The Confectionary Chronicles || HP/SPN

Sweets and Studies- CH6

CHAPTER SIX:

It was with a great deal of excitement that the Gryffindor first years– plus Hermione and Millicent– poured over their new timetables, handed out by their Heads of Houses before the professsors had left them to finish their breakfasts in peace. Reading out names of classes such as 'Astronomy' and 'Introduction to Charms' and 'History of Magic', Hermione couldn't help but feel a great thrill of excitement, one that was reflected by those around her.

"We've got Defence Against the Dark Arts, Potions and Astronomy together," she said to Neville excitedly. "Ooh! And we've got Double Transfiguration first today!" she added, beaming at Millicent at the thought of three whole hours of Transfiguration! "I can't wait!"

"Gran says Transfiguration is one of the most important branches of magic for a wizard to learn," Neville said nervously.

"I've heard it's really difficult, and that Professor McGonagall is really strict," Millicent added, also looking much less enthusiastic then Hermione felt.

"But the more challenging the subject, the more interesting it is," Hermione argued, earning her twin looks of disbelief from her new friends and some of the other students around her who overheard, and an approving nod from a tall, lanky, red-haired and freckled boy with a prefect's badge pinned to the front of his robes.

Hermione and Millicent ended up saying their goodbyes to Neville and Dean and set off for their first class with a generous fifteen minutes to spare in order to find the Transfiguration classroom. The Gryffindor prefect, who'd introduced himself as Percy Weasley with a slightly surprised look when she'd asked him, had given them directions and Hermione had a fairly good idea of which area of the castle it was he'd been talking about. Despite this, she quickly realised that locating her classrooms wasn't going to be as easy as she'd hoped– sometime in the last thousand years, someone had had the bright idea to charm the castle staircases to move. It was extremely disconcerting to suddenly find yourself on the wrong side of the castle and on the wrong floor with just five minutes left to get to class on time. Thankfully, she and Millicent weren't the only ones to arrive slightly flushed and out of breath, just seconds before the clock tower started chiming.

They quickly found a desk together at the front of the class, and Hermione bit back a viciously pleased grin when she noticed Pansy, Tracey and Daphne were conspicuously absent– and, unlike a handful of Hufflepuffs who burst into the classroom after class had already begun, red and out of breath from their mad sprint to try and make it on time, none of the three Slytherins turned up. Professor McGonagall gave the students a generous five minutes to find the classroom, her lips pressed into a thin, unimpressed line, before starting her class.

"Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts," she began sweeping a stern look over the very silent class. "Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned."

She then changed her desk into a pig and back again and everyone, even the students who'd been around magic all their lives, all seemed very impressed by this. Hermione thought she may have to lower her standards, somewhat– after witnessing her god reshape reality with a snap of his figners for so many years, it was difficult to appreciate the smaller acts, no matter how extraordinary they surely were.

The class was rather let down when they quickly realised they weren't going to be changing the furniture into animals for quite some time, but Hermione was very interested in the lecture Professor McGonagall gave them. She was intrigued to learn that Transfiguration leaned heavily on the early theories of the Ancient Greek philosophers Leucippus of Miletus and his pupil, Democritus, who in 440 BC were the first to come up with the concept of "atomos"– the atom.