonagall, both Mcgonagall's and George's eyes met with a similar look of surprise. He reasoned that a boy in his position would probably be too nervous to initiate the conversation, so George decided to wait until McGonagall spoke first.

Gemma noticed that George had frozen under the pressure and decided to speak up in his absence, "sorry Professor McGonagall, George is just a little apprehensive after what happened yesterday. He's still feeling a little under the weather and may need a few…"

McGonagall raised her hand to interrupt Gemma. The old witch appeared to have already come to the same conclusion and didn't need Gemma to spell it out for her.

McGonagall assumed a gentle smile as she asked George, "Madam Pomfrey has told me that you were under a great deal of stress yesterday. I have to say on behalf of the school that we're sorry we couldn't have been more proactive in noticing your condition deteriorating. To have a student on their first day suffer a panic attack large enough to cause a stroke brings a great deal of sadness to all the members of staff at Hogwarts."

George felt he needed to counter McGonagall's apology. His new persona would never allow another to accept responsibility for what he considered his fault.

He stepped forward and waved his hands frantically, "no no no. It was all my fault, I should have said something but I kept it to myself. I am sorry for any inconvenience that I may of course during the Sorting Hat Ceremony."

McGonagall seemed to find his retort quite humorous, she let out a light chuckle as her smile broadened.

She told George, "you must be the first student in Hogwarts' history to apologise for having a stroke. To hold yourself accountable is absurd, I'll hear nothing more of it.

Anywho, Miss Farley was just telling me that you wanted to ask some questions about today's Transfiguration lesson?"

George exaggeratedly nodded his head, "yes, Professor McGonagall. I wasn't able to attend your lesson in the morning because I was still asleep in the hospital. I want to apologise for my absence."

McGonagall seemed to find this second apology even more hilarious. She started to laugh quietly whilst removing her reading glasses and placing them on the table.

She jokingly said, "we're going to be here all day if you keep feeling the need to apologise. I appreciate your commitment to attending every lesson regardless of your ailments but I see no reason for you to apologise since you were still recovering. Now, I'm ordering you as Deputy-head of Hogwarts to stop apologising and to tell me why you're here."

George hurried to nod his head in understanding whilst saying, "yes, of course, Professor McGonagall. I'm sorry for wasting your time, oh, I'm apologising again. I mean...  I'm not sorry. Wait no. This is too much. Can we just start this again?

Good morning Professor McGonagall, I wanted to ask you if I missed anything important during your Transfiguration lesson?"

McGonagall was mystified whilst she watched George's apology loop repeat over and over again like a skipping record. McGonagall was probably thinking that she may be responsible for inducing another panic attack. Luckily for her, she was clearly relieved to see him recover and finally gain the confidence to ask his question. The old witch was most likely aware that George was under the influence of the Draught of Peace, and was probably surprised to see him still able to act in such a skittish manner.

The little freak-out was all part of George's act to double down on the scaredy-cat part of his persona. The mission was going to involve a whole lot of rule-breaking, the likes of which would put the Weasley twins to shame. Obviously George didn't want the teachers to catch him, so he needed to act like someone who couldn't break a single rule without having a heart attack. That way, he could have his cake and eat it. The teachers will love him and become his alibi, and at the same time, he can sneak around the castle doing god knows what.

McGonagall's professionalism wouldn't allow her to remain distracted for long as she eventually decided to answer George's question in a gentle and friendly manner.

"Well, I'm very happy that you were brave enough to come to me in person and ask. Know that you can always feel comfortable coming to my office at any time of the day if you need something. You don't have to hesitate if it isn't related to Transfiguration, I will always try to help.

To answer your question, in truth, you didn't miss anything too important. The class was predominantly summarising Transfiguration, you could ask another student to share their notes but I wouldn't worry yourself. I also conducted a few demonstrations to help everyone understand the basics, like this for example."

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McGonagall pulled out her wand from her robe and held it towards the pair of reading glasses she had taken off. Without saying a word, the wand glowed at the tip and the glasses expanded and changed form into a transparent glass goblet. George watched with enraptured attention, he wanted to mentally record every little movement she made. Not counting his patron, this was the first magic he'd seen from a real expert. He was aware that this woman was one of the greatest in the world when it came to the practice of Transfiguration, her knowledge was unparalleled.

George knew that changing a pair of glasses into a goblet was probably something she could do while sleeping. But, this demonstration would serve as a great motivator for new students to start showing interest in the subject. George imagined most first-years would be able to recreate this spell, to a lesser degree, within the next couple of months. He was hoping to gain some private tutelage from McGonagall in the future when he eventually ran out of books related to Transfiguration. Perhaps showing off now would serve him well in the future. George was going to plant the seed early so he could reap the harvest later.

He pulled his wand out from his robe and held it over the newly created glass goblet.

George politely asked McGonagall, "may I give it a try?"

McGonagall thought about his request before saying, "go ahead, but I must stress that Transfiguration magic isn't something a student can learn overnight. You shouldn't expect..."

She stopped mid-sentence as she saw his wand glowed without him saying anything. A pure-red flame dripped down from the tip and suspended itself an inch from the bottom of the goblet. The light from the red flame glowed beautifully as it reflected through the goblet onto the surrounding table like a church's glass window. The flame continued to glow intensely as George put away his wand. He looked back towards McGonagall who had been appreciating his conjuration magic.

As he had anticipated, McGonagall looked extremely surprised as she examined the quality of the conjured flame. George put quite a bit of effort into this spell which should result in it sustaining itself for at least a few hours before it fizzled out of existence. He also ensured that the flame was unnaturally red so that it could be easily differentiated from a conventional conjured flame to further demonstrate his skill. McGonagall picked the glass goblet up and held it close to her eyes, George wasn't sure what she was expecting to see. McGonagall put the goblet back down after a few seconds and looked back at George with a face of astonishment.

McGonagall appeared to be quite happy as she said, "that is some pretty advanced conjuration magic you just demonstrated there, Mr Linwood. Did you learn that from your parents before you came to Hogwarts? I don't recall hearing of any Linwoods in the field of Transfiguration before."

George smiled as he corrected her, "that'll be because my adopted parents are muggles. I'd only been practising for a few months before I was even made aware that magic even existed. Before going to Ollivanders a week ago, I had only practised with wandless magic."

If McGonagall was already surprised before George spoke, then now she was blown away. Her expression had frozen on her face as if her brain was struggling to comprehend the words he had just spoken. The old witch might need a few seconds before she could compose herself, and her reaction was completely justified. George knew that what he was saying was almost impossible for a student to achieve, this would make him one of the most, if not the most, talented first years in Transfiguration history. There was a good chance that he would be the most naturally talented student McGonagall had ever seen or heard of.

The attention wasn't something George wanted, but his accidental reveal to Theodore as well as Neville and Hermione yesterday meant his wandless magic was no longer a secret. The best thing that George could do now was to monopolise the right people's attention. McGonagall was one of these individuals, she could help him to further advance his control and manipulation of his natural affinity for fire Conjuration magic. The one aspect of magic George had no difficulty comprehending was anything related to fire or heat, he just needed the experience an expert like McGonagall possessed.

George wanted his persona to remain ignorant of his talent and played it off as if he had done something not spectacular, he kept his face neutral without an inkling of smugness. He knew that a muggle-born would have no perspective when it came to magical prowess, therefore neither would he. For all he should know, that fire trick was bottom-of-the-barrel magical trash. George looked over to Gemma to find she was looking equally as surprised. Maybe Theodore wasn't the blabbermouth he had originally anticipated.

After a couple of seconds, McGonagall finally processed George's claim and looked to be barely controlling a giddy smile from forming on her face. She clearly found his talent very exciting.

She cleared her throat before saying to George, "I don't think you're going to have a problem keeping up in my class. In fact, I fear you may be too advanced. Conjuration is a subject only taught to much older students."

George wanted to look talented, but not like the next Merlin or Dumbledore for that matter. He needed to control her expectations and stay humble.

George shook his head, "I fear that you have overestimated my abilities, Mrs McGonagall. This is the pinnacle of my accomplishments in flame conjuration, I can do nothing more. Mr Lupin said that I had a natural affinity for fire magic, but not Conjuration or Transfiguration.

I am probably below average when it comes to comprehending how to turn a pair of glasses into a goblet, my foundations in Transfiguration are non-existent."

McGonagall seemed to realise what George was trying to explain. Just because he was capable of performing advanced conjuration magic didn't mean that he automatically understood all of the Transfiguration magic that comes before it. George had metaphorically run before he even learnt how to crawl, this was far easier to understand than him being some sort of muggle-born genius. Regardless, McGonagall's happy expression seemed to not waver in the slightest.

She still happily praised George for his achievements, "do not underestimate your ability, Mr Linwood. I do not doubt that you will accomplish great things in the field of Transfiguration provided that you continue your studies and attend my classes. I'll be looking forward to seeing you in my next transfiguration lesson."

George nodded his head enthusiastically as he bowed and turned around to leave, he saw that Gemma was still standing there with the same stupefied look on her face. He gave her a poke which seemed to startle her as she jumped into the air, he noticed that Gemma had a nasty habit of letting her mind wander. Just before George reached the Slytherin table, McGonagall called his name to get his attention. He turned around and saw her pointing towards the flame inside of the glass goblet. He knew what she wanted him to do, perhaps this was another little test to see if his demonstration was a coincidence or genuine natural talent.

George held his hand beside his head as if he was ready to catch a ball being thrown toward him. A second later, and under his control, the red flame passed through the goblet and flew directly into his open hand. George then closed his hand into a fist and put out the flame, this caused smoke to rise from between his fingers. He determined that should be enough to prove himself to McGonagall, her reaction seemed to suggest he was right. McGonagall smiled and nodded toward him as she returned her glasses to their normal state and continued to read her newspaper.

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