Chapter 32: 32. Student become Teacher
"Okay, folks. Professor Binns seems to be asleep. I will write a letter to my mummy now... also to my best brother." Magnus muttered and started writing one piece of paper.
"Huh, mama's boy." Snape scoffed at him.
Magnus smiled, "If loving my mum and dad makes me a mama's boy, then I'm ready to get it tattooed on my forehead."
He continued writing while making small talk with Ragnar. The pale looking boy was from an ancient house that was not part of sacred 28. His house name was Oroborus.
Ragnar spoke while looking at him write, "You know, I never expected the descendant of Merlin to be so... so nice to me."
"Hehe... why would you think that?" Magnus asked back.
"Look around you, look at their faces. All of them are so prideful and arrogant. Everyone who comes to Slytherin is like that because they are from some ancient or rich family. But you, even though you are from the greatest and the oldest family, you are so friendly and nice to all." Ragnar made the observation.
"The talking hat said I fit in all 4 houses but it still sent me here. So, I guess there must be something special about me." Magnus proudly said.
"Maybe a little narcissistic," Ragnar added, before laughing.
Within an hour, Magnus was done with his 2 letters. He was sending both letters in one packet addressed to his mom, she would send the letter to Bobby later.
"What is going on? It's been an hour and still, he hasn't started teaching?" Magnus inquired.
"Who knows? I guess we should sleep too." Another 1st year Slytherin said.
Magnus rubbed his chin, "Hmmm... I think I can teach them. I know a fun story, it is true so it can be called history."
He got up and went to the teacher's stage. "*Cough* Class isn't starting so I will tell you all a nice story from the history of our British magical community. I can stop if you want though."
None of them said no. All expected some kind of special knowledge from him. Binns was snoring on his chair anyway.
So, Magnus started, "Do you all know what a Warlock is? Well, a Warlock is a very old term that has two meanings, to describe a wizard of unusually fierce appearance or as a title denoting a particular skill or achievement. It was originally given to one learned in duelling and all martial magic or was given as a title to a wizard who had performed feats of bravery, as Muggles were sometimes knighted.
"I will tell you the story of a Warlock, Jarleth Hobart. He lived somewhere close to 1544 AD. As all of you are 1st years, I do not expect you to know him, well... except my friend Severus, he's very smart." Magnus said, making everyone look at Snape.
"Okay, once upon a time, there was one old smart wizard, he was well versed in magic, but he was obsessed with flying. So, he worked hard and finally developed a spell.
"So, on 16 July 1544, Hobart invited a large crowd of wizards, among which was the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, to witness his "maiden flight" in the form of a public demonstration of his own revolutionary charm on himself. He was taking a big risk by doing this but in those days, there were not many laws restricting self-experimentation.
"He climbed onto the roof of his local church and, after several speeches and a rousing performance of the national anthem, he leapt and, having cast the spell, was left hovering in mid-air.
"At first, he seemed to have succeeded, but, after having spent nearly three minutes watching him hanging in mid-air, the crowd grew impatient to see him move somewhere, and booed him. In response to the catcalls, Hobart tried to move in midair and started performing vigorous swimming movements, which produced no effect. All it looked was less majestic and more silly.
"But Hobart had misunderstood his own spell. Believing that his clothes were making him heavier and impeding his movement, so Hobart stripped naked." Magnus stopped at this point as it was boring if he were to speak non-stop.
"So, fun question time. I will give you options and you will guess what happened next?" Magnus suggested.
All the students got a little excited hearing this. They were mostly scared of the quiz as it would embarrass them but multiple-choice questions were something different.
"Okay, the options are.
1. He started flying faster than a sparrow.
2. He became so lightweight that he was pulled towards the sky and was never seen again.
3. He fell on Chief Warlock, breaking his neck and killing him.
4. He fell and broke his bones.
Choose one option, you all." he said.
"Okay, those who choose one, raise hands. Two? Three? and four?" He received all the answers." The most popular choices were 1 and 3. 4 was only selected by Snape, Ragnar and another one student of Ravenclaw who was a girl.
"The correct answer is 4th. He fell completely naked on the ground, breaking sixteen bones, and went on to receive a fine for "outrageous silliness" from Chief Warlock. This happened because the clothes had been charmed by the spell, not Hobart himself." Hearing that, many chuckled.
"Now, continuing the story, Hobart returned home, humiliated, where he realised that his spell could make objects fly for varying lengths of time, depending on the skill of the spell caster and on the weight of the object. But he was a determined man, he would never give up so easily. So, he concluded that small animals and even children could be flown, but that they had no control whatsoever of their movement once airborne.
"He thus made a second announcement, and an even larger crowd gathered to see his second demonstration of the spell. Most of the people were hoping for another laugh at his expense. Even Chief Warlock came again because whatever Hobart maybe, he was a talented wizard.
"Hobart's demonstration was, at first, by far more successful than the first, and he showed the onlookers how he could easily fly objects ranging from small rocks to fallen trees. Hobart decided that, for the finale, he would levitate the Chief Warlock's hat. Now, for round two.
"This time, there will be no options. Guess what happened next. Any answer is acceptable." He requested.
A Slytherin boy stood up and said, "He will make the Chief Warlock fly?"
A Hufflepuff girl also spoke, "He will fail?"
"He will make Chief Warlock's clothes fly away, turning him naked?"
Many guesses were made, but none hit the spot. "Okay, all of you are wrong. What he managed to levitate was the Chief's wig, exposing his bald head to the gathered crowd. A big round of laughter ensued after that."
In the class too, they laughed while imagining that. Because many imagined this happening to Dumbledore.
"The Chief was not amused and was determined to duel Hobart, but the warlock Levitated the Chief's robes over his head, and ran for it. He stayed hidden for a long time after that until he was sure that Chief Warlock had forgotten the matter. Now, what do we learn about Hobart from all this?" He asked everyone.
"He was a fool?"
"He was not good at magic?"
Magnus shook his head, "Man was a genius. He had accomplished the magical art of creating new spells, something a very small number of wizards can do. The spell he created was none other than what we will be learning in our Charms class.
"Jarleth Hobart was the famous inventor of the Levitation Charm, an incredibly impressive magical achievement given the immense complexity, danger and skill required in the development of spells. All this was in the History of Magic book of this year that I read in my free time."
Many students awed at this. This goofy story was related to something from their charms book. And unknown to Magnus, no one in this class was ever going to forget the Levitation charm now.
*CLAP CLAP CLAP*
Suddenly, many claps came. Magnus turned around and looked, it was none other than the ghost of Professor Binns.
"Marvellous, what a wonderful lesson. Interesting as well as knowledgeable. You did an even better job than me. They all sleep usually but today they look so fresh. I knew it, Merlin's descendant can not be an ordinary wizard." Binns spoke, showing the rare excitement on his transparent face.
"This was a test?" Magnus inquired.
Binns shook his head, "It was not meant to be but it did look like that. And you passed with flying colours, Mr Pendragon. It will be an honour for me to teach you. And for your achievement today, for just being a 1st-year student and yet knowing all this, 50 POINTS TO SLYTHERIN."
As soon as that was announced, the Slytherin students made an uproar. The first student to contribute to Slytherin's pool of points that year was Magnus.
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